Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-06-24
BASEBALL IN THE OLD DAYS
cIover's Ex.cateher Writes Interest,"
iinsIy Of Great Times in the Long Ago.

III
| .rtHf E- - ,gtl'. 1'rif
cIovePs Ex.catcher Writes interest
insIy Of Great Times in the Long Ago
Editor Yorkville Enquirer: .a
Thinking that 1t might be Of inter
est to some OF the young baseball
fans, and recall pleasant memories tt
older ones, am going to give q few
"reminiscences Of baseball as 1t startee
| in York county along about 1884 Of
l1SS5; but in so doing 1t is with re.
verance and tender feelings that
mention the names Of some good fel.
lows who have laid down their bait
for the last time"
The first game worthy Of mention
| that / can recollect, was played be-
| tween Yorkville and Rock Hill result.
/ ing in a victory for Rock Hill by 6
score Of A to 3, and this was the
game that made John Roddey famous
| (ex-mayor Of Rock HilD for 1t wa
heralded abroad that he pitched
crooked ball." OF course such 6
statement was doubted by many goot
| people who claimed that 1t was a.
much Of an impossibility for a mar
to throw a curved ball as 1t was te
shoot a curve with rifle, because
Of science. However, we young FAM
took 1t in and looked upon Mr.. Roddey
with as much wonder and admiration
as the average boy Of nowadays feel.
toward Ty Cobb, Hans Wagner and
Speaker. 4i,l t.u.a.,a.ses. s.s.s 30.
The great victory for Rock Hill lee
the boys Of Glover to believe that we
could at least make q few runs OF
Yorkville, so a team was organized
and in few days formal challenge
came from Yorkville. The challenge
was duly accepted and the first game
played on the home grounds, was
thrilling, dangerous and exciting
There were many casualties. Our
good old friend, the veteran black
smith, sustained broken nose as the
result Of beng struck by flying bat
Col. Lindsay, Of Yorkville, received
| a like wound, and Jim Riddle was
struck in the stomach, knocked un.
conscious, and carried Off the field
Such minor accidents as broken
fingers are hardly worthy Of men.
ton. The game resulted in q de.
cided victory for Yorkville-I have
forgotten the score-but 1t was some
thing like go to IL.
One amusing incident in connection
with this game was pulled Off by
Barron for Glover (now president OF
Manchester mills, Rock HilD. Barron
was playing left field and he always
played to win. Yorkville was at the
knocked a long ball in Barron's ter
ritory, which he saw was impossible
to get. In this extremity, he decid.
ed to use a little headwork and an.
nounced to the umpire that "the bal
was lost" He followed up the an
nouncement with the demand thai
the runners return to the bases. This
brought a wrangle and the baseball
scriptures" were searched from be.
ginning to end to find Barron's au.
thority for returning runners to bas-
es on lost ball." The umpire's de-
cision was against us and he or.
dered the runners to be scored. There
was no quarreling with the umpire
or less. was Of little importance any.
way. From this time on, Barron not
only studied baseball rules, but de-
veloped into good player and help
ed to win many brilliant victories
later on. He was severely crippled ir
one game and will no doubt tell you
now that had 1t not been for 8
bottle Of goose grease" (no such
thing as arnica was known in thoss
days) he would have been crArple
to this day.
After this game, in which there
were so many casualties. many Of the
older heads advised that the game
ought to be prohibited by law as II
was too dangerous. However, 1t would
not down, though we decided not to
least learned the rules Later q "dou-
BILE header"-that Is, half Of the game
to be played in the forenoon and the
other half in the afternoon was played
with Beth-Shiloh, a team under the
management Of Alex Martin, (now
Rev. Alexander Martin, pastor First
Presbyterian church, Rock HID. A
great game 1t was, but 1t Is not known
to this day who won, as the scorer got
mixed up in his figures and he was
never able to straighten them out
Alex and Rodger Martin were the
battery for Beth-Shiloh and while
Rodger was an excellent pitcher he
was very wild and punished Alex very
severely. At last the thing got to a
point where 'forbearance ceased to be
Rodger licking; but the umpire in.
terfered.
Shortly after this Clover Beth Shi-
loh game, Will Beamguard was dis
covered" as having an iron arm and
he was duly installed as a pitcher. His
speed was the wonder Of the fans, and
1t scored many victories until he ruin
ed his arm by throwing at a dog. Fol
accuracy and speed I never saw 8
pitcher who had better control than
Beamguard AS an illustration, or
one occasion we were playing game
with Yorkville. Jim Bell, (now Of
Washington, D. c., had struck out 6
number Of times, and the manager oi
| the Yorkville team was roasting hin
pretty severely for not hitting the ball
expect me to hit it when I can't SET
it?" When Jim came to the bat again
Beamguard said Jim, hold your bal
| over the base and I will hit 1t for you.
Bell did as directed and Beamguart
hitting the bat fairly, gave this par.
ticular batter the only base hit HI
ever got.
During the nineties there were many
pleasant games between Yorkville anc
Glover, and they were played fairly
and honorably, without any tricker!
or squeeze" plays.
OF the big pitchers Of the old days
shall mention Roddey OF Rock Hill
Ed McClain Of Yorkville (now in Tex
as), Rodger Martin, Beth Shiloh, anG
Will Beamguard Of Glover. The fan:
always looked to these to win games.
AS for first baseman and catcher fol
the county / think am safe in saying
that big" Harry Neil, (now treasurer
Of York county,, easily led. For au.
| thority on rules and all round goot
paying, Collie Moore, (then Of York.
| Vile, now Of Clarksville, Texas), was
the star and was as fair to his oppo'
nents as he was just to his home
| team.
| M. L. Smith.