(Columbia Daily Tribune, April 8, 1954)
Of course you may have your long underwear on again tomorrow when the Tigers meet their first college foe of the year - Arkansas - but it wasn't that way Tuesday when Coach John Simmons' team produced a couple of home runs for victory over Ft. Leonard Wood. Since the memory of man runneth not, Missouri baseball hasn't had such a real baseball opening day as the weather man dished up for the clash with the Hilltoppers.
If you are one of those who have been wondering what all that rhubarb was about Tuesday over the black spot on Keith Schmidt's bat - and who isn't - here is the story, directly from Coach Simmons. And there are rumors that Mr. Simmons' careful guarding of the athletic department's exchequer (baseballs at $2 each) may bring him a bonus, or at least a commendation, from the university's business office. Maybe even from the board of curators.
Mr. Schmidt, you'll remember, went to the plate with a bat with a black spot on it. Mr. Schmidt hit the ball foul, and the umpire threw the ball out because there was now a black spot on the ball. Mr. Simmons, who is (at the business office's order) very frugal with baseballs, promptly started to clean the all with a towel so that it could be restored to play. But the black spot wouldn't come off. Mr. Schmidt hit the ball again - and there was another black spot. That was too much for Mr. Simmons' frugality. He demanded that the umpire throw out the bat instead of throwing the balls out - at $2 per.
Now, it happened that it was Mr. Schmidt's favorite bat, and he became very unhappy, vociferous and threatening about the matter. It seems they had been creosoting some telephone poles down at Ft. Leonard Wood, and Mr. Schmidt thought if creosoting was good for seasoning telephone poles, then it ought to be good for seasoning his favorite bat. And he wasn't particularly concerned about how many baseballs Mr. Simmons had to coax out of the business office,
But frugality finally prevailed. Mr. Schmidt smoothed his ruffled feathers and accepted a clean and unseasoned bat. Mr. Simmons sat down. And Mr. Schmidt promptly used his clean bat to make a clean hit on a clean ball. Presumably everybody was satisfied.
So far as anybody knows there's no rule against putting creosote on a bat, but there is a rule against a pitcher throwing a ball with any foreign substance on it. And Mr. Schmidt was putting a foreign substance on the ball every time he whammed it, fair or foul. And, after all, Mr. Schmidt, at $2 a wham you can't do that all afternoon. No sir, not with unemployment figures going up like they are and television threatening gate receipts.
Kammer to Hurl Against Razorbacks
(Columbia Daily Tribune, April 8, 1954)
Coach John Simmons today named Emil Kammer and Southpaw Ed Cook to face the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in a two-game series with the Missouri Tigers at Rollins Field here tomorrow and Saturday.
Kammer, who turned in three scoreless innings against the Ft. Wood Hilltoppers Tuesday, will pitch tomorrow's game, with Cook slated to start the Saturday contest. Bert Beckmann will be ready for relief work if needed, Simmons said. In two games with Ft. Wood, Simmons limited pitchers to three-inning assignments, but hopes that his starters are ready to go the distance now.
The rest of the Tiger lineup will be the same one that started against the Hilltoppers, with Bob Schoonmaker at first, Buddy Cox at second, Dick Dickinson at short, Todd Sickel at third, Sam Sayers in left field, Jerry Schoonmaker in center, Bob Musgrave in right, and George Gleason behind the plate.
Arkansas opened its season by sweeping a two-game series with Bradley, then dropped a pair to the University of Kansas.
Game time tomorrow will be 3:10 o'clock. Saturday's contest will start at 3:15.
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