The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1901-08-28
THE MAILMEN VICTORIOUS.
Bureau of Engraving Defeated by
the POstOftice Nine.
The Postal Clerks secured n Lead In
the First Inning Which the Money
Makers Were Unable to Overcome
Hard Hitting Landed the Game.

The Postal Clerks secured n Lead In
the First Inning Which the Money
Makers Were Unable to Overcome
Hard Hitting Landed the Game.
1t was rumored around in the depart
ment baseball circles that the doughty
nine bail tossers from Uncle Sans GER
tifcate mandatory were due for a good
drubbing, and that the fast team from
the Postoffice were just the lads to wall
lop them. These representations proved
to be correct, for the mailrnen put 1t all
over the men with the green ink stains
on their hands, although the latter team
did score a few runs while the postmen
were trying their wings.
From the time the signal play BALI
was given the men from the great stone
building on Pennsylvania Avenue were
right after their opponents, and there
was no let-up whatever. They had avow-
ed their intention of having the Bureau
hes scalp before the afternoon was over,
and they were as good as their word.
Bernard, who has a fascination for the
centre of the ball diamond, expressed a
desire to occupy that important position
for the greenback makers, and was al
allowed to have his wish gratified. The
and benders and Immediately began to
fatten their batting averages at his ex-
pense, while ne looked on with evident
disgust and dismay.
They decided that he was just the
twirler they had been looking for in or
der to swat the sphere right, left, and in
front Of them for hits that were good for
one and two sacks, and, accordingly, they
began to do stunts in the batting line
that were new to their rivals. At the
conclusion of the game the letter car
riers' run column yielded a statistical re-
port of seven runs, while that of the Blu
reauites showed that five impressions
had been made in it.
The mailmen, wishing to complete their
routes as soon as possible, and be ready
for the next delivery, went to the bat
first. The first six of them walloped
the spherotd out of reach of the infield-
ers. and several times the outfielders
were called into the game to run down
the escaping spheroid. At the close of
the initial inning, it was found that six
hits had been chalked ~ to the post
mems credit, and that they had made
equal number of imprints on the score
card in the run alley.
The postmen so far forgot themselves
while in the field as to be so dscourteous
to their rivals as to prevent them from
landing one of their number on the pre-
mier hassock After accomplishing this
feat, they trudged in, and added another
run to their total, making seven for them.
This was the last they saw of the count
ing block. for try as they might, they
could not get a runner any closer than
ninety feet from il.
The moneymakers now thought 1t was
time for some action on their part. and,
after sizing up Walkers dips and shoots
they thought that they were in line to
secure run or several of them After
making connections with several of
Walkers easy ones they landed three
men on the bags. The postmen had two
OF the BureauiteS retired and were de-
termined that the men should not score,
put wnen a slow one went to third and
the man guarding the territory around
that bag threw il wild to the first base
man, one of the runners waddled HON
with the first tally for his side. But this
was all the scoring they could do for a
man was caught mapping at first, and
the side was retired with one run to their
credit.
IL the fourth round the men from
Fourteenth Street got next to the horse
hide for two hits and one of them was
presented with 4 base on balls They
now sent a lad named Landvoight to the
batting station with instructions to put
a quicker in the cover on the sphere. He
promised TO do as he had been Instructed,
and came very near living UP to his
word for as the pellet came tagging
action and laid his weight against it
with sufficient force to send it whiZzing
out against the fence in left field Upon
seeing the spheroid rolling to the fence
the three men skedaddled home, while the
batter dropped anchor on the second
portmanteau.
The Bureauites were now yelling with
fiendish delight, for they thought that
they had three runs. but just at this mo-
ment Umpire Honest Proctor was bawl-
ing foul BALI at the top of his voice IN
the endeavor to make himself heard by
the cheering crowd This decision was
no faa tn
loud groan. and several of them became
very obstreperous and threatened to lay
violent hands on and do bodily harm to
the indicator handler, but he still yelled
foul"
Then the runners were ordered back to
the cushions which they had occupied be-
fore the ball had been batted. They
started out for their respective sacks but
the man who had been an occupant of the
second sack went from home to that bag
without touching the third corner. and
the occupant of the first hassock also
failed to touch the second bag.
One Mr.. King then sauntered up to the
arbitrator of strikes and balls and put
the question, Say. how bout dem two
guys not tuchin dem bags? The UNI
pire assumed a position that would indi-
cate his Importance. and swelling up his
chest he replied. You know the rules,
whereupon King touched the two run
ners who had failed to comply with the
rules and the indicator handler called
them "ou-.
This caused another rumpus and after
endeavoring to masticate a bolt of cloth
with the umpire. the Bureauites We're
once again sent back TO the bags. for
they had repeated their threats to make
Proctor look like a half-chewed Goldfish
ball in pair of minutes, and he
changed his decision.
After the quiet of the afternoon had
been restored the game proceeded.
heavy-hitter stalked up to the slab and
waNed out a two-bagger and scored two
ff ton m and
ceding him scored on several errors and
a wild throw to third. This made five
runs for them and they were now only
two to the bad They worked like Trojans
in the three following rounds but We're
unable to land man on the third pillow.
AT the end of the sixth inning the game
was called on account of darkness. The
score: