Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-19
Racing, Foot Ball
and Other Sports
Continued From Ninth Page.)

that class of batters and. are these any
better than the old-tme Sluggers? Would
present day pitching stop Sam Thompson
Ed Delehanty. En- Gross, Dave Orr, An
son, OF o Rourke?
Delehanty held over from one generation
to another-and kept right on hitting. He
fell off few points, but not much. Anson
held overland he hit right along. He,
too, fell off slightly. and the falling off in
these two cases probably marks pretty
nearly all the difference in hitting that
the new rules and the scientific pitching
represent.
AS a matter of fact the old-time hitters
were up against a harder game than the
Of the youngsters would do now against
a Rusie, fifty feet away, whirling the ball
through after taking run and jump?
Probably they wouldn't hit half as hard
as they do now, and it is fair guess that
they would not do as well as the old-time
sluggers would do against the change of
pace and the spit ball.
Xxx
What hitters some of those old fellows
were! And what hits they made
Perhaps the most historic hit ever made
was the swat that big Dave Orr gave the
ball at Columbus, when, with one blow.
he knocked st. Louis-the three times
champions-out of their fourth pennant and
gave Brooklyn the flag.
Brooklyn was pidyiIS dl HUIue Qdy
and st. Louis was playing at Columbus.
1t was the last day of the season. II
both teams won ST. Louis had the PEN
nant, if both lost ST. Louis would be vic
tor. Brooklyn could get the flag only by
winning the game and having Columbus
beat the Browns.
1t was the tenth inning The news had
come that Brooklyn was victor in the east
The score was tied. Two men were out In
the last half of the inning. Dave Orr was
at bat-with two strikes called.
There was situation for fair-one to
dream about. One ball to decide pen
nant! The pitcher heaved up the ball
and Orr swung. There was a crack and
that ball started toward the city. II
crossed the right center field fence, still
going higher. 1t crossed the canal hit just
above the second-stoH window of cot
tage, bounded and rolled up an alley-and
Comiskeys men yielded the pennant
81
One of the longest hits ever made was
one by Dahlen on the Polo grounds in 1895
In a series between New York and Chicago.
Digby Bell, the actor, attended that game
In tall trap, and, on the seat beside him
was big bull dog. They drove inside the
Polo grounds and alongside the low chain
fence out In center field.
In the eighth inning Of the game. with
two on bases, Dahlen came to the bat and
Jouett Meekin, who was pitching, put up
fast high one. Dahlen picked the ball
and 1t shot on line straight out over
George Van Haltrens head Bell. sitting
in his trap, saw that ball coming and
started to dodge. The pup-which wasn't
Interested in base ball-did not see 1t. The
ball hit the bull pup in the head. knocked
1t of the trap and killed 1t, and, incidental
ly, Dahlen circled the bases
X
recall another hit that was nearly as
long, If not longer. 1t was made by Bill
LANCE at Silver City. N. NJ, in the spring
of 1885, The Silver City team was COM
posed of couple Of minor leaguers and
the others were town boys who never had
seen a National League ball club and
were scared. The game was played on a
field that had a fence on two sides and a
couple of mountains on the other two, and
the mountain in left field looked a half
mile from the home plate. In the first
inning LANCE slammed the ball to left and,
1t looked a sure home run. 1t was The
left fielder couldn't get in to it In time to
hold LANCE at third. Alarmed over pros
poets of big league smuggling that fellow
was playing out on the mountain side.
nearly out Of range even for Krupp gun.-
X
The greatest smuggling feat In the history