Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-15
PLAYERS DEMAND
PERFECT AVERAGES
DIAMOND EXPERTS READY
WITH EXCUSES
Pebble Gag Is Old as Hills, Though
Many Unique Reasons Are Given
for Failure to Accept
Chances

In recounting past performances of
ball players, Hugh S. Fullerton, the
diamond expert, refers to the antipathy
which all players have of owning up
to an error.
No ball player ever made an error.
AT least If each player was permitted
! to be official scorer for himself. his
fielding average would be 1000.
No one unless he has been official
! scorer can imagine how many reasons
there are that a ball player does not
get the ball. There is reason for
every error and every ball muffed or
fumbled is an impossible chance.
1T hit a pebble"
"The sun got in my eyes"
ut took a bad bound"
Il was going the other direction to
cover the base when it was hit"
The wind made it shoot crooked"
These are the five principal reasons
assigned by players when they want to
Justify themselves in making an error
! or misplay-but there are others-al-
most as many others as there are mis-
plays
One of the funniest excuses I ever
| heard was true. 1t happened on the old
eastern park grounds at Brooklyn.
llciuNdy was pldyllS center IOT
Brooklyn when some one cracked a
long line drive straight at him. 1t
seemed a sure putout 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 suddenly
swerved, jumped sideways, appeared
to be trying to go two ways at once,
and finally made a desperate jump at
the ball, missed it, and let it roll away
for a home run.
Bee Stines Fielder
Everybody in the press box thought
that the sun had blinded Treadway and
caused him to misjudge the ball. After
wards he explained it. 1t appears that,
just as the ball was hit, bee landed
on his leg. The sting of the bee dis
tracted his attention-and he forgot the
ball until too late.
Barry Mccormick, who should have
been the best ball player 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
sad "a gnat flew into my eye, and 1
never saw the ball at all until after it
nit my Snl1lS ana TOlleu away.
But the prize excuse maker was a
young fellow who used to play with the
old Boston team when it was gathering
in pennants as fast as the seasons
rolled around.
In a close game one afternoon he at
tempted to bunt. The game depended
upon whether or not he laid down a
bunt He screwed weak fly to the
infield-and the game was lost.
"What do you think Of that guy?" he
asked afterward.
"Who?"
"Why, that fellow Clements? Didn't
you see him."
mo What did he do?''
Didn't you see him rub grease on
my bat?'
Groundkeepers know better than any
others the excuses of ball players They
are called upon to sweep, scrub, soften,
harden, smooth and roughen 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 a little finger means
week of chiding-if the player happens
to make an error.
Carries Pebbles
There was one Chicago player who
used to carry a pocket full of pebbles
that he would scatter around him after
he had fumbed ball. and another one
used to cut up the ground with his
spikes so that he could show his fel-
lows where the ball struck when 1t
took a bad bound / know another one
who used to tear the leather on the
fingers of his glove after he fumbled
ball, to show how hard 1T was hit.
They have all sorts Of excuses.
1t is a fact that a piece of chewing
gum that "Dopes" Wolverton threw
away once won a game for Chicago
from Cincinnati, and an eleven inning
game at that.
1t was in the eleventh inning at Gin
cinnati. Chicago had scored in the
first half of the inning, and, with man
on third and one out, Jake Beckley
rolled a bunt towards third. The bunt
was fair by six inches, and Beckley,
having caught Wolverton asleep, was
safe by yards. Wolverton saw that 1t
was useless to try to catch the runner
at first and decided to let the ball roll,
hoping against hope that 1T would roll
foul.
AS he ran in Woverton spit out
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 on to foul ground
On the next effort Beckley popped up
foul, the next man went out, and Chi
cago won.
unpcEc Tn OWNERS