The Washington herald., 1917-07-22
GANDIL, OF CHICAGO,
Was some FIGHTER
Has Sad Experience as Battler. But
Proves to Be Some Runner
in Mexico,

Probably two-thirds Of the baseball
players Of the country are also boxing
fans, but the majority Of these are
familiar with the game only from the
standpoint gained by . seat at the
ringside.
Chick" Gandfl, Of Chicago, first
baseman, Is one Of the few who
know, by actual experience. how II
ring. one Of the principals in = real
scrap.
For before becoming a baseball play
er. Gandil was a fghtek. Always Q
big, husky fellow, "Chick" had the
idea implanted within his brain of
becoming q pugilist. He liked to box.
b. and became very proficient at II. Al
b hrBt he took part only IN amateur
contests. but later took up the game
as q professional.
Finally he drifted to Mexico, and
IL was here that he became recog.
niEed as a real fighter. He was q
light heavyweight, and IN a class
where often he had to give away
much, weight to get matches. But he
gave 1t away right along, and won
q good many contests.
Finally he was matched with q big
Mexican, a giant in stature and in
strength, and q hot local favorite,
though not 50 very proficient in the
scientific use of his fists.
Training was completed, as Chick
. tells It. and the hour of the match
arrived. The pair Of them, with the
referee. entered the ring. the bell an
nounced the starting OF the frst round
and the battle was on.
The Mexican started swinging. hop
ing to end the contest with one punch,
and Gandil was kept busy ducking
to escape annihilation. He kept up
= IRE OF jabs, however, which served
only to enrage the big fellow, who
tore in harder than ever. Neither got
in any telling blows, and the nrst
round ended. The spectators, and
there was q big crowd on hand, were
mostly Mexicans, and they cheered for
their hero.
Round two was something like the
nrst, as was No. 3. 1t seemed to
the spectators that their man was
winning all by himself. as he was
tearing in all the time. He was not
landing. OF course. for as Chick" ex-
plains IL. ''if he had landed only once
he would have won without any more
argument"
Then came round four. 1t was the
old story OF the able. quick boxer
evading a heavy swing. stepping in
and landing one just right and the
bout ended right then. The big
Mex" went down and stayed down.
Let Chick tell the rest:
I saw that had finished him, and
stood back to await the referees
count But waited only for q mo-
ment, for in that space OF time there
were more Mexicans crowded into
that ring than I ever saw before in
my life They just boiled in from
every side. and seeing what was up
against, I started out. had to night
my way out, too. but I was able to
do 50, and as soon as I got away
the whole crowd started after me.
They chased me clear out of town,
out over the prairieS, and into the
wild lands. I remember I still had
on the boxing gloves and not much
else. I was warm enough as long as
was running and for 4 little while
after. but pretty soon II got cold and
nearly froze to death that night.
And right there I decided that I
did not want to be a fighter any more.
never went back for my money, and
as for my clothes, suppose that the
promoter of the fight wore them out"