Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-04-06

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Co.
My friends and I used to hang
around the Polo Grounds trying
to sneak in but it was no soap.
Or we'd try to get job selling
pop and peanuts inside. but we
could never get to talk to the
right people. But getting to see
q game itself wasn't tough. The
ball park was surrounded with
trees, so we'd climb a tree and
have a box seat.
One day. I was up in a tree
that overlooked the bleachers in
leftfield. When Cy Seymour of
the Giants belted a long hit, I got
so excited, ] forgot where I was.
A second later, I landed in the
bleachers. A park attendant
started after me, but I ran under
meath the stands and found the
office of the concessionaire, Harry
Stevens.
mfr. Stevens" I painted, "you
gotta give me a job selling pea
nuts or pop"
He was startled, but then he
grinned and said, well, you look
okay to me-" He said to report
to work the next day.
A Lesson From Matty
From then on 7 sold score
cards. Also I began to go to the
Polo Grounds in the morning and
practice with the players. whom
I was getting to know. I shagged
fly balls in the outfield. One day
the great Christy Mathewson
took me aside and showed me
how he threw his famous "fade-
away" pitch. now known as the
screwball. Mathewson always
had been one of my favorite
players. even cleaned the
players shoes in the clubhouse
before the games. I was in my
glory.
I worked harder than ever to
develop as a pitcher. I was build
ing good reputation around the
Bronx as a pitcher and teams
started to compete for my serv-
ices. even teams from downtown.
I would pitch on Sundays for any
team that would pay me a dollar
BY now, all the kids who played
ball with me had their sights on
the High School of Commerce
because that school had a reputa-
ton for baseball around New
York like Notre Dame has in
football. It seemed all the best
sandlot players in the city were
drifting to Commerce and even
players already enrolled at other
high schools were switching.
With my ambition to be a big
league pitcher and feeling I
was pretty good, figured I'd
go to Commerce and find a
stepping-stone to professional
ball.
Stretches Lunch Money
My folks wanted me to 60 to
Morris High School, but I made
a big sales pitch for Commerce.
One Of their objections was that
1t would cost 20 cents a day to
send me to Commerce. nickel
carfare each way and 10 cents for
hearty lunch.
I managed to get a lot of mile
age out of that 20 cents. Four
or five of us would get to-
gether at lunchtime and meander
to one Of the local saloons, order
ing scent sarsaparilla. Then
we'd casually wander past the
free lunch counter in single file
and each load up on what today
might be So worth of food.
After three or four visits to one
saloon, the bartender usually got
wise to us. So we'd pick out
another every few days.
I tried out for the great Com
merce ball club that spring, 1909.
The first day of practice, the
coach took one look at me and
asked:
How much do you weigh,
SOM"
About 1885," I said.
"And you're pitcher? I think
you ought to try out for some
other position, say second base"
You show me a second base
man who can't hit. can't field
and can't run. and I'll show you
q bum second baseman. That
was me. in spades, Actually. he