Evening journal., 1913-05-24
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
A Baseball Incident Of
Forty Years Ago
BY Holland

Charles Parbor, who forty years
ago held the admiration of the base
ball fans Of that day as securely as
do some OF the conspicuous players
of the. present time. died at his home
in New Haven, Conn. on the last
Sunday Of April. ] had seen Parbor
play ball while he was at the height
Of his reputation and was especially
conspicuous because he was almost
unique among baseball players in be-
ing left-handed Some ten or twelve
years later / met him near the Court
House at New Haven. He had aban-
doned baseball to become a police
man, and he never regretted that
step.
said to Parbor that remember
ed very well the unprecedented game
OF baseball which the nine of which
he was the pitcher played against the
famous Cincinnati Red Stockings in
1869.
THAT was the first game of base
ball in which one side 'Chicagoed' the
OAHNAf ilN rdlNs
Parbor made use of an expression
commonly employed at that time to
describe the whitewashing on base
ball nine. The term now has prac-
tically gone out OF use.
THAT was the year." said Parbor.
when the Cincinnati Red Stockings
under the management of Harry
Wright. went through an entire sea-
son without losing a game. George
Wright was the shortstop OF the Red
Stockings. but before he joined the
Cincinnati Club he played shortstop
upon the old Union nine of Nor
risania, n. Y. / was the pitcher Of
that nine. George Wright in my
opinion, never had and never will
| have a superior a shOrtstOp.
"In the game in which the Red
Stockings 'Chicagoed us, they made
fourteen runs, and yet / think I never
pitched better in my life. was the
only left-handed pitcher of that time.
But / think the most extraordinary
game | ever played was with the old
Atlantic nine. of Brooklyn, which was
for a long time the champion nine.
The pitcher upon the Atlantic nine
was a man named Zettlein. He was a
butcher by trade, and he was as
strong as any OK he ever slaughtered.
He was a right-handed pitcher, and
he had a wonderful capacity for
! pitching very swift balls. At that
time pitchers were not allowed TO
throw the ball. They had to pitch
with a side-arm delivery. and the
ball had to be delivered when the
hand was between the hip and the
knee.
1--WE had upon our nine a great
batsman named Shelley. He played
first base. but he never seemed to
be able to hit ball delivered by
zettlein. We had played with the
Atlantics two or three times and Shell
ley did not live up to his reputation
as batsman.
well, / think II was in the third
or fourth inning of the game that
am telling you about that Shelley
swung his bat terrihcally at a ball.
You could hear the whack all over
the fclds but nobody seemed to know
where the ball went Almost at the
/ instant when Shelley hit the ball,
zettlcin dropped and lay like a dead
man. Those Of Us who ran to see
what the matter was found the ball
/ lying near the pitchers face.
THAT bali went so swiftly and on
such p straight line that zettlein did
| not see il. He never knew what hit
| him The ball struck him squarely
over the left eye
"The first thing he knew was that
he was in the club house. with his
team standing around him. They all
thought tho game would have to he
stopped zettlein said in weak
voice Did the hall hit me-?
They told him that it did-over the
eye Already there was a swelling
as big as a hens egg around the eye
zettlein took little money from
his pocket and told them to 60 to a
butcher shop Just outside of the ball
grounds and buy a piece of raw
meat When the meat was bought ht
plastered his eye with Il and ther
tied It on With handkerchief. After
few moments he got up. took his
place and pitched as we'll as he ever
4 did. but il was all will-power. Zett
lein said afterward that il the bal
had hit him just little TO the real
of the spot where it did strike, &
would have crushed his skull"