Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-04-28

.
That is the slogan In professional!
baseball.
Long ago read the story OF the
youth who, after making pickup of
a fly. catching the hall as 1t touched
the ground. was honest when the UNI.
pire appealed to him and said: mo.
cannot tell lie," and lost the
game, although he won an immortal
crown.
If he had been playing on n profess.
sional team he would have drawn Il
ten days notice before the next In.
ming.
AS n matter of fact the hall play.
ers of the professional teams OF
America will stop at nothing short OF
manslaughter to win n game-and
the same rule applies to college and
amateur athletics.
The object of baseball Is to win.
The meanest trick ever saw play.
ed won game for the team of vii.
mington, Ohio (now chiefly noted ns
the birthplace of G. Webb Murphy
from the team representing Lynch.
burg, Ohio.
In way the mean trick was retail.
iatlon Oh the part OF Wilmington for
past troubles. Lynchburg is the seat
OF big distillery and the storekeep.
ers, gaugers. and those fellows loved
baseball--and loved to win.is Like.
wise they were hospitable. Lynch
burg always had a good team. and al.
ways stood ready to hack It's team
with hie coin of the realm. And,
when the betting was lively, there
was sure to be doings.
Wilmington went there to play
game one spring. and backed It's club
to n fare.ye-well. The gaugers and
storekeepers invited the visiting team
to inspect the, distlllery and. while
there, showed them around, they
gave them samples"-which were
equivalent to knockout drops--and
lIynchburg won running away. The
return game was played at Whining
ton. and Wilmington won after hard
fight.
There was n barrel of money bet
on the deciding game, aud was In
Vited to take my life in my hands
and umpire.
The betting was something mar.
velous. All the butter money on all
the selves in Clinton and Highland
counties was wagered, and the poker
game suspended owing to stringency
in the money market. Everybody
postponed paying the grocery bill I'm.
TIL II was over.
Wilmington came down backed by
n Llg contingent. In vain the gaugers
invited the players to visit the dis.
tillery They staid In Puck Miller's
Hotel and drank nothing but Ice wa.
ter. and even refused that until the
manager had tasted II. The game
was for blood.
II happened that Lynchburg had a
pitcher who was pitcher. His name
was Charlie Plckerel, and he was one
of the best pitchers that ever put.
them across. But for one weakness
Pickerel probably would have been n
major league star. This weakness
was an odd one. He could not pitch
with his shoes on. Against easy
teams he went all right-but when
he had hard game he had to roll
q pair of socks down over his base
ball stockings, making soft mecca
sins, and then he could bend them
double, almost.
The game started, and Pickerei was
pitching for all that was In him. He
had speed, curves, slow one, and
he fielded in remarkable shape. The
score was nothing all in the fifth.
when Pickerel raped out a double
and Penny Dnmenil corked out a
triple to left and came home on a
bad throw.
They fought it, out on that line I'M.
til the seventh. Then Wilmington
was desperate. They could not hit
Pickerel at all. The second basemnn
held a whispered conversation on the
bench with man who stood to lose
$25-and the deed was done
Wilmington went ont in the seventh
on three strike outs. PlckerCl GER
tainly was good. But when the Wis.
itors took the field the pitcher and
the second haseman got busy Their
action rather puzzled me-bnt /
couldn't see that they were doing
anything wrong Lynchburg scored
twice more-and the crowd was Wild
with the score 6 to and only two
rounds to go.
Plckerel came ont, borrowed n
chew, and started to work. The first
ball he pitched he said "Ouch." and