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Show How I Got My Start j BY LOU EIOHIE. I The mortgage was due, Little Looie had to Havo tho old homestead. He had tried to make an honest living, but at the tender ago of 15 ho threw down his trust3' hoo, picked up a baseball and determined to becomo a 'white slavo of tho national commission. Evory ono refused to lake him earnestly, earn-estly, even himself. Ho saw-that there was no chance for him as a baseball tragedian, they were so numerous, so ho .-jumped into tho corned-. line.. Every one said: "He's , a .good 'entertainer even if ho canity pi fcb.." And every batter who cy.er 'thought he- could hit. .300 (which- includes all of thoni) j Lou Richie. crabbed bats and hurried to wolcomo little Lou. Ho started in eastern Pennsylvania, Penn-sylvania, but after a timo l.ho leaguo asked him to quit because tho battors were knocking down the fences. Finally little hoo'io grew desporato. Tho mortgage was about duo and his ! dog was starving, lie went back and tried tho hoo again, but ho hnd lost control.' Besides every time the hoe accidentally .jerked a spud out of the ground Looio practiced throwing curves with it. Ho throw all his employer's crop into a neighbor's yard, and just for that ho was iircd. Tho inortgaqo was overdue. Ono day little Ijooio picked up a large round spnd. It was the turning point. lie shied it at. a cat. nnd as tho spud flow through the air it. curved suddenly and hit tho cruel ; monster who owned tho mortgage. Anxious Anx-ious to porl'ocf,. this great; curve little Looio kept hooking jcurvo potatoes at tho eruul financier until ho resembled a potato pnucalvo. Tho next day ho took his eurvo to Philadelphia and was signed lo pitch for the Phillies, and choer up gloomy athletes' who wanted to leap into the "Delaware rivor becauso thoir batting averages wcro not .-1217. For this they paid him onough salary to support, himself in the sl.ylo to which ho had not been accuslomcii and to pny i tho mortgage. The manager told him ho couldn't pitch for sour apples. So he hunted up ,u sour apple tree and pitched for it part, of one season. Finally Final-ly he wns traded to Boston. Thero were fifty-two or four! eon other pitch- j ers nnd ovBry timo poor little. Lou started lo pitch ono of them tore the ball out of his Jiands nnd did the pitching. pitch-ing. Thoy said ho was a comedian, bpth on and off the slab. That broko his tendor heart. Then tho pcorletfl leader of tho t Chicago Cubs purchased him and permitted him" to warm up almost al-most ovory day and occasionally pitch a gnmc. Tho peerless leader was tender ten-der honrfod. He didn '( euro how many hits thoy made, ho let poor Lou stay. And Lou has stayed this long and ex peels to bo champion of the world. As for gotting ruy start T havon't got it yet. Notes of tho game Lou rooms with Heiny. (Copyright, 1910, by Joeeph. B. -BoTfles.- BY JAMES SHEOKAED. Probably no ball player over bad any more trouble gotting started as a professional than I did. Partly it was my own fault. and parti the fault of bad luck. In the first place a fellow usually gets his start at home. But I was the prophet without honor' in Columbia, Pa., and had lo go away from homo to convifico tho fellows on our own town team that I could play tho game. I determined to play ball iu tho big leagues before I was 15 years old. In fact when I was about 1G 1 confided my ambition to some of the follows nnd they, naturally took the other sido of tho "argument. I was just good en.bugh to hangonto a job with the town ieum, but L nover won an argument "because there wore threo Jamea ShccfcarA, or four fellows who thought at least that they knew more about the game than I did. T was more than ever determined to play and started out on my own hook. I wrote" tho manager of a little team telling him how cood I was and luckily luck-ily for mo he didn't write homo to ask about it. but sout for me. I think L mado good there, pitching, catching niirt nliiviurr tint.li in and mit.lie.hr but tho troublo was tho team failed just about tho timo T was making good and L had to start all over again. Tho next, team T was with I did not do so wclK In fact I could not play much ball, becauso thoy wouldn't play team work the way I had learned it. In fact I havo found in 1113' own cxporicuco and in tho experience of other old nluycrs that a man may be a great ball player with one club and a dub with nnbthor. If he docs nut fit. into the toam and work (ogcther with tho others, ho cannot play well, and ho knows it. T guess I struck somo teams that summer that did not lit ma. L was with fivo teams in ono season, and. tho three with which I played tho best ball broko up and closed becauso of financial lossos, while Iho prosperous prosper-ous ones could not see nie. I was learning a lot in a little time, for 1 had tho chanco to seo live different styles of ball playing and to jndgo for myself which was tho best. Also 1 do-cided do-cided then that my way was as good as anyone's, provided I adapted it to tho work of tho teams. H was then I began to succeed. I jumped into tho Eastern leanguo and beforo 1 had timo (o learn much about that organization and its clubs I whb grabbed up into tho National. I seemed juat to bo what tho Brooklyn team needed. I had found a tcjim 1 fitted but when tho war came on with Iho American league Iho lit was too lighl. 1 jumped to Baltimore, found j; didn't tit at all in that crowd and jumped back. Then Chanco made a lrnde for mo and 1 found a team with which T could plav nvy best. It plnyed my kind of liail aud I played its kind of ball. .Also I saw as soon as I. joined the team that in spito of my long oxperionco t still hud a lot to learn. t That aroused mo and- started mo again. T found I had slipped back and rather fallen into a rut, and the t'ubs kicked mo out of the rut in :i few days and never gnvo mo a chanco to fall back in. I count nn stnrt from tho day L.cnino to 'hicago and am going to dato my birlhdnys from that time so 1 can alwa3s be a youngster. |