Show 1 HAGGERTY BY GEORGE WILLIAM DALEY LL through the country in the winter win winter ALL ter there was waB hull pages in fn the I papers about new discoveries made by th the pitchers on the big teams in the way of or curves and shoots with which to fOol foCI the me butters batters when wIlen the spring springtime springtime time comes gentle Annie There was the Ute spit bald hal and nf the stop ball and the jump joint ball and the whirligig ball and the snake ball ban let alone dewdrops that t were ere supposed to tiO come came up to the plate j 1 lookin as big as freight cars but J which were iver er supposed ed to only make foul tips t when you bit hit em ein Now a s good many people laughed at th s inventions and acid said that there was to em ell and they thc was only o I delusions and illusions but to anybody played ball at all Its u a subject at not not to be fo fueled led with I Ikno Know kno theres a spit ball bull Jack Ches Chesbro Chesbro Chesbro bro o 0 the New Yorks thinks he discovered dis discovered covered it but he lae its Ug only the theold old water ter ball ban of or Ducky Haskins of or orth the th out Olt hero here in the Corn and he discovered it one rainy day when all the other pitchers wa was settin hit hard and old man mun Tapley the manager have h ve no one oue to put in to pitch He Helt lt let the ball get wet wt w t and Ind passed it up slow dow with a 8 combination t out and drop onto nto It an nobody in the whole t b cd ca hit It It worked fK so well that 1 dry days da 11 when the ball all wet and d Haskins had to pitch hed take a bucket bu ket o water out into the box with ith him and dip the ball in be before before fore ore each throw and he used uN that ball so long that finally his lingers ens began to grow ow webs between n em like a ducks feet and that got him his name But the greatest of all nIl the special class of curves cur s that ever was made was vas as that which Enders brought brou ht up with him from 0 Chicago the time he hc went down there to git a ajob ajOb ajob job with ono one o the big league loague teams and find he lie make good and they turned him loose oo You see eee he ne fell in with one o these torture guys gu s and got gotto gotto gotto to that his will was anyone an that if he willed to todo todo todo do a thing hard enough there on this here earth t would stop him also he developed a mighty might interesting little turn o hypnotism or or like Ilke that an sin when he come back he signed with the and give it out that he had the ball that had us all beat and he advertised for a ketcher who was of a ar r disposition disposition disposition tion to take up the other end of the battery an ketch the drop The Alfalfas was in the lead I ad for the pennant at the time with no prospect of their bein beat out of it unless the hull crowd of ot us liB fell into a fit it to once We had Reggie an Lamp Hymes two F as likely pitchers as ever eer threw a curve urve an Dan Delaney to help em out outI 1 I an Pinch Hobbs a hull nine by b himself was w at short Pete Brown and the Harrison brothers was on the bags bage and for fielders we e had Tar TarPaper TarPaper TarPaper Paper Hennessy sy Sam Merritt and Jim Burrill Burn This was WitS before I doped Jim with the horse trainers train rs needle and be before before before fore we got ot Pint Pitt Billings Pinch Hobbs had just sent Ducky Haskins to the woodpile by b a method to hit the Ule water ball bull It was else than to cover a bat with leather aai an 11 soak the time leather i wet It was wall the old principle o the I sucker that we us used d to make when we was boys Where that slippery ball had sipped Ipp l off a dry wood bat and und be knocked no distance at all ull nor 1101 not straight at Rt all nIl why the soaked leather ather If bat hat o 0 just sucked onto the horsehide o the ball enough to 10 give you a chance to paste it hard hald an line it jt anywhere m where you liked 4 that bat ended Hooking Huekins an his web fingers IS and his hie water pail and as asI I said Pinch was WitS sigma sign In for some thin new to try tr that great brain o 0 hiMin hi on And it came We e had no moren begun to win games again after d OBin o 0 the pitcher than stories began to come up from Cloverdale of the remarkable pitchin of Elnathan Enders and the disappearing pearin rin drop The stories the thc ball left his hand lland slow an lookin as big as a but by b the time it I had haa got up to the batter it was the size o a marble an au goin like lightning Some said it really disappeared al altogether altogether altogether together an some said It squeezed down to the size o a double B shot but the majority o the stories was that it stayed in sight though very cr small mall Elders chief trouble was waw with hi his ketcher ketchel who he te said had a gross Jross worldly mind that stay stav in the proper receptive mood or he be cd see sec se the ball through all its flights nights an have no trouble ketchin it for the ketcher had been fooled a number o times thinking lie he had a ball ban the size of ot a marble m to ketch only to find a a regulation si sphere her heran an all a 8 couple o busted fingers in his hiss hands s after hd closed onto it Concentrate YOU von durn inre sen en onto me if 3 ou cu u got any ny you galoot sav to his ketch ketcher r rn when n hen them things happened Let your hull soul gaze Into my eyes eves e eg an al ul allow allow low iov your our hull bein bean to be dominated by my will Then the ball wont seem I hard to get an save e pain an t 1 An then theft the cuss but stand standup I up an take his medicine Pinch had bad once took up this here psychical I chical phenomena game ame but he ho prepared for fOl no such jolt as he got the I first day the hit town ton and grappled with us to try and nd take a ball away from the champs humps Pinch was up first an he walked out I dusted dust d off oft the plate his bat short an prepared for his customary bunt which he generally started every e ry I game with Elnathan he opened a pair pall of dark soulful eyes made a couple o I passes parses with his biB hands an hed heda a slow one down When it left his hand it looked like a ball when whelm it was a quarter ways ways In ht it had shrunk to a small apple aple size folze when It was half ways in it was like a mar m marble u uble ble an to speed up and when wIlen it got Jot o 0 the distance it looked like a small army bean an go the wind Pinch t hit it for goin over the plate it had hint disappeared disappeared p pared ared utterly and reappear re PIH ar un until until until til it had been bet n fished out of the recep receptive receptive tive tie mitt of the ketcher kelcher Three o them and amI Pinch came ome back bak to the bench an su rubbed his hl eyes Ct S an looked mad Jim Tim Harrison laud had the same experience an au so HO did Pete Brown Pete swore that Enders throw one olle ball a tall and believe it till the ketcher letcher showed it to him How in thunder gays y Pete does the empire know kno enough to call strike when nobody sees the ball 1 Because he aint under my m psychic p chic says Elnathan Every Everybody Everybody body in front of me is fooled by b it for fOI they the are dominated by my mind Any Anything Anything Anything thing I see I dominate For that reason my m ketcher r could ketch better if he have to look at me That makes him see the tile ball fade like all the rest So soon as his mind gets completely un under under under der my control however hell see the ball baH just as I will him him to see it not as asI asI asI I want others to hes got to t give up all aU outside things though thou h an devote his ills hull gill mind to my orders Very VerJ pretty prett talk that that was highly highl el ci and instructive But it di nt get us anything The he batted bat batted batted ted Lamp Hymes like his curves got bigger as they the come COlue UP an art Enders nine won as 05 they pleased for we never hit him once one through the th game and not nota a one o us got on first base even The Th next day they repeated repented the dose dO e for fOI it hard work for fo r him t to throw that slow easy ball an he could work every day da and when they had bad ta taken taken ken Iten three games from us they Ule went away an we were wore glad they thc did for tor it 1 gave save us a chance chame to breathe and figger out how to beat bent the arin drop before it took hold too deep and beat beatus b at atus us out o the pennant We Ye had bad a council o war ar the night they the left and me m as chairman naked asked what we was goin to do about it Wed ought to use hemlock planks for bat bats saty Pete Brown He wits was sore for his bis battin hattin batt n average had Imd suf suffered suffered suffered along with the rest of us Git him into a fight and give ghe him bim a ablack ablack ablack black eye says Hennessy Then he be them brown eyes eye o his onto you so you cant see bee but shadows For Gosh sake dont ont no one do that tha says S s Sam Merritt If you do his hig bi N sickle pow be twisted twitted an only j see pee ee half built it n ball Not says sas Jim Harrison Psychical Ps chical powers power If you blacked one eye though his powers de do decrease crease sot so t the baIrd be twice as big bigas bigas as HS it is now have to be ten tt n times as aR big ig to do any good gol for me says SR rs L Pinch what do you say Pinch pondered for a 8 minute and from the way he looked I seen that he had h come close to solvin olvin the problem problem problem lem 0 Boys says Pinch as you all know I studied up this here busi business business business ness o the superiority o mind over oer matter an had mystic revelations an thought transference tr an all that In fact Ive been over the route with Madame Bla an all that bunch bunchan an I can see that this here Enders guy gu is a beginner an that I got it on him bim if I want to go to a lot of trouble trou trouble ble Theres one sure way o beatin his bis game and that is for me before we play pla them Ulem again to get the hull bunch o you ou guys completely under my mv control whether i you want to or orn not n t Dont get me says sa s Jimmy Harrison Har Harrison Harrison rison You owe me four dollars al already ready he lIe have hae a cinch If he got Jot us that way an aft played pla ed poker with us says sa S Brownie As I 1 said went vent on Pinch his hand to still the protests that was comin up As s I said cause a lot o trouble for theres sure to be some rebellious minds t Id have hae to get into subjection and take loads o time The Idea is you know for me to concentrate your minds sot f when you get up to bat though the ball may seem the size o a pea the thc bat youre oure seem big round I as a flour barrel and you ou can hit bit any anything anything thing Yes sir thought I do that make you think your bats so big you cant miss noth in inand and the only dead sure way wa o beatin him I uThe They allow no bats as big as flour barrels says Merritt So that games spiked at the start There you go again says sas Pinch Youre one o the durn subjects Id have bae to subdue How you goin to control the brain brall of a durn dum ball player that aint got no brain You Rube the bat aint reely as big as a flour barrel It only seems that big git me met says Sam If that ball only seemed as big as a bullet I could hit lit it it but it reely is that size durn it Pinch give Sam one o them in looks an went vent on Now oV I got a second string to my any bow which dont call for me to con control control control you ou we all looked relieved relie d and Im goin to t try it first and save sae trouble Its purely a mechanical ar arrangement arrangement arrangement and dont call for no extra bruin brain power so all you fellers can get in Its less than to get two forty microscope and use em for gig big lamps wen you got ot to bat but Then you ou can see sae any kind oa o oa oa a ball balle We e give ghe Pinch a cheer for we seen the problem was solved Him and me were appointed a committee to git Sit the microscopes and und the crowd went into the barroom And nd practiced on making malting balls disappear till a late hour Pinch and me vent ent out the Ule next nest day but get no microscopes do the business They The was all little and fit lit the brass spectacle cle Ie frames fram s we e got The storekeepers all grinned and said lid never heard o such things before and we seemed doomed to failure But the day dUj before the game with the th I remembered the bin big bi telescope In the state observatory on the way wa down to Wiregrass where they do a lot o star gazin gUzin and sech sec h things After ACter the game that day we went down and antI we found only a lit little little littie tle tie or OJ some sonic thin and he laughed when we asked the loan Joan of a pair pah o the glasses I got him however and Pinch Pim slipped up to the roof and in ten sec seconds S seconds he had the glasses out an slid down the rod and und I met him hint himon himon hinton on the track and we got home about morn mornin in We Ve spent sent all the forenoon the durn things thing in the rims We V looked through em an it was funny funn how big they the made our hands hand seem seeman seeman seeman an how pronounced freckles rr klEs was Pinch Finch slipped em ent into his cap cip when we went to the game and I WIt nut the fellows wise as to how hov he was gain goin to sock it and when his turn come to start the fun an he walked d dup up an slipped em eln out o 0 the case eASe an put em enl on our eyes was fixed on hint him sold and our hull huH intellects was centered entered on oft how far hed lam it Enders l was there with the tho th s same lIne une old curve and the same old look and find he passed his hands bunds round a o times to get interest Int r anti and then passed pa sed the time ball baH up When Vh n it was half hair way iri Id Pinch leaned forward on en his toes ready read to soak it it was nl al already ready re dy to us an it looked like be to hit in an another another another other second when suddenly sudden Pinch dropped his bat an fell flat fiat on his hl face like he was afraid it would hit ht him One Ono strike says sa the umpire We Ve all wondered why t Finch inch dodged for foro it go 0 near n ar arhim him On the next ball he hc let it come conic up near him an seemed Deemed almost ulmot ready read to hit it when he dodged again and on the third ball he jumped across the plate from om a beauty straight one ono that cut the th pan There was a now pow wow when h n Pinch came fame in I tell you Jim Harrison Harison bat batted batted ted without the glasses and struck out an nn so did Pete Brown Then Th n we had hada a chance hance to ask what was what too strong says RaYS Pinch or hes got another kibosh on us It 11 makes the durn Burn ball so big it cant ant git by b you to the ketcher Shucks says Sam Merritt It aint ain t reely as big as that It only seems so so big Why by you ou soak it We seen een that Sam was gettin back In the next I determined to gIve gle the glasses a last trial an I walked up to the plate with em on onI onI onI I went through the same antics as Pinch did on the first fint ball only I run farther an was more scared of bein hit They Th y laughed so I got mad and when that t immense ball came up the th second time so big it hid the man that it an most all aU his nine behind him I soaked her bel right on the middle seam Them glasses was a help helo in bases for first base seemed most so I could touch It ft and I got there in two to jumps an then second was so close Imade I Imade Imado made mado that and then third looked so I easy I got that and then Hennessey held me the an tore off the glasses an ane gave e em to Sam who was up next an our crowd was on their heads over the first hit bit made off of the pearin drop in six weeks And Merritt showed he lie was the Ui goods gOO S by ha out a t bagger t that brought me in and we all got onto the new specs even |