The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1912-05-31
Freak Plays by Which Games
Have Been Decided.
PUT THE BALL IN HIS POCKET.
Cliff carroII's Funny Stunt That Let In
tho Winning Run and Enrassd Chris
Won der Ahs-A Hit That Put Two
Bale In Play at tho Same Time.

Among the abnormal incidents tnat
figured In the earlier history Of the
national game, perhaps none is as well
known to old timers as the one which
happened to Cliff Carroll on the St
Louis grounds when he was mem
Der of the famous Browns Perhaps
you have wondered why baseball play
ers have plain shirt fronts and why so
few players have breast pockets. Cliff
Carroll Is the reason. He was running
forward to take base hit on the first
bound.
"The ball bounced crooked and hi'
him on the chest. He grabbed nt The
ball hastily, and as he clutched II he
showed 1t down into the handkerchief
pocket on his shirt front The runner
saw Carroll tugging and straining to
tear the ball out Of the pocket. aud In
stead OF stopping AT first he sprinted
on to second. while Carroll, still trying
to dislodge the ball, ran to second. The
batter passed the fielder and turned for
third with Carroll In pursuit. At third
Carroll stopped and tried In vain to re-
lease the ball, and the runner kept on
across the plate and scored the win
ming run.
"Chris von der Abe, who at that
time was at the head Of the euphonic
trio, Won der Abe, Muckenfuss and
Diddlebock, which operated the club,
Our nj nl nnpknil
removed from baseball shirts. Other
teams followed, and the pockets never
have been restored except by few
players who are willing to risk the
repetition Of the accident"
A curious story is this one OF a game
where two balls were in play at the
same time:
"Perhaps the strangest freak play
was one made by Frank McNichols on
the Logan Square grounds I'm Chicago.
The Logan Square team, then owned
by Jimmy Callahan. had persuaded Nc
Nichols. a ball player of major league
caliber, to play first base against the
Gunthers, another strong team, and the
score was tied In the ninth inning. The
Gunthers had runners on second and
third with two out, and n base hit
meant probable defeat for the Logans
and loss Of the city championship.
"Matty Fitzgerald, a well known um
plre, was officiating alone from behind
the pitchers slab. His blouse was fill
ed with extra balls. and In STOPPING to
sight along the plate as the pitcher
wound up he allowed one OF the spare
balls to fall to the ground behind him
The batter hit hard line drive that
seemed aimed at the pitchers ankles
"Fitzgerald leapcd aside to avoid be
ing hit, the batted ball struck the
ball on the ground. and the two balls
kissed off at right angles. One went
straight toward the shortstop, the 9th
er toward the second baseman. Each
player thought the ball rolling toward
him was the one in play, and each
dashed forward. made clever running
SCOOPS at the same instant and threw
to first base at the same time.
1.-The shortstop threw high and to the
left Of McNlchols; the second baseman
with his left hand stretched high,
caught one ball In his mltt and with
the other hand he caught the low
throw, and Fitzgerald, after scratch
Ing his head an instant, called the bat
ter out and refused to allow either of
the runs that crossed the plate on the
play TO be recorded
The following might be called the
story Of the base hit that never came
down:
"Of all the good luck freaks that !
ever heard recounted the best was that
which happened to Frank lsbcll whcr
he was Paying with st. Paul In the
old Western league In those day
baseball on Sunday was not permitted
within the corporate limits Of st Pau!
and a Sunday park had been erected
outside the city's jurisdiction
"The ground was extremely small
and was inclosed by high fence, So
small was the Enclosure that batters
hitting the ball hard against the fences
were compelled to sprint to first, be
cause II the ball happened to rebound
directly TO the fielder he could throw
slow runners out. AS II required
about four hits or their equivalent In
errors to yield n run, small scores were
the rule.
"In the ninth inning OF this game
Milwaukee bad two runs the advan-
tage. and there were runners on first
and second, with Isbell at bat. st.
Paul's only logical hope was for n
home run over one OF the high fences
lsbell hit hard line smash to right
field against the fence. The runner
on irst was slow man. and the fielder
squatted, expecting the ball to rebound
to him and to whirl and force the slow
man at second base, ending the game
But the ball didn't rebound. IL i'm
paled itself on n wire nall about ten
feet up the fence. and while the NIL
waukee outfielders were hunting n