Evening star., 1924-09-14
POLICE WIN, ; TO |, .
AGAINST F|REMEN
Pitchers Duel at Annual Base
Ball Game Witnessed by
$4,000 Persons.
Twelve thousand persons, some

Twelve thousand persons, some
Streaming in the frenzy of unre-
strained glee and some moaning with
the anguish of despair. saw nine
swarthy policemen mop up the Clark
Griffith Stadium with as many un-
happy firemen yesterday afternoon
to the tune of to l, in their annual
base ball fracas and circus for the
benefit of the Policemen's and Fire
mems Benefit Fund.
1t was pitchers duel until the
fateful seventh inning, and from then
on the cops proceeded to show the
staggered fire laddies some third de-
gree stunts that simply swept them
off their feet and made the game
much easier victory for the guar
dians of the peace than it had prom
iSed to be.
President Coolidge started the game
when, with Mrs. Coolidge seated in
reserved box with him, he threw out
the first ball to Pitcher Flynn of the
Fire Department nine amid the
plaudits of the throng. Soon after
ward the President and Mrs. Cool
fdge, called away on business of
state. were obliged to slip out of the
grounds. but they seemed to thor
oughly enjoy two innings.
Policemen Score First.
The cops scored first in the third
inning, after both sides had been re-
tired with more or less simplicity in
the first two. Flynn started his own
undoing. After walking Kelly, who
hurled for the policemen, Flynn
scooped up a miserable little roller
from Boyd and turned to throw in
plenty of time to head off Kelly at
second.
The unhappy Flynn tossed the
head at second, however, and Kelly
romped on to third. Then Rinker,
trying to catch the fleeing bluecoat
pitcher proceeded to hurl the ball into
his own dugout and when the smoke
of that momentary bombardment had
cleared away, Kelly had scored and
forgotten about it and Mathaney was
on third wondering if he had time to
walk home or not. On second
thought. however, he stayed at third
but only to die, because the side was
then retired in order.
1t was the sixth inning before the
FIRE fighters evened the score. and some
what in the same fashion. Walters, the
first man up, got to first on an inheid
hit He advanced to third on outs by
Peterson and Flynn. Then Bateman let
fly a slow roller that got to first sec
ond after he did While the cops were
considering locking, up the umpire on
the spot, Walters sneaked up the home
base line and tailed before policeman
could nab him.
Even Fight Until Fifth.
From then until the seventh Flynn
and Kelly fought each other evenly.
Kelly scored strikeout after strikeout,
but Flynn got his curves doing stunts
around the policemen's bats so artfully
that none succeeded in hitting safe for
two innings. HeiSer then led OIL with
single. MyzueSki sacrificed him to sec
ond and he tailed on Mathaney's single.
The latter then scored on successive
safeties by Redden and IGnker before
Stewart and Kelly were retired for the
second and third outs.
Kelly however, never let down the
bars, to his opponents, retiring the side
in order in the seventh In the eighth
he struck out three men in row and
accounted for one Of the outs in the
ninth himself. Both Kelly and Flynn
pitched mighty fine ball, and Davis
stick work for the fremen stood out,
too, He got several singles and one
triple, but unfortunately was permitted
to die each time by his mates. who could
not connect with Keliy's hoppers.
The occasion was one of the most
successful field days. ever held for the
benefit of the po.icemens and firemens
fund. The estimate of $4,000 persons
present was conservative. Both uppes
and lower tiers of the grandstand were
we'll filled, and long before game time
ticket sellers were obliged to announce
that no more. seats were to be had in
side of the section bounded by first and
third base The crowd then flowed well
over into the outfield sections Of the
stands.
Rain Didn't Interfere.
1t was a typical departmental benefit.
Before the game the clowns kept the
fans screaming with laughter by their
antics, the United States Navy Band
kept UP an entertaining concert and, to
make the day complete, not false
alarm or riot call was turned in to