SOMETHING QUEER
The expression of amazement that leaped into the eyes of Lefty Locke was
masked by a shadow. He stiffened, and sat bolt upright, speechless.
Bailey Weegman, having stated the business that had unexpectedly brought
him down from the North to the Florida town where the great left-hander
of the Blue Stockings was spending the winter with his wife, once more
settled back, taking a long, satisfied pull at the stump of his fragrant
Havana. He was chuckling beneath his breath. A gentle breeze crept
into the leaves of the vine-covered porch and set them whispering like
gossips. The dynamo droned drowsily in the distance.
Presently Lefty found his voice. "What's the joke?" he asked a trifle
harshly.
"No joke," assured the jovial visitor. "I'm not given to joking. I'm
a man of business."
"But it's preposterous! A pitcher for manager!"
"Clark Griffith isn't the only pitcher who has succeeded as a manager."
"Griffith's success came when he was on the decline as a pitcher."
"What's the use to argue, Locke? There's really no good reason why a
pitcher shouldn't manage a ball team. You've been doing it with the
little amateur club you've been running down here in Fernandon this
winter."
"Because necessity compelled. Nobody else would take hold of it. I
organized the team for a special reason. It's made up mainly of
visitors from the North. No salaries are paid. I had located here for the
winter, and I wanted to keep in trim and work my arm into shape for
the coming season. I couldn't find anybody else to organize the club
and handle it, so I had to. I have only three other players who have
been with me from the start. The rest of the nine has been composed of
changing players who came and went, college men, or just plain amateurs
who have taken to the sport. We have played such teams as could be
induced to come here from Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and other
places. Handling such a club has given me absolutely no reason to
fancy myself qualified to manage one in the Big League."
"I've been keeping my eye on you," said Weegman patronizingly, "and I
am satisfied that you can fill the position of playing manager for the
Blue Stockings."
"You're satisfied--you! How about Charles Collier?"
"As you know, he's a sick man, a very sick man. Otherwise he'd never
have dropped everything just at this time to go to Europe along with
a physician and trained nurses. He has been too ill to attend properly to
his regular business outside baseball, and therefore his business has
suffered. He has had heavy financial reverses that have worried him.
And now the meddling of the Feds has hurt the value of the ball club.
The stock wouldn't bring at a forced sale to-day half what it should
be worth. Mr. Collier trusts me. He was anxious to get some of the load
off his shoulders. He has left me to straighten out matters connected
with the team."
"Where is Mr. Collier now?" asked Locke quietly.
"He was taking the baths at Eaux Chaudes when last heard from, but he
has since left there. I can't say where he is at the present time."
"Then how may he be communicated with in case of emergency?"
Chuckling, Weegman lighted a fresh cigar, having tossed the remnant of
the other away. The glow of the match fully betrayed an expression of
self-satisfaction on his face.
"He can't be," he said. "It was his doctor's idea to get him away
where he could not be troubled by business of any nature. He may be in
Tunis or Naples for all I know."
"It's very remarkable," said Lefty slowly.
"Oh, I don't know," purred the other man, locking his fingers over
his little round stomach which seemed so incongruous for a person who
was otherwise not overfat. "Really, he was in a bad way. Worrying over
business reverses was killing him. His only salvation was to get away
from it all."
Locke sat in thought, watching the serene smoker through narrowed
lids. There was something queer about the affair, something the southpaw
did not understand. True, Collier had seemed to be a nervous, high-strung
man, but when Lefty had last seen him he had perceived no indications of
such a sudden and complete breakdown. It had been Collier's policy
to keep a close and constant watch upon his baseball property, but now,
at a time when such surveillance was particularly needed because of
the harassing activities of the Federals, having turned authority
over to a subordinate, not only had he taken himself beyond the range of
easy communication, but apparently he had cut himself off entirely
from the sources of inside information concerning baseball affairs.
Furthermore, it seemed to Locke that the man who claimed to have been
left in full control of that branch of Collier's business was the
last person who should have been chosen. What lay behind it all the
pitcher was curious to divine.
Presently Weegman gave a castanet-like snap of his fingers. "By the
way," he said sharply, "how about your arm?"
"My arm?" said Lefty. "You mean--"
"It's all right, isn't it? You know there was a rumor that you hurt
it in the last game of the season. Some wise ginks even said you'd never
pitch any more."
"I've been doing some pitching for my team here in Fernandon."
"Then, of course, the old wing's all right. You'll be in form again,
the greatest left-hander in the business. How about it?"
"I've never been egotistical enough to put that estimate on myself."
"Well, that's what lots of the sharps call you. The arm's as good as
ever?"
"If you stop over to-morrow you'll have a chance to judge for yourself.
We're scheduled to play a roving independent nine known as the Wind
Jammers, and I hear they're some team, of the kind. I shall pitch part
of the game, anyhow."
"You've been pitching right along?"
"A little in every game lately. I pitched four innings against the
Jacksonville Reds and five against the Cuban Giants. We've lost only
one game thus far, and that was our second one. The eccentric manager
and owner of the Wind Jammers, who calls himself Cap'n Wiley, threatens
to take a heavy fall out of us. He has a deaf-mute pitcher, Mysterious
Jones, who, he claims, is as good as Walter Johnson."
Weegman laughed derisively. "There's no pitcher as good as Johnson
anywhere, much less traveling around with a bunch of hippodromers and
bushwhackers. But about your arm--is it all right?"
"I hope to win as many games with it this year as I did last."
"Well, the team's going to need pitchers. The loss of Orth is bound
to be felt, and if Dillon jumps--Look here, Locke, we've got to get busy
and dig up two or three twirlers, one of top-notch caliber."
"We!"
"Yes, you and I. Of course we can't expect to get a first-stringer
out of the bushes; that happens only once in a dog's age. But perhaps
Kennedy has some good youngsters up his sleeve. You should know about
that. I'm wise that he has consulted you regularly. He's sought your
advice, and listened to it; so, in a way, you've had considerable to do
with the management of the team. You say you've corresponded with him
right along. You ought to know all about his plans. That's one reason
why I came to figure on you as the man to fill his place."
"I wondered," murmured Locke.
"That's one reason. For another thing, you've got modesty as well
as sense. You don't think you know it all. You're not set in your
ways, and probably you'd listen to advice and counsel. Old Jack is
hard-headed and stiff; when he makes up his mind there's no turning him.
He takes the bit in his teeth, and he wants full swing. He's always
seemed to feel himself bigger than the owners. He's butted up against
Mr. Collier several times, and Collier's always had to give in."
"As I understand it," said Lefty smoothly, "you think the manager
should be a man with few fixed opinions and no set and rigid policy."
"In a way, that's something like it," admitted Weegman. "He mustn't
go and do things wholly on his own initiative and without consulting
anybody, especially those who have a right to say something about the
running of the team. Mr. Collier has placed me in a position that makes
it imperative that I should keep my fingers on the pulse of things. I
couldn't conscientiously discharge my duty unless I did so. I know I
could never get along with Kennedy. The manager must work with me; we'll
work together. Of course, in most respects he'll be permitted to do
about as he pleases as long as he seems to be delivering the goods;
but it must be understood that I have the right to veto, as well as the
right to direct, policies and deals. With that understanding to start
with, we'll get along swimmingly." He finished with a laugh.
Lefty rose to his feet. "You're not looking for a manager, Weegman,"
he said. "What you want is a putty man, a figurehead. Under any
circumstances, you've come to the wrong market."