The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-11-21
Ping Bodie Who Can Break Fences
Sporting News)

(Sporting News) The subject of our little talk will be a young man now in the flower of youth whose mighty deeds with the the sunkissed, vine clad valleys of California, in the west, to Nyack, N. Y., in the east, and from Mackinac in | the north to Paducah, Chattanooga, Ell | Paso and all points south. It gives me great pleasure, ladies l Ping" Bodie, commonly known as the | "fence buster" and considered by some the worlds greatest "pickler of
 the pill," outfield performer with the Chicago White Sox.
 To those who have never seen this new conner from the bush leagues, I will state briefly that in general con- | formation he resembles our late la | mented ferocious friend, Battleax | Hackenschmidt, the Russian mouse. Ping" admits that he came from a family of ball players. He asserts that his oldest brother, Dave, is 3S
 years old and. a semi-pro player on the l coast. Dave has two sons who are playing ball. Then there is brother
 Jack also playing on the coast. Then
 comes Paul, George and Frank (alias)
 Ping himself.
 By the way, Ping where did you
 cop that euphonious title? inquired. "No, it's not phony! It was th1s-a-
 way" spieled Ping. You see, when
 I was two years old my father bought
 a home from a man by the name of | Ping Dwyer, and he said that the
 nickname of Ping had stuck to him
 for so many years that he thought he'd pass it on to me; and there you have l it, Or I should say I've had 1t ever
 since!"
 Ping" I suggested in low, conf
 dential tone, "they tell me you are | Spa phatti eater 1 "A what?" snorted "Ping." | "An Italian, and that your real name
 is Francesca Pizzola."
 "Nix on that ala creole stuff. That's | paper guys. That's a 'phony' name
 they tried to hang on me-" "Well, come then and confess where i you got the title of Fence Buster p
 I persisted.
 "You see it was like this" explain l ed Ping. ''You know l always could | hit 'em a mile and out there on the | coast, the fences are not as far away ! One of them tobacco firms used to of- | fer a five-pound can of tobacco to any
 one who would make a home run. We'll | I sold the weed-stuff and put the mon | ey in a savings bank for my little girl, Frances. She's got $155, quite bank
 roll, too, believe me.
 "How did I break in? I began play l ing ball when I was IA years old. I l used to hang around outside the ball parks and when a foul would come over the stand I'd catch it and run. Then I'd get up game among the 1 kids and we'd play with the ball that | I swiped. None of that come in and
 see the game stuff for me. Finally
 Phil Knell put me in the business
 when I joined the Frisco club of the old California State league.
 Say, this Is funny business You
 know there were nine clubs that
 drafted me and Chicago won on the
 draw. I guess I'd be setting on the
 bench now or be back in the minors, Ii 1 it was not for the fact that Jimmy i Callahan got hurt and they stuck me ] in his place.
 I Did I make good? Read the dope i sheet, boy. I made three-bagger, a | two-bagger and two singles my first | day in the big league. And I've been keeping it up pretty much ever since.
 Speaker, yet, and I don't believe in getting all sweled up like some of them guys. I'm just plain Ping Bo- die. like I always was. 'I started out to be a pitcher, but they found out that could hit and stuck me in in the pinches and finally they decided I was a better hitter than
 field Ri''ne' anu 'De' pN~ ~ " W And. say, the outfield is too easy just like frisking bonbons from the little ones."
 good infielder. say second baseman," I suggested.
 "Oh, yes; I could play the inf1eld if | it wasn't for my arm. You see I'm | too strong in this wing," said Ping | tapping the big right soupbone. Why l tie 6O-foot throw. I'd tear him off the bag"
 'sTell me about the parrot story, ''Ping,'' broke in.
 "Oh, there wasn't much to that; It | was just a kid, and I was onto it all | fer (and say, he's the funniest guy in | the business) sent me a postal, or we ! think he did, when we were in Wash I ington. The postal gave the name of a bird store and on the postal 1t said, seeing that I had made home run. a parrot. Well, took Ed Walsh along just to have some fun, and when | we got into the store I turned to Ed and said: Pick out your parrot Ed, and then ducked
 "You bet I was on to the game. Was
 the bird store man sore? You bet he was.'
 'Didn't some one give you diamond ring? I'd like to see it, Ping,'' I said, | coaxing for a story.
 "Oh, that was another stall. We were playing an exhibition game over | in Goshen, Ind, and when I came to | bat a delegation came out on the field and Packey McFarland's manager, i Emil Thiry, made swell spiel. But I could see out of the corner of my | eye that it was a big piece of glass. | You know, they couldn't fool me with a rock headlight like that. That's | where I got the name of the Gin der King
 "But they can have all the fun they want out of the kidding game. I'm go- | ing to stick to fence busting. I fig ure I've got six good years left in me, and when I'm through I'm going to | live on the interest of my money" Bodie has returned to his home in California. Ping was once an iceman | in Vallejo, but he never cut as much | ice there formerly as he does now. A | big delegation met him at the station and the band played his favorite an- | them, the first line of which runs ''Ping Bodie, he made good" The ] golden west has increased it's assets with Bodies return, as he had with | him $875, which was his share of the | spells from the White Sox-Cubs series, | Ping picks Walter Johnson as the best | boxman in the American league, for | the reason, as he explains, that John son was the pitcher who gave him the | most trouble. AS a modest violet, Ping l is a headliner.