Evening star., 1923-01-12

I catcher will catch it on the lefthand
side of the end one. That would be
| a curve, wouldn't it?"
Yes. 1t would prove it all right"
| the man declared, "and' I'm betting
| Sl0 that you can't do it,"
/ had a ball and glove in my kit
| So. at the next town the conductor
held the train while we all got out
on a vacant lot near the depot. All
| the passengers went with u.s.. A man
| from the train said he would catch
| the ball for me.
AS cocky as you please ! got out
there, wound up, and, sure enough.
pitched an outcurve that went inside
one stake and outside the other. The
! ball didn't break more than four
! inches to do this. I could easily put
| an eight-inch bend on 1t in sixty feet
| Well, my hacker won the $40 and
gave me 81 of it. The other man
! admitted that a curve ball could be
pitched.
Joined the TruNtOn Team.
On account of my pitching and hit
| ting on the school team / was made
! a member of the TruXton Grays, all
| home boys who played teams within
a radius of twenty five miles. ] was
I very much younger and very much
+, smaller than the other players. Still.
| reputation caused the East Homer
team to offer me a job. East Homer
was five miles away. and / had to
| walk there and back But | got 50 for
each game that / pitched or played in
| / stepped right out and won my first
game.
II want you to pitch again Satur-
day" the manager said to me.
"All right" I agreed, but it'll cost
| you IS, and. what's more, you're got to
| send hack to take me there and back. .
The manager argued over this, but
/ was obdurate. and he finally gave
| in, after trying to make me compro-
| mise by paying the hack fare one
way.
a. f. Kenney, a Pruxton man, who
managed the OIean. n. Y. club of the
! Iron and Oil League. had been watch
! ing me and giving me advice. After
my success with the East Homer
team Mr.. Kenney offered me a job
and my board. That's when / really
started to play ball. / jumped at the
chance.
My dad tried to persuade me 10 re-
| main at home. but talked him out
of il.
why. dad I'll be making s3.500 a
year before you know it, | said. and
he finally gave in.
My fondest hope was realized. The
height Of my ambition was to lie a
professional ball player like those |
had read about. And. sure enough.
good that word professional sounded.
Failed on Third mt Outset.
And. with that job came the begin
ming of the end of my career as
pitcher Manager Kenney put me on
third base. / played six games there
and we lost every one of them
could field the ball. all right, but on
the throw l couldn't hit the first
baseman or anywhere near him. l
was quite a bust in my start as
third baseman. l was benched-and
by my friend from Truxton, too
was certainly heartbroken. That
benching, though. was the making of
me, and often 1 have thanked Mr..
Kenney from the bottom of my heart.
l didn't then. though.
/ was getting ready for jump
there was no rule against it in those
days-but = good laugh caused me to
stay over another day or two. AL
Smathers' team from Bradford, Pa,
came over to play Olean and Smathers
had Sc bet on the result.
Dog Runs on With Ball.
In the fourteenth inning of that
game, with the score a tie and two
out. Egan. CLEANS pitcher. singled
over third. A stray dog dashed out
of the crowd. grabbed the ball and
ran away with it. All the players
started in pursuit, but the harder
they chased the faster the dog ran,
thinking IL fine sport. In the mean
time Egan ran around the bases and
the umpire allowed the run to count.
To this day Smathers has never
got over losing that game and the Sc
Bench warming grew irksome to
me. The next night 1 packed up
quietly and slipped away into new
fields.
Copyright, 1923, United States and Canada
by the Christy Walsh Syndieate.)