The Topeka state journal., 1913-10-10
"Y0U," HE SAID
The Way Mack Picked Bush to
Pitch the Game.
MahOut of White Elephants
Watched Pitchers Warm Up.
CBy Damon Runyon.)

| New York. Oct. 10.-Squatted in a lit
! tie concrete coop they call the visi-
tors bench at the Polo grounds, his
spare figure sharply outlined among
| the dull, dusty looking uniforms of his
men. by his inevitable garb of funereal
black. Cornelius McGillicuddy-Conn
| Mack-the lean Jesuit of baseball,
struggled with a desperate problem
; yesterday afternoon
| Before him, in a long line, stood half
! dozen young pitchers warming up
Above the babel of 10000 voices the ir-
regular spat, spat of ball against glove
| broke upon the muggy atmosphere
| like irregular musketry as the eager
youngsters swung their arms in a
mighty effort to impress the solemn
! Irishman on the bench, for they knew
he was weighing each one we'll as he
wrestled with the question of who
should pitch the third game of the
worlds series of the Philadelphia Ath-
letics.
Plank had been beaten and Bender
was down at least for the time being
it had to be a youngster, and so the
thin mahout of the White Elephants
watched that eager line, his brow
drawn to a plaintive pucker above his
nose. Then suddenly the eye of Cor
nelius McGillicuddy caught the hop
to a fast ball delivered by one partic-
ularly eager youth and the lean index
finger of "Old Sobersides'' beckoned
You" he said, laconically
So Joseph Leslie Bush, rising 20
years old, little bit pale about the
gills, followed the beck of Connie Mack
in the hall of baseball fame, where he
inscribed his name below the names
of Babe" Adams of Pittsburg and
Hugh Bedient of Boston thus:
j. Leslie Bush" for such is his
youthful cognominal fancy
Had Connie Mack foreseen that final
score of to he might have decided
to pitch the game himself with one
hand tied behind him but the lop-
sided nature of the tally detracts
nothing from the work of ]. Leslie
Bush. He may have been a trifle ner-
vous in the beginning, was this young
person, who parts his name in the
middle, but confidence is easily born
of a five run lead and that was Leslie's
portion after the second inning.
Nicknaned Bullet
They have nicknamed J. Leslie
Bullet inasmuch as they must nick
name all players something or other
nowadays and Bullet is descriptive
of the young mans delivery after hav-
ing been reassured by those five runs.
Patiently the Giants waited for deve!-
opment of that wildneSS to which he
is said to be addicted, and patiently
they made J. Leslie pitch and pitch
again to them, but ever the ''big
four closed in when he seemed to be
growing dangerous and coaXed and
coddled him along until the youth fin
iShed like a veteran.
Murphy, Oldring, Collins and of
course Baker, marched in front of the
Montana marvel. clearing his path to
victory with their bats. They made
nine of the Athletics - hits and
scored seven of the eight runs Wal
ter Schang, the Buffalo boy who
studied baseball under the espionage
of Elbertus Hubbard at East Aurora
\. Y, hit home run into the right
field stand in the eighth inning, a ter
to the purposes of John Franklin
Baker. A home run at such a stage
of the game was merely a home run,
however; it carried no thrill to the
multitude, in fact the multitude had
commenced to thin out by that time.
Trying to Suppress Spectators.
There was rioting at the gates of the
Polo grounds before the game. The
police fell upon the speculators who
have been infesting Eighth avenue since
the series opened and endeavored to
clear them out 1t may be the police
succeeded in this laudable endeavor but
the New York speculator is to 2 in
the betting any time he starts specu-
lating.
The wonderful game at Philadelphia
Wednesday brought the crowd out look
ing for more excitement and they were
not wholly disappointed until the game
started. Several persons tainted in the
stands and a band played variety OF
hymns and popular ditties. a double
steal by Collins and Baker was made
easy by the fact that Mclean dropped
the ball hurled by Tesreau. .'Stuffy''
McInnis, who has not figured in this
series as much as was expected, famed.
Mclean dropped the third strike and
had to toss the ball to Merkle to get
the little doorkeeper of the Mackmen.
1t was at once the beginning and
end as matters turned out, although
the three run lead did not at first strike
the Giants sympathizers as over
whelming in view of the fact that Mack
intended starting a youngster. 1t is
proba BILE that Bush and Schang are
the youngest battery that ever worked
in worlds series. And it is certain
that Tesreau and Mclean are the
weightiest men that ever teamed in
such a struggle.
AS the Missoula boy trotted to the
box and the 500, 600 infield formed in
order behind him an unusual chatter
arose from McInnis, Collins, Black Jack
Barry and Baker, all talking to the
youngster in an encourag ging manner.
The dull travelling uniforms of the
Mackmen somehow seemed to make all
players look exactly alike but the spec
tators could see that Bush was very
young and a murmur rose from the
stands.
They say that the day that Bush
made his debut with the Athletics back
in September. 1912, and the Detroit
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