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Show 4- . . . There's Always a Yarn About Honest John 4 Fiery as they make 'em, an awful crab, a keen student o' baseball, a hater o' all umpires, that is what Jack Murray, Mur-ray, erstwhile Spokane catch'r, says o' John McCloskey, honest John, who is the oldest ma-nag r in point o' service in the game t'day. Murray play'd und 'r the firebrand in the halcyon days o' the Union association, when the late Lucas was at the bead o' that organization, organ-ization, an' the memories o' those days still ling'r fresh in Murray's mind. "I'll nev'r forget the stunt McCloskey McClos-key pull 'd on Burt Spencer." said Murray Mur-ray vest 'rday. "I was playin cent'r field and Spencer was station VI in right. The Helena field was a long one, tuit it wasn 't long enough this day, 'cause the Salt Lake play 'rs were drivin' the ball ov'r our heads at a fearful rate. I manag'd t' spear several o' their drives, but Spencer was havin ' an awful aw-ful time. When we came int ' the bench aft 'r the end o' the fifth iunin ' McCloskey Mc-Closkey said t' me, 'Jack, what's the matt V with Spencer, can't he get 'em? I notice wh're you are catchin ' 'em. "I told Mac. Spencer was doin' the best he could. .:- t- "In the next innin' a lire drive went ricoehetin' int' right field a mile a minute. The runn 'r reach 'd first an' made f'r second. I ran in from cent'r field an' head 'd the hail off, holdin' the man at second. M.-t'loskev left the bench an' rac 'd ov'r t' the' third base lines. Shielding his eyes with his hands, he survey 'd the field an' then roar'd.' 'Where's Spem-er. oh. where is Spencer? Ah. I see him. There he is paint 'd on the right field fence.' "Mac was certainly a wond 'r. "One year we tried out a little follow fol-low at short nam'd Westmoreland. He look 'd fair, but Wood was goin' so well at short that Mac kept the kid on the bench. One dav Wood boot'.- a couple in a row an' the kid begg 'd MoC'losk'ev t' put him in. Finally Mac toM Wood f lav oft the rest o' the zame an' sent Westmoreland t short. The first three ehanc's rhat rame his way he muss "d up terribly. When a fourth grounder carom VI otf his knee McCloskey stopp'd the game an' ran out t' short, 'i.'oine, my hov,' he said, erabbin' Westmoreland Westmore-land by the arm, 'let me lead you out of the danger zone. You're a nice little lit-tle liny an' I like you. but if y stick out there much lon'r you'll get kill'd. Y' po an" eet dress 'd an' come an' see me after the game. I'll give y' transportation trans-portation home, my adf 'cause I don't want any funerals on my hand.' "V simply couldn 't beat Mar. ' ' "ni'-Tinrr in the Spokesman-Review. |