A LITTLE BIT OF THE REAL SPORTING DOPE
Well, we've made ourselves hard to
catch for second place, and we've been
nosing along the shoulders of the Griz
zlies, making that bunch of bruins step
lively. Drawing up on the Grizzlies,
mighty slowly, to be sure, but drawing up
just the same. We are preparing to ac
commodate 'steen millions of our friends
at Antelope park during the series where
in appears the Grizzlies and our own An
telopes. That will be some ball game, be
lieve us.
Robertus Unglaub broke a couple of
records the other day, whereupon he pro
ceded to celebrate by giving his Antelo
pian compatriots a little spread down in
Kawtown. On that particular day Rob
ertus was thirty years old for the first
time, which is record No. 1. On the same
day he won a ball game, which is the first
he ever won on his natal day. Which
same is record No. 2. We've just about
quit celebrating birthdays ourselves, but
we cheerfully admit that we'd like to
celebrate our thirtieth again. If Rob
ertus has as much good fortune during
the next thirty years as we wish him, he'll
have to haul the good things home in an
automobile truck two or thre times a day,
and then some.
We beg leave to announce that Presi
dent Tip O'Neil is not nearly so slow in
drawing his princely salary as he is in
deciding thaat protested Lincodn-Omaha
game.
Omaha has actually won a majority of
games during the past ten days or two
weeks, whereupon Pa Rourke smiles and
has temporarily ceased biting chunks out
of the railing, around the grandstand.
Being naturally of a peaceful mind we
would suggest that Denver and St. Joe
-declare a truce until the season closes,
.then let the two teams, armed with bats,
assemble on neutral ground and fight it
crat, a la the Killkenny cats. We weary
'somewhat of the continual recrimina
tions passing betwen the two villages.
The ambitious Mr. Fox, who essayed to
pitch two games against Pueblo on the
same afternoon, ought to have had two
wins instead of one. His second game
was even better pitched than his first
one, but some mussed up plays by his
comrades put him in the lost column for
the second bout. Brer Fox reminds us
so much of the mile-and-a-quarter bosses
w;e used to watch race down in ol' Ken
tuckyhe comes in stronger on the fifth
quarter than any other.
It's none of our business, we having
put all such matters into the sole control
of our Mr. Despain, but were we assum
ing charge thereof Grandpa Higgins
couldn't come with gunshot of trans
ferring any of his Des Moines "dated
games to the Antelope grounds. All that
this Higgins person has coming to him is
a swift kick applied to the broadest por
tion of his bifurcated garment.
We'd hate to have the recording angel
putting after our name the crosses
marked up against Col. Hendricks every
time he sees a report that Ehman lias
won another game for us.
Those near-sports who imagine that
this western loop of ours is rather slow
are requested to take notice. Hafford,
recently joining the Kansas City Blues
in the A. A., is looking good to the A. A.
scribes. It was this same Hafford who
was dropped by Topeka because he
couldn't go the pace in this little old
league of ours.
If either Denver or Lincoln wins the
western loop pennant we are prepared to
bet $3,000 some portion of it in cash
that the winner can lambast the winner
of the pennant in the A. A. The atten
tion of one Water Tank J. Richie of Min
neapolis is called to this defi.
We sent our Mr. Despain along with
the Antelopes, hot because we feared that
our 'Lopes need : his restraining hand
after working hours, but because of the
psychological effect Mr. Despain's pres
ence upon the bench has. We took two
from Topeka. Now if we jiist take two
from Pueblo and the series from Denver
we will feel elated and full of good cheer.
The editor of this department is work
ing nights upon a book that will attract
world-wide attention when completed.
The closing chapters are now being writ
ten. The book will be handsomely bound
in horsehide. The title is "The Rejuvena
tion of Guiseppe Dundon." Leave orers
at the salt fountain.
We once heard of a man who wished
he owned seven hundred tons of cambric
needles, and could set every needle to
work sewing up sacks of gold for him.
We are not so grasping. All we wish is
that we had as much money as Grandma
Schaffer of Joetown thinks she is funny.
Speaking of pitching double headers,
and having a released pitcher put the
rollers under his former team mates. We
are reminded of what happened to us
away back yonder in 1891, when Dave
Rowe was our local magnate. Rowe re
leased Billy Hart, and Hart immediately
caught on with Minneapolis. A week
after leaving Lincoln Hart pitched a
! Sunday afternoon double header at the
old grounds east of what is now Epworth
Park and licked the Roweites good and
plenty in both games. We remember it
because a batted ball hit Hart on the
pitching arm, causing him great agony.
Immediately twenty-three men maybe it
was thirty-three rushed down out of the
grandstand and proffered as many flasks
to the injured flinger. If you don't be
lieve it, ask Ed Young, sr.
Pa Rourke says he is well satisfied with
his new manager, Arbogast. That's be
cause' the Rourkes have won a few games.
Wait till the team under Arbogast drops
two or three in a row, and you'll then see
Pa biting the heads off the nails in his
new grandstand roof.
We claim that the attendance the last
two days of the Pueblo-Lincoln series
here last week was a bit the best ever. We
are prepared to submit figures proving
that Lincoln is the best base ball city of
its size in Uncle Sam's domain.
We'll be a long spell without any
games at the Antelope park this month.
Now, instead of letting Pa Higgins trans
fer some of his games here, why not get a
couple of the state league teams to give
ns some sport on a couple of those off
Sunday afternoons? We'd like to see
some of the state league teams, 'cause we
might want to yank a' few players this
fall for speculative purposes next season.
A Lancaster county farmer has within
the past ten days threshed 1,332 bushels
of wheat from twenty acres a bit more
than an average of 60 bushels to the acre.
In 1910 Nebraska's average production
of corn to the acre was 5.3 bushels more
than the general average for the United
States. Her wheat average was 6.1 bush
els more per acre than the general aver
age of the United States. There are 25,
000,000 acres of Nebraska land untouched
by the plow that will produce as much
wheat as the acreage now devoted to that
cereal. Better be getting some of it.
The esteemed Star well says that
"President Taft is rapidly molding into
servicable form the greatest issue upon
which he will go before the people in his
next campaign his universal peace pro
gram." The president is working out his
program without the bombast of the "Big
Sticker," but quietly and effectively. The
great nations are taking kindly to it, and
already wonderful progress has been
made without any fuss or excitement. If
William Howard Taft leaves the presi
dential chair after having brought about
a peace pact between the nations, he will
have written his name large in history,
and his record as author of that univer
sal peace program will be remembered
long after his mere occupancy of the
presidential chair has been forgotten. It
is a very partisan and prejudiced man
who refuses to admit that President Taft
has been growing wonderfully of late.