The Washington herald., 1912-02-18

day is reprinted below:
| 'on a wager Of $500 Charlie Street,
4 catcher of the Washington baseball
club. yesterday caught a baseball drop
ped from the observation window in the
! Washington Monument, $50 feet above
| the ground.
| "A long line of prominent baseball
catchers, including Paul Hines. Charlie
| Snyder, and Buck Ewing have tried this
| difficult catch in the past, but all of them
| without success.
Though the ball was allowed TO fall
| the full height of the monument with
only the impetus of its own weight, by
/ the time II came within reach of Streets
mitt IL is probable that IL had attained
the fastest speed Of any ball ever caught
| by a player.
1T is estimated that the ball was going
slightly over 40 feet a second when
| Street met it, while a breeze strong
nough to give the ball a slight twist
added to the difficulty. In comparative
speed it was going over a mile and
half a minute
1T was only after thirteen attempts
! that Street succeeded in holding the
ball. but under the terms OF the bet
| that gave him the stakes. Most of his
| misses were the result of the breeze
that in the long drop took the ball quite
| out of his reach
| Without taking into consideration the
| light breeze blowing at the time OF the
| test catch and the varying atmospheric
! pressure at the top and the bottom of
| the monument, the spheres theoretical
| tall was sixteen feet the nrst second
| with an aCceleration OF thirty-two feet
each subsequent second. This made the
| total drop take something over five sec
| Onds, with an accelerated velocity Of
| more than 40 feet for the last second
Street did his best to break the force
of the blow from the descending ball
by reaching up for It and easing on on
it gradually. But in spite of his cf-
! forts the ball struck the catcher's NIT
with whack that could be heard sew
| eral hundred yards away.
= Street held the ball long enough to-
win the bet. and then gave himself up
to rubbing his hands. He was not Sc
riously affected. however, and was able
to catch the afternoons game between
Washington and Detroit"
President Ban johnson. OF the Ameri-
| can League. arrived in the city yester-
day morning for the purpose Of attend
ing the dinner OF the Gridiron Club, at
which he was the guest of President
| Noyes last night.
Mr.. Johnson's visit has no baseball
significance. When asked whether the
| holding up of the new national agree
ment by the American League was apt
| to bring about any serious controversy
with the National League. Mr.. johnson
| said: No. not at all. Everything will
be adjusted in due time. There are some
clauses that there are objections TO. but
l believe that it will all be Strengthened
out in due time
! The signed contract Of Bob Groom
reached Manager Griffith yesterday
morning. Griffith and the disgruntled
pitcher came to an agreement during the
| past few days, and Groom expresses
| himself as more than satisfied with the
contract submitted to him. incidentally,
he assures his manager that this will
be the best year Of his career with The
Nationals.
Doc GessIer. who was sold to Kansas
City during the league meeting in Chi
cago. came TO Washington yesterday to
close up some personal affairs.
The original Herald data man dropped
in yesterday and unloaded the following:
| Say. Bill" he said. in his breezy. joy
GUS way. you all have got a cor;ing
good ball park in the Concrete Coliseum.
It's a credit to the game, its patrons, and
its promoters.
NOlneF InllE dboul lUt IdlsltitAl
park wherein will cavort GrifT's Mean-
Iings this here year of grace, there alE't
goin to be no bunch of rah, rah. school |
boys hiking out there for practice
games among themselves. or the real |
thing, either. There'lI be no seTTiai |
ranks in martial array grim. a-enfiladin |
and left-Obliqueng. and a fours-rightin' !
over the newer and the better sward wC |
are promised. nor vet will the fielu be !
,aYigG in
yards for the murderous sport Of Octo- !
Tcmber
Why? Because its a-wcarin' and Il
tearih' on the turf-and besides, il don't |
pay.
Now. then. that s25c.OOo proposition !
out there is due for seventy-twO shows |
year at most. but counting double !
headers there'T he only about siXty-five. /
1T has just appeared TO some OF the I
maEgOts-eXCuse me. maEnates-that that |
j. very much town hOuse-seashOrC prop
erty that could be put to profitable Use !
another part OF the year. And then !
those intellectual athletes propose to o. |
vide those grounds with rivals i'm certain !
cities, both as me3rs of keeping the /
grounds busy and igltinS the so-calle.i |
'outla ws'-whO b. the way. appear to !
have thrown bin" funk OF fright into |
two o. three cities ~ the National err
cult.
rise in one Of those cbSiirdlv funny 'eX-
ecutive' meetings of the big leagues and
say, 'Wot til, teIlers. these here tres
passers on our divine rights looks 10
have a ace up their sleeves; maybe
they've seen the hoss and come across,
and il we all don't look out they'll be
breakin' in the game and cuttin' up the /
coin four or five ways. Now, what's the
matter with we all beatin' 'em to II
We've got parks: they haven't
yet Our parks are idle half the season
while we are on the road. These here
guys with shoestring or other stakes
propose to get in on our open dates and
get a start with that. Suppose We keep
our player list up to thirty all the season,
split our mines into regulars" and re
serves and play light-opera-
prices baseball with the reserves while
the regulars are on the road.
Reckon Mr. Buttinsky would have q
swell chance then
And il Mr.. Wise Old Owl should pre-
vail over his companions there would be
something doing in all the big ball yards
all the time at very little more expense
than now. The pikers would have in the
big cities a chance to see % cent baseball
while being educated up to the grand
.