Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1917 — YARN OF GEORGE STALLINGS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

YARN OF GEORGE STALLINGS

Baseball Career of Manager of Boston Bfavfes Nearly Ended by Clark Griffith of Washington. One of the fanning bees incidental to the recent big-league meetings in New York developed a story about how Manager Griffith nearly ended George Stallings’ baseball career in Boston. According to the New York Globe, the pilot of the Braves tells it this way: “That fellow Clark Griffith came within an ace of costing me my job in Boston. It was on the day that we dedicated the new Braves’ field, two years ago. Griffith was asked to come over and attend the opening ceremonies. , "There were 45,000 or more people in the park. Someone conceived the

brilliant idea of Raving Griffith pitch the first ball across the plate, while I stood in the catcher’s position to receive it. “I fell for the idea. I went out in my street clothes, with a catcher’s mitt on. Griffith strolled to the box in uniform. I expected hira to lob one lover. To my astonishment and consternation, he cut loose with a fast curve!- \ '. ! " “I hadn T t caught a ball in a dozen years. If he had kept it a bit lower, I never would have caught this one. I just did reach it, and clung to it for dear life. If-IM missed it, with 45,000 fans looking on, I would have hwry Irlririeri out of Boston. “It seems the whole thing was a plant. My players got Griffith to warm up for five minutes under the grandstand, just to throw that one ball and ! make a sucker of me.”

Manager George Stallings.