Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-18
STORIES Of BASE
BALL PLAYERS
BIZ HUGH s. FULLERTON.

BIZ HUGH s. FULLERTON.
Sadfe Houck. once one of the greatest or
diamond stars. Is working In Chicago. and
ne feels just young az he did when ne
starred at Washington. A few days ago
Sadie. with Frank Moynihan. dropped in
at the Criterion Theater, and on the stage
they saw John d. Griffin. the veteran actor
Well, il 1t isn't John Griffin" said Moy-
nihan.
What" whispered Sadie. excitediy. Not
JOHN Griffin Of Provfdence?"
II don't know whether he's from Provt-
dence or not" said Moynihan He has
been in the business SO long he probably
has forgotten where he came FROM
Il think 1 used to know him. said Sa-
die.
After the play Sadie remained waiting to
see Griffin. and when the actor came out
OF the theater Sadie rushed up to him,
shook hands, and said. why, hello, John!
I'm glad to see you"
You have the better OF me- sad Grimm,
Sadie.
Cant say that do" said the actor
watch, said Sadie. Then he stopped,
scooped a hot bounder made a quick throw
10 ilrst ran to the edge of the sidewalk,
as II to cover second, leaped into the air,
speared the ball with two fingers. alghted
ard touched the runner as he came down,
and then shot the imaginary ball to an
imaginary third base
The crowd thought Sadie had gone crazy;
and FOR minute Griffin stood as II he
shared the idea. Then suddenly some mo-
tlon revived his memory and running to
the veteran player, he grabbed him in his
arms and said: Well, darn my eyes, il it
isn't Sadie Houck"
X
Ihat goes to prove that bail players are
Identified by their motions-not by their ap-
pearance. Not one ball player in a thou
sand will be recognized on the street yet
every one. almost. in the grand stand
knows every player Identifying them by
their movements. their attitudes and char
acteristlc poses or the field.
There was case In Cincinnati once IN
when was witness. A man who claimed
to be ball player was arrested on suspl-
clon of a grave crime or which he claimed
to be innocent. When asked by the police
who could identify him he said that could
and they requested me to step over to the
central station and see him. The aibi he
offered was that he had been playing with
a semi-professional team at New-Nienna,
ONO, on the day the crime committed
at Cincinnati. He knew one In New
Vienna, having been hired to play with the
team that day, and the only person in Gin
cinnatt he said, who could identify him was
myself.
on the day he mentioned. going there to
see catcher named Stan Arthur perform,
and L had met several other players, but
of course had seen them only for few
minutes and when / came to identify the
man l was surprised and he dumfounded
because 1 could not identify him. L told
the police that his story hung together well,
but that had no recollection of ever hay
ing seen him before.
Il might know him in uniform I sug-
ge.sted.
ri
rowed an old uniform from Hck Carpenter
and the prisoner put 1t on. The moment
he moved in the uniform as If to scoop up
a ball l made the Identification positive.
He was the man who had played third
base in the country town.
TIE Chicago ball club ran into a manager
that was a manager out at Greeley, Col,
one fall on its way to the coast. The team
dropped off between cities to play the game
against Louisville, which was making the
trip with them. The prices were % cents,
80 cents and 81. Jim Hart was on the gate
selling tickets, and the crowd began to
stream in he was kept busy by scores of
people coming back to kick on their seats.
The kicks came so hard and so often that
he rushed up to investigate. The local
manager had arranged things beautifully.
For 81 the spectators got a seat in the
grand stand. For so cents they had seats
on the ground ana the 70 cents for
standing room The main trouble was that
the seats were directly behind the grand
stand and the standing room behind them
X X
In the good old days before Comiskey and
Johnson quarreled there was an organiZa-
ton of the best fellows earth that was
called the Western League. Not one except
Commy is left, for one after another they
have fallen before Johnson. LOTUS, Man
ming, kiililea and the others are out. But
they were grand days. And IN those days
there was a Western League meeting at
Milwaukee that should go down In history.
The meeting was a solemn and stately
one which lasted about thirty-five minutes
after a quorum could be dragged into a
room other than the bar room. Business
was conducted with great seriousness and
matters disposed of too fast for the secre-
tary to record. Finally Johnson said:
"rhere Is 81, lT2 in the treasury, collected
In fines and penalties during the season.
What shall we do with it?"
Move we divide it between the eight
clubs" said Manning.
Second" said some one.
The vote was taken and then Comiskey
arose.
Mr. Chairman" he said. Lotus Is not
hare | move that we take his share and
buy wine with it."
Second said Killilea.
''lt Is moved and seconded" said Johnson,
That we take the Columbus clubs share of
the $2172 and buy wine with 1t. All in
favor say aye"
And the vote was unanimous.