Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-01
THE BLACK BOOK
Heart-Breaking Pitchers Battle, in Which johnny
Merrys Game" Is Slowly Brought
to Light
By CHARLES E. VAN LOAN
The WORLDS Greatest Writer Of Baseball F,o,,or

VI bHHtphii Flctious
sought to encourage him with nour
compliments he did not answer thon
ssHcept with the remark "I'n get 'em TO
IA cartwright. the mighty, made ,asy yicu
ss, siI.ls OF Joe Foley. Bill Craig and oren-
aorIt, and once more the Dule was heru
IN the box, fighting resoiuteiy against the
pihek shadow which seemed to hang over
nlnl-the thing which was half hope half
iea,' ana In the entirety decentralization
ne FOURTH inning arrived without n
score The Dudes had been unable to
seI man to first base; Bush Hawley
u hau dropped single over the inheld
put had been doubled on a lightning
play engineered by Slade.
Again the Shadow faced Clifton. and
az ~ petore the Duke shot the first bali in
.ne sroove. Slade, choking his bat short
III MS haEds, bent forward, and dropned
. slow. hopping grounder straight Al
rayhes' who was playing deep" Seeing
ut glance that he must take the toss
ana cover the bag, the Duke raced across
toward first base. Il was no fouIt 81 bIs
tnat Slade's spikes hit the canvas a stride
ahead OF him. the Shadow was the fast
est man In the league at beating out an
intield tap.
winnie Comstock, who was umpir-
ing the bases, dropped both hands to his
BoiillS hOWUWafu. line man was
plalnly safe, but this did not prevent tho
oleacherites from roaring angrily.
Ihe Dukes sprint carried him 50 feet
beyond the bag toward the stand and as
he walked slowly back to the diamond
juggling the ball in his glove. his path
was blocked by Johnny Merry. tele-
graph blank in his hand. Slade, pulling
up unusually short, trotted quickly back
to first
We'll. John" he painted, what did
CHEYENNE do in the fifth?"
The Dukes heart gave one great lean
and then almost stopped beating. Merry
must have had the tip, too! He was so
close to Johnny that he might have
touched him-close enough to see the
round, flowing handwriting on the yellow
slip. Green turf, white-clad players and
solid background of massed humanity
merged for an instant into a whirling
chaos. Merry had a telegram from the
track Merry knewl Unconsciousiy the
Duke shortened his stride, hope and fear
striking hard in a sudden fierce climax Of
emotion.
'Where'd he finish. John?" demanded
the Shadow.
Merry crumpled the yellow sheet in his
fist with a gesture of disgust.
"Finish!' he snapped. "Why, the dawC
never finished at all! He was left at the
post!"
I'm glad I didn't let you tout me-" said
Slade. How much did he sting you for,
John?"
Left at the post? The Duke knew thai
his legs were carrying him back into the
box despite a certain trembling sensa-
ton at the knees. Chills were chasing
each other down his spine, and for the
moment he felt as If his stomach had
been turned into an ice bag. He shook
his head in a vain attempt to drive
away the giddy feeling which had taken
possession of him.
Left at the post The last of the bank
roll gone; the diamonds gone; he-Duke
Clifton-who had always had money in
his pockets, caught like a busher with
out even eating money to last through
the winter!
Without knowing why he did It. Clifton
knelt in the box and picked up n hand
full of earth, which he sifted through his
fingers. That's the way the money went,
he thought, right through his fingers; and
he hadn't brains enough to hang onto It
when he had It, Left at the post The
words were singing themselves over and
over in his brain in a sort of hammering
chorus. After a time other words came to
him. in voice strangely hostile and pene
trating
Come on there! Play ball! Quit STALL
ingI" 1t was Johnny Merry in the coach
ers box.
The Duke stood up and looked toward
the plate. Mulligan was waiting for him,
grinning maliciously, and jerking his bat
in short, nervous circles
Charlie Scanlon, the catcher, who had
been down on one knee, staring at the
Duke, rose with a muttered ejaculation,
and, pulling off his mask strobe into the
diamond Force of habit sent the Duke
forward TO meet him.
whats wrong? asked the catcher
anxiously 1--WE been givin' you the sign
Nothing" said Clifton; and his own
Charlie. I'm all right. Ill get en-"
Wake up" said Scanlon, grumblins
under his breath as he moved back to
his position. He squatted behind the
plate, gave the sign, thumped his mitt
twice, and spread his hands. Mechanically
the Duke responded; but his wind-up was
jerky, and the ball, travelling like white
streak, was fully three feet inside the
plate. Mulligan, whirling with a YELL re-
ceiyed II full In the small of his back
Regan motioned toward first, and Multi
gan trotted down the base line, yelping
like en- excited fox terrier.
TAKE me outl Take me out!' Merry
was shouting "oh, Monk, I'm all through
Take me outp'
scanlon picked up the ball. and carried
1t into the diamond.
For the love OF Nike" he said plead
ingly, what are you trying to do-kill
somebody? Take your time, boy. Ham,
ilton's a sucker for that break ball. Put
something on 1t, and take brace"