LET JIMMY RING!

May 28, 1924

The first thing we had to do was track down Benny's car, which wasn't easy. There were a few car yards around Allston, but a guy at one of them said because it was the horse police they probably took the car to a big police garage downtown.

So we took the streetcars into Boston and believe me, it wasn't the way we wanted to see the city. Benny still couldn't walk too fast with his bad leg, and the cold weather had left and it was getting muggy by the time we found the police station. The cop at the desk didn't like the looks of us right away and we liked him less, and it took almost a half hour of convincing to make him believe the car belonged to Benny. Then they wanted forty dollars to get the car back, which left us with about three, barely enough to see the next two ball games. Benny said if we were Irish instead of Italian they would have charged us a dime but neither of us was in a mood to change our names again.

We had to wait another hour for someone to drive the car out of the garage for us, so we killed time by walking over to this giant park called Boston Commons. It was nice out now and pretty ladies and pigeons and swans were all over the place and the trees were all green so we bought a couple ice creams and sat on the grass and talked about how we would pull off the next two days.

We decided we could live with just one game, and Benny was counting on stiffing the old hag who ran the flophouse in Allston, but that still didn't leave us much for gasoline for the drive back to Philadelphia. Then Benny remembered a sign he had seen at Braves Field yesterday, and the second we got the car we headed back over there.

Wednesday Braves games had a special promotion where boys got in free if they were with their dads. Neither of us had dads, of course, but why should that stop us? "Double-up, mister?" we asked every dad-looking guy we saw that was walking in alone, and after about twenty or so minutes we each had a fake one to enter the park with. The problem was that my fake dad was this real fat guy who said I had to sit with him and describe what was happening because his eyesight was going bad, probably from eating too much.

And he sure ate: sausages and peanuts and pretzels and even a box of gumdrops which stuck to the bottom of my shoes after he dropped a few. Benny had already gotten away from his fake dad and was looking around for me in the left field stands, but I was afraid to move because I was afraid the fat guy would turn me over to an usher.

Oh yeah, the game. Jimmy Ring, 0-7 on the season for us, pitched against Rube Marquard, who is usually very tough or very awful. Rube was both today, taking a 3-1 lead into the 6th before Mokan whacked one of his slow-balls high and deep and out to left to tie the game.

Fat Guy was a huge Braves fan so now he was even nastier to me and made me describe the result of every pitch. This got tiring very fast, but the game went my way in a hurry. Ring doubled to start the Phillie 7th, Schultz singled past Sperber, Ford singled, Holke doubled and when it was over we were up to stay, 7-3. Cunningham, McInnis and Casey Stengel all singled in the bottom half and Fat Guy got all thrilled again. Sperber then crushed their chances with a double play, but I jumped up and yelled "BASE HIT!" Fake Fat Dad screamed with joy and I made sure to knock the peanuts out of his hand so I could run off the second he went to pick them up. He yelled for me to come back but it was too late. I found Benny in no time because he was the only person cheering nearby, and the second Ring wrapped up his first victory of the season we were out the exit gate and off in the Chrysler.

It was a great way to head home. Five wins in a row and we pass the Cubs into sixth place!! Good night, reader-people.
—Vinny

PHL 100 002 400 - 7 12 1
BOS 201 000 000 - 3 12 1

Other National League games:

PIRATES 6-6-0, at CUBS 5-12-0
Look at that line score if you want a big laugh. The Bucs make it TWELVE wins in a row even with Wilbur Cooper throwing a horrible game for them. Can you believe that on May 1st, the Pirates lost and the Braves beat the Giants and Boston was only two games behind Pittsburgh in the standings? Nope, I don't believe it, either, but it's true. For the month, the Bucs are now 18-5 and the Braves 2-23.

at CARDINALS 3-10-0, REDS 2-7-2
Hornsby gets three singles, is now hitting .455, and the Cards take two of the first three behind Dickerman who lost a no-hitter and the game to us his last time on the hill.

at GIANTS 9-12-1, ROBINS 1-7-2
Is this it? Are McGraw's Men finally playing the way they're supposed to? Brooklyn is sure helping them out, because they can only score one measly run off lousy Mule Watson while Dutch Ruether is getting creamed all day. New York passes the fading Reds into second place and will get their next shot at the Pirates next month at the Polo Grounds.

NATIONAL LEAGUE through Wednesday, May 28
Pittsburgh Pirates	28	10	.737	—
New York Giants	23	17	.575	6
Cincinnati Reds	24	19	.558	6.5
Brooklyn Robins	20	19	.513	8.5
St. Louis Cardinals	22	21	.512	8.5
Philadelphia Phillies	18	23	.439	11.5
Chicago Cubs	18	24	.429	12
Boston Braves	10	30	.250	19