New Britain herald., 1925-07-11
A One-armed Wonder


 The loss of a limb to any man IS q misfortune, but il is given to some 10 overcome their handicaps and retain their rghtful place among their fellow men, and such d person is Thomas Basil of 415 Arch street, who is equipped with only one arm and that one his right,
 Suffering an accident in infancy which took his left arm off at the shoulder, Basil has worked hard 10 do as other men do and that sue cess has attended his efforts can readily he seen from his record as an athlete while at the New Britain high school since his graduation and at the present time as mem Der of the Flatwaro baseball team of I.andcrs Inter- department league.
 Basil is 24 years old, stands 3 feet 10 inches and weighs ITO pounds He leads the league in hitting and playing in left field, leads the entire league in fielding. Strange? Yes, but Basil doesn't think so, You must remember" '" he says, that l have been without my left arm since childhood and l have had to learn to do with only one my whole life long
 Basil gets along with his right arm as well as any man gets along with two good arms. He dresses him self, ties his own ties, even bow ties, slaves himself, using either q safety or a straight razor and haudes his work as if he had two arms.
 Curious to learn how he covered his position i'll left field, the writer decided 10 visit Landcrs Recreation field during one of the inter-dcpart- ment league games wherein the l'Iatwarc team was playing, to watch Basil in action. As he came onto the field, the game was in progress. A man was on third and one man Was out, The batter hit q drive into loft field that looked i like a sure hit. The runner ol third looking at the bali sailing out started for home. He reckonec without the left fielder, however 1 Basil, on the job, started after the ball with he crack of the bat anc running along at full speed, h' leaped into the air speared the elusive pill and with the aam' motion whipped the ball to thrc base for q double play.
 When the inning was over anr BaSils team was at bat, he wa asked how he could field and throv with a glove on. He then showec how it is done. He wears an ol' ,;ilapidat"d glove on his one hand There is hardly any padding in tn mitt and none at all in the fingers Basil displayed his hand, an fnor nous specimen, and said; "Thcre' what does it." He is able 10 CatcI any kind of ball and with tn
 grip of his extra strong fingers, { throw without removing the glove. When he came to bat, he shove
 tn" little trick he uses that has ker
 him at the head of the league bat tors. He usc2 8 short heavy ha
 and he srasps lt q few inches fror
 tho cnd He lets the tip rest on hi
 forearm.
 With thiS grip he takes moa cut at the h1ll and his eye is S good that he connects every tim
 right on thr nos" and chalks Il
 numerous hit, every Eam". H , arm is above tho average fc a'ronE,h. As he swings. the hi , corded muscles stand ont like vhil cords and tho cause of the succN!
 of his drl,c, Is Immediately 1i' , cerned.
 BaslI has played for years
 srmi- pro ranks and after hig |, school days WAS offered numoror , chances tn enter college as an atl |, lotr. IIo turned these down, hoy (, evcr because Of smIt'en heart ar $ in turn took mp the duties of hu
 hand and lover. With his marriag I he dl1 not. however, forSake h $ first love, sports,
 Q He has turned down numero s offers to play professional ball, q E. fact of his one arm heinz a matt
 for any manasrr to speculate on
 . drawing card. Ha has even 1T
 year turned down q chancH to a F.. po1r in mESor company and is sat f"d 10 play along with the boys the shop whore he worke
 i Fesld.s being q baseball sti . Tasil IS also second Harr ' Grange on the football field. n plays halfhack and when the ball Q 'Yclzcd under his one arm. away n coes and he is hard 10 stop a Is also a deadly accurate tackler 2 - when his on" arm gets a man, doesn't got away,
 l; Added to his accomplishments l tho fact that he IS also an ext ordinary Eool pool and hiha q player TTn has given eXhibitic d ahout the state on numerous oc, sions and IS able 10 hold his O q with any of them
 | "Whcn 8 man has to do son
 thing. my case proves that he ( do fl, if ho sots his mind to it," S - Basil. and believe me. I've fou out that nothing is impossible tc man who wants 10 get along" w 26 this parting shot, Basil took n- glove and sailed out into left i nm intent on ihc game and ready en Stop the next drive sent out m, way.