Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-07-09
CHAMPION BASEBALL STORY.
Cowboy Players Have 0ams on Horse
back.

Cowboy Players Have oams on Horse
back.
1.-THE interest in baseball is by no
means confined to the big towns main
tanning league teams" tritely observ-
ed Colonel McGorrity, showing q bottle
Of Whahoo into his sample case and
sitting down to wait till train time.
1.-THE microbe propagated by the
great national game is hardy bug.
It gets a good start in the system Of
every normal boy by the time he is
able to distinguished the first three
letters of the alphabet and once hav-
ing gained foothold 1t never entire
ly relinquishes 1t.
Years ago I once spent q summer
with the cowboys on the plains.
think 1t was in Montana, but It might
have been Arizona Anyway the pop
ulation was eligible enmass for a job
with a wild west show. Their busi-
ness was riding ponies, roping cattle
and shooting Indians and bad men.
But one day the agent for a sad
dlery house blew into town. He was
carrying some sporting goods by way
of q side line. After the boys had got
through impoverishins themselves for
his fancy horsegoods he took out
baseball and bat and presented them
to one Of the ranchers as compli-
ment.
THAT was Red Rose Pete. Pete
tossed up the ball and made pass at
It while the rest Of US watched. The
ball dropped to the ground six times
running, and Pete's temper scared
when the other boys began to get in
terested and demanded q chance. BY
and by he spiked himself with his
spurs and when he dug his face out
Of the dust he agreed to let the boys
play for while From that day till
the ball became mass Of tatters that
the heaviest batter in the National
league couldn't lift out Of the diamond
the camp was baseball mad. That
happened before the boys got back in
to their boyhood form. But they did
improve. At first--but let me tell you
about the opening game between the
Bark bunch and the boys from the
flying A.
"They decided to play the first game
in their natural element-on horse
back.
"The game lasted from 10 In the
morning till $50 in the afternoon. and
the score was something like 6S to SO.
I'll tell you what happened In the last
inning when the Flying AS went to
bat with the score two to the bad for
them.
"The Bar-X's pitchers pony was In
bad form and bucked good deal that
inning, 30 the first batter got his base
on balls. The next man up hit out a
long one which the rightfielder threw
his rope at, but missed. The man on
first rode hard and got his score In
yes, he touched second and by the
time the Flying AS second man was
wrestling with his pony to keep him
on third,
"sTo say that the bleachers rent mad
would be putting the enthusiasm at
this point In the mildest possible
terms. It was estimated afterwards
| that when the first runner scored and
the second reached third bag 800 rounds
for good indian killer ammunition
went hurtling slkyward.
"Then things calmed down bit and
the next man went to bat The Sec
ond time the ball went over the dinner
pail that served for home plate, he
hit out a hot grounder. Shortstop
jabbed his spurs into his pony and did
handkerchief dive, grabbed the ball
and getting 1t home In time to stop the
score. But the batter was calming his
horse on second. The next man fan
ned out, but the catchers horse shied.
and he fumbled. The man was safe at
first. The bases were now full, with
only one out and only needed to tie
the score. It looked encouraging for
the Flying AS. The bunch kept the
air roaring till it sounded like a battle
complicated with an explosion Of dy-
Mantle.
"But you never can tell" as the
Giants said last season. The next
batter drove a hard liner right at pitch
er. The latters horse was acting
worse and worse and he had no chance.
But the ball hit the broncho. The
beast was wild. Before the ball rolled
from it's flanks to the ground 1t LASH
ed out with both hind feet The next
moment the ball was In the first base
mans NIT and the umpire was twiriing
his gun and declaring the runner out.
You see the pony had assisted with its
well-timed kick.
There was a threat Of row over
the decision, but the umpire was the
best gun play man on the frontier, 80
1t stood.
1.-The next batter went to the plate
with his teeth set and the crowd yell
ing and shouting to encourage him.
The first ball thrown he landed on
hard enough to sink an oil well drill.
The ball sailed out and up until
thought 1t had got past the attraction
Of gravitation, and would never come
down. All the men on bases made
run for home on the chance that look
ed like a cinch that the left fielder
would miss 1t. The batter came in
for home run and everybody turned
to watch left field miss 1t and make
their runs good. Now this fielder was
on a pretty fast piece Of horse flesh
and with the umpire chasing him as
hard as the latter's horse could gallop
it looked like man hunt. But most
everybody was straining to see the
ball. In a moment 1t was apparent
that left field, galloping for the open
and looking up, would never make 1t.
The ball was almost directly over his
head. It's downward shoot would be
so fast that the most rapid bangtail
could never hope to beat 1t to its des-
tination.
But they reckoned without the re-
sourcefulness Of left field. He was an