Evening star., 1940-06-02

Il Short Story Complete on This Page
4 4
p YP IN the press box we nicknamed him
Loud Mouth. We didn't know who he
~ was or what he looked like. We didn't
know anything about him except that he had
loud mouth.
Almost every Wednesday and Sunday after
noon, when the Blue Sox played on the home
grounds, Loud Mouth was parked out in the
third-base bleachers, an unidentified white
shirt among blur of thousands of white
shirts. His shril. jeering voice came screaming
across the field like train whistle at night
Of course, there is Loud Mouth in every
ball park in the country. Generally he sits in
the bleachers. And when he does his scream
ing, he always waits until the precise moment
when hush has descended over the crowd, so
that his voice carries through the park almost
as satisfactorily as the amplifying system. His
usual habit is to pick out one particular player
and ride him straight through the season.
Loud Mouth picked on Eddie Macklin.
Sometime in July he started to ride Eddie and
by late August he was still going strong Don't
ask me why Loud Mouth picked on Eddie
There was no apparent reason for it. Loud
Mouth was baseball nut, and there is no
explaining this species.
Eddie Macklin was playing his first season
in fast company. He had come up to the
Blue Sox from Wilkes Barre in the Eastern
League, and he had practically cinched the
6rst-base job. A big. strong. likable boy who
took fair criticism and kept on his toes. In the
press box we tabled Eddie the classiest field
ing first baseman in the majors, and we pre-
dicted a great future for him. His hitting
wasn't heavy around the .26O mark. But
he had habit of coming through in the
clinches and that what pays off.
However, on Wednesdays and Sundays dur
ing the home stand, when Loud Mouth sat out
in those bleachers, Eddie's game went per-
ceptibly sour. The Blue Sox veterans told
Eddie to forget about Loud Mouth to laugh
him off, But, after all, Eddie was still green
kid and it is pretty tough for a green kid to
take abuse from the home fans. Although in
this case it was fan and not fans"
Week in and week out, Loud Mouth kept
riding him. And under that riding Eddie's
game continually cracked up Loud Mouth
was growing jinx to Eddie, a definite mental
hazard that he would have to lick some day
if he was going to build the solid career that
he was capable of building Up in the press
box we all agreed on that.
But none of us realized just how serious
the situation was ,,ntiI ono dav during the
first game of doubleheader with the Tigers
! HAT day, Eddie stepped up to the plate in
the last half of the ninth with the Blue Sox
down, 6 to 5. Fifteen thousand pairs of eyes
we're fixed on him right then, because the old
ball game was now strictly up to Eddie. There
was Blue Soxer on third, two were out and
one little bingle would bring in the tying rum
In the expectant hush that comes just be-
fore the pitch to the batter in a tight spot,
that mocking voice ripped out from the third
base bleachers: Three outs Three out,
Macklin! When they gonna ship va back to
Wilkes-Barre, va big bum!"
Cy Randall, on the mound for the Tigers,
wound up. The ball turned into white
streak, down the alley, but Eddie didn't offer
at it. 1t had looked wide, coming down, but
then it took sweet, swift break at the last