The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-27
RuBE BENT0N'S
 26TH BIRTHDAY

At the terminus of a little branch line railroad in the central part or North Carolina is a little, sleepy V1l- lage k1awn as Clinton. It is just an- other of those little tobacco county seat towns such as are prevail ent in that part of Dixie, and to the nude eye of the casual visitor there IS nothing to distinguish it from any other similar community. A close ob- server would soon discover, however, that the male citizens of Clinton have more than the usual interest in big league baseball, and it would not be long before he would be acquainted with the reason-''Rube Benton, the greatest southpaw in the game-ac- cording to the Clinton estimate of his slab prowess-was born in that bali wick.
 The Rube-who is known as 'J. C." on his contracts and other official documents-is twenty-six years old to- day, as he was born on July 27, 1890, according to Clinton vital statistics. He made quite reputation with anna teur and semi-professiona1 clubs while still in his teens, and in 1910 he land ed his first league job with the Macon club in the Sally circuit. Rube creat- ed quite a sensation in South Atlantic circles, winning more than twice as many games as he lost in the early part of the season, and he had been in uniform only a few weeks when the big leagues began to dicker for his services. Several of the major clubs were bidding for Rube by the first of June, and the Macon club sold him to Cincinnati for 3,500.
 Thus it was that Benton, after less than two months of professional base ball experience, found himself wear ing the Red livery of Cincinnati and a full-f1edged major leaguer for the time being. Clarke Griffith, who was then the pilot of the Reds, used his find in about a dozen games during the remainder of the 1910 season, but | Benton's work was only fairish and he didn't set the league afire. The Rube was still wearing a, Cincinnati uniform when the 1911 season opened but, after a couple of trials in the box, the Old Fox decided that his expen- sive twirler wasn't ripe for the main works, and banished him to Chatta- nooga. In the Southern League that season Benton won eighteen and lost l thirteen games, and in August he was recalled to Cincinnati.
 When Hank O'Day took charge of the Reds in 1912 he made the Rube a member of his regular twir1ing staff and the big, good-natured, cratic North Ca'linian was used in exactly half a hundred pastimes. He about broke even on his losses and wins Benton started strong in 1918, and had won eleven games and lost only
 
 the blink. <Benton had become pas sionately addicted to motorcycling and although Joe Tinker, the 1913 pilot of the Reds, warned him several times of the danger of such a fad, and Suggested that he collect postage stamps instead, the Rube went on his needless, joy-rfdin@-way, burning up 1 the streets and roads nearly every night. When the inevitable accident came along in the Summer of 1913, | the Rube was put the blink for some time, and Tinker suspended him for the remainder of the season, just | to show him who was who.
 Benton didn't get along with Herzog any better than he had with Tinker, and during the period he remained with Cincinnati he did not show more than occasional flashes of his old form. Last August the Rube was sold to the Giants for $3,O0O, and Joined McGraw's twir1ing staff. The Pirates offered $4,00O for the big fellow short ly after the Giants had secured an | opinion on him, and Herzog pulled off 1 the deal, but McGraw appealed to the