The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-06-12
seen BY A WOMAN
The Society Reporter Goes to
the Ball Game.
Is Shocked by UntidineSS of the
Players Clothes.
C0L0RS ARE INHARM0NI0US
Notes Rudeness of the Towns
people to Their Visitors.
Several Persons Make Unkind
and Sarcastic Remarks.

Caesar who sits at the head desk in
the long room has another idea about
it, and he considers that a free ticket
implies an obligation. Hence, when
the woman reporter went to the game,
she was expected to turn in some
copy about it. That her knowledge OF
baseball takes in few of the fine
points and none of the vocabulary that
belong to the diamond, was no ex-
/ cuse. Let US have the woman's YER
| sion,' the boss said.
| do not now recall what team it
was we played with, but they are the
ones who have grey striped suits, with
red piping on the seams Aside from
the suits being dirty-they are al
was not a fast color. That is, it
was not a fixed color, but I think it
must have been fast, for it ran into
| the grey of the cloth and looked most
game without rejecting on how
| strange it is that any civilized human
can care so little for appearances as
these baseball players seem to do. The
game went along to tell me how and
why things were done as they are
done in baseball. 1.-The pitcher" the
wise one said, ''is splitting on the ball"
1t was certainly perfectly obvious that
the man was splitting on the ball and
| then wallowing his hands in pile of
| dust at his feet, and rubbing them
! clean on his once-white trousers. HE
formant went on, 80 it will not be
so readily seen by the fellows out in
the field" L thought the theory a
good one and tried to forget the sense
of nausea that the sight naturally
causes, when not viewed from the
| scientific point of view.
The Catcher a Hero.
The catcher for our team was the
hero of the afternoon. He was
fascinatingly good tempered chap and
fnI nrt of oh a CT VI
the other men got a bit disheartened,
as they did when the other side made
a home run. Jimmie Everybody call
ed him Jimmie as though they had
known him for forty years., Jimmie
wore a most fantastic outfit The
front of him was covered with quilted
armor, and once when the ball hit him
fairly on the stomach. he never no
ticed it, but the dust flew in cloud.
He had a bird cage on his head, and
on his legs were some convex leather
shields that looked like,two shiny boils
on the human knees. Jimmie, L take
it. is some part of a hero The wise
one told me with awe in her tones,
that she had spoken to him once with
out knowing who he was 1t was on
the street car, and man in citizens
clothes sat down by her, and she
asked him how the game went. He
told her that Topeka had won, and
then he modeStly went on to say that
he was the person who won it She
says he didn't appear at all stuck up
about 1t.
Rude to Their Guests
Quite the most noticeable thing
about bail game is the rudeness of
the townspeop1e to the visiting team.
Usually Topeka people are nice to
their guests, all except when their
guests are ball players YET they like
ball players better than any other pro-
fessional men on earth. 1t is hard to
reconcile those two facts. Our alpha
betical citizen. A. B. c. butcher, sat
in the g:andstand near me, airing his
views on the imported team. M.
butcher. affab1e on most occasions,
was most sarcastic in his remarks not
manager of the foreign team. One
of the pitchers he called a name that
sounded suspiciously like "Gertie."
Charles Joslin was near by. and he
was quite as bad. Hugh Fisher came
in after a while, and he was worse
than the others in his language. They
co-operated to heap abuse and ridi-
cule on the head of the visiting catch
er, just because he made the mistake
of dropping the ball and then picking
it up hastily and throwing it TO the
wrong base. His dropping it was an
noying enough, and plain po1iteness
would have suggested that the spec
tators turn and look in another direc- |
ton, taking no notice of the accident. |
But instead of that, all of them shout |
ed and began to kid the unfortunate |
man, until he couldn't have known |
what to do in the emergency that fol- |
lowed, even had he been n Napoleon |
of the diamond.
Lost Sight of the Game.
The attention of some of us who are |
plying and kind hearted was diverted |
from the progress of the game for a |
time by an injury to one of the play
ers. I dc not recall, if 1 noticed at all. |
whether it happened TO one of our
own pitchers or to one. the other |
team. The tendency is to forget party |
affiliations, class prejudices and town |
spirit in times of great crises. \ bat |
ter struck a ball a bit too hard, and |
the pitcher. in trying to catch it, was |
caught on the end of his forefinger. |
He went calmly On with his work for |
a while, until the injured member be-
gan to swell, and one could see the |
for nearly half a block. |
He asked to be withdrawn, and sat !
down on bench at the foot of the |
A well meaning man
who was a doctor dressed the finger
Wise One went over to find out the
extent Of the injury, and reported
that some of the tendons We're
and that an N-Ray picture
would be taken of the finger.
I should have been more agitated |
over the incident, if my train of |
sympathy had not been cut into by
a savage yell from the left AS no
Oiie III the UoNeS or the SranuSland
was being toTna hawked, 1 looked to
the field, and there one man had
home and two others had
stolen bases while the manager of /
the opposing team was talking things
over with the pitcher.
Did Not Seem Fair.
1t didn't seem quite fair to take
of a man when his back
was turned, but on the other hand,
he proba bly, should not just then have |
been enga ged in converse with his
even so high one as