We are sure the Clarinda boys were a bunch of fine fellows. From the August 5, 1909 Skidmore New Era (Skidmore, Missouri), page 1:
Skidmore the Winner; Score 5 to 3.
A Good Game With Large Attendance — Good Playing Throughout the Game, And Excellent Out Fielding by Both Sides.
Some Sensational Catches.
The Clarinda Boys a Bunch of Fine Fellows
This is the season of the year when the mercury in the base ball thermometer shoots up to fever heat; the time of year when it is pretty safe to wager on what the average man is thinking and talking.
He may be in the busy whirl of the great marts of the city, or engaged in the less strenuous and quieter work of the country merchant and business man, no matter where, yet if he is a genuine, live American, with red blood coursing his veins, it is a hundred-to-one shot that he is at least interested in the great National game of base ball.
One of the best games played this season on our diamond was pulled off Sunday when our boys crossed bats with the Clarinda team. This was a good game all the way through and an exciting interest taken from start to finish. “
The Clarinda boys are not only clever ball players, but are gentlemen in every respect. They made a great impression while here, both as ball players and as representatives of the city from which they came.
The manager of the visitors, A. Moritz, was profuse in his compliments of the Skidmore players, inviting them up to play at the Clarinda Chautauqua and arranging for another game at this place in the near future.
The umpire, Prof. Drixal, who came down with the Clarinda team, was an umpire in which the spectators delight. His decisions were fair, prompt and decisive.
The score was 5 to 3 in favor of the home team, the Skidmore players making one tally in the first and four in the second innings, the visitors scoring one each in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings, making a total of 5 for Skidmore and 3 for Clarinda.
Burman Deffenbaugh, a substitute in the home team and a Skidmore boy, was the star for the day, pulling in five big flies one after the other, that were “sky-rocketing” around out in right field, and that might have done a lot of damage if they hadn’t fell in his “big mit.”
Chance Littler made a sensational catch, running out in the crowd from 3d base and pulling down a wild ball. Wib Bodle also made a long run in left field and closed in on a high fly, cheating the batter out of first base.
The boys did some good work with the “stick,” too. the batting was good throughout the game. “John Brooks” and Jack Moorhead each made a two-bagger.
The Clarinda boys played ball all the time, and probably the most single sensational play in the whole game was made by the visitors’ left fielder, who made a long run and caught a fly.