The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-09-28
Charley Faust
 Who Steers Jinx
 Away From Giants
Inside Story of Simple Kansas Farmer Who Brings Good Luck to McGfaw's
 Men

| AuNA lV U1O0k0W .
 Men
 | Chicago, Sept 2S-Is it too much l to say that if the Giants win the Ma 1 tional league pennant as much cred l it will be due to Charlie Faust, mas cot and Jinx despoiler, as to any mem l Der of the team?
 l The facts are that when the New
 York team left home it had toss- | up chance. It's commanding lead has been gained since then. It coincides 1 with the presence of Faust on the 1 Giants bench
 Now laugh. But the state of mind of baseball players has as much to do with winning games, as for in- stance, the mood of the musician with l the artistic success or otherwise of his recital. Faust is a phychologic ele- ment in the teams percentage. There has been world of curiosity | expressed in endless queries along the troufe concerning this Faust. The gen. | eral idea seems to be that he is a joke: that common sense should pooh pooh all talk, about mascots or any outsiders ability to bring good luck But Faust is more than any joke.s This tall, sombre, seldom smiling yet eter- nally pleasant Rube from the wilds of \ a phantasy developed by the scribes or
 a harmless simpleton employed as
 buffoon by the players.
 The Giants, of course, are too 1n- | telligent to place any wizardry or sa-
 ble magic upon their famed aide de
 camp. The truth is simply this-that I McGraw'S s men have taken Faust as 1 a lucky hunch, just as lucky lunches along various walks of life are played l and followed by countless thousands every day. There is scarcely 6 man whether he be supefstitious or not, who hasn't a hunch along certain lines
 or at certain times. If certain events or persons bring him bad luck, through
 no real cause it may be- he will like ly shun those incidents or persons whenever and wherever he can ' Faust made his first appearance with the Giants in St. Louis early in Au- gust. He was then regarded simply
 as harmless bug who might furnish l a few rounds of amusement. His work upon the field was so awkward that it~was refreshing. He ran the bases like wallopus wallopus, threw l like a milkman and as an all-around 1 ball player showed that he must have been one of the best farmers in Mar l ion county.
 Then he reported, to every ones sur prise, at Giant headquarters in New York on August H. He was still ta- i ken as a joke by the team, was re- garded with great merriment by the lcrewd and won his place along st e ! firing lines as an all-around card. Up on other subjects he is rational but upon baseball is a bug, nut, boob and 1 fanatic to the core.
 | From the date that Faust joined the
 Giants in New York, McGraw's team began to win. They began their fa- | nous squirt with his Gotham arrival. l One day Faust left the bench and the Giants lost. He returned and they continued winning. A mere coincidence of course. But he left again and they l lost. He returned again and they won with ease. More coipcidence, but by
 this time the Giants began to think it 1 over.
 l Out on the road they got together one night and figured out that the team had won every game where
 Faust had been on the bench and had l lost every time he had been away. It was only a coincidence. but it had happened to coincide in over twenty
 games of victory and six days of de- feat without a break. It was here
 that the squad began to take him as | a lucky hunch-as luck bringer to | the camp and the greatest mascot the game had ever known.
 l One or two went even further in the belief that he must have a magic touch, since from the start he began predicting Giant success and started in by forecasting base hits with wonder full accuracy from the bench.
 There were one ar two who failed to see Faust in any respect and scoffed at the mascot business. Herzog, for example, has laughed at the bunch re- peatedly for belief in Faust.
 We have won these games because | 1> o&I,4 | fellows and played better ball. Do you want me to believe that just be-
 cause Faust says I am going to gei a hit 1t will help me any? Or that just because a. bug from Kansas hap pens to be sitting on the benchewe are going to win, regardless of the fact that we may play inferior ball IT may be going crazy, but I haven't gotten this far''
 But most of the team continued to take Faust as lucky bunch'' with Lout attempting to analyze their feel ings. Why go back of sthe returns Why not let well enough alone? Ii we win with Faust on the bench and lose when Faust is off, as we have
 done repeatedly these last seven
 weeks. why waste any time digging into the psychology of it or ascribins | it to black magic. We are not su- perstitious. but whatever s happens don't let Faust get away from thai
 bench in a tight game or any other 1 kind
 "A man may travel with a ball club for twenty years,'' says Mathewson l but he will never see another Faust again. He is without doubt the most interesting character of his kind that have ever met. I'm not wasting Il any time regarding Faust as a wiz ard, but as long as luck came with him I think he is worth playing as 6 hunch. Certain lunches have gone long distances before they cracked but they were worth playing while they lasted"
 Faust knows nothing of all this. He is sincere in his belief that he was
 called to pitch for the Giants and help them to win the pennant.
 'T came to work for McGraw." hs T says, and am going to do my bes 1 for him. will pitch for him when
 ever he needs me. He is going to wifi
 this nennant and also the worlds ser
 ies, I knew that before I joined his club
 He is quiet and tractable, never
 fresh and never a butter-in. His en. tire dream is baseball and the cause of McGraw and the Giants. This an6