Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-16
BEER AND BASE BALL

This thirty THIRD dasrse washingtca bass
ban fan. who y ON chummy terms with y
great many OF the ban players. tells tho
steEy "a hanse1f.
ANY tiuse ny 70 give myssif tAs bsss
OF It.. he says. sthe skids are put under
me right while I'm standing up. and when
| It's all over I'm holding bag with a rent
IN the bottom of It big as Leghorn hat
During one OF the series hero on the
honss grounds before the Nationals went
away tho Hast time. met up with one os
the pitchers at The Visiting club. . man
I'd known for q number of years. and
ono or the star fingers In the business tfs
was just taking . little stroll around for
himself. II was about half an hour after
noon when I ran into him. We did the
mitt act. and I asked him how he found
himself going this year.
" I've got to be rank in-and-outer.' he
replied. with the manner some bali players
Of perfectly assured position have Of abus-
ing themselves In private conversation
Got everything one day. and the next time
pitch can't get 'em over with the aid OF
a tube. Guess I've hitched on with the
now You see It and now you don't bunch Z
II told hlm to quit his kidding, but re-
membered. all the same. that he had
pitched some wonderfully different games
for his club since the beginning of the bali
season. Some of his games had been OF
the shut-out variety on his part, while on
other occasions he'd been simply butchered
and carried on the lot.
"AS we strolled along. tanning. How
about ftr said my pitcher friend, Jerking
his thumb in the direction OF a cafe, and
In we went. figured that his would be q
little mineral water thing of something soft
but when said that mine would be beer,
'That8 me. too said he.
III m, beer for this pitching boy, heyg
said 1 to myself, and right then It occurred
TO me that that might account for his occa-
sional bad games. Although I'd known him
for a long time. as say, I'd never hap
pened to drink with him before-that is, +
hadn't noticed him drinking anything
We had the beer, and then I suggested
another, and he took 1t all right.
Who's going to work for your team to-
day. | asked him, as we put away the Sec
ond beer.
anyhow. and guess I'll go In
We'll. that struck me as queer thing
pitcher beering up along toward / o'clock
on the day he knew, or virtually knew,
he was going to toss.
Tastes pretty good to muh this malt
ne said after tapping up the second beer.
Feel like could lick up several scuttles Of
this kind. and he ordered another beer
apiece. We carried the glasses over to
table In cool corner Of the cafe. where
there was an electric fan playing and
then we began to put away a whole large
number of beers between US. After we'd
had eight beers apiece 1 remembered that
was out for some luncheon. and he said
he was bit bitey. too, and so we each had
large plateful of frankfurters and sauer-
krant, with more beer. After disposing
another half hour and drank beer
When we parted. at about haIf-past one
O'Clock. had counted up fifteen beers that
my pitching friend. who was going to pitch
No mails fH.k H.
away.
Here said / to myself, when I'd sep
arated from my pitching friend. is where
1 get a little bet down. / like that boy a
whole lot. and he sure Is a marvellous
tosser when he's right, but I'm not going
to let a liking interfere with getting
piece OF the change I'm on the job when
1t comes to getting a silver Of coin down
On something that looks real good and this
looks most inviting to little sunlocks That
pitching boys had fifteen beers Probably
he'll drop In somewhere and have three or
four more before he gi.des into his uni
form and goes out to the park In the bus
to warm up. Now, 1t doesn't seem reason
able to me that any boy, no matter how
clever and husky, can pitch any kind OF
game OF ball when he has fifteen twenty
maitlnes under his surcingie. 1t can't be
did He'll be walloped and fed to the pigs
as soon as he gets up and tries to lob ,em
over Me to go after sucker and plant a
little bet with him on the home team
And Immediately got busy. hunting
up mark Found one without the least
trouble. right In the cafe-friend of mine
who likes to bet on the games
nat are you laying me against the
Nationals today? / asked him. and real
off-hand he replied. One and a half to
one
You're on said I, and I slipped him a.
twenty.
Thirty to twenty said he handing
over my 20 and his $50 to the proprietor Of
the care Fnats soft twenty for me
won't do thing but buy me a whole lot
OF Enpressionistic summer haberdasherv
And. dye know. although / couldn't re-
strain certain inner gloatiness felt like
2, mean Deg to take advantage Of friend
Who's going to lob for the other
team? he asked me-
Il named the pitcher with whom I'd
been beering up only few minutes before
ohoFs said he; I guess that makes 1t
Dad Tor me! OhoP for he knew what a
swell pitcher the man was with whom I'd
done the mailing
Then again 1 felt like somebody gougins
with myself that everything is fair tn
base ball and politics and felt pretty sure
that he'd have done the same to me had
the thing been framed up on his side.
way out to the ball yard.
It's no wonder, said to myself that
these pitchers show such erratic work and
away for his club by sousing up on beer
right before the game. I shouldn't think
ball players would take chances like that
II was in fear that the manager of his
club might discover that he'd been suddsing
up on beer before the game and keep him
out of the box, but no. When got to the
park there he was, warming up hard for
his go-in. But he looked mighty red In the
face and felt perfectly confident that he'd
get pounded of the mound in the first in
ming.
And that'H be about sufficient
'The Nationals got just three gummy
little hits off him. and his control was abb
solutely perfect. He naked 'em up like a
Jap Juggling fans and knives and parasols
and rabbits and there wasn't a minute In
the game that he stood a chance to lose.
He shut the Nationals out with the most
perfect ease.
That's what / got for trying to beat
somebody to IT. Excuse me for a minute
while I go and organize myself into the
Washington branch of the Self-made
Come-Ons League win your"
Not Bad, but Doubtful.
From the New York Tribune.