Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-25

than an American guy who had to work down
| there comes in an says:
:" If you want to keep your record clean,
an your reputation as ball players you better
cut out this town.
why? we all wanted to know.
Because says he, they use sugar cane
bats. Amt you ever heard of it?'
We told him no; to go ahead and tell us
what the answer was. We said good American
hickory bats good enough for us.
Yes says this American party, they're
good enough in the States; but these guys
here gets trimmed. Why? Because this San
Luis outfit uses sugar bats.
:" You see he went on, if the sugar cane
bats was seasoned and scraped and vanished
like Your bats, they might be all right; but
these fellers use em just nature made EN-,
and long about the fourth inning OF every
game when the play gets hot the molasses
begins to ooze out o them sticks. And 1t
gets the ball sticky, and the visiting teams
pitcher can't curve it, and their helderS can t
throw it, and the result IS they go all to pieces
and lose the game. That's why II you want
to save your regulations you better sldeStep
this place. You can't beat EN- Them sugar
cane clubs never fail
I'VE thought it was a mighty interesting
yarn he was giving us; but nobody minded
him much Lots o people hurled bunk at us
like that, to how good the home nine was
in every place that we went, and then we d
go out the grounds in the afternoon and
wallop EN- regular 30 we weren't AFRAID
and as there was a good bunch o money IN
sight, the place being nearly crazy. over its
great ball nine, the manager wouldn't have
agreed if all the players in creation had en-
treated him to let them save their regulations.
Bats Used in Cuba
CURE enough, the Cubans came on to the
- field armed with sugar cane bats-sticks
lust cut out O the woods, they looked like,
straight and true, with piece o bicycle tire
tape wound round each to give grip; only
some of EN- didn't have that, the players
that used EN- declaring that the molasses
that oozed out gave EN- the best Igrip, and
saved 'em splitting on their hands.
81 was pitching, and | didn't give EN-
chance to hit much for hggered that II the
ball got sticky later we'd need all the lead we
could get We keep two runs ahead OF EN-
until the sixth inning, and then, sure enough
our bows began to throw wild, and began to
have more and more trouble in placing the
curves where they couldn't hit EN-. I'm ny
couldn't curve EN- at all, the balls got SO 1uu
O. glucose, and as fast as we called tor new
one it'd get worse than the one before 1t; tor
everybody's hands were sticky, and the sugar
cane bats were just warming up to their work
I'VE saw our only chance was to bat It out,
and lit on the Cuban pitcher hard; but you
can't bat out game where sixteen errors are
made every inning; and when the ninth inning
began we were three runs behind. A triple,
base on balls, and muffed fly gave us two
tallies, and then the next two men tanned.
With a man on second base, it was up to Long
Arm Leary to win the game; and then Long
Arm pulled off one o those bralny tricks tor
which he is noted. He came to the plate with
a sugar cane bat.
Yes, Stree, he'd figgered that if those
sticks made us make errors, they might make
the home team make errors too, and here he
was taking a chance. We all got bats and
lined up to root the coachers began to talk
Spanish to the pitcher and the crowd talked
Spanish and Cuban and everything else back,
telling him to strike out the guy with the
gorilla arms.
Leary Gets His Chance
STRIKE out Leary? What chance We
~ saw the old man meant business when he
tapped the plate with that club; and we
weren't mistaken, for he let out on the second
ball pitched with swing that would make
Sokemout Suggs turn green with envy.
Bang! the shock Jared the clouds over
our heads. Long Arm dropped his bat. dug
for first; the runner second dug for home;
and the San Luis felders began running around
like lot O. chickens with their heads off
looking for the ball.
And where was the ball? The man coming
home rounded third, Leary rounded first, and
the crowd was going CraZy. Victory was in