Evening star., 1924-10-08

was no argument on the point The
manager agreed pointing out that no
body could be worse as an outfielder
than he was as a pitcher. So Leon
played the outfield. and took sweet
revenge on other pitchers for the fes-
| tive failing he had received in his
hours of woe on the rubber slab. He
hasn't finished taking that revenge
yet.
One day a big league scout hap
pened to get off train at Columbi
). c. He went out to the ball game,
and during the progress of the pas
time Leon caught a ball on the end
Of his bat. The ball was never seen
again. II is alleged that a stray ball
was picked up in Omaha, Nebr. next
day, but there is no certain evidence
that 1T was the same ball which was
seen leaving Columbia, S. c., in such
a hurry on the evening previous In
any event, 1t went far enough to con-
vince the scout that Leon was needed
IN the vicinity of Washington. D. G.
Leon came to Washington in the
Fall of 1921. He really liked the city.
e, He was just tall gawky youth who
didn't know very much and he felt
| right al home with the members of
the Senate and the House of Repre-
sentatives. They didn't know any
thing either, and in addition to that
most of them wore suspenders. Cos
! lin was so simple that when Clyde
Milan. the manager OF the Senator's.
sent him out to play left field he
actually went out and played there.
! Playing left field in Washington
where the sun shines directly in the
eyes of the fielder all season, usually
means three trips to an eye doctor
and long stay in the blind asylum.
Leon Fools the Experts
| But Leon fooled them. A most pc
culiar lad this Goslin. He throws
| right-handed, bats left-handed, and
parts his hair in the middle. Milan
sent Goslin to left field because he
had come to the conclusion that Leon
couldn't catch a fly ball anyway, so
the sun wouldn't bother him much.
There was also a movement on foot
to paint advertisements on his uni
form SO that he wouldn't be total
deficit on the pay roll. This scheme
was abandoned because advertisers
asked a guarantee of two weeks dis
play, and it was the general feeling
that Leon would be hit on hte head
and killed by the first fly ball that
came his way
These were the auspicious steps by
which Leon GoSlin trod the path to
fame and fortune. No left-f fielder on
a Washington team had batted better
tndn .SSO untll Leon came diOnS. he
batted better than 800 for three sea-
sons. and this year he stepped out
with $40 average. The only pos
sible conclusion is that the boy can
hit, and does. He doesn't care who
makes the Nations laws or writes
the Nations songs Give him a bat
and place an unhappy victim on the
pitching mound He will make the
hits
He entered into the Promised Land
yesterday at the Polo Grounds, where
30, 900 citizens of this metropolis arose
and crowned him king Of October's
base ball festival When he first
broke into the league all hands agreed
that If he insisted on trying to catch
fly balls he would make a ice-look-
ing corpse Yesterday he dashed back
to the left-field wall and made
gorgeous grab of a whistlng drive
by Irish Meusel.
Surviving the sneers of the critics
and the jeers of the gallery gods, he
has become fairly good fielder, and
ne will be a better one. Listening
only to the still, small voice within
his own breast, he has become
wonderful hitter. His success should
be an inspiration to all glassblowers
and elevator mechanics. If they give
up their trades early enough, they.
too, may make four hits in a world
series game and single-handed hurl
the mighty Giants down into the
darkness of defeat.