A Ball Player's Career / Being the Personal Experiences and Reminiscensces of Adrian C. Anson

by Adrian C. Anson

At eleven o'clock the next morning we again assembled in the office of the Oxford for the purpose of making a formal call upon Mayor Harris at the City Hall, and as we drove through the principal streets to our destination we were greeted all along the line by cheering and enthusiastic crowds. We were received in the Council Chamber of the City Hall by the Mayor, who was dressed in his official robe of purple and ermine, and who escorted us across the hall to his chamber, where an elaborate lunch awaited us, and the champagne corks were soon popping in lively fashion. The Mayor's speech of welcome was what we Americans call a "dandy," and I wish right now that I had a copy of it in order that I might reproduce it for the benefit of my readers. He stated among other things that, while he did not understand the game of baseball thoroughly himself, yet he thought well enough of it to predict that in time Australia would have a league of her own, the professionals of which would be able to hold their own with the professionals of the United States. He then tendered us the freedom of the city during our stay, and bade us make ourselves at home. This address was responded to in our behalf by U. S. Consul Griffin, after which his Honor again arose to remark that so long as America treated Australia with the kindness and consideration that they had in the past, the Australians would do their best to make it pleasant for their American cousins while they were on Australian soil.

"My reason for believing that our athletes will emulate your ball players," concluded the Mayor, "are manifold. In the first place, we have adopted your American ideas of trading, and we have managed to scrape up material enough to beat you! best oarsman," here his Honor turned toward Ned Hanlan, the ex-champion sculler, who had quietly entered the room and taken a seat near Mr. Spalding, the reference securing a cheer for the modest little athlete from the members of our party, "and," continued the Mayor, after the applause had subsided, "if all Americans will yield the palm with as good grace as Mr. Hanlan has done, we will entertain as high an opinion of them as we now do of Mr. Hanlan." After responses to the Mayor's address had been made by Messrs. Spalding and Lynch, and a dozen or more toasts proposed and drunk, we gave the Mayor of Sydney three cheers and a tiger and returned to our hotel, feeling certain that if all Australians were like the ones we had met thus far, a good time in Australia was assured to us.

We played our first game in Australia that afternoon upon the grounds of the Sydney Cricket Association, and it is but fair to say that we had nothing in the United States at that time, nor have we now, that will compare with them either for beauty or convenience. The playing field, with its covering of green turf, was as level as a floor and was surrounded by sloping lawns that were bright with flowering shrubs, while the club houses were models of their kind. The great annual foot-races at Botany that afternoon, and the horse-races elsewhere proved to be strong rival attractions, but in spite of them, and of the threatening weather, 5,500 people had assembled to see how the American National Game was played. Fortunately the members of bath teams were on their mettle, and the result was a game full of exciting features from start to finish, the pitching of Teller for the Chicagos and Healy for the All-Americas being of the gilt-edged order, while the fielding and base-running of both teams was up to the mark. At the end of the first inning the game was a tie, each team having scored four runs, and it so remained until the ninth inning, when the All-Americas sent a man across the plate and scored the winning run in what proved to be one of the hardest fought games of the entire trip. At the end of the sixth inning there was an interval of fifteen minutes, and during that time we were received at the Association Club House by Lord Carrington, who was at that time Governor of New South Wales, and who gave, us a warm welcome to the Colonies and wished us every success in introducing the game in Australia. After Mr. Spalding had thanked Lord Carrington for his good wishes on behalf of the players, and we had cheered everybody from Lord and Lady Carrington to Queen Victoria, we returned to finish the game, being heartily cheered by the crowds as we again took up our positions on the diamond. That exhibition gave the game quite an impetus in Australia, where it is now quite popular, thanks, I believe, to the visit of the American ball players.

The ride back from the grounds was an enjoyable one and after dinner there was a general exodus from the hotel on the part of the tourists, who were determined to see everything that there was to be seen and to let no opportunity in that line escape them. Just how Mrs. Anson and myself passed the evening I have forgotten, but that we passed it pleasantly I am certain, for how could it be otherwise in a place where everyone had combined apparently to make our visit a pleasant one, and where nothing was left undone that could add to our comfort and pleasure.

The following day, Sunday, was bright and beautiful, and in parties we drove over the city and its suburbs, going, among other places, to Coogee Bay, the fashionable watering resort of the Sydney people, and a beautiful place, too, it is. Sydney Bay was in itself a sight well worth seeing, when viewed from the surrounding hills, and the "Point," from which a magnificent view is to be obtained, impressed one with its rugged grandeur. Many of the residences of Sydney are extremely handsome and picturesque, and Mrs. Anson and I picked out more than one during the day's outing that we should like to have owned, that is, providing that we could have moved both the house and its surroundings back to Chicago.

The next morning the Chicago and All-America teams played their first game of cricket on the Sydney grounds, Messrs. Spalding, Wright, Earl and George Wade doing the greater part of the bowling, and this game resulted in a victory for the All-Americas by a score of 67 to 33. I had been bragging considerably during the trip in regard to my abilities as a cricketer, and was therefore greatly chagrined when I struck at the first ball that was bowled to me and went out on a little pop-up fly to Fogarty. This caused the boys to guy me unmercifully, but I consoled myself with the reflection that they had to guy somebody, and if it were not me then somebody else would have to be the sufferer.

That second afternoon we played our second game of ball in Sydney, in the presence of some 3,000 people, the batteries being Baldwin and myself for the Chicagos and Healy and Earl for the All-Americas. It was another pretty exhibition on the part of both teams, the All-Americas finally winning by a score of 7 to 5.

We played our first game with the Australian Cricketers the next day, and, though we played seventeen men against their eleven, we were ignominiously beaten, the Americans making 87 runs while the Australians ran their score up to 115, for only six wickets, the game, which had begun at eleven o'clock in the morning, being called at four p.m., to allow of another game of base-ball, which resulted at the end of five innings in another victory for the All-Americas by a score of 6 to 2, both teams being too tired to do themselves justice. The cricket game was the last of its kind that we played in Australia, and I am confident now that had we been as strong in bowling as in fielding we would have beaten the Australians at their own game, though our batting on this occasion was also decidedly on the weak side.

That night we attended a banquet tendered us by the citizens of Sydney, at the Town Hall. Two hundred plates were laid in the reception hall of the big building, the columns, dome, and windows of which were almost hidden by the English and American flags with which they were draped. The marble floor was covered with soft carpets and great banks of cut flowers and rare plants were arranged on every side, while at the end of the hall a raised platform had been built upon which a musical and literary entertainment was given after the banquet. That banquet at Sydney was certainly a memorable affair, and one that overshadowed in magnificence all that had gone before. The toasts, which included "The Queen," "The President," "The Governor," "Our Guests," "The Ladies," "The Press," and "The Chairman," were responded to by U. S. Consul Griffin, Daniel O'Connor, M. P., John M. Ward, Leigh Lynch, Newton McMillan, E. G. Allen of the Sydney Star, and others, after which followed a musicale in which some of the best amateur and professional talent in Sydney took part, the cornet solos of Mrs. Leigh Lynch being the bright particular feature of the entertainment. Mrs. Lynch, who was formerly a member of the Berger Family of Bell Ringers, is a most accomplished musician, and one that afterwards helped us to while away many an hour when time would otherwise have hung heavily on our hands.

The next afternoon we were to depart for Melbourne, and as we had nothing else to do we spent the greater part of the time in strolling about the streets and in bidding farewell to the many friends that we had made in Sydney. With button-hole badges of the Stars and Stripes and red, white and blue bands on the soft straw hats that we wore, it was an easy matter for the Australians to distinguish us wherever we went. At the Grosvenor Hotel we all assembled about an hour before departure, at the invitation of the Hon. Daniel O'Connor, to bid farewell to himself and to other prominent representatives of New South Wales. Here we were handsomely entertained, and when we left to take our seats in the special train that had been prepared, it was with cheers that fairly shook the rafters. My memories of Sydney are all pleasant ones, and it was with sincere feelings of regret that I left the many friends that I had made while there.