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Show I TWENTY YEARS ' AMONG THE BUSH LEAGUES j I B- n e d EGAn i ( c'',9,eacttcoac'e8a'9aos9c,08aea8c9eac?C889f'a8 WING presented Ihe description i Hot several prize boners to the attention at-tention of my readers, I will hand yon today another of a somewhat . different character. This is a boner that didn'l do a bit of harm in in the slight hope of nailing t!ie man. scoring from second. The pitcher, out in the center of the diamond, intercepted I the throw, and as the man who had made the winning hit turned first and kept on toward second, evidently making for the clubhouse, because he knew the game Mwnvtmwaan' ij,iM'. ,!! - 5 5 ' fir-:-. ;-'-:2 .:,v,:; -.2-tiom'P ' ,7r I WOMbS I f.ict, cut no fisiire at all in the game, but was a star boner just the same, as you wiil undoubtedly agree with me. This one happened In a game some time back between Burllnpton and Quin--y. I liao the Burlington team at the rimo, and it was a pretty good one. Quincy had us 3 to 2 in the last half of the ninth inning, but with two men out. l wr pot men on third and second and stl" 'ia an exce,lent chance of winning Mind the situation there were two men out. The next b;itter up slammed a line single out between center and left and, of course, both our base runners made a dash for the plate. The drive was Ion? otiouffii for the man at second to score easily. In fact, they never had a chance to pet him. An both men tallied, giving, us two additional runs, the s&m w'as over and we had won, 4 to 3. Old Gibraltar. Now comes he bone part of it. The center fielder made a throw to the plate was over, the pitcher threw to second to catch him there. Then ensued a ?rreat chase to put out the man. The runner, to keen up the joke, started back toward first, and the entire Quincy infield, completely fooled by their pitcher's action, joined in the attempt to catch the runner. The crowd, too, entered into the spirit of it, and the more it veiled the keener became - the chase. Our ganp was splitting its sides laughing at the ludicrous thine:, and dashed over the field also yellfntr like a lot of Indians. Finally our base runner made a great slide, and the pitcher, who had the ball at the moment, made a great slide after him and touched him out. Then it dawned on him and the rest of the Quincy infield that the game had been over for some time and thai they had made fine chumps of themselves. They were laughed off the field. This pitcher was a pretty good workman work-man in a mechanical way, but lie did some horrible things when it came to usinc: his brain. The day after this remarkable happening hap-pening his manager christened him" Gib- , 1 altar" and his f-nn nates torik up the ni'knair.e with, ureal trnsto. t pcr.zleii the pit'-her for son-e lime, as lit couldn't i iindeit-'tand it. Fii:all;i lie asked liis injin- i Hger: "Waat do yt.m call me that name for'.'" j " B'-'-ause you're the biges t block of j granite in the world," was the reply. Some New Ones. Xow we wil! turn our attention to some j boner? that I think never have been te-l te-l ploited before. While I was with the IWusea tine team several years aan l had a couple of fairly Ood ball pla"ers in niy outfield. One of them was named Sours and the other was Wetzel. They played left and.riht, respectively, re-spectively, and were not only ood fielders, field-ers, hut could hit the ball as well. The situation in the same I speak of was not at all acute, but it was toward the end of the pame. Wetzel was on first base and Sours at the bat. The pitcher fed -him a straight one and Sours, landed on it solidly. A terrific line hit resulted. It was T' )' V Right then and there Sours, seeing the I other runner turning: back, stopped with ""TTTMrrTiMinrTrTii miiiii 11 111 1 iiiwmiiii n iihiiimiiiiihi in iinfi ai jii iiiiwiP'M'f'""mg-rTfCTTgg straieht out and over the left n elder, who made a jump for it, but failed to come within two feet of it. The smash was a sure triple. But somehow or other Wetzel, when he turned and-watched the ball, pot the Idea that the fielder hud caught it. Vie had passed second base by that time. and. t urn ins. ivtraef.t his .;teps in a hurry toward tirst. Half :i u u t lie hne line he met yours, wiio was running out his hit like a steam engine. a jerk and stood for an instant bewildered. bewil-dered. That, started something for sure, and the players and the crowd were all yelling' different orders at the men. Wet-, zel turned again' and started to run toward to-ward serond and Sours was risht after him. Then Wetzel changed his mind and tore back for first base. Hy that time tiie two runners had passed and repassed each other sever-..! dues. Umpires' Boners. In thf meantime the Uc't fielder had chased the ball, whh-a had banned up against the left fie id fence, and was hurrying it back into the diamond. Then the runners straightened out their affairs. Wetze! iot only as far as second base a nd Sours was perched on first as lae result of a certain triple. Bob Glennlvin. the umpire, let them remain there, too. ihousrb urnier the rule that forbids one base runner from passing another on the base Hues iie should have declared one of them out. Glenalvin declared an out on us one day that beat us out of a game. He was petting: a bit defective in IPs sight and declared a- batter out on a liner t'aat sailed over n fielder's head. The fielder made a running jump for it. but didn't come within five feel of It. Bob said the batter was out and that seized it. On another occasion Gieualvin made a decision that was a corker and sticks out in my mind as 011 of the gems of the world. It was in an important panic, too. There were runners on and the batter hit up a hard fly right in between the left and center fielders. Both men made for it and collided, each belnfr knocked out. The ball bounded away, but Glenalvin wouldn't permit the play to count at all because of the collision. He said It wasn't fair. So,, you see. all of the boners on the field are not actually made by the players. An "Impossible" One. Xow I am going- to tell you a story that will bring shouts of "Impossible" from evcrv baseball fan who reads It a story of how a team of mine actually turned a safe hit into a double play and saved a game in a most remarkable and original manner. In all my long experience experi-ence 1 never h?.ve heard of a similar happening. hap-pening. This is in the records of the league and is easily 1 susceptible of proof. Mv M p sea tine ga ng was nlavinc in . ' , ' Clinton. Iowa . v iiei-e tlu-y h;U c.i us as cor.iiaiiy us any uam v.'a hated hv a hand oi" rabid fans. T!.t'' l:;id a .mry hak of first ba.sf- to wa.ua a-i- closely e'---r;.-t hing we cm, and w n.a iht jury sa id ;o us at dhYcrent si.iu.ts of that nery battle wouldn't look well in prim. mm j w L ! I vas ; rrihly siiort of men at the time and ! an 1 ied in Clinton Clin-ton with a lisht sq ;ad. I knew if t'.ere was a single Injury we would lose not only that came, 'cut the entire en-tire serii's. so I had to set bnsv. I caught Frank Isbell on the fly between "Oes .Moines and Omaha. while they were waitijic over for a train connection, connec-tion, and asked him over t he phone to send mo an outfielder. out-fielder. He said 1 , . could borrow Marry Mianley. wc.nm I Knew as a smart plavcr He was oiu-e witn Dei.oit. mid now is with Isbell m Tes Moinos. I Shanlcy left for. Clinton at once, but I had to so in a roundabout way. He sot into M uscatine at 1 o'clock and I 1 had an automobile there to carry him the seventy miles into Clinton. He donned his suit in a b i jet hurry a 11 d walked on the held during Cue sixth in-nins. in-nins. I sent him into left field at once. Well, we had them 4 to Z in tiie ninth innlnsr and thpy had Ml Iuie oases nueci up, with only one ma n out . II lonked like a cinch for them to tie the count and nossibl'- win onl rtulu lliere. ll cer-lainly cer-lainly looked dark. C'ooner vent in to bat for l'.:c pitcher at that staae. and as 1 knew him to lie a pretty fair hitler a'"l my pipbcr wasp 1 Lroiiii: nny Po well. I was aboi;. read.v to p-A'e up Lie shiic 1 ll seemed to 1H- all oer wb.eu Cooper -.'v;3-:s4$ 1 tXD -:'t 1 bit a sharp. Ion? liner richl o-er t ie shorisiop's head and oul ituo left 1ie:4. Hut this is wliere ihe smart Shanlev" aot bus-. He was playip.a in close and made a blufT thai he could caicli the ,1nve. Hence fbe Clinton runner on third base, hesitated about poinc home. He bad ft lead oft third of about twenty feel. Shan-ley Shan-ley then made his star play. instead of beitii: able to calch the orive on a line, he trapped it. and. bein;" all sci. made, a perfeel throw 10 Ihe plale. .yeiuna the man al ihird on a forco-oul. ; Cooper in the meantime had loafed to th-st, tm-ninc and alchlni; the pla- and Ihinkinc al! '.he time the qaipe w:.s as . aood as o er. My catcher turned and whipped ihe ball to lirst. genius him in Ihe double play. That retired the side without a run anil gave us Ihe .game. I lo 3. It is the first tim- I ever beard of a double plav being made 011 a safe hit lhat should have won Ihe ball game. |