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Show j J 7 '"You tell 'em, Wee Gee I'm caught ! r Cxtf A mackerel quoth, unto mo. I P5n Vj "Now that I'm hookod jJggg f V' No doubt I'll bo cooked I HE DOES. The best friend you got Will spoof a baseball, His conscience don't seem To prick him at all. Each player just tries His durndest to lose Expensive horsehides y - The crowd to enthuse. k Folk once went to games To hist up their cheers But- now they all go To get souvenirs. HE DOESN'T. With baseballs selling ; At' two and a half, ! When one of 'em's lost j Does the manager laugh? If tho ball Is lifted "' Far Into the crowd Does some 'fan throw it Eack, honest and proud? Yet have you yet heard One club owner say: "Boys, have a heart, "Don't hit that away?" There is a funny little streak of human hu-man nature cropping out around tho ball parkB this year. It's the stealing' of baseballs for souvenirs. The darn things cost ?2.50 a throw, now, you know. Is it the money, value that makes a fan steal a. baseball? It could hardly bo that. What's become of tho honest bird at the parks who used to break his neck, and deem It an honor, to throw a ball back to a ,player, anyway? I j j Fellows, who, In the ordinary grind of life, are too "New England" honest 1 to take a single thing that doesn't be-jlong be-jlong to them, pocket baseballs with enthusiasm at a ball game. ! So many balls are being lost this year that managers are actually worrying wor-rying over the expense of the thing as well as the nuisance of trying to have a supply on hand to keep the game going. At a Sunday game in Cleveland when the Athletics wore playing to a: : packed field, Connie Mack counted two) dozen balls that were hit into the 1 crowd by his kids during batting prac-j ! tice and none of them were returned. I The crowd Blmply swallowed 'em up like the ocean does raindrops. 1 "I can't tell those kids of mine to be careful," said Connie, "for Lord knows I want 'em to hit. If I told them they'd have to pay me $2.50 for every ball they hit Into the crowd I'll bet thev would keep the ball on the field." r 1 1 , . vuuuie b.tys u s a Kina ot game all around the big league parks this stealing of baseballs by the fans this year. ' The police try to get the balls back, but their average is about like Ty Cobb's. They once called the world' honest with its snops and its tears But, My Gawd! how she's changin' since they took away beers. |
