When she was a 15-year-old student at McKinley Tech in the District, Kate Sunday fell in love with a Washington Senators batboy.
She didn't know George Catloth was a batboy when she decided to go steady with him at a New Year's Eve party as 1934 turned into 1935. But when spring rolled around, Kate learned she'd be sharing George with nine men.
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_____By John Kelly_____
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"I used to sit out there in the bleachers at old Griffith Stadium and watch him," said Kate, 85.
George was 16 and had been a batboy for four seasons, sweeping the clubhouse, shining players' shoes and toting bats back to the dugout during games. He'd also hang out with the ballplayers, occasionally accompanying them to a Bladensburg restaurant called the Rustic Cabin, where one table always had a sign on it that read "Reserved for Senators."
It was there that young George went on a bit of a bender one night, coming home late and passing out in the bathroom of his family's house at Sixth Street and Florida Avenue NW.
The incident inspired young Kate to pen a poem she titled "The Tenth Inning of the Ball Game":
Nine innings is the usual ball game.
I've known that most of my life.
But a long tenth inning of the ball game
Has cost me my home and my wife.
When the usual nine frames were over,
I went out for the tenth with the crowd.
One hour stretched into another.
I stayed longer than I was allowed.
