A few days later a second game was played in which a picked team from the visitors opposed a nine of husky “Jackies” selected from the United States battleships that lay in the harbor.
To make the game more even, the Giants loaned them a catcher and second baseman, and a contest ensued that was full of fun and excitement.
Of course, the Jackies were full of naval slang, and sometimes their talk was utterly unintelligible 179 to the landsmen. At the end of the third inning the Giants had three runs to their credit, while the boys from the navy had nothing.
“Say there, Longneck, we’ve got to get some runs,” howled one Jackie to his mate. “Give ’em a shot from a twelve-inch gun!”
“Aye! aye! Give it ’em.”
In the next inning the Jackies took a brace, and, as a consequence, got two runs. Immediately they and their friends began to cheer wildly.
“Down with the pirates!”
“Let’s feed ’em to the sharks!”
“A double portion of plum duff for every man on our side who makes a run!” cried one enthusiastic sailor boy.
Several of the Jackies were quite good when it came to batting the ball, but hardly any of them could do any efficient running, for the reason that they got but scant practice while on shipboard. The way that some of them wabbled around the bases was truly amusing, and set the crowd to laughing loudly.