The Washington times., 1902-04-27

nings the coach called the players in and
explained few principles of fielding.
Some of you hold your hands in the
wrong position when catching ball. In
stead of holding the wrists together and
spreading out the hands, which often re-
suits in breaking a finger or two, you
should hold the fingers together and the
hands parallel, side to side, like this
and he illustrated the point by holding
his hands in the manner shown in the
drawing.
When fielding a grounder, or pickup,
keep the heels together and the feet at
right angles, to prevent the ball from get
ting by you. When picking up the ball al
ways reach for ii with both hands. so as
TO be sure of getting it. We shall finish
the practice today by half-mile run,
! four times around the field. This will de-
velop the lungs and staying powers
On the following days the boys improved
greatly in their playing. Although Mr..
Foster could not always attend practice,
his suggestions were carefully followed
out. On stormy days the boys went through
light practice in the clubhouse. After
practice every day they repaired to the
house, changed their clothes and had a
showerbath and rundown.
Captain Henderson was soon able to
choose his team He selected nine regu-
lar players and four substitutes to COM
pose the squad. Mr.. Foster gave special
instructions to each player regarding his
own position and took great care with
the pitching staff.
The day of the opening game arrived.
Wilbur Wheatley's posters brought large
crowd. some 500 in all. at % cents each,
which netted $50 to each club. The Per-
severance players appeared in natty uni
forms. similar to those used by the in
door baseball team. They batted in the
following order:
Ticknor. S.: Sayles, RI: olmsted. 2b.:
o'Brien. 3d.; Wheatley. IL: Graham. h.:
Hanford. CT; Henderson. c.; Rogers. p.
The lnyincibles looked upon the game
as an assured victory for themselves.
Their crack pitcher, Dick Ives. was in the
box. and he had not lost game for nearly
two years. After both teams had prac-
ticed for fifteen minutes the Invincibles
came to the bat.
Perseverance made good impression
by putting out the first three batsmen
in ORDER and added to the good effect by
scoring run in the latter half of the
inning on single by Rex and Reub's
threc-base hit.
Dick Ives braced up after this, and did
not allow man to reach second till the /,
ninth inning. In the meanwhile Row
Rogers was knocked out OF the box in the !
fifth inning, having given three bases on |
balls and made wild pitch. Reub chang |
ed positions with him. The score was |
now to ! in favor of the visitors. The |
Invincibles scored twice in the seventh, on !
errors by the Perseverance infield When |
the home team came up for the latter half |
OF the ninth the score was still 6 to l.
Graham and Hanford went out on ground |
ers, but Henderson and Rogers made safe |
hits. Rex got a base on balls making |
three on base, and Rerb came to the bat |
amid loud cheers from the Perseverance |
supporters. He sent .ong drive far out |
INTO left field, and the crowd rose to their /
feet as one man, thinking 1t safe hit. |
To everyone's surprise, however the left |
fielder leaped into the air and pulled the |
ball down with one hand. The batsman |
was out. the game was over, and the score
was still to /.
Word was received later in the day that /
the Golden Knights had beaten the Ran
gers 13 to u, so the Golden knights and
1nyincibles were accordingly tied for the |
leadership of the league.
The Perseverance team practiced and |
trained harder than ever after their de-
feat. and on the following Saturday they
went TO Park Heights and played the Ran