The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-03


 robbed of a safe swat by spark of un- expected brilliance.
 The Runs Come. It was one of the hardest games that | the Barons have won this season. The | finish recalled another won in the ninth from Montgomery, and another won in the ninth from Atlanta Throughout the visitors had the upper hand, and when the victory came. therefore, the lusty fans could hardly contain themselves. In the fourth, the Pretzels chased their first man across the rubber. Kid" Busch was given free transportation, and was sacrificed to second. Mullaney then hit safe, and Busch was held at third. The Pretze manager then started for second. ana Matthews threw to Oyler to intercept him. It was the old old story The ball was returned home too late, and Busch had registered In the fifth and sixth the Pretzels made desperate efforts to increase this lead. but in each instance Ginger interposed and, aided by per feet fielding, the tally was prevented In the fifth, McCann. first up doubled
 
 perate air that expresses. No score was coming, however. In the sixth, with two down. singles fin succession by Schwartz and Apperious threatened But the fans were oVerJoyed in each instance, for the home plate was never touched m
 In the sixth the score was tied Moles- worth, first up, singled, and went to second on Smiths safe hit to right. AL cock failed on his sacrifice and "Gladys" went down and out at third
 Meeks next up, smashed a long fly to McCann, which that fielder dropped after making run to get under it. The bases were then filled. The "squeeze" was next attempted and it was success. Smith l came across the rubber Walters made an easy out. In the ninth, the Pretzels again got in the lead. Apperious led off with a double. Mullaney went down, and Apperious was pushed to third. McCann was allowed to take first while oyler at- tempted to retire Apperious at the plate. The umpire called the runner out but just as the cry. of triumph was going up' it was seen that Matthews had dropped the ball and the run was counted.
 The Game Won.
 1 Much of the enthusiasm then died ont. Walters, first up for the Barons. flied out to Apperious. Oyler went out from Busch to Mullaney. Matthews smashed the first | ball over to right center for single. and started to second Luckily for inc runner, Schwartz fieded the throw of Apperious in an imperfect manner. and | the out was missed. Clark was given a base on four bad ones, and when Moles- worth came with his stick particle of the old enthusiasm returned The first ball over the fielder smashed to left field and Matthews scored. Then Rudderham | declared the ball a foul and hope again died.
 | When Molesworth again approached the | SUCK, he had most determined look l The next over he fouled Then in suc- cession were two balls thrown. The third ball was also called bad one, although the Pretzels and many fans thought that l Molesworth had famed Everything de- pended on the next ball.
 | If 1t is a bad one" thought the fan 'he will be passed. and the bases filled. It is necessary that the pitcher throw l 1t straight, because the chances are | against him
 l The ball was thrown straight and the plate was cut atwan. Molesworth bent l forward and met the ball half way. There was a thud. Everyone knew that the i sphere had been hit When next it was l seen through a cloud of dust that Mat 1 thews and Clark were making it had l flown to deep center. passed the fielders l and Houtz was chasing it. Two runners came home. and the wild cheer that went into the air. was token enough that the l day was saved.
 Close Decisions. There were close decisions given by Rudderham. decisions which affected vi- tally both teams. In the first place, the ball that Molesworth smashed to left and which was called foul, was judged by nne-tenths of the audience as fair. It was a close decision and at the moment | was most important one, because it ! had resulted in the score being tied Again, after Molesworth had returned to the stick, the ball that Breitenstein de- 1 livered which piled up the number of 1 bad ones to three, was so close that many of the spectators thought the fielder was famed Had Molesworth's ball. which was called a foul. been safe, the score would have been tied at least and had Molesworth not afterwards hit safe, inc l fans would have declared that Rudder | ham had robbed the Barons of a game | In the second decision, had Rudderham | called the ball strike instead of desig- hating it bad one, the game would have l gone to the Pretzes. The visitors think | that they were robbed. Both of these | decisions were close.
 The fan, however, who had arisen from