Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1911 — BENDER’S PLAN WAS UPSET [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BENDER’S PLAN WAS UPSET

Crack Athletic Pitcher Tells How Worst Ball He Pitched Won for New York Highlanders. “That only goes to show how a little thing will knock the starch out of baseball plans,” sagely* commented Chief Bender, talking about a game which he lost against Russell Ford In New York. “You know, Johnson had a threebagger, and It looked as if we would be able to get him there. I figured on nailing Sweeney and Ford on strikes, then passing Wolter and getting Daniels. That would have left the Swede sticking on third. “I got the two strikes, all right, on Eddie. Th'en I gave him a ball that dropped down and out. It was as rotten a ball as you could find, almost hitting the ground as it broke. I thought he might swing at It and miss it, or else pass it along, and then I would stick a fast one across and get him. ( “Instead of that, Sweeney uppercut the ball and smashed It on the fly to Danny Murphy. It was a sacrifice, all right, and Johnson came over. It was a cinch .to get the next men. That is what I mean. I don’t say that we would have won the game, as we

couldn’t hit Russ Ford. But the game might have been different if Eddie Sweeney hadn’t poked at the worst ball I fired aU day. That’s baseball for you. It is always a case of you never can tell"

Chief Bender.