 CHAPTER I. A BUSHER'S LETTERS HOME, TARAHOTE, INDIANA, SEPTEMBER 6. AL. Well, Al, old pal, I suppose you seen in the paper where I've been sold to the White Sox. Believe me, Al, it comes as a surprise to me, and I bet it did to all you good old pals down home. You could have knocked me over with a feather when the old man come up to me and says, Jack, I've sold you to the Chicago Americans! I didn't have no idea that anything like that was coming off. For five minutes I was just dumb and couldn't say a word. He says, We aren't getting what you are worth, but I want you to go up to that big league and show those birds that there is a central league on the map. He says, Go and pitch the ball you've been pitching, down here, and there won't be nothing to it. He says, All you need is the nerve, and walsh or no one else won't have nothing on you. So I says I would do the best I could, and I thanked him for the treatment I got in Tarahote. They always was good to me here, and though I did more than my share, I always felt that my work was appreciated. We are finishing second, and I done most of it. I can't help but be proud of my first year's record in professional baseball, and you know I am not boasting when I say that, Al. Well, Al, it will seem funny to be up there in the big show when I never was really in a big city before, but I guess I've seen enough of life not to be scared of the high buildings, eh, Al? I will just give them what I got, and if they don't like it, they can send me back to the old central, and I will be perfectly satisfied. I didn't know anybody was looking me over, but one of the boys told me that Jack Doyle, the White Sox scout, was down here looking at me when Grand Rapids was here. I beat them twice in that series. You know, Grand Rapids never had a chance with me when I was right. I shut them out in the first game, and they got one run in the second on account of Flynn misjudging that fly ball. Anyway, Doyle liked my work, and he wired Kamiski to buy me. Kamiski come back with an offer, and they accepted it. I don't know how much they got, but anyway, I am sold to the big league, and believe me, Al, I will make good. Well, Al, I will be home in a few days, and we will have some of the good old times. Regards to all the boys, and tell them I am still their pal, and not all swelled up over this big league business. Your pal, Jack. Chicago, Illinois, December 14. Old pal. Well, Al, I have not got much to tell you. As you know, Kamiski wrote me that if I was up and shy this month, to drop in and see him. So I got here Thursday morning, and went to his office in the afternoon. His office is out to the boa park, and believe me, at some park and some office. I went in and asked for Kamiski, and a young fellow says he is not here, but can I do anything for you. I told him who I am, and says I had an engagement to see Kamiski. He says the boss is out of town hunting, and did I have to see him personally. I says I wanted to see about signing a contract. He told me I could sign as well with him as Kamiski, and he took me into another office. He says, What salary did you think you want to get? And I says I wouldn't think of playing bowl in the big league for less than three thousand dollars per annum. Kamiski laughed and says, You don't want much. You better stick round town till the boss comes back. So here I am, and it is costing me a dollar a day to stay at the hotel on Cottage Grove Avenue, and that don't include my meals. I generally eat at some of the cafes around the hotel, but I had suffered downtown last night, and it cost me fifty-five cents. If Kamiski don't come back soon, I won't have no more money left. Speaking of money, I won't sign no contract unless I get the salary you and I talked of, three thousand dollars. You know what I was getting in Terre Haute? A hundred and fifty a month, and I know it's going to cost me a lot more to live here. I made inquiries round here, and find I can get bored in room for eight dollars a week, but I will be out of town half the time, and will have to pay for my room when I am away, or look up a new one when I come back. Then I will have to buy clothes to wear on the road in places like New York. When Kamiski comes back, I will name him three thousand dollars as my lowest figure, and I guess he will come through when he sees I am an earnest. I heard that Walsh was getting twice as much as that. The paper says Kamiski will be back here some time tomorrow. He has been hunting with the president of the league, so he ought to feel pretty good. But I don't care how he feels. I am going to get a contract for three thousand, and if he don't want to give it to me, he can do the other thing. You know me, Al. Yours truly, Jack. Chicago, Illinois, December sixteen. Dear friend Al. Well, I will be home in a couple of days now, but I wanted to write you and let you know how I come out with Kamiski. I signed my contract yesterday afternoon. He is a great old fellow, Al, and no wonder everybody likes him. He says, young man, will you have a drink? But I was too smart and wouldn't take nothing. He says, you was with terahote. I says, yes, I was. He says, Doyle tells me you were pretty wild. I says, oh no, I got good control. He says, well, do you want to sign? I says, yes, if I get my figure. He asks, what is my figure? And I says, $3,000 per annum. He says, don't you want the office furniture, too? Then he says, I thought you was a young ball player, and I didn't know you wanted to buy my park. We kitted each other back and forth like that a while. And then he says, you better go out and get the air and come back when you feel better. I says, I feel OK now, and I want to sign a contract because I have got to get back to Bedford. Then he calls the secretary and tells him to make out my contract. He give it to me, and it calls for $250 a month. He says, you know, we always have a city series here in the fall where a fellow picks up a good bunch of money. I hadn't thought of that, so I signed up. My yearly salary will be $1,500 besides what the city serious brings me, and that is only for the first year. I will demand $3,000 or $4,000 next year. I would have started home on the evening train, but I ordered a suit of clothes from a tailor over on Cottage Grove, and it won't be done till tomorrow. It's going to cost me $20, but it ought to last a long time. Regards to Frank and the Bunch, your pal, Jack. Paso Robles, California, March 2. Old pal, Al. Well, Al, we've been in this little bird now a couple of days, and it's bright and warm all the time, just like June. Seems funny to have it so warm this early in March, but I guess this California climate is all they say about it and then some. It would take me a week to tell you about our trip out here. We came on a special train, Deluxe, and it was some train. Every place we stopped, there was crowds down to the station to see us go through, and all the people looked me over like I was an actor or something. I guess my height and shoulders attracted their attention. Well, Al, we finally got to Oakland, which is across from part of the ocean from Frisco. We will be back there later on for practice games. We stayed in Oakland a few hours and then took a train for here. It was another night in a sleeper, and believe me, I was tired of sleepers before we got here. I have rode one night at a time, but this was four straight nights. You know, Al, I am not built right for a sleeping car birth. The hotel here is a great big place and got good eats. We got in at breakfast time, and I made a beeline for the dining room. Kid Gleason, who is a kind of assistant manager to Callahan, come in and sat down with me. He says, wave something for the rest of the boys, because they will be just as hungry as you. He says, ain't you afraid you will cut your throat with that knife? He says, there ain't no extra charge for using the forks. He says, you should not eat so much, because you're overweight now. I says, you may think I am fat, but it's all solid bone and muscle. He says, yes, I suppose it's all solid bone from the neck up. I guess he thought I would get sore, but I will let them kid me now, because they will take off their hats to me when they see me work. Manager Callahan called us all to his room after breakfast and give us a lecture. He says, there would be no work for us the first day, but that we must all take a long walk over the hills. He also says, we must not take the training trip as a joke. Then the colored trainer gave us our suits, and I went to my room and tried mine on. I ain't a bad looking guy in the White Sox uniform, Al. I will have my picture taken and send you boys some. My roommate is Alan, a left-hander from the Coast League. He don't look nothing like a pitcher, but you can't never tell about them damn left-handers. Well, I didn't go on the long walk because I was tired out. Walsh stayed at the hotel, too, and when he seen me, he says, why didn't you go with a bunch? I says I was too tired. He says, well, when Callahan comes back, you better keep out of sight or tell him you were sick. I says, I don't care nothing for Callahan. He says, no, but Callahan is crazy about you. He says, you better obey orders, and you will get along better. I guess Walsh thinks I am some rube. When the bunch come back, Callahan never said a word to me, but Gleason come up and says, where was you? I told him I was too tired to go walking. He says, well, I will borrow a wheelbarrow some place and push you around. He says, do you sit down when you pitch? I let him kid me because he has not saw my stuff yet. Next morning, half the bunch, mostly veterans, went to the ballpark, which isn't no better than the one we got at home. Most of them was veterans, as I say, but I was in the bunch. That makes things look pretty good for me, don't it, Al? We tossed the ball round and hit fungos and run round, and then Callahan asked Scott, and Russell, and Edo, warm up easy and pitch a few to the batters. It was warm, and I felt pretty good, so I warmed up pretty good. Scott pitched to them first, and kept laying them right over with nothing on them. I don't believe a man gets any batting practice that way. So I went in, and after I lobbed a few over, I cut loose my fast one. Al was to bat, and he ducked out of the way, and then he throwed his bat to the bench. Callahan says, what's the matter, Harry? Lord says, I forget to pay up my life insurance. He says, I ain't ready for that Walter Johnson's July stuff. Well, Al, I will make them think I am Walter Johnson before I get through with them. But Callahan come out to me and says, what are you trying to do? Kill somebody? He says, save your smoke, because you're going to need it later on. He says, go easy with the boys at first, or I won't have no batters. But he was laughing, and I guessed he was pleased to see the stuff I had. There is a dance in the hotel tonight, and I am up in my room writing this in my underwear while I get my suit pressed. I got it all must up coming out here. I don't know what shoes to wear. I ask Leeson, and he says, wear your baseball shoes and if any of the girls gets fresh with you, spike them. I guess he was kidding me. Write and tell me all the news about home. Yours truly, Jack. Paso Robles, California, March 7. Friend Al. I showed them something out there today, Al. We had a game between two teams. One team was made up of most of the regulars, and the other was made up of recruits. I pitched three innings for the recruits and shut the old birds out. I held them to one hit, and that was a ground ball that the recruit shortstop Johnson ought to evade up. I struck Collins out, and he is one of the best batters in the bunch. I used my fastball most of the while, but showed them a few spitters, and they missed them a foot. I guessed I must have got Walsh's goat with my spitter because him and I walked back to the hotel together, and he talked like he was kind of jealous. He says, you will have to learn to cover up your spitter. He says, I could stand a mile away and tell when you was going to throw it. He says, some of these days I will learn you how to cover it up. I guess, Al, I know how to cover it up, all right, without Walsh learning me. I always sit at the same table in a dining room, along with Gleason, and Collins, and Bodie, and Fournier, and Allen, the young left-hander I told you about. I feel sorry for him because he never says a word. Tonight at supper, Bodie says, how did I look today, kid? Gleason says, just like you always do in a spring, you look like a cow. Gleason seems to have the whole bunch scared of him, and they let him say anything he wants to. I let him kid me, but I ain't scared of him. Collins then says to me, you got some fastball there, boy. I says, I was not as fast today as I am when I am right. He says, well, then I don't want to hit against you when you are right. Then Gleason says to Collins, cut that stuff out. Then he says to me, don't believe what he tells you, boy, if the pitches in this league weren't no faster than you, I would still be playing bowl, and I would be the best hitter in the country. After supper, Gleason went out on the porch with me. He says, boy, you have got a little stuff, but you have got a lot to learn. He says, you feel the opposition like a wash woman, and you don't hold the runners up. He says, when Chase was on second base today, he got such a lead on you that the little catcher couldn't have shot him out at third with a rifle. I says, they all thought I fielded my position all right in the Central League. He says, well, if you think you do it all right, you better go back to the Central League when you are appreciated. I says, you can't send me back there because you could not get waivers. He says, I would claim you. I says, St. Louis and Boston in New York. You know how what Smith told me this winter? Gleason says, well, if you're not willing to learn, St. Louis and Boston in New York can have you. And the first time you pitch against us, we will steal 50 bases. Then he quit kidding and asked me to go to the field with him early tomorrow morning, and he would learn me some new things. I don't think he can learn me nothing, but I promised I would go with him. There is a little blonde kid in the hotel who took a shine to me at the dance the other night, but I am going to leave the skirts alone. She is real society and a swell dresser, and she wants my picture. Regards to all the boys. Your friend, Jack. P.S. The boys thought they would be smart tonight and put something over on me. A boy brought me a telegram, and I opened it, and it said you are sold to Jackson in the Cotton State's League. For just a minute, they had me going, but then I happened to think that Jackson is in Michigan, and there's no Cotton State's League round there. Paso Robles, California, March 9. Dear friend, Al. You have no doubt read the good news in the papers before this reached you. I have been picked to go to Frisco with the first team. We play practice games up there about two weeks while the second club plays in Los Angeles. Poor Alan had to go with the second club. There's two other recruit pitchers with our part of the team, but my name was the first on the list, so it looks like I had made good. I know they would like my stuff when they seen it. We leave here tonight. You got the first team's address, so you will know where to send my mail. Callahan goes with us, and Gleason goes with the second club. Him and I got to be pretty good pals, and I wish he was going with us, even if he don't let me eat like I want to. He told me this morning to remember all he had learned me and to keep working hard. He didn't learn me nothing I didn't know before, but I let him think so. The little blonde don't like to see me leave here. She lives in Detroit, and I may see her when I go there. She wants me to write, but I guess I better not give her no encouragement. Well, Al, I will write you a long letter from Frisco. Yours truly, Jack. Oakland, California, March 19. Dear old pal. They have gave me plenty of work here, all right. I have pitched four times, but have not went over five innings yet. I worked against Oakland two times, and against Frisco two times, and only three runs have been scored off me. They should only ought to have had one, but Bodie misjudged an easy fly ball in Frisco, and Weaver made a wild peg in Oakland that led in a run. I am not using much, but my fastball, but I have got a world of speed, and they can't foul me when I am right. I whiffed eight men and five innings in Frisco yesterday, and could have did better than that if I had have cut loose. Manager Callahan is a funny guy, and I don't understand him sometimes. I can't figure out if he is kidding or an earnest. We rode back to Oakland on the ferry together after yesterday's game, and he says, don't you ever throw a slow ball? I says, I don't need no slow ball with my spitter in my fast one. He says, no, of course you don't need it, but if I was you, I would get one of the boys to learn it to me. He says, and you better watch the way the boys feels their position and holds up the runners. He says, to see your work, a man might think they had a rule in the Central League forbidden a pitcher from leaving the box or looking towards first base. I told him the Central didn't have no rule like that. He says, and I noticed you'd taken your wind up when what's his name was on second base there today. I says, yes, I got more stuff when I wind up. He says, of course you have, but if you wind up like that with Cobb on base, he will steal your watch and chain. I says, maybe Cobb can't get on base when I work against him. He says, that's right, and maybe San Francisco Bay is made of grape juice. Then he walks away from me. I give one of the youngsters an awful balling out for something he'd done in the game at supper last night. If he ever talks to me like he'd done to him, I will take a punch at him. You know me, Al. I come over to Frisco last night with some of the boys and we took in the sights. Frisco is some live town, Al. We went all through Chinatown and the Barber's Coast, seen lots of swell dames, but they was all painted up. They have beer out here that they call steam beer. I had a few glasses of it and it made me logy. Glass of that terahote beer would go pretty good right now. We leave here for Los Angeles in a few days and I will write you from there. This is some country, Al, and I would love to play ball round here. Your pal, Jack. P.S. I got a letter from the little blonde and I suppose I gotta answer it. Los Angeles, California, March 26th. Frandale. Only four more days of sunny California and then we start back east. We got exhibition games in Yuma and El Paso, Texas and Oklahoma City and then we stop over in St. Joe, Missouri for three days before we go home. You know, Al, we open the season in Cleveland and we won't be in shy no more than just passing through. We don't play there till April 18th and I guess I will work in that series all right against Detroit. Then I will be glad to have you and the boys come up and watch me as you suggested in your last letter. I got another letter from the little blonde. She has went back to Detroit but she give me her address and telephone number and believe me, Al, I am going to look her up when we get there the 29th of April. She is a stenographer and was out here with her uncle and aunt. I had a run in with Kelly last night and it looked like I would have to take a wallop at him but the other boys separated us. He is a bush outfielder from the New England League. He was playing poker. You know, the boys plays poker a good deal but this was the first time I got in. I was having pretty good luck and was about four bucks to the good and I was thinking of quitting because I was tired and sleepy. Then Kelly opened the pot for 50 cents and I stayed. I had three sevens, no one else stayed. Kelly stood Pat and I drawed two cards and I catched my fourth seven. He bid 50 cents but I felt pretty safe even if he did have a pat hand. So I called him. I took the money and told him I was through. Lord and some of the boys left but Kelly got nasty and began to pan me for quitting and for the way I played. I says, well, I won the pot, didn't I? He says yes and he called me something. I says I got a notion to take a punch at you. He says, oh, you have, have you? And I come back at him. I says, yes, I have, have I? I would have busted his jaw if they hadn't stopped me. You know me, Al. I worked here two times once against Los Angeles and once against Venice. I went the full nine innings both times and Venice beat me four to two. I could have beat them easy with any kind of support. I walked a couple of guys in the fourth and Chase drops a throw and Collins lets a fly ball get away from him. At that I would have shut them out if I had wanted to cut loose. After the game Callahan says, you didn't look so good in there today. I says, I didn't cut loose. He says, well, you've been working pretty near three weeks now and you ought to be in shape to cut loose. I says, oh, I am in shape all right. He says, well, don't work no harder than you have to or you might get hurt and then the league would blow up. I don't know if he was kidding me or not, but I guess he thinks pretty well of me because he works me lots oftener than Walsh or Scott or Benz. I will try to write you from Yuma, Texas, but we don't stay there only a day and I might not have time for a long letter. Yours truly, Jack. Yuma, Arizona, April 1st. Dear old Al. Just a line to let you know we are on our way back east. This place is in Arizona and it sure is sandy. They haven't got no regular ball club here and we play a pickup team this afternoon. Callahan told me I would have to work. He says, I am using you because we wanna get through early and I know you can beat them quick. That is the first time he has said anything like that and I guess he is wising up that I got the goods. We was talking about the athletics this morning and Callahan says, none of you fellows pitch right to Baker. I was talking to Lord and Scott afterward and I say to Scott, how do you pitch to Baker? He says, I use my fade away. I says, how do you throw it? He says, just like you throw a fastball to anybody else. I says, why do you call it a fade away then? He says, because when I throw it to Baker it fades away over the fence. This place is full of Indians and I wish you could see them now. They don't look nothing like the Indians we seen in that show last summer. Your old pal, Jack. Oklahoma City, April 4th. Friend Al. Coming out of Amarillo last night, I and Lord and Weaver was sitting at a table in the dining car with an old lady. None of us were talking to her, but she looked me over pretty careful and seemed to kind of like my looks. Finally she says, are you guys with some football club? Lord nor Weaver didn't say nothing so I thought it was up to me and says, no ma'am, this is the Chicago White Sox Bowl Club. She says, I knew you were athletes. I says, yes, I guess you could spot us for athletes. She says, yes indeed, and especially you. You certainly look healthy. I says, you ought to see me stripped. I didn't see nothing funny about that but I thought Lord and Weaver would die laughing. Lord had to get up and leave the table and he told everybody what I said. All the boys wanted me to play poker on the way here but I told them I didn't feel good. I know enough to quit when I am ahead Al. Callahan and I sat down to breakfast all alone this morning. He says, boy, why don't you get to work? I says, what do you mean? Ain't I working? He says, ain't improving none. You've got the stuff to make a good picture but you don't go after months and you don't cover first base and you don't watch the base runners. He kind of made me sore talking that way and I says, oh, I guess I can get along all right. He says, well, I am going to put it up to you. I am going to start you over in St. Joe day after tomorrow and I want you to show me something. I want you to cut loose with all you've got and I want you to get round the infield a little and show them you aren't tight in that box. I says, oh, I can field my position if I want to. He says, well, you better want to or I will have to ship you back to the sticks. Then he got up and left. He didn't scare me none, Al. They won't ship me to no sticks after the way I showed on this trip and even if they did, they couldn't get no waivers on me. Some of the boys had begun to call me four sevens but it don't bother me none. Yours truly, Jack. St. Joe, Missouri, April seven. Friend Al. It rained yesterday so I worked today instead and St. Joe done well to get three hits. They couldn't have scored if we had played all week. I give a couple of passes but I catch the guy flat footed off a first base and I come up with a couple of bunts and throw guys out. When the game was over Callahan says, that's the way I'd like to see you work. You look better today than you looked on the whole trip. Just once you wound up with a man on but otherwise you was all okay. So I guess my job is cinched Al and I won't have to go to New York or St. Louis. I would rather be in shy anyway because it is near home. I wouldn't care though if they traded me to Detroit. I hear from Violet right along and she says she can't hardly wait till I come to Detroit. She says she is strong for the Tigers but she will pull for me when I work against them. She is nuts over me and I guess she has saw lots of guys too. I sent her a stick pin from Oklahoma City but I can't spend no more dough on her till after our first payday the 15th of the month. I had 30 bucks on me when I left home and I only got about 10 left including the five spot I won in the poker game. I have to tip the waiters about 30 cents a day and I seen about 20 picture shows on the coast besides getting my clothes pressed a couple of times. We leave here tomorrow night and arrive in shy the next morning. The second club joins us there and then that night we go to Cleveland to open up. I asked one of the reporters if he knowed who was going to pitch the opening game and he says it would be Scott or Walsh but I guess he don't know much about it. These reporters travel all around the country with a team all season and send in telegrams about the game every night. I ain't seen no shy papers so I don't know what they've been saying about me but I should worry, eh Al? Some of them are pretty nice fellows and some of them got the swell head. They hang around with the old fellows and play poker most of the time. We'll write you from Cleveland. You will see me in the paper if I pitch the opening game. Your old pal, Jack. Cleveland, Ohio, April 10. Old friend Al. Well Al, we are all set to open the season this afternoon. I have just ate breakfast and I am sitting in the lobby of the hotel. I eat at a little lunch counter about a block from here and I save 70 cents on breakfast. You see Al, they give us a dollar a meal and if we don't want to spend that much, all right. Our rooms at the hotel are paid for. The Cleveland paper says Walsh or Scott will work for us this afternoon. I asked Callahan if there was any chance of me getting into the first game and he says I hope not. I don't know what he meant but he may surprise these reporters and let me pitch. I will beat them Al. La Jouie and Jackson is supposed to be great batters but the bigger they are the harder they fall. The second team joined us yesterday in shy and we practiced a little. Poor Alan was left in shy last night with four others of the recruit pitchers. Looks pretty good for me Al. I only seen Gleason for a few minutes on the train last night. He says, well he ain't took off much weight. You're hog fat. I says, oh I ain't fat. I didn't need to take off no weight. He says, one good thing about it. The club don't have to engage no birth for you because you spend all your time in the dining car. We kitted along like that a while and then the trainer rubbed my arm and I went to bed. Well Al, I just got time to have my suit pressed before noon. Yours truly, Jack. Cleveland, Ohio, April 11th. Friend Al. Well Al, I suppose you know by this time that I did not pitch and that we got licked. Scott was in there and he didn't have nothing. When they had us beat four to one in the eighth inning, Callahan told me to go out and warm up and he put a battery in for Scott in our ninth. But Cleveland didn't have to play their ninth so I got no chance to work. But looks like he means to start me in one of the games here. We got three more to play. Maybe I will pitch this afternoon. I got a postcard from Violet. She says, beat them naps. I will give them a battle, Al, if I get the chance. Glad to hear you boys have fixed it up to come to shy during the Detroit series. I will ask Callahan when he is going to pitch me and let you know. Thanks, Al, for the papers. Your friend, Jack. St. Louis, Missouri, April 15th. Friend Al. Well Al, I guess I showed them. I only worked one inning, but I guess them Browns is glad I wasn't in there no longer than that. They had us beat seven to one in the sixth and Callahan pulls Ben's out. I honestly felt sorry for him, but he didn't have nothing, not a thing. They was hitting him so hard I thought they would score 100 runs. A right-hander named Bumgardner was pitching for them and he didn't look to have nothing either but we ain't got much of a batting team, Al. I could hit better than some of them regulars. Anyway, Callahan called Bench to the bench and sent for me. I was down in the corner warming up with Kuhn. I wasn't warmed up good, but you know I got the nerve, Al, and I run right out there like I meant business. There was a man on second and nobody out when I come in. I didn't know who was up there, but I found out afterward it was Shotten. He's the center fielder. I was cold and I walked him. Then I got warmed up good and I made Johnston look like a boob. I give him three fast balls and he let two of them go by and miss the other one. I would have handed him a spitter but Shot kept signing for the fast ones and he knows more about them batters than me. Anyway, I whiffed Johnston. Then up comes Williams and I tried to make him hit at a couple of bad ones. I was in the hole with two balls and nothing and come right across the heart with my fast one. I wish you could have saw the hop on it. Williams hit it right straight up and Lord was camped under it. Then up come Pratt, the best hitter on their club. You know what I'd done to him, don't you Al? I give him one spitter and another he didn't strike at that was a ball. Then I come back with two fast ones and Mr. Pratt was a dead baby and you'd notice they didn't steal no bases, neither. In our half of the seventh inning, Weaver and Shot got on and I was going up there with a stick when Callahan calls me back and sends Easterly up. I don't know what kind of managing you call that. I hit good on the training trip and he must have knew they had no chance to score off me in the innings they had left while they were liable to murder as other pitchers. I come back to the bench pretty hot and I says, you're making a mistake. He says, if Kamisuke had wanted you to manage this team, he would have hired you. Then Easterly pops out and I says, now I guess you're sorry you didn't let me hit. That sent him right up in the air and he bawled me awful. Honest now I would have cracked him right in the jaw if we hadn't been right out where everybody could have saw us. Then he said, C caught in to finish and they didn't score no more and we didn't either. I rode down in the car with Gleason. He says, boy, you shouldn't want to talk like that to Cal. Someday he will lose his temper and bust you on. I says, he won't never bust me. I says, he didn't have no right to talk like that to me. Gleason says, I suppose you think he's gonna laugh and smile when we lost four out of the first five games. He says, wait till tonight and then go up to him and let him know you are sorry you sassed him. I says, I didn't sass him and I ain't sorry. So after supper I seen Callahan sitting in the lobby and I went over and sit down by him. I says, when are you gonna let me work? He says, I wouldn't never let you work. Only my pictures are all shot to pieces. Then I told him about you boys coming up from Bedford to watch me during the Detroit series. And he says, well, I wanna start here in the second game against Detroit. He says, but I wouldn't if I had any pictures. He says, a girl could get out there and pitch better than some of them have been doing. So you see, Al, I'm going to pitch on the 19th. I hope you guys can be up there and I will show you something. I know I can beat them tigers and I will have to do it even if they are Violet's team. I noticed that New York and Boston got trimmed today so I suppose they wish Kamiski would ask for waivers on me. No chance, Al. Your old pal, Jack. P.S. We play 11 games in shy and then go to Detroit so I will see the little girl on the 29th. Oh, you Violet. Chicago, Illinois, April 19th. Dear old pal. Well, Al, it's just as well you couldn't come. They beat me and I am writing you this so as you will know the truth about the game and not get a bum steer from what you read in the papers. I had a sore arm when I was warming up and Callahan should never ought to have set me in there. And Shaw kept signing for my fastball and I kept giving it to him because I thought he ought to know something about the batters. Weaver and Lord and all of them kept kicking them around the infield and Collins and Bodie couldn't catch nothing. Callahan ought never to have left me in there when he seen how sore my arm was. Why, I couldn't have threw hard enough to break a pane of glass my arm was so sore. They sure did run wild on the bases. Cobb stole four and Bush and Crawford and Veatch about two apiece. Shaw didn't even make a peg half the time. I guess he was trying to throw me down. The score was 16 to two when Callahan finally took me out in the eighth and I don't know how many more they got. I kept telling him to take me out when I seen how bad I was, but he wouldn't do it. They started bunting in the fifth and Lord and Chase just stood there and didn't give me no help at all. I was all okay till I had the first two men out in the first inning. Then Crawford come up. I wanted to give him a spitter but Shaw signs me for the fast one and I give it to him. The ball didn't hop much and Crawford happened to catch it just right. At that, Collins ought to have catch the ball. Crawford made three bases and up come Cobb. It was the first time I ever seen him. He hollered at me right off the reel. He says, you better walk me you busher. I says, I will walk you back to the bench. Shaw signs for a spitter and I gives it to him and Cobb misses it. Then instead of signing for another one Shaw asks for a fast one and I shook my head no but he signed for it again and yells, put something on it. So I throw the fast one and Cobb hits it right over second base. I don't know what Weaver was doing but he never made a move for the ball. Crawford scored and Cobb was on first base. First thing I know, he had stole second while I held the ball. Callahan yells, wake up out there. And I says, why don't your catcher tell me when they are going to steal? Shaw says, get in there and pitch and shut your mouth. And I got mad and walked Veach in Moriarty but before I walked Moriarty, Cobb and Veach pulled a double steal on Shaw. Gainer lifts a fly and Lord drops it and two more come in. Then Stannage walks and I whiffs their pitcher. I come into the bench and Callahan says, are your friends from Bedford up here? I was pretty sore and I says, why don't you get a catcher? He says, we don't need no catcher when you're pitching because you can't get nothing past their bats. Then he said, you better leave your uniform in here when you go out next inning or Cobb will steal it off your back. I says, my arm is sore. He says, use your other one and you'll do just as good. Gleason says, who do you wanna warm up? Callahan says, nobody. He says, Cobb has gone to lead the league and batting and base stealing anyway so he might as well give him a good start. I was mad enough to punch his jaw but the boys winked at me not to do nothing. Well, I got some support in the next inning and nobody got on. Between innings I says, well, I guess I look better now, don't I? Callahan says, yes, but I wouldn't look so good if Collins hadn't jumped up on the fence and catch that one off Crawford. That's all the encouragement I got, Al. Cobb come up again to start the third and when shock signs me for a fast one, I shakes my head. Then shock says, all right, pitch anything you want to. I pitched a spitter and Cobb bunts it right at me. I would have thrown him out a block but I stubbed my toe in a rough place and fell down. This is the roughest ground I ever seen, Al. Veach bunts and for a wonder, Lord throws him out. Cobb goes to second and honest, Al, I forgot all about him being there and first thing I know, he had stole third. Then Moriarty hits a fly ball to Bodie and Cobb scores though Bodie ought to have threw him out 20 feet. They batted all round in the fourth inning and scored four or five more. Crawford got the luckiest three-based hit I ever see. He popped one way up in the air and the wind bloated against the fence. The wind is something fierce here, Al. At that, Collins ought to have got under it. I was looking at the bench all the time expecting Callahan to call me in but he kept hollering, go on and pitch. Your friends want to see a pitch. Well, Al, I don't know how they got the rest of their runs but they had more luck than any team I ever seen and all the time Jennings was on the coaching line yelling like an Indian. Someday, Al, I'm gonna punch his jaw. After Veach had hit one in the eighth, Callahan calls me to the bench and says, you're through for the day. I says, it's about time you found out my arm was sore. He says, oh, you ain't hollering about your arm but I'm afraid some of our outfielders will run their legs off and some of them par infielders will get killed. He says, the reporters just sent me a message saying they had run out of paper. Then he says, I wish some of the other clubs had pitchers like you so we could hit once in a while. He says, go on the clubhouse and get your arm rubbed off. That's the only way I can get Jennings sore, he says. Well, Al, that's about all there was to it. It will take two or three stamps to send this but I want you to know the truth about it. The way my arm was, I would never to have went in there. Yours truly, Jack. Chicago, Illinois, April 25. Friend, Al. Just a line to let you know I am still on earth. My arm feels pretty good again and I guess maybe I will work in Detroit. Violet writes that she can't hardly wait to see me. Looks like I got a regular girl now, Al. We go up there the 29th and maybe I won't be glad to see her. I hope she will be out to the game the day I pitch. I will pitch the way I want to next time and them tigers won't have such a picnic. I suppose you've seen what the Chicago reporters said about that game. I will punch a couple of their jaws when I see them. Your pal, Jack. Chicago, Illinois, April 29. Dear old Al. Well, Al, it's all over. The club went to Detroit last night and I didn't go along. Callahan told me to report to Kamiski this morning and I went up to the office at 10 o'clock. He give me my pay to date and broke the news. I am sold to Frisco. I asked him how they got waivers on me and he says, oh, there was no trouble about that because they all heard how you tamed the tigers. Then he patted me on the back and says, go up there and work hard, boy, and maybe you'll get another chance someday. I was kind of choked up, so I walked out of the office. I ain't had no fair deal, Al, and I ain't going to no Frisco. I will quit the game first and take that job Charlie offered me at the billiard hole. I expect to be in Bedford in a couple of days. I have got to pack up first and settle with my landlady about my room here, which I engaged for all season thinking I would be treated square. I am going to rest and lay round home a while and try to forget this rotten game. Tell the boys about it, Al, and tell them I never would have got let out if I hadn't worked with a sore arm. I feel sorry for that little girl up in Detroit, Al. She expected me there today. Your old pal, Jack. PS, I suppose you seen where that lucky left-hander, Alan, shut out Cleveland with two hits yesterday. The lucky stiff. End of chapter one. Read by Rick Rodstrom. Chapter two of You Know Me, Al. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Rick Rodstrom. You Know Me, Al. By Ring Lardner. Chapter two, The Busher Comes Back. San Francisco, California, May 13. Friend, Al. I suppose you and the rest of the boys in Bedford will be surprised to learn that I am out here because I remember telling you when I was sold to San Francisco by the White Sox that not under no circumstances would I report here. I was pretty mad when Kamiski give me my release because I didn't think I had been given a fair show by Callahan. I don't think so yet, Al, and I never will. But Bill Sullivan, the old White Sox catcher, talked to me and told me not to pull no boner by refusing to go where they sent me. He says, we're only hurting yourself. He says, you must remember that this was your first time up in the big show. Very few men, no matter how much stuff they got, can expect to make good right off the reel. He says, all you need is experience and pitching out in the Coast League will be just the thing for you. So I went in and asked Kamiski for my transportation and he says, that's right, boy. Go out there and work hard and maybe I will want you back. I told him I hope so, but I don't hope nothing of the kind, Al. I'm gonna see if I can't get Detroit to buy me because I would rather live in Detroit than anywhere else. The little girl who got stuck on me this spring lives there. I guess I told you about her, Al. Her name is Violet and she is some queen. And then, if I got with the Tigers, I would never have to pitch against Cobb and Crawford so I believe I could show both of them up if I was right. They ain't got much of a ball club here and hardly any good pitchers outside of me, but I don't care. I will win some games if they give me any support and I will get back in the big league and show them birds something. You know me, Al. Your pal, Jack. Los Angeles, California, May 20. Al. Well, Al, old pal, I don't suppose you can find much news of this league in the papers at home so you may not know that I have been standing this league on their heads. I pitched against Oakland up home and shut them out with two hits. I made them look like suckers, Al. They hadn't never saw no speed like mine and they was scared to death the minute I cut loose. I could have pitched the last six innings with my foot and trimmed them, they were so scared. Well, we come down here for a series and I worked the second game. They got four hits and one run and I just give them the one run. Their shortstop Johnson was on the training trip with the White Sox and of course I knowed him pretty well. So I eased up in the last inning and let him hit one. If I had have wanted to let myself out, he couldn't have hit me with the board. So I am going along good and Howard, our manager, says he is going to use me regular. He's a pretty nice manager and not a bit sarcastic like some of them big leaguers. I am fielding my position good and watching the base runners too. Thank goodness, Al, they ain't no cops in this league and a man ain't scared of having his uniform stole off his back. But listen, Al, I don't want to be bought by Detroit no more. It is all off between Violet and I. She wasn't the sort of girl I suspected. She is just like them all, Al, no heart. I wrote her a letter from Chicago telling her I was sold to San Francisco and she wrote back a postcard saying something about not having no time to waste on Bushers. What do you know about that, Al? Calling me a Busher. I will show them. She wasn't no good, Al, and I figure I am well rid of her. Good riddance is rubbish, as they say. I will let you know how I get along and if I hear anything about being sold or drafted. Yours truly, Jack. San Francisco, California, July 20. Friend, Al. You will forgive me for not writing to you oftener when you hear the news I got for you. Old pal, I am engaged to be married. Her name is Hazel Carney and she is some queen, Al, a great big stropping girl that must weigh 160 pounds. She is out to every game and she got stuck on me from watching me work. Then she writes a note to me and makes a date and I meet her down on Market Street one night. We go to a nickel show together and have some time. Since then, we've been together pretty near every evening except when I was away on the road. Night before last, she asked me if I was married and I tells her no and she says a big handsome man like I ought not to have no trouble finding a wife. I tells her I ain't never look for one and she says, well, you wouldn't have to look very far. I asked her if she was married and she said no, but she wouldn't mind it. She likes her beer pretty well and her and I had several and I guess I was feeling pretty good. Anyway, I guess I asked her if she wouldn't marry me and she says it was okay. I ain't a bit sorry, Al, because she is some doll and will make them all sit up back home. She wanted to get married right away but I said no, wait till the season is over and maybe I will have more dough. She asked me what I was getting and I told her $200 a month. She says she didn't think I was getting enough and I don't either, but I will get the money when I get up in the big show again. Anyway, we are going to get married this fall and then I will bring her home and show her to you. She wants to live in shy or in New York but I guess she will like Bedford okay when she gets acquainted. I have made good here all right, Al. Up to a week ago, Sunday, I had won 11 straight. I have lost a couple since then but one day I wasn't feeling good and the other time they kicked it away behind me. I had to run in with Howard after Portland beat me. He says, keep on running around with that skirt and you won't never win another game. He says, go to bed nights and keep in shape or I will take your money. I told him to mind his own business and then he walked away from me. I guess he was scared I was gonna smash him. No manager ain't going to bluff me, Al. So I went to bed early last night and didn't keep my date with the kid. She was pretty sore about it but business before pleasure, Al. Don't tell the boys nothing about me being engaged. I wanna surprise them. Your pal, Jack. Sacramento, California, August 16. Friend, Al. Well, Al, I got the surprise of my life last night. Howard called me up after I got to my room and tells me I am going back to the White Sox. Come to find out when they sold me out here they kept an option on me and yesterday they exercised it. He told me I would have to report it once. So I packed up as quick as I could and then went down to say goodbye to the kid. She was all broke up and wanted to go along with me but I told her I didn't have enough dough to get married. She said she would come anyway and we could get married and shy but I told her she better wait. She cried all over my sleeve. She sure has gone on me, Al and I couldn't help feeling sorry for her but I promised to send for her in October and then everything will be all okay. She asked me how much I was going to get in the big league and I told her I would get a lot more money than out here because I wouldn't play if I didn't. You know me, Al. I come over here to Sacramento with the club this morning and I am leaving tonight for shy. I will get there next Tuesday and I guess Callahan will work me right away because he must have seen his mistake in letting me go by now. I will show them, Al. I looked up the schedule and I seen where we play in Detroit the 5th and 6th of September. I hope they will let me pitch there, Al. Violet goes to the games and I will make her sorry she give me that kind of treatment and I will make them tiger sorry they kidded me last spring. I ain't afraid of Cobb or none of them now, Al. Your pal, Jack. Chicago, Illinois, August 27. Al. Well, old pal, I guess I busted in right. Did you notice what I'd done to them athletics, the best club in the country? I bet Violet wishes she hadn't called me no busher. I got here last Tuesday and set up in the stand and watched the game that afternoon. Washington was playing here and Johnson pitched. I was anxious to watch him because I had heard so much about him. Honest Al, he ain't as fast as me. He shut them out but they never was much of a hitting club. I went to the clubhouse after the game and shook hands with the bunch. Kid Gleason, the assistant manager, seemed pretty glad to see me and he says, Well, have you learned something? I says, yes, I guess I have. He says, Did you see the game this afternoon? I says, I had and he asked me what I thought of Johnson. I says, I don't think so much of him. He says, Well, I guess he ain't learned nothing then. He says, What was the matter with Johnson's work? I says, He ain't got nothing but a fastball. Then he says, Yes, and Rockefeller ain't got nothing but a hundred million bucks. Well, I asked Callahan if he was going to give me a chance to work and he says he was. But I sat on the bench a couple of days and he didn't ask me to do nothing. Finally I asked him why not and he says, I'm saving your to work against a good club, the athletics. Well, the athletics come and I guess you know by this time what I'd done to them and I had to work against Bender at that but I ain't afraid of none of them now Al. Baker didn't hit one hard all afternoon and I didn't have no trouble with Collins neither. I let them down with five blows although the papers give them seven. Them reporters here don't know more about scoring than some old woman. They give Barry a hit on a fly ball that Bodie ought to have eaten up. Only he stumbled or something and they handed old ring a two base hit on a ball that Weaver had to duck to get out of the way from. But I don't care nothing about reporters. I beat them athletics and beat them good five to one. Gleason slapped me on the back after the game and says, Well, you learned something after all. Rub some monarchy on your head to keep the swelling down and you may be a real pitchy yet. I says, I ain't got no swell head. He says, No, if I hated myself like you do, I would be a moving picture actor. Well, I asked Callahan what he let me pitch up in Detroit and he says, Sure. He says, Do you want to get revenge on them? I says, Yes, I did. He says, Well, you certainly got some coming. He says, I never see the man get horse treatment than the tigers give you last spring. I says, Well, they won't do it this time because I will know how to pitch to them. He says, How are you going to pitch to Cob? I says, I am going to feed him my slow one. He says, Well, Cob ought to make a good meal off of that. Then we quit joking and he says, You have improved a whole lot and I am going to work here right along regular and if you can stand the gaff, I may be able to use you in the city series. You know, Al, the White Sox plays a city series every fall with the Cubs and the players makes quite a lot of money. The winner gets about $800 a piece and the loser is about $500. We will be the winners if I have anything to say about it. I am tickled to death at the chance of working in Detroit and can't hardly wait till we get there. Watch my smoke, Al. Your pal, Jack. P.S. I am going over to Allen's flat to play cards a while tonight. Allen is the left-hander that was on the training trip with us. He ain't got a thing, Al, and I don't see how he gets by. He is married and his wife's sister is visiting them. She wants to meet me, but it won't do her much good. I've seen her out to the game today and she ain't much for looks. Detroit, Michigan, September 6. Friend, Al. I got a whole lot to write, but I ain't got much time because we are going over to Cleveland on the boat at 10 p.m. I made them Tigers like it, Al, just like I said I would. And what do you think, Al? Violet called me up after the game and wanted to see me, but I will tell you about the game first. They got one hit off me and Cob made it a scratch single that he beat out. If he hadn't have been so damn fast, I would have had a no-hit game. At that, Weaver could have threw him out if he had started after the ball in time. Crawford didn't get nothing like a hit and I whiffed him once. I give two walks, both of them to Bush, but he is such a little guy that you can't pitch to him. When I was warming up before the game, Callahan was standing beside me and pretty soon Jennings comes over. Jennings says, You ain't gonna pitch that, bird, are ya? And Callahan said yes he was. Then Jennings says, I wish you wouldn't because my boys is all tired out and can't run the bases. Callahan says they won't get no chance today. No, says Jennings. I suppose not. I suppose he won't walk the ball and they won't have to run. Callahan says he won't give them no bases on balls, he says. But you better tell your gang that he is liable to be in them and they better stay away from the plate. Jennings says he won't never hurt my boys by beating them. Then I cut in. Nor you neither, I says. Callahan laughs at that, so I guess I must have pulled a pretty good one. Jennings didn't have no comeback, so he walks away. Then Cobb come over and asked if I was going to work. Callahan told him yes. Cobb says, How many innings? Callahan says all the way. Then Cobb says, Be a good fella, Cal, and take him out early. I am lame and can't run. I butts in then and said, Don't worry, Cobb, you won't have to run because we have got a catcher who can hold them third strikes. Callahan laughed again and says to me, Yes, sure, they'd learned something out on that coast. Well, I walked Bush right off the reel and they all begun to holler on the Detroit bench. There he goes again. Vitt come up and Jennings yells, Leave your bat in the bag, Oscar, he can't get him over. But I got them over for that bird okay, and he pops out trying to bunt. And then I whiffed Crawford. He starts off with a foul that had me scared for a minute because it was pretty close to the foul line and it went clear out of the park. But he missed a spit or a foot, and then I surprised them out. I give him a slow ball, and I honestly had to laugh to see him lunge for it. Bet he must have strained himself. He throwed his bat away like he was mad, and I guess he was. Cobb come prancing up like he always does, and yells, Give me that slow one boy. So I says all right. But I fooled him. Instead of giving him a slow one, like I said I was going to, I handed him a spitter. He hit it all right, but it was a line drive right in Chase's hands. He says, Pretty lucky boy, but I will get you next time. I come right back at him. I says, Yes you will. Well Al, I had them going like that all through. About the sixth inning, Callahan yells from the bench to Jennings. What do you think of them now? And Jennings didn't say nothing. What could he have said? Cobb makes their one hit in the eighth. He never would have made it if Shawk had of let me throw him spitters instead of fast ones. At that weaver ought to have thrown him out. Anyway, they didn't score and we made a monkey out of the Buick or whatever his name is. Well Al, I got back to the hotel and snuck down the streetaways and had a couple of beers before supper. So I come to the supper table late and Walsh tells me they had been several phone calls for me. I go down to the desk and they tell me to call up a certain number. So I called up and they charged me a nickel for it. A girl's voice answers the phone and I says was there someone there that wanted to talk to Jack Keith? She says you bet they is. She says don't you know me Jack? This is violent. Well you could have knocked me down with a piece of bread. I says what do you want? She says why I want to see you. I says well you can't see me. She says why? What's the matter Jack? What if I did that you should be sore at me? I says I guess you know all right. You called me a butcher. She says why I didn't do nothing of the kind. I says yes you did on that postcard. She says I didn't write you no postcard. Then we argued along for a while and she swore up and down that she didn't write me no postcard or call me no butcher. I says well then why didn't you write me a letter when I was in Frisco? She says she had lost my address. Well Al I don't know if she was telling me the truth or not but maybe she didn't write that postcard after all. She was crying over the telephone so I says well it is too late for I and you to get together because I am engaged to be married. Then she screamed and I hang up the receiver. She must have called back two or three times because they was calling my name around the hotel but I wouldn't go near the phone. You know me Al. Well when I hang up and went back to finish my supper the dining room was locked so I had to go out and buy myself a sandwich. They soaked me 15 cents for a sandwich and a cup of coffee so with a nickel for the phone I am out 20 cents altogether for nothing. But then I would have had to tip the waiter in the hotel a dime. Well Al I must close and catch the boat. I expect the letter from Hazel and Cleveland and maybe Violet will write to me too. She is stuck on me all right Al. I can see that. I don't believe she could have wrote that postcard after all. Yours truly Jack. Boston, Massachusetts September 12. Old pal. Well Al I got a letter from Hazel and Cleveland and she is coming to shy in October for the city series. She asked me to send her $100 for her fare and to buy some clothes with. I sent her $30 for the fare and told her she could wait till she got the shy to buy her clothes. She said she would give me the money back as soon as she seen me but she is a little short now because one of her girlfriends borrowed 50 off of her. I guess she must be pretty soft hearted Al. I hope you and Bertha can come up for the wedding because I would like to have you stand up with me. I also got a letter from Violet and they was blots all over it like she had been crying. She swore she did not write that postcard and said she would die if I didn't believe her. She wants to know who the lucky girl is who I am engaged to be married to. I believe her Al when she says she did not write that postcard but it is too late now. I will let you know the date of my wedding as soon as I find out. I guess you seen what I done in Cleveland in here. Alan was going awful bad in Cleveland and I relieved him in the eighth when we had a lead of two runs. I put them out in one, two, three order in the eighth but had hard work in the ninth due to rotten support. I walked Johnston and Chapman and Turner sacrificed them ahead. Jackson come up then and I had two strikes on him. I could have whiffed him but shock makes me give him a fast one when I wanted to give him a slow one. He hit it to Berger and Johnston ought to have been threw out at the plate but Berger fumbles and then has to make the play of first base. He got Johnson all okay but they was only one run behind then and Chapman was on third base. Lajui was up next and Callahan sends out word for me to welcome. I thought that was rotten managing because Lajui or no one else can hit me when I want to cut loose. So after I give him two bad balls I tried to slip over a strike on him but the lucky stiff hit it on a line to Weaver. Anyway the game was over and I felt pretty good but Callahan don't appreciate good work Al. He give me a call in the clubhouse and said if I ever disobeyed his orders again he would suspend me with no pay and lick me too. Honest Al it was all I could do to keep from wrapping his jaw. But Gleason winks at me not to do nothing. I worked the second game here and give them three hits two of which was Bunce that Lord ought to have eaten up. I got better support in Frisco than I've been getting here Al but I don't care the Boston Bunch couldn't have hit me with a shovel and we beat them two to nothing. I worked against Wood at that. They call him Smokey Joe and they say he has got a lot of speed. Boston is some town Al and I wish you and Bertha could come here some time. I went down to the wharf this morning and seen the Mon Moe Lufish. They must have been a million of them but I didn't have time to count them. Every one of them was five or six times as big as Bluegill. Violet asked me what would be my address in New York City so I am dropping her a postcard to let her know although I don't know what good it will do her. I certainly won't start no correspondence with her now that I am engaged to be married. Yours truly, Jack. New York, New York, September 16. Friend Al. I opened the series here and beat them easy but I know you must have saw about it in the shy papers. At that they don't give me no fair show in the shy papers. One of the boys bought me one here and I seen it where I was lucky to win that game in Cleveland. If I'd known which one of them reporters wrote that I would punch his jaw. Al, I told you Boston was some town but this is the real one. I never seen nothing like it and I've been going some since we got here. I walked down Broadway the main street last night and I run into a couple of the ball players and they took me to what they called the garden but it ain't like the gardens at home because this one is indoors. We sat down to a table and had several drinks. Pretty soon one of the boys asked me if I was broke and I says no, why? He says you better get some lubricating oil and loosen up. I don't know what he meant but pretty soon when we had a lot of drinks the waiter brings a check and hands it to me. It was for one dollar. I says oh I ain't paying for all of them. The waiter says this is just for that last drink. I thought the other boys would make a holler but they didn't say nothing. So I give him a dollar bill and even then he didn't act satisfied so I asked him what he was waiting for and he said oh nothing kind of sassy. I was gonna bust him but the boys gave me the sign to shut up and not to say nothing. I excused myself pretty soon because I wanted to get some air. I give my check for my hat to a boy and he brought my hat and I started going and he says haven't you forgot something? I guess he must have thought I was wearing a overcoat. Then I went down the main street again and some man stopped me and asked me did I want to go to the show. He said he had a ticket. I asked him what show and he said the follies. I never heard of it but I told him I would go if he had a ticket to spare. He says I'll spare you this one for three dollars. I says you must take me for some boob. He says nah I wouldn't insult no boob. So I walked on but if he had insulted me I would have busted him. I went back to the hotel then and run into kid Gleason. He asked me to take a walk with him so I go out again. We went to the corner and he bought me a beer. He don't drink nothing but pop himself. The two drinks was only ten cents so I says this is the place for me. He says I say I will have to take charge of you. Don't go around with them bull players no more. When you want to go out and see the sights come to me and I will steer you. So tonight he is going to steer me. I will write to you from Philadelphia. Your pal Jack. Philadelphia PA September 19 friend Al. They won't be no game here today because it is raining. We'd all been loafing around the hotel all day and I am glad of it because I got all tired out over in New York City. I and kid Gleason went round together the last couple of nights over there and he wouldn't let me spend no money. I seen a lot of girls that I would have liked to have got acquainted with but he wouldn't even let me answer them when they spoke to me. We run into a couple of peaches last night and they had spotted us too. One of them says I'll bet you're a couple of ball players. But kid says you'll lose your bet. I am a bellhop and the big group with me is nothing but a pitcher. One of them says what are you trying to do kid somebody? He says go home and get some soap and remove your disguise from your face. I didn't think he ought to talk like that to them and I called him about it and said maybe they was lonesome and it wouldn't hurt none if we treated them to a soda or something. But he says lonesome if I don't get you away from here they will steal everything you got. They won't even leave you your fastball. So we left them and he took me to a picture show. It was some California pictures and they made me think of Hazel. So when I got back to the hotel I sent her three postcards. Gleason made me go to my room at 10 o'clock both nights but I was pretty tired anyway because he had walked me all over town. I guess we must have saw 20 shows. He says I would take you to the Grand Opera only it would be throwing money away because we can hear Ed Walsh for nothing. Walsh has got some voice out and a loud high tenor. Tomorrow is Sunday and we have a double header Monday on account of the rain today. I thought sure I would get another chance to beat the athletics and I asked Callahan if he was going to pitch me here but he said he thought he would save me to work against Johnson in Washington. So you see Al he must figure I am about the best he has got. I'll beat him Al if they get a couple of runs behind me. Yours truly Jack. P.S. They was a letter here from Violet and it pretty near made me feel like crying. I wish they was two of me so both them girls could be happy. Washington D.C. September 22. Dear old Al. Well Al here I am in the capital of the old United States. We got in last night and I've been walking around town all morning but I didn't tire myself out because I am going to pitch against Johnson this afternoon. This is the prettiest town I ever seen but I believe they is more colored people here than they is in Evansville or shy. I seen the White House and the Monument. They say that Bill Sullivan and Gabby Street once catch the baseball that was threw off the top of the monument but I bet they couldn't catch it if I throwed it. I was into breakfast this morning with Gleason and Bodie and Weaver and Fournier. Gleason says I'm surprised that you ain't sick in bed today. I says why? He says most of our pitchers get sick when Cal tells them they are going to work against Johnson. He says here's these other fellas all feeling pretty sick this morning and they ain't even pitchers. All they have to do is hit against them but it looks as if Cal would have to send substitutes in for them. Bodie is complaining of a sore arm which he must have strained drawing two card flushes. Fournier and Weaver have strained their legs doing the tango dance. Nothing could cure them except to hear that Big Walter had got throat out of his machine and wouldn't be able to pitch against us in this series. I says I feel okay and I ain't afraid to pitch against Johnson and I ain't afraid to hit against him neither. Then Weaver says have you ever seen him work? Yes I says I seen him in shy. Then Weaver says well if you have saw him work and they're afraid to hit against him I'll bet you would go down to Wall Street and holler hooray for Roosevelt. I says no I wouldn't do that but I ain't afraid of no pitcher and what is more if you get me a couple of runs I'll beat him. Then Fournier says oh we will get you a couple of runs all right. He says that's just as easy as catching quails with an angle worm. Well Al I must close and go in and get some lunch. My arm feels great and they will have to go some to beat me Johnson or no Johnson. Your pal Jack. Washington DC September 22 friend Al. Well I guess you know by this time that they didn't get no two runs for me only one but I beat him just the same. I beat him one to nothing and Callahan was so pleased that he gave me a ticket to the theater. I just got back from there and it is pretty late and I already have wrote you one letter today but I'm going to sit up and tell you about it. It was cloudy before the game started and when I was warming up I made the remark to Callahan that the dark day ought to make my speed good. He says yes and of course it will handicap Johnson. While Washington was taking their practice their two coaches Schaefer and Ultrock got out on the infield and cut up and I pretty near busted laughing at them. They certainly is funny Al. Callahan asked me what I was laughing at and I told him and he says that's the first time I ever seen a picture laugh when it was going to work against Johnson. He says or if it is a pretty good fellow to give us something to laugh at before he shoots that guy at us. I warmed up good and told Schock not to ask me for my spitter much because my fast one looked faster than I ever seen it. He says it won't make much difference what you pitched today. I says oh yes it will because Callahan thinks enough of me to work against Johnson and I want to show him he didn't make no mistake. Then Gleason says no he didn't make no mistake. Wasting Seacot or Scotty would have been a mistake in this game. Well Johnson whiffs Weaver and Chase and makes Lord pop out the first inning. I walked their first guy but I didn't give Milan nothing to bunt and finally he flied out and then I whiffed the next two. On the bench Callahan says that's the way boy keep it up and we've got a chance. Johnson had fanned four of us when I come up with two out in the third inning and he whiffed me too. I found one though that if I had ever got a good hold of I would have knocked out of the park. In the first seven innings we didn't have a hit off him. They had got five or six lucky ones off of me and I had walked two or three but I cut loose with all I had when they was men on and they couldn't do nothing with me. The only reason I walked so many was because my fast one was jumping so. Honest Al it was so fast that Evans the umpire couldn't see it half the time and he called a lot of balls that was right over the heart. While I come up in the eighth with two out and the score still nothing and nothing. I had whiffed the second time as well as the first but it was a count of Evans missing one on me. The eighth started with shanks muffing a fly ball off a boaty. It was way out by defense so he got two bases on it and he went to third while they was throwing burger out. Then shock whiffed. Callahan says go up and try and meet one Jack. It might as well be who was anyone else. But your old pal didn't whiff this time Al. He gets two strikes on me with fast ones and then I passed up two bad ones. I took my healthy at the next one and slapped it over first base. I guess I could have made two bases on it but I didn't want to tire myself out. Anyway, boaty scored and I had them beat. And my hit was the only one we got off of him so I guess he is a pretty good pitcher after all Al. They filled up the bases on me with one out in the ninth but it was pretty dark then and I made McBride and their catcher look like suckers with my speed. I felt so good after the game that I drunk one of them pink cocktails. I don't know what their name is. And then I sent a postcard to poor little Violet. I don't care nothing about her but it don't hurt none to try and cheer her up once in a while. We leave here Thursday night for home and they had ought to be two or three letters there for me from Hazel because I haven't heard from her lately. She must have lost my road addresses. Your pal Jack. P.S. I forgot to tell you what Callahan said after the game. He said I was a real pitcher now and he is going to use me in the city series. If he does Al, we will beat them cubs sure. Chicago, Illinois September 27 friend Al. They wasn't no letter here at all from Hazel and I guess she must have been sick or maybe she didn't think it was worthwhile writing as long as she was coming next week. I want to ask you to do me a favor Al and that is to see if you can find me a house down there. I will want to move in with Mrs. Keith. Don't that sound funny Al sometime in the next week of October 12th. Old man cuttings house or that yellow house across from you would be okay. I would rather have the yellow one so as to be near you. Find out how much rent they want Al and if it is not so more than $12 a month get it for me. We will buy our furniture here in shy when Hazel comes. We have a couple of days off now Al and then we play St. Louis two games here. Then Detroit comes to finish the season the 3rd and 4th of October. Your pal Jack. Chicago Illinois October 3. Dear old Al. Thanks Al for getting the house. The one year lease is okay. You and Bertha and me and Hazel can have all sorts of good times together. I guess the walk needs repairs but I can fix that up when I come. We can stay at the hotel when we first get there. I wish you could have come up for the city serious Al but anyway I want you and Bertha to be sure and come up for our wedding. I will let you know the date as soon as Hazel gets here. The serious starts Tuesday and this town is wild over it. The Cubs finished 2nd in their league and we was 5th in ours but that don't scare me none. We would have finished right on top if I had been here all season. Callahan pitched one of the Bushers against Detroit this afternoon and they beat him bad. Callahan is saving up Scott and Allen and Russell and Seacott and I for the big show. Walsh isn't in no shape and neither is Benz. It looks like I would have a good deal to do because most of their mothers can't work no more than once in 4 days and Allen ain't no good at all. We have a day to rest after tomorrow's game with the Tigers and then we go at them Cubs. Your pal Jack. P.S. I have got it figured that Hazel is fixing to surprise me by dropping in on me because I haven't heard nothing yet. Chicago, Illinois, October 7. Friend Al. Well Al you know by this time that they beat me today and tied up to serious. But I have still got plenty of time Al and I will get them before it is over. My arm wasn't feeling good Al and my fastball didn't hop like it ought to but it was the rotten support I got that beat me. That lucky stiff Zimmerman was the only guy that got a real hit off of me and he must have shut his eyes and throat his bat because the ball he hit was a foot over his head. And if they hadn't been making all them errors behind me they wouldn't have been nobody on bases when Zimmerman got that lucky scratch. The serious now stands one and one Al and it is a cinch we will beat them even if they are a bunch of lucky stiffs. They have been great big crowds at both games and it looks like as if we should ought to get over $800 a piece if we win and we will win sure because I will beat them three straight if necessary. But Al I have got bigger news than that for you and I am the happiest man in the world. I told you I had not heard from Hazel for a long time. Tonight when I got back to my room they was a letter waiting for me from her. Al she is married. Maybe you don't know why that makes me happy but I will tell you. She is married to Kid Levy the middleweight. I guess my $30 is gone because in her letter she called me a cheapskate and she enclosed one one cent stamp and two twos and said she was paying me for the glass of beer I once bought her. I bought her more than that Al but I won't make no holler. She also said not for me to never come near her or her husband would bust my jaw. I ain't afraid of him or no one else Al but they ain't no danger of me ever bothering them. She was no good and I was sorry the minute I agreed to marry her. But I was going to tell you why I am happy or maybe you can guess. Now I can make violet my wife and she's got Hazel beat 40 ways. She ain't nowhere as near as big as Hazel but she's classier Al and she will make me a good wife. She ain't never asked me for no money. I wrote her a letter the minute I got the good news and told her to come on over here at once at my expense. We will be married right after this series is over and I want you and Bertha to be sure and stand up with us. I will wire you at my own expense the exact date. It all seems like a dream now about Violet and I having our misunderstanding Al and I don't see how I ever could have accused her of sending me that postcard. You and Bertha will be just as crazy about her as I am when you see her Al. Just think Al I will be married inside of a week and to the only girl I ever could have been happy with instead of the woman I never really cared for except as a passing fancy. My happiness would be complete Al if I had not have let that woman steal $30 off me. You're happy pal Jack. P.S. Hazel probably would have insisted on us taking a trip to Niagara Falls or somewhere but I know Violet will be perfectly satisfied if I take her right down to Bedford. Oh you little yellow house. Chicago Illinois October 9. Friend Al. Well Al we have got them beat three games to one now and will wind up the serious tomorrow sure. Callahan sent me in to save poor Alan yesterday and I snopped them dead. But I don't care now Al. I have lost all interest in the game and I don't care if Callahan pitches me tomorrow or not. My heart is just about broke Al and I wouldn't be able to do myself justice feeling the way I do. I have lost Violet Al and just when I was figuring on being the happiest man in the world we will get the big money but it won't do me no good. They can keep my share because I won't have no little girl to spend it on. Her answer to my letter was waiting for me at home tonight. She is engaged to be married to Joe Hill the big left hand their Jennings got from Providence. Honest Al I don't see how he gets by. He ain't got no more curveball than a rabbit and his fast one floats up there like a big balloon. He beat us the last game of the regular season here but it was because Callahan had a lot of bushes in the game. I wish I had knew then that he was stealing my girl and I would have made Callahan pitch me against him and when he come up to bat I would have beamed him but I don't suppose you could hurt him by hitting him in the head the big stiff. Their wedding ain't gonna come off till next summer and by that time he will be pitching in the Southwestern Texas League for about $50 a month. Violet wrote that she wished me all the luck and happiness in the world but it was too late for me to be happy Al and I don't care what kind of luck I have now. Al you will have to get rid of that lease for me. Fix it up the best way you can. Tell the old man I have changed my plans. I don't know just yet what I will do but maybe I will go to Australia with Mike Donlan's team. If I do I won't care if the boat goes down or not. I don't believe I will even come back to bed for this winter. It would drive me wild to go past that little house every day and think how happy I might have been. Maybe I will pitch tomorrow Al and if I do the serious will be over tomorrow night. I can beat them cubs if I get any kind of decent support. But I don't care now Al. Yours truly Jack. Chicago Illinois October 12th. Al your letter received. If the old man won't call it off I guess I will have to try and rent the house to someone else. Do you know of any couple that wants one Al? It looks like I would have to come down there myself and fix things up some way. He is just mean enough to stick me with the house on my hands when I won't have no use for it. They beat us the day before yesterday as you probably know and it rained yesterday and today. The paper says it will be all okay tomorrow and Callahan tells me I am going to work. The cub pitchers was all shot to pieces and the bed weather is just nuts for them because it will give Chaney a good rest. But I will beat him Al if they don't kick it away behind me. I must close because I promised Alan the little left hander that I would come over to his flat and play cards a while tonight and I must wash up and change my collar. Alan's wife's sister is visiting them again and I would give anything not to have to go over there. I am through with girls and don't want nothing to do with them. I guess it is maybe a good thing it rained today because I dreamt about Violet last night and went out and got a couple of high balls before breakfast this morning. I had never drank nothing before breakfast before and it made me kind of sick. But I am all okay now. Your pal Jack. Chicago Illinois October 13th. Dear old Al. The serious is all over Al. We are the champions and I've done it. I may be home the day after tomorrow or I may not come for a couple of days. I want to see Kamiski before I leave and fix up about my contract for next year. I won't sign for no less than $5,000 and if he hands me a contract for less than that I will leave the White Sox flat on their back. I have got over $1,400 now Al with the city serious money which was $814.30 and I don't have to worry. Them reporters will have to give me a square deal this time Al. I had everything and the Cubs done well to score a run. I whiffed Zimmerman three times. Some of the boys say he ain't no hitter but he is a hitter and a good one Al only he could not touch the stuff I got. The Umpps give them their run because in the fourth inning I had Leech flat footed off of second base and Weaver tagged them okay but the Umpps wouldn't call it. Then Schulte the lucky stiff happened to get a hold of one and pulled it past first base. I guess Chase must have been asleep. Anyway they scored but I don't care because we piled up six runs on Cheney and I drove in one of them myself with one of the prettiest singles you ever see. It was a spitter and I hit it like a shot. If I had hit it square it would have went out of the park. Kamiski ought to feel pretty good about me winning and I guess he will give me a contract for anything I want. He will have to or I will go to the Federal League. We are all invited to a show tonight and I am going with Allen and his wife and her sister Florence. She is okay Al and I guess she thinks the same about me. She must because she was out to the game today and seen me handed to them. She may be ain't as pretty as Violet and Hazel but as they say beauty isn't only so deep. Well Al tell the boys I will be with them soon. I have gave up the idea of going to Australia because I would have to buy a evening full dress suit and they tell me they cost pretty near $50. Yours truly Jack. Chicago, Illinois October 14. Dear friend Al, never mind about that lease. I want the house after all Al and I have got the surprise of your life for you. When I come home to Bedford I will bring my wife with me. I and Florence fix things all up after the show last night and we are going to be married tomorrow morning. I am a busy man today Al because I have got to get the license and look round for furniture. And I have also got to buy some new clothes but they are having a sale on Cottage Grove Avenue at Clark's store and I know one of the clerks there. I am the happiest man in the world Al. You and Bertha and I and Florence will have all kinds of good times together this winter because I know Bertha and Florence will like each other. Florence looks something like Bertha at that. I am glad I didn't get tied up with violet or hazel even if they was a little bit prettier than Florence. Florence knows a lot about baseball for a girl and you would be surprised to hear her talk. She says I am the best pitcher in the league and she has saw them all. She also says I am the best looking ball player she ever seen but you know how girls will kid a guy Al. You will like her okay. I fell for her the first time I seen her. Your old pal Jack. P.S. I signed for next year. Kamiski slapped me on the back when I went in to see him and told me I would be a star next year if I took good care of myself. I guess I am a star without waiting for next year Al. My contract calls for 2800 a year which is a thousand more than I was getting and it is pretty near a cinch that I will be in on the World Serious money next season. P.S. I certainly am relieved about that lease. It would have been fierce to have had that place on my hands all winter and not getting any use out of it. Everything is all okay now. Oh you little yellow house. End of chapter 2