The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-07-08
M Y FATHER, who is close to 60.
wi used IN NAV baseball when he

was a youngster," said a st. Louis fan
to several of his friends as they sat
talking about the game of the dag, so
when he came to the city to visit us
recently / took him out to see the
Cardinals play the Pirates.
Il bowed myself for a couple Of box
seats right down in front and we sat
down to enjoy the game. Dad was
quiet at first and showed little inter-
est as I pointed out Hans Wagner,
Fred Clarke, Tommy Leach, Roger
Bresnahan and some of the other celeb
rites. Finally Bresnahan came near
our box to warm up one of the pitch
ers. AS he took his position and
caught the first ball thrown dad gave
a grunt of disgust.
whats that thing he's got on his
left hand?' asked the old gentleman, a
look of contempt On his face.
why that's the catcher's mit.' l
told him.
"'Catcher's NIT, eh. Well, we didn't
var any such things as that when we
played ball in my day. remarked ia
Their. Look at my two little fingers
now. ! got those broken and had my
others out of joint many a time when
l was a catcher The governors fin
gers sure did look as if they'd been
through the MILL"
And this reminds us that 1t was in
1883 that Arthur Irwin, playing short
stop for Providence, broke the third
ond fC,,rfh Grnaro Nf hic Loft Lo~l onI
revolutionized the fielding game.
Then a club was a team, not two or
three teams. They entered the strug-
gle with ten, or, at the most, eleven
men-a full team and one or two SUBJ
stitutes. If there were two pitchers
the n not in the box served as an
outfielder.
A man took a day off only for Sc
rious cause So Irwin, star infielder,
had to devise some way of beating his
injuries. He consulted a glover. They
took a buckskin driving glove, many
sizes too large, padded it, made a fas-
tening at the back and sewed the
third and fourth fingers together to
make room for bandages. The crowd,
Irwin knew, would forgive him be-
cause Of his mangled condition.
From the first time he took a
%grounder with that glove he noticed
that he could meet" the ball solidly.
He did not have to lease off, and he
could get away his throw quicker
than any other man on the infield.
John Montgomery Ward of the New
York team observed this. With monu-
mental moral courage he got a glove
like Twins and used it in a game. No
one hooted him for his cowardice.
Within two weeks after Irwin and
Ward first took their gloves around
the circuit a sporting goods firm had
order from professionals for a hum
dred like them.
In n respect the improvement
came in the very nick of time. In
1884, after long years of experiment
and argument, the pitchers had got
their liberty. They could now throw
the ball overland and free-armed.
Having a box to get a running start
and a shorter line to the plate than at
present, they developed unprecedented
speed. 1t needed more catchers than
pitchers for a frst-class team, so hard
was this delivery on hands. The
catchers took up the newfangled glove
with enthusiasm. Manufacturers made
them larger and larger; but still the
fingered glove did not quite serve the
purpose.
Bill Burns, late of the Chicago Sox,
now with the Cincinnati Reds, is a
globe trotter. He lives in Central
Texas and he has played ball in Cali
fornia and made three trips to Homo
lulu and one to Japan and China. Bill
has money Of his own and is not de-
pendent on baseball for his livelihood,
but plays the game because he is a
natural athlete and can not stay away
from it. He says that the Japs and
| Hawaiians are very fast on their feet
and excellent f1elders, but that they
can not hit a lick. It vas no trick at
| all for him to strike out 16 or 20 of
them in q game.
Matthew M. Mcintyre, he of the
marvellous throwing arm and tough
luck, has reported to Manager Jen-
| nings, but Will hardly be able to play