Show MEN WITH ODD FANCIES Base Bal Players Who are Victims I of SupprstitioaEach Nine Has I a Jonah an > a Mascot and JEacfe Player Hal a No ton of 111 0 Was H I met a crosseyejTmulatto negro corning corn-ing to the roundsjr aid a pitcher of the I NewYork basball nine to James Mutrie the manager at the Polo grounds V yesterday yester-day dyWel what of it asked the manager mana-ger What of it Great Scott you dont want to lose the game Why I cant pitch this V afternoon after seeing that crosseyed Jonah You know that time we lost in Detroit Well just keep itA T I saw a crosseyed mulatto woman just as I was leaving the hotel for the grounds I did not peach You know the result I couldnt pitch a curve ball those eyes would be there all the time The manager let another pitchAre Are ball players superstitious New York Mail and Express reporter asked Manager James Mutrie Well kind o looks so he replied as he hooked his crooked little finger in a button hole You see I have been a ban player and manager of professionals for fifteen years and know if will not do t go against their superstitions Why that pitcher would have lost the game d sureafter he saw that crosseyed negro Sometimes I pay three and four dollars to a crosseyed negro not to come in and look at the game Just letone slipin ind it requires only a short time for the players t find it i out Several days ago it was nip and tuck no runs for either side every inning The short stop muffed a ball He sent I for me and said There is a crosseyed j I negro in the audience Jim I you dont I get him out hell break us up Sure enough I found one and paid him 2 to leave They knew too when he had gone and played much better If the players meet on their way to the grounds a wagon with a lot of empty barrels they look with alarm to see whether the heads are up or down I up it is 1 good sign I and they think they are sure to win the game But i the heads are down then they feel they will lose and do not feel disappointed if they do Queer isnt i but for many years the barrels have been omens to them In some cities I take the players to the grounds in a closed hack so they cant see crosseyed niggers and empty barrels Another sure sign with them of failure to win that day is to come up with a funeral procession going that way But i the procession meets them or crosses their route they clap their hands and thank the omen of good luck SOME OF THE MASCOTS Since we have been playing at the Polo grounds this season Buck Ewing the catcher has furnished us mascot in the person of a little negro boy Ewing has him passed in free every day and before the game begins rubs his hands thoroughly over his head Ewing rarely ever begins a game unless ho has rubbed his hands thoroughly overanegros head Before the game is called Ewing looks up in the audience to see if the negro boy is there This one we have now is a bright boy One day he failed to appear and sent his brother with the following note Mister Murty I cant get you here today to-day this will introduce you to my brother I who will root in my nlace as we cannot I afford to lose a game in this stage of the championship championshipYours Roorv I Rootvs brother who had evidently been coached before he appeared pulled off his hat when Ewing came up and I held his head for the noted catcher t rub his hands He did as well as Rooty and yelled for the New York nine during the entire game Now the Mets make it a point to go in some back alley and find a negro and each player in the nine rubs his hands over the darkeys head They then give him a free ticket and make him sit in the front row In Cincinnati when I managed the nine just mentioned the doorkeepers who were not posted put out our mascot a negro boy I heard of it and managed to smuggle him in and put him in a reserved seat The greatest secrecy is observed in using a mascot I the opposing players find it out they counteract the influence by getting hold of him and rubbing their hands over his head I breaks the charm The other day Billy Holbert of the Mets brought a Mexican dog all the way from Chicago t Brooklyn He kept the fact very quiet that he had a mascot dog with him His players knew it of course Billy said that with that I Mexican dog on the field he could not lose But he did lose and his excuse was and a good one too that the dog had been tampered with by the other players Before he found Rooty there was a little black dog that would run out from the I I grand stand and cause I tight game but i ending in favor of the Now York nine I The little dog came early when the game I opened one day Bless my picture it opned tightener and put us to our corks I The tenth we won I was such a close shave Now we dont mind having a mascot of that kind but we prefer one that makes us surer of winning without 1 such close work I cose I V OTHER SUPERSTITIONS JoeGarhardt our second base always spits on a bat at a desperate stage of the game It gives him wonderful luck Curious thing about the players who spit they are the hardest workers Joe has been a spitter ever since he became a professional pro-fessional and it has stood him good luck Daniel Lean all the way through Lary always says his prayers before he comes to the ground I any of the boys are with him he asks them to kneel too and puts up a good prayer to win One day he prayed and no sooner had the game opened than he made a threebagger third base He yelled out I told you so didnt I You cant make him believe that has no effect I think here prayer efect 1 it him assurance it does because gives assunce and makes him work like a hornet I once managed the New Bedford Bed-ford club We had a little yellow cub dog We always smuggled the animal through the seats and got him on the edge of the grounds We never had better luck It was owing to Ins color Dogs with decided colors such as solid black white brown or yellow make good mascots But the spotcolored ones are classed with the worst Jonahs cross eyed darkeyes The little yellow dog and killed Our luck departed run over was kied wa parted ru Did you ever notice how people traveling want to get m when they are trvelng baseball players The rea trains with baebal player son is that a train was never known to I off with them on board There is run of where tram record a case on tm only one I board with ball on off players ran bal of t wonder I Then it is a source of great har never die in players why ment This is easily accounted for from hltISS easiy J as a accepted I IB accE I the fact that no man tda I fessional player unless he IS strong professional I pr healthy and active and has a magnificent Institution Joe Star and Bob Ferguson have been playing for a quarter of a cen I Another super and are still god tury sti that many mention is I stition Iforgot to tht stion I clubs are averseto having their picurs taken Nothing will induce them because be-cause they think it i bad luck Some catchers chew certain brands of V V tobacco while they are playing and now I and then expectorate in their hands I I a player does not perspirefreely at work he gets frightened and thinks he I will have a sunstroke |