Right off the Bat

Be out here at ten to-morrow-- That goes the way that it lays; Any mixed-ale sport that doesn't report Will squat on the bench ten days!"

THE LEAGUE OF LONG AGO

They've got me sitting on the bench--I knew it had to come-- Kid Casey subbed for me at third the day I broke my thumb; My thumb got better fast enough, but when I wanted back, "The Kid is stinging them a mile," says good old Captain Mack. "The Kid is running bases like a Murray or a Cobb, The Kid does this, the Kid does that, the Kid is on the job." And so I'm sitting on the bench, my spirits sort o' low, And playing memory ball games in the League of Long Ago.

I'm pulling for Kid Casey, and I hope he makes a mint, I help him every way I can, from cussword down to hint; He knows that I am for him, too--'twas only yesterday He says to me, "Old leaguer, you've got ten more years to play." But I know that he knows better, and I know just what I'm worth-- A man can't last forever in the swiftest game on earth. And so I'm sittin