WITH SOME REAL
COMING ALONG
When the Topeaks lambasted us in the
first game we took it very good naturedly
realizing that our loss meant a lot for
Crippletown. lint when our manager,
I Terr Unglaub, so durned generously gave
the Topekas the second game we seized
the Link end of a tellygraft wire and shot
over a few caloric words that had a prop
er effect. The next day Herr Unglaub
dogged himself and the bunch hy handing
Topeak a large pailful of the stuff Uncle
Kastus used to paint the chicken coop.
We believe in being easy and generous
with the unfortunate, but we protest
against our manager giving the pocket
book away with the contents.
Edouard Gawii3'er, the affable gentle
man who phrys the comma position for us,
must 'sidestep this accident business. His
last one was to attempt to stop a
pitched ball with his head, and as a re
sult he blamed near spoiled a bran new
ball. We get those balls by the gross at a
reduced price, but that is no reason why
Edouard should treat them so roughly.
With Parson Farthing on the pitching
staff the 'Lopes look better than ever. Wre
refuse to make any pennant predictions,
but we have already put in an order for
an ornamental flagpole.
Rumor hath it that Sam Crawford and
Ty Cobb, after having been at outs for a
year, have made up and shooken hands.
Sounds good, but if we can secure a cou
ple of outer gardeners who can swipe the
ball like the two Detroiters, we don't care
a fig whether they ever speak to anybody
or not.
Some opening day crowd, eh? More
than 5,000 people out. Some game, eh?
Three to two and a boss race at every
stage of the proceedings. And some ball
park since- we pruned it up a bit, eh? We
are ut much given to boasting, but we
are sitting around with our hat in our
hands awaiting the congratulations of
our friends and admirers on our having
fitted up Antelope Park till it looks like
a sweet-seventeener in her graduating
gown, and assembling a ball team that
looks like it would be reaching for the
lanyards of the pennant. .pole from now
until the season closes.
Baseball is a funny thing, full of sur
prises. F'rinstance: At home St. Joseph
lambasted the champ Sioux Cityans for
fair, then went over to Des Moines and
let the Weaklings trounce them to a fin
ish. Remember'last year on the home lot ?
The 'Lopes would play rings around the
leaders when they showed up. Then a
competitor for tail-end honors would
limp in and put all kinds of crimps into
our bunch. It is the constant surprise
and the element of uncertainty that
makes base bull eo fascinating.
JUST A TOAST.
Here's to the team we hope will win.
The Antelopes!
And under th wire come romping in,
The Antelopes !
Here's to Robert and Jim and Jack,
And Cobb and Cole and Gag and Mac,
Farthing and Fox and Stafford, too,
Knapp, McGraw and the whole blamed
crew.
The whole blamed crew and Prexy Don-
The swifest bunch that the sun shines on.
Here's to the team we hope will win
And under the wire come romping in
Here's to the team we hope wins out,
The Antelopes!
That puts the rest of the league to rout,
The Antelopes.
Here's to the 'Lopes as they set the pace
For the other teams in the pennant race.
Fighting fair till the game is done,
And sticking tight till it's lost or won.
Here's to the team and Prexy Don
We'll boost 'em on til! they win. Praise
John! '
Here's to the team Ave hope will win,
And under the wire come romping in.
From "Nebulous Nightmares of a Ner
vous Novice," by Billy Turner.
Speaking of surprises, the news from
the last Topeka game was to the effect
that McCorniick actually stole a couple
of bases. But we saw Jimmy Sullivan
turn the same trick once..
Art Fenlon seems to be the champion
club-hunter of the lot. He has been
traded by Atlanta and is now with a Tri
State League club somewhere in Pennsyl
vania. Fenlon lacks just two things of
being a great ball player. He pays too
much attention to highballs and not
enough to pitched balls, and his brain ap
paratus suffers a temporary eclipse the
minute the umpire says "play ball."
William Holmes has been suspended
for making a few Holmeseque remarks to
the umpire. When the Holmes vocabu
lary gets to going it can exhaust all the
vile epithets known to the English lan
guage. It is usually going. -
Willyuin Rourke, better known as
"Pa," seems to have assembled a pretty
lively bunch of young ones. Young
Johnnie Gonding, who will do some of
the backstopping is a young player of
much promise. After a couple more sea
sons of work with real live ones he will
be quite a catcher. Captain Shipke is
another promising youth, quite young,
and inexperienced to be trusted with
managerial honors, but he seems to be
making good. Rourke has a knack of
developing good players, and Ave opine
that in Gonding and Shipke he has a
couple of youngsters who will create a
stir in baseball circles in two or three
SPORTING DOPE
V
years. It would be surprising to see a
couple of grayhaired grandfathers play
ing iii 'organized base ball, Avouldn't it?
Sunday Ave meet up Avith the Wichita
bunch at the Capital Beach grounds and
Avill undertake to shoAV Bizzie Izzie Isbell
Iioav the national pastime is played.
Thursday the Topeka cripples not so
aAvfully crippled will debut for the sea
son at the M street grounds and attempt
to do it again. Monday being May Day
Ave expect to see the M street grounds
packed to repletion. Tuesday being elec
tion day Ave expect to see a lot of "wet"
and "dry" voters out there amicably
agreeing to disagree on everything but
the matter of whooping the '.Lopes on to
victory.
Pell BarroAvs is officiating as official
press agent for President Despain, and it
is one of his manifold duties to keep the
country press supplied with hot stuff cal
culated to interest the fans in their re
spective localities. Mr. Barrows can
Avrite the "dope" all right, and every
weekly newspaper in Nebraska has a lot
of clients Avho will appreciate good live
neAVS concerning the progress of base bail
in Nebraska. President Despain could
not have selected a better man for the position.
Omaha started off like a house afire
five games out of the first six. And Des
Moines started ofiC like the last gasp of a
still alarm blander the chemical. But.
Higgins say. he in going to give Des
Moines a winner if it costs him a rw.nd
million dollars, real money. We'll bet
him a million dollars he'll never do it un
less he changes his ways.
Under the new system of entrances and
exits it is noAV possible to turn 5,000 peo
ple out of Antelope Park in les than five
minutes, without undue crowding. Com
ing doAvn to brass tacks, the Liucoln base
ball park is just as nifty as any park in
the circuit and better than most of 'ein.
Printing of
Every Description
Promptly Performed
THE WAGEW0RKER
PRINTERY,
1705 "O"
Auto 2748 - The Good Kind
