The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-01
Old Time Catcher Tagged Wrong Guy
 And Lost Battle

l Lynch. center fielder for the Iacotna club of the Pacific Coast league, In game played August II, 1904, Tn the tenth inning with the score stanolhs to 0, attempted to steai nome Ger lin. catcher for the Frisco team' caught the ball before the batsman could strike at it but was so over coma with his own cleverness that ne slipped the ball on the batsman lh- stead of on the incoming runner whom he had plenty of time to get Lynch slid home with the winning run.
 A 300 Hitter
 l Bill Kay, known as the IS CooD of the minor leagues, never Tell pc low the 300 mark In batting during his entire career as a ballplayer, ana he played many seasons and in many | leaeues If one wanted to find the batting average of Bill it was never necessary to look below those hlttins in the 300 list. Bill Kay couldn't mt belov the 300 mark If he tried. Sew eral seasons Bill was given con
 tract with big league teams ana' while he didn't qualify in many re spects, yet, when the can was tleu lo him, Bill went out of the big sno" with a ticket labeled. 300 hitter. Two Rival Hurlers
 Matty Kilroy and John lPhenomen- alb Smith were left-handed huriers and the pitching marvels of thelr pc riod. Baltimore club of the American | association had these stars on It's pitching staff from 1887 until 1SS9 Naturally, there was considerable IT.
 valry between these stars. When the
 great Kilroy pulled off sensational game the "Phenomenar' would try to
 duplicate it and yica versa. On Sep
 tember 15, 1887, Smith pitched dou-
 hle header against the St. Louis
 Browns, which was a feat that was
 rarety those days. Perhaps the stunt of Smiths was the second ever registered in big league circles up to that date. Smith lost both games, all though he held the Browns to four hits in the first game and in the sec ond was scarcely hit out of the dia- mond. Matty Kilroy couldn't stand for that, and on october 1 he hurled double header against the Athletics, winning both, although he was hit harder and his work all around was considerably inferior to the brand that Smith handed out few weeks before.
 Pat at the Bat
 Pat F1aherty, the left handed hurl- CT of a decade ago, was pitching his head and arm off for the Boston Nationals against the Giants on the Polo Grounds. Pat was one of the boys who never hesitated in lacking up his support if any breaks or boots were being made. Owing to some untimely boots by the infield the score, which stood to O, was turned to to U against Pat, and that Italian was as mad as natter. When he walked to the plate in the ninth with the
 bases full and two down, some fresh
 rookie who was warming the bench
 yelled Never mind, Pat, old socks
 the bases are filled now, show them
 what you can do with the bat Pat
 drove the first ball pitched almost
 through the slender form of Hooks
 Wiltse and it continued on until
 stopped by the center field fence
 That blow gave Pat and Boston the
 game by the score of to 2. Bon
 fires biased on the hills of Carnegie,
 Pa, that night when the home folk
 head of that swat of Pats.
 An old Time Bat
 George Smith, ballet master and 1 stage manager, is credited with being
 the inventor of the round bat in the T days when Town .Saseball' was played. Until the advent of Smiths l idea, wide, flat bat was used which would come in very handy to a few of our swatsmen of the pres ent period.
 There are lucky hurlers and fate or luck cuts considerable figure in the
 work of many pitchers Here is an | instance where it cut in deeply. It was July II, 1901. that Happy Jack Chesboro, the greatest of spit-bali-
 fists, was pitching for Pittsburg against Boston. and arrayed against Chesboro was Bill Dineen, who can 1 be seen any day somewhere in the circuit governed by Ban Johnson um- bring the work uf other hurlers. Chesboro. in that event, was hit for Is safeties, yet the Boston team failed to score. Bill Dineen, on the other hand, pitched phenomenal game against the Pirates. whom he held to four hits. famed eight and was steady, yet Bill lost that contest aft CT 15 innings of skillful pitching. | Chesboro's work was remarkable from the fact that he was hit hard Is times without yielding run. The | game ended 1 to o. Happy Jack"