Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1905 — Locomotive Fielded Ball. [ARTICLE]

Locomotive Fielded Ball.

In the baseball annals of Texas, Baltimore county, Is an Incident which, whether an actual occurrence or' not, has been repeated so often that it is invested with the force of fact. On a hot Fourth of July back in the eighties, when the catcher held bis position behind the bat without a mask and the pitcher knew of no curve or toe plate, there was a game of ball between the .Texas Sluggers and the Tlmonlum Little Potatoes, but Hard to Peel. The Sluggers bad got in some good stick work early In the game, and the visitors were Just feeling the big Texas pitcher. It was the fifth inning, and the Little Potatoes had two men on the bases, one on second and the other on first, when one of their home run hitters, who bad been asleep until this moment, struck the ball. It cleared the entire field and would have fallen on the railroad track, but Jnst at that moment a train came along, and the ball disappeared In the smokestack of the engine. The train was going at a lively speed up grade, and the force of the pufTs ejected the ball. The momentum of the train carried It until it fell in the third baseman’s bands, and a double play was the result. After much kicking from the Little Potatoes as to whether the play waa fair the side was retired, as the double play made three bands out.—Baltimore Bun.