A Night in Decatur

I remember one time when we had a game in Springfield--this must've been 1921 or thereabouts--and a few of us--myself and Lester Stills and Babe Montgomery--decided that, well, we didn't want to spend anymore time in Springfield than we had to. So after our game, the three of us snuck out of the hotel and found ourselves an automobile and drove to Decatur for the night.

Now, I don't have to tell you about the fun we had in Decatur.

But needless to say, when we came rolling back into Springfield the next morn, we were a sore sight, I'm sure. I'll never forget the look on Mr. Morris--he was our manager--on Mr. Morris' face when we came tromping up to the train station.

"Where were you boys?" he said. He didn't look a bit pleased to see us.

Lester strode up, sure of himself, and me and Babe trailed behind, heads hanging down.

"You see, Mr. Morris," Lester says, "we was scouting out the competition in Decatur."

"Oh, is that so, Lester?" Morris said. "Well, you do know that we don't play 'em for another three months, don't you?"

And Lester says, "Yes, sir, I do. And boy oh boy, do we have their number now!" Me and Babe did everything we could to not laugh, and I think Morris did the same. It sure was hard to be mad at Lester.

Morris gave Lester a playful punch in the shoulder and he whupped us with his ballcap as we passed. We sure let out a hearty laugh when we all got on the train and we watched Morris disappear into the next train car over.

"Good thing he didn’t ask us to run sprints up and down the rail," Lester said. "My legs are so tired, I'd have been crawling after three paces!"

We all roared and roared.

"Boy oh boy, some scouting we did—wait til I tell ol' Morris 'bout how that blonde sweetheart runs the bases!"

Me and Babe were doubled up laughing—my sides were hurting!

When we finally found the rest of the boys on the train, we couldn't tell the story without getting all tripped up laughing. I slapped my knee so hard, I was worried I was gonna break it! You shoulda seen the big Babe giggling like a bird in the trees! He might've laughed off about 10 pounds!

Oh my, were those the days. We was just a bunch of dumb fools. But I was never happier!