The Battle of Texas
Friend Al: Well Al I am writeing this on the old rattler bound for sunny Texas and a man has got to write letters or something or you would gap yourself to death. They don’t have no more poker game Al but just some baby game like rummy that may be OK for birds that has spent all their life at some X roads but take a man like I that was over in France and played in the big game and it kind of sets up a man’s stomach to watch a bunch of growed up men popping their eyes out for the fear that they might maybe have a picture card left in their hand when some other bird lays down their cards. So about all they’s left for a real man to do is write letters or read the paper or look out at the scenery and I all ready read the papers and as for the scenery we been going through Kas. most of the day and you could pull down the shade most any minute and feel pretty sure you wasn’t going to miss nothing.
Well Al we left Chi last night and the 1st thing Kid Gleason come through the car and asked everybody if they had any bottle goods hid in their grips as he says they are getting strick and if they catch a bird carring anything in to dry territory they send you to Siberia or somewheres. So when he come along to me he said “Well you big busher I don’t half to ask you if you are bringing anything along with you as my nose knows but is any of it in bottles?” So I said “No all I have got with me they would half to operate to find it.”
So he said “Well you want to be sure as they are libel to go through everybody’s baggage.” So I said “I would like to see some fresh Alex make a move to serch my baggage and I would knock him for a gool.”
Well they’s 2 or 3 of the other boys besides myself that was in the service or that is they call it being in the service though I was the only 1 that got acrost the old pond outside of Joe Jenkins 1 of the catchers that’s still over there yet, but Red Faber was in the navy up to Great Lakes and Ed Collins was in the marines and 1 of the young fellows is wearing a aviation uniform and I suppose he seen the war from Texas and maybe got up so high that the 1st baseman had to jump for him. But for a wile last night they was all asking me questions about what I seen over there and this in that but every time I would tell them something Collins or 1 of the other smart Alex would say he read about it in the papers and it was different so I said “All right if you seen it in the papers that way it must be so only I kind of figured that me being right up to the front I might be in a position to know something about the war where you take the most of these here reporters and for all they seen of it they might as well of been on Pikes Peek with a pair of opera glasses looking west.” So that shut them up.
Well Al we are supposed to get to Mineral Wells tomorrow noon and they can’t get us there to soon to suit me as I am wild to get out there in the old ball yard and show Gleason that I have got something left and he was telling me this a.m. that he had picked up a lot of good looking young right handers and I would half to step along to hold a job or the next thing I knowed I would be up to Minneapolis wearing a white beard and pitching for Joe Cantillon. But the new recruits that I have met on the train so far that thinks they are pitchers couldn’t pass the physical examination for the Portugal army so it looks like I wouldn’t have much trouble if I get a square deal and if I don’t I will knock somebody for a gool.
Friend Al: Well Al we landed here yesterday noon and it was raining when we got here and still raining and don’t look like it would ever stop and a man might almost think we had came to France by a mistake. And the only differents is that the harder it rained in France why they would see that we was all out in it wile here they’s nothing to do only lay around the hotel. Well Al I don’t know how many people they have got in Texas but they are all stopping at this hotel and on a rainy day it would take Houdini to get through the lobby. They call this hotel the Crazy Wells on acct. of 1 of the wells that they say it cures crazy people but it would half to be some well to cure some of the birds on our club a specially after they been jammed up together in this hotel a couple of rainy days with nothing to do only gap at each other.
Well we got in to Ft. Worth yesterday a.m. and they switched us on to the R.R. that runs over here at lease they call it a R.R. and its the Weatherford Mineral Wells and North Western but Buck Weaver says the letters stands for Whoa Mule Whoa now Whoa. So I said if you think this R.R. balks you should ought to ride around France in some of them horse cars so Buck said “I wished I was a extra catcher so as I could set down in the bull pen with you all summer and learn all about France.” He said “You boys that went to France thinks you had a tough time of it but what about we birds that has to listen to it all the rest of our life.” So I said shut your mouth. But any way Al this R.R. isn’t only 28 miles long from 1 end to the other so even if the trains do run like old Cy Young was paceing them you get to where you was going some time, where the roads we was on in France never seemed to know where to leave off.
Well we couldn’t of done no work yesterday any way on acct. of just getting in and unpacking and getting our uniforms and everything but Gleason was certainly sore when we woke up this a.m. and it was still poring rain and I set with him at the breakfast table and the waiter said this rain was makeing a big hit with the people in Texas as they hadn’t had no rain for so long that pretty near everything was drying up so Gleason said “Well you better make it unanimous.” He meant for the waiter to dry up and to shut his mouth.
Well Gleason said we would half to go out and work tomorrow rain or shine and he said after this everybody would half to be down for breakfast at 8 bells or they wouldn’t get no breakfast and if they didn’t get down for breakfast he would go up to their rooms and use his razor strap on them. That’s the way he generally always does Al on the new recruits is go after them with his razor strap to show them he is in ernest but of course he wouldn’t dast do that on 1 of we old timers and if he ever tried it on me I would knock him for a gool.
I told him that this a.m. and he said “Well they’s no danger of you ever comeing late to a meal and the only thing I am a scared of is that you will get here before they open up the dinning rm. and bust down the door and get us put out of the hotel.”
Well Al I am glad of 1 thing and that is most of the people stopping at the hotel is men and very few gals not that the gals would make any differents in my young life only in most of these southern hotels they’s generally always a flock of gals that wants to make a fuss over the ball players and usually 1 of them takes a kind of a shine to me but this time I have made it up in my mind to tend to business and show Gleason that he didn’t make no mistake in meeting my terms so I am glad I won’t have nothing to take my mind off of my work though they’s 1 little gal stopping here that the boys says she is a swell heiress from St. Louis that’s here with her mother that’s got rheumatism and I noticed she give me a long look when I come in the dinning rm. this noon but I looked straight ahead and pretended like I didn’t notice it. Her name is Miss Krug and she is some looker but she is certainly wasteing them goggly eyes on me as I am down here to get my arm in shape to pitch and not hold hands or something.
The clerk tells me that she has got a big car that she drives around in it all the wile her mother is takeing the treatments but as far as I am conserned if she gets lonesome driveing she will half to talk to the spare tire.
Friend Al: Well Al if nerve was all that a bird needed to make good in the big league they’s 1 bird down here trying to be a pitcher on our club that has all ready made good. But it takes something besides nerve Al but listen to what come off today and you will say this bird is chesty enough if he only had something to go with it.
Well this bird’s name is Belden and he was a semi pro up in Chi but he got catched in the draft and went to France and he just got back from over there last month and somebody recomended him to Comiskey and so he is down here on the trip. Well he is a right hander so he is a rival of mine you might say but to look at him I guess they’s no hurry about me packing up my grip and go home.
Well the rain had stopped this a.m. and Gleason said everybody must be out to the pk. at 10 bells so we started out about 9:30 and I was walking with Buck Weaver and Eddie Cicotte and this here Belden. They was about a ft. of mud on the road and Cicotte made some remark about the mud and Belden said “This isn’t nothing to what it was in France and over there we would think this was a drout.” Well they’s a cemetery on the way out to the pk. and wile we was going past it Buck Weaver made the remark that that was where we left most of the young pitchers every spring so Belden said “You can’t scare me with no stuff about cemeterys as I seen to many of them in France.” So then Buck says “Is they any subject we can talk about that won’t remind you of something you seen in France?” So that shut him up for a wile but after a wile Cicotte asked him what battles he was in over there and he said he was in the Marne and the Oregon forest and Bellow Woods. So Cicotte says “Its no wonder the Germans took such a licking in them places as the whole American army was there.” So Belden said oh no they wasn’t and what made him think that. So Cicotte said “Because every soldier I have seen that’s came back from France was in the Oregon forest and Bellow Woods.”
Well we finely got out to the pk. and they wasn’t no chance for a real practice on acct. of the mud but Gleason found a dry spot over in 1 corner and marked off the pitching distants and had us all throw a few and honest Al my old super never felt better in my life and I cut loose a couple that pretty near knocked Schalk for a gool but Gleason finely come up and stopped me and told me to not go to strong the 1st day. Well I watched this Belden wile he throwed a few and I was standing along side of Cicotte and he was watching him to so I asked him what he thought of him. So Cicotte said “He looks like he will make a mighty valuable man for us as when he is in there pitching Schalk can set on the bench and rest as he won’t never get nothing past the batter.”
Well we finely come out of the pk. and started back towards the hotel and the 1st thing you know they was a machine come hunking up behind us and it was Miss Krug the St. Louis heiress that’s stopping at the hotel and she slowed up and asked if anybody wanted a ride. Well Al she was looking right at me but I pretended like I didn’t understand but I just give her a kind of a smile and the next thing you know Belden had ran out and jumped in the drivers seat with her and away they went.
How is that for nerve Al when it was me she was looking at and this other bird that’s been in the league about 5 minutes you might say jumps in and rides with her and I bet the little gal felt pretty sick when she seen what she had got wished on to and she didn’t come in for supper tonight as I suppose she thought some of the boys would make fun of her though she needn’t have no fears on that score as if any of them tried it I would knock them for a gool.
Friend Al: Well old pal I guess they’s no more question about me makeing good and sticking with the club and you will say the same thing when I tell you what Gleason said yesterday. We played a game out to the pk. between the 1st and 2nd clubs and the game was to go 7 innings and Gleason told me I could pitch a part of it for the 2nd club so my arm was feeling so good that I asked him to let me work 4 of the 7 innings. Well Al when I got through the 1st club had 1 hit and never found out where 2nd base was located. So when it was over Gleason come up to me and said “Well Jack I don’t know what the war done to you but I never seen you look better then that in the spring and right now you look like the best man I have got down here pitching.” He said “Now don’t go and swell up but keep working hard and do like I tell you and you may turn out to be the bird I need to round out my pitching staff.” Well the club was going over to play Ft. Worth and Dallas Saturday and Sunday and I thought of course we would all go along but after my showing yesterday Gleason figured he wouldn’t take no chances so he left me here to work out with Faber and Wolfgang wile the rest of the boys is gone. He said “I wouldn’t pitch you in either of them games after working you yesterday and I want you to do a little work here with these other 2 boys and behave just like I was here watching you.” So I said “What and the he‑ll could a man do only behave himself in this town?” Well he said “I mean for you to not try and eat for the whole club just because they are not here to eat for themself.”
So you see Al it looks like I had made good right from the start this time and that means they will half to come acrost with more jack before long as Gleason promised before I come south that he would give me more then my contract calls for if I show him the right kind of stuff.
Well the bunch went away early this a.m. and was gone before I got up and I had breakfast with Faber and Wolfgang and we decided to go out and work about 11 o’clock so I and the other 2 went out to the pk. and throwed the ball around a wile and done some running but I got tired pretty quick on acct. of pitching yesterday so pretty soon I said I thought I would call it a day so I started back to the hotel and I hadn’t no sooner then got outside of the pk. and all of a sudden along come Miss Krug in her machine.
Well they wasn’t no getting away from her this time without turning her down cold so I kind of waved to her and she stopped the machine and I got in and we drove back to the hotel.
Well Al she is some gal and it is a pleasure to talk to a gal like she as you take most gals and they can’t kid along with a man but about all as they can do is giggle and act silly but this baby can give you as good as you send.
Well I said “You must be pretty lonesome today with Belden gone.” So she said “Oh I don’t know.” So then I said “He is sure some lady killer.” So she said “I’ll say so. But you notice I am still alive.” So after a wile she said “Belden tells me you was in France too.” So I said “You and Belden seems to of talked together a whole lot.” “Well” she said “I haven’t had no one else to talk to.” So I said “Well you have got some one else to talk to now.” “Yes” she says “but you always run away from me. I suppose you real stars gets tired of haveing girls run after you.” So I said “Oh I don’t know.”
Well we kidded back and 4th like that till we come to the hotel and then I asked her was she doing anything this p.m. and she said she had a date with her mother but I took her to the picture show tonight and tomorrow she is going to take me for another ride. Well Al it does a man good to be around with a gal like that that keeps a man on edge what to say next as she always gives you as good as you send and from what she said she must be kind of tired of hearing Belden tell how he win the battle of Bellow Woods and etc. and any way I feel like a little rest would be the best thing for me after pitching them 4 innings yesterday. So I will play around with her tomorrow and then forget her when the bunch gets back Monday a.m. and go to work in ernest but if a man works to hard right at the start you are libel to go stale.
Well Al I had a letter from Florrie today and little Florrie has got 1 tooth and another 1 showing and she says little Al misses me pretty bad and asks every day why daddy don’t hurry up and come home. Well they will all be proud of daddy before this season is over eh Al.
Friend Al: Well Al the boys is back from Ft. Worth and Dallas and I guess they didn’t show up any to good over there and any way Gleason don’t look like he enjoyed the trip and he told the boys out to the pk. this p.m. that they would half to show a whole lot more pep or he would leave some of them in Texas all summer to graze.
Well he give us a long work out and he stood behind me wile I throwed a few to Schalkie and he said I didn’t look as fast as when I pitched them 4 innings last Friday but he wasn’t throwing no boquets at any of the boys today so I didn’t pay no tension. But I couldn’t help from laughing at 1 of the young catchers name Cosgrove that was standing up there catching in the batting practice and Joe Jackson hit a foul ball straight up and Cosgrove throwed off his mask and begin running a mile around a 4 ft. track and finely the ball came down and hit him in the cheek bone and knocked him for a gool. Well he layed there and the trainer come running out to tend to him but Gleason says “Get away from him as he is just as good laying there as standing up and maybe after this he will know enough to keep his mask on after a high foul ball.”
Well it was pretty near supper time when he let us off and I tried to be 1 of the 1st out of the pk. but they was a whole bunch out ahead of me and when Miss Krug come along with her car they all seen me jump in and you ought to of seen Belden when he seen us drive away together and all the boys yelled their head off.
Well I come back here to the hotel and got dressed and come down for supper and after a wile Gleason come in and I was setting with 3 of the other boys but he made 1 of them get up and give him his seat so as he could set down and kid me.
“Well Jack” he says “I hear you worked pretty hard wile we was gone and I suppose you can pretty near run the car by this time.”
Well I knew he wasn’t sore at me but just sore on acct. of how rotten the young fellows was showing up so I just give him a smile.
“After this” he says “you and all the whole rest of the club will ride back and 4th between the ball pk. and back on your own dogs. They’s to much rideing on this club but after this I will do all of it and everybody on this club will get rode to death if they don’t quit loafing on me. So remember every one of you will stay out of machines going to the ball pk. and comeing back and besides that when you go up to your rms. you can use the stairs and take a load off the elevator.”
Well Al he may be my mgr. out on the old ball field but he can’t tell me how to get upstairs or from 1 place to another but I left him get away with it rather then start trouble in the dinning rm. of the hotel in front of the other boys to say nothing of the guests.
But I wonder what he would say if he knew how I spent Sunday. Well old pal I had some time. Miss Krug knows all the roads and we drove pretty near all day and she is some gal Al and smart as a whip. Everything you say to her she has got a come back and for inst. wile we was driveing yesterday she happened to ask me where I come from and I told her Indiana and she said “That’s a good place to come from.” She meant it was a good place to get away from. So I said “I guess it hasn’t got nothing on St. Louis at that.” “Oh I don’t know” she said.
Well it looks like I had Belden’s time beat and I suppose I ought to of left him a clear field on acct. of him being single but the gal says herself that she can’t stand him on acct. of him talking about himself all the wile and besides his looks is against him and besides a man has got to amuse themself some way in a burg like this or it would take more then the crazy wells to stop you from turning in to squirrel meat.
Friend Al: Well Al tomorrow is the last day here as we leave for Houston and play there Saturday and Sunday and then Austin and Georgetown and after that we go to Dallas for a few days and play a couple games there before we start north. Gleason was kidding me again tonight and said he wanted to apologize for the schedule that takes us away from here so soon and if he had of known how I was going to enjoy Mineral Wells he would of arranged to stay here longer. But he said I was to be sure and start in saying good by soon enough so as I would be through by train time. Well Al I wonder what he would say if I told him Miss Krug is going to be in Dallas wile we are there as she is going to drive over there with her mother. It kind of looks like she hates me eh Al?
Well we played another ball game today between the 1st and 2nd club and I pitched 5 innings for the 1st club and they got 5 runs off of me but most of them was on acct. of the way Weaver and Collins was kicking the ball around the infield and then when they had filled up the bases on me Shano Collins caught a hold of 1 that was a mile over his head and the wind blowed it down in the right field corner and the right field fence in this pk. is as far as from here to France and the ground was hard and of course the dam ball rolled and Shano could of ran around the bases twice so when the inning was over Gleason said to me “When you are pitching to a man like Collins you want to say to yourself I am pitching to Collins and not be thinking about some garbage contractor’s daughter from St. Louis.” So I said “He hit a ball that was over his head.” So Gleason said “Yes and over Liebold’s head to.” He says “The next time I pick out a spot to train a ball club it will be in a man’s convent where they’s no gals.” So I walked away from him.
But wait till you hear what this Belden pulled today Al. Dureing the game some of the boys was trying their hit and run signs and etc. and they got them all balled up so Gleason made us stay out there after the game was over and practice up on our signs and wile he was talking to some of the boys this Belden cut in and said he thought it would be a good idear if instead of slideing their hand up and down the bat or pulling their cap or something if they would learn a few French words and give their signs in French out loud and they couldn’t none of the other clubs understand them and for inst. if a man was up there hitting and wanted the man on 1st base to go down on the next ball he would holler allay at him on acct. of that being the French for go. So Cicotte said it was a great idear only about the 9th or 10th time we worked it on some club and they seen the man go every time they might maybe suspect what it meant and then we would half to find out the Russian word for go and use that and he thought the only Russian word for go meant go back and the base runner would get mixed up and think the batter meant he was going to hit a foul ball.
Well Miss Krug had some engagement with her mother tonight so I went with some of the boys to a picture show and Belden went along with us an 1 of the pictures was old last yr. stuff that showed a lot of different places in France and etc. and every time they would show a picture Cicotte would ask Belden if he was there and he said yes every time and finely Cicotte asked him how long he was in France all together and he said 4 mos, so Cicotte said “Well if you was only in France 4 mos. and seen all them places its no wonder you wasn’t shot as you never stood still a minute.”
Well Al this is the last letter you will get from me here as I will be busy packing up tomorrow and saying good by to my friends but I will try and drop you a line from Houston or somewheres along the line and let you know how things is comeing on.
Friend Al: Well I guess Gleason won’t half to worry no more about at least 1 member of his pitching staff after what I done over in Houston Saturday and here again today. I worked 5 innings against the Houston club Saturday and believe me Al they have got some club but I made them look like they ought to of paid their way in. They was only 1 ball got out of the infield and Weaver could of nailed that only he didn’t start in time and the rest of the wile they was popping them up in the air or missing them all together. Well Williams the left hander followed me and he was pretty good to though he didn’t have anywheres near the stuff I showed but we trimmed them 6 to 0 and Gleason was all smiles.
Well of course I didn’t work there again Sunday or yesterday at Austin and the boys didn’t look so good behind the pitching they got but today we was up against a bunch of collegers and Gleason sent me the whole distants to see how I could stand it and I guess I showed him. Well Al I honestly felt sorry for some of these college boys and they couldn’t of got a base hit off me with a shovel only their teachers and friends was watching them so I eased up in the last 2 innings and they got a couple of base hits and they felt so good about them that I wished I had of let them get some more.
Well Gleason come to me afterwards and he said “Now Jack you look like that 1st day at the Wells and if you can just keep going like that I have got the 4 pitchers I want to work regular and you are 1 of them. You showed in Houston and here what you can do when you haven’t got your mind on some millionaire janitor’s daughter from St. Louis with rheumatism on the mother’s side. You had a fast ball in there today that looked like Johnson at his best and you have pretty near got where you can slow ball them without everybody in the pk. calling it on you. You just keep pitching that way and I will get you some dough that is some dough.”
So it looks like I was all set Al and the only thing now is to keep him from finding out about Miss Krug and her mother comeing to Dallas and I don’t care if I see her or not only it wouldn’t seem hardly fair to have she and her mother come all the way over there and then me not even take her to a picture show. But what Gleason don’t know won’t hurt him and that stuff about girls bothering me is all in his eye as I can pitch when my arm feels good and I can’t pitch when it don’t feel good girls or no girls.
Friend Al: Well Al I don’t know whether to quit baseball or not and maybe I won’t quit if I can get away to some other club but I can’t work no more under Gleason and do myself justice.
Wait till you hear what come off in Dallas yesterday and I bet you will say I would be a sucker to stand for the kind of stuff he is trying to put over.
Well Al the second day we was there I got a phone call and it was Miss Krug and her and her mother was stopping at a certain hotel so I asked her would she like to go to a picture show or somewheres and she said she would so I said I would meet her that night and we would go somewheres and see a show. Well I was in the lobby of our hotel when the phone call come and of course they had to page me and Gleason heard them so after I got through phoneing he come up to me and asked if the bell of St. Louis was folling me around. So I said no I supposed she was in Mineral Wells. So he said where was I going that evening and I said nowheres and he said all right he wanted me to go to a picture show with him. So then I said I had forgot I had a date to go with 1 of the other boys on the club so he said all right he would go along with us. Well Al they wasn’t no shakeing lose from him so finely I had to own up that I was going to take Miss Krug to a show so he said he would go along and pay for it. Well he went along all right and it was the worst picture I ever seen and when it was over Gleason asked Miss Krug and I if we wouldn’t have a soda or something.
Well they wasn’t nothing to do only go with him and we hadn’t no sooner then give our order when he said to her “What do you think of big Jack here?” Well she said she thought I was all right. So Gleason said “Well I never thought so myself but I guess he must be or he couldn’t of never got such a sweet wife like he’s got up in Chi.” Well I couldn’t say nothing or neither could the gal. So then Gleason asked me did I have the Mrs. picture with me or either 1 of the 2 kids. Well Al they’s no use telling you any more about it only we had our soda and took the gal back to her hotel and then I and Gleason come back to our hotel together and he never said a word all the way home or neither did I only just before he left me to go up to his rm. he said “You pitch tomorrow Jack” and that’s all he said.
Well of course they won’t be no more picture shows for Miss Krug and I and of course it don’t make no differents to me as I was just going to tell her about me being married and everything and her and I was just good friends and liked to talk to each other but its haveing him cut in on my private affairs and try to run them that makes me sore and he must think this is the army the way he acts.
Well Al I pitched the game in Dallas yesterday and they couldn’t do nothing with me but I wouldn’t of never pitched it at all only they had me advertised and I have got a whole lot of good friends there that I wouldn’t disapoint them. But as for sticking with the club after that kind of business I couldn’t do myself justice and as soon as we get home I will put it up to Comiskey and ask him to trade me to some other club or else I will quit and go in to some business where a man does his work and gets through and when he is through the mgr. of the store don’t go noseing around in to your private affairs.
Friend Al: Well Al I have only got time for a few lines as we are leaveing in a little wile for Cincy for games tomorrow and Sunday and I am going to pitch 5 innings Sunday and then rest till Wednesday when we open up the season in St. Louis. Gleason hasn’t gave it out to the papers yet Al but between you and I it looks like a cinch I would pitch the opening game in St. Louis. Gleason and all the rest of the boys admits that I have been going better then any other pitcher on the club and you know how crazy every club is to win the opening game and that is why it looks like I would be the man that is chose.
Well Al I will give them everything I have got and if I only feel as good as I felt yesterday in Nashville why the St. Louis boys might just as well leave their bats in the bag.
Well I guess the last time I wrote you I was kind of on the outs with Gleason and I didn’t speak to him for pretty near a wk. but a man can’t stay sore at him very long on acct. of the stuff he pulls and 1st thing you know you half to bust right out laughing and then of course its good night.
I guess I told you about Belden the young pitcher from Chi that was in France and tried to get us to give our signs in French. Well he was with the 2nd club that left us before we come away from Texas and they went up north the other way and yesterday I was setting in the hotel at Nashville talking to Felsch and Gleason come along and Felsch asked him if he had heard how Belden was comeing along with the 2nd club. So Gleason said “He got along a whole lot faster then the club he was with as he is all ready back in Chi.” He said “I wired to Shano Collins and asked him if they was anybody on his 2nd club that looked like he could get along without them so he wired back that he could rap Belden up and send him home because though they wasn’t no doubt that he had beat Germany it didn’t look like he would ever last 2 innings vs. Boston and Cleveland.” So when Gleason pulled that I couldn’t help from laughing and then he kicked me in the shins like old times and now we are pals again.
Well I haven’t no more time to write from here but will try and drop you a line from Cincy but in the mean wile you can tell the boys that it looks like a cinch I will open the season in St. Louis and if any of them has a chance to get a bet down on your old pal they can’t go wrong. I wasn’t never as good as I am this spring Al and I will knock them for a gool.
Friend Al: Well Al just a few words before we go out to the pk. and this will be my last game before the opening and Gleason says I and Lefty Williams will pitch 5 and 4 innings today for a final work out so it looks like a cinch I will open up Wednesday in St. Louis.
Speaking about St. Louis Al I guess I told you about that Miss Krug that was down to the Wells wile we was there and kind of lost her head over me and finely I had to get Gleason to tell her I was a married man. Well I had forgot all about her but this a.m. when I come down for breakfast they was a letter in my box and it was from this same gal and she is back in St. Louis and wanted to know if maybe I couldn’t call her up when I get there just for old time sake and any way she said she would be out to the opening game Wednesday and pulling for us even if she is a St. Louis gal.
Well I was reading the letter at breakfast and Gleason come in and asked me what was the news from home and I said I hadn’t heard nothing from home since we was in Memphis so he said who was the letter from then. So I said “You may be the mgr. of this ball club but you are not my mother.” So he said “No and if I was I would give you a spanking.” He says “You don’t half to tell me who the letter is from because I can tell by your rosy cheeks who it is from and I can just about tell what’s in it.” So then I said “All right if you are such a smart Alex they’s no use in me telling you anything.” So then he asked me what was my home address in Chi as he said he wanted all the boys addresses and phone numbers. So I give him mine and he walked away.
Well Al I have got to get ready to go out to the pk. and give these National Leaguers a treat and I bet by the time I get through with them they will be thanking god that they don’t half to look at this kind of pitching all summer or they would hit about 6 and 7–8.
Friend Al: Well old pal I suppose by this time you have got a hold of the Chi papers and seen what I done yesterday and all as I have seen so far is the St. Louis papers and every 1 of them says it was 1 of the best pitched games they ever seen for an opening game.
Well Al they couldn’t of nobody beat me yesterday and either 1 of the 2 hits I give them could of been scored either way and a specially Sisler’s but I guess he ain’t bragging much this a.m. at that as I sent him back twice for a drink of water.
Well old pal I have had lots of big days in my career both in baseball and in Uncle Sam’s service but I don’t believe I was ever so happy in my life as when Schalkie caught that foul ball off of Gedeon and made the last out and the way Gleason and the rest of the boys slapped me on the back.
But wait till I tell you the funny part of it Al. Gleason sent us all to bed early Tuesday night and before I went to the hay he told me to get plenty of rest as he was going to pitch me if I looked good out there before the game.
So I didn’t get up till pretty near 9 o’clock and it was a quarter to 10 when I come down for breakfast and when I got in the lobby who do you think was there waiting for me? Well Al it was Florrie, all dolled up like the state fair.
Well to make a short story out of it it seems like Gleason had wrote her a letter from Cincy and asked her to come down here at the club’s expense and watch me open up the season but to not say nothing to me about she was comeing and believe me Al it was some surprise and some pleasant surprise to see her and I never seen her look prettier in her life.
Well Al I guess with the stuff I had I could of beat them without her setting there in the stand but just the same I worked a whole lot harder for knowing she was up there watching me and I guess the club won’t grudge the jack they spent getting her down here.
Well when we come back to the hotel for dinner last night Gleason come in the dinning rm. with us and insisted on buying us a bottle of wine and I never seen nobody in my life so tickled over winning 1 ball game as him. Well of course he has got a good reason to be tickled as he will need all the pitching he can get and me makeing this showing means about half his worrys is gone.
Well you will read about the game in the papers and they isn’t much more to write about only I can’t help from kind of wondering if Miss Krug was out there and seen it but after all what and the he‑ll do I care if she was or wasn’t?