Flintridge Prep School - Log Yearbook (La Canada Flintridge, CA)

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Captain ot baseball is Thorn- dike M a c k a y (left). At risht Bob Hampton, our fi e r y short- stop, is shown showing how to put one out of the lot. his verbal typhoon astounding. can create, not only alone but by inciting the bench boys, is The first official workout was with hlarvard. Until the fourth inning when some- one persuaded Reid to tell that the score was tied, four up, the game was rather dull. Rabble-rouser Earl scuttled through the rooters hinting that the opposing pitcher was becoming uncomfortably proficient, hence vocal labor. The following inning hlarvard found their pitcher so nervous that it was necessary to replace him. It should be re- membered though that the lad had managed to cause several undersized bat wield- ing Flintridge men to strike out. Flintridge made two runs in the fifth, and hlarvard one in the sixth. The game luckily ended with the score six to five, in favor of Flintridge. Pacific and St. Anthony were both vanquished with little exertion other than on the part of noisy spectators. Vocal rather than physical lassitude was experi- enced after the bitter Pacific game. P. M. A. changed pitchers three times and finally gave in, although they shall always maintain that their football team is superior to ours. The St. Anthony boys were the handsomest lads Flintridge met throughout the season, but despite the fact they were sponsored by the church, the Almighty left them to blink as Mackay and Earl slung and winked. The score was II to 5 for Flintridge. On March 13th the team went to Oneonta where the competition was mild. The bench wigglers were asked to participate and this allowed the regular players to get a dose of substitute boredom. Being able to see Kellogg from the bench helped Dick Munroe considerably; he decided that spring had lightly turned Ogden ' s fancy. This application of Tennyson ' s law was rumored to be correct. S. C. M. A. was beaten 8 to 5 on a public park ground in Long Beach. The field was originally made with the forethought of someday growing grass thereon, but as the Long Beach climate is not conducive to growing, the dirt remained uncultivated, was packed down, and then baked by the sun, so that when the Flintridge squad took their places some fifty years later, the surface of the diamond could easily have been confused with cement or bedrock. The sun was a handicap to the outfielders and some complained of seeing spots because of it. (hHot, irritated bench boys retorted that the spots were bathing-suited female tennis players.) The cause of considerable intoxi- cation and cheering was Mac Lawrence ' s record discharge, which entailed his throw- ing the ball some hundred and fifty yards directly to home plate where Earl surprised a man coming in from third. The undersized bats were ineffective against the slowly

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iniiii In early February it was known that the baseball season would be too early to avoid conflicting with swimming and the minor sports, so complete cooperation and considerable team spirit would be needed to wade successfully through our schedule. As was the case in basketball, uniforms were again supplied; this time partly by the students (sweatshirts) and mostly by the school. The pants were a light, blue-grey gabardine material which, if washed, would, according to inclosed warnings, shrink eight sizes and look like brushed wool. Robbins washed his, finding they did not shrink or change in the least, hie was given a laudatory speech by Coach for saving the team dry cleaning money. Baseball cleats were outlawed, the use of fungo bats was frowned upon, so the season was to be played with none but the customary, trite equipment, until L. V. L. appeared with several undersized bats that were to cause more strike-outs and fly-balls than pleased calculating Manager Reid Allen. After a few weeks of experimentation hiampton was placed at shortstop, Eliel took third, and Kellogg patroled the second base precinct. Dick Munroe replaced last year ' s first baseman Gamble, because of the latter ' s inability to control his throws and refrain from jumping out of the way of grounders. Robbins, Weaver, Schimpff and Moller kept up a constant battle with T. Munroe, Gamble and Mac Lawrence for posi- tions in the field. Those two bosom buddies, Lawrence and Robbins, severed diplo- matic relations shortly after the season opened when it was discovered they were both partial to the same position. Mac could snag flys quite ably, but when he missed his grounders he had quite a pronounced tendency to indulge in facial contortions or take time off to scold himself. Robbins had little trouble with grounders, but felt that flys were the greatest outfield hazard. Upon missing one he would pose, and remain in a semi-paralyzed state (much to the displeasure of Coach) until he felt his shame was sufficiently portrayed and his vindication effected. Mr. Lyndon finally decided that facial contortions were more tolerable than unpredicted paralytic af- flictions. Our battery, fondly called the wink, sling and blink, duet, was the cause of mighty palmy days for Coach. When Mackay wound up and Earl adjusted the yellow- ing mask, an expression of ecstatic snugness would take possession of L. V. Lyndon; when the opposing batters swished at the invisible ball with a futile grunt, his satisfac- tion would spread amongst the team making even verbose catcher Earl forgotten for the moment. Benny was the cause of the temporary downfall of every pitcher in the league. The volume of his vocals is equalled only by Lyon ' s. The confusing din that 50

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O u r battery. Mackay pitches one to Benny Earl. The latter ' , 33 not only the best catcher on the team, but qI:o the best hit- ter. pitched balls, but because light bats can be swung with nnore gusto and a greater display of muscles, the spectators witnessed a superfluous amount of pop flys . The final score was 8 to 5 in our favor. (P. S. Junior Manager Bullock put in his appearance and did a noble job of wearing colored glasses.) So far the Flintridge team was undefeated and untied. We had fought, hollered, perspired, and laughed our way through the first five games and now we had to win, or be satisfied sharing a tie for League championship. The final game was with Spanish American who had lost only one of their matches; it meant big doings if we could conquer them also. The game was held there on Saturday, the 6th of April. There were prospective Flintridge students, players ' parents, and the entire Spanish American Institute present. Our outfielders frollicked in their stocking feet and had an enjoyable morning racing through the weeds. Mackay and Earl played truly admirable bail. Earl ' s batting was the best of the season. Munroe and Kellogg handled their share of infield business in a pleasantly effective manner, hiampton made several spectacular stops, Eliel seemed to think himself nervous although he did excellently. The crisis came in the last inning when the score was tied, one up; an opponent was restlessly lingering on third. A fly, which fell just between infield and the outfield, enabled the man on third to come home, making Spanish American the victors, 2 to I . Coach had promised the team a turkey dinner, win or lose, so home they came, having lost, anxious to forget their defeat with WINE (This wine was strangely white and called milk, vintage of the day before), WOMEN (No females were perceptible but because the buns seemed to mysteriously disappear it was suspected that invisible table nymphs were dancing up and down between the plates), and SONG (The rapid eating caused certain internal rumblings which could have been mistaken for the words of a modern jazz song). The final league standings showed that Flintridge shared a three-way tie for first place with Spanish American and hiarvard. Mac Lawrence and Ted Munroe had played their last game in the field for dear old Flint, but the legends will be passed down of how those two raced through Spanish weeds and dodged jumping pits in the S. A. I. game of forty. Mackay had certainly wound up his pitching career with an excellent performance, having pitched with amazing speed and accuracy in the face of a pack of bellowing heathens. They who know unanimously agree that Flintridge has never had a better pitcher than Thorny, never has had a better season than this year ' s, and that any team possessing a deaf pitcher can easily top the league.