He was generally reliable, and that in spite of the fact that he was a hard drinker, the love of liquor being his besetting weakness.

A pluckier man never stood behind a bat, there never coming a ball his way that was too hard for him to handle, or at least to attempt to.

In "Old Silver's" day the catcher's glove had not come into use, and all of his work was done with hands that were unprotected.

Those hands of his were a sight to behold, and if there is a worse pair to-day in the United States, or a pair that are as bad, I should certainly like to have a look at them.

His fingers were bent and twisted out of all shape and looked more like the knotted and gnarled branches of a scrub oak than anything else that I can think of.
Long before the gloves now used by catchers were invented I had a buckskin mitt made at Spalding's that I thought would fill a long-felt want, and this I finally persuaded "Old Silver" to try.
He tried it for about half of an inning, then threw it down, declaring it was no good, and went on in the old way.