Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-29
BY REVERE RODGERS.

One of the best as well as the most costly
instance of ringing in base ball or SUBJ
stituting experts for poor players was pulled
off In a little town about $50 miles from
Chicago, and the ringers on this occasion
were no other than Hutchinson, the great
Chicago pitcher, and my old friend, Malachi
Kittredge. In those days, with the White
Sox club, the Hutchinson-K ittredge bat
.ery was considered almost invincible.
Now, in the little town of Dawson or 10
be more exact, just outside of it, the Bank
ers' Association of Chicago had a club
house with golf grounds adjoining. They
also had a rafting good base ball diamond,
on which the younger bankers and the VII
layers had played many an exciting game.
AS usual thing. the ''rubes" put it on the
Impractical money-handlers, and this made
the agrfculturists exceedingly chesty, and
the homely jibes that they continually
threw into the city "fellers' made the Chi
cago boys writhe in anger. Then again, the
soil-tillers had copied good bit of the
bankers money as a result of the victories.
The Chicagoites determined to teach the
children of nature a lesson and at the same
time separate them from some or all of
their hard-earned coin.
So the crafty bankers formed themselves
into committee and, calling upon Kilt
redge and Hutchinson. declared that they
could and would not stand for the merry
haymakers' jests and chestiness any longer,
so a deal was framed up whereby Kit and
Hutch, for a certain generous amount or
the long green. would on the Following
Sunday pose as q couple OF fuiI-hedged
Chicago bankers, and as such would do
their utmost to smear defeat over the jean
clad lads.
All during that week the bankers Were
busily covering the yokels money, and the
coming game was the chief topic OF CONVEX,
sation throughout the country. So easy
had the bankers been heretofore that every
man or boy who could get his hands on
dollar was sure to bet 1t on the Dawson
team. Indeed, score or more farmers,
whose places were mortgaged, confidently
expected to clear off all the Indebtedness
and to restock their farms on the money
they would win on that days game.
To further inspire the rustics with con-
-, Kittredge and Hutchinson, decked
= II In flannel trousers and gaily-coloreo
outing shirts. topped off with the cutest
little willie boy tennis hats that could be
purchased In Chicago for money, were put
out on the lot in front of the farmers to
practice. And right here is where the fun
began, for kit" is a natural born actor
and mimic. So is Hutchinson, and as they
were both young and chock full of mis-
chief In those days, they acted the part OF
willie boys to the letter.
When Hutch" would throw the ball to
kit" he would send it up In the exact
way woman losses ball, using the same
ing the ball would dance around and wiring
his hands at the same time calling out to
Hutch, Dash take 1t, Percy, do not throw
them so hard; they sting like fury!"
Well, these two "cut ups" kept the vii
layers guffawing continually, by their man
ner of acting and their line of converse
ton. In the meanwhile the foxy bankers
were circulating among the rural gentry
and taking all the bets In sight. And they
were simply besieged with the same. For
all the countrymen had to do In order to
get their nerve up to the wagering point
was to take one look at the bankers bat
terry. This was enough.
To make the affair look like "einch''
for the rural club was the tip quietly given
out to the soil trimmers that the Dawson
team were going to work In a professional
battery--think of the dupiicity Of the
f.Reubens,'-on the unsuspeeting bankers.
These professionals were the kind you see
playing around at county fairs, and whom
the village papers, in all their rustic sim
plicity, compare to Lajote, Hans Wagner
and other great major leaguers.
This type Of player occupies high po-
sition in the estimation of his townspeopie
and talks and acts as If he really were
it, The battery that the Dawson folks
engaged were an unusually sassy and merr,
pair Of ball players, and when they saw