Show I HOME RUN HAGGERTY BY GEORGE G I 1 I WILLIAM IL n DALEY ALEY They Th Y say the police were called out to protect the New York Giants when they I played in a couple of western cities clUes last week an that they had to guard em from an infuriated populace and angry mobs and all that Reminds me of what the circuit papers said the memorable year ear that we won the cham championship championship championship at Cloverdale guarded by the sheriff an a hundred and a cou couple couple coupie pie o regiments o 0 militia in to guard us from the and most a brigade 0 o Uncle Sams troops f Im fm m Fort Riley top 0 o that to guard us from the militia Wonder Vonder how ho the tho league teams of 1906 would like that Wonder whether put up a winnin article o ball with a couple o 0 thousand bayoneted muskets right on the job an a battery or so o 0 Gatlin guns puns trained sos to sweep the field an you not knowin when some uniformed idiot was goin to pull pulla a n string or turn a crank crunk an pour a bunch o hot lead across the dimond Could the tho Wite Vite Sox Sex win twenty straight under them conditions I guess not You see sec we were tied with Cloverdale as we swung into the last week o 0 the season and we won one day and lost the next till it came to the last great con contest contest test to be played on their grounds an would settle the question o 0 su m supremacy supremacy and decide which flaunt the banner o victory victor i iVe We Ve started for Cloverdale the night be before tore fore the game sos to get a good nights sleep and when we wc were about ten miles f rm fm m town the conductor on the train I I comes to us an says Sos You better git bit off the train a mile or orso orso so this side o the station I J got a tip 1 theys a thousand or so Illuminated gents there for your our hearts blood an you OU better be careful about your presence on em eat when cops is 15 scarce Josh thanked him for his warning but said hed seen crowds of excited baseball I people before urh They want to welcome us i says he They wish to extend us 1 the right hand o fellowship account o othe othe i ithe the big game tomorrow Right hand o 0 shucks says s Pinch Hobbs nil uti me an the conductor an Pete Brown an Sam Merritt Welcome nuth In They The want to hand us a crate o 0 lem lemons ons If it aint a thousand o brick You see s c we knew Cloverdale crowds But our warning warr ing have no effect on Josh Let em blaze with their serried col co 1 says he grand like he always does docs when hes lies mad The famous Alfalfas Alfalfas Alfalfas fas not sneak in the buck back door We Ve will dare them to do their worst I kep a n smile on oft my m face but inside I was worried An I was cheered by bv re ro I had on a fairly fairl light pair p Ir o 0 shoes I So we huff liff h rr into Cloverdale half an hour late and the crowd that much madder be because because cause of It Bang A revolver that must have been at least SS s caliber goes off outside an somebody says Lemme at em Crash Cr sh A brick comes through the car winder and ketches Josh in his watch chain Another snakes males a success o 0 Rices Pitchin arm This is Cloverdale all right says Pete Brown as a sody water bottle smashed the tho lights It aint no way station weve stopped st at atThe atThe The end o that was that we climb into the tender o 0 the engine the fireman un uncouples uncouples couples fm tm the train an we run on a amile amile mile mUe or so an come Into town a u back backway backway backway way after all Aud And thon thou with a mob outside Josh appeals for protection Cloverdale had only two cops and nd they both worked at the th ball grounds so we send for them Josh gits the sher slier sheriff sherIff iff o 0 the county He swears in n a hun hundred hundred hundred dred and the fust thing you know Rube Gibs our right fielder an four o the is It all allover allover allover over the hotel an they near kill us all before we can separate em Hearin that the thc sheriff was a stockholder er in the Cloverdale club jars John an anbe he be wires the tho governor an asks for the militia So a regiment comes round an au every ever one of em Is fm Im that part o f the tho State in and nobody fm tm near Alfalfa First thing you OU know a and Tar Paper Hennessy get got and four militiamen mix In with guns an nn side with the And Tar far gets so o beat up we dont know him So Josh sees theres no help fm rm the state soldiers an wires the at Washington for regulars And they get geton geton geton on the scene about noon of the day of tile the great reat game I The sheriff an his 1118 hundred set down about ten feet back o 0 the foul lines an behind them set sot tho the militia evory eory ono ona of em eI to get got in an bat battor battor batter tor ter one of or u us with his gun i Then rhen lined up behind th them m are the reg lars Jars with fixed bayonets an Gatlin guns lookin over the whole scene An behind them are an enraged an insulted populace populace populace lace as the papers put lUt it mad as hops cause they the throw at us all the things thed lugged Into the grounds And in that way the great game ame was played Reggie ReKIe was in the box bo that day da and though he lie was a II little wild at first under tho the ferocious gaze an yells o that armed multitude he steadied down and In the end fairly pitched Claude off oft his feet But even n that thit have made no triumph if it been for the efforts of oC them to win for Clo Cloverdale Cloverdale verdale wed a lost an un x been mobbed m b S They were all fine shots and they all had guns buckled on There was no rule ruie against shooting them in the air when whenever whenever ever eer a L good play came off and after every good ketch there was a rattle that sounded like a n Injun skirmish Then see little spats o 0 dust duet kicked up 11 on the dImond Them was bullets where somebody was wild It was kind kindo o 0 like chargin up San Juan hill lull but we got used to it Then them took to at atthe atthe atthe the ball every time a n Cloverdale player hit it That was to make us miss the catch but our fielders were three aged citizens you cant match Hennessy Henness Men Mer Merritt ritt and Gibson ll anywhere and they the could not be fooled Hennessy hauled in a fly in the seventh which ended n ed the inning and left cm em with three on base bu e an a u worried worded look There I was nineteen bullets an a horse pistol slug in the ball We e thought that was goin some but wel wei in error In the first half of the ninth us a run behind got two out and the crowd was w gettin get Un ready read for the grand yell of the sea sen season season son But Pete Brown gets hit in the back by a curve and then Merritt booms a high one over the left fielders head With two out Brownie scratches the lust dust lik like Maude S Tie The T o see the baU ball is goin way out an sn they look glum till Ull their leader yells just as fiS It turns in inthe Inthe the air Weight her with led lead boys bOs and Jim Jimmie Jimmie mie can get got to it Jimmy was the left fielder under the ball to ketch It They open fire but without Judgment They were too strenuous or too good at or something Anyhow all that came doo to Jimmy was four busted stitches and a n bunch 0 o fuzzy yarn arn And Merritt got a homer horn or That put us 15 one ahead Reg began using his lemon ball and proceeded to fan tan the side for their last Jast turn at bat Then he did the greatest ketching o 0 ohis ohis his career for them began shoot In at balls an strikes He had to curve the ball not only to fool the batter biu biuso bu buso so as to elude that battery o a sharpshooters ers era and he te did it He Hp fanned three men in the ninth and though the regular troops had to travel back to Alfalfa with us we brought br back the championship So until the New York Glints Giants and other big league clubs go o up this sharp shooting game dont try tr to toM toll me any anything 1111 anything thing about hostile crowds Copyright 1906 b hO by George William Dale Daley Daley I |