A NEW BUSHER BREAKS IN
_Chicago, Illinois, March 2._
FRIEND AL: Al that peace in the paper was all O.K. and the right dope
just like you said. I seen president Johnson the president of the
league to-day and he told me the peace in the papers was the right dope
and Comiskey did not have no right to sell me to Milwaukee because the
Detroit Club had never gave no wavers on me. He says the Detroit Club
was late in fileing their claim and Comiskey must of tooken it for
granted that they was going to wave but president Johnson was pretty
sore about it at that and says Comiskey did not have no right to sell
me till he was positive that they was not no team that wanted me.
It will probily cost Comiskey some money for acting like he done and
not paying no attention to the rules and I would not be supprised if
president Johnson had him throwed out of the league.
Well I asked president Johnson should I report at once to the Detroit
Club down south and he says No you better wait till you hear from
Comiskey and I says What has Comiskey got to do with it now? And he
says Comiskey will own you till he sells you to Detroit or somewheres
else. So I will have to go out to the ball park to-morrow and see is
they any mail for me there because I probily will get a letter from
Comiskey telling me I am sold to Detroit.
If I had of thought at the time I would of knew that Detroit never
would give no wavers on me after the way I showed Cobb and Crawford up
last fall and I might of knew too that Detroit is in the market for
good pitchers because they got a rotten pitching staff but they won't
have no rotten staff when I get with them.
If necessary I will pitch every other day for Jennings and if I do we
will win the pennant sure because Detroit has got a club that can get
2 or 3 runs every day and all as I need to win most of my games is 1
run. I can't hardly wait till Jennings works me against the White Sox
and what I will do to them will be a plenty. It don't take no pitching
to beat them anyway and when they get up against a pitcher like I they
might as well leave their bats in the bag for all the good their bats
will do them.
I guess Cobb and Crawford will be glad to have me on the Detroit Club
because then they won't never have to hit against me except in practice
and I won't pitch my best in practice because they will be teammates
of mine and I don't never like to show none of my teammates up. At
that though I don't suppose Jennings will let me do much pitching in
practice because when he gets a hold of a good pitcher he won't want me
to take no chances of throwing my arm away in practice.
Al just think how funny it will be to have me pitching for the Tigers
in the same town where Violet lives and pitching on the same club with
her husband. It will not be so funny for Violet and her husband though
because when she has a chance to see me work regular she will find out
what a mistake she made takeing that lefthander instead of a man that
has got some future and soon will be makeing 5 or $6000 a year because
I won't sign with Detroit for no less than $5000 at most. Of coarse
I could of had her if I had of wanted to but still and all it will
make her feel pretty sick to see me winning games for Detroit while
her husband is batting fungos and getting splinters in his unie from
slideing up and down the bench.
As for her husband the first time he opens his clam to me I will haul
off and bust him one in the jaw but I guess he will know more than to
start trouble with a man of my size and who is going to be one of their
stars while he is just holding down a job because they feel sorry for
him. I wish he could of got the girl I married instead of the one he
got and I bet she would of drove him crazy. But I guess you can't drive
a lefthander crazyer than he is to begin with.
I have not heard nothing from Florrie Al and I don't want to hear
nothing. I and her is better apart and I wish she would sew me for
a bill of divorce so she could not go round claiming she is my wife
and disgraceing my name. If she would consent to sew me for a bill of
divorce I would gladly pay all the expenses and settle with her for
any sum of money she wants say about $75.00 or $100.00 and they is no
reason I should give her a nichol after the way her and her sister
Marie and her brother-in-law Allen grafted off of me. Probily I could
sew her for a bill of divorce but they tell me it costs money to sew
and if you just lay low and let the other side do the sewing it don't
cost you a nichol.
It is pretty late Al and I have got to get up early to-morrow and go
to the ball park and see is they any mail for me. I will let you know
what I hear old pal.
Your old pal, JACK.
_Chicago, Illinois, March 4._
AL: I am up against it again. I went out to the ball park office
yesterday and they was nobody there except John somebody who is asst
secretary and all the rest of them is out on the Coast with the team.
Maybe this here John was trying to kid me but this is what he told
me. First I says Is they a letter here for me? And he says No. And I
says I was expecting word from Comiskey that I should join the Detroit
Club and he says What makes you think you are going to Detroit? I says
Comiskey asked wavers on me and Detroit did not give no wavers. He says
Well that is not no sign that you are going to Detroit. If Comiskey
can't get you out of the league he will probily keep you himself and it
is a cinch he is not going to give no pitcher to Detroit no matter how
rotten he is.
I says What do you mean? And he says You just stick round town till
you hear from Comiskey and I guess you will hear pretty soon because
he is comeing back from the Coast next Saturday. I says Well the only
thing he can tell me is to report to Detroit because I won't never
pitch again for the White Sox. Then John gets fresh and says I suppose
you will quit the game and live on your saveings and then I blowed out
of the office because I was scared I would loose my temper and break
something.
So you see Al what I am up against. I won't never pitch for the
White Sox again and I want to get with the Detroit Club but how can
I if Comiskey won't let me go? All I can do is stick round till next
Saturday and then I will see Comiskey and I guess when I tell him what
I think of him he will be glad to let me go to Detroit or anywheres
else. I will have something on him this time because I know that he
did not pay no attention to the rules when he told me I was sold to
Milwaukee and if he tries to slip something over on me I will tell
president Johnson of the league all about it and then you will see
where Comiskey heads in at.
Al old pal that $25.00 you give me at the station the other day is all
shot to peaces and I must ask you to let me have $25.00 more which will
make $75.00 all together includeing the $25.00 you sent me before I
come home. I hate to ask you this favor old pal but I know you have got
the money. If I am sold to Detroit I will get some advance money and
pay up all my dedts incluseive.
If he don't let me go to Detroit I will make him come across with part
of my salery for this year even if I don't pitch for him because I
signed a contract and was ready to do my end of it and would of if he
had not of been nasty and tried to slip something over on me. If he
refuses to come across I will hire a attorney at law and he will get it
all. So Al you see you have got a cinch on getting back what you lone
me but I guess you know that Al without all this talk because you have
been my old pal for a good many years and I have allways treated you
square and tried to make you feel that I and you was equals and that my
success was not going to make me forget my old friends.
Wherever I pitch this year I will insist on a salery of 5 or $6000 a
year. So you see on my first pay day I will have enough to pay you up
and settle the rest of my dedts but I am not going to pay no more rent
for this rotten flat because they tell me if a man don't pay no rent
for a while they will put him out. Let them put me out. I should not
worry but will go and rent my old room that I had before I met Florrie
and got into all this trouble.
The sooner you can send me that $35.00 the better and then I will owe
you $85.00 incluseive and I will write and let you know how I come out
with Comiskey.
Your pal, JACK.
_Chicago, Illinois, March 12._
FRIEND AL: I got another big supprise for you and this is it I am going
to pitch for the White Sox after all. If Comiskey was not a old man I
guess I would of lost my temper and beat him up but I am glad now that
I kept my temper and did not loose it because I forced him to make a
lot of consessions and now it looks like as though I would have a big
year both pitching and money.
He got back to town yesterday morning and showed up to his office in
the afternoon and I was there waiting for him. He would not see me
for a while but finally I acted like as though I was getting tired of
waiting and I guess the secretary got scared that I would beat it out
of the office and leave them all in the lerch. Anyway he went in and
spoke to Comiskey and then come out and says the boss was ready to see
me. When I went into the office where he was at he says Well young man
what can I do for you? And I says I want you to give me my release
so as I can join the Detroit Club down South and get in shape. Then
he says What makes you think you are going to join the Detroit Club?
Because we need you here. I says Then why did you try to sell me to
Milwaukee? But you could not because you could not get no wavers.
Then he says I thought I was doing you a favor by sending you to
Milwaukee because they make a lot of beer up there. I says What do you
mean? He says You been keeping in shape all this winter by trying to
drink this town dry and besides that you tried to hold me up for more
money when you allready had signed a contract allready and so I was
going to send you to Milwaukee and learn you something and besides you
tried to go with the Federal League but they would not take you because
they was scared to.
I don't know where he found out all that stuff at Al and besides he was
wrong when he says I was drinking to much because they is not nobody
that can drink more than me and not be effected. But I did not say
nothing because I was scared I would forget myself and call him some
name and he is a old man. Yes I did say something. I says Well I guess
you found out that you could not get me out of the league and then he
says Don't never think I could not get you out of the league. If you
think I can't send you to Milwaukee I will prove it to you that I can.
I says You can't because Detroit won't give no wavers on me. He says
Detroit will give wavers on you quick enough if I ask them.
Then he says Now you can take your choice you can stay here and pitch
for me at the salery you signed up for and you can cut out the monkey
business and drink water when you are thirsty or else you can go up to
Milwaukee and drownd yourself in one of them brewrys. Which shall it
be? I says How can you keep me or send me to Milwaukee when Detroit
has allready claimed my services? He says Detroit has claimed a lot
of things and they have even claimed the pennant but that is not no
sign they will win it. He says And besides you would not want to pitch
for Detroit because then you would not never have no chance to pitch
against Cobb and show him up.
Well Al when he says that I knowed he appresiated what a pitcher I am
even if he did try to sell me to Milwaukee or he would not of made that
remark about the way I can show Cobb and Crawford up. So I says Well
if you need me that bad I will pitch for you but I must have a new
contract. He says Oh I guess we can fix that up O.K. and he steps out
in the next room a while and then he comes back with a new contract.
And what do you think it was Al? It was a contract for 3 years so you
see I am sure of my job here for 3 years and everything is all O.K.
The contract calls for the same salery a year for 3 years that I was
going to get before for only 1 year which is $2800.00 a year and then
I will get in on the city serious money too and the Detroit Club don't
have no city serious and have no chance to get into the World's Serious
with the rotten pitching staff they got. So you see Al he fixed me up
good and that shows that he must think a hole lot of me or he would of
sent me to Detroit or maybe to Milwaukee but I don't see how he could
of did that without no wavers.
Well Al I allmost forgot to tell you that he has gave me a ticket to
Los Angeles where the 2d team are practicing at now but where the 1st
team will be at in about a week. I am leaveing to-night and I guess
before I go I will go down to president Johnson and tell him that I am
fixed up all O.K. and have not got no kick comeing so that president
Johnson will not fine Comiskey for not paying no attention to the rules
or get him fired out of the league because I guess Comiskey must be
all O.K. and good hearted after all.
I won't pay no attention to what he says about me drinking this town
dry because he is all wrong in regards to that. He must of been jokeing
I guess because nobody but some boob would think he could drink this
town dry but at that I guess I can hold more than anybody and not be
effected. But I guess I will cut it out for a while at that because I
don't want to get them sore at me after the contract they give me.
I will write to you from Los Angeles Al and let you know what the boys
says when they see me and I will bet that they will be tickled to
death. The rent man was round to-day but I seen him comeing and he did
not find me. I am going to leave the furniture that belongs in the flat
in the flat and allso the furniture I bought which don't amount to much
because it was not no real Sir Cashion walnut and besides I don't want
nothing round me to remind me of Florrie because the sooner her and I
forget each other the better.
Tell the boys about my good luck Al but it is not no luck neither
because it was comeing to me.
Yours truly, JACK.
_Los Angeles, California, March 16._
AL: Here I am back with the White Sox again and it seems to good to be
true because just like I told you they are all tickled to death to see
me. Kid Gleason is here in charge of the 2d team and when he seen me
come into the hotel he jumped up and hit me in the stumach but he acts
like that whenever he feels good so I could not get sore at him though
he had no right to hit me in the stumach. If he had of did it in ernest
I would of walloped him in the jaw.
He says Well if here ain't the old lady killer. He ment Al that I am
strong with the girls but I am all threw with them now but he don't
know nothing about the troubles I had. He says Are you in shape? And I
told him Yes I am. He says Yes you look in shape like a barrel. I says
They is not no fat on me and if I am a little bit bigger than last year
it is because my mussels is bigger. He says Yes your stumach mussels is
emense and you must of gave them plenty of exercise. Wait till Bodie
sees you and he will want to stick round you all the time because you
make him look like a broom straw or something. I let him kid me along
because what is the use of getting mad at him? And besides he is all
O.K. even if he is a little rough.
I says to him A little work will fix me up all O.K. and he says You bet
you are going to get some work because I am going to see to it myself.
I says You will have to hurry because you will be going up to Frisco in
a few days and I am going to stay here and join the 1st club. Then he
says You are not going to do no such a thing. You are going right along
with me. I knowed he was kidding me then because Callahan would not
never leave me with the 2d team no more after what I done for him last
year and besides most of the stars generally allways goes with the 1st
team on the training trip.
Well I seen all the rest of the boys that is here with the 2d team and
they all acted like as if they was glad to see me and why should not
they be when they know that me being here with the White Sox and not
with Detroit means that Callahan won't have to do no worrying about his
pitching staff? But they is four or 5 young recrut pitchers with the
team here and I bet they is not so glad to see me because what chance
have they got?
If I was Comiskey and Callahan I would not spend no money on new
pitchers because with me and 1 or 2 of the other boys we got the best
pitching staff in the league. And instead of spending the money for
new pitching recruts I would put it all in a lump and buy Ty Cobb or
Sam Crawford off of Detroit or somebody else who can hit and Cobb and
Crawford is both real hitters Al even if I did make them look like
suckers. Who wouldn't?
Well Al to-morrow A.M. I am going out and work a little and in the P.M.
I will watch the game between we and the Venice Club but I won't pitch
none because Gleason would not dare take no chances of me hurting my
arm. I will write to you in a few days from here because no matter what
Gleason says I am going to stick here with the 1st team because I know
Callahan will want me along with him for a attraction.
Your pal, JACK.
_San Francisco, California, March 20._
FRIEND AL: Well Al here I am back in old Frisco with the 2d team but I
will tell you how it happened Al. Yesterday Gleason told me to pack up
and get ready to leave Los Angeles with him and I says No I am going to
stick here and wait for the 1st team and then he says I guess I must of
overlooked something in the papers because I did not see nothing about
you being appointed manager of the club. I says No I am not manager
but Callahan is manager and he will want to keep me with him. He says
I got a wire from Callahan telling me to keep you with my club but of
coarse if you know what Callahan wants better than he knows it himself
why then go ahead and stay here or go jump in the Pacific Ocean.
Then he says I know why you don't want to go with me and I says Why?
And he says Because you know I will make you work and won't let you
eat everything on the bill of fair includeing the name of the hotel
at which we are stopping at. That made me sore and I was just going
to call him when he says Did not you marry Mrs. Allen's sister? And I
says Yes but that is not none of your business. Then he says Well I
don't want to butt into your business but I heard you and your wife
had some kind of a argument and she beat it. I says Yes she give me a
rotten deal. He says Well then I don't see where it is going to be very
pleasant for you traveling round with the 1st club because Allen and
his wife is both with that club and what do you want to be mixed up
with them for? I says I am not scared of Allen or his wife or no other
old hen.
So here I am Al with the 2d team but it is only for a while till
Callahan gets sick of some of them pitchers he has got and sends for
me so as he can see some real pitching. And besides I am glad to be
here in Frisco where I made so many friends when I was pitching here
for a short time till Callahan heard about my work and called me back
to the big show where I belong at and nowheres else.
Yours truly, JACK.
_San Francisco, California, March 25._
OLD PAL: Al I got a supprise for you. Who do you think I seen last
night? Nobody but Hazel. Her name now is Hazel Levy because you know Al
she married Kid Levy the middle-weight and I wish he was champion of
the world Al because then it would not take me more than about a minute
to be champion of the world myself. I have not got nothing against him
though because he married her and if he had not of I probily would of
married her myself but at that she could not of treated me no worse
than Florrie. Well they was setting at a table in the cafe where her
and I use to go pretty near every night. She spotted me when I first
come in and sends a waiter over to ask me to come and have a drink with
them. I went over because they was no use being nasty and let bygones
be bygones.
She interduced me to her husband and he asked me what was I drinking.
Then she butts in and says Oh you must let Mr. Keefe buy the drinks
because it hurts his feelings to have somebody else buy the drinks.
Then Levy says Oh he is one of these here spendrifts is he? and she
says Yes he don't care no more about a nichol than his right eye does.
I says I guess you have got no holler comeing on the way I spend my
money. I don't steal no money anyway. She says What do you mean? and
I says I guess you know what I mean. How about that $30.00 that you
borrowed off of me and never give it back? Then her husband cuts in and
says You cut that line of talk out or I will bust you. I says Yes you
will. And he says Yes I will.
Well Al what was the use of me starting trouble with him when he has
got enough trouble right to home and besides as I say I have not got
nothing against him. So I got up and blowed away from the table and
I bet he was relieved when he seen I was not going to start nothing.
I beat it out of there a while afterward because I was not drinking
nothing and I don't have no fun setting round a place and lapping up
ginger ail or something. And besides the music was rotten.
Al I am certainly glad I throwed Hazel over because she has grew to
be as big as a horse and is all painted up. I don't care nothing about
them big dolls no more or about no other kind neither. I am off of them
all. They can all of them die and I should not worry.
Well Al I done my first pitching of the year this P.M. and I guess I
showed them that I was in just as good a shape as some of them birds
that has been working a month. I worked 4 innings against my old team
the San Francisco Club and I give them nothing but fast ones but they
sure was fast ones and you could hear them zip. Charlie O'Leary was
trying to get out of the way of one of them and it hit his bat and went
over first base for a base hit but at that Fournier would of eat it up
if it had of been Chase playing first base instead of Fournier.
That was the only hit they got off of me and they ought to of been
ashamed to of tooken that one. But Gleason don't appresiate my work
and him and I allmost come to blows at supper. I was pretty hungry and
I ordered some stake and some eggs and some pie and some ice cream
and some coffee and a glass of milk but Gleason would not let me have
the pie or the milk and would not let me eat more than 1/2 the stake.
And it is a wonder I did not bust him and tell him to mind his own
business. I says What right have you got to tell me what to eat? And he
says You don't need nobody to tell you what to eat you need somebody to
keep you from floundering yourself. I says Why can't I eat what I want
to when I have worked good?
He says Who told you you worked good and I says I did not need nobody
to tell me. I know I worked good because they could not do nothing with
me. He says Well it is a good thing for you that they did not start
bunting because if you had of went to stoop over and pick up the ball
you would of busted wide open. I says Why? and he says because you are
hog fat and if you don't let up on the stable and fancy groceries we
will have to pay 2 fairs to get you back to Chi. I don't remember now
what I says to him but I says something you can bet on that. You know
me Al.
I wish Al that Callahan would hurry up and order me to join the 1st
team. If he don't Al I believe Gleason will starve me to death. A
little slob like him don't realize that a big man like I needs good
food and plenty of it.
Your pal, JACK.
_Salt Lake City, Utah, April 1._
AL: Well Al we are on our way East and I am still with the 2d team and
I don't understand why Callahan don't order me to join the 1st team but
maybe it is because he knows that I am all right and have got the stuff
and he wants to keep them other guys round where he can see if they
have got anything.
The recrut pitchers that is along with our club have not got nothing
and the scout that reckommended them must of been full of hops or
something. It is not no common thing for a club to pick up a man that
has got the stuff to make him a star up here and the White Sox was
pretty lucky to land me but I don't understand why they throw their
money away on new pitchers when none of them is no good and besides who
would want a better pitching staff than we got right now without no raw
recruts and bushers.
I worked in Oakland the day before yesterday but he only let me go the
1st 4 innings. I bet them Oakland birds was glad when he took me out.
When I was in that league I use to just throw my glove in the box and
them Oakland birds was licked and honest Al some of them turned white
when they seen I was going to pitch the other day.
I felt kind of sorry for them and I did not give them all I had so they
got 5 or 6 hits and scored a couple of runs. I was not feeling very
good at that and besides we got some awful excuses for a ball player on
this club and the support they give me was the rottenest I ever seen
gave anybody. But some of them won't be in this league more than about
10 minutes more so I should not fret as they say.
We play here this afternoon and I don't believe I will work because the
team they got here is not worth wasteing nobody on. They must be a lot
of boobs in this town Al because they tell me that some of them has got
1/2 a dozen wives or so. And what a man wants with 1 wife is a misery
to me let alone a 1/2 dozen.
I will probily work against Denver because they got a good club and was
champions of the Western League last year. I will make them think they
are champions of the Epworth League or something.
Yours truly, JACK.
_Des Moines, Iowa, April 10._
FRIEND AL: We got here this A.M. and this is our last stop and we will
be in old Chi to-morrow to open the season. The 1st team gets home
to-day and I would be there with them if Callahan was a real manager
who knowed something about manageing because if I am going to open the
season I should ought to have 1 day of rest at home so I would have all
my strenth to open the season. The Cleveland Club will be there to open
against us and Callahan must know that I have got them licked any time
I start against them.
As soon as my name is announced to pitch the Cleveland Club is licked
or any other club when I am right and they don't kick the game away
behind me.
Gleason told me on the train last night that I was going to pitch here
to-day but I bet by this time he has got orders from Callahan to let me
rest and to not give me no more work because suppose even if I did not
start the game to-morrow I probily will have to finish it.
Gleason has been sticking round me like as if I had a million bucks or
something. I can't even sit down and smoke a cigar but what he is there
to knock the ashes off of it. He is O.K. and good-hearted if he is a
little rough and keeps hitting me in the stumach but I wish he would
leave me alone sometimes espesially at meals. He was in to breakfast
with me this A.M. and after I got threw I snuck off down the street and
got something to eat. That is not right because it costs me money when
I have to go away from the hotel and eat and what right has he got to
try and help me order my meals? Because he don't know what I want and
what my stumach wants.
My stumach don't want to have him punching it all the time but he keeps
on doing it. So that shows he don't know what is good for me. But is a
old man Al otherwise I would not stand for the stuff he pulls. The 1st
thing I am going to do when we get to Chi is I am going to a resturunt
somewheres and get a good meal where Gleason or no one else can't get
at me. I know allready what I am going to eat and that is a big stake
and a apple pie and that is not all.
Well Al watch the papers and you will see what I done to that Cleveland
Club and I hope Lajoie and Jackson is both in good shape because I
don't want to pick on no cripples.
Your pal, JACK.
_Chicago, Illinois, April 16._
OLD PAL: Yesterday was the 1st pay day old pal and I know I promised to
pay you what I owe you and it is $75.00 because when I asked you for
$35.00 before I went West you only sent me $25.00 which makes the hole
sum $75.00. Well Al I can't pay you now because the pay we drawed was
only for 4 days and did not amount to nothing and I had to buy a meal
ticket and fix up about my room rent.
And then they is another thing Al which I will tell you about. I come
into the clubhouse the day the season opened and the 1st guy I seen was
Allen. I was going up to bust him but he come up and held his hand out
and what was they for me to do but shake hands with him if he is going
to be yellow like that? He says Well Jack I am glad they did not send
you to Milwaukee and I bet you will have a big year. I says Yes I will
have a big year O.K. if you don't sick another 1 of your sister-in-laws
on to me. He says Oh don't let they be no hard feelings about that.
You know it was not no fault of mine and I bet if you was to write to
Florrie everything could be fixed up O.K.
I says I don't want to write to no Florrie but I will get a attorney at
law to write to her. He says You don't even know where she is at and I
says I don't care where she is at. Where is she? He says She is down to
her home in Waco, Texas, and if I was you I would write to her myself
and not let no attorney at law write to her because that would get her
mad and besides what do you want a attorney at law to write to her
about? I says I am going to sew her for a bill of divorce.
Then he says On what grounds? and I says Dessertion. He says You better
not do no such thing or she will sew you for a bill of divorce for none
support and then you will look like a cheap guy. I says I don't care
what I look like. So you see Al I had to send Florrie $10.00 or maybe
she would be mean enough to sew me for a bill of divorce on the ground
of none support and that would make me look bad.
Well Al, Allen told me his wife wanted to talk to me and try and fix
things up between I and Florrie but I give him to understand that I
would not stand for no meeting with his wife and he says Well suit
yourself about that but they is no reason you and I should quarrel.
You see Al he don't want no mix-up with me because he knows he could
not get nothing but the worst of it. I will be friends with him but I
won't have nothing to do with Marie because if it had not of been for
she and Florrie I would have money in the bank besides not being in no
danger of getting sewed for none support.
I guess you must of read about Joe Benz getting married and I guess
he must of got a good wife and 1 that don't bother him all the time
because he pitched the opening game and shut Cleveland out with 2
hits. He was pretty good Al, better than I ever seen him and they was a
couple of times when his fast ball was pretty near as fast as mine.
I have not worked yet Al and I asked Callahan to-day what was the
matter and he says I was waiting for you to get in shape. I says I am
in shape now and I notice that when I was pitching in practice this
A.M. they did not hit nothing out of the infield. He says That was
because you are so spread out that they could not get nothing past you.
He says The way you are now you cover more ground than the grand stand.
I says Is that so? And he walked away.
We go out on a trip to Cleveland and Detroit and St. Louis in a few
days and maybe I will take my regular turn then because the other
pitchers has been getting away lucky because most of the hitters has
not got their batting eye as yet but wait till they begin hitting and
then it will take a man like I to stop them.
The 1st of May is our next pay day Al and then I will have enough money
so as I can send you the $75.00.
Your pal, JACK.
_Detroit, Michigan, April 28._
FRIEND AL: What do you think of a rotten manager that bawls me out and
fines me $50.00 for loosing a 1 to 0 game in 10 innings when it was my
1st start this season? And no wonder I was a little wild in the 10th
when I had not had no chance to work and get control. I got a good
notion to quit this rotten club and jump to the Federals where a man
gets some kind of treatment. Callahan says I throwed the game away on
purpose but I did not do no such a thing Al because when I throwed that
ball at Joe Hill's head I forgot that the bases was full and besides
if Gleason had not of starved me to death the ball that hit him in the
head would of killed him.
And how could a man go to 1st base and the winning run be forced in
if he was dead which he should ought to of been the lucky left handed
stiff if I had of had my full strenth to put on my fast one instead
of being 1/2 starved to death and weak. But I guess I better tell you
how it come off. The papers will get it all wrong like they generally
allways does.
Callahan asked me this A.M. if I thought I was hard enough to work
and I was tickled to death, because I seen he was going to give me a
chance. I told him Sure I was in good shape and if them Tigers scored
a run off me he could keep me setting on the bench the rest of the
summer. So he says All right I am going to start you and if you go good
maybe Gleason will let you eat some supper.
Well Al when I begin warming up I happened to look up in the grand
stand and who do you think I seen? Nobody but Violet. She smiled when
she seen me but I bet she felt more like crying. Well I smiled back
at her because she probily would of broke down and made a seen or
something if I had not of. They was not nobody warming up for Detroit
when I begin warming up but pretty soon I looked over to their bench
and Joe Hill Violet's husband was warming up. I says to myself Well
here is where I show that bird up if they got nerve enough to start him
against me but probily Jennings don't want to waste no real pitcher on
this game which he knows we got cinched and we would of had it cinched
Al if they had of got a couple of runs or even 1 run for me.
Well, Jennings come passed our bench just like he allways does and
tried to pull some of his funny stuff. He says Hello are you still
in the league? I says Yes but I come pretty near not being. I came
pretty near being with Detroit. I wish you could of heard Gleason and
Callahan laugh when I pulled that one on him. He says something back
but it was not no hot comeback like mine.
Well Al if I had of had any work and my regular control I guess I would
of pitched a 0 hit game because the only time they could touch me was
when I had to ease up to get them over. Cobb was out of the game and
they told me he was sick but I guess the truth is that he knowed I was
going to pitch. Crawford got a couple of lucky scratch hits off of me
because I got in the hole to him and had to let up. But the way that
lucky left handed Hill got by was something awful and if I was as lucky
as him I would quit pitching and shoot craps or something.
Our club can't hit nothing anyway. But batting against this bird was
just like hitting fungos. His curve ball broke about 1/2 a inch and
you could of wrote your name and address on his fast one while it was
comeing up there. He had good control but who would not when they put
nothing on the ball?
Well Al we could not get started against the lucky stiff and they
could not do nothing with me even if my suport was rotten and I give a
couple or 3 or 4 bases on balls but when they was men waiting to score
I zipped them threw there so as they could not see them let alone hit
them. Every time I come to the bench between innings I looked up to
where Violet was setting and give her a smile and she smiled back and
once I seen her clapping her hands at me after I had made Moriarty pop
up in the pinch.
Well we come along to the 10th inning, 0 and 0, and all of a sudden we
got after him. Bodie hits one and Schalk gets 2 strikes and 2 balls and
then singles. Callahan tells Alcock to bunt and he does it but Hill
sprawls all over himself like the big boob he is and the bases is full
with nobody down. Well Gleason and Callahan argude about should they
send somebody up for me or let me go up there and I says Let me go up
there because I can murder this bird and Callahan says Well they is
nobody out so go up and take a wallop.
Honest Al if this guy had of had anything at all I would of hit 1 out
of the park, but he did not have even a glove. And how can a man hit
pitching which is not no pitching at all but just slopping them up?
When I went up there I hollered to him and says Stick 1 over here now
you yellow stiff. And he says Yes I can stick them over allright and
that is where I got something on you.
Well Al I hit a foul off of him that would of been a fare ball and
broke up the game if the wind had not of been against it. Then I swung
and missed a curve that I don't see how I missed it. The next 1 was a
yard outside and this Evans calls it a strike. He has had it in for
me ever since last year when he tried to get funny with me and I says
something back to him that stung him. So he calls this 3d strike on me
and I felt like murdering him. But what is the use?
I throwed down my bat and come back to the bench and I was glad
Callahan and Gleason was out on the coaching line or they probily would
of said something to me and I would of cut loose and beat them up. Well
Al Weaver and Blackburne looked like a couple of rums up there and
we don't score where we ought to of had 3 or 4 runs with any kind of
hitting.
I would of been all O.K. in spite of that peace of rotten luck if this
big Hill had of walked to the bench and not said nothing like a real
pitcher. But what does he do but wait out there till I start for the
box and I says Get on to the bench you lucky stiff or do you want me
to hand you something? He says I don't want nothing more of yourn. I
allready got your girl and your goat.
Well Al what do you think of a man that would say a thing like that?
And nobody but a left hander could of. If I had of had a gun I would
of killed him deader than a doornail or something. He starts for the
bench and I hollered at him Wait till you get up to that plate and then
I am going to bean you.
Honest Al I was so mad I could not see the plate or nothing. I don't
even know who it was come up to bat 1st but whoever it was I hit him
in the arm and he walks to first base. The next guy bunts and Chase
tries to pull off 1 of them plays of hisn instead of playing safe and
he don't get nobody. Well I kept getting madder and madder and I walks
Stanage who if I had of been myself would not foul me.
Callahan has Scotty warming up and Gleason runs out from the bench and
tells me I am threw but Callahan says Wait a minute he is going to let
Hill hit and this big stiff ought to be able to get him out of the way
and that will give Scotty a chance to get warm. Gleason says You better
not take a chance because the big busher is hogwild, and they kept
argueing till I got sick of listening to them and I went back to the
box and got ready to pitch. But when I seen this Hill up there I forgot
all about the ball game and I cut loose at his bean.
Well Al my control was all O.K. this time and I catched him square on
the fourhead and he dropped like as if he had been shot. But pretty
soon he gets up and gives me the laugh and runs to first base. I did
not know the game was over till Weaver come up and pulled me off the
field. But if I had not of been 1/2 starved to death and weak so as
I could not put all my stuff on the ball you can bet that Hill never
would of ran to first base and Violet would of been a widow and probily
a lot better off than she is now. At that I never should ought to of
tried to kill a lefthander by hitting him in the head.
Well Al they jumped all over me in the clubhouse and I had to hold
myself back or I would of gave somebody the beating of their life.
Callahan tells me I am fined $50.00 and suspended without no pay. I
asked him What for and he says They would not be no use in telling
you because you have not got no brains. I says Yes I have to got some
brains and he says Yes but they is in your stumach. And then he says I
wish we had of sent you to Milwaukee and I come back at him. I says I
wish you had of.
Well Al I guess they is no chance of getting square treatment on this
club and you won't be supprised if you hear of me jumping to the
Federals where a man is treated like a man and not like no white slave.
Yours truly, JACK.
_Chicago, Illinois, May 2._
AL: I have got to disappoint you again Al. When I got up to get my
pay yesterday they held out $150.00 on me. $50.00 of it is what I was
fined for loosing a 1 to 0 10-inning game in Detroit when I was so weak
that I should ought never to of been sent in there and the $100.00 is
the advance money that I drawed last winter and which I had forgot all
about and the club would of forgot about it to if they was not so tight
fisted.
So you see all I get for 2 weeks' pay is about $80.00 and I sent $25.00
to Florrie so she can't come no none support business on me.
I am still suspended Al and not drawing no pay now and I got a notion
to hire a attorney at law and force them to pay my salery or else jump
to the Federals where a man gets good treatment.
Allen is still after me to come over to his flat some night and see his
wife and let her talk to me about Florrie but what do I want to talk
about Florrie for or talk about nothing to a nut left hander's wife?
The Detroit Club is here and Cobb is playing because he knows I am
suspended but I wish Callahan would call it off and let me work against
them and I would certainly love to work against this Joe Hill again and
I bet they would be a different story this time because I been getting
something to eat since we been home and I got back most of my strenth.
Your old pal, JACK.
_Chicago, Illinois, May 5._
FRIEND AL: Well Al if you been reading the papers you will know before
this letter is received what I done. Before the Detroit Club come here
Joe Hill had win 4 strate but he has not win no 5 strate or won't
neither Al because I put a crimp in his winning streek just like I
knowed I would do if I got a chance when I was feeling good and had all
my strenth. Callahan asked me yesterday A.M. if I thought I had enough
rest and I says Sure because I did not need no rest in the 1st place.
Well, he says, I thought maybe if I layed you off a few days you would
do some thinking and if you done some thinking once in a while you
would be a better pitcher.
Well anyway I worked and I wish you could of saw them Tigers trying to
hit me Cobb and Crawford incluseive. The 1st time Cobb come up Weaver
catched a lucky line drive off of him and the next time I eased up a
little and Collins run back and took a fly ball off of the fence. But
the other times he come up he looked like a sucker except when he come
up in the 8th and then he beat out a bunt but allmost anybody is liable
to do that once in a while.
Crawford got a scratch hit between Chase and Blackburne in the 2d
inning and in the 4th he was gave a three-base hit by this Evans who
should ought to be writeing for the papers instead of trying to umpire.
The ball was 2 feet foul and I bet Crawford will tell you the same
thing if you ask him. But what I done to this Hill was awful. I give
him my curve twice when he was up there in the 3d and he missed it a
foot. Then I come with my fast ball right past his nose and I bet if he
had not of ducked it would of drove that big horn of hisn clear up in
the press box where them rotten reporters sits and smokes their hops.
Then when he was looking for another fast one I slopped up my slow one
and he is still swinging at it yet.
But the best of it was that I practally won my own game. Bodie and
Schalk was on when I come up in the 5th and Hill hollers to me and
says I guess this is where I shoot one of them bean balls. I says Go
ahead and shoot and if you hit me in the head and I ever find it out I
will write and tell your wife what happened to you. You see what I was
getting at Al. I was insinuateing that if he beaned me with his fast
one I would not never know nothing about it if somebody did not tell
me because his fast one is not fast enough to hurt nobody even if it
should hit them in the head. So I says to him Go ahead and shoot and
if you hit me in the head and I ever find it out I will write and tell
your wife what happened to you. See, Al?
Of coarse you could not hire me to write to Violet but I did not mean
that part of it in ernest. Well sure enough he shot at my bean and I
ducked out of the way though if it had of hit me it could not of did
no more than tickle. He takes 2 more shots and misses me and then
Jennings hollers from the bench What are you doing pitching or trying
to win a cigar? So then Hill sees what a monkey he is makeing out of
himself and tries to get one over, but I have him 3 balls and nothing
and what I done to that groover was a plenty. She went over Bush's head
like a bullet and got between Cobb and Veach and goes clear to the
fence. Bodie and Schalk scores and I would of scored to if anybody else
besides Cobb had of been chaseing the ball. I got 2 bases and Weaver
scores me with another wallop.
Say, I wish I could of heard what they said to that baby on the bench.
Callahan was tickled to death and he says Maybe I will give you back
that $50.00 if you keep that stuff up. I guess I will get that $50.00
back next pay day and if I do Al I will pay you the hole $75.00.
Well Al I beat them 5 to 4 and with good support I would of held them
to 1 run but what do I care as long as I beat them? I wish though that
Violet could of been there and saw it.
Yours truly, JACK.
_Chicago, Illinois, May 29._
OLD PAL: Well Al I have not wrote to you for a long while but it is
not because I have forgot you and to show I have not forgot you I am
incloseing the $75.00 which I owe you. It is a money order Al and you
can get it cashed by takeing it to Joe Higgins at the P.O.
Since I wrote to you Al I been East with the club and I guess you know
what I done in the East. The Athaletics did not have no right to win
that 1 game off of me and I will get them when they come here the week
after next. I beat Boston and just as good as beat New York twice
because I beat them 1 game all alone and then saved the other for Eddie
Cicotte in the 9th inning and shut out the Washington Club and would of
did the same thing if Johnson had of been working against me instead of
this left handed stiff Boehling.
Speaking of left handers Allen has been going rotten and I would not be
supprised if they sent him to Milwaukee or Frisco or somewheres.
But I got bigger news than that for you Al. Florrie is back and we are
liveing together in the spair room at Allen's flat so I hope they don't
send him to Milwaukee or nowheres else because it is not costing us
nothing for room rent and this is no more than right after the way the
Allens grafted off of us all last winter.
I bet you will be supprised to know that I and Florrie has made it up
and they is a secret about it Al which I can't tell you now but maybe
next month I will tell you and then you will be more supprised than
ever. It is about I and Florrie and somebody else. But that is all I
can tell you now.
We got in this A.M. Al and when I got to my room they was a slip of
paper there telling me to call up a phone number so I called it up and
it was Allen's flat and Marie answered the phone. And when I reckonized
her voice I was going to hang up the phone but she says Wait a minute
somebody wants to talk with you. And then Florrie come to the phone and
I was going to hang up the phone again when she pulled this secret on
me that I was telling you about.
So it is all fixed up between us Al and I wish I could tell you the
secret but that will come later. I have tooken my baggage over to
Allen's and I am there now writeing to you while Florrie is asleep.
And after a while I am going out and mail this letter and get a glass
of beer because I think I have got 1 comeing now on account of this
secret. Florrie says she is sorry for the way she treated me and she
cried when she seen me. So what is the use of me being nasty Al? And
let bygones be bygones.
Your pal, JACK.
_Chicago, Illinois, June 16._
FRIEND AL: Al I beat the Athaletics 2 to 1 to-day but I am writeing to
you to give you the supprise of your life. Old pal I got a baby and he
is a boy and we are going to name him Allen which Florrie thinks is
after his uncle and aunt Allen but which is after you old pal. And she
can call him Allen but I will call him Al because I don't never go back
on my old pals. The baby was born over to the hospital and it is going
to cost me a bunch of money but I should not worry. This is the secret
I was going to tell you Al and I am the happyest man in the world and I
bet you are most as tickled to death to hear about it as I am.
The baby was born just about the time I was makeing McInnis look like
a sucker in the pinch but they did not tell me nothing about it till
after the game and then they give me a phone messige in the clubhouse.
I went right over there and everything was all O.K. Little Al is a
homely little skate but I guess all babys is homely and don't have no
looks till they get older and maybe he will look like Florrie or I then
I won't have no kick comeing.
Be sure and tell Bertha the good news and tell her everything has came
out all right except that the rent man is still after me about that
flat I had last winter. And I am still paying the old man $10.00 a
month for that house you got for me and which has not never done me no
good. But I should not worry about money when I got a real family. Do
you get that Al, a real family?
Well Al I am to happy to do no more writeing to-night but I wanted you
to be the 1st to get the news and I would of sent you a telegram only I
did not want to scare you.
Your pal, JACK.
_Chicago, Illinois, July 2._
OLD PAL: Well old pal I just come back from St. Louis this A.M. and
found things in pretty fare shape. Florrie and the baby is out to
Allen's and we will stay there till I can find another place. The Dr.
was out to look at the baby this A.M. and the baby was waveing his
arm round in the air. And Florrie asked was they something the matter
with him that he kept waveing his arm. And the Dr. says No he was just
getting his exercise.
Well Al I noticed that he never waved his right arm but kept waveing
his left arm and I asked the Dr. why was that. Then the Dr. says I
guess he must be left handed. That made me sore and I says I guess you
doctors don't know it all. And then I turned round and beat it out of
the room.
Well Al it would be just my luck to have him left handed and Florrie
should ought to of knew better than to name him after Allen. I am
going to hire another Dr. and see what he has to say because they must
be some way of fixing babys so as they won't be left handed. And if
nessary I will cut his left arm off of him. Of coarse I would not do
that Al. But how would I feel if a boy of mine turned out like Allen
and Joe Hill and some of them other nuts?
We have a game with St. Louis to-morrow and a double header on the 4th
of July. I guess probily Callahan will work me in one of the 4th of
July games on account of the holiday crowd.
Your pal, JACK.
P.S. Maybe I should ought to leave the kid left handed so as he can
have some of their luck. The lucky stiffs.