Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-23
By Clarence L. Cullen.

every time ne happens 10 FeHeHDeE tHe
circumstances of the occasion when he
first broke into fast company as a finger.
This was in Cleveland, in the autumn Of
1902 and Smith was then bit under
twenty-one. But he was just as lank, and
as lean. and long then as he Is this
morning and he had what he felt to be
potential whip fastened on to the right
side OF his person even then, although he
was extremely modest as to the possibilities
of that appendage. He'd been tossing for
various little Independent Cleveland clubs
that made forays upon the lots of small
Ohio towns.
why" said Charlie. in telling about this.
81 used to make as high as sl.35 pitching
a game for one of those Uncle Tommer
clubs. | sure did
Sometimes. however. he didn't get any
thing at all for his work as a pitcher for
the Grip Leagr'a' OF little outfits that he
worked for. and when the fall of 1902 drift
ed along he wasn't there with the price
of much.
= Il don't mind saying in strict confidence"
he told me the other day. that my panta-
looms were all to the fringe when my
chance came along. They were in such
shape. in fact. that felt a whole lot less
embarrassed when 1 was sitting down"
Bill Armour who managing the
Cleveland club at the time, heard about
Smith. and he had secretly watched him
ming with one OF the Nttle UtOutS one AFTER
noon. After seeing him work Bill had
asked Smith to turn up at practice time
and work out with the Cleveland club Ar
mour wanted to what the young fellow
had a real ball yard.
Such Modesty.
But Smith was too bashful to project him
self on to the lot of the Cleveland club for
practice. He knew that he didn't have a
bad sort of a wing. but he wasn't braggy
or swelled UP about 1t. and he didn't care
20 stand for the jeers. jbes and japes of
the Cleveland stars In case he should suf-
fer from stage fright at practice and put
nothing but the lobby ones down to the
catch.rs' mitts. Bill Armour used to meet
up with Smith occasionally and reproach
him for not giving himself the chance of
being tried out for the main show. but
Charlie hung back. He was as modest in
those days as bit OF trailing arbutus under
a rock. and he isn't one Of the assertive
ones yet. when 1t comes to that
There came a day, the Clevelaads playing
series on the home lot. when Armour's
pitchers were all in awful shape Hess and
Moore down and out with serious injuries
and the others put away and out of the
question for work owing to minor damages
to their fins. The worst of it was the Ath-
letics were due to go up against the Cleve-
land club that day. and Rube Waddell was
slated to do the heaving for the Connie
Mack outfit. Bill Armour was in a panic
He had a lot of rookie pitchers along with
him. but none of them had made good. and
all were scheduled to be liked back to the
minors. Bill. however, having no choice,
was resolved upon working of his colt
pitchers that afternoon. merely to get
through with the game. and with no hope on
earth of getting anything.
An immense crowd was on hand to see
the RUDE work for the Athletics Among
those present was Charlie Smith-in the
blea cheers.
Somebody had paid my way in" says
Charlie. for if the price of admission
had been cents I'd have been pinched for
false pretensas if I'd shown up at the
bleachers gate
While the two clubs were warming up
somebody tipped Bill Armour off that Smith
was somewhere in the bIeachers and Ar
mour instantly hot-footed across the lot to
find the lanky one. Charlie was munching
somebody else's peanuts when Armour dug
him up.
Hey. you. Smith,. said Armour-right
like that-"come out O. that. I'm going
to work you against the Rube today"
There was an immense burst of laughter
from the bleachers. They all thought Bill
was making game of the lanky one.
strung, even then.
Hustle. now. and get into a uniform"
went on Armour Look herei can't you
see that I'm not fooling? There's no time
to iose-don't sit there gaping at me like
II felt like boiling for 1t over the top Of
the bleacher fence" says Smith. especially
Wnen L remembered tndl the huDe was gong
to work for the other fellows. Then. all
of sudden. the little whisperer that tips
all of US off right at least once in our lives
buzzed into my ear. Take the chance;
to win don't let yourself be stampeded:
take wallop at IT
Did a Merry Sidestep.
SO Smith hoped from the bleachers on
to the grounds and followed Bill Armour to
the clubhouse.
II remember that I walked sort o. side
ways in trudging across the lot with Bill.
for l afraid the kidders in the stand
might catch sight of certain-er-wel, tar
get bull s-eyes more or less intimately con-
nected with my trousers, and l always did
hate these jokes on the poverty question"
There was no time to waste and Charlie
crawled into the first uniform that Bill
dshed out to him. 1t was made for a
dumpy man. that uniform. and 1t was
quite a lot shy of connecting with Charles
stockings, whereas. the tunc of II bulged
in front like jibsail on a racing sloop.
But 1t was almost time for the game to be
called. and there was no chance for delay.
There was a big howl of laughter when
Charlie. in the funny uniform, paraded out
u the slab at the call of time.
~ looked like something on the back
page of the comic supplement. l know
that" says Smith. but the stringing they
gave me only made me ugly and frightened
me up. l was determined to go the best
L COulu from the minute tneS DeSdH 10 manu-
II out to me-"
smith will do the pitching for Cleve-
land" the umpire called up to the press
box and. nobody in the press box had
ever heard of Smith. there was a great
buzz of conversation up there. They were
there with funnineSs over the name of
Smith all over the stand in fact.
Thus was 1t rugged, and the whole affair
looking like joke. when the game began.
Just five minutes later. though. things
were very different. The three lead-off
men in the Athletics batting order had
waltzed up to the plate with grns. only
to be whitfield in one. two. three order by
the ianky man by the name Of Smith.
"Hooray for Smith, yee-ow." was the
howl then and Charlie trudgad back to the
bench to find the big mitt of Bill Armour
waiting for him. and he felt the congratu-
latory pats on the back from his fellow
players that make ball player feel that
life Is worthing something after all
They touched Charlie up some as the
game progressed. rolling up four runs
against him. Then the Cleveland outfit be-
gan 10 slug Larry Lajoie started it off In
the ninth inning with a three-bagger. and
a couple of others got on, and then Charlie
Hickman damned 1t up against the fence
for three sacks. cleaning up. Charlie Hick-
man and another man got home in that In
ring. and there was the great Rube Wad-
dell walloped. ) to 4. by man who had
tfNt,