The Hawaiian star., 1906-04-10
SPOR T S
HOW LUCK FIGUES
IN BASEBALL
TALES OF THE DIAMOND WHICH
SHOW THAT LUCK Is A BIG
ELEMENT.

ELEMENT
Anson used to say THE luck evens
up" But it never does. There are
lucky clubs and unlucky clubs in base
ball. and luck is one Of the biggest
elements i'm the game.
The runs of good and bad luck that
come to teams either get them so fun
of confidence they can't be beaten or
discourage them so that they couldn't
win a game with a high sky, a head
wind and home umpire. The freaks of
luck are strange and peculiar. l re-
member one through which the old
Chicago team won a game.
The team was playing Washington,
and in the ninth inning Chicago was
two runs to the bad, with two on
bases and two out, when Lango ripped
a hot grOuuder toward short. 1t looked
easy but the shortstop fumbed, and
Lange was save. One run scored, and
Ryan, who had been on second, turned
third and dashed for the plate seeming
ly throwing away the game. De Mont,
the Washington shOrtstOp, recovered
the ball and made a quick snap throw
to the plate but the throw was high,
and the ball went over the CatChers'
head to the stand, rolled up an inclined
door by which the players reached the
dressing room, and then through a hole
which had been cut in the stand so
that player could reach a hand
through and open the door. Lange
scored, winning the game for Chicago.
After the game was over Joe Camp
bell Tom Browne and 1 tried to drive
ball through that hole by main force
and failed the hole was too small. The
only explanation ever advanced for
the freak was that the ball twisted it
self through the hole.
There is a small hole about two in
ches high and perhaps three long, un-
der the Pittsburg grandstand lust back
! of first base that has won the Pirates
three games in the last six years. Each
! time an overthrow of first resulted i'm
the ball rolling straight and true
through that hole and under the grand
stand, although the space is so small
| that the players have failed hundreds
of times to throw ball through it
from distance of few feet.
The hole is regarded by the Pirates
as their mascot, and they have had sew
eral sharp skirmishes with opposing
players who have attempted to fill it.
/ The most historic accident in base
ball is that which happened 10 Cliff
Carroll in st. Louis-the one that re-
suited in Won der Abe ordering all the
pockets cut off the Browns uniforms.
| Cliff was in centerfield, with a run
ner on first, when the batter cracked
safe hit to center. Cliff came forward
rapidly, intending to hold the runners
at first and second. The ball took
bad bound and struck Cliff in the
breast, and in grabbing for it he show
ed it into the pocket of the shirt. In
vain he tugged at the ball-it would
not come out, so he started to run for
ward. The runners, grasping the situ-
alton. tore around the bases with Cliff
in pursuit, but before he got the ball
out of his pocket both runners had
scored st. Louis was beaten and Won
der Abe was wild.
A strange accident happened in Il
game between Chicago and Boston
back in the early nineties. The Boston
grounds are built alongside the New
York, New Haven and Hartford tracks,
the left field fence being against the
embankment, which frequently breaks
the fence by it's weight, letting rubbish
through. and. showing out the top Of
the fence until 1t leans out over the
held.
one day Billy Hamilton cracked a
line drive to left and struck the fence
and shot down into the angle. Walter
Wilmot crawled under the leaning
fence and began searching for the ball,
} which had failed to bound out, and
} Hamilton went sprinting around the
} bases AS Hamilton turned second
Wilmot crawled from under the fence
and hurled tomato can into the field.
The ball was inside the can.
As Kittredge tells the story. Dahlen
caught the can and tagged Hamilton
with it, but Gaffney refused to call
Hamilton out claiming he was not
, touched with the ball, but with the
can.
AS matter of fact, WilmOt only sue
, ceeded in throwing the can half way up
to third base, and before Dahlen could
pry the ball out of the can Hamilton
had scored
One tough luck game was lost by
Pttsburg on the west side grounds in
, never has been fully convinced that he
did not get the worst of the deal.
Chicago and Pittsburg had battled
FOR thirteen innings-and the score was
, i to /.
That day Charlie Kuhn, the ground
keeper, had laid a line Of garden hose
in the third base foul line. It was al
the outside Of the little trench due
through the sod and did not protrudC
above the level Of the field, practically
being buried in the base line. In the
thirteenth inning, with two out and q
man on first, Griffith poked a weak lit,
tie ny out over third base. Clarke could
mot reach N and Leach cOuldn,t ge