Yale Murphy, the Great Short-Stop — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

No. 87. NEW YORK FIVE CENT LIBRARY. Lo EEE a took heart when they saw that Midge was not afraid to! His visit to Baltimore surprised him. follow him. His fame had preceded him, and when he came on the As Midge was nearly on top of the thief, he saw the| field to practice, he was received with cheers. fellow still carried the open knife. “ And that’s the little tot, eh?” said one Baltimore crank. He decided quickly what was to be done. “Well, well, I must shake him by the hand.” He knew it would not be well for him to grapple with] Regardless of rules, and that there were a dozen police- the thief, who would not hesitate to take any means to|men about to maintain order, the crank juinped into the field, and ran to where Midge was standing. The crank extended his hand, which Midge accepted. He had just time to get back to.the bleaching boards as insure his escape. , Putting on a spurt, Midge ran ahead of the thief before he knew it. Bending down quickly the thief went over Midge’s head | a police officer entered the field in pursuit. as if he was shot from a,cannon. _ The crank was applauded for his effort, and the balance He turned a complete somersault, and landed squarely |of the afternoon he wasa hero among the boys on the bleachers. As the Baltimore grounds began to fill up, Yale Murphy, on his back. The knife he carried was thrown into the middle of the street. The fall partly stunned him. as he was now called by every one, was surprised to see how popular he was. In an instant he was surrounded bya large crowd of| Whenthe game was called there were over seventeen , | thousand spectators present. Each of these was anxious to see the famous little short- men and boys. Two fat policemen, who ran up at the instant, sat on stop, of whom they had heard so much. “fs dat Yale Murphy?” asked a newsboy of his com- the thief’s chest, and the excitement -was over. Midge was about to get away under the cover of the panion, a boy of his own age. - ‘Yes, dat’s de college blokee w’at left Yale ter go wid de New Yorks.” “He an’t no bigger den me, is he?” ‘‘Naw,” replied the other, as he looked at the boy beside him in a contemptuous way; “but he’s got de stuff of a ball player. You’se isa stiff ter compare yerself to de crowd, when a boy cried : “Hi! dere, fellers. Dat’s Yale Murphy, de midget short-stop.” Midge blushed to the roots of his hair when he saw he .was recognized. ‘“Ves, dat’s Yale Murphy for a cinch,” cried another boy. “Tg this the. young man who threw the thief so clev-| likes o’ him.” erly?” asked an old gentleman coming down from a] Every man and boy on the grounds, and especially stoop. “Ts this Mr. “Murphy, whom I saw at the: Polo|those on the bleaching boards had something pleasant to sav of Midge. | De Wolt Hopper and Digby Bell, the comedians, who Grounds this afternoon 2?” Midge could not deny his identity. | He took the old gentleman’s outstretched hand, and then noticing that a horse-car was nearly opposite. him, he jumped on it, and was soon at Sixth avenue. There he took another car. Twenty minutes later he was in his room af the hotel. The newspapers the next morning had accounts of the clever way in which Yale Murphy, the new short-stop, had caught a thief. ; When one of his friends asked him where he learned the trick of throwing a man over his head in the way he had done with the thief, he said: “That’s a simple trick.. I learned that at my old home in Southland when I was a boy.” especially to see Midge play. ‘*Ffe’s a dandy-looking fellow for a short-stop,” said De W olf. “Wait until you see him in the field. Heisin half a dozen places at once.” The umpire was seen approaching the plate. At that moment the gong sounded, and the Baltimore team went to the bat. “All eyes were turned on Murphys Much was expected of him, and he knew a serious error would cost him considerable of his popularity. But Murphy made no serious error in this inning. He picked up a hard grounder, and put out a man on first. The next batter hit a liner to him that would have been = Little Midge braced himself, however, and if the ball YALE MURPHY IN BALTIMORE. nearly knocked him down he held on toit long enough Midge continued the success he had made in New York, for the umpire to cry: “Striker out.” happened to be in Baltimore, were present at the game, in other cities. . COMIC OOOKS. CO