The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-07-20
FOR OLD TIMES SAKE MONTGOMERY
WILL WATCH MGINNITY'S CAREER

terings of the coming storm was heard
on the bleachers.
Back behind the grand stand an un-
known pitcher was warming up. and
Reds digits tingled as he staggered I'M
der the rifle-shot like delivery Of the I'M
known.
Suddenly all plans were changed-Pep-
pers was recalled from the box, and there
were cheers from the rooters for cloth
ing store dummy would have been an i'm.
provement on poor Peppers
OFT to the center of the diamond walked
the youngster who had fallen off the
Louisville and Nashville train few
hours before.
who is he. Nc? where'd you get him
What can he do?' were some of the vol
leys of questions fired at the manager.
Just keep quiet and watch the game"
said McCloskey. He comes from out in
the Indian Territory. His name is Joe
McGinnity, and he IAN pitch baseball
Charlie Lewis, who had charge of the
locals the year before. had brok en- into the
ranks of umpires, and was handling the
indicator that day.
Swifter than the wind few bits Of gossip
about the new pitcher. and soon the deni-
gems of the bleachers knew the history
of McGinnity. He had been on the train
for several days coming hundreds OF
miles. and with a breathing spell of four
that heavy hitting Nashville team
Hundreds of critical eyes watched the
youngster as he dog his feet into the box
for a firm foundation hundreds Of eyes
saw the sphere turned loose, and with the
frightful velocity of a cannon ball. go
hurting towards the man at the plate.
Then hundreds of throats let out a yell.
For the ball split the plate and even old
Lewis, with his bad lamps, had to- call 1t
strike. ,5, ten1yt ~
Miller, Nashville's left fieldeT,9 was at
the plate. and after trying twice to hit
those singing things swishing in front of
his bat. he decided to wait for a pass.
He waited. and the second ball brought in
gutteral tones the words, Strike threeH'
The unknown pitcher had struck out the
first man up, and was bearing out good
and hard McCloskey's prophecy that he
could pitch baseball"
The terrific curves and speedy shoots
that he was sending over the plate COM
pletely hypnotized the Nashville bunch,
and in a very few moments the occupants
of the stands and bleachers had awaken
ed from their lethargy and were enthusi-
astically cheering the greatest pitcher
ever seen in Montgomery.
When the game was over, the heavy
hitting Nashvilles had secured just three
hits. McGinnity had given but four bases
on balls and had struck out seven men.
The game ended 10 and in favor of
Montgomery. and for the first four in
nings not run, and only two scratch
hits had been made off McGinnity.
The effect was to inoculate the entire
team with ginger. Billy George got a
home run and three singles out of four
times up: Red Armstrong got a three
Dagger and two singles out of four times
up and all the others got one and two
hits apiece-seventeen hits they got off
Vickey. who was pitching for Nashville
that day.
That night there was but one name on
everybodys tongue-"Joe McGinnity"-
and ne owned the town from the classic
precincts of Sunrise in the effete east.
to the cotton factories in West Mont
gomery-from the sacred shades of Bogue
homme in the north end, to the decreplt
old ramshacklc wharf at the foot of
Commerce Street.
Two days afterwards McGinnity pitched
his second game against Nashville-Hof-
ford was in the box for Nashville and
McGinnity won by and L.
The very next day McCloskey put the
boy In against Mobile. with Smiling
Pete Daniels in the box. McGinnity win
ming his game by II and s.
This was the third game that McGin-
nifty had pitched in three days-he won
all of them and twelve hits were made
off him in the three games. Montgomery
made twentv-eight scores In the three
games to sixteen for the opponents.
Not long after that something happened
that not only set Montgomery baseball
crazy. but was the talk of the baseball
world