Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-16
TALES OF EARLY
BASE BALL DAYS
Talk With Charlie Bennett,
King of 0Id-Time
Catchers.
GnarIed and Twisted Hands
Now Employed Paint
ing on China.
George Gregory, ". Ernest

OIFce cOuHteQ highest among the WOTlQ
greatest catchers. a wonderful athlete and
mighty student Of base ball Charley Ben
nett today finds his greatest joy in doing
exquisite color work on china, says the
Detroit News-Tribune.
Seldom has there ever been a more re-
markable contrast in tastes. AS a youth
he loved the life of the diamond, the ex-
element of fiercely-contested game, the
shrieks of the gathered fans as with
| blood-stained. battered hands he caught
the catapultic shoots of Clarkson and
other giants of the twirling box with mar
velous dizziness. Today he seeks the quiet
of his ideal little home. i1
Those gnarled and twisted fingers the
bones of which were SO broken in the early
days of gloveless base ball, today execute
china painting, the delicate coloring of
which wins admiration wherever his pieces
shown.
In his prime. back twenty years ago,
Bennett gained fame that has lived all
these years because of his wonderful play
Ing, his endurance and gameness and his
headwork. He started in Newcastle, Pa,
and played with Boston and Detroit It
was here that he gained his greatest
glory.
Today backstops are amply protected
from the speed of a singing ball going
wild. or fouling of the bat. In Bennett s
early days the catcher stood behind the
bat Drawing the foul tips that plowe, into
his ribs with nothing to break their force
no wire mask saved the face from ball
DETECTED by the bat.
But 1t was the hands that suffered most
They were left to be pounded into Jelly
Benefits hands, now gnarled monstrosi-
ties. go to show how notwithstanding de-
vices make the life of today's backstops
comparatively easy one.
When Charley Bennett was king of the
CatcherS nerve the re- Of
catcher. Bennett had this. and combined
with it his skill and head work. and a
wonderful throwing arm So swift was
his speed to second that base-stealing
with him in the game was almost a use
less art
Bennett would play. heated with his pas
sion for the game. until the blood from
his hands would stain the ball. In fact IL
was one Of the few ways they could ever
learn that the great catcher was injured.
James Hart. the retired president of the
Chicago Club. who in Benefits days
handled the Boston team. voices the sentf-
ment of the fans who knew and idolized
him when he declares that Bennett was
the gamest man that ever stood behind a
bat.
MANY times 1 have seen him playing
with mad desperation, hiding the fact that
he was hurt until the pitcher would notice
the blood-stained ball. says Hart "One
display of this kind I shall never forget
1t was the last game Of the season of 1899
at Pittsburg. New York and Boston were
a game apart. It meant tie for us if
New York beat Cleveland and we could
manage to beat Pittsburg.
"Clarkson was pitching that day. He
was at his best. Every man on the team
was strained to the highest pitch in the
determination to win that pennant Clark
son used all the skill that won him fame.
His speed at times was terrific Bennett
plying superbly. urged him on with his
great coaching.
Then in the third inning Garrison came
to me with troubled look on his hand
some face. Bennett was looking at him
half angrily. There were blood stains on
the ball
II called Bennett to the stand and asked
to see his hands. He stuck them behind his
back and refused to show me. l insisted
but he swore that he was all right.
Il called the great Mike Kelly In from
the outfeld and made Bennett retire. Two
weeks after that his hands were so sore
that he could hardly feed himself. 1 have
never dealt with better man in all my
base ball career"
1t was after the railroad accident that
robbed him of his legs that Bennett first
took up the art of china painting
II wanted something to do he explained
while talking in the dainty little parlor of
his home. II suffered so much pain and
grew so tired of reading that 1 thought 1
would try my hand at it. 1 took a fancy
to the work and have kept at it ever since.
I am out of business now, SO I devote
more time than ever to it. 1t is simply
my little pastime; don't do it except for
the enjoyment get from it."
Bennett, in his quiet way, still retains
the keen interest in the national game
Slowly, reluctantly at first, he fell into
reminiscent mood and told some odd little
stories that crossed him in his long base
ball career.
II see that Tim Hurst Is still In the
game" he observed with a quiet smile
when the umpires name was mentioned.
Tim always was a great fellow for get
ting in and out of trouble
And he certainly had enough. So did
any other umpire when he ran up against
men like Tahaau. Rurkett and McKean.