The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-24
USED PHOSPHORUS
 ID FINISH GAME. Which Lasted For Fifty-Seven
 Innings THt THIN MANS STORY In-pires Recounteur of the Longest Game of Baseball Ever Played in the WorI1-In Jones
 Valley.
THt THIN MANS STORY
From the Washington Post.

The thin man had come almost an hour before the game was called in order to secure his fayorite seat on the right field bleachers. The fat man with the crooked fingers was already there.
 'I see you here almost every day." re- marked the thin man.
 The fat man looked the speaker crit ically up and down.
 "Yes," he answered, apparently satis- fled with his inspection, you couldn't make me miss a game if I had to watch 1t through a knot hole in the fence"
 That reminds me-, said the thin mau, of funny thing that happened up in my old home last summer. There's man with glass eye up in my town who is one of our most ardent rooters. He is very absent-minded, though, and they say that one day he stood with his glass eye glued to knot hole in the park fence for eight whole innings, wondering why in the name of Pop Anson the game didn't start and where in Schenectady all the people were"
 The fat man swallowed hard couple of times and puffed furiously at his cigar, SO that it soon degenerated into red hot race between the wrapper and the filler
 Say" he remarked to the thin man as soon as he had mastered his emotion. have you noticed that this years official baseball records give the longest contest on record as that 30-inning game out Tn Cleveland last Fourth of July between the Brooklyn A. c. and the 10. E. All Stars? Funny isn't it, that publication so ac- curate in every other respect should make such a palpable blunder?''
 Well, then, what was the longest game ever played?" asked the thin man sus- piciously.
 The fat man regarded him with con- tempt.
 heard of the great 57-inning contest be- tween the famous Lightfoot Lilies and the redoubtable Ringtail Roarers? Well, well, welll
 'However, it's never too late to learn. It's half an hour before they'll be out for practice, so here's a chance to complete your education.
 'tIt was the final game for the cham pionship of Jones county. Each team had won on it's own grounds, and the deciding contest was to be played on the diamond of the Jones County Eye, Ear and Tongue 1nfirmary.
 ''Every man, woman and child for miles around had crowded through the gates. so that-well, if one more had managed to squeeze in man wouldn't have been able to tell where his vest stopped and tho next mans back began. .3 Cy Priest on the Slab.
 "The fnvincible Cy Priest was in the box for the Ringtail Roarers. No hope. then, for the Lightfoot Lilies, you might naturally suppose. But you must remem- Der the batsmen who were to face him. Captain Slugger Burrows, the mighty Bull Thompson, Homerun Hankins, and others of the same ilk It was the old case of an impenetrable body stacking up against an irresistible force.
 .sWeli; the game seesawed back and forth with the rooters of the re- spective teams bowling continuously like Bedlam let loose in a boiler factory. The brass band that the Lilies brought with them, when playing it's loudest, produced about as much sound as the dropping of d pin in a stamp mill.
 "In the sixth the Roarers almost scored. With two out and a man on third, Peg leg Woodruff got hit just below the knee with pitched ball. The Lilies all crowd ed around the umpire and protested that it was his wooden leg that had been hit, and that that didn't count. The umpire however, ruled that legs a lei whether it's wood or flesh, and gave Pegleg his base.
 "The next man up for the Roarers WAS Cy Priest and like most great pitchers he was about as much use at the bat as
 
 "Realizing this Pegleg hobbled off for big lead toward second, and purposely got caught between bases so as to give the man on third a chance to score As luck would have it, though, he slipped and fell just as the runner was starting home. Before they touched him, how ever, he managed to yanls his wooden pin off and gave it an accurate fling that landed it square on first base.
 al demanded the umpire, as they touched him with the ball, I've got one foot on the base!
 "The umpire shook his head. The Roar CTS rushed upon the field arguing heat edly that if Pegleg's wooden pin was leg enough for dead ball it ought to be leg enough to touch base with.
 "But all to no purpose. The umpire was firm.
 "At the end of the 17th inning the light began to fall and the umpire seemed about to call the game. The two captains rushed toward him to protest and the op- posing rooters united in howls of Play ballv
 Suddenly Capt slugger Burrows of the Lilies began to gesticulate wildly as though struck. with brilliant idea. Capt. Cy Priest of the Roarers slapped his knee with delight at the Slugger's suggestion, put the umpire seemed doubtful. He drew a book of rules from his pocket and be- gan to thumb his pages. ]
 "Finally, he too, seemed convinced of the feasibility of the Sluggers scheme, whatever it might be- and approached the grand stand. Motioning for attention, he made trumpet out of bis hands and bawled:
 "Is there any gentleman present with a. fast horse who is willing to drive three miles to the Mesmer Polytechnic Institute cn an errand? If so, I think the contest can be carried on to definite conclusion. Otherwise, not
 'For a moment there was comparative silence. All eyes were focused inquiring- W upon a little gray-haired man in the center of the stand
 "IJe leaned over to his neighbor as though to ask what had been said. The raiehbor shouted something in his ear. The old man sprung to his feet and hur- ried down the aisle. At this there was an outburst of joy that made all previous r.oises seem like sound vacuum, for sv- ervbody recognized the little gray-haired man as Old Doc Quackenbush, owner of the fast pacing mare Allie Monie, named in memory of his divorced wire Mary Jane. "Only stopping to receive instructions from the umpire, the Doc hurried off to pet his rig from the shed outside. During his absence men were sent to get lan- terns-red green and white. The white lantern was placed. on second base, the starboard light on first and the port light on third.