The Washington times., 1904-06-12


army of guys to tell you how they had
the game won only for a big dub on
the other team who made a home run
in the last half of the ninth; or how
their own heavy hitter struck out with
the bases full when they were only
two runs behind; or how their pitcher
held the other side down to no hits
ana no runs for eight innings and then
fell in a fit in the last. All over this
wide land, wherever the great national
game is played, youH hear these tales,
and I've heard 'em so often that they
make me tired.
L once heard the baseball reporter
OF a Missouri paper tell story that
he said took the cake for pure hard
luck over anything he ever saw 1t
was about a game I'm which the score
was ] to 1 in the ninth. when a heavy
hitter belted the ball so hard it broke
in two. Half Of it fell in front OF the
home plate and the other half went
over the fence. The umpire decided
chat he was entitled to half run, and
he gave the game to the slugSers
side, one and half 20 one.
An Old Story.
"Of course you don't have to believe
everything these guys who write base
hall for the papers say. I don't The
STORY tEtiL lElAUM WV - az ~'
bue there probably was some truth In
1t. 1 think there may have been ball
game.
but the first year 1 played with the
Alfalfas in the Corndropper's League,
before Josh Hapgood came to manage
us. and get together the strong aggre-
cation that captured the pennant three
times hand-running, ] ran up against
a proposition that made me bark back
10 that Missouri reporters yarn. There
more than a tinge Of hard luck in it, and
it's all true Pinch Hobbs will swear to
It. and so will Dan Delaney. So 1 think
It beats the other experience by little
over a block.
Was Very Thin.
ION the Russetville nine that year
was a young pitcher just breaking in
by the rame of Harold Cliveden. He
was tall, yellow-haired, and very slen-
der when he first signed, but after a
month or two of hard, steady work
he got thinner. Then he fell in love
with a Russetville girl. and she didn't
love him back, and the pining and
signing he did for her made him fairly
shrink up with thinness. Then he went
OF his feed entirely from lovesickness
and got CHASTITY. This pitcher was so
thin that when he got in the box you
could see half of second base, on each
side of him in the background. When
he raised his hand to throw you'd see
his hand and the ball. but no arm con-
Meeting them to his body; his extremi-
ties were so like pipe stems. He really
should have been on exhibition. But
ne could pitch good ball for all his
thinness. and so the Russetvilles
wouldn't hear Of his quitting
We'll, Harold got toned down so they
took TO calling him Shadow and Sill
ver.' and the Russetville management
bought a case OF cod liver oil and lot
o. these patent sawdust foods TO bring
him back TO his natural weight. They
were afraid he'd dissolve in thin air If
he got any simmer, and It would have
been hard TO imagine him any more
invisible without losing sight Of him
entirely. Harold would have welcomed
melting away with warm heart, he
was so doggone morose at the unre-
Quilted love that he placed at his lady
loves feet. 1t was whispered round
that he'd tried to commit suicide and
shot at himself and missed with all six
chambers OF a forty-four caliber revoi-
YER Any man that could have hit him
would have been a crack shot, so /
didn't doubt the story.
Clean Steal of Heart.
Now. the reason Harold couldn't win
his girls heart was because Reginald
Van Rensselaer,, ID. our Harvard pitch
er, had made a clean steal Of 1t the sea
son before, and she hadn't forgot him.
why Reggie had printed on them little
cards o his'n Second / never could
find out. He was no secondhand guy. or
second-rate pitcher. and he never played
30 IN, L
Watkins most as much as she liked him
in fact. 1 guess the only thing that KEEP
EN- from gettin' hitched up long before
Harold came along was because Reggie
pitched for the Alfalfas and Dottie was
rooter for Russetvllle 10 win the pen
nant.
"Away, There, Jiml"
Yes, she was a rooter. never know
ed a girl before or since that could tell
a three-bagger from the right field foul
flag, but she could. 1t was a liberal
education TO sit near where she was in
the grandstand, her eyes sparklin' and
her gloves busted from applauding. and
her voice mebbe a little hoarse from
holerin' at good plays, an hear her
coach her own nine an josh the other
guys.
Cit away of there, jim she'd yell
20 one o. the Russetvilles that had just
took first on four balls. say j knew
that pitcher couldn't put IL over. You
amt tied 70 that bag. Get away OF
Get up on your toes-Samu sting IT In
a minute. Never mind, Sammy, it only
takes one 20 hit 1t. All together now
give that shortstop the spikes II he gets
on the base line-don't hit so slow. Sam
that one was by before you swung
There's a straight one-lambaste it.
Wow
And then she'd get up an wave her
hands, reckoning TO Jim 20 come home
an nor .rin' 70 Sam 70 go an take sec
ond on the throw-in. an the opposin'
feIlers'd git so ratified at the idee OF a
woman KNOWN how the game IS played
that they'd make errors and wild throws
tryin TO watch her snappin' eyes in
stead o. the ball.
''Dottie was wrapped I'D in the Rus
setvilles. not because she was stuck on
any member Of the team, but because
she lived IN Russetville and was loya
20 IT,
She Admired Harold.
For that reason she admired Harold