Show ar ad V B above all other othe ij games has known more than its snare share in the way of masterpieces of eccentricity many of these I 1 happen to know they were true olor color because they were naturals dorn born with oddities few could believe trube rube waddell was one of them one of the greatest of all pitchers who would rather go fishing or tend bar for nothing io thing S than win a ball game another was crazy y schmidt of 4 the old reds who carried a small notebook in his hip 4 1 pocket denoting CV the weak spots of k all opposing hitters against hans wag 0 itice tiers ners name he had this one linea base on balls what wagner got from schmidt phil douglas of the giants dizzy dean of the cards are around the head of the list also flint rhein babe herman bobo newsom germany schaefer shoeless les s joe jackson arlle arlie latham nuts wits and half wits but all great ballplayers latham was wag one of the smartest the list is too long to go into further details but one of the leaders in this colorful held field has been overlooked and forgotten ills name Is bugs raymond the pitcher john mcgraw always insisted had the finest pitching motion ho he ever saw including walter walier johnson who was smooth as the west wind and as tor tornadijo or cyclonic raymond should shou d be right around the top to in this human oddity group that in eludes only stars I 1 still remember my arst meeting with raymond soma some 43 years ago this happened to be a spring day in atlanta around the now forgotten era of 1904 crackers Is vs V s boston the atlanta crackers on that day were to play the worlds champion boston americans who the fall before had beaten Pitts burghs great team in the first but still unofficial world series of 1803 1903 this boston team managed by the brilliant jimmy colllns collins one of the greatest infielders of all time was baseballs sensation big bill dineen had been a major factor in winning this series from a team that had such stars as hans wagner fred clarke tommy leach and kitty Bransil bransfield eld boston long before any red sox appellation was abou a 1 to 40 bet to tj win champions of the world playing against a strictly bush league outfit by some odd chance before starting a mile and a half walk to the ball park I 1 happened to ta be taking a drink at some wayside bar in preparation for the trip i A heavy hind hand fell on my shoulder and as I 1 looked around there was an un kempt looking fellow around pounds who wore no necktie and shaved in aj at least two days here was the king of aalthe all the tramps id e ever ve r S seen een how about buying me a drink fellow was his opening remark i I 1 bought him a drink then I 1 had to buy him another drink how do we get out to this ball park he asked we walk I 1 said if you are going with me then a sudden morbid thought hit me your name raymond tl I 1 asked yes he said bugs raymond shuts out the champs do you happen to know I 1 suggested that you are pitching today against the boston americans the world champions 1 I never heard of em 11 raymond said wheres Wh eros boston on the walk to the ball park that afternoon bugs spent most of the trek throwing rocks at pigeons telegraph poles and aej any target in sight people I 1 had known in atlanta gave me an odd took look after taking a brief glance at my unshaven rough and rowdy looking companion knowing what would happen later I 1 bothered about any social checkup check up raymond started the game byan by insulting jimmy collins freddy parent george lachance and every star on the boston team he would walk from the pitchers box up towards the plate and let them know in forcible and smoking language what he thought they all were berei what the he boston americans the worlds champions cham know and what I 1 know or anyone else was this they were facing one of tle greatest spitball spit ball pitchers and one of the ho greatest natural pitchers of all time if you could only keep him one third sober which everi even ale graw not nat even with four bodyguards raymond h had ad speed curves control plus an ed walsh waist but on this particular oc occasion aslon raymond shut out but the worlds champions 3 to 0 and allowed them just three scratch singles As we faintly recall the hazy details mond had 11 strikeouts eouts even half sober mcgraw told me once raymond would have hava been one of the greatest |