Show ASE BALL above all other beames games has known more than its share shaie in the way of masterpieces ct f eccentricity many of these I 1 happen to know they were true color because they were naturals born with oddities few could believe rube waddell was one ot of them one of 0 the greatest ot of all pitchers who would rather go fishing or tend bar for nothing than win a ball game another was crazy schmidt of the old I 1 reds who carried a small notebook in his hip pocket denoting the weak spots of K all opposing hitters 41 against hans rice ners name he hid had this one line A base on balls what wagner got from schmidt phil douglas of the giants dizzy izzy dean of the cards or are around the head of the list also flint rhein babe herman bobo newsom germany schaefer shoeless joe jackson arlle arlie latham nuts wits and half wits but all great ballplayers latham was one of the smartest the list Is too long to go into further details but one of the leaders in this colorful field has been overlooked and forgotten ills name is bugs raymond the pitcher john me es grow graw always insisted had bad the finest t pitching motion he ever saw including walter waller johnson who was smooth as the west nest wind and as to or cyclonic raymond should be right around the top in this ids human oddity group that includes only stars I 1 still remember my first meeting with raymond some 43 years ago this happened to be a spring day in atlanta around the now forgotten era of 0 1304 1904 crackers vs boston the atlanta crackers on that day were to play the worlds champion boston americans who the fall before ore had beaten Pitts burghs great tea team in the first but still unofficial world series of 1903 this boston team managed by the brilliant jimmy collins one of the greatest infielders of all time was baseballs sensation big bill dl dineen had been a major factor in w winning inning this series from a team that had bad such stars as hans wagner fred clarke tommy leach and kitty bransfield boston long before any red sox appellation was about a 1 to 40 bet to win champions of if the world playing against a strictly bush league outfit by some odd chance before starting a mile and a halt half walk to the ball park I 1 happe happened cd to be taking a drink at some wayside bar in preparation for the trip A heavy hand fell on my shoulder and as I 1 looked around there was an un kempt 10 lo looking king fellow around pounds nho ho wore no necktie and shaved in at least two days das here was the king of all the tramps id ever seen how about buying me a drink fe fellow ow was his opening remark 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 it if you ar are e going with me then a sudden morbid thought hit me your name raymond 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 raymond said wheres boston on the walk to the ball park that afternoon bugs spent most of the trek throwing rocks at pigeons telegraph poles and any target in sight people I 1 had known to in atlanta gave me an odd 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 check checkup up raymond started the game by insulting sul ting jimmy collins freddy parent george lachance LaC bance and every star on the boston team he would walk from the pitchers box up towards ards the plate and let them know in forcible and smoking language what hat he thought they all were what the boston americans the worlds champions know and I 1 what I 1 know or anyone else was this they were facing one of the greatest spitball spit ball pitchers and one of the greatest natural pitchers of all time if you could only keep him one third sober which even not even nith four bodyguards guards raymond had s speed peed runes curves control plus an ed walsa spider pitter but on this particular occasion raymond shut out the worlds champions 3 to 0 and allowed them just three scratch singles As we faintly recall the hazy details ra V mond had 11 strikeouts eouts even halt half sober mcgraw told me once raymond would have hava been one of the greatest |