Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-08-12
eiLt swEEHY.

the enflaDIe recoru Ildt mas Deen
made by William John Sweeney. field
captain and second baseman Of the
boston National League club. George
stallings, the manager of the team,
and recognized judge OF players. as
serts that Sweeney Is one Of the
greatest players IN the game today.
He Is finished selder. an excellent
hitter and q base runner who uses
his head from the time he reaches
first. What more can be said Of q
ball player? The story OF how he be-
came a ball player, and his car :
since becoming a professional Is o.-e
| OF the most interesting OF any that
have yet been told In this series Of
stores.
1T was my desire to have college
Ieaucation that induced me to become
| a professional baseball player. was
born In Covingt0R. KY, on March s.
| 1886. My father was q druggist His
business was not q big one at that
time. and when / was graduated from
high school the prospects Of my going
to college were meagre, to say the
least.
Il had played ball In school. and
had played on some Of the amateur
teams In the vicinity, right across the
river from Cincinnati. Ohio. ! was
discussing my ambition with some OF
my intimates, and they suggested
that / play bah during the summer.
and earn enough to pay my tuition.
They Impressed upon me the necessi.
ty however, Of playing professional
ball under an assumed name, II 7
hoped to play ball while attending
college.
Pays Way Through College.
AT first | played semi professiona
ball IN Kentucky. made good. and.
what was more important TO me at
the time. made enough money to
pay my first years tuition at st.
Xavier jesuit College. Cincinnati.
Il had played almost every position
on ball club by the time / matric4
ulated at college, but while there {
was played at third base. | must
have made an impression OF some
kind, for during the summer Of 1907
7 was offered q position with the
Charleston, w. Va. club. Il was an
independent ball team. We went from
here to there playing and dividing the
purse. / played IN Charleston for two
seasons, using all sorts Of assumed
names. ! was Mitchell. Murphy and
Denton among many others. Almost
every town or city that we played IN
i assumed a different name, so that
/ could still play ball at college With
out being barred as professional.
1t was while playing with that club
that ] had the most weird experience
that could nossibI Eefall younRsitr
breaking into the game. 1t was enough
70 driya me out Of baseball. land why
Il stuck is beyond me.
"The Charleston club played Il
game against the Ashland (Ky.) club
one afternoon during the famous coal
strike Of several years back. That
was q center of steel mills at the
time. There was practically no law
The miners governed things them
selves.
1T was shortly after q big expIos-
ion that we hit the place and 1t seems
as II some legal suit resulted. At
any rate, we learned afterward that
about $50 miners were there to tes-
tify. They had consumed most Of
the booze IN the place, and they all
had guns.
As the game progressed there was
one fellow who persisted In shooting
at the foul ball as they were knocked
over the stand II / remember cor
rectly he took no less than twelve
shots. Whether he hit any OF them or
not I cannot say.
Gun Play IN Game.
AS the ninth inning started we
were IN the lead by score OF to
q The Ashland PLAYERS were going
TO bat for the last time, when about
eco OF those miners marched onto
the Held and stationed themselves
near third base. The man who had
Deen doing the shooting announced
tnat no pals would be caught on that
side OF the diamond. / guess no balls
were.
Maybe showed the white feather
Wnen let two 90 through me. but
NJ q nj