“that’s the way to hit ’em out!”
“come on now, will; make a home run!”
“say, he hit that good and hard!”
these were some of the cries that greeted will warnton’s first strike at the ball which tommy had pitched him, and hit it will did, sending the horsehide away out toward center field.
“go after it!” shouted tommy. “don’t let him get to second base!”
frank bonder, who was nearest to the ball, ran to get under it. down it came, right in his fingers.
“he’s out!”
“he won’t make a run!”
“that’s the way to catch ’em!”
it seemed as if every boy on the grounds was yelling at once. no wonder poor frank got confused and dropped the ball! for that is exactly what he did, letting it slip through his fingers.
there was a groan of despair from tommy and his chums, for will was safe on second base.
“never mind,” consoled the young captain of the riverdale roarers. “they won’t get any more hits, and we’ll get him out soon.”
“oh, don’t be too sure of that,” came from the runner on second, as he danced about, trying to make herbert[pg 85] kress, who was second baseman, get nervous. “i’m going to make the run pretty soon.”
“i guess i didn’t curve that ball very much,” thought tommy, as he got ready for the next hitter. as soon as he threw the ball, will, on second base, started for third. at once there was more shouting and confusion, boys jumping up and down and yelling at the top of their voices. it was very clear that the visiting team had had more experience than had tommy’s nine.
will got to third, but he did not get home right away, as the boy at the bat was put out on a foul, which the catcher grabbed just in time. then the next lad up hit a ball that went right between the legs of fat joie grubb, who was shortstop. when the inning was over the visitors had two runs.
“but we’ll win!” declared tommy to his boys, confidently.
it did not look so at first, for when three innings had been played the score stood four runs to six in favor of the ramblers.
then tommy and his chums braced up, and though they had never before played together in a regular game, though they had no uniforms, and not a very good outfit, they played so well that they tied the score.
“but we’ve got to win!” cried tommy, as it came time for his boys to go out in the field. “we’ve got to win!”
“i hope we do,” said sammie sandlass. “but their pitcher throws big curves.”
“i’ve got to have more practice at that,” admitted tommy. “they’re a stronger team than we are, but i think we can win.”
it came to the ending of the ninth inning. the score had increased until it was now ten runs to eleven in favor[pg 86] of the ramblers. it was the turn of the riverdale roarers to bat for the last time. if they could get two runs they would win. could they do it?
“we’re just going to!” exclaimed tommy. “i bat right after you do, teddy. you try and knock a three-bagger, and i’ll try to make a home run, and that will win us the game.”
“of course i’ll try,” spoke teddy, “but you know it isn’t so easy to make runs as you’d think.”
“of course i know, but do it! do it!”
“yes, you’re the boy who does things!” laughed teddy. “well, here i go,” he added, as he walked up to home plate.
“one strike!” shouted the umpire, though teddy had not moved his bat.
“say, i didn’t strike at that,” objected the batter.
“i know you didn’t, but you had ought to,” replied the umpire. “it was right over the plate.”
“of course it was,” declared the rival pitcher. “i can put ’em just where i want to.”
“then put one here!” cried teddy, holding out his bat about level with his belt, “and i’ll knock it over the barn!”
“i’d like to see you do it!” retorted the pitcher.
well, teddy did not exactly knock the ball over the barn, but he did send it quite a distance, and he managed to get to third base, because the right fielder muffed the ball.
“now for a home run, and we win the game!” cried tommy.
“you never can,” spoke joie grubb, despairingly.
there were two strikes called on tommy, almost before he knew it, and he shut his teeth firmly together and made up his mind that he would hit the next ball. and he did.
away it sailed, right over the head of the center fielder, [pg 89]for tommy was a sturdy lad, and he put all his strength into that one strike.
“go on! go on!”
“a home run!”
“leg it, tommy! leg it!”
“we’ll win the game!”
once again everybody was shouting. teddy had started from third base toward home. tommy had rounded first and was going for second as fast as he could.
he got to third as the boy who had raced after the ball threw it in.
“i’ve got to get there ahead of that ball!” thought our hero.
and he did. but he had to slide through the dust and grass to make it, and he tore a hole in his trousers. but he did not mind that, for he had on an old suit, and he thought the winning of the game would more than make up for the ripped garment.
“we win! we win!” cried the riverdale roarers.
“of course we win!” yelled teddy. “it takes tommy tiptop to do things!”
there was a moment of silence on the part of the visiting nine. it had happened so suddenly that they could not realize it. they had been sure of victory, and at the last moment their rivals had won. they did not understand it.
“that was a great run, tommy!” exclaimed billie ruggler.
“well, i knew i just had to make it!” panted tommy.
then the losers cheered the winners and the winners gave a cheer for the losers, and the first real game was over.
“but we’ll play you another,” said the captain of the visitors. he did not like to lose.
[pg 90]
“of course,” agreed tommy. “next time we may have suits.”
“i’d rather win the game than have uniforms,” went on the captain of the losing side. “but next time we will win.”
tommy laughed as his chums gathered around him, and then the two teams left the field. as our hero walked out of the lane to the village street he saw his sister. a girl was with her.
“oh, tommy, did you win?” asked nellie.
“sure we did,” he answered. “but it was hard work. i made a home run.”
“oh, that was fine!” exclaimed nellie’s friend, and then, for the first time, tommy noticed that she was the girl he had saved from the bull.
“oh, how are you?” he asked. “you’re joie’s sister, aren’t you? joie played fine to-day.”
“he’s very fat to play ball,” remarked sallie. “mamma says she doesn’t see how he does it.”
“oh, he isn’t so fat as he was,” spoke tommy. “he got thin helping build the back-stop, i guess.”
the back-stop had been a great help to the lads in playing ball, for the catchers were not expert enough to stop all the balls the pitchers delivered, and the structure of posts and boards, which old johnny green had helped build, came in very nicely. it stopped the missed balls from rolling too far away. the old man was on hand to see the game, and he clapped loudly every time tommy and his friends did well.
tommy, with his sister and sallie and some other companions, walked toward home, talking about the great game. tommy fairly burst into the house, actually falling up the steps in his eagerness, crying out:
[pg 91]
“we won, ma! we won! we beat the other team! now, who says we can’t play ball?”
“indeed, did you win, dear? i’m very glad!” replied his mother, as she stroked his damp hair with her hand. “oh, but how warm you are, tommy!”
“yes, it was hot. but now i’ve got to write a letter to see about a game for next saturday.”
tommy could not arrange for a regular contest during the next week, but he managed to have a game between his own team and a scrub one from boys about town, for there was quite a baseball fever in riverdale since tommy’s nine had won. every boy who could manage it, had a glove, a ball and a bat, and practiced at odd times in vacant lots or on the new diamond.
tommy’s nine won their second game, but they did not take much credit for that, as the scrub team they played had no regular organization.
“but it is good practice for us,” remarked tommy, and the others agreed with him.
at odd times they worked on the diamond, getting rid of the stones, clearing away the grass from the home plate and along the base lines.
several of the other boys did odd bits of work about town and earned money so that they were able to buy bagbases, some new balls and occasionally a new bat. the catcher had a second-hand mask.
but they could not quite manage the uniforms. some of the boys did coax their parents to buy them ball suits, but the nine, as a whole, did not have them, and there were hardly any two alike. tommy got one, with the letters “r. r.” in red on his shirt, and very proud he was, too. sometimes, when some boy could not play, he would loan his suit to a friend.
[pg 92]
as the days of summer went on, tommy’s nine played many games, losing some and winning more. the fathers, and, in some cases, the mothers of the players, came to see a game occasionally, and mr. fillmore, the florist, and his friend, mr. wentworth, the hardware man, paid several visits to the new diamond.
it was a warm summer’s day, and tommy, who had been at the head of his class in school for seven times in succession, was, as a reward of merit, allowed to come out at two o’clock on friday. there were none of his close friends who had the same honor, so tommy did not have anyone to chum with, and, though he was glad to be out of school, he hardly knew what to do with himself.
“i guess i’ll go fishing,” he decided, as he hurried toward home.
up in his room he had a good pole, lines, hooks and all things needful. it was the work of only a few minutes to dig some worms in the garden, catch a grasshopper or two and start for the creek which flowed about half a mile from the house.
“bring home enough for supper,” called his mother after her boy, as tommy strolled off, with his pole over his shoulder. “catch some nice big ones, tommy, but don’t fall in!”
“i won’t,” he promised, and then he hurried on, whistling a merry tune, and wondering whether his nine would win the baseball game that was to be played the following day.
“i wonder if the fellows in millton have a nine yet,” he said to himself. “i must write a card to some of the boys, tell them about our nine, and see if they can play us. i think that would be fun.”
