The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-06-13
bod CrisS Best
As Pinch Hitter
St. Louis Player Draws Salary
For Batting About Four
Times a Week

Boston, June 13-Dfd you know
there was a baseball freak in town
Well he's here, whether you knew it
or not He's with the ST. Louis
baseball team which is hanging around
here hoping the weather will permit
the Brown legged players to take a
swfpe at the Red Sox.
But getting back to the freak ex-
hibite we find that he Is a tall young
man with am ear on each side of his
head which on windy days he has to
pin back so that he can walk straight
Also he has a couple Of feet, two eyes
trimmed with ordinary whiskers, a
nose, mouth and several more fea-
lures like regular human beings.
When the tall youth talks he has a
Southern accent and when he signs a
check he makes marks which spell
Dudley Crisis
Where does the freak part come in I?
Why, right here: Dode is wonderful
ball player so. wonderful in fact that
he can't hold regular position with
any club. That's some freak, isn't
1t?
Dode has been performing with the
st. Louis Browns for a good many
years and all that time has been pull
ing one queer thing after another.
He's not in the class of Bugs Ray
and other eccentric ones, for Dode
doesn't cease to occupy high seat on
the wagon every little while. or he
doesn't get married and divorced more
times than Nat Goodwin, as do some
of the others mentioned
The thing that keeps Dode on the
payroll of the ST. Louis club is his
ability to go and pinch hit whep the
regular men don't appear to be up to
the mark.
When you mention "Criss of the St
Louis club to any fan, he almost al
ways thinks or says, Eyes, the pinch
hitter"
The other day, down in ST. Louis.
Criss was sent into bat for Powell and
piled one to the bleachers. The next
day he went in on a pinch for George
and picked one for three Dagger,
which would have been homer for
any other player, so. the scribes out
there said
In one week he went to the plate
four times and produced three hits
that either tied UP the score or put the
game on ice.
He's some popular in st. Louis, but
he never gets a chance to show often
enough to become a real craze
If he's so good, why don't they use
him regularly? There are two good
reasons. He can't hold down a job
in the field and when batting regu-
larly he doesn't sting it so hard as he
does when sent in on a pinch
Dode started in as a pitcher, but he
didn't last He was too hard on the
batters. He made them strain ten
dons, getting out of the way of wild
shoots. Many times they didn't get
out of the way of them.
Just to show what kind of pitcher
he was, in regard to control, a little
happening on the Red Sox grounds
can be cited.
Dode was twirling and Jake Stahl
was the first man up. Jake got hit
with a wild one in the Stats and am
bled to first. The next man got a
walk, and the next one stopped an
other shoot with his anatomy Criss
kept singing them wild until six
more men had been hit and Jake
came to bat again. Once more Dode
took good aim for the plate and slip
ped one into StahPs ribs.
After this and several more exhibit
lions of how a pitcher can throw wild
ones, Dode was given a rest from the
hard work.
Pretty soon the team became shy
first sacker, and Dode, being tall and
long-legged, was sent out to work.
He did his best, but wasn't good
enough to keep the job as a regular
He tried to catch the hot ones until
his hands were so sore he couldn't do
any more.
His only asset seems to be his slug
cling ability in pinches. The tighter
the pinches the better he likes it.
When they class up the players just
where Criss is going to fit is hard to
guess.