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JACK WINTERS' BASEBALL TEAM
Or,
The Rivals of the Diamond
by
MARK OVERTON
[Illustration: _Jack tried to keep the boy's head above water_]
Made in U.S.A.
M. A. Donohue & Company
Chicago--New York
Copyright 1919, by
American Authors Publishing Co.
Made in U.S.A.
CONTENTS
I. Three Boys of Chester 11
II. A Weak Link in the Chain 19
III. The Last Practice Game 28
IV. When Chester Awakened 37
V. Tied in the Ninth Inning 46
VI. Fred Put to the Test 55
VII. The Game Called by Darkness 64
VIII. The Puzzle Grows 73
IX. A Fairy in the Badger Home 81
X. The Warning 89
XI. Sitting on the Lid 98
XII. One Trouble After Another 107
XIII. When the Cramp Seized Joel 116
XIV. A Night Alarm 124
XV. What Happened at the Fire 133
XVI. A Startling Disclosure 142
XVII. Fred Renews His Pledge 150
XVIII. Hendrix Again in the Box 159
XIX. The Lucky Seventh 168
XX. After the Great Victory--Conclusion 177
JACK WINTERS' BASEBALL TEAM
CHAPTER I
THREE BOYS OF CHESTER
"No use talking, Toby, there's something on Jack's mind of late, and
it's beginning to bother him a lot, I think!"
"Well, Steve, you certainly give me the creeps, that's what you do, with
your mysterious hints of all sorts of trouble hanging over our heads,
just as they say the famous sword of that old worthy, Damocles, used to
hang by a single hair, ready to fall. Look here, do you realize, Steve,
what it would mean if Jack went and got himself rattled _just
now_?"
"Huh! guess I do that, Toby, when, for one thing, we're scheduled to go
up against that terrible Harmony nine day after tomorrow."
"And if Jack is getting cold feet already, on account of something or
other, I can see our finish now, Steve."
"Still, we beat them in that first great game, don't let's forget that,
Toby, and take what consolation we can from the fact."
"Oh! rats! we know how that came about. They'd never been beaten the
entire season by any team in the county, and had grown a bit careless.
Because they had a clean record they believed they could just about wipe
up the ground with poor old Chester, a slow town that up to this year
had never done anything worth while in connection with boys' outdoor
sports."
"That's right, Toby. Never will I forget how humiliated I felt when they
struck town on that glorious day. They came in a lot of cars and
motor-trucks, with the Harmony Band playing, 'Lo, the Conquering Hero
Comes,' and with whoops and toots galore from the crowds of faithful
rooters. Why, bless you, they felt so confident of winning that they
even left their star battery at home to rest up, and used the second
string slab-team. But, oh! my eye! it was a saddened lot of Harmony
fellows that wended their way back home, everybody trying to explain
what had struck them to the tune of eleven to five. Wow!"
"Great Caesar! Steve, but didn't old Chester go crazy that same night,
though, with the bonfires making the sky look red, and the boys yelling
through the main streets in a serpentine procession, carrying Jack on
their shoulders? The campus in front of the high school was packed solid
when Professor Yardley made a speech, and congratulated our gallant team
because we had that same day put Chester once for all on the map!"
"But, shucks! Toby, the tables were sure turned on us when we went over
to play that second game. Those chaps were on their toes that day, and
it was Hendrix and Chase, their star battery, that fed us of their
best."
"Yes, we did lose, all right, but don't forget that we fought tooth and
nail to the very last."
"Say, that rally in the ninth was a thrilling piece of business, wasn't
it, Toby? Why, only for our right fielder, Big Bob Jeffries, hitting
that screamer straight into the hands of the man playing deep centre
instead of lifting it over his head for a homer, we'd have won out.
There were two on bases, you remember, with the score three to four."
"Now we're tied, with one game each to our credit, and Harmony coming
over the day after tomorrow to take our measure, they boast. Jack has
been so confident ever since he picked up that new pitcher, Donohue, on
the sand lots in town, that I'm puzzled a heap to know what ails him
latterly."
"One thing sure, Toby, Jack is bound to speak up sooner or later, and
let his two chums know what's in the wind. I rather expect he agreed to
meet us here today so as to have a heart-to-heart talk; and if so, it's
bound to be about the matter that's troubling him."
"I certainly hope so, because when you know the worst you can plan to
meet the difficulty. And if only we could win the rubber in this series
with Harmony, it'd make little old Chester famous."
The two boys who were holding this animating and interesting
conversation stood kicking their heels on a corner where the main street
in the town was crossed by another. It was about ten o'clock on a
morning in early summer. Chester seemed to be quite a bustling sort of
town, located in the East. Considerable business was carried on in the
place, for there were several factories running, employing hundreds of
workers at good wages.
Certainly no town in the broad land could be more advantageously located
than the borough in which Toby Hopkins and Steve Mullane lived. It lay
close to the shore of Lake Constance, a beautiful sheet of clear water
three miles across at its broadest point, and at least twelve long, with
many deep and really mysterious coves, and also bordered by quite a
stretch of swampy land toward the south. Far up toward its northern
extremity lay the Big Woods, where during winters considerable lumbering
was done by a concern that had a camp there.
As if that wonderful sheet of water were not enough to gratify the
tastes of all boys who loved to skate and swim and fish and go boating,
there was Paradise River emptying into the lake close by, a really
picturesque stream with its puzzling bends and constantly novel views
that burst upon the sight as one drove a canoe up its lazy current of a
sunny summer afternoon.
Toby was a character. He had an enviable disposition in that he seldom
if ever showed a temper. His many peculiarities really endeared him to
his boy friends. As he was apt to say when introducing himself to some
newcomer in town, "My name is Hopkins, 'Hop' for short; and that's why
they put me at short on the diamond; because I rather guess I can
_hop_ to beat the band, if I can't do much else."
But in Chester, it was well known among the admirers of the new baseball
team, that by his "hopping" Toby managed to cover short as few fellows
could. Seldom did the most erratic hit get past those nimble hands of
his, that could stab a vicious stinging ball coming straight from the
bat of a slugger, and apparently tagged for a two-bagger at least.
Steve Mullane was of heavier build, and admirably suited for his
position of catcher. He usually proved himself well worthy of the warm
regard of Chester's rooting fans, who flocked to the games these days.
And yet, Chester, now baseball mad apparently, had, until this season,
seemed to be wrapped in a regular Rip Van Winkle sleep of twenty years,
in so far as outdoor sports for boys went. Time and again there had been
a sporadic effort made to enthuse the school lads in baseball, football,
hockey, and such things, but something seemed lacking in the leadership,
and all the new schemes died soon after they came on the carpet.
Then a little event happened that put new life and "ginger" into the
whole town, so far as the boys were concerned. A new boy arrived in
Chester, and his name it happened was Jack Winters. From the very start
it seemed as though Jack must have been meant for a natural-born leader
among his fellows. They liked him for his genial ways, and soon began to
ask his opinion with regard to almost everything that came along. During
the preceding winter, Jack had started several things that turned out to
be extremely successful. Rival hockey teams once more contested on the
smooth ice of the frozen lake; also one or two iceboats were seen
skimming over the great expanse of Constance, something that had not
been known in half a generation.
The backward boys of Chester began to talk as though big notions might
be gripping them. If other towns no larger than the one in which they
lived had gymnasiums, and regularly organized field clubs, with splendid
grounds for athletic meets, what was to hinder them from doing the same?
So in due time a new baseball team was organized, consisting not only of
those who attended Chester High, but several fellows who worked in the
factories, but had Saturday afternoons off. They had practiced
strenuously, and under a coach who had been quite a famous player in one
of the big leagues, until a broken leg put him out of business; Joe
Hooker was now working in one of the factories, though just as keen at
sports as ever.
When, earlier in the season, Chester actually walked away with two games
in succession from the pretty strong team at Marshall, the good people
awakened to the fact that a revolution had indeed taken place in the
boys of the town. A new spirit and ambition pervaded every heart. Doing
things worth while is the best way to arouse a boy to a consciousness
that he has a fighting chance.
From what passed between Toby and Steve as they waited for their chum to
join them, it can be seen that great things were hanging in the balance
those days. In about forty-eight hours Harmony would be swarming into
the town riding in all manner of conveyances, shouting and showing every
confidence in the ability of their great team to take that deciding
game.
There was good need of anxiety in the Chester camp. Not once had Harmony
gone down to defeat all season until that unlucky day when, scorning the
humble newly organized Chester nine, they had come over with a
patched-up team to "go through the motions," as one of them had sadly
confessed while on the way home after losing.
Ten minutes later and Toby gave an exclamation of satisfaction.
"Here comes Jack!" he told his companion, and immediately both glued
their eyes on the clean-limbed and bright-faced young fellow who was
swinging toward them, waving a hand as he caught their signals.
There was nothing remarkable about Jack Winters, save that he seemed a
born athlete, had a cheery, winning way about him, and seemed to have a
magnetism such as all born leaders, from Napoleon down, possess, that
drew others to him, and made them believe in his power for extracting
victory from seeming defeat.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting so long, fellows," Jack remarked, as he
joined them, "but a man stopped me on the street, and his business was
of such importance that I couldn't break away in a hurry. But let's
adjourn to a quieter place; over there in the little park under the
trees I can see a bench that's empty. I've got something to tell you
that nobody must hear except you two."
"Does it have a bearing on the great game with Harmony, Jack?" begged
Toby, who was a bit impatient after his way.
"It may mean everything to us in that battle!" Jack admitted, as he
headed for the bench in the small park.