Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-08-24
CHAPTER II.

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turc Syndicate).
CHAPTER H.
! certainly called at headquarters
when | took my baseball ambitions
to Saint Mary's. All told, there were
forty-four ball teams in the school
and every boy on every team had
dreams of being summoned one day
TO the big leagues. If baseball is the
one and only llAmerican game. then
our school was 100 per cent Ameri-
can.
We tried football for a while one
autumn but the field was hard and
covered with bits of stick and broken
glass, and after some of the boys had
had n few pounds of meat scrapcd off
in being tackled we thought we had
better go back to baseball.
Like all kids, however, We tried
everything. There was basketball
team but 1 didn't go in much for that
and there were some pretty good
boxers in the school. l used to put
on the gloves for exercise and n
bloody nose now and then. But
was not much of success as Il
boxer loved to clout a baseball,
but / didn't like to clout another boy.
was big kid and could hit pretty
hard. and l suppose l could have be-
come boxer if l had stuck to it.
Kid Mccoy thought l looked pretty
good as 4 heavyweight last winter.
He and movinG-picturc actor got
an idea when j was out in Los An
geles that L might be able to handle
some OF the big fellows In the ring
and eventually knock Jack Dempsey
for home run But this did not
make such hit with me. I had my
batting eye and l didn't want to risk
having it mussed up by some ring
battler with years OF experience.
PuInycd Every Position.
But let's get back to baseball
Brother Matthias had the right idea
about training baseball club. lie
made every hoy on the team play
every position in the game. including
the bench. y kid might pitch a game
one day and find himself behind the
bat the next or perhaps out in the
sun-iicld. You sec. Brother Matthias
idea WAS to 1T a boy TO jump in in any
ever | may have done at the bat or
on the mound or in the outfield or
even on the bases. | owe directly TO
Brother Matthias.
with so many teams in the school
the ambition of every hoy was TO
graduate into the next higher team
and eventually TO make the first
team, which had uniforms-and
everything.
1 think 1 must have had an aptitude
for baseball because when | was in
the swaddlins league they could
never keep a rattle in the cradle with
me. At Saint Mary's | guess l gave
more thought to the game when off
the field than the other boys. l used
TO practice batting with couple Of
kids pitching to me. The balls they
pitched were not very fast. but L was
learning to keep my eye on the ball
I'm going TO have q lot to say about
that later II the baseball fans think
that my home runs come easy now.
they should have seen the games at
Saint Mary's i'll the early smuggling
days. when | often made three homcrs
in an afternoon. We played baseball
practically all the year round, even
in winter If the weather was good
1t wasn't anything unusual TO play
even three games in one day. My
specially was catching. but under
Brother Matthias rule j might pitch
the second game of n double header.
And IL II third game was played ]
might find myself at first. But l think
like batting best of all.
Makes the "FirSt- Nine.
Why there were seasons at Saint
Marys when i made sixty or seventy
home runs. But / wasn't the only kid
who punched them out. Some of the
other fellows were right on my heels
For team hitting we made our present
"murdcrcrs' row" OF the Yankees look
like the i'hitless wonders"
There were several OF us who got
pretty wise in baseball and we gradu-
ated up through the various inter
mediate teams ahead of some OF the
other fellows.
was about Il when Brother Mat
th!as came 10 me and told me to re-
port for "A uniform as he had place
for me on the big team. l thought I
had signed with the worlds champs
because all the little kids used to
point out the members of the big
team and offer 10 carry their gloves
But don't get the idea that all my
time was given to baseball. was
spending as much time in the class
room with my books as the average
Kid on the outside, and | was also
learning the trade of shirt making
Because the object of St. Marys was
not only to give "A boy an education
but to give him practical trade as
we'll
The Brothers did not overlook the
spiritual side. either. Every boy In
the school went to church every day
unless he was sick. You heard some
pretty loud cheering at our ball
games, from lot of us who were said
70 he roughnecks. hut Brother Mat
thia3 was there and out OF respect for
him. u for no other reason. there was
no bad language. For twelve years In