The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-04-05
How "old Hoss'' Radbourne and His
Catcher Triumphed over an I'M
ported Aggregation.
lclsvsland Plan DealerA

Tales Of the Ball Field" tells the
following humorous story Of the days
when the great pitcher. Radbourne, was
a youngster:
About the last OF the SOS and early
sos there was a great practice among
the smaller cities In the northwest and
surrounding villages % ring i'm on
EACH other outside players from Chi
cago and other cities. There were two
cities in upper Iowa that were bitter
rivals Ia baseball namely. DEBORAH and
Cresc0. The habit of one of those cities
was 90 bring che players to their town,
give them jobs temporarily and thee
bet Ou their club against the rival city
Chicago was the market for the supply
of riEger-in players" During this
particular summer Decoreh made
match with Cresco for a certain date.
The DEBORAH manager went 20 Chicago
Immediately and secured five Chicago
players and gave them ten-day jobs ln
various places in the city with the pre-
tensions of making them regular resi-
dents. Cresco was honest in its inten-
tions and intended 90 give battle with
It's regular team.
They had no idea OF the trick of their
sister city 90 collect outside players to
beat them. AT that time the whole
country went stark mad in betting on
baseball. All kinds Of bets were offered
ou DEBORAH by those who were on the
Inside" and knew of the five imports"
who had fake jobs in DEBORAH. The
great game finally came Off. and poor
trescO caught 10 good and hard on the
betting exchange, and ID came near
bankruptng some Of the Cresco farm
.ers. The whole plot was revealed after
the game Revenge was planned 10 get
even with DEBORAH. and. revenge it
should Doe aud no mistake The farmers
around Cresco and citizens of that
town said DEBORAH should suffer for
this gigantic cheat A travelling man
from Dubuque. Ia. was one Of the chief
victims and this scheme of DEBORAH was
s., and he would do the whole
planning.
Revenge he did have. doubly and
trebly AS "a return match was ar
ranged. "a deep plot was laid by this
astute travelling man from Dubuque.
Cresco said nothing TO DEBORAH .bout
her counterfeit players. as she was O.
do some "ringiug-ln" herself. and a ring
that would be heard an over the state.
On the other hand. DEBORAH was not
satisfied by retaining the five original
thlcago players but reinforced them
by two more from the prairies of that
city-making in total seven. Cresco.
however. with the travelling salesman
as their manager. went deep and in
geniously into the scheme to- get square
with DEBORAH The Dubuque team OF
1879. of which the writer was the ORE
ganizer ana manager. were resting on
their oars after winning the champion
40 nHrHe. d
team consisted of Tom Sullivan Of ST.
Louis. RadbOurne. Lapham, Lotus,
COmiskey the two Gleason brothers,
Billy Taylor and Refs. The great Rad
bourne was OU the threshold OF his
greatness. This was the year before he
joined the National league and he was
ready for amy scheme where there was
fun and q little paw Billy Taylor. who
died some years aRO On Florida. was one
of the most natural ball players that
ever dOnned a uniform. lie demon
strated IL afterWard iu Pi6sburg by
pitching one day and catching the
next. Weu those two were the battery
that the travelling man engaged. Rad
was ever I'M his element when it came
90 the task of making pretenders lay
down their bats.
AT that time he could give fifty
strikes 90 a Chicago City league player
and DE wouldn't touch the ball All
arrangements were made for Taylor
and Radbourne TO go TO Cresco on a
farm near that city and remain there
until the day of the match. Their line
of business was 20 watch the other
farm hands toss hay, etc. and partake
Of the cream Of the farm. Those two
great men Of the ball field have passed
out of the flesh. bat often did the great
Eadbourue cOnvulse me with laughter
describing his life on that farm. while
waiting for the great game. Rad and
Taylor could play a Reuben and play lt
well.
They were treated on that farm like
kings and lords and AN CrescO was
chuckliug TO themselves on the cards
they had up their sleeves for DEBORAH.
Here was the position of the two cities
one week before the match. DEBORAH
had seven Chicago playlrB with the adj
dition of two or three of her own.
lresc1 had her two stalWart farm
hands t0 be added 90 seven Of her own
men. DEBORAH put a watch on Cresco
90 see If they were getting any new
men. but no new faces were seen on the
team while Cresc0 was practicing for
the great match. Radbourne and Tay-
Dor never appeared with The CresCO
team while they were pracucing. There
was am air of mystery about the latter
city that DEBORAH could not under
stand. Cresc0 held the secret well, as
this travelling man closed al leaks. The
game was the talk of that section Of
the country and Cresco took every bet
that DEBORAH could muster. Men had
au and every confidence iu RadbOurne
and Taylor They knew they were
robbed by DEBORAH I'M the last game and
they were boiling 90 get even. DecoraA
had detectives Do CrescO up 90 the
afternoon of the game but no new
faces were seen. What could this meant
Cresc0 was backing it's club and never
spoke OF any new players.
The travelling man had arranged for
the novel appearance OF EadbOurne and
Taylor ON the day OF the game. The
great day of the match opened up
bright and clear. From early morn to
noon wagons were pouring intO CrescO
loaded with people from the surround
ing country 20 see the game that had
been the topic of conversation for three
weeks Excursions on the railroads
came up from Decorah with people who
were eager 60 bet their invlucble team.
The Chicago contingent of players
urged their friends To take all kinds of
bets. as they were going 90 make a holy
show of the Cresc0 "yaps'-not think
ing of what they were going against.
Il was a free ground, where no admis-
sion was charged, but the playing field
was protested by-a rope. the DEBORAH
team when lt arrived on the grounds.
was cheered immensely by its friends.
They commenced their practice and q
beautiful dress parade one &c was. They
caught the BAN in an fantastic shapes.
which seq their adherents wad with de-
light and correspon depressed the
followers of the CrescO club. The ar
Uslc display OF picking balls up with
one finger bcWildered the countrymen.