The San Francisco call., 1913-11-14
STARS WORK
ON SOGGY
DIAMOND
Umpire KLEIN Makes a Hit,
While McGraW Pulls Some
Circus Stuff
By JOE MURPHY

The fans of this section had their
first opportunity to see the big
leaguers in action yesterday at Oak
land. but they saw them perform un-
der the most adverse conditions. A
soggy. rainsoaked field, with mud al
most ankle deep. was what the stars
were asked to play on. Dark clouds
threatened to burst at any time and
drive the players and fans to cover.
but they managed to hold intact as
long a S the game lasted. though they
cast blackness over the diamond,
which made 1t almost impossible at
times for the batters to see the speed
ing sphere shoot over the rubber. The
Sox won. 5 to 2.
1t was a day not meant for base
ball. The field was in awful shape.
and If there were nine of Eddie Col
Inns kind on one side and nine of the
Cobb variety on the other they could
not have done much better. under the
prevailing conditions The players
fioundered about like a small boat in
a rough sea. They had their troubles
holding their feet, so 1T is hard to
expect class ball when such condi-
tions exist
The crowd was a poor one and un-
doubtedly disappointed the visiting
players. who counted upon record at
tendances in this neck of the woods.
There may be several reasons for the
poor turnout. First of all. ii looked
doubtful as to whether there would
be a game. Then the day was gloomy.
The advanced prices must have had
fits effect. too. The fans out this way
are not educated to pay top prices for
exhibition games.
There were some notables in the
lineups of the teams. Every oppor-
tunity is given the fans to see all the
boys. In fact. everything is handled
just like 1t is in a circus. and there
was lot of circus stuff pulled off.
KLEIN A BIG CARD
The real card Of yesterday after
Moons game was Umpire KLEIN, a man
with big voice that is clear and
pleasing. No circus spfeler ever did
his work more satisfactorily than
KLEIN. He gave the fans a line on
every ball player and a brief history
of them.
A sample of KLEIN: "On the third
base coaching line, Muggsy McGraw.
manager of the New York Giants. On
the first base coaching line, Mike
Dcnlin. the famous outfielder" etc.
lie DcSl IAlI6 lIdL was pulcQ OA
during the afternoon was a little
vaudeville stunt, in which John Nc
Graw essayed the leading role. 1t
was a grabbing stunt that Muggsy
put on during the middle of the game,
which Klein ordered him to the club
house for. Nike Donlin entered into
the discussion, and he was also chased
from the field.
Just what Muggsy and Mike were
grabbing at the fans were unaware of
and when they were ordered from the
field the crowd suspected that 1t was
horseplay on the part of the Giant
leader. 1t looked like very crude act
ing on McGraws part and he can not
except TO get by here unless he shows
more of the real stuff
Christy Mathewson bobbed up on
the sidelines, and the great finger was
given a hand. jeff Tesreau was also
on the field. If there were any nota-
bles on hand that were not in the
game they were paraded before the
crowd. The members of the party
are an affable bunch, as they are will
ing to do anything that will please
the fans They realize that they
wanted to be looked at and they gave
the fans plenty of chance to size
them up.
WET FIELD A HANDICAP
Germany Schaefer, the comedian OF
the Washington American club, is
some card, but / am told that he was
not at his best yesterdays Schaef is
probably working under a strain try
ing to uphold his reputation as a dis
penser of mirth. He has a lot of good
stuff and the fans liked him.
The game was not up to the stand
ard on account of the condition of the
playing field. 1t was fairly close until
the seventh, when Jim Thorpe dropped
an easy fly in right field and allowed
a couple Of runs Up to this time Tex
Russell and Hooks Wiltse were deal
ing out a battling brand. The Sox
scored in the opener. when Buck
Weaver started the game by beating
out bunt and scoring later on a hit.
Russell is mighty sweet pitcher.
He was not working under high pres
sure yesterday, but we can imagine
that he is some hurler when he lev
els. He has speed and the necessary
benders to make him great.
Old Wiltse has plenty of stuff left,
Notwithstanding that he is the vet
eran pitcher of the Giants. He has
sort of crossfre delivery, and he
should have held the Sox to a single
tally yesterday with ordinary support.