San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-16

Hole Wulle NuDDlH Witches ulHl. Anl
Nubbin, fingerin' the ball, just looks
him over, kinda dumb. Josko don't
say any piece whatever, but wades
into the first one with a whale of
a. wallop. Result two bases and three
runs over.
THAT'S One," hollers JOsko at this
now wild-eyed left-hander, Nubbin.
But Nubbin, whose goat has gone out
on him. looks like it must of been a
hundred.
"Comc on, now, Monty" I yells
at the bench. "You're the hitter"
WHO, me-" says Monty, sprised.
l hadn't told him he was hittin' fifth.
All right, I'll hit, too"
And up he went, growlin' to him
self. This way:
Little by little and. bit by bit,
I'm gettin' so that l can hit"
"C'mon. you little shrimp" yells
Jocko. Les see you hit me home. :"
Nubbin tried to waste one on him,
but Monty went crazy and whanged
Il short single to center Off'n bad
ball. l held JockO at third, just to
keep things scattered for Nubbin's
sake. This birds a pitcher, b'lieve
me, but he's blew. higher'n aviation
knows anything about. So old Liz
Cochran damned his way up to the
plate, and socked right-handed sin
gle to left, chasin' Jocko and Monty
across
Nubbin come down to earth after
that, and we stopped with five. For
ha fsrcf INT I'm, Tho cannn1 lftn
Swarzheimer recited: Il pick 'em
slim, l pick 'em fat, 1 hit 'em with
any old kind of a bat" and blew
himself to a double. Somebody sac
rificed him down when the Goliaths
was expectin' some more free-and-
easy hittin'. And Skinny Buck talk
ed himself into enough confidence to
deliver pinch single with his little
poem: "Sling 'em with their left
hand, sling 'em with their right, I'll
knock the old apple clean Outa sight"
Things went along till big Jocko
Jones went jumpin' up to the plate
again. McGonigle, seein' Nubbin was
helpless, tried to jerk him, but was
too late. This time Jock lifted u
three-bagger to the centerfield fence.
Then Mac yanked Nubbin, to save
him. You don't care if the score was
IL to 3, but it may interest you TO
know that our talkin' battcrs damned
a coupla right-.,anders hard the last
six innings. Tat was one game.
Also third place. Next day Mac was
hard up for pitchin', and shot anoth.
err southpaw at us. JockO Jones had
his left-handed number too, and We
cakewalked home with n 8 to 4 win.
And two full games lead on the
Goliaths for third place. Third day
they took us, and cut us TO one
game.
The fourth day we're all set for
battle. It's the Saturday before Deco
ration Day. and the crowd is so big
THAT ground rules is necessary.
"We'll give 'em the best we got
today" l said to old Liz Cochran.
"How's Bowman workin'?"
Same old Aces" says Liz. "And
he'll deliver. Let's use Monty up
there behind Jocko, hey?"
Sure"
"Oh, look who's here" hollers
Jocko Jones, as we 20 out to take
the field for the first round. He
jerks his gloved hand ut the left
handler Nubbin.
"You go jump in the lake, you big
fish :" yells Nubbin.
Save y'r breath for some pitchin' :"
hollers Jocko, and tends to business,
leavin' Nubbin swearin'.
There was one inning of baseball,
and eight rounds of pitchin' to that
game. Believe me, the crowd got n
run for its money. So did McGOni-
gle, the Goliaths and Lefty Nubbin.
And us too. Nubbin was right and
so was Aces Bowman. We went
along, horse and horse, to the sew
enth. They pinchcd run in their
half. The old man. over in his box
with his wife and daughter. darn
near tainted when they pushed it
over. But were we cooked? I'll
tell the great official scorer We
wasn't.
Saving from the toes, or chop
from the waist, they amt any pitch
or 'at l can't PASTE. says Irish
O'Donnell. first up in our half of
the seventh. and sticks out his chest
and swings on a fast one for single
to right.
] know there's no use to try to
signal Jocko Jones TO lay down n
sacrifice, even if he could sacrifice.
"I'm COMM" hollers Jocko. "Tve
got two now, and this will make
three"
Man, you could see poor old Lefty
Nubbin shrink inside his shirt as
.Iocko logged up there to the hill.
Well, this time Jocko lets him work.
One and one. Two, and then two.
Three and two. and Nubbin's in the
hole. He's got his nerve left, or part
of it, but that's about all. He Ger
tiny didn't have anything on the
straight one he stuck over the pan.
And how big Jocko Jones climbed on
that ball He jumped it for a fast
ride to left center for two bags. IL
it hadn't been for the ground rules,
he'd of had three. or mebbe homer.
But l shd worry. Irish is in. with
the tyin' run. And there's Jocko on
second with the winner. and nobody
down. And Nubbin .curlin' up like
an apple peelin'.
"Old Liz Cochran'll bring him
,home,r i said to myself. Here
comes our old ball game"
But wait a minutel I'd forgot
about Monty Sawyer. Up he goes,
swingin' two bats. Talkin' to him
self too. Pulls his cap down. throws
away one stick. Knocks the dirt
outa his cleats. pulls up his pants
and splits on his hands. Growls to
himself, and l can keep time with
him: