The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1906-07-05
THE OLDLFON MODOCS
Short Sketch of the Famous Old
Ball Team, Who Could WaIlop
Anything in Southern Iowa.

acknowledged National game, aggrega-
tions of ball experts that shed fame
upon the town and wrecked the reputa-
tions of the crack mines from the neigh
boring villages.
The first ball team organized in Leon
was was called the Modocs, presumably
because Capt. Jack and his Modoc
braves were at that time, in 1870, on the
war path and had attained reputation
as relentless scrappers, and the Leon
name sakes went after scalps of diff
ferent sort with the same reckless
abandon. The liue up of the original
Modocs as recalled by a charter member
of that famous nine was as follows:
L. P. sigler, pitcher.
W. P. Skeed, catcher.
John Wood, first base.
w. A. Kirkpatrick, second base.
John Darr, third base.
T. S. Arnold, short stop.
Jabe Tharp, right field.
" we AAOAbidh, SO1oSA lOlus
William Mills, left field.
Lyme Sigler was famous pitcher in
those days of the long arm swing, and
moved the opposing batters down re-
lentlessly, and if by accident one of
them happened to get hit, he was a
hero in his fellows eyes ever after even
if he was thrown out at first, or caught
out by the watchful braves in the field.
John Wood, usually referred to amongst
the ball fans as "John Bull, was never
known, but once, to let ball pass him
at first. That blot upon his otherwise
fair record was acquired at Decatur
City when pretty girl smiled at him
at the crucial moment, but the boys
forgave him as the score, when darkness
intervened and stopped the game, was
131 to 7-and Decatur City had z. Bill
Kirkpatrick at second could reach as
high as step ladder. The catcher
couldn't throw the ball over him, and
he literally covered more ground
than any three men in the team. John
Darr, who effectually guarded third,
was known amongst the boys as .'Jake
Darr" and was one of the strongest
batters on the talley sheet. His brother
players alleged that "Jake" knocked the
ball out of the lot because he didn't
want to run fast to make a score, but
that wasn't the reason,for when he made
one of his long hits, he would stand
upon the home plate and follow the ball
with his eye until it fell then he would
lay his bat down deliberately and yell
"kay -wow-zer" at the top of his voice
and amble down to first at his leisure.
Jabe Tharp was great on grand stand
plays and made spectacular catches
with one eye on the ladies, accompanied
by bow and a scrape in the direction
of the fair spectators. Cal Hoffman was
always there with the goods in center
field, and has been known to knock the
ball over the school house fence from
the home plate just west of V. r. Nc
Ginnis' house, and that was always good
for home run. Billy Mills wasn't any
slouch in left field either. He could
bat like fiend too and was one of the
best base runners in the bunch. w. P.
Skeed, the catcher was tall, long arm
ed, slim legged ball shark who would
rather play ball than eat cake-frosting.
He worked all sorts of snide plays on
his opponents, deluded the umpire into
recognizing finger snap fouls, and on at
least one occasion when the fates SEEM
ed to decree defeat for the Modocs,
he reached over and took the ball from
in front of the bat leaving the astonish-
ed batter nothing but thin air to strike
at.
I. S. Arnold was dandy short-stop,
picking up grass-cutters and gathering
in hot liners with an ease that caused
wondering comment. When throwing
to first Tome was almost dramatic. He
waited until the victim was within a
stride of the base and then fired the
ball into John Woods paws much to the
disgust of the hopeful runner.
The Modocs ramped up and down
this section of the state challenging the
known world and accepting all games
offered. They played Lineville, Osceola
Garden grove, Akron, Decatur City and
a number of other ball clubs and were
the undisputed champions of this Sec
tion of the state. Amongst some of the
notable games was one played in corn
field at Lineville, when the corn was so
high that home plate was invisible from
the pitchers box, and most of the long
afternoon was spent hunting lost balls.
After trouncing the LinevilIe boys at
base ball, Will Jennings, of Garden
Grove, was backed against Bob Rock
hold in foot race and ran away from
him, to the finandial detriment of the
Lineville sports.
Another hot game was with Akron.
The Modocs ran in 13 tallies before the