American Old Time Song Lyrics: 12 Hamtown Base Ball Club

Theater, Music-Hall, Nostalgic, Irish & Historic Old Songs, Volume 12

Hamtown Base Ball Club.

I know I'll never forget the day
I learned to play base ball;
Of all the games I ever played,
That game just knocked them all.
They said they'd give me a bang-up time,
And take me as a "sub;"
I was a high-toned nigger with girls when I joined
The Hamtown Base Ball Club.
I had to run and jump,
Got many a bump and thump;
They made me hop
When I played short stop,
On my car was a great big lump.
On my shins I had to rub
St. Jacob's oil by the tub;
It made me sick,
But I didn't want to kick
In the Hamtown Base Ball Club.

I was hit in a tender spot so hard,
For a month I could not sit;
My lips looked like a busted tomattus
Or a pound of liver split.
I got a big stinger from the man at the bat,
It busted my left lung,
Stove in three ribs and took my breath,
And I swallowed half my tongue.
My nose was split and peeled
While out on centre field,
I tried to catch a fly,
But got it in the eye,
'Twas a month before it healed.
They called me a good scrub,
Said I wasn't worth my grub;
When my fingers got broke,
'Twas a d----d good joke,
In the Hamtown Base Ball Club.

I was all bunged up, I was weak and sore,
My bones ached through and through;
I was marked all over like a huckleberry puddin',
My body was black and blue.
I wished I was up in a big balloon
Ten thousand miles away,
Or up in the work-house doing six months,
Before I began to play.
They soon brought me to a check
With a red hot liner on the neck;
Like a shot from the gun,
I thought it weighed ton>
I was all broke up and wreck.
They said I was a snide old sub,
With my head swelled as big as a tub
I was knocked out flat
With a base ball bat,
In the Hamtown Base Ball Club.