Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-26
"THE CAST-OFF"
The Rise of G. Audubon Spencer Alias SIg Notwithstanding
He LGcked-HS Encounter With JGggs and the "Tacnn"
Episode-What the Fans at Home Thought.
BY CHARLES E. VAN LOAN
The worlds famous writer of baseball fiction

He is not playing baseball now; oc-
caBionally the name OF q. Audubon
Spencer appears in magazines devoted TO
scientific pursuits. and he has been known
to address women's clubs upon protective
coloring as applied to lepidoptera. G.
Audubon Spencer has a small but highly
interested following; Slug Hardy was
frantically worshiped by a few hundred
Thousand perspiring gentlemen who
wouldn't know what lepdoptera meant
and wouldn't care very much. either Yet
q. Audubon and Slug are one and the
same person.
He called himself Hardy when he de-
cided to become professional baseball
player, and he became a professional
baseball player because he needed the
money. There was a time when he played
the national game for love, He began
as the star pitcher of a high-school nine,
and when he was II years of age he was
whitewashing semipro organizations ana
letting real leaguers down with two and
three hits Then he went to a university
where he made baseball history, and was
in a fair way to graduate with some let
ters after his name when Spencer, Sr,
took 1t into his head to die. He left a
large family and a larger mortgage. and
young G.. Audubon packed his traps and
disappeared, to turn up thousand miles
away as Slug Hardy. the star pitcher of
a professional team.
He was a sensation for two seasons
partly because he could wrap a ball
around batter's neck and partly because
he could hit at a $40 clip from one end
OF the season TO the other, and walloping
pitchers are rare birds.
At 20. Hardy was a veteran pitcher and
beginning to feel the effect of too much
work. He would have been an exploded
phenomenon at q but for his foresight.
He knew that there comes a time TO every
pitcher when the strongest wing weakens
and the former star is left out ON the hill
with nothing but a glove and a prayer,
so he prepared himself for new position.
Day after day Dusty Moles, his chum,
put in his spare time hitting up fun
goes" to the outfeld, and Hardy gal
loped after them. When Slug was ready
to stop pitching he was a seasoned out
fielder and II was as an outhelder that
he Joined the Blue Sox and entered the
big league.
There was only one thing the matter
with Slug. He was born without sense
of humor. On the other hand, John Hem
ny Patrick Callahan, "Jaggs" Callahan
OF blessed memory, had too much humor.
That was where the trouble started.
Jaggs was not the worst fellow In the
world, and not the best either. His
humor, largely of the slapstick variety,
often palled upon his teammates, but they
endured him because he could pitch a
baseball In seven different languages. His
best joke was the one he saved up for
whiskered yokels at country stations
When the train stopped JagEs would
spy out bueolie loafer with long Whisk-
ers and beckon him TO approach engag-
ing him IN close conversation about the
town and the price OF real estate. Still
talking when the train began to move.
Jaggs would lean far out of the window,
entangle his Iron fingers IN the rustic's
beard ana hold on for dear life. The sight
Of the outraged citizen racing along ana
screaming with pain and rage was one
which never failed to hll JaRgs with
pleasure, Sometimes the pitcher lost his