The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1943-08-26
BEHIND
HOME PLATE
By DOUG STEWART

Have you heard:
That bell that rings out from the
stands every time the Owls put on a
rally? Well, there's quite a story
behind IT, The bell, which is not a
COW bell, but a regulation ships
bell, belongs, strangely enough, to
Mr.. Ernest L. Bell, 861 Virginia
Avenue.
Both Mr.. and Mrs. Bell are ardent
ball fans, rarely miss a game, and
tote their bell right along with them,
using its lusty tones to cheer our
pitcher when he gets strikeout, or
an Owls batter when he clouts out
a hit.
The bell, left to Mr.. Bell by his
father, was on the ship that Mr.. Bell
senior served on over forty years
ago, in the Merchant Marine, and
was used to toll out the time "a
ships bell is rung to let the crew
know the time of day, hence the ex-
preston EIGHT bells").
That one-round fight after the
first game Sunday afternoon was a
humdinger was just ready to ring
Mr.. Bells bell for the end of round
one, when WHAN! Mike Sabena
uncorked a haymaker that caught
Major" Bowles smack on the but
ton. Thirty minutes later, when
the major came to, he wanted to
know if the Japs had put on another
sneak attack.
1 have seen a lot of fights between
players on the ball diamond, but
Sundays scrap was the first one I
have seen where other players
didn't get mixed up in it too, either
in trying to separate the boys, or by
taking few swings on their own
account. But in this scrap, the
players on both teams, and even the
umpires, stood to one side and let
them settle it. And there was sound
reason for their action too. Bowles
used the type of language to Sabena
that no man is going to stand for,
and the Lancaster pitcher got just
what was coming to him.
The Owls came home on August
II just one game behind the league
leading Lancaster Red Roses. Two
days later, August 10 to be exact,
they were down in third place again,
four full games behind the leaders.
But when they left for Allentown
last Monday they had climbed back
to second place, just two games out
of the lead, and they whitfield that
down to one and half games Mon
day night. Now let's see what
brought all this about.
The Owls opened their 8-game
home stand with a 4-game series
with Trenton "a team by the way,
that has been tough for us all sea-
SOM. We took the opening game
easily enough behind the 3-run, g.
hit pitching of Angstatt, while the
Owls were collecting IL hits, good
for IL runs, off the combined offer
ings of Winch and Farrell While
this was going on, Lancaster was
taking one from York, leaving the
Owls still one game behind
The next night we hooked up with
Trenton in double-header, while
Lancaster was facing York in twin
bill also. The result of those games
is quickly told - we dropped two,
Lancaster won two = and so we
were three games behind.
Thursdays final game against
Trenton was the same story. We
lost, Lancaster won, dropping us,
not only four games behind Lancas-
ter, but also dropping us Gown into
the third slot, two percentage points
behind Wilmington.
But then came the dawn!
The Red Roses followed Trenton
into the Stadium for a four-gam
series, no doubt with visions of Just
about clinching the pennant at the
expense of the seemingly slipping
Owls. But if they did have any
such ideas, they were in for a rude!
awakening.
The first game was a free hitting