Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1911 — WAS A WILD RIDE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAS A WILD RIDE

KXCITINQ EXPERIENCE OF COBB, MULLIN AND DONOVAN IN PHILADELPHIA. ' +■' ———■«■■!■ I TESTS NERVES OF PLAYERS Barney Oldfield Did Not Offioiate on Return Trip—“ Death Valley Jim” Scott’s Hard Luck Story—Evans as a Comedian.

By HUGH S. FULLERTON.

> George Mullln, Bill Donovan and Ty Cobb, feeling rich because they were reporters Instead of ball players during the world’s series, decided to buy a touring car to take them to the game and back In Philadelphia on the second day Of the series. They had employed a taxi cab the first day, and had tipped the driver liberally to wait for them and take them back to the hotel after the game. Of course he failed to be there and they wasted a couple of hours getting to the hotel via Philadelphia street cars, which make people from other cities quit kicking on their transportation facilities. They decided not to be caught the second day, so for $25 they employed a young man who was peddling a touring car to take them to the game, wait and biding them back/ The three Tiger stars climbed Into the tonneau and started. The driver threw on the high speed and the car leaped down Chestnut street 40 miles an hour, swung into Twentieth on two wheels, scraped a hub against a post, scratched the side of a trolley car and shot toward the park. At the boulevard the auto ran straight at a street car, swerved ; just as the motorman reversed his car and jumped, went over the fender, swung onto the sidewalk and cleared a post by half an Inch.

At Girard avenue the auto shot over the fender of a passing car, bumped an express wagon, righted itself and went on. At that time the driver had abandoned the wheel and was changing his gear so the car went onto the sidewalk, lurched back, scraped along the side of the street car, missed a wagon an inch and plowed on up the hill. At Ridge avenue the auto hit. the head of a horse whose owner had jerked him' back onto his haunches, swerved between two street cars, bumped a mall wagon squarely In the middle and tossed It onto the sidewalk, missed another car by a hair’s breadth and tore on, the only damage being that the driver’s hand was cut to pieces by flying glass. Prom there it was pretty clear sailing, except that the driver twice took the sidewalk to pass cars, and once bumped a horse out of the way, raced at 30 miles an hour through the crowd crossing the bridge to the ball park and pulled up at the entrance. Neither Cobb nor Mullln had spoken a word during the wild ride, but Donovan had leaned over a couple of times to remind the driver that he was a married man and his family might mjss him. The trio climbed out a little bit nervous and much relieved. "Say, you loafer, are you drunk or trying to kill us?” demanded Donovan. “Pal,” remarked Mullln, "if I had your speed and curves I’d be the greatest pitcher In the world.” They lined up facing the driver, who calmly removed his goggles and grinned. He was Barney Oldfield and had borrowed the driver’s car and taken

his place at the wheel to test the nerves of the players. He tested them all right. .They got another driver to take them back. "Thb toughest game of ball I ever lost,” remarked Jim Scott, “Death Valley Jim” the White Sox call him, “was up at Bis bee when I was pitching for the Imperial team in the Desert leagued It was a hot day and 1 was going fine until along in the fifth inning they had a couple of men on bases and some one hit a long fly to the center fielder. He was standing under the ball ready td catch it, when a rattlesnake commenced rattling, and he turned and ran for a club to kill it with. Before he killed the snake three runs had scored and we were two behind. We tied them up in the seventh and in the eighth, with a man on bases the batter hit a little bounder right at the short stop. Just as it was going to bound into his hand the ball hit a horned toad and bounded crooked and they tied up the ■core. We got another run in the ninth, and in their half a man was pn second* two strikes on the batter, and It looked as if we had the game won. I pitched a spit ball that cut the plate

In half and the batter swung at it Instead of catching the ball the catcher jumped ten feet' and let out a yell, for just as I pitched a big tarantula crawled over his wrist and onto his mit He was so scared he didn’t even chase the b&U so I had to do it One run had counted, evening up the score, and the batter was running wild. I reached the ball and started to pick it up, but didn’t—and the run counted and beat us out of the game.” “Why didn’t you pick up the ball, Jim?” asked an interested listener. “Pick It up?” he demanded. should say not. There was a centipede crawling up one side of it and a scorpion perched right on top. 1 let that game go.” Henry O’Day, the umpire, and Johnny Evers of the Cubs are the dearest enemies. The pair would feel lost if they didn’t have each other to fight, and yet between the player and the umpire there exists a deepseated admiration. Somehow they recall Leevers’ (Charles not Sam) song about the Irish: “Fightln* aich other for the sake of peace, And hatin’ aich other for the love of God.” If anyone remarks to Evers that O’Day Is a bad umpire he is likely to get a hard call, and no one can tell O’Day Evers Is a bad ball player. When Evers broke his leg at Cincinnati late In the season —an accident which wrecked a lot of Chicago’s hope for the world’s championship, O’Day was one of the most sorrowful of the gang. “It’s pretty tough on me,” remarked Hank that evening, speaking of the accident' to Evers. “I suppose he’ll be in an ambulance out by the club house all during the world’s series, and I’ll have to stop the game and go out there and chase the ambulance off the field.” Steve Evans of the St. Louis Cardinals is one of the comedians' of the game, besides being quite a ball play-

er." When the Cards were going to pieces during the latter part of last season and everything was turning against them, a rabid writer, displeased because the opposing batters kept hitting balls just where Steve couldn’t reach them, spoke sarcastically of him as belonging to the "Shady comer club.” Meaning that Steve played far out in order to get into the shade of the fence and escape the broiling sun. The following day, along in the middle of the game, Evans appeared in the outfield with a huge Japanese umbrella and a camp stool. Unfolding the p&rasot he seated himself on the stool, lighted a cigarette and tried to get away with- it The appreciative roar of the crowd warned the' umpire that something was going on, and he banished the outfit from the field and forced Steve to stand in the broiling sun —which is some broil in St. Louis.

Evans is irrepressible. One evening in New York during last season he was Invited, with several other players, to dine at one of the most exclusive clubs in the city. The club is one composed almost entirely of millionaires, among them some of thd most prominent figures in Wall street The host was a man of great wealth, and also a great baseball fan, and perhaps he thought that the players would be a trifle awed and have a better realization of his own importance if they were entertained at the club, so he took them there. As the party entered the club the lounging room was filled with millionaires, some of them in the multi class. Evans stopped just inrflde the doorway and. surveyed the throng; men whose names will start a panic or boom a stock, sitting in deep chairs, most of them in evening clothes. Then he raised his voice and remarked so as to be heard all over the room: “Look at them. Just finished a day’s work, taken off the overalls, hung up'Hhe spade and picks, and are here wasting their dollar and a half In riotous living. I suppose they'll sit here and rush the oan until they’ve spent their wages. It’s v a sad sight” And he passed, mournfully shaking his head through the room, leaving a speechless bunch of autocrats gazing after him, (Copyright 1910. by Joseph B. Bowles.)

Testing the Players’ Nerves.

Baseball In the Desert.