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Show DASEBALL, above all other games, has known more than its share in the way of masterpieces it eccentricity. Many of these I lappen to know. . They were true rolor, because they were naturals. Dorn with oddities few could believe, j Rube Waddell was one of them, I me of the greatest of all pitchers 15 ivmiwMwiw who would rather ysjH go fishing or tend f i& bar (for nothing) I than win a bail ipe ? game. Another was m j Crazy Schmidt of U O the old Reds, who - w carried a small r?p0 notebook in his hip yjU kA pocket, denoting Vjk me wea sPis 7 - fe opposing hitters. m. J- Against Hans Wag- G Rice ner's name he had this one line "A Dase on balls." That's what Wag-aer Wag-aer got from Schmidt. Shufflin Phil Douglas of the "Jiants Dizzy Dean of the Cards re around the head of the list. Also Tlint Rhein, Babe Herman, Bobo .Jewsom, Germany Schaefer, Shoe-ess Shoe-ess Joe Jackson, Arlie Latham luts, wits and half-wits but all great ballplayers. Latham was one 5f the smartest. The list is too long ;o go into further details. But, one of the leaders in this jolorful field has been overlooked ind forgotten. His name is Bugs Raymond, the pitcher John Mc-Graw Mc-Graw always insisted had the finest pitching motion he ever saw, in-;luding in-;luding Walter Johnson, who was tmooth as the west wind, and as ;ornadic or cyclonic. Raymond ihould be right around the top in his human oddity group that in-iludes in-iludes only stars. I still remember my first meeting vith Raymond, some 43 years ago. This happened to be a spring day in Atlanta around the now forgotten ;ra of 1904. ' 1 Crackers' vs. Boston The Atlanta Crackers on that day were to play the world's champion Boston Americans, who, the fall be-!ore, be-!ore, had beaten Pittsburgh's great xam in the first, but still unofficial world series of 1903. This Boston team, managed by the orilliant Jimmy Collins, one of the greatest infielders of all time, was asebalTs sensation. Big Bill Di-leen Di-leen had been a major factor in winning this series from a team ;hat had such stars as Hans Wag-aer, Wag-aer, Fred Clarke, Tommy Leach and Kitty Bransfield. Boston, long before any Red Sox appellation, was about a 1 to 40 bet jo win champions of the world playing against a strictly bush '.eague outfit. By some odd chance, before starting start-ing a mile and a half walk to the oall park, I happened to be taking a drink at some wayside bar in preparation for the trip. A heavy band fell on my shoulder and, as I looked around, there was an unkempt-looking fellow, around 200 pounds, who wore no necktie and aadn't shaved in at least two days'. Here was the king of all the tramps I'd ever seen. "How about buying me a drink, fellow?" was his opening remark. bought him a drink. Then I had :o buy him another drink. "How do we get out to this ball park?" he asked. "We walk," I said, "if you are going with me." Then a sudden morbid thought hit me. "Isn't your aame Raymond?" I asked. "Yes," he said, "Bugs Raymond." Shuts Out the Cliamps "Do you happen to know," I sug- gested, "that you are pitching today j against the Boston Americans, the I world champions?" ' "I never heard of 'em," Raymond said. "Where's Boston?" On the walk to the ball park that afternoon, Bugs spent most of the trek throwing rocks at pigeons, telegraph tele-graph poles and any target in sight. People I had known in Atlanta gave me an odd look after taking a brief glance at my unshaven, rough and rowdy-looking companion. compan-ion. Knowing what would happen later, I wasn't bothered about any social check-up. Raymond started the game by insulting in-sulting Jimmy Collins, Freddy Par ent, George LaChance and every star on the Boston team. He would walk from the pitcher's box up towards to-wards the plate and let them know, in forcible and smoking language, what he thought they all were. What the Boston Americans, the world's champions, didn't know, and what I didn't know, or anyone else, was this: They were facing one of the greatest spit-ball pitchers and ne of the greatest natural pitchers of all time If you could only beep him one-third sober, which even Mc-Graw Mc-Graw couldn't. Not even with four bodyguards. Raymond had speed, curves, control plus an Ed Walsh spitter. But on this particular occasion, Raymond shut out the world's champions, 3 to 0, and allowed them just three scratch singles. As we taintly recall the hazy details, Raymond Ray-mond had 11 strikeouts. "Even half sober," McGraw told I ne once, "Raymond would have i been one of the greatest " |