New Britain herald., 1917-08-15
FIGHT WITH SPIKES
 AT POLO GROUNDS
Stengle and Fletcher Battle and
 So Do The Fans

the Giants and Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. The twin boroughs divided the bill fairly enough. And, as us- ual. New York took the first The scores were to 4 and to 1, respec- i lively. But the games were only in 
 One of the finest young family rows that has been seen in a generation i developed during the second battle, and as result our own Artie Fletcher and Casey Stengel, of Flatbush. were ordered off the field in disgrace. free-for-all melee was promised when the arbiters and some of the cooler heads of both sides suppressed the threatened civil war.
 The row developed in the sixth in- ming of the second game, after Jake Daubert had sewed up the contest for the champions with one of the i many home runs of the afternoon. l This belt into the right field stand, l with Olson on the paths, gave the l F'latbush representatives 8 to 0 lead Naturally Jeff Tesreau. who ] was pitching for New York, was trif1e peeved.
 casey OLenBel, WQO DoCduSc OA HIS belligerency is anything but popular with the home folks had been ridden pretty hard by the fans all afternoon His temper was little better than that of Obarks Mountain man. Stengefs temper was not improved in this sixth inning, when Tesreau nicked him on the shoulder with pitch that looked very much like "bean" ball.
 The fact that Stengel had had to duck a couple of times in earning base on balls on his previous time at bat Gin the fourth) made him sus- picious of Tesreau's designs. Casey exchanged compliments with the husky pitcher on the way to the bag.
 "Yes, I intended to get you. and I'll get some more of you stiffs,' Tes- reau is reported to have flung at stengel, according to the story of non-combatants of both teams.
 "All right, then" Stengel shot back; keep out of my way. or I'll get somebody in return
 Stengel took a long lead off first base, Tesreau whipped the ball over, trying to get Casey mapping. The throw was low and got through Hollke, but it carromed back half way from the stand When Stengel and Holke got untangled Casey sprinted for sec ond and Holke for the ball. It was evident the play would be close. Brooklyn coachers shouted to Casey to slide.
 Casey slid. He did not slide ille- gally. He did not ride high. But he slid roughly, at that for Holke's throw had drawn Fletcher into the runner Fletcher had to stoop for the low bound. StengePs steel cut the shortstop's trousers above the right ] knee as the knee rested on the ground. Stengel was safe.
 But Fletcher, losing his head. de-
 liberately raised his right foot on
 high, and with all his weight came
 down with his sharp steel on the pros trate legs of Stengel. A second after ward it looked as if a cage of wild
 cats had been turned loose among &
 family of leopards.
 Stengel sprang up, swinging with 1 both hands, about as dexterously as an open-faced watch. Fletcher kicked
 at him as he came, but landed high.
 Umpire Harrison tried to crowd be- tween the belligerents. From all quar- ters poured athletes of the rival
 camps Fists flew through the air. There was jostling and pushing. Some wild shouts.
 The principals, now tightly gripped, struggled to shake free to hurl them selves at one another. Grandstand stuff!
 A few minutes later they were
 walking off the field without a show
 of feud. Wilbert Robinson, manager
 of the Dodgers, waddled up just after
 the belligerents had been split out.
 McGraw didn't join battle till Fletcher and Stengel had started their re- treat. John Joseph was not in re- pudiating state of mind.
 When the teams finally were
 separated the Giants went to resume
 their positions in the field. But um-
 pire Hank O'Day waved the Polo i Grounders in and the Dodgers out.
 Hank turned to the press box holding
 up three fingers, to signify Brooklyn had been retired.
 1 It then developed that Fletcher, in
 swinging at stengel, had tagged him
 with the ball while Casey was off the
 bag, and thereby retired the side. Um- pire Harrison calls time for nothing ] -not even a battle royal And then the chant of battle re-
 echoed in the grandstand. Just be- | hind third base. A few hard-sorled
 residents of Brooklyn had perched
 there among the dyed-in-the-wool
 Giant rooters. One ventured an opin-
 ion that Fletcher should be hanged. In just about two seconds he had
 sha1ty over his eye on which you
 might hang your hat
 l Half dozen other jousts threat
 ened, but the police split out the fac
 tions and restored order. It was an 1 afternoon that took the fans back to
 the days of fifteen years ago, when
 the Little Napoleon not only brow
 beat the umpires, but locked them
 out of the grounds when so disposed. 1 The scores:
 | First Game. r. h. @. Brooklyn ..... O1100101O-4 g 1 New York ..... 2o100o02x--5 il 1