The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-12


the eatcher's protector. though. It just
came natural with him. Sort of growth.
V might say
1T was back in the early eighties.
the year that Bull Thompson. theLignt-
foot Lilies star catcher, got laid up.
The Bull had a favorite trick. you re-
member. of biting the bat and holding
it with his teeth when the batsInan
drew back to hit the ball. He had 'en
all guessing with that stunt until he
tried it on the terrible Swede. of the
Beaver Dam Cwis.) Invincibles, and
got of his front teeth. extracted for a
three base hit.
For while after Bulls accident the
Lilies were up against it, and Captain
Slugger Burrows was securing the
country high and low Tor some one TO
fill his shoes.
Twas down in Kansas somewhere,
I. think, that he finally landed on Esau
Sampson. At any rate, Esau looked like
an orthodox Kansan, all right.
.Whiskers2 Why. say, that mans
face looked like an eastern view of the
seventh Sutherland sister going west
with her hair down. Honest. he had the
most fertile face | ever trained my
lockers on. His beard was enough 10
make the most hayward of swallows
homesick TO nest again. 1t was so long
that when he yawned he had to stop
walking to keep from stepping on it,
Did it bother him when he was play
ing ball? Never, but once. On all other
occasions those whiskers were the great
est help in the world to him.
You remember what catchers had TO
stack up against in the foul tip line
before the days of the chest protector?
If twas nothing worse than the wreck
of a floating rib or a vacuum in the air
tank. a backstop could consider himself
lucky.
But that was where Esau used to
show up so strong. The ball couldn't
hurt him. When foul tip shot through
his hands thered be a slight lowering
of the jaw, sharp rustling sound, and
we'd know that another ball was safely
resting in Esau's wondrous facial foli-
age.
The only time he came to grief
through his hirsute chin crop was in
practice game with the Jones County
Eye. Ear and Tongue infirmary team
the Wednesday before the big champ
ionship contest with the Ringtail
Roarers
Twas in the last half of the ninth,
and the game looked a lead pipe cinch
for the Lilies. The Infirmaries had two
men ON bases. but the score stood to
against them, two were out, and there
were two strikes and no balls on the
batter.
But you never can tell in baseball.
Who'd ever have thought that just be-
cAuse Dean Rraley, the Lliess pitcher.
p4t a little schewing gum on the ball to
give it extra twist for the third strike
that that would have turned the tide of
victory?
''It did. though. The third strike came
low and Esau missed it. The gum on
the ball. caught his beard and yanked
it between his legs with such terrific
force that he turned a complete somer-
sauTt.
THE Lilies rushed in from the field
to his assistance, but before they could
disentangle the ball from Esau's Kan
sas ramblers the three Ilfirmites had
crossed the plate with the runs that
won the game.
THAT put the Lilies in a quandary.
They didn't so much mind losing a mere
practice game, but what was to prevent
the same thing hrom happening in the
big championship contest with the
Ringtail Roarers? Dean Bra1ey said he
couldn't give up the occasional use of
chewing gum on the ball at that late
stage; it would simply ruin the effect
iveness of his delivery.
1T was Esau himself who finally
solved the problem. He appeared on the
field in the Roarers' game with his
whiskers snugly incased in a freshly
Numbered FELLOWSHIP, and so successful
did this contrivance prove as safe
guard against foul tips that before the
season was out every catcher in that
part of the country had adopted it in
one form or another
And that, sir, to the best of my
knowledge, is the origin of the present
day catcher's protector. At any rate,
I've never heard it disputed. Wash
ington Post
TO MAKE SALT RUN.