The Detroit times., 1910-11-30
CHARLIE BENNETT
ONE OF BEST MEN
EVER BEHIND BAT
MR.. SPHINX TELLS IN THE NATIONAL GAME HOW
DETROIT VETERAN USED TO CATCH
WITHOUT MASK OR NIT

In spurts from his wound, which was
freshly laid open by the force OF the
ball; but, Notwithstanding his condi-
ton, he resisted the advice of the
physician who examined him, and I'm
ished the game. When he was final
~ carried from the field with his
wound broken open and his shirt all
clothed with blood. he was glad that
he had caught the game. Imagine
one of the modern catchers In scisn-
thc baseball catching game like
that.
Perhaps the best catcher who
ever stood behind the bat was Charlie
Bennett, of the old Detroits. Lon
Knight the famous old Athletic play
er, tells how Bennett caught for his
club, game after game, while suffer-
ing the most intense agony from u
split thumb. Bennett never wore
the catcher's mitt. The only glove he
wore while catching was an ordinary
kid glove with the fingers and
thumb cut off. During one OF the
games his thumb was split open from
the hand to the tip. clear TO the bone.
| Instead OF going TO the hospital or
taking a rest. he persisted in catch
ing, day after day, with his thumb In
this condition.
Between each inning he would
/ have TO sponge the cash in his thumb
with cotton soaked In antiseptic
which he carried with him in his
pocket. in order 70 remove the cor
ruption which was continually flow
ing from the wound. This he did In
spite OF the fact that the doctor
warned him that he must either stop
playing ball until the thumb had Ell
tirely healed, or lose his thumb, OF
even his arm, as blood poison was IL
able TO set in. He continued. how
ever, TO catch the game until IL was
| impossible for him to do so any long
er.
And in the days OF both Dockney
and Bennett the pitching was swift
and the ball was just as hard as II
is today, the distance between the
! pitchers box and the batsmen being
even shorter than at the present
time.
Now. right here. in connection with
this very interesting article from the
pen OF Mr.. Flynn, il might be we'll
10 refer to other great catchers be
side Dockney and Bennett, who also
| played behind the bat in their day
anu ldtGu INC SDtehltSl VI DllCutIS
without the aid of mask or gloves.
When Frank Flint, for example. the
great st. Louis catcher who played so
long behind the bat for the Chicago
! White Stockings. quit playing profess
sional baseball. he told his friends
| that every joint in every one of his
fingers had been broken at least once
and that his nose had been frequent
| ly put out of joint and his teeth
| smashed.
To protect the fingers was the first
thing done when players commenced
TO wear ordinary buckskin gloves
/ Later a piece of rubber was used be-
tween the teeth to protect the molars
and the mouth and then came the
| mask
The story is that Thayer captain
OF the Harvard baseball team wanted
! Tying, one of his best players to catch
close up under the bat. Tying. a hand
some fellow. having some respec for
his frontispiece. demurred. Thayer
one day in the college gymnasium
saw a fencer wearing a mask and
/ putting IL on, caught a few balls as
an experiment. He found that the
wire covering the eyes interfered
! with his work. but he had tinsmith
remove that obstacle and then he Of
| fered the newly made affair TO Tying
II was the same mask really. in the
rough, as is worn today. Tying tried
| it on, liked II. found it practical and
wore IL in all the games he played
afterwards That was in 1877 and
| from then on the mask came into
general use, being improved on each
! year by the sporting goods manufac-
turers until il became the perfect
thing II is today.
After the mask came the chest pro
tector, the shin guards and the catch.
er's glove-things that made almost
an entirely new business out OF the
art OF catching
| All basketball games of the v. M. 4.
A. and Y NJ. O. teams viii be played In
| the Light Guard armory. Richard
Jackson closed contract to that ef-
| feet Tuesday
Damascus has the honor OF being
| the Oldest city.