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Show I "CHOOSING SIDES" Baseball, they tar, has changed a heap; I guess it Has, in spots; And yet I liked it better when we played it on the lots. There were no signs for "hit and ran," no dazzling "fadeaways"; We bad no high priced managers to tell us fancy plays. No, we were just a lot of kids, with tanned and freckled hides; There were no concrete grand stands when ws played at "choosing sides." T saw ball game yesterday, and o'er a brass band's flare The cheers of thirty thousand fans were sosring in the air. The turnstiles had been clicking for three solid golden hours. Recording wealth and profit for the big league baseball powers. How soon ws lost our play dsvs! How swiftly childhood glides! There were uo clicking turnstiles when ws played at "choosing sides." The. captains used to toss a bat, and then, hand over hand Kut wtiv repeat a story every boy must understand? Then came the careful picking " I '11 take Keddy." "Give me Flynn." "I'll choose you, 8kinnv Murphv," "I'll take you, Pat McGinn." Thev picked the live ones first, of course, and finished with the enides; Feelings w often ruffled when we played at "chooiing sides." Dear reader, vou'll remember; if yon peek into the past, The little fou'r eved fellow that was always chosen Wst. The little weak kneed urchin that the captain would ignore , I'ntil he found, bv eoantipg, that be needed one man more. He couldn't bst, he couldn't field, snd yet that shrimp today Is making laws in congress, while his captain drives a dray. a William P. Kirk. |