Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1915 — SHECKARD PLAYS SUPERSTITION TO WIN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SHECKARD PLAYS SUPERSTITION TO WIN

(By ARTIE HOFMAN.) The thing that sticks in my mind as perhaps the funniest I ever saw on a ball field happened when I was with the Cubs and Jimmy Sheckard was playing out there in the pasture beside me. Sheck was, perhaps, the best man at playing for batters the game ever has known. Much of his great success was due to the fact he played right where batters hit the ball. But this time things had been breaking badly for him. One day we were playing Pittsburgh. At the end of one Inning I glanced over into left field. There was Sheckard with his -eyes shut, whirling around and around, and finally he let his glove fly. I wondered what was coming off, until I saw Sheck walk to

where the glove had fallen, way over In short left within an inch or two of the foul line. Then it dawned upon me that Sheck had shut his eyes, thrown the glove, and was going to play where it lighted. I doubled up laughing over his plan, then saw Tommy Leach coming to bat Leach caught one right on the nose and sent it over head on the line. He tore around first, sprinted for second and looked to see how far the ball had gone just in time to see Sheckard tossing it back. The drive had gone straight into Sheck’s hands! Tommy was the maddest man you ever Saw. Sheck’s superstition had robbed him of a sure three-base hit —■ and, as it turned out, saved Chicago the game. *

Artie Hofman, Brooklyn Fed Outfielder.