The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-07-15
BALL PLAYERS
MANY EXCUSES
Official Scorers Hear Tales of
Woe Whenever Error Is
( ChaIked Up.
BY HUGH S. FULLERTON.


No ballplayer ever made an error At
least, if each player was permitted to be
official scorer for himself, his fielding av-
erage would be 1000.
, No one. unless he has been official scor-
er. can imagine how many reasons there
are that balplaye~ does not get the ball.
every ball muffed or fumbled is an i'm
possible chance
1T hit a pebble"
The sun got in my eyes"
1T took bad bound"
II was going the other direction to COW
er the base when it was hit"
The wind made it shoot crooked"
These are the five principal reasons as
signed by players WHEN they want to JUS
ufy themselves in making an error or
misDlay-but there are otheTs-almost as
many others as there ale misplays.
When Bee Stung Treadway.
One of the funniest excuses ever heard
was true. 1t happened on the old Eastern
park grounds at BROOKLYN Treadway
was playing center for Brooklyn when
some one cracked long line drive straigh6
at him. 1t seemed a sure put-out and an
easy catch, although the ball was hit
hard. Treadway had but few feet to
run to place his body squarely In front of
the ball. He went jogging over, then sud
denly swerved, jumped sideways, appeared
~
finally made desperate jump at the ball,
missed It, and let it roll away for home
run.
Everybody in the press box thought that
the sun had blinded TreadWay and
caused him to misjudge the ball. After
ward he explained it. Ii appears that
just as the ball was hit, bee landed on
his leg. The sting of the bee distracted
his attention-and he forgot the ball until
too late.
Gnat Flew in His Eye.
Barry Mccormick. who should have
been the best ballplayer that ever lived
and wasn't, put up an excuse once that
was wonder. In a close game and at
the crisis of the game, he fumbled an
easy bounder and let the winning run
score
Just as l started for the ball" he said.
"a gnat flew into my eye, and ! never
saw the bail at all until after it hit my
shins and rolled away
But the prize eXcuse-maker was young
fellow who used to play with the old
Boston team when IL was gathering in
pennants as fast as the seasons rolled
around.
In close game one afternoon he at
tempted to bunt The game depended
He screwed a weak fly to the infield-
and the game was lost.
What do you think of that guy?" he
asked. afterward
why that fellow Clements, Didn't
you see him.
No. What did he do?"
Didn't you see him rub grease on my
bat?"
Trouble of Ground Keeper.
Groundkeepers know better than any
others the excuses of ballplayers. They
are called upon to sweep. scrub, soften
harden. smooth and Toughen the ground
for certain players every day during the
season. They are asked to pour water on
one spot and Dry out another. They are
asked to put new top dressing on short
stop and sweep it off second base, and
the finding of one piece of gravel as big
as the end of little finger means week
of chiding-if the player happens to make
an error.
There was one Chicago player Who used
to carry a pocketful of pebbles hat he
would scatter around him after he had
fumbled a ball. and another one used to
cut up the ground with his spikes so that
he could show his fellows where The ball
struck when il took bad bound. ! know
another one who used to tear the leather
on the fingers of his glove after he fun
bed ball, to show how hard it was hit.
They have all sorts of excuses.
1t is a fact that a piece of chewing gum
that ''Depes" Wolverton threw away once
won q game for Chicago from Cincinnati,
and an eleVen-inning game at that.
1t was in the eleventh inning a, Ciucin-
natl. Chicago had scored in The first half
Of the inning, and, with a man on third
and one out, Jake BeckIey rolled a ount
toward third. The bunt was fair by six
inches, and Beckley, having caught VOL
verton asleep. was safe by yards. VOL
verton saw that it was useless to try to
catch the runner at first and decided to
let the ball roll, hoping against hone that
it would roll foul, AS he ran in Wolver-
ton spit cut a wad of chewing gum, and
as he stood over the ball watching it roll
he was astounded to see it strike against
the wad of gum and. with its last gasp,
roll across the line onto foul ground. On
the next effort Beckley popped up foul,
the next man went out, and Chicago won.