The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-06-28

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tbs t~eiilAg OF The story ~ill te sesy
tatereatias Ralph at that tllae SIS
the rlltpr ot The itepuulieen. aad
he. los could get cut and pranoe
around ON the diamond Tho grounds
we're located IN those dana on th.
present site OF The Republican office.
the city hail and the library building
Mitchell had all other towns wiped
on the map with baseball enthusiasm
that car, and the succeeding 1t
years or nor have been just AS Quiet
in baseball as that one year Was the
other way. Here Is how Ralph tells
the story OF those renuo days OF
SIS:
Talk about your exhilarating base
ball experiences, the season of the
balmy summer of IS in the National
league of Observation-Disclosures was the
loud and sportive limit, Just imagine
a town of $500 people, booming I'M
der the impetus of a trainload of new
GattIarC Vnr 1nu fhot onf GO 49,,
thusiastic, not say crazy. over the ma
tional game as to organize eight dis
tinct baseball mines, naming them af-
ter the National league clubs of that
year-Detroit, Chicago, New York,
Boston and the rest-and play a reg
ular championship series.
There was just about enough real
material in town for two or three
fair mines of ball players and these
were distributed among the eight
clubs as equally as possible. The
games were pulled off every after
noon at 4:30 O'Clock, rain or shine,
were limited to five innings each and
every of them was for blood and
broken bones. The players ranged
from the 1S-year-old kid that drove
the express wagon and had a throw
ingarm like a young Clarkson up to
good old Judge Abbey, who had been
justice of the peace since before the
tlood-of 'S1-who was we'll past the
half century mark and slightly touch
with rheumatism, but who could
hold down first base like Perry Wer-
den, all but the kidding and kicking,
and who could hit the ball out far
enough for a lively youngster to
make two bases every time he went
to bat.
Personnel of the League.
The personnel of the leauge includ-
ed the two bankers of the town, the
all the druggists, grocers
and dry goods merchants, the officials
OF the land office, all of whom closed
places of business promptly at
4 p. m. to get out and practice, the
superintendent of the schools, two or
three preachers, a lawyer or two, al
though they were mostly too lazy and
on acting as official scorers,
the mayor and the city clerk, the ed
itor and, of course, several budding
doctors, only too glad of the oppor-
tunities afforded for first aid to the
injured, and for eXtemporaneous sur
gical clinics on the green grass.
The diamond was laid out accord
ing to the regulation plans and speci-
on a vacant half block Just
off the main business street, and while
the outfeld was a trife irregular
there was no fence to block the big
hitters, who only had to put the ball
into the street beyond the right
field to be sure of a clean home run.
When a long hit was made to the left
field the back windows of some store
had to suffer, but everybody Clipped
in at the end of the game and dam
ages settled on the spot. The
rear of Gales drug store suffered the
most, but as he sold most Of the balls
and bats to the league it was easy
to bulldoze him into a discount on
broken window panes.
Some Close Scores Made.
And there we're some close scores,
too, strange as it may seem with a
minority of basemen and fielders
who preferred to boot the ball into
submission instead of getting their
hands on it. The pitcher, catcher,
and, as a rule, the shortstop and one
or two basemen of each club had
some skill, and by passing the strong
batters, fooling the weak ones and
coaxing the venturesome to steal
bases it was easy for the battery to
control the situation and keep down
the score. There were a number of
clean shutouts during the series,
which extended over nearly three
months of play, and scores of z to 8,
5 to 8 and 2 to 1 were not infre-
quent.
Between the fellows who really
could play the game, those who
thought they could, but never did,
and those who knew they couldn't
and didn't try, there were some of
the weirdest stunts pulled off that
could be imagined-but all strictly
according to the rules of the game,
interpreted by some honorary con-
t%ributing member of the league with
a can opener and a Eastwood club.