The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1919-05-15

oiun y hNde DfG Out VI INV tvrty ~
Ing for the team, twenty-eight insist
ed Of being catcher. They wanted to
wear that mask. II there had been q
camera. each Of the forty would have
had q photo taken Of himself wearing
the "wire cage Hero vas q great
dilemma. At that time I wal only q
private. and there were s~ergeants. cor
porals, and even an oflcer. who want
ed to catch. Stewart again came to
the rescue. Calling M aside. he said /:
leave II to me, Emp. I'll tx 'em.
I'll try out each one In turn. Let them
wear the mask. and I'll send In some
curves. and when the ball cracks them
on the shins a couple Of times you
couldn't pay EN- to put on the cnge."
The Tommies were strange to curved
balls. and Stewart had speed. II did
my heart good to see him dampen their
nrdor and dent their anatomy at the
same time. The Tommies would see
the ball coming TO them and would
reach up their hands to get II. Then
the ball would "break" and hit them
on the shin or knee. After 1--WE or six
+. - retired, rubbing sore spots and
cussing Stewart out, no one else want
ed to catch, and the situation was
saved.
Tommy Is a natural born soccer
player and clever with his feet, but
stupid with his hands when 1t comes
to baseball. Several Of them had q
fGd habit Of stopping grounders with
their feet, especially bur shortstop. He
would see n hot grass-eater coming his
way. then. instead Of using his hands,
he would put his foot In front Of II.
The ball would climb his leg and get
him on the chin or In the eye. After
receiving a pufed.up lip and q beauti-
full black eye. he fatty refused to play
unless I would let him wear the mask.
Americans, picture q shortstop wear
Ing a catcher's mask. and then sym.
pathize with Stewart and me. The
shortstop was q sergeant, and through
diplomatic reasons, I give the mask
to him. At this every inflelder wanted
to wear II. Stewart solved the prob.
lem by putting in another shortstop
and giving me the mask.
In England they have q game called
FOUNDERS" In which you are sup
posed to hit the b%aserunner with the
ball to put him out. This Is general.
ly q tennis ball and does not hurt very
much.
Well, those Tommies had q habit Of
tanning the baseball with all their
might at the unfortunate runner. Many
an early practice was broken up this
way, because the team would lose In
terest in baseball when they had a
chance to view a fight between q giver
and n receiver.
After about ten days practice we
had picked two pretty fair teams and
arranged for a scrub game. Stewards
side won. due to his pitching.
Then. as is usual in baseball. things
began to happen. A jlnx seemed to
rest on u candidates. Every time we
had to 60 up the line on a working
party. one or two Of the players would
get wounded or killed; In fact. being
a baseball player got to be a perfect
Jonah, and the Tommies commenced
getting superstitious. II one Of our
team happened to be working among
ten or twelve other company men, he
was sure to get hit. while the other Eel.
lows came through without a scratch.
Stewart and I also began to get fright.
ened. and decided TO chuck up the
whole thing before we got II ourselves.
Then we went further back behind
the lines. During this stay we rounded
out a passable team.
A Canadian battalion, Just sent out
from England. on their way to
"Wipers." went into billets about q
mile from US. This was our chance.
Stewart went over and challenged
them to a game for the following Sun.
day. The challenge was accepted.
We had a weeks time In which to
strengthen some weaknesses and to
teach the bunch a little INSIDE" base
ball. Then the jinx popped up again.
On the morning Of the game with
the Canadians. our cleverest inflelder.
the first baseman, picked up an old
German hand grenade and brought II
to the billet. This man was q great
souvenir collector; always hammerlng
at ~dud" shells. trying to remove the
nose-caps.
Seeing him fooling around with the
German bomb. I told him to throw II
away; that one could never trust those
things, and 'thatI did not want to take
any chances of losing a first baseman /;
but being OF q naturally curious dispo-
sition. he refused TO do 20. Taking the
bomb out behind the billet, he proceed
ed to take liberties with It's mechan-
ism result. right hand blown Off and
another vacancy TO be filed at first
base. What we said about him would
not be fit for publication.
The game was scheduled for two
o'clock. and exactly at one-thirty-fve
Mr.. Fritz plunked a stray "fve nine"
shell into our inHcld between home
and first base. making a hole big
enough for a timber to hide In. This
meant picks and shovels for all hands
TO fill In the hole.
H., ,bIs Alma a Iarua nrnu.d 80 rnnt-