Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-21
l0YS OF "KID DAYS"
0NPRAIRTEBTAM
RELATED BY SUNDAY
rysuQelist Used to Manu-
fscture Balls Out of Cork
nd Twine-Began Ca
ver With Anson.
Nv CHILLY" SUNDAY

s..sn my baseball career on the
~ at Ames, Iowa, where I spent a
oar, OF my boyhood. A baseball
lot to the boys out there. We
worsed all day to make the ball
y we're to play with, and then some
,oiow with strong wallop would
~ hall so hard tat IT would go
4, ne pond and then we would have to
~ 10 fish It out.
uten we could get one, we used a
A,, bail because It would float, for
,rew that big Bates would be sure
dr,ve the ball over the nclder's head
no water But even rubber balls
scarce in those days and We often
a take a cork from n ketchup bottle
bali Of string from the grocery
~. and make our own ball.
NJ Grandfather owned n turning lathe
y when could find the time would
!. dovn TO his shop and turn out the
81. mat we used. They were pretty
IA hats. too. and with our homo made
,.,. and bats we had some lively games.
Every now and then we would have
AN we called big game and we wanted
hall like the big fellows played with.
!. ws would get cork or a piece of
-.hhsr and some string and shape up
4. ball Then would get an old boot
~ and make cover for the ball. The
A.o,s IN those days had kid tops and they
"A not make bad covers.
ma grass on the prairles was high and
\ "a did not follow the ball closely or
4 a would get into the pond we would
rss r. was pretty fast runner. and
g,sys II was to keep from losing the
Nh as much as anything else that 1
,sose 10 play in the outleld.
After while l began to play on the
NJ team that represented the village.
i v,s the only country boy on the team.
hsother boys lived in the town. had
slot OF work to do and there were times
.s,u could not get away to play Then
~ boys would come out to the farm to
IN me I'D, and they often hired another
'Ar 10 do my work while / went away
d play for them.
va played a lot of baseball when we
essld get away from our other duties
xhne we were attending the little coun-
nv school, I'll tell you that those games
v,re real fun Bert Jewett and l used !
N NAV against the other boys at the |
,ehoo We could hit the ball hard and |
fun fast, and we often beat them de-
rblte the fact that they had a full team
reslnst the two of us.
TIE volunteer fire companies held tour
taments every year. One of these events
sss to run with n hose carriage for 300
ysrds, take out 300 feet of hose and cou-
Rs II to a fireplug. The company that
q this the fastest won the prize. Com
giltion was keen and the companies
mt scouts over the country looking for
lss men.
! was a senior in the school at Ne
5zda when they heard that l could run
Ifstty fast One of the scouts came up
70 the school in which / was also the
isnltor. and asked me If / wanted to
hn the Marshalltown company. l had
10 live In the town 30 days before / was
eligible to enter the tournament. My
Ichopl work was about done and went
d0Eh
Taey gave me n job in the furniture
store and played ball with the village
team. In the final game Marshalltown
Sss 10 play Des Moines for the cham
lhnhip. l virtually won the game for
n' Aarshalltown team. The score was
30 Z and made 6 runs and had seven
asht nutouts in the outheld
Afshalltown was the home of cap"
Aason, Of the Chicago White Sox. The
tople began to talk about me TO the
lspain and he offered me a job with
na Chicago team. That was the begin
lhsG
never played In the minor leagues. I
lAted at the top, and was at the top
men gave up baseball to begin my re-
leous work
lA A. A LM.