THE BUSHER BEATS IT HENCE
_Chicago, Ill., Oct. 18._
FRIEND AL: I guess may be you will begin to think I dont never do what
I am going to do and that I change my mind a hole lot because I wrote
and told you that I and Florrie and little Al would be in Bedford
to-day and here we are in Chi yet on the day when I told you we would
get to Bedford and I bet Bertha and you and the rest of the boys will
be dissapointed but Al I dont feel like as if I should ought to leave
the White Sox in a hole and that is why I am here yet and I will tell
you how it come off but in the 1st place I want to tell you that it
wont make a diffrence of more then 5 or 6 or may be 7 days at least
and we will be down there and see you and Bertha and the rest of the
boys just as soon as the N.Y. giants and the White Sox leaves here and
starts a round the world. All so I remember I told you to fix it up so
as a hack would be down to the deepo to meet us to-night and you wont
get this letter in time to tell them not to send no hack so I supose
the hack will be there but may be they will be some body else that gets
off of the train that will want the hack and then every thing will be
all O.K. but if they is not nobody else that wants the hack I will pay
them 1/2 of what they was going to charge me if I had of came and road
in the hack though I dont have to pay them nothing because I am not
going to ride in the hack but I want to do the right thing and besides
I will want a hack at the deepo when I do come so they will get a peace
of money out of me any way so I dont see where they got no kick comeing
even if I dont give them a nichol now.
I will tell you why I am still here and you will see where I am trying
to do the right thing. You knowed of coarse that the White Sox and
the N. Y. giants was going to make a trip a round the world and they
been after me for a long time to go a long with them but I says No I
would not leave Florrie and the kid because that would not be fare and
besides I would be paying rent and grocerys for them some wheres and me
not getting nothing out of it and besides I would probily be spending
a hole lot of money on the trip because though the clubs pays all of
our regular expences they would be a hole lot of times when I felt
like blowing my self and buying some thing to send home to the Mrs and
to good old friends of mine like you and Bertha so I turned them down
and Callahan acted like he was sore at me but I dont care nothing for
that because I got other people to think a bout and not Callahan and
besides if I was to go a long the fans in the towns where we play at
would want to see me work and I would have to do a hole lot of pitching
which I would not be getting nothing for it and it would not count in
no standing because the games is to be just for fun and what good would
it do me and besides Florrie says I was not under no circumstance to
go and of coarse I would go if I wanted to go no matter what ever she
says but all and all I turned them down and says I would stay here all
winter or rather I would not stay here but in Bedford. Then Callahan
says All right but you know before we start on the trip the giants and
us is going to play a game right here in Chi next Sunday and after what
you done in the city serious the fans would be sore if they did not
get no more chance to look at you so will you stay and pitch part of
the game here and I says I would think it over and I come home to the
hotel where we are staying at and asked Florrie did she care if we did
not go to Bedford for an other week and she says No she did not care
if we dont go for 6 years so I called Callahan up and says I would stay
and he says Thats the boy and now the fans will have an other treat so
you see Al he appresiates what I done and wants to give the fans fare
treatment because this town is nuts over me after what I done to them
Cubs but I could do it just the same to the Athaletics or any body else
if it would of been them in stead of the Cubs. May be we will leave
here the A.M. after the game that is Monday and I will let you know so
as you can order an other hack and tell Bertha I hope she did not go to
no extra trouble a bout getting ready for us and did not order no spair
ribs and crout but you can eat them up if she all ready got them and
may be she can order some more for us when we come but tell her it dont
make no diffrence and not to go to no trouble because most anything she
has is O.K. for I and Florrie accept of coarse we would not want to
make no meal off of sardeens or something.
Well Al I bet them N.Y. giants will wish I would of went home before
they come for this here exibishun game because my arm feels grate and
I will show them where they would be at if they had to play ball in
our league all the time though I supose they is some pitchers in our
league that they would hit good against them if they can hit at all
but not me. You will see in the papers how I come out and I will write
and tell you a bout it.
Your pal, JACK.
_Chicago, Ill., Oct. 25._
OLD PAL: I have not only got a little time but I have got some news for
you and I knowed you would want to hear all a bout it so I am writeing
this letter and then I am going to catch the train. I would be saying
good by to little Al instead of writeing this letter only Florrie wont
let me wake him up and he is a sleep but may be by the time I get this
letter wrote he will be a wake again and I can say good by to him. I
am going with the White Sox and giants as far as San Francisco or may
be Van Coover where they take the boat at but I am not going a round
the world with them but only just out to the coast to help them out
because they is a couple of men going to join them out there and untill
them men join them they will be short of men and they got a hole lot of
exibishun games to play before they get out there so I am going to help
them out. It all come off in the club house after the game to-day and
I will tell you how it come off but 1st I want to tell you a bout the
game and honest Al them giants is the luckyest team in the world and
it is not no wonder they keep wining the penant in that league because
a club that has got there luck could win ball games with out sending no
team on the field at all but staying down to the hotel.
They was a big crowd out to the park so Callahan says to me I did not
know if I was going to pitch you or not but the crowd is out here to
see you so I will have to let you work so I warmed up but I knowed
the minute I throwed the 1st ball warming up that I was not right and
I says to Callahan I did not feel good but he says You wont need to
feel good to beat this bunch because they heard a hole lot a bout you
and you would have them beat if you just throwed your glove out there
in the box. So I went in and tried to pitch but my arm was so lame it
pretty near killed me every ball I throwed and I bet if I was some
other pitchers they would not never of tried to work with my arm so
sore but I am not like some of them yellow dogs and quit because I
would not dissapoint the crowd or throw Callahan down when he wanted me
to pitch and was depending on me. You know me Al. So I went in there
but I did not have nothing and if them giants could of hit at all
in stead of like a lot of girls they would of knock down the fence
because I was not my self. At that they should not ought to of had
only the 1 run off of me if Weaver and them had not of begin kicking
the ball a round like it was a foot ball or something. Well Al what
with dropping fly balls and booting them a round and this in that the
giants was gave 5 runs in the 1st 3 innings and they should ought to
of had just the 1 run or may be not that and that ball Merkle hit in
to the seats I was trying to waist it and a man that is a good hitter
would not never of hit at it and if I was right this here Merkle could
not foul me in 9 years. When I was comeing into the bench after the
3th inning this here smart alex Mcgraw come passed me from the 3 base
coaching line and he says Are you going on the trip and I says No I
am not going on no trip and he says That is to bad because if you was
going we would win a hole lot of games and I give him a hot come back
and he did not say nothing so I went in to the bench and Callahan says
Them giants is not such rotten hitters is they and I says No they hit
pretty good when a man has got a sore arm against them and he says
Why did not you tell me your arm was sore and I says I did not want
to dissapoint no crowd that come out here to see me and he says Well
I guess you need not pitch no more because if I left you in there
the crowd might begin to get tired of watching you a bout 10 oclock
to-night and I says What do you mean and he did not say nothing more
so I set there a while and then went to the club house. Well Al after
the game Callahan come in to the club house and I was still in there
yet talking to the trainer and getting my arm rubbed and Callahan says
Are you getting your arm in shape for next year and I says No but it
give me so much pane I could not stand it and he says I bet if you was
feeling good you could make them giants look like a sucker and I says
You know I could make them look like a sucker and he says Well why dont
you come a long with us and you will get an other chance at them when
you feel good and I says I would like to get an other crack at them but
I could not go a way on no trip and leave the Mrs and the baby and then
he says he would not ask me to make the hole trip a round the world but
he wisht I would go out to the coast with them because they was hard
up for pitchers and he says Mathewson of the giants was not only going
as far as the coast so if the giants had there star pitcher that far
the White Sox should ought to have theren and then some of the other
boys coaxed me would I go so finely I says I would think it over and I
went home and seen Florrie and she says How long would it be for and
I says a bout 3 or 4 weeks and she says If you dont go will we start
for Bedford right a way and I says Yes and then she says All right go a
head and go but if they was any thing should happen to the baby while I
was gone what would they do if I was not a round to tell them what to
do and I says Call a Dr. in but dont call no Dr. if you dont have to
and besides you should ought to know by this time what to do for the
baby when he got sick and she says Of coarse I know a little but not
as much as you do because you know it all. Then I says No I dont know
it all but I will tell you some things before I go and you should not
ought to have no trouble so we fixed it up and her and little Al is
to stay here in the hotel untill I come back which will be a bout the
20 of Nov. and then we will come down home and tell Bertha not to get
to in patient and we will get there some time. It is going to cost me
$6.00 a week at the hotel for a room for she and the baby besides there
meals but the babys meals dont cost nothing yet and Florrie should not
ought to be very hungry because we been liveing good and besides she
will get all she can eat when we come to Bedford and it wont cost me
nothing for meals on the trip out to the coast because Comiskey and
Mcgraw pays for that.
I have not even had no time to look up where we play at but we stop
off at a hole lot of places on the way and I will get a chance to make
them giants look like a sucker before I get threw and Mcgraw wont be so
sorry I am not going to make the hole trip. You will see by the papers
what I done to them before we get threw and I will write as soon as we
stop some wheres long enough so as I can write and now I am going to
say good by to little Al if he is a wake or not a wake and wake him up
and say good by to him because even if he is not only 5 months old he
is old enough to think a hole lot of me and why not. I all so got to
say good by to Florrie and fix it up with the hotel clerk a bout she
and the baby staying here a while and catch the train. You will hear
from me soon old pal.
Your pal, JACK.
_St. Joe, Miss., Oct. 29._
FRIEND AL: Well Al we are on our way to the coast and they is quite a
party of us though it is not no real White Sox and giants at all but
some players from off of both clubs and then some others that is from
other clubs a round the 2 leagues to fill up. We got Speaker from the
Boston club and Crawford from the Detroit club and if we had them with
us all the time Al I would not never loose a game because one or the
other of them 2 is good for a couple of runs every game and that is all
I need to win my games is a couple of runs or only 1 run and I would
win all my games and would not never loose a game.
I did not pitch to-day and I guess the giants was glad of it because
no matter what Mcgraw says he must of saw from watching me Sunday that
I was a real pitcher though my arm was so sore I could not hardly raze
it over my sholder so no wonder I did not have no stuff but at that I
could of beat his gang with out no stuff if I had of had some kind of
decent suport. I will pitch against them may be to-morrow or may be
some day soon and my arm is all O.K. again now so I will show them up
and make them wish Callahan had of left me to home. Some of the men has
brung there wife a long and besides that there is some other men and
there wife that is not no ball players but are going a long for the
trip and some more will join the party out the coast before they get a
bord the boat but of coarse I and Mathewson will drop out of the party
then because why should I or him go a round the world and throw our
arms out pitching games that dont count in no standing and that we dont
get no money for pitching them out side of just our bare expences. The
people in the towns we played at so far has all wanted to shake hands
with Mathewson and I so I guess they know who is the real pitchers on
these here 2 clubs no matter what them reporters says and the stars
is all ways the men that the people wants to shake there hands with
and make friends with them but Al this here Mathewson pitched to-day
and honest Al I dont see how he gets by and either the batters in the
National league dont know nothing a bout hitting or else he is such
a old man that they feel sorry for him and may be when he was a bout
10 years younger then he is may be then he had some thing and was a
pretty fare pitcher but all as he does now is stick the 1st ball right
over with 0 on it and pray that they dont hit it out of the park. If a
pitcher like he can get by in the National league and fool them batters
they is not nothing I would like better then to pitch in the National
league and I bet I would not get scored on in 2 to 3 years. I heard a
hole lot a bout this here fade a way that he is suposed to pitch and it
is a ball that is throwed out between 2 fingers and falls in at a right
hand batter and they is not no body cant hit it but if he throwed 1
of them things to-day he done it while I was a sleep and they was not
no time when I was not wide a wake and looking right at him and after
the game was over I says to him Where is that there fade a way I heard
so much a bout and he says O I did not have to use none of my regular
stuff against your club and I says Well you would have to use all you
got if I was working against you and he says Yes if you worked like you
done Sunday I would have to do some pitching or they would not never
finish the game. Then I says a bout me haveing a sore arm Sunday and
he says I wisht I had a sore arm like yourn and a little sence with it
and was your age and I would not never loose a game so you see Al he
has heard a bout me and is jellus because he has not got my stuff but
they cant every body expect to have the stuff that I got or 1/2 as much
stuff. This smart alex Mcgraw was trying to kid me to-day and says Why
did not I make friends with Mathewson and let him learn me some thing
a bout pitching and I says Mathewson could not learn me nothing and he
says I guess thats right and I guess they is not nobody could learn you
nothing a bout nothing and if you was to stay in the league 20 years
probily you would not be no better then you are now so you see he had
to add mit that I am good Al even if he has not saw me work when my arm
was O.K.
Mcgraw says to me to-night he says I wisht you was going all the way
and I says Yes you do. I says Your club would look like a sucker after
I had worked against them a few times and he says May be thats right to
because they would not know how to hit against a regular pitcher after
that. Then he says But I dont care nothing a bout that but I wisht you
was going to make the hole trip so as we could have a good time. He
says We got Steve Evans and Dutch Schaefer going a long and they is
both of them funny but I like to be a round with boys that is funny and
dont know nothing a bout it. I says Well I would go a long only for my
wife and baby and he says Yes it would be pretty tough on your wife to
have you a way that long but still and all think how glad she would be
to see you when you come back again and besides them dolls acrost the
ocean will be pretty sore at I and Callahan if we tell them we left you
to home. I says Do you supose the people over there has heard a bout
me and he says Sure because they have wrote a lot of letters asking me
to be sure and bring you and Mathewson a long. Then he says I guess
Mathewson is not going so if you was to go and him left here to home
they would not be nothing to it. You could have things all your own way
and probily could marry the Queen of europe if you was not all ready
married. He was giveing me the strate dope this time Al because he did
not crack a smile and I wisht I could go a long but it would not be
fare to Florrie but still and all did not she leave me and beat it for
Texas last winter and why should not I do the same thing to her only I
am not that kind of a man. You know me Al.
We play in Kansas city to-morrow and may be I will work there because
it is a big town and I have got to close now and write to Florrie.
Your old pal, JACK.
_Abilene, Texas, Nov. 4._
AL: Well Al I guess you know by this time that I have worked against
them 2 times since I wrote to you last time and I beat them both times
and Mcgraw knows now what kind of a pitcher I am and I will tell you
how I know because after the game yesterday he road down to the place
we dressed at a long with me and all the way in the automobile he was
after me to say I would go all the way a round the world and finely it
come out that he wants I should go a long and pitch for his club and
not pitch for the White Sox. He says his club is up against it for
pitchers because Mathewson is not going and all they got left is a man
named Hern that is a young man and not got no experiense and Wiltse
that is a left hander. So he says I have talked it over with Callahan
and he says if I could get you to go a long it was all O.K. with him
and you could pitch for us only I must not work you to hard because he
is depending on you to win the penant for him next year. I says Did not
none of the other White Sox make no holler because may be they might
have to bat against me and he says Yes Crawford and Speaker says they
would not make the trip if you was a long and pitching against them but
Callahan showed them where it would be good for them next year because
if they hit against you all winter the pitchers they hit against next
year will look easy to them. He was crazy to have me go a long on the
hole trip but of coarse Al they is not no chance of me going on acct.
of Florrie and little Al but you see Mcgraw has cut out his trying to
kid me and is treating me now like a man should ought to be treated
that has did what I done.
They was not no game here to-day on acct. of it raining and the people
here was sore because they did not see no game but they all come a
round to look at us and says they must have some speechs from the most
prommerent men in the party so I and Comiskey and Mcgraw and Callahan
and Mathewson and Ted Sullivan that I guess is putting up the money
for the trip made speechs and they clapped there hands harder when I
was makeing my speech then when any 1 of the others was makeing there
speech. You did not know I was a speech maker did you Al and I did not
know it neither untill to-day but I guess they is not nothing I can do
if I make up my mind and 1 of the boys says that I done just as well as
Dummy Taylor could of.
I have not heard nothing from Florrie but I guess may be she is to busy
takeing care of little Al to write no letters and I am not worring none
because she give me her word she would let me know was they some thing
the matter.
Yours truly, JACK.
_San Dago, Cal., Nov. 9._
FRIEND AL: Al some times I wisht I was not married at all and if it
was not for Florrie and little Al I would go a round the world on this
here trip and I guess the boys in Bedford would not be jellus if I was
to go a round the world and see every thing they is to be saw and some
of the boys down home has not never been no futher a way then Terre
Haute and I dont mean you Al but some of the other boys. But of coarse
Al when a man has got a wife and a baby they is not no chance for him
to go a way on 1 of these here trips and leave them a lone so they is
not no use I should even think a bout it but I cant help thinking a
bout it because the boys keeps after me all the time to go. Callahan
was talking a bout it to me to-day and he says he knowed that if I was
to pitch for the giants on the trip his club would not have no chance
of wining the most of the games on the trip but still and all he wisht
I would go a long because he was a scared the people over in Rome and
Paris and Africa and them other countrys would be awful sore if the 2
clubs come over there with out bringing none of there star pitchers
along. He says We got Speaker and Crawford and Doyle and Thorp and some
of them other real stars in all the positions accept pitcher and it
will make us look bad if you and Mathewson dont neither 1 of you come a
long. I says What is the matter with Scott and Benz and this here left
hander Wiltse and he says They is not nothing the matter with none of
them accept they is not no real stars like you and Mathewson and if we
cant show them forreners 1 of you 2 we will feel like as if we was
cheating them. I says You would not want me to pitch my best against
your club would you and he says O no I would not want you to pitch
your best or get your self all wore out for next year but I would want
you to let up enough so as we could make a run oncet in a while so the
games would not be to 1 sided. I says Well they is not no use talking
a bout it because I could not leave my wife and baby and he says Why
dont you write and ask your wife and tell her how it is and can you go.
I says No because she would make a big holler and besides of coarse I
would go any way if I wanted to go with out no I yes or no from her
only I am not the kind of a man that runs off and leaves his family and
besides they is not nobody to leave her with because her and her sister
Allens wife has had a quarrle. Then Callahan says Where is Allen at now
is he still in Chi. I says I dont know where is he at and I dont care
where he is at because I am threw with him. Then Callahan says I asked
him would he go on the trip before the season was over but he says he
could not and if I knowed where was he I would wire a telegram to him
and ask him again. I says What would you want him a long for and he
says Because Mcgraw is shy of pitchers and I says I would try and help
him find 1. I says Well you should ought not to have no trouble finding
a man like Allen to go along because his wife probily would be glad to
get rid of him. Then Callahan says Well I wisht you would get a hold
of where Allen is at and let me know so as I can wire him a telegram.
Well Al I know where Allen is at all O.K. but I am not going to give
his adress to Callahan because Mcgraw has treated me all O.K. and why
should I wish a man like Allen on to him and besides I am not going to
give Allen no chance to go a round the world or no wheres else after
the way he acted a bout I and Florrie haveing a room in his flat and
asking me to pay for it when he give me a invatation to come there and
stay. Well Al it is to late now to cry in the sour milk but I wisht I
had not never saw Florrie untill next year and then I and her could
get married just like we done last year only I dont know would I do it
again or not but I guess I would on acct. of little Al.
Your pal, JACK.
_San Francisco, Cal., Nov. 14._
OLD PAL: Well old pal what do you know a bout me being back here in San
Francisco where I give the fans such a treat 2 years ago and then I
was not nothing but a busher and now I am with a team that is going a
round the world and are crazy to have me go a long only I cant because
of my wife and baby. Callahan wired a telegram to the reporters here
from Los Angeles telling them I would pitch here and I guess they is
going to be 20 or 25000 out to the park and I will give them the best I
got.
But what do you think Florrie has did Al. Her and the Allens has made
it up there quarrle and is friends again and Marie told Florrie to
write and tell me she was sorry we had that there argument and let
by gones be by gones. Well Al it is all O.K. with me because I cant
help not feeling sorry for Allen because I dont beleive he will be in
the league next year and I feel sorry for Marie to because it must be
pretty tough on her to see how well her sister done and what a misstake
she made when she went and fell for a left hander that could not fool
a blind man with his curve ball and if he was to hit a man in the head
with his fast ball they would think there nose iched. In Florries
letter she says she thinks us and the Allens could find an other flat
like the 1 we had last winter and all live in it to gether in stead
of going to Bedford but I have wrote to her before I started writeing
this letter all ready and told her that her and I is going to Bedford
and the Allens can go where they feel like and they can go and stay on
a boat on Michigan lake all winter if they want to but I and Florrie
is comeing to Bedford. Down to the bottom of her letter she says Allen
wants to know if Callahan or Mcgraw is shy of pitchers and may be he
would change his mind and go a long on the trip. Well Al I did not ask
either Callahan nor Mcgraw nothing a bout it because I knowed they was
looking for a star and not for no left hander that could not brake a
pane of glass with his fast 1 so I wrote and told Florrie to tell Allen
they was all filled up and would not have no room for no more men.
It is pretty near time to go out to the ball park and I wisht you could
be here Al and hear them San Francisco fans go crazy when they hear my
name anounced to pitch. I bet they wish they had of had me here this
last year.
Yours truly, JACK.
_Medford, Organ, Nov. 16._
FRIEND AL: Well Al you know by this time that I did not pitch the hole
game in San Francisco but I was not tooken out because they was hitting
me Al but because my arm went back on me all of a sudden and it was
the change in the clime it that done it to me and they could not hire
me to try and pitch another game in San Francisco. They was the biggest
crowd there that I ever seen in San Francisco and I guess they must of
been 40000 people there and I wisht you could of heard them yell when
my name was anounced to pitch. But Al I would not never of went in
there but for the crowd. My arm felt like a wet rag or some thing and
I knowed I would not have nothing and besides the people was packed
in a round the field and they had to have ground rules so when a man
hit a pop fly it went in to the crowd some wheres and was a 2 bagger
and all them giants could do against me was pop my fast ball up in
the air and then the wind took a hold of it and dropped it in to the
crowd the lucky stiffs. Doyle hit 3 of them pop ups in to the crowd
so when you see them 3 2 base hits oposit his name in the score you
will know they was not no real 2 base hits and the infielders would of
catched them had it not of been for the wind. This here Doyle takes a
awful wallop at a ball but if I was right and he swang at a ball the
way he done in San Francisco the catcher would all ready be throwing
me back the ball a bout the time this here Doyle was swinging at it. I
can make him look like a sucker and I done it both in Kansas city and
Bonham and if he will get up there and bat against me when I feel good
and when they is not no wind blowing I will bet him a $25.00 suit of
cloths that he cant foul 1 off of me. Well when Callahan seen how bad
my arm was he says I guess I should ought to take you out and not run
no chance of you getting killed in there and so I quit and Faber went
in to finnish it up because it dont make no diffrence if he hurts his
arm or dont. But I guess Mcgraw knowed my arm was sore to because he
did not try and kid me like he done that day in Chi because he has saw
enough of me since then to know I can make his club look rotten when
I am O.K. and my arm is good. On the train that night he come up and
says to me Well Jack we catched you off your strid to-day or you would
of gave us a beating and then he says What your arm needs is more work
and you should ought to make the hole trip with us and then you would
be in fine shape for next year but I says You cant get me to make no
trip so you might is well not do no more talking a bout it and then he
says Well I am sorry and the girls over to Paris will be sorry to but I
guess he was just jokeing a bout the last part of it.
Well Al we go to 1 more town in Organ and then to Washington but of
coarse it is not the same Washington we play at in the summer but this
is the state Washington and have not got no big league club and the
boys gets there boat in 4 more days and I will quit them and then I
will come strate back to Chi and from there to Bedford.
Your pal, JACK.
_Portland, Organ, Nov. 17._
FRIEND AL: I have just wrote a long letter to Florrie but I feel like
as if I should ought to write to you because I wont have no more chance
for a long while that is I wont have no more chance to male a letter
because I will be on the pacific Ocean and un less we should run passed
a boat that was comeing the other way they would not be no chance of
getting no letter maled. Old pal I am going to make the hole trip clear
a round the world and back and so I wont see you this winter after all
but when I do see you Al I will have a lot to tell you a bout my trip
and besides I will write you a letter a bout it from every place we
head in at.
I guess you will be surprised a bout me changeing my mind and makeing
the hole trip but they was not no way for me to get out of it and I
will tell you how it all come off. While we was still in that there
Medford yesterday Mcgraw and Callahan come up to me and says was they
not no chance of me changeing my mind a bout makeing the hole trip.
I says No they was not. Then Callahan says Well I dont know what we
are going to do then and I says Why and he says Comiskey just got a
letter from president Wilson the President of the united states and in
the letter president Wilson says he had got an other letter from the
king of Japan who says that they would not stand for the White Sox and
giants comeing to Japan un less they brought all there stars a long
and president Wilson says they would have to take there stars a long
because he was a scared if they did not take there stars a long Japan
would get mad at the united states and start a war and then where
would we be at. So Comiskey wired a telegram to president Wilson and
says Mathewson could not make the trip because he was so old but would
everything be all O.K. if I was to go a long and president Wilson wired
a telegram back and says Yes he had been talking to the priest from
Japan and he says Yes it would be all O.K. I asked them would they show
me the letter from president Wilson because I thought may be they might
be kiding me and they says they could not show me no letter because
when Comiskey got the letter he got so mad that he tore it up. Well
Al I finely says I did not want to brake up there trip but I knowed
Florrie would not stand for letting me go so Callahan says All right I
will wire a telegram to a friend of mine in Chi and have him get a hold
of Allen and send him out here and we will take him a long and I says
It is to late for Allen to get here in time and Mcgraw says No they was
a train that only took 2 days from Chi to where ever it was the boat is
going to sale from because the train come a round threw canada and it
was down hill all the way. Then I says Well if you will wire a telegram
to my wife and fix things up with her I will go a long with you but if
she is going to make a holler it is all off. So we all 3 went to the
telegram office to gether and we wired Florrie a telegram that must of
cost $2.00 but Callahan and Mcgraw payed for it out of there own pocket
and then we waited a round a long time and the anser come back and the
anser was longer than the telegram we wired and it says it would not
make no diffrence to her but she did not know if the baby would make a
holler but he was hollering most of the time any way so that would not
make no diffrence but if she let me go it was on condishon that her
and the Allens could get a flat to gether and stay in Chi all winter
and not go to no Bedford and hire a nurse to take care of the baby and
if I would send her a check for the money I had in the bank so as she
could put it in her name and draw it out when she need it. Well I says
at 1st I would not stand for nothing like that but Callahan and Mcgraw
showed me where I was makeing a mistake not going when I could see all
them diffrent countrys and tell Florrie all a bout the trip when I come
back and then in a year or 2 when the baby was a little older I could
make an other trip and take little Al and Florrie a long so I finely
says O.K. I would go and we wires still an other telegram to Florrie
and told her O.K. and then I set down and wrote her a check for 1/2 the
money I got in the bank and I got $500.00 all together there so I wrote
the check for 1/2 of that or $250.00 and maled it to her and if she
cant get a long on that she would be a awfull spendrift because I am
not only going to be a way untill March. You should ought to of heard
the boys cheer when Callahan tells them I am going to make the hole
trip but when he tells them I am going to pitch for the giants and not
for the White Sox I bet Crawford and Speaker and them wisht I was going
to stay to home but it is just like Callahan says if they bat against
me all winter the pitchers they bat against next season will look easy
to them and you wont be supprised Al if Crawford and Speaker hits a
bout 500 next year and if they hit good you will know why it is. Steve
Evans asked me was I all fixed up with cloths and I says No but I was
going out and buy some cloths includeing a full dress suit of evening
cloths and he says You dont need no full dress suit of evening cloths
because you look funny enough with out them. This Evans is a great
kidder Al and no body never gets sore at the stuff he pulls some thing
like Kid Gleason. I wisht Kid Gleason was going on the trip Al but I
will tell him all a bout it when I come back.
Well Al old pal I wisht you was going a long to and I bet we could have
the time of our life but I will write to you right a long Al and I will
send Bertha some post cards from the diffrent places we head in at.
I will try and write you a letter on the boat and male it as soon as
we get to the 1st station which is either Japan or Yokohama I forgot
which. Good by Al and say good by to Bertha for me and tell her how
sorry I and Florrie is that we cant come to Bedford this winter but we
will spend all the rest of the winters there and her and Florrie will
have a plenty of time to get acquainted. Good by old pal.
Your pal, JACK.
_Seattle, Wash., Nov. 18._
AL: Well Al it is all off and I am not going on no trip a round the
world and back and I been looking for Callahan or Mcgraw for the last
1/2 hour to tell them I have changed my mind and am not going to make
no trip because it would not be fare to Florrie and besides that I
think I should ought to stay home and take care of little Al and not
leave him to be tooken care of by no train nurse because how do I know
what would she do to him and I am not going to tell Florrie nothing a
bout it but I am going to take the train to-morrow night right back to
Chi and supprise her when I get there and I bet both her and little Al
will be tickled to death to see me. I supose Mcgraw and Callahan will
be sore at me for a while but when I tell them I want to do the right
thing and not give my famly no raw deal I guess they will see where I
am right.
We was to play 2 games here and was to play 1 of them in Tacoma and
the other here but it rained and so we did not play neither 1 and the
people was pretty mad a bout it because I was announced to pitch and
they figured probily this would be there only chance to see me in axion
and they made a awful holler but Comiskey says No they would not be
no game because the field neither here or in Tacoma was in no shape
for a game and he would not take no chance of me pitching and may be
slipping in the mud and straneing myself and then where would the White
Sox be at next season. So we been laying a round all the P.M. and I and
Dutch Schaefer had a long talk to gether while some of the rest of the
boys was out buying some cloths to take on the trip and Al I bought a
full dress suit of evening cloths at Portland yesterday and now I owe
Callahan the money for them and am not going on no trip so probily I
wont never get to ware them and it is just $45.00 throwed a way but I
would rather throw $45.00 a way then go on a trip a round the world and
leave my famly all winter.
Well Al I and Schaefer was talking to gether and he says Well may be
this is the last time we will ever see the good old US and I says What
do you mean and he says People that gos acrost the pacific Ocean most
generally all ways has there ship recked and then they is not no more
never heard from them. Then he asked me was I a good swimmer and I
says Yes I had swam a good deal in the river and he says Yes you have
swam in the river but that is not nothing like swimming in the pacific
Ocean because when you swim in the pacific Ocean you cant move your
feet because if you move your feet the sharks comes up to the top of
the water and bites at them and even if they did not bite your feet
clean off there bite is poison and gives you the hiderofobeya and when
you get that you start barking like a dog and the water runs in to your
mouth and chokes you to death. Then he says Of coarse if you can swim
with out useing your feet you are all O.K. but they is very few can
do that and especially in the pacific Ocean because they got to keep
useing there hands all the time to scare the sord fish a way so when
you dont dare use your feet and your hands is busy you got nothing left
to swim with but your stumach mussles. Then he says You should ought
to get a long all O.K. because your stumach mussles should ought to
be strong from the exercise they get so I guess they is not no danger
from a man like you but men like Wiltse and Mike Donlin that is not hog
fat like you has not got no chance. Then he says Of coarse they have
been times when the boats got acrost all O.K. and only a few lives lost
but it dont offten happen and the time the old Minneapolis club made
the trip the boat went down and the only thing that was saved was the
catchers protector that was full of air and could not do nothing else
but flote. Then he says May be you would flote to if you did not say
nothing for a few days.
I asked him how far would a man got to swim if some thing went wrong
with the boat and he says O not far because they is a hole lot of
ilands a long the way that a man could swim to but it would not do a
man no good to swim to these here ilands because they dont have nothing
to eat on them and a man would probily starve to death un less he
happened to swim to the sandwich ilands. Then he says But by the time
you been out on the pacific Ocean a few months you wont care if you get
any thing to eat or not. I says Why not and he says the pacific Ocean
is so ruff that not nothing can set still not even the stuff you eat.
I asked him how long did it take to make the trip acrost if they was
not no ship reck and he says they should ought to get acrost a long in
febuery if the weather was good. I says Well if we dont get there until
febuery we wont have no time to train for next season and he says You
wont need to do no training because this trip will take all the weight
off of you and every thing else you got. Then he says But you should
not ought to be scared of getting sea sick because they is 1 way you
can get a way from it and that is to not eat nothing at all while you
are on the boat and they tell me you dont eat hardly nothing any way so
you wont miss it. Then he says Of coarse if we should have good luck
and not get in to no ship reck and not get shot by 1 of them war ships
we will have a grate time when we get acrost because all the girls
in europe and them places is nuts over ball players and especially
stars. I asked what did he mean saying we might get shot by 1 of them
war ships and he says we would have to pass by Swittserland and the
Swittserland war ships was all the time shooting all over the ocean and
of coarse they was not trying to hit no body but they was as wild as
most of them left handers and how could you tell what was they going to
do next.
Well Al after I got threw talking to Schaefer I run in to Jack Sheridan
the umpire and I says I did not think I would go on no trip and I
told him some of the things Schaefer was telling me and Sheridan says
Schaefer was kidding me and they was not no danger at all and of coarse
Al I did not believe 1/2 of what Schaefer was telling me and that has
not got nothing to do with me changeing my mind but I don't think it
is not hardly fare for me to go a way on a trip like that and leave
Florrie and the baby and suppose some of them things really did happen
like Schaefer said though of coarse he was kidding me but if 1 of them
was to happen they would not be no body left to take care of Florrie
and little Al and I got a $1000.00 insurence policy but how do I know
after I am dead if the insurence co. comes acrost and gives my famly
the money.
Well Al I will male this letter and then try again and find Mcgraw and
Callahan and then I will look up a time table and see what train can
I get to Chi. I dont know yet when I will be in Bedford and may be
Florrie has hired a flat all ready but the Allens can live in it by
them self and if Allen says any thing a bout I paying for 1/2 of the
rent I will bust his jaw.
Your pal, JACK.
_Victoria, Can., Nov. 19._
DEAR OLD AL: Well old pal the boat gos to-night I am going a long
and I would not be takeing no time to write this letter only I wrote
to you yesterday and says I was not going and you probily would be
expecting to see me blow in to Bedford in a few days and besides Al I
got a hole lot of things to ask you to do for me if any thing happens
and I want to tell you how it come a bout that I changed my mind and
am going on the trip. I am glad now that I did not write Florrie no
letter yesterday and tell her I was not going because now I would have
to write her an other letter and tell her I was going and she would be
expecting to see me the day after she got the 1st letter and in stead
of seeing me she would get this 2nd. letter and not me at all. I have
all ready wrote her a good by letter to-day though and while I was
writeing it Al I all most broke down and cried and espesially when I
thought a bout leaveing little Al so long and may be when I see him
again he wont be no baby no more or may be some thing will of happened
to him or that train nurse did some thing to him or may be I wont never
see him again no more because it is pretty near a cinch that some thing
will either happen to I or him. I would give all most any thing I got
Al to be back in Chi with little Al and Florrie and I wisht she had not
of never wired that telegram telling me I could make the trip and if
some thing happens to me think how she will feel when ever she thinks a
bout wireing me that telegram and she will feel all most like as if she
was a murder.
Well Al after I had wrote you that letter yesterday I found Callahan
and Mcgraw and I tell them I have changed my mind and am not going on
no trip. Callahan says Whats the matter and I says I dont think it
would be fare to my wife and baby and Callahan says Your wife says it
would be all O.K. because I seen the telegram my self. I says Yes but
she dont know how dangerus the trip is and he says Whos been kiding you
and I says They has not no body been kiding me. I says Dutch Schaefer
told me a hole lot of stuff but I did not believe none of it and that
has not got nothing to do with it. I says I am not a scared of nothing
but supose some thing should happen and then where would my wife and
my baby be at. Then Callahan says Schaefer has been giveing you a lot
of hot air and they is not no more danger on this trip then they is in
bed. You been in a hole lot more danger when you was pitching some of
them days when you had a sore arm and you would be takeing more chances
of getting killed in Chi by 1 of them taxi cabs or the dog catcher
then on the Ocean. This here boat we are going on is the Umpires of
Japan and it has went acrost the Ocean a million times with out nothing
happening and they could not nothing happen to a boat that the N.Y.
giants was rideing on because they is to lucky. Then I says Well I
have made up my mind to not go on no trip and he says All right then
I guess we might is well call the trip off and I says Why and he says
You know what president Wilson says a bout Japan and they wont stand
for us comeing over there with out you a long and then Mcgraw says Yes
it looks like as if the trip was off because we dont want to take no
chance of starting no war between Japan and the united states. Then
Callahan says You will be in fine with Comiskey if he has to call the
trip off because you are a scared of getting hit by a fish. Well Al we
talked and argude for a hour or a hour and 1/2 and some of the rest
of the boys come a round and took Callahan and Mcgraw side and finely
Callahan says it looked like as if they would have to posepone the trip
a few days un till he could get a hold of Allen or some body and get
them to take my place so finely I says I would go because I would not
want to brake up no trip after they had made all there plans and some
of the players wifes was all ready to go and would be dissapointed if
they was not no trip. So Mcgraw and Callahan says Thats the way to talk
and so I am going Al and we are leaveing to-night and may be this is
the last letter you will ever get from me but if they does not nothing
happen Al I will write to you a lot of letters and tell you all a bout
the trip but you must not be looking for no more letters for a while
untill we get to Japan where I can male a letter and may be its likely
as not we wont never get to Japan.
Here is the things I want to ask you to try and do Al and I am not
asking you to do nothing if we get threw the trip all right but if some
thing happens and I should be drowned here is what I am asking you to
do for me and that is to see that the insurence co. dont skin Florrie
out of that $1000.00 policy and see that she all so gets that other
$250.00 out of the bank and find her some place down in Bedford to
live if she is willing to live down there because she can live there
a hole lot cheaper then she can live in Chi and besides I know Bertha
would treat her right and help her out all she could. All so Al I want
you and Bertha to help take care of little Al untill he grows up big
enough to take care of him self and if he looks like as if he was going
to be left handed dont let him Al but make him use his right hand for
every thing. Well Al they is 1 good thing and that is if I get drowned
Florrie wont have to buy no lot in no cemetary and hire no herse.
Well Al old pal you all ways been a good friend of mine and I all ways
tried to be a good friend of yourn and if they was ever any thing I
done to you that was not O.K. remember by gones is by gones. I want you
to all ways think of me as your best old pal. Good by old pal.
Your old pal, JACK.
P.S. Al if they should not nothing happen and if we was to get acrost
the Ocean all O.K. I am going to ask Mcgraw to let me work the 1st game
against the White Sox in Japan because I should certainly ought to be
right after giveing my arm a rest and not doing nothing at all on the
trip acrost and I bet if Mcgraw lets me work Crawford and Speaker will
wisht the boat had of sank. You know me Al.
Transcribers Note:
Original spelling and grammar has been retained.
G.M.