OCR Text |
Show immT, . jBpate Trades Bush League pnchise to Hotel Man He Owed j !ise mentioning minor :lthout connecting the ack Benny, tall, lean, h an experience that jular globe-trotter or lth envy.. From the glorious west, down ratalns east, and up aeball is played. Mr. has covered this en-player. en-player. promoter, or-sldent. or-sldent. groundkeeper :ball financier, are a ns Mr. Benny once i-arled career as a eh. lasted some four-o four-o first started out at park in Sedamsvllle. mascot, feeslonal engagement 0., Jrom where he laplds in the Central t the season In 1002. he went to Tacoma, iflc National league, western organization amous Pacific Coast i did not stay thore Iie bellicose Washlngton-rolng Washlngton-rolng too rocky to overly over-ly landed with Charles-i Charles-i th Virginia league, fl two seasons. From lie Jumped around Into until three years ago, ced to retire as a plaver Injury to his leg. Benny t elghtdifferent leagues, i'crltable minstrel show nes to reciting the nu-i nu-i he went through dur-I'nc dur-I'nc bush. In fact, when i telling you. what he li la Imagined unworthy i go one better than the fork pulled off In some st year the writer for-ne, for-ne, but It took, place, all i umpire stopping a hot iff out to a friend In the row a chew of tobacco, itend to stretch his Im-he Im-he has been through It iff to stand honor bright says In connection with e travelings. ! of the prime factors In rglnla Valley league. Ills Lt circuit alone would fill any devltalon from any As most of the fans leaeon was a trying one a magnates. Expenses the rock bottom. Benny 3ls Charleston franchise mom hotel right before He owed the proprietor (card for an entire ball I secure no money dur-'ecause dur-'ecause the crowds were J refused his guarantee. Ith the situation and fac-ve fac-ve of going to Jail, he ed, the manager of the e trade proposition. To t was accepted. He kept rlne the winter months ood up to the time when io Idea of organizing the I Iowa league, which he e field thlB season. He much about giving ud iys tnnt after he secured -time friends dropped In .again, with the probable wis are run Just for the meroy won tho . pennant Binla Valley. However. In back of this that Is One. Montgomery and if i?r flrat p,a3 a day hed the schedule. Mont-teve Mont-teve met Ashland tho wmary alwaya had It on they could win this Plonbhlp for theirs. The on a traction and went UTe2 jneaked In on and dug up the dirt a iBn,?fvthP othr bas. SKwtffilt5St fther a bucket SMrV all JLV16 mond' They KWAtvJV Tho nt day, fjR Sh801 therefor MHtfrt time or ?k Wa5 nl and SB&'ln SfaS? yei Ashland fljC tea hiJ!UB,Jner monthB. trnSti o 2&?,ond a" flooded. 4 S? tto,l, whatever to Wm&xvnV called the game 'dAllilanrf Hnot KrO"ds. Some 'UlRS- Wrniant1 .8ucceeded In TMutK the ; lca, P8tponemont. no ffii aft,r another SRlMlnr i,otlon. "as taken. K at u?.We? that Pomoroy JH&iiwi ffvif aTbrldK that SKm out o iL In orlQr to (SKBfo to over' ?SucT?I' th SKSt man h,,B,brJ,1ee. It WdueBWfy0"mm teet' Sougil gf rem rBB' passed through, Jumped down upon the bank of the river, grabbed a skiff and rowed across. The bridge men are still out to collect what Is duo them. Bonny regards this a3 one of the best Jokes ho has ever seen pulled off. Last year Benny decided to transfer a Sunday game from Montgomery to Longenecker. W. Va., not far away. There was, and probably still is, a "pretty "pret-ty good" little park there. Tho first thing Benny did when he hit Longenecker Longe-necker was to gather up a few ticket takers, for the regular ones happened to be some place or the other on that certain day. Ho got hold of some bright chap and placed him. at the entrance. The field was pretty near all entrance, but then Benny thought if ho could get a "few ticket takers" ho could pull off some business. Presently Benny went over In the direction di-rection of his unsophisticated gate tender, ten-der, and all the dear little youth was doing was hollering out: "Tickets, tickets; tick-ets; gol darn lt, If you don't want to buy 'em, go In anyway." , Yet, this and a crap game that was going on un der a tree near the home plate Is not the pith of tho Joke. w AFTER Benny gave his young gate tonder orders he walked over toward another one. In doing so he spied two young females walking through without coughing up tho necessary ducats. Benny approached them and, tipping hl3 bonnet, asked In his beBt mannor, "Where are your tickets, ladles?" The feminine rooters, root-ers, with an air of indignation, stepped back and fairly croaked: "Tickets? Why, what do you mean?" "Why," Bald Bonny, "this is a regular leaguo game and you havo to pay money to see Iti' "Huh," said the girls, "we don't have to pay to see our Longenecker team play." "Tee, but this 1b not the Longenecker team playing today," retorted Bonny. "Well, then, you outsiders have got your nerve In coming over hero to play at our park. Why don't you play at your home park?" "Yes, and It was eomo park," sayB Benny. "We had 2000 at that game and the ticket takers showed not receipts for about forty. for-ty. It was no more Longenecker for us. God bless Longonecker. "Another thing I shall never forget happened hap-pened In Montgomery," Mr. Benny goeB on to say. "We had a big crowd out one day and lt began to rain. We needed the money and decided to play, no matter If pitchforks and dead pigs camo down on top Qf each other. All tho players took their shoes and stockings off and performed per-formed in their bare feet, while I coached at third under tho shelter of an umbreila. It was tho only one at the park and when I didn't use It I gave lt to the umpire." |