Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-06
MAKES GREAT Play
THEN STANDS BURN
Jimmy Connors' Stop Literally
Set the St. Louis "BIeach-
erS" Attire.
By Hugh Fullerton.

Among the 271. 600 plays / have seen on
base ball fields in 1920 games which /
have reported, two individual feats stand
out above all others in my memory.
One was the catch Bill Lange made
at Washington in days of the old twelve
club league. when he robbed AL Setback
of home run and broke down the fence
after catching the ball
The other. an infield play, seems to me
even greater and for the exception of
the fact that / cannot for the life of
ME remember whether il was Clements
or Monte Cross who hit the ball. the
play is vivid now as it was the day
Ii was performed
The hero of the play was Jimmy Con-
nors. then second baseman of the Chicago
ctub. The game was played in st. Louis,
in June 1896.
Any one who remembers the burning of
Won der Ahe's great wooden grandstand
and summer garden will know the day,
Tor 1t was upon the day the stands
burned that Connors made his wonderful
stop.
The afternoon was beautiful. clear,
bright and warm, but not the ST. Louis
brand of warmth / remember distinctly
that George Decker, who died a few
months ago, was sitting with me in the
stand.
think it was in the sixth inning. and
Anson's team was leading by one rum
with st. Louis runners on second and
third and two out, that either Cross or
Clements was at bat.
Arson, for some reason, was playing
close along the line and near to the
base, which fact makes me think Glenn
ents was the batter, as he had a habit
of whipping fast drives down the first
base line, especially when a right handed
pitcher served him curve
hQf for m
tons. but so fast that Arson, diving with
one hand. could not get down in time to
block the ball, and it shot under him be-
tween second and third bounds within
two feet of the foul line. 1t looked like a
certain two-base hit, and the crowd was
roaring as the runners raced home.
Now, mmy ConnorS never was really
great ball player but he could go his left
almost as far as any one. The instant
the ball was hit he was in action, and go
ing at top speed toward the foul line, try
ing to head off the ball at a point about
Thirty feet back of Arson.
There did not seem to be chance in a
million for him to get within reaching
distance of the ball, and indeed never be-
fore nor since have / seen any one get a
hike like it, when the ball was so close to
the line.
had his back turned toward the plate and
seemed to be chasing the ball, when sud-
denly shaping with his right hand, he
knocked the ball squarely in his left and,
pivoting at the same instant. cut loose a
vicious throw to Arson, which stagge ed
the Grand Old Man. but retired the run
ner by full step.
The crowd, which had been cheering.
stopped as if paralyzed-and for a full
minute that ball park was the qu:etest
place in ST Louis.
Then came frantic burst of applause
and over 1t scream of woman-a tur-
MOL over on the first base side of the
grandstand-a puff of smoke and before
the cheers a great wave of flame was
sweeping the stands and the panic
stricken crowd was fighting to escape,
leaping like frightened sheep twenty feet
down to the ground. or struggling down
the high, winding stairs al tAe back of
the stands
Fifteen minutes later the stands and
''bIeacherS" were masses of charred tim
ber-and every one forgot Connovs' stop
which literally set the stands afire.