Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-09-21
A Greater Bali player Than Wagner.

Kirby White. of the Pittsburg Pirates"
i'm the Dallas News.
There was q fellow named Mcclure who
never had been heard of in the major.
lcagues. or the minors either. for that
matter. who made the greatest play / ever
saw.
nave watched Clarke and Leach and
Wagner and Miller and all the great play
ers around the circuit play. but I don't
think any one of them could have thought
quickly enough or worked quickly enough
to pull off the play Mcclure did. The
play he made required a lot of fast
work.
The ga me was played at I.eesburg, Ohio,
In a game against Highland, and L hap
pened to be pitching for Leesburg, al
though my own team was at Hillsboro.
Leesburg and Highland are only a short
distance apart and there is great rivalry
between the cams. In fact, every time
1 was employed to pitch over in that dis
trict, 1t locked a two-to-one bet the game
would end In a fight. We played on a
partially Enclosed pasture field with a
small stand, and the hat usually was
passed to collect the admission price.
1 believe each team had won two games
that season and they were to play Off for
the championship of Lees Greek town
ship. Now right on the left field foul
line there was a small barn. The foul line
cut 10 feet from the corner of the barn
and Mcclure was the left fielder. We
came down to the ninth inning with the
score tied and the crowd going crazy. and
won. ! was gong along easily, and with
two out thought the game was abou. over
and handed up a soft one that the High
land batter slammed to center for a SIN
gle. That walked me up and i started to
pitch just as hard as l could. You know
If a fellow loafs for a minute or two in
a ball game and gets himself into trouble,
the chances are. when he tries to pull
out he'll only make the matter worse.
Well. l put everything 1 had ON a curve ball
and sent it cracking around the plate. and
one OF those big Highland county farm
ers hit that ball over third base so fast
the dust was all j could see. The ball
hit fair. swung onto foul ground and went
into the door OF that little barn, 10 feet
from the foul line. Mcclure was chasing
it as hard as he could. The ball went in
to the door with Mcclure 10 feet behind
1t, and he lived after 1t as hard as he
could. 1t looked as IL he would get the
ball out of the barn n hold the runners
at second and third. but as he disappeared
q bunch of Highland fans who were sit
ting near by ran over. shut the door and
bolted 1T. That made 1t look like a home
run. The runners, seeing what had hap
pened. slowed up and began to trot around
the bases. thinking 1t was a home run
anu tnal tne game was over. they didn't
know Mcclure. When the first runner was
turning third Mcclure ran to the window
In the barn loft and shot the ball at the
plate, catching the runner by 20 feet and
retiring the side. He had climbed the lad
der and chased to the ndo to make the
throw. And then they had the nerve to
protest the game and start a fight, claim
ing the play wasn't covered in the rules.
1t took me 20 in to lick the biggest
guy in the crowd. but we took the ball
home, which proved we won the game.