Show I 1 0 4 bifi PLAY PL I 1 EVER SAW WL A aks TOLD TO IM I 1 AHA BY JOHN HANS WAGNER shortstop of the P national league club and probably the greatest all round player Play erthe the game has ever known there are two kinds ot of great plays one the sensational individual catch or stop and the other the kind that requires head feet and hands all work ing together the greatest individual teat feat I 1 ever saw was one by fred clarke during the years we have LU JOHN HANS WAGNER been together I 1 have seen clarke make nany many wonderful plays both in the field and arid on the bases I 1 remember once hitting a fly to in chicago with clarke on second base and seeing him score on the catch and against one of the best of the throw ing outfielders the catch that he made in ade which I 1 believe was his greatest was accomplished when we were play ing on the old louisville club in the twelve club league mcgraw kelley jennings and that bunch and they never were beaten until the last man was out and then they d give you an six argument in the last halt half of the ninth inning of that game we had them beaten by two runs but they i kept fighting and filled the bases aft er ex two men were out the batter reitz I 1 believe it was mas droe a low line hit toward left field a ball that looked like a sure base hit and as everyone on the bases was in motion it looked as it the score would at least be tied clarke had been play ing fa aly riy deep an I 1 when he saw that ball ball hit he came in at top speed and he was taster faster then it if anything than he is A now so you know how tast fast he was coming I 1 thought ha was playing it foolishly because it if the 11 went past him we ue were ere beat en and if he staged stayed back and took it on the boun I 1 they could not do worse than tie and he still had a chance to cut off the second run from the i late I 1 did not think he be had a chance to catch the ball on the fly about twenty feet from the ball clarke aw that he could not rea h it standing up and instead of quintin qu ittin he just look took a flying dive at the ba I 1 and while sliding along on ats knee and stomach be he stretched out his barr bar hand and caught it he ile rolled almost in to I 1 was vas playing before he could stop but he came up with the ball but great as that was I 1 think a greater was one that doc doe scanlon the pitcher made in the first game he pitched tor for pittsburg against st louis he joined us and was sent in to pitch the first game in st louis he ile started a bit abild ild and passed the first two batters who faced him and of course the next man pushed down a bunt to ward third base the ball was rolling putty fast and scanlon came across at top speed to get it expecting expect mg to throw to third base but the third base man seeing how hard the ball had been bunted hunted cut in and tried for it himself the result was that scanlon and the bageman bumped each other hard just as they reached for the ball bill in the in some way the ball shot right into scanlon s hands und al though stunned and shaken by the col dision he kept running turning aroun I 1 twice as if it waltzing after bumping in to the baseman instead of losing his head he kept on and by a slide to third base beat the runner there and forced him out saving the game tor for is as I 1 think that was the greatest bit at df work taken all together I 1 ever saw on a ball field copyright 1911 by W G chapman |