Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-06-29
oHor@R@4@ror@r0HO<N
/ NTH
CAN He RUN ?
WELL | GUESS 5!
McCune, the Perth AmbOy Teams
Catcher, Says He Beat the )
Ball Around the Bases.

All of the fans who go to Amuse-
ment Park on Sundays know that
Hughey McCune, the catcher and
captain of the Perth Amboys, can run
pretty fast ON the base lines, but
Hughey claims to have accomplished
a base-running feat which, If true,
should go down in crimson letters in
the annals of sport.
McCune made his boast the other
night in a Trenton sporting head
quarters before a group which in
cluded several of the Amboy players.
1T was this way" said McCune.
"a couple of seasons ago | was hired
to catch a game down in New Egypt.
They had an umpire down there who
was simply the worst that ever shot
down the chutes. He didn't know
the first thing about the game-on
the level, he couldn't tell the differ
ence between a fair ball and a rotten
tomato. He made up this rule: IL
the ball hit a base rune he was out,
no matter whether it was a thrown
ball or a batted ball. Amt that the
whole limit?
well, along in the last of the
game no one had scored and a single
run looked as big as a bank roll.
The captain came to me as | went to
bat and told me to bunt. dumped
the ball down right in front of the
plate and dug out for the first cor
ner. If Arthur Duffy ever tore up
the dirt any faster than | was doing,
then the records don't say anything
about it. / glanced I'VE my head
about half way down to the bag and
saw the ball coming on a line about
three feet behind me. 1t would sure
ly hit me in the middle of the back
If nothing stopped it, and under the
ruling of that fool of an umpire
would be out. / put on more steam
and plugged right along expecting
every minute to feel that ball cork
masin the back, but it didn't. | reach
edlfirst base and was going so fast |
icouldn't stop, and so | kept right on
for second. | heard the $4,000 spec
tators yelling like crazy men and
again | looked back. There was the
ball right behind me. The first base
man had caught it after | beat 1t to
that sack and had thrown it after me
to second. I thought it vas all off
this time, but | kept up my wonder
full sprint. Past second ] dashed and
on to third, and once more the crowd
roared. Back | looked and still the
ball was after me, but this time 1T
was sailing directly for my head. |
ducked down a bit, but let up
in my pace. / beat that ball to third
and went for the plate. The specta-
tors were now all around the field OF
play throwing up their hats and
shouting like Indians. For the last
time | looked around. The third
baseman had hurled the ball to the
catcher. 1t was a beautiful throw, a
little to my right. The ball caught
up to me and then the final twenty
feet | ran that throw a neck and neck
race to the plate. My slide landed
me safe at the joy spot with the re-
markable record of running complete
ly around the bases faster than the
players could throw the ball. The
thing was so wonderful that a snap
shot was taken of me as / was going
from first to second. The camera
cannot lie, so you fellows will have
to believe what it tells you"
Hugh then took from his pocket a
photograph which was handed around
the party and after carefully inspect
ing 1t no one had a word to say. Ev-
erything that McCune claimed was
true according to the photograph and
instead of being the lice wagon" or
an applicant for a crib in the "Old
Ladies' Home" he was really the
worlds champion Splinter and base
runner.