Evening star., 1943-04-16

the gate re-
henrs "cLemore. 1t was my
| privilege recently to tear a ligament
In the opening of the London base
ball season. The game was played
in Hyde Park and drew more than
5000 spectators, most of whom
stayed through nine of the worst
and longest innings of all time.
The team I played on, which was
composed of correspondents and
officers, established no fewer than
200 records, including those for er-
rors, wild pitches, hit batsmen,
strikeouts, trapped runners, balks,
number of players collapsed during
the game and assorted injuries.
| 1t was a team that John McGraw
would have shot on sight; one that
would cause Connie Mack, advanced
as he is in years, to exchange his
famed score card for a pitchfork
and come tearing on the field. It
was one of the few teams that had
nine playing captains, all of whom
were vested with absolute authority
and were determined to prove it.
Pitcher, Catcher Can't Agree.
Our battery, which once had a
| tryout with the grammar school
team in Hattiesburg, Miss, but
which was released after one ap-
pearance, consisted of 1t. Dave
Breger as pitcher and Maj. Jack
Redding as catcher. 1t. Breger after
one Windup, was accused by his
mates of taking on the pitching as
signment simply to get material for
his cartoon private Breger." 1t.
Breger and Maj. Redding were in
perfect accord all afternoon except
on what to throw to the batter and
when.
On first base was Col. Morrow
| Krum whose chances of making the
major leagues as a player we're
spoiled when he quit playing base
| ball at the age of g. He only re-
Gently took 1t up again, as did our
second baseman, Milton Bracker of
the New York Times. Remember
how Pepper Martin used to stop
ground balls with his chest? Well,
Bracker went Pepper one better and
used his face.
McLemore Was Shortstep.
This correspondent was a short
stop, a position assigned to him after
it was learned that one of his aunts
| had once been courted by cousin.
twice removed, of Hans Wagner.
Our third baseman was Col. John
Hay (JocD Whitney, who swore he
had played baseball in college and
then went right out and proved he
hadn't Our Manifold outstay was
Capt. Hal Leyshon, who bears the
same resemblance to iris Speaker
as he does to the Speaker of. the
House of Representatives
We were beaten, q to 5. but the
English spectators never left us. As
a matter of fact, they came closer
and closer to the diamond as the
game progressed and at the finish
they were all over the place, ap-
plauding our every move.
1t is my contention that if such a
team as ours could draw 5000 spec
tators a major league club would
| draw 10 or IS times that many. The
| crowd was most generous with it's
| appreciation. 1t was as appreciative
of wild throw to first base as it
was of double to left center. In
fact, the biggest hand of all was
drawn by Whitney when, with the
bases loaded and two down, he
lifted a magnifcently high foul
which the catcher caught without
| moving from his tracks.
Mistaken for Babe Ruth.
Because of this prodigious effort,
Whitney was pointed out as a
famed American player who was
comparable to the all-time cricket
greats. One or two in the crowd
even went away thinking he was
Babe Ruth and talking about the
tremendous salary he received for
hitting just such "home run" as
they had seen.
We are playing return match
with our conquerors next week and
there Is a rumor that some one
from Buckingham Palace is going to
be among the crowd probably a fifth
footman who has the day off. This
possibility of playing before some
one so close to royalty inspired all
OF us and We are not only practicing
but trying to find an umpire in an
attempt to bribe him into giving us
the breaks as the home team.
1t is no secret that because our
opponents had full colonel as their
pitcher and an umpire who was a
private in the last game we did not
get the better of it. One glare from
Col. Pitcher and Umpire Private
became slightly biased on the side
of the colonel
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