The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-22
PLAYERS NEVER
LACK EXCUSES
Always Ready With One When
Stupid Play Is Made
BlameS Scorers.


At least, if each player was permitted
TO be official scorer for himself his
fielding average would be 1000.
No one, unless he has been official
scorer. can imagine how many reasons
there are that a bail player does not
get the ball. There is reason for
every error. and every ball muffed or
fumbled is an impossible chance.
1T hit pebble"
The sun got in my eyes"
1t took a bad bound"
Il was going the other direction TO
cover the base when it was hit"
The wind made ii shoot crooked"
These are five principal reasons as
signed by players when they want to
justify themselves in making an error
or misplay; but there are others-al-
most as many others as there are mis-
plays.
One of the funniest excuses ever Of
fered which was true happened on the
old Eastern park grounds at Brooklyn
when someone cracked a long line
drive straight at Treadway. II seemed
a sure putOut and an easy catch. al
though the BAH was hard hit. Tread
way had but a few feet to run to place
his body squarely in front of the ball.
He went jogging over, then suddenly
swerved to go two ways at once and
finally made d desperate jump at the
ball, missed it, and let it roll away for
a home run.
Everybody in the press box thought
that the sun had blinded Treadway
and caused him to misjudge the ball.
AfterWard he explained it, II appears
that just as the ball was hit a bee
landed on his leg. The sting of the bee
distracted his attention and he forgot
the ball until too late.
X X =
Barry Mccormick, who should have
been the best ball. player that ever
lived and wasn't, put up an excuse
once that WAS a wonder. In a close
game and at the crisis of the game he
fumbled an easy bounder and let the
winning run score.
Just as ] started for the ball." he
said, "a gnat flew into my eyes. and I
never saw the bah at all until it hit my
shins and rolled away"
X x !;
But the prize excuse maker was a
young fellow who used to play with
the old Boston team when ii was gath
ering in pennants as fast as the sea-
sons rolled around.
tempted to bunt. The game depended
upon whether or not he laid down
hunt. He screwed a weak fly to the
inf1eld-and the game was lost
What do you think of that guy?" he
asked afterward.
WhO?"
why. that fellow Criger. Didn't you
see him?"
No. What did he do?"
Didn't you see him rub grease on
my bat?"
Groundkeepers know better IN any
others the excuses Of ball players.
They are called upon to sweep. scrub,
soften, harden, smooth and roughen the
ground for certain players every day
during the season. They are asked to
pour water on one spot and dry out
another. They are asked to put new
top dressing on shOrtstOp and sweep it
off second base, and the finding of
piece OF gravel as Dig as the end of
little finger means "a week of chiding-
If the player happens to make an error.
X x x
There was one Washington PLAYER
who used TO carry a pocketful of peb-
bles that he would scatter around him
after he had fumbled ball, and an
other one used TO cut up the ground
with his spikes so that he could show
his fellows where the ball struck when
il took bad bound. There was an
other who used to tear the leather on
the finger of his glove after he FUN
bled ball, to show how hard it was
hit. They have all sorts of excuses
x Z =
1t is a fact that a piece of chewing
sum that "DOpes" WOlverton threw
away once won a game for Chicago
from Cincinnati, and an eleven
game at that.
1t was in the eleventh inning at Gin
cinnati. Chicago had scored in the first
half of the inning and, with a man on
third and one out. Jake Beckley rolled
bunt toward third. The bunt was
fair by six inches. and Beckley, hav-
ing caught Wolverton asleep. was safe
by yards Wolverton saw that it was
useless to try TO catch the runner at
first and decided to let the ball roll.
hoping against hope that il would roll
foul AS he ran in, WOlYertOn spit out
a Wad of chewing gum. and as he stood
over the ball, watching it roll he was
astOunded to see il strike against the
Wad of gum, and with its last gasp ron
across the line on foul ground. On the
next effort BeckIey popped up a foul.
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