Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-19
: nnTs pFo nm FoR THE CHICAGO CUBsVAN LOANS BCKTED
BLACKLISTED
Bigos Pitcher (Aveyo0e 7oo), Tells About Hinse-He Has
Grievance and Spills It-iioD He Joined Organized
Ball and Met Ike.
Bv CHARLES E. VAN LOAN
-. r..,,ova vVrfter Of baseball Fiot
The worlds Most Famous Wri'eF OF


FAINT much of hand to hunt ior
/ trouble. and never was; you can ASK
anybody that knows me, and they IL 'ei
Won the same. stlll, there's times when
a man ought TO come out in the open
and declare himself and this is one
OF em.
hate a kicker on general principles
but IT'S pretty poor shoat that won
holler when he's got real holler com
lng-and / have.
When do a thing, and it turns out
wrong, I'll shoulder the consequences ana
not try to sneak behind the other Fellow
I aIn't got a bit Of use on earth for har'
and Indirectly always aim to tell the
truth, but 1 won't stand to be no man
scapegoat-T aln't built that way
Some Of the folks here in Templeton
think / ought to write to the National
Commission and give 'em Ike Smalrs
number. rye thought 1t over, but what
would be the use2 ball player mas got
es much chance to win out over his man
aaer as he would have to sue the Beef
Trust and get Supreme Court decision
over them robbers. That's what the
National Commission is for
But II 1 can't put my side of the case
before the National Commission, L can
get 1t before the public, and that's why
I'm writing this piece. l want justice, L
do. I've been Ike Smalrs goat long
enough, and It's time the Bellingham
folks found out about the mistake they
made last fall-the time 1 had the PEN
nant almost grabbed for 'em.
lNa1,a tAftnhnT
leave 1t to anybody that ever saw me
work MY name is in the record books for
last acknowledges, games won, ~;
games lost, 12; percentage, 100" rake II
from me, there's plenty of big leaguers
that don't get no such figures as that
after their names! And most of them los
ing games were simply kicked away be-
hind me-thrown away II I'd had decent
support I'd have set record for 'em all
to shoot at the next few years. And the
one game that I'm going to tell you about
was simply stole out of my hip pocket
by a fellow named Jimmy Dougherty. |
get hot every time 1 think about 1t.
Maybe I better say was a pitcher, be-
cause I'm not working at 1t now, and
from the looks of things I won't be for
some time to come. They've put me on
the blacklist because 1 won't pitch for
Ike Small no more. The National Com
mlBSlOneTB say 4 Il SOhbAdSA WIN
a reserve clause in 1t, and can't play
for anybody but him. I don't wish 'em
no hard luck, but I'd like to see EN- all
hanging by the neck until do. I'll never
pitch another ball as long as live IL 1
have to pitch 1t for that snake in the
grass, and Ban Johnson and them other
big bugs might as we'll hang UP their
fiddles right now. When / say a thing
I mean It. reckon, II 1t comes right
down to cases, amt forgot how to drive
a team OF mules, and I know where to
get a Job any day. They don't put
teamster on the blacklist just because his
boss done him dirt.
I've pitched ever since was a kid. AS
I got older, I found I could put more on
the ball, and when / was 10 had a fast
one that was like smoke in the wind.
Control and curves, a change of pace
and n hop to my fast one. reckon Joe
Wood himself can't say any more than
that. I used to pitch on Sundays for the
Templeton Tigers, and We Travelled all
over the county, playing for the gate re-
ceipts and picking up sometimes as much
as So apiece.
One day a slick, oily fellow named Gar
rett asked me how would like to play
in a real league, and quit work. said
that would suit me down to the ground
provided there was money in it. Then
he began with a long song and dance
about Christy Mathewson and Mortified
Brown and Walter Johnson-how they all
come from the small towns, and didn't
get much dough when they first broke In.
but was glad for the chance to show what