Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1910-08-05
My Baseball Debut.
L. constants.

fatty and that his opponent mad
"scrunched
1.-THE Twister," however, paid small
heed to these aspersions upon his hon
or, exercising Immediately his right to
/ first choice by picking out a scraggy
looking, red haired nondescript, whom
/ he Familiarity designated as "Sorrel
/ Top" Billy, evidently not intending
4 to be overmatched by capillary charac-
teristics, promptly chose "Towhead''
/ Quigley, an appellative that pointed
| the bearer without need Of further dis
tinction. And so they chose alternate
! ~, the last choice, which fell upon the
smallest boy in the crowd. being re-
/ luctantIy made by Tommy.
| And now a serious obstacle to fur
! ther procedure presented itself. There
was no one to complete Billy's quota
of baseballists. This discovery led to
debate that was fast approaching a
deadlock when Billy hit upon a happy
| solution.
"Hey. mister! Want uh play?' he
| inquired. raising his hand in an up
ward wave to supplement the direction
OF his query.
Although my knowledge of the game
was very rudimentary. the spirit of
! sport had been running riot in my
veins from the moment had seen the
boys at pIay-I Ionged to rear and tear
around as l saw them doing-so nod
ded an assent.
The nod of Jove never created great
err CONSERVATION. cav, git out! You're
a man" What d'yu take us fer? He's
got whiskers?' and like protests were
| hurled at me and the reckless one who
had taken the initiative
How my "whiskers"- lin the shape
of mustache only, by the way-gaVe
any indication as to my ability base
baIlicaIly was beyond my comprehen-
sion. However, "Sorrel Top" and
''Towhead" had been the first chosen.
50 sagely held silence. Hair proba
bly, had more to do with the matter
than layman might suspect. Billy.
however, rose easily to the occasion.
He would drop me as soon as some
"other kid" came. This compromise
being acceptable to the other side,
friendly relations were again estab-
lished
The next preliminary was the toss
ing Of coin for position.
A careful inventory failing to locate
the requisite coin among my seventeen
fellow players. Billy graciously condo
scended to use the quarter which
proffered. This event we won and i'm
mediately chose "outs."
In the elation of this victory Billy
absentmindedIy confiscated my quar-
ter, but as the tenure of my position
was very doubtful and it's continuance
rested entirely with him I discreetly
overlooked the little incident
In the placing Of his men l, being an
unknown quantity. was naturally
source of great perplexity to my cap
tain, but hasty consultation with a
couple Of self constituted aids soon
decided my position as second base,
the information being volunteered that
was put there on account of my SUI
perior height, this minimizing the pos
sfbility of the catcher's ''gfttin' 'em
over" the second baseman's head in
THROWN 'em down" As Billy desig-
mated my position by wave of the
hand. | was fortunately not forced to
inquire as to it's location, a procedure
that would. am certain, in the light
Of subsequently acquired knowledge
have meant my instant release from
service. / took my place where / had
seen the boys stand while l was watch
ing the former play. and the game
started.
For five minutes everything ran
smoothly, and l was enjoying to the
fullest extent the eXhilaration Of my
first game Of baseball. With two out
and man only on first base, there
was no question as to the advantage
of our position. if the opinion of our
leader, who was playing first" could
be relied upon.
There's nothin' tn itr' he assured
loudly.
"Git 'em down to second now. Yu
can't git 'em too high" he admonished
and coached the catcher and then
winked knowingly at me, an act which
|, not comprehending it's full import,
returned in kind. The next instant I
was in whirIwind of excitement
AS the ball shot from pitcher to
catcher there was loud cry Of Watch
I'm there, misterv' from Billy. and
then a confused mass of arms and
legs flashed by me on the way to Sec
Ond base. The catcher with arm
drawn back. ball cIutched tightly for
throw, stood nonpIussed For mo-
ment there was painful silence the
calm that precedes a storm then NUT
terings Of disapproyal came from ev-
cry quarter-no loud. but ominous.
What's the matter-yu nailed
there" inquired my superior in dis
gust.
/ stammered pitifully and tried to
excuse. my mispiay. or. rather. non
play. by explaining that had forgot
ten there was man" on first base,
but the attempt under the gaze OF
those Scovvifnp ewes waa a moor ono