Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-09-04
BASEBALL STORY
 THAT'S A C0RKER
How Foxy Manager of Mining Camp Ball Team Disguised Himself, Fooled the Pitcher and Knocked the Ball Out of Sight, Winning the Game.

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 of considerable interest to local fans:
 Over in Cleveland, during the last
 series with the Maps, says the Chicago
 Tribune, group of Sox that had con
 gregated at the Hollenden, were dis
 cussing the relative merits of the diff.
 ferent major league managers, when
 Frank lsbell, the Sox s great utility
 man, broke in with: "Well, it all
 right to eoncede q great deal to Mugsie
 McGraw, Connie Mack and Ned Han.
 lon, but n tell you that, back in '95,
 in the Iron Range league of northern
 Minnesota, I went against a manager
 that for all round smoothness, foxiness
 and long headcdness, could give them
 cards and spades and beat them nine
 games out of ten.
 It was this way: The big game of the year in that country was the Fourth
 of July game, which, in '95, was pulled
 off in Virginia, Minn., at that time one
 of the hottest mining camps in the
 country l was pitching for Virginia
 and had for opponents team from
 Tower, Minn., another mining camp,
 located about ten feet from the Cana dian line. The Towers had a bunch of miners that could hit the ball in way that was something frightful. But I had been against them several times, and had their weak points down so that I olu ab t, cg them like so many children. These Towers had recently put in new man. ager. Fl never forget him; it was fellow named Mike Mccarthy, a man. ager of a mine in that country at the time, who knew the game from A to Izzard.
 On the day of the great game I no- ticed, with q great deal of satisfaction, that Mccarthy had not changed a sin gle man on his lineup. This struck me as being singular at the time, and what appeared more singular was the avidity with which the Tower camp was absorbing all the money offered on the Virginias, the league leaders.
 l had already strung my earnings of about three months on the game-no inconsiderable amount, as a good pitch. CT did not have to have money in that country-and went around and touched" my friends for little more, which l also strung on the game, as I felt it was easy money, and as winter was coming on, wanted to make ''kill- ing on the game.
 "The miners had just been paid off in both camps, and the Tower bunch was going after the Virginia money like eastern touts would go after Peter Pan at ten to one.
 Well, the game began, and my ab- solute knowledge of the weak points of the opposing batters was doing me ye- oman service. In fact, I was already spending the money l had put up on the game, when, about the seventh inning, they began to run in what seemed to be new players to me. Not being on to their weak points, had to guess and feel my way ont, with the result that in that inning was "stung' for two earned runs. In spite of that, when the Towers went to bat in the last half | of the ninth inning, the Virginias were threc to the good.
 And right then and there was where Mccarthy 'put it over on me, and in cidentally enriched his Tower followers to the extent of six or seven thousand dollars of real money.
 Marry a man whom I had ever seen before came to the bat in that last half | of the ninth, and my attempts at guess ing what wouldn t please them host had only resulted in leaving the bases full, with two down, when mp stepped the queerest ball tosscT you ever saw. He was as broad as he was long, with pow erful underpinning, and fiery red hair and moustache, and withal a perfect picture of akward clumsiness. As he took his position in the batter's box, with a few preliminary fourishes with the bat that unmistakably indicated that he would simply murder a low ball. l immediately said to myself, 'Old head, if you get low one from me, it Fl be because l have broken my arm, and concluded to put over fast, straight, high one, to put him in the hole as soon as possible. Say, in all your born days, you never saw so quick a trans as happened the moment I let go of that fast, straight, high one; for, prestol that picture of awkward ness was the trained athlete, manager and second basemen of the Towers, heaviest hitter in the league, whose spe- eialty was fast, straight high ones. He crouched like a tiger ready to spring on his prey, his enormous muscles stiff ened, and meeting the ball squarely, gave it such tremendous swat that I don t believe they have found it yet.
 The Tower contingent let out tre- cheer for Mccarthy, and I why they didn't cheer the man who made the hit
 was soon 'wised' for going up to the man who had made the hit, who should find it to be but with his red wig and false in one hand, and busy shak- |