I come in to the bench and Callahan says Are your friends from Bedford up here? I was pretty sore and I says Why don’t you get a catcher? He says We don’t need no catcher when you’re pitching because you can’t get nothing past their bats. Then he says You better leave your uniform in here when you go out next inning or Cobb will steal it off your back. I says My arm is sore. He says Use your other one and you’ll do just as good.
Gleason says Who do you want to warm up? Callahan says Nobody. He says Cobb is going to lead the league in batting and basestealing anyway so we might as well give him a good start. I was mad enough to punch his jaw but the boys winked at me not to do nothing.
Well I got some support in the next inning and nobody got on. Between innings I says Well I guess I look better now don’t I? Callahan says Yes but you wouldn’t look so good if Collins hadn’t jumped up on the fence and catched that one off Crawford. That’s all the encouragement I got Al.
Cobb come up again to start the third and when Schalk signs me for a fast one I shakes my head. Then Schalk says All right pitch anything you want to. I pitched a spitter and Cobb bunts it right at me. I would of threw him out a block but I stubbed my toe in a rough place and fell down. This is the roughest ground I ever seen Al. Veach bunts and for a wonder Lord throws him out. Cobb goes to second and honest Al I forgot all about him being there and first thing I knowed he had stole third. Then Moriarty hits a fly ball to Bodie and Cobb scores though Bodie ought to of threw him out twenty feet.
They batted all round in the forth inning and scored four or five more. Crawford got the luckiest three-base hit I ever see. He popped one way up in the air and the wind blowed it against the fence. The wind is something fierce here Al. At that Collins ought to of got under it.
I was looking at the bench all the time expecting Callahan to call me in but he kept hollering Go on and pitch. Your friends wants to see you pitch.
Well Al I don’t know how they got the rest of their runs but they had more luck than any team I ever seen. And all the time Jennings was on the coaching line yelling like a Indian. Some day Al I’m going to punch his jaw.
After Veach had hit one in the eight Callahan calls me to the bench and says You’re through for the day. I says It’s about time you found out my arm was sore. He says I ain’t worrying about your arm but I’m afraid some of our outfielders will run their legs off and some of them poor infielders will get killed. He says The reporters just sent me a message saying they had run out of paper. Then he says I wish some of the other clubs had pitchers like you so we could hit once in a while. He says Go in the clubhouse and get your arm rubbed off. That’s the only way I can get Jennings sore he says.
Well Al that’s about all there was to it. It will take two or three stamps to send this but I want you to know the truth about it. The way my arm was I ought never to of went in there.
Chicago, Illinois, April 25.
Friend Al: Just a line to let you know I am still on earth. My arm feels pretty good again and I guess maybe I will work at Detroit. Violet writes that she can’t hardly wait to see me. Looks like I got a regular girl now Al. We go up there the twenty-ninth and maybe I won’t be glad to see her. I hope she will be out to the game the day I pitch. I will pitch the way I want to next time and them Tigers won’t have such a picnic.
I suppose you seen what the Chicago reporters said about that game. I will punch a couple of their jaws when I see them.
Chicago, Illinois, April 29.
Dear Old Al: Well Al it’s all over. The club went to Detroit last night and I didn’t go along. Callahan told me to report to Comiskey this morning and I went up to the office at ten o’clock. He give me my pay to date and broke the news. I am sold to Frisco.
I asked him how they got waivers on me and he says Oh there was no trouble about that because they all heard how you tamed the Tigers. Then he patted me on the back and says Go out there and work hard boy and maybe you’ll get another chance some day. I was kind of choked up so I walked out of the office.
I ain’t had no fair deal Al and I ain’t going to no Frisco. I will quit the game first and take that job Charley offered me at the billiard hall.
I expect to be in Bedford in a couple of days. I have got to pack up first and settle with my landlady about my room here which I engaged for all season thinking I would be treated square. I am going to rest and lay round home a while and try to
