The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-04-21

to Cresco on a farm near that city and
remain there until the day Of the
match. Their line of business was to
watch the other farm hands toss hay,
etc. and partake of the cream of the
| farm. Those two great men of the ball
field have passed out of the flesh, but
often did the great Radbourne con.
vulse me with laughter, describing his
life on that farm while waiting for the
great game.
ID AID and Taylor could play Reu,
N ben and play it we'll. They
were treated OIL that farm like kings
and lords, and all Cresco was chuck
ling TO themselves on the card they
had up their sleeves for Decorah.
Here was the position of the two cities
one week before the match. Decorah
had seven Chics ~ players with the
addition Of two or three of her own.
| Decorsh put watch on Cresco to see
IT they were getting any new men, but
| DO new faces were seen on the team
while Cresco was practicing for the
| great matrh. RadDouruc and Taylor
never appeared with the Cresco team
while they were practicine There was
| an air of mystery about the latter city
! that Decorah could not understand.
| Cresco held their secret well as this
travelling man had closed sll leaks. The
| game was the talk of that section of
| the country, and Cresco took every
bet that Decorah could muster. Men
had all and every confidence IN Rad
bourne and TAYLOR. They knew they
were robbed by Decorah in the last
game. and they were boiling hot to
get even. Decorah had detectives in
Cresco up to the afternoon of the
| game but no new faces were seen.
| What could this mcan2 Cresco was
backing their club and never spoke
To any new players. The travelling man
had arranged for the novel appearance
| of Radbournc and Taylor op the day
OF the game. The great day Of the
match opened up bright and clear
From early morn to noon wagons were
pouring into t'resco loaded with peo-
pie from the surrounding country to
see the game that was the topic of
conversation for three weeks. Excur-
| slons on the railroads came mp from
! Decorah with people who were eager
to bet on their iuviucible team
Just before the game began two of
Croscoe,s s players took sick and Deco
rah made no objection when Cresco
| summoned couple of big "farmers
! to take their places. There was an i'm
mense amount of money, aud horses,
bet on the game. and the Cresco people
said 1t was an awful shame that De.
corah should have such soft thing
FINALLY the Creseo manager called
out; Send down YOUR two men, Mr.
jenkins. from that load of hay III
put them in the game anyway At
this call Rad and TAYLOR toppled down
from tho load of hay, and powerful
looking men they were at that time OF
their life. All eyes were now riveted
on them.
The. number of Cresco people "that
were in the playD cheered aud cheered
Rad and Taylor, Those two men had
the. field they Invested themselves of
their outward heavy shirts, The Chi
cago players commenced to laugh as
they saw them descend from the load
Of hay, They might have hoard of
Radbourne and TAYLOR, but they never
saw them: The Crescoes took the field,
and as Rad went toward the box
that sullen. dogeed and Indifferent ap-
pearance which was ever Characteristic
of him somewhat impressed the Chicago
players,
A S big Taylor donned the mask
Farmer Jenkins called out,
"Don t hurt yourselves, boys, you
know we commence threshing tomor-
row. AS Radbourne faced the first
Chicago hitter he smiled with that de-
fant air which always lit up the coun-
tenances of two men in their different
professions. One was John l.. Suli-
van as he looked across the ring at
his opponent. and one was Charles
Radbourne when he first faced a batter
You can call it hypuotism, magnet
ism. or any other 'ism,' it was there
Just the same. Radbourne showed 1T
in the many years that he was in the
National league. Sullivan demonstrated
it in the twelve years he was champion
Of the world Rad opened up this game
by calling out to Taylor:
''Hold up your hands. Billy! Belt
high over the plate. | want to shoot
three or four balls over 1t on that
cigarette batter Talk about being
on the double track of the B. g. o.,
between Baltimore and Washington,
and YOUR train standing still waiting
for the New York lightning Express
to pass, which she does with a zip,
then vou'l have a faint idea how Rad
sent the first ball over the plate on
this Chicago City league batter.
Red and Taylor threw all their ar
dor and iollity into this game. This
batter famed out and was glad to
leave the plate, when Taylor calls out,
HCome on here, you mosquito batters
want some Of tho atmosphere famed
away from here. = Holy Moses, their
| hearts failed.
They knew they were up against the
real thing, where they came from or
how they got there they knew not.
Radbourne looked at them: he shot
/ them high and he shot them low, with
curves and bumps that made them sea
sick while thev were at the plate. He
retired the side on strikes.
Cheer upon cheer went up from all
/ Crosco when they saw the doom Of
their bitter opponents. As Dccorah
I went to the field Taylor made it worse
by telling them TO go out now and show
/ the people how TO pick up ball with
one finger.
I TSHE Chicago players realized now
IL what they were up against and 1T
affected their entire playing. Taylor,
the first batter up for Cresco. drove
ball high and dry over the wagons IN