The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-08-21

an Jim Harrison surprised
4 y the bunch by comm tearin
out to the ball grounds one
day with one o. them stinlIin' carrisenc
automobiles. II was just when we were
nearin' the homestretch in our mad
rush for first place in the Corndroppers'.
an as soon as 1 seen it l rushed up an
said Irantically:
Back that pesky thing out O. here.
saye 1. Take it out an tie It To
telegraph pole. / amt goin' to have il
jumpin' in the game at an inopportUne
moment an spoilin' any more nome
runs. says l.
KNOWN my easy-goin' nature As
the felle-s did. an still not knowin' as
much by four jugfuls as ] do about
these here automobiles. Wy the gang
looked surprised.
Hop in, Has. says Reggie. an IN
take YOU round the bases Eastern ever
you run 'em I'm your life maxim homo
runs. But says ne. tell US how in
thunder you're afraid this here harm
less twelve-horse power thing o. beauty
an OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES is goin' TO spoil
home runs
Twelve-HoTse Power.
'Twelve-hoss power" says l. Twelve
boss power nothin II you'd had
compound water-cooled, double action
sixty-celled red divil nip you at the
plate in a last desperate slide says L.
you wouldn't think nOthin about boss
power. You'd think that cavalcade
o. mules with sharpened coTks was
jumpin' on your back an then the
whizzin' thing goes by.
Il passed my hand across my fore
head at the recollection, an the fellers
led the machine out an tied 1t TO a
tree. When they had come back had
pulled on my sweater. sat down on the
bench an started on the yarn that the
red automobile had made me bark back
10.
You see when ! first started in the
ball business / didn't know how much
nicer il was 10 stay in one good town
an build up a good team an keep II
built than sl,ippin' around. Conse-
Quence was that ! was always runnin'
from one league 10 another an never
havin a chance to make good IN any.
So that was how one spring. l found
myself in the CatasOula League down
IN Alabama.
Pitcher Was Sore.
81 got there the day before the reEu-
lar etdHlN Dt l5dlis an AaAtA q NV Q AAa-~-'
tine 10 practice before the game No-
body knew ] was Haggerty. for my fame
hadn't spread then. but after practicing
awhile with a stiff-armed pitcher. and
the manager had received his report
aLOut mo was told that l could go
in an keich I'm the game that after
noon The pitcher said he guessed III
do. 7 had cot him down on me by tell
Ing him % put some speed on, wnen
rc was really bTcakin his back tryiu
TO spoil my hands That's the way with
s-me bail players II YOU once get
them down on you, theyn keep on
knockin you on an of the field till
you're down an ou;.
Wei. I found the Catasoula bunch
the same IN this knoCk.n' respect as
the teams / had left behind me in tn
North. They were al jealous as a LOT
o old maids al the applause fISm the
Erandstand.. an II a fellow got NOR
tha1 they thought vas his share he be
came the yfCtim of them united knocks.
No FiIst-Class Player.
There wasn't a frst-class player In
the CatasOula bunch when I got there.
an Il was a wonder to me that they
ever won a game. / told them so. an
that was the reason they didn't like
me. Another reason was that the root
CTS nearly went Wild over me when ]
made four home runs In the first game
that I played. besides ketching right up
To- the handle.
That pitcher tried 10 keep them all
on my bore hand an away from the
mitt. but be didn't know that / was
more used q ketching without n mitt
than with one IN I didn't tell him. I
took everything that he sent ia an
then made him feel Ike a fried egg De
fore the people in tf@ grandst-nd Oy
hollerin' for more speed. when l knew
that he was already whippiu' his arm
off I had all the other twirlers In the
club I'm the same box. None o. en-
could hurt me. an soon they quit
tryin'.
Unpopular With Them.
But I didn't stay with the Catasoulas
long. 7 got unpopular with the man
aEernent an that's worse than urpOpu-
larity with the players. We were play
IT, do s,.H q