The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-03-28
sY AL SPHINX.

Strange things often happen on the
baseball field-not every. day, of course,
but now and then-things that linger in
the memory of the fans and are never
forgotten.
II you were to tell the ~snlartest play
err of a double play that once happened
without a single player putting his
hands on the ball, you would have a
hard time making him believe 1t,
But such a play was made in a game
which the st. Louis Browns were play
ing in the long ago with the Athletics
OF Philadelphia as their opponents.
Clements, the St, Louis catcher, was
| on third base, and Monte Cross, the
st. Louis short fielder, on second.
The pitcher had the batsman three
and two, and both runners moved with
Cross, being faster than Clements,
was sprinting full tilt for third when
the batsman drove a vicious liner down
the third base line,
Big, clumsy Clements tried to dodge
the flying sphere, but it hit him on the
leg and then carromed off and hit
Cross, both being called out because
hit by a batted ball. This was perhaps
the only case on recor where two
men were retired at one and the same
time because hit by a batted ball.
Il plIdlB6t lIluttI, was lllt AT VI boN
Gerhart, the famous old second base
man of the Louisville club.
Joe was a member OF the great
Louisville team that had in its ranks
Pete Browning, Toad Ramsey, Guy
Hecker and other great players.
Joe was a high strung fellow, who
came OF a fine old Kentucky family,
His folks did not want Joe to play
ball, for they said he had a weak heart
and was liable to drop dead on the
field some day, His relatives pestered
the life out OF him to retire. To get
away from the old folks Joe in 1880
went to Cincinnati and Joined the nine
Of that town.
One day in the middle of a game in
which Cincinnati was having n rough
time of IT Joe began looking pale around
the gills. Showers Of hits of all de
scriptions were piling up the runs, and
it looked as though Cincinnati was to
be showed under, when all of a sud
den Joe Topped over on his back.
Joe fell so beautifully that everyone
believed it time for flowers. The other
players shouted for a doctor and the
bat boys came running with water. The
boys soused the fallen athlete good
and plenty and two doctors tried their
best to bring Joe back. After fully 10
minutes of this circus Joe finally
opened his eyes and burst out laugh
ms
what was the matter with you ?" a
half dozen angry players beloved at
Gerhart.
"Oh, nothing" he replied, smiling
II just stopped the game because !
was ratified"
That stunt of Joe's and the delay
which accompanied it got his club set
tied down, and they finally won a game
which, but for the quick action Of Ger
hart, they would have surely lost.
Strange, inded, was a happening in
the long ago in the old south end
grounds at Boston in a game which
being scored by either Providence or
Boston, the two Contesting teams on
that red-letter occasion.
For fifteen innings both teams had
struggled along without a run being
High above the fence on the grounds
was erected a high wall of lattice work
to prevent people on the adjoining
housetops from witnessing the games
In a section OF this lattice work was
a small hole about 20 inches square.
No one to this day knows why ii was
there or for what purpose it was in
tended.
In the sixteenth inning Arthur Irwin,
tHen the Providence shortstop, captain
n crack ~left-handed batsman, came
up, with W men down and the excite
ment intense. 1t needed but one run
TO win, and the run seemed far off.
Irwin, with all his muscles in play,
waited for the opportunity, and it came
when the Boston pitcher sent one In at
the right height. Irwin hit the bal
with all his might, and it sailed toward
the Stats In right field. To the spec
tator it looked as though the ball. would
hit the wall, bound back and allow the
runner two bases providing he could
make two.
Instead, the ball sped right on It's
course and, to the surprise Of all, went
right through that 20-inch opening Just
as though 1t had been placed there for
that especial occasion, Then what a
scene followed. Such a bedlam. Cheer
after cheer rent the air. Twins hit
through a "knothole" was talked o.
that won q l6-inning game for Provi.
dence from Boston.
Strange, indeed, was a play that Mike
Kelly made while a member Of what
was known as "Keck's menagerie," al
Cincinnati.
1t was a game in which the Reds
were leading by one run. and theil
opponents were In their last half witt
two out, two men on bases and a slug
ger at the bat.
Kelly was on the bench that day
but the rules then permitted the sub.
stitution Of n player for another a
any time.
The slugger at the bat connected
with the ball with all his might, hittins
the second ball pitched.
y The crack Of bis bat against the pal