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Show THE NEVf BALL-TOSSERS. GJddj- Girls on tbe Diamond at Central Park. A few giddy screams climbed the hih fence surrounding Central Park yeBterday afternoon, and announced to the outside world that the female baseballers were getting in their deadly work in a practice game preparatory to knocking out the public in a real contest some time this month. Inside the park the sun shone just the Bame as if nothing. had happened, hap-pened, and red and blue socks twinkled in the balmy air as though doing their utmost to help the green grass make the occasion a joyous one. The audience was small, and there was plenty of fun to go round, the only unhappv persons present being Manager Doyle and the umpire. um-pire. There was only one short-haired girl in the lot, and she was a daisy at the bat. None of the players were in uniform, uni-form, but contrived to designate themselves them-selves by gathering up half a dozen inches of the tops of their skirts with hay-rope belts. The nines are known as the Blue Stockings of Frisco and the Red Stockings Stock-ings of Chicago, and the home nine is always al-ways to the front in point of superiority. They have a crack player in Miss May Porter, a long, lithe, healthv eirl. who fills the pitcher's box according to Hoyle. Adam's odd rib, which presumably enters en-ters the composition of all women, 'must be located in the shoulder or the arm, for no amount of coaching can get any of the players into throwing a ball except ex-cept with the dangerous side-wheel motion peculiar to the sex. Miss Porter is no exception, but she catches cleverly, clev-erly, and is a whole host as a fielder, stopping fully two-thirds of the balls that should properly belong to shortstop. She puio iucui uuuuritujiy iu nrst, wnere sne is well supported by Miss Reed, a dangerous dan-gerous little blonde who is in a state of constant eruption with the umpire. Miss Reed can catch like a fiend, and when a ball is once in her tiny fists she prudently plumps" herself down on the bag so as to entirely cover it from the batter until she can hold op the ball and call for judgment. judg-ment. Ella Taylor, a charming little brunette who scorns corsets, presides behind be-hind the bat, and catches fairly well. She is bad at stopping base-stealers, base-stealers, however, for her construction obliges her to wait ten or fifteen seconds before heaving the ball to the paper-bag. paper-bag. The Red Stocking's battery is composed com-posed of Miss Grace "Webber (profession-allv (profession-allv known as Ros.ida and Rnhv T-oo The former "pitches" with a vindictive-ness vindictive-ness that does not correspond with her perpetual smile, and shines best when stealing bases, which she does with a recklessness that would secure her a life sentence if the object of her larcenv was anything else. Miss Lee is a slight, serious seri-ous demi-blonde, who favors a gingham Mother Hubbard for practice games, and works as though her salvation depended on a clea'n score. The remainder of the players do not require an extended notice, but all contribute to the fun of the contest, con-test, which is rich. San Francisco Alta, 5th. |