Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1910-07-23
My Baseball Debut.
By
L. CONSTANS.

fairness-that the knife blade In all
probability had not been held down
fatty and that his opponent had
'scrunched"
THE Twister." however. paid small
heed to these aspersions upon his hon
or, exercising Immediately his right to
first choice by picking out II scraggy
looking. red haired nondcsCript. whom
he Familiarity designated as "Sorrel
Top" Billy. evidently not intending
to be overmatched by capillary charac-
teristics, promptly chose 'Towhead"
Quigley, an appclntive that pointed
the bearer without need OF further dis
tinction. And so they chose alternate
ly, the last choice, which fell upon the
smallest boy In the crowd. being re-
luctantly made by Tommy.
And now serious obstacle TO fur
ther procedure presented itself. There
was no one to complete Billy's quota
of basebaIlists. This discovery led to
a debate that was fast approaching
deadlock when Billy hit upon n 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 play longed to rear and tear
around as saw them doing-so nod
ded an assent.
The nod of Jove never created great
er CONSERVATION. "Aw git out. You're
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" the shape
of mustache only. by the way-gave
any indication as to my ability base
ballically was beyond my comprehen-
sion. However. "Sorrel Top" and
"Towhead" had been the first chosen.
so ! sagely held silence Hair proba-
bly, had more to do with the matter
than a 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.
careful inventory failing to locate
the requisite coin among my seventeen
fellow players. Billy grnciously conde-
scended to use the quarter which l
proffered. This event we won and i'm
mediately chose outs"
In the elation OF this victory Billy
absentmindedy confscated my quar-
ter, but as the tenure OF my position
was very doubtful and Its continuance
rested entirely with him discreetly
overlooked the little Incident.
In the placing Of his men |. 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 MS second base,
the Information being volunteered that
l was put there on account Of my su-
perior height. this minimizing the pos
sibility of the catcher's "gittin' 'em
over the second baseman's head In
"throwin' 'em down" AS Billy desig-
mated my position by wave Of the
hand. was fortunately not forced to
inquire as to its location. 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 was watch
ing the former play. and the game
started
For five minutes everything ran
smoothly. and | 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.
cit 'em down to second now. Yu
can't git 'em too high" he admonlshed
and coached the catcher and then
winked knowingly at me. an act which
l, not comprebendlng Its full import,
returned In kind. The next instant
was In a whirlwind of excitement.
AS the ball shot from pitcher TO
catcher there was loud cry Of Watch
i'm there, mister" 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 clutched tightly for
throw. stood nonplusscd. For mo-
ment there was a painful silence-the
calm that precedes storm-then NUT
terings Of disapproval came from ev-
Fry quarter-not loud. but ominous.
whats the matter-yu nailed
there" inquired my superior in dis
gust
stammered pitifully and tried to
excuse my misplay, or. rather, nom
play, by explaining that had forgot
ten there was man" on first base,
but the attempt under the gaze Of
those scowling eyes was poor one.
and saw clearly that I had sowed
the first seed Of distrust In the heart
of my doughty captain.
A foul, out" relieved the situation
somewhat, my mistake being partly
condoned by the fact that the runner
had not been able to score.
1t was now our "ins," and what We
were going to do WAS "a plenty" as
piIIv cucnfprtly pTrf N