Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1910-09-10
The Second Baseman's
Story.
Ry HOWARD SHFDD.

1--WE got to do it,
He went out to doctor, and sat in
bed thinking. | saw that we was up
against 1t good and hard. The utility
man was in the hospital, and neither
of the pitchers could play first worth
a whoop and were weak with the
willow.
When Dan came back he had his
hand all bandagcd up.
I'll have some extra thick ones put
on tomorrow" he said, land If the
boys will throw to the left enough
guess the big mitt will carry me
through"
Well, the big day came. There wasn't
n vacant seat in the park. and talk
about eXcitcmcnt-Say, you've got to
go out in the minors to get the real
thing In that line. The big league
towns amt in ii a minute with these
little burgS when II comes to going
dippy over a ball team.
We was all a little worried over
Dams hand except Nolan, who Snccrcd
when he heard about 1t. But all the
infieldcrs promised to bear to the left
on first base throws. and we figured
that we would get through all right.
l was warming up near the grand
stand when | heard my name called
and | turned to see Julia Moriarty
right behind the netting on front
seat.
"Whats the matter with Mr.. Mo
rams hand?" she asked.
Fire In our room last night" | told
her. "Lace curtains blew into the gas
Jet, and Dan burned his hand some
thing fierce putting it out"
"But he cant play, can hc?' she
asked, and ! noticed she seemed sort
of worried.
Hes going to play" l said "and
he'll be safe if the boys don't throw
into his meat hand. We're taking
special pains this afternoon to hit that
big mitt of his. Don't you worry;
Wen win this game all right"
The game got to going soon after
that, and we run along five innings
with nothing doing. Nolan and Hart
were both in form and nobody got past
second base. Dan was getting along
fine at first, though he had to do some
sidestepping at times.
When Corydon came to bat in the
sixth something started. The first
man up slammed Il safe one to left
field and reached first base. 1t was
the first safety they'd got off Nolan,
and it ncttled him little. He watched
the base runner like n hawk and kept
throwing to Dan to keep the man on
first. / could see from second that
these throws didn't bear any to the
left either | saw one of them get
Dan square on the right hand. He
held on to it, but | could see his face
twitch. 1t must have hurt him some
thing terrible. Well. the next man
up drove a triple to the fence, and
COrydOn got the first run of the game
The three Dagger man came home a
moment later on a sacrifice.
We did some batting ourselves i'll the
seventh and tied the score. Then in
the eighth, with one man out, Cory
don's left fielder got to first on an
error by our ShOrtStop. He took n
good lead, and Nolan fired one at Dan
to catch him. 1t caught Dan square
on his sore hand, and he nearly doubled
up in agony The ball bounced away.
and the Corydon man was safe on sec
ond. There were groans from the
grand stand.
The next man up died at first, but
the man on second took third on the
play. The next batter sent slow
roller to Nolan. He picked 1t up and
slammed 1t at Dan with all his might,
aimed square at that sore hand. 1t
looked like an easy out from the grand
stand, and when Dan dropped 1t and
the runner reached first, while the
other man scored from third, there
was an awful roar. My, but our root
ers were sore. 1t looked like an easy
catch to them-that Is, to most of
them. A few real wise ones saw how
Nolan had thrown the ball. The rest
began yelling at Dan.
Rotten"
Take him out!'
Get new first bascman"'
1t hurt Dan, too as much as the
throw had done 1t was the first time
they had ever roasted him that way
You can't blame them so much, though
They didn't know about his hand, eX-
cept that it was tied up, and they
weren't next to Nolan's tricks.
After all, though, 1t didn't matter
We hit Hart to the woods in our half
of the eighth and sent two men across
the plate. That made it to in our
favor.
Corydon came to bat in the ninth
with everybody holding his breath,
and Nolan made finish that was q
corker. ! have to admit it-he sure
was pitcher. What does he do now
after two men had got on bases and
nobody was out but strike out three OF
their best hitters in succession! That
won the game and the pennant
Everybody went crazy. The crowd
swooped down On the field and carried
us off on their shoulders-all except
Dan. He disappeared in some way or
other.
Maybe you think he wasn't blue that
evening!
well I suppose the stuff's all off,"
he said "Nolan's hero and I'm a