ESCAPE TO LUNA PARK

RECENTLY, IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE: Phillies get their boaters handed to them twice by Giants, Rachel pays Vinny midnight sympathy visit...Nine-game Bucs winning streak ends when they lose tough second tilt to Reds...

July 5, 1924

So Rachel and me snuck out of the hotel first thing in the morning. I left a note on Heinie Sand's door telling him I was sick and was checking myself into a hospital for the day but the truth was that this batboy job was getting to me already, and I needed to think about how much I wanted to be a human bowling pin every day that the Phillies lost.

Rachel kept saying as I tossed and turned all night that I should do what I liked to do for a job, and I sure don't like batboying at the moment. So we took a morning train across to Brooklyn, where I caught a few extra winks on her parlor couch. I figured it would be a good chance to talk to Mr. Stone and ask him about marrying Rachel, except I forgot it was Saturday and that he was going to Jewish church again and expected the whole family to go. Meaning it was then Rachel's turn to pretend being sick. I said I'd stay there and put wet cloths on her head and Mr. Stone and his wife seemed to buy it, so off they all went after breakfast with their little books.

And off we went on the train to Coney Island.

Rachel actually wanted to take me to Luna Park, which was a newer amusement place there that was built in 1902 and now had about 90,000 visitors a day during the summer. Sure enough, it was packed solid, and the perfect place for both of us to hide out for the day. We went on all sorts of rides, like Shoot-the-Chutes, Helter Skelter, and the Dragon's Gorge, which was a roller coaster that ended up going under a waterfall. We ate sausage rolls and popcorn and even threw each other in the ocean waves with our clothes on a few times to cool off. We took a dark boat ride through a tunnel and set our own record for kissing, and there wasn't one moment when I wondered what my Phillies were doing.

Unfortunately, Rachel started thinking about the Robins some time after lunch, and made me look for a newspaper stand where they might have an electric scoreboard. We finally did, after walking for what seemed like two miles, and the guy's board was awful dinky and kept lighting up the wrong bases, but we got all the scores there were. Up in Boston, Brooklyn's Osborne was beating Barnes of the Braves 2-1, while Snyder had two homers already at the Polo Grounds and McQuillan was taking care of the Phils easy enough 4-2.

When I saw we were behind again I began to feel bad. Who knows? Maybe I would have handed Harper his lucky bat today and he would have walloped one. We hurried back to Rachel's place, and explained to her father that she suddenly felt a lot better after they went to the synagogue and if we sat around the hot apartment she night have gotten sick all over again. Anyway, they invited me for Sabbath dinner but it was still a bad time to start asking him marrying stuff when he was so busy doing his prayers, so I said I'd "stop by" on Sunday sometime, kissed Rachel good night and went back to my hotel.

There was a note under the door again:

Dear Vinny:

Hope you're all finished upchucking because we need you to set up our bats again for tomorrow's last game and send us out west with a big win. That Giants kid helped us today and he's a complete fish.

H.G.F.

You know what? As much as I enjoyed Rachel and Luna Park, I missed those big dopes, too. Good night, reader-people!
—Vinny

PHL 020 000 002 - 4 7 0
NYG 010 201 02x - 6 14 0

W-McQuillan L-Carlson SV-Jonnard HRS: Snyder (2), Mokan

Other National League Games today:

ROBINS 2-7-0, at BRAVES 1-3-0
You know your team stinks when you get only three hits off Tiny Osborne, and Boston? You stink.

REDS 5-11-1, at PIRATES 4-8-5
Two miracle losses in a row for the Bucs! I guess any game at all that they lose these days can be called a miracle. Mays has them down 2-1 into the 6th when the typical walk and four hits strung together put the Pirates ahead 4-2. But Curt Walker knocks a huge 2-run pinch single off Yde in the 8th to tie the game, and Critz singles in Bressler in the 9th to win it. Pittsburgh makes five more errors but this time doesn't win for a change.

at CARDINALS 8-11-0, CUBS 6-16-2
The most disappointing pitcher in the league has to be Vic Keen of the Cubs. Now at 3-12, he just always seems to give up big hits at the wrong time. Ahead 2-0 in the 4th, Sparky Adams boots a ball to let in one Cards run and Keen then falls apart, throwing two doubles and a single to the bottom of the St. Louis lineup, and the Cards get all eight of their runs in one horrible inning. The win stops a big St. Louis losing streak, and Hornsby's three hits get him up to .426.

NATIONAL LEAGUE through Saturday, July 5
Pittsburgh Pirates	51	24	.680	—
Cincinnati Reds	48	32	.600	5.5
Brooklyn Robins	46	32	.590	6.5
New York Giants	43	33	.566	8.5
St. Louis Cardinals	38	38	.500	13.5
Chicago Cubs	34	42	.447	17.5
Philadelphia Phillies	30	49	.380	24
Boston Braves	19	59	.244	34.5