The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-02-15
The
Minute Hand
EACH TICK "A TOPIC
Hager Keeps Head Up.
Score One for Mercury
Umpires Turn Human

"Still kicking!"

1t is Red Hager VINO is still
kicking. Washington sandlotters
and others who read the sports
pages know about Red Hager, the
Gibraltar's smuggling catcher. Just
when Red was approaching full
manhood, a robust, hopeful chap,
he was hit by the white plague.
Young Hager took the blow as
one might have expected only of a
Courageous youth.
He held up his head and smiled.
The doctor told young Hager to
go to a higher climate. Red must
have thought it a tough break, in
deed, when he cast about for the
necessary coin and found none.
That still kicking thing is
quoted from a letter written by Red
at place in the hills by Charlottes-
vile, Va. It bespeaks lighthearted-
ness, but it is not sincere. 1t is
just a way the stricken youth has
tried to show he's not gutter.
Red is up there in the hills fight
ing, make no mistake about it.
The small supply of money that
Red finally was able to garner is
about all gone. To have to work
would kill his chance to win.
But, unknown to Red, perhaps,
the sandlotters of Washington are
rallying to his aid. On March 3, at
Elks Hall, the biggest social event
ever attempted by sand1otters will
be held to give the boy a financial
lift. It will be dance with first
class entertainment features.
Red will be sent q wad of dough,
to give old Saranac Lake a trial,
and the sandlotter an opportunity
to reflect on a kind deal.
The sandlotters are willing to
help Lyman Hager because
"The man worth while is the man
who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong"
Reading in the newspapers of the
scraps and bitter feuds of sandlot-
tiers, one might believe them a hard
boiled lot.
However, when Red Hager's
plight was described before a meet
ing Of the Mercury Athletic Club,
there was a spontaneous expression
of sympathy that was good to see
The members voted quickly and
unanimously to give to young
Hager from the club Golfer all
that could be spared without
running the club financially. The
sum was $50, but Mercury gave
until it hurt. Money for sandlOt
usageS is tight.
Only those who manage the bust
ness affairs of sandlot clubs will
understand the extent of Mercury's
generosity.
On reading in The Washington
Times of Hager's misfortune, Will
liam Gordon Buchanan, an old
teammate of Reds, hustled to The
Times sport department with a ten
dollar check to be passed on to the
Gibraltar catcher. Close on Buchan-
ans heels was Tommy Degnan
with five bucks.
In the mail came a check for five
from a chap named D. f. Ellerbe.
For spell the sandlot editor was
doing a rushing business in Reds
behalf.
Then, herself just recovering
from a wicked attack of flu, Miss
Lorraine Wall got busy on plans
for the big dance on March 3.
She organized a committee and
hoped to it in such manner
that the dance at this time looms
as a rare attraction. A cOrking
good time is in prospect for those
who attend.
Even the umpires, supposedly
hard-hearted critters, are coming
through for Red. Jack Doyle, sec.
"etary of the Umpires' Association.
by request was made a member of
Miss Wallis committee and wants
200 tickets as soon as they are
printed. They are being printed
now. Doyle says the arbiters can
dispose Of the 200 in q jiffy
Incidentally, the jumps foresee E
record baseball season. They are
preparing for II. The sandlotters
may expect umpiring of a brand
generally better than prevailed in
the last campaign. Many Of the
umpires in the big Independent Sc.
ries of 1922 improved with expert
ence.
The problems of that fiercely
fought affair were sharpening to
baseball wits. Toward the end o1
he season some Of the umpires who
we're not so good in the spring were
1oing commendabl BILE work