The Washington herald., 1916-12-25

Say, boss, amt It tiresome to hear
some guys keep squeakin' about base
ball bein' crooked2
It sure is, Lon. but va oughtn't pay
no attention to them critters" cause
they're gonna find fault with heaven,
II they ever get in.
o. course it's ridiculous t keep re-
callin' instances that have proved be-
yond doubt tn honesty of th' great
game. but just for them who won't
have It that way. let's take tn finish
of tn American League race of 1904,
tn closest In tn history Of baseball.
'Twould have meant thousands of
dollars difference not only to Frank
Farrell. an them backin' tn Moo York
Yankees" but to tn whole American
League. had that team won tn pen
nant in 1904, as tn younger organiza-
tion was fghtin' tooth an nail to get
q foothold in Manhattan.
Johnny McGraw's Joints" owned tn
Island, an even to have been saw at
tn "Hishlanders' park stamped one
a outlaw. So, when Clark Griffith,
an his merry laddies blew into tn
Gay City. after their final Western
trip, only one scimpy point behind tn
champion Bostons, with who they was
t play five games to finish out tn
schedule. then, If ever. was tn psy-
Geological moment to pull on tn
crooked BCun.
1t meant absolutely nothin' more'n
honor for tn Bostons { cop. They
had pennants Z burn, an as tn cocky
Joints" had refused Z play a world
series all Frank Farrell had { do was
slip tn "Bean-eaters- a hundred tnou-
sand "bucks"-don't grin Twould
have paid hfm-an have IN Massa-
chusetts bunch lay down on tn series.
Did Frank do III He didn't notI
Th' games was played to a finish an
believe me, lad, twas some kind Of a
finishi
On October tn yankees" copped
tn first game. 3-2. Chesbro out-pitch-
in Gibson. This put Moo York six
points to tn good, an give tn
crooked baseball" yodelers a great
chanct for close harmony. but on Oc-
tober Jimmy Collins crew come
right back with a double win. Th'
first 1872. Bill Dineen standin' a whole
flock o. Yankee" twirlers ON their
heads, an in tn second game old cy
Young beat Big jack Powell a close
10 contest
Them two wins showed Boston back
to a seven point lead, an made It nee
essary for Grin's band to take tn
remainin' two games II they wanted
Z be champions.
Monday, October 10, 1904 should
have tn interest OF tn great national
pastime at heart. an every time 1 see
poor liz Grin out on tn coachin' lines
think Of tn day when he stood there
in Moo York. an helplessly watched
his generally reliable second baseman,
Jimmy Williams, toss tn pennant over
to Boston. Twas a heart-breakin' ex-
perience, an no man in tn Iimelighr
today, outside o ex-Justice Hughes,
has ever went through it
1t all happened so sudden that it
was over before va knowed 1t. A
mess o. folks to this day think Hap
py Jack" Chesbro lest tn game for
tn yankees" but that amt tn right
dope.
Moo York was breezin' out in front
with a 40 lead-they shoulda had
more. cause in tn ff,n innin' they
had eight men on tn sacks an only
scored twicet Bill Dineen had cracked
but pulled himself out-an' tn 10000
bugs" present was carryin' on scan
dalous when tn seventh innin' opened
up.
Old Candy Lachance started of
for Boston with a measly bounder over
Chesbro's top-piece, straight at Jimmy
Williams, but Jimmy was dozin', an
Candy" was safe. >hen Hobe Ferris
tanEoed up, to tn sweet strains O.
liams. Poor Jimmy fumbled an Fer
ris was safe (more 'Tesse). Both
lads advanced a peg on Lou Criger's
sacrifice. (Much more "Tesse'O. An
when big Bill" Dineen soaked still
another at Williams, who in his haste
to catch Lachance at tn plate. heaved
low to Reds" Kleinow, there wasn't
nothin' else but "Tesse," cause hot
foot behind Candy" came Hobe on
tn end of one imperfect day for Will
liams, as Boston shouldn't have scored
Criger opened up tn ninth with a
single. Sacrifices by Dineen an Sell
bach put tn lean one" on third. an
twas right at this juncture that Jack
Chesbro cut loose an let tn pill" go
into tn grandstand. Criger walkin'
home.
Grantin' that Jacks wild heave was
a turrible blunder. TIL real deed, tn
damnable deed had already been did.
Th' ''Yanks" went out one, two, three,
an ended a game that will go down
in history, as 1t proved beyond any
question of a doubt tf1' absolute hon
esty of tn great game O. baseball
Moo York win tn second game 10,
Pullman gettin' tn best of winter, but
tn flowers had faded Th' curtain had
fell. Twas a memorable october 10,
Lon, an was tn day that tn liz fringe
O. white you might have noticed
around tn "Old Fox's" hair first start
ed t. grow.
Note.-Lon says tn guys who bat
400 in life never waste much tine
irwin To place tn blame