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Show JOHNNIE M'GRAW SUCK "CON" MAN Several Good Vans About "Maggsy." f Boston Players Have a Very Warm "Fanning Bee." Ted Sullivan Tries Mixing Baseball and Bull Fighting Troubles of Rooters. ."Talk about your Malay pirates and sea captains." remarked Fred Parent, the clever shortstop of the Plymouth Rocks, "Johnny McGraw has thorn all faded a mile. And how he loved tho umpires, nnd how they loved him. It was In Baltimore two years ago. I forget who was umpiring. umpir-ing. Ho Isn't In tho game now, for McGraw Mc-Graw helped him to get out. We vere in tho lead by a couple of runs when McGraw Mc-Graw rushed over to the umpire. " 'See those fans.' snld McGraw, looking look-ing toward tho cheap bleachers. 'Thov are all thugs nnd prize-fighters. In fivo minutes, if you don't glvo us somo better umpiring I will have them turned loose on you How will I do It? By slmplv getting Into an argument nnd having you lire me out of the game. " 'Several of those fans came In on freo tickets, and I have them hero for the purpose pur-pose 1 "Of course." said Parent, "McGraw was handing out a lot of 'con' nbout frel tickets nnd all that, but ho won. The umpire turned pale, and I guess we didn't get tho small end of the decisions. de-cisions. 'r "McGraw was pretty good at getting tho crowds started, and also the players." play-ers." added "Chick" Stahl. "Ho surely had 'Candy' Lo Chance going once, and throughout tho game slung over a nlco bunch of pet names to La Chance. It Is Feldom that La Chance gets really mad, ' but that night ho was furious. "No sooner had ho dressed and had slipper than ho took it on tho 'hot foot' for McGraw's saloon. Wo hurried along after him, fearing serious trouble. Perhaps Per-haps we weren't surprised when wo pocked Into tho saloon to seo La Chnnco and McGraw smoking Havana cigars and smiling all over. And through the knotholes knot-holes wo heard? 'You're nil right, La Chance,' and 'You bet your llfo 1 nm. So are you, McGraw. Wo both get hot In tho field. Let's havo another cigar,' "Disgusted wo walked back to tho hotel, for McGraw's salvo had won again, and when, two hours later, La Chanco sauntered back to the hotel, ho remnrked to tho night clerk that McGraw was a pretty decent fellow, after all." "I guess ho can't put on the vascllno In his speech," said Hobo Ferris. "It was soon aftor tho La Chanco incident that McGraw got after me. He mado mo soro clean through, for ho called mo out of my name a dozen times. " 'Walt till you got to Boston, old boy,' I said to McGraw. 'That's where I will get you.' I meant It, and McGraw knew I did. "In ten days Baltimore struck Huntington Hunting-ton avenue, and what did tho llttlo pest do? He camo over and shook hands with me, saying In a nice tone of voice: 'You know, Ferris, old pal, I didn't mean anything any-thing In Baltimore.' " "Did you shako with him?" asked a by-standor. by-standor. "What else could I do?" asked Ferris. "For ho did It so politely that you couldn't tako offense. Then after shaking shak-ing hands I realized that ho had 'conned' me along, but what could I do? I let It drop." Whllo there are many dycd-ln-the-wool "fans" who wnnt continuous ball without a lay-off, there are many excuses for occasional oc-casional open afternoons. Take a man's mind awny from tho ball park now and then and ho will get acquainted with his family He may oven forget baseball talk for a few hours and discuss American history with tho children. It Is rather perplexing to hear a baseball "fan" Just home from tho park, with his olive, branches round him, answering their queries and trying to solvo their problems. "Paw, who wan Napoleon?" "Napoleon. Jimmy, plays second baso for Cleveland, and Is the best batter in the world." "Paw. who wrote 'Home, Sweot Home'' " "I should Judge that Capt. Anson wrote that somo years ago." "Paw, was Wagner the greatest operatic composer9" "I never knew that Wagner was much on operas. Tommy. Ho Is a grand batter, and he can surely play shortstop." "Paw, did Greeno win the battlo of tho Cowpens?" "I don't know, Eddie, but one tlmo when he left a man go clear to third on a short hit to right, I wanted Greene put In tho bullpen." "Paw. who was atonewall Jackson?" "Must bo a misprint, Bessie. There was a stonewall Infield, Anson. Pfeffer. Burns and Williamson,' and that's probably what you mean." "Paw, who were the Quakers?" "That is tho namo for tho Philadelphia Nationals, Jimmy," "Paw. who said; 'Give mo liberty, or give me death?' " "John Ganzel, Tommy." "Paw, who was Nero?" "He was an ancestor of Ban Johnson, Bessie."- "Paw, who was first in- war. first in peace, and first In the hearts of his countrymen?" coun-trymen?" "Charles Comlskcy, Eddie." Do you wonder that tho "fans" need a day off now and then? Three years ago "Ted" Sullivan paid a fiylng visit to El Paso. He wanted to arrange ar-range to put a team In that town, but owing ow-ing to tho fact that the T. & P. would not make him u special rate, he had to abandon aban-don his project. Sunday camo and with It the bull-tlsht across the border. The bovs azked "Ted" If he would like to see the Mexican national game and the magnate fell for It at once. He said he had al-wavs al-wavs wanted to see a bull-fight and after a couple of tastes of the famous third rail El Paso brand, the party took the street car across the river to the bull-ring. Arriving some time beforo the doors optned, tho party strayed Into the pavilion pavil-ion nnd began to dally with roulette and faro. These games did not look good to Mr Sullivan of Corslcana. He comforted himself with another dab of aguardiente nr.d ambled out tho back way. In the vard stood a most engaging device. The customer paid 25 cents for the privilege of throwing a baseball Into a machine full of trap-doors, nails anl other obstructions. If the ball go to the bottom safely the customer received fivo for one. Now, tho promoters of this hoary swindle might as well have made It 50 to 1. The game was old when Noah was In the National league and as wise a man as "Ted" Sullivan Sulli-van should hove known It. But the third-rate third-rate mescal was getting In Its work and "Ted's" view of life was rosy enough to warrant his going against any 5-to-l shot. Besides, anything with a baseball In it looked good to him. He laid down a quarter and pitched an inshoot Into the machine. The ball ambled nbnut for some time, finally appearing at the bottom, and Mr Sullivan drew down Jl 0 Ills opinion of tho bascbnll game inerensed five-fold. Mnldng a hasty calculation cal-culation he estimated bis total financial strength at ?50 50. Whllo so pngaged a total stranger laid down a dollar and won to. Mr. Sullivan was stung to the quick to see this easv money disappearing. "What Is the limit . here?" ho asked. The- man behind assured him that tho blue skv was tlu- only barrier, whereupon Mr. Sullivan laid down $25 In roal money and pitched his head off The ball fpl! through ihf firs' trapdoor and Urn oily gentleman In the cage gathered in tho J frogskins. It was a sad blow to tho gentleman gen-tleman from Corslcana. While ho pon-dired pon-dired another customer nrrlvdd from tio-wberc, tio-wberc, and, laying down $10, won $50 without with-out so much as saying "Thank you, sir." "Ted" Sullivan hitched up his trousers and deposited $50.50 on tho counter. This tlmo tho ball stayed on the Incline until within a foot of tho bottom, when It again dlwappeared from view. Mr. Sullivan went away Into a corner and turned hlm-,self hlm-,self Inside out. A two-cent stamp rewarded reward-ed his researches. It became plain to him that he had bean against a brace, besldo which tho shell game Is a 100-to-l shot. Then It occurred to him that the admission admis-sion to the bull-ring Was ono silver dollar. He know what would happen to him when his friends heard that "Ted" Sullivan, tho wis Ted Sullivan, hnd been trimmed by a dcvlco of which no four-year-old Is Innocent. In-nocent. They would mako his life one long agony to him. His finish was In plain sight. Ten minutes fatcr a lonely flguro disappeared disap-peared up iho sandy road toward tho bridge. It was very not In the sun, but a man with a two-cent stamp cannot hopa to rldo on street cars. That night at the hotel "Ted" Sullivan explained to his friends that aftor looking everywhere for them, ho went in at tho side gale. Probing gained the Information that ho had seen nothing of tho bullfights, bull-fights, and further Investigation brought cut tho whole truth. A porter from tho Hotel had seen Mr. Sullivan glvo up hla roll and walk home afterward. Tho next morning Mr. Sullivan was aatlr at 4 in tho morning, catching the first train out of El Paso. Ho has never been there since, and If you ask him about Mexican games of chanco he will go to the floor with you. But ho will not deny that this story is tho truth. |