THE ALUMNI GAME
Every year about this time there would be quite a gathering at the
University of old Lowell graduates. They came to see the team work,
in one or two games and in practice, and once each year the graduates
would make up a nine of the old timers who had come, and challenge the
new Varsity to a game. It was one of the traditions of the University
that the old graduates’ team always won this game, notwithstanding
their stiff knees, and other joints, to say nothing of their poor
throwing arms. The occasion was more of a reunion than anything else,
generally. Yet at the same time the old fellows were often able to give
valuable pointers to the new team, and, on the whole, aside from the
fun of the occasion, and the good it did the youngsters, it served to
bring the sons of Lowell more closely together.
Of course, the occasion was always too good a one to be missed by the
practical jokers, and the old graduates, with the aid of some of the
Juniors and Seniors, always picked out the good-natured young freshmen,
to play these jokes upon. In the meantime the fact that these practical
jokes were played was carefully withheld from them. The evening before
the game, the graduates had announced the team which would play next
day.
1st Base Ollie Taboo
2nd Base Johnny McGrew
3rd Base Jimmy Cullins
Shortstop Bill Fahlen
Right Field Mike Donil
Left Field James McKleer
Center Field Fielder James
Pitchers Joe Maginte
Jack Cheeseborough
Catcher Jim Maquire
All of them were old time stars at Lowell, and though out of the game
were never forgotten by the boys at school, because they each had
a sure place in the Lowell Hall of Heroes. The youngsters were all
on hand to see them and hear again the stories of their remarkable
playing. On this occasion there was always a “fanning bee,” as the boys
call it, and reviews of Lowell victories of the past.
As Hal was on his way home alone that night, having stayed around
longer than Hans, he heard some one following close behind him, and
after he had gone a couple of blocks someone touched him on the
shoulder and said, “Hello, Case, what’s the hurry?” Turning round he
saw that it was Johnny McGrew, the old timer who was a great second
baseman and who was on the team which would play the next day. After
they had walked a little way, McGrew suddenly said: “Case, I want you
to do something for me. We old fellows are no match for the wonders,
including yourself, which Hughie has on the Varsity this year, and
we’ve just got to win to keep up the old team’s reputation. You just
write down the signals which Hughie uses, and that will enable us to
lick the spots off you. Nobody will know about it, and I’ll see that
you get a hundred and twenty-five dollars for it.”
Naturally Hal became very indignant, and proceeded to show it by
preparing to fight.
“Now don’t get mad, kid,” said McGrew. “Nobody need know. Think it
over and I’ll call around at your room in the morning and fix it up
with you.” Then without another word he turned on his heel and went
back. Hal was so mad he did not know what to do for several minutes.
His first thought was to go back to the hotel where these old fellows
were staying and where he knew he would still find a large number of
his student friends and denounce Johnny. Finally he thought of Hughie
and he became almost sick at the thought that anyone would take him for
that kind of a lad.
[Illustration: “Now don’t get mad,” said McGrew.]
“I’ll go to see Hughie and tell him all about it,” said Hal to himself.
“As they have approached me and found I wouldn’t do what they wanted,
they will probably tackle some one else who may fall.” So he hunted up
Jenkins whom he found in his rooms with Everson and Larke, laying out
the campaign for the game next day. By this time Hal was so angry he
didn’t wait to see Hughie alone, but blurted out his story to the three
of them. They were very much surprised, and thanked Hal for coming to
them with the warning.
“I wonder,” said Larke, “if that’s the way they win from us youngsters.”
“What’s the matter with putting up a job on McGrew?” said Everson.
“Say, that would be a slick idea,” said Hughie. “I’ve got the scheme.
You go home, Hal, to-night and say nothing. When McGrew comes in the
morning you tell him you’ll do it, but that I never give out the
signals until after morning practice, and that you will get them for
him and hand them to him when the teams are dressing for the afternoon
game. Also that he can hand you the money later.
“What you really give him, though, is a blank sheet of paper. He’ll
walk off with that, thinking he has the signals, and the real joke will
be on him and he won’t dare peep while we can enjoy it secretly.”
Hal did everything as he was instructed. McGrew called, and when Hal
told him about how he would do it he said, “That will be all right.”
Hal promptly met him in the dressing room and handed him the paper at
the proper time, and he stuck it in his pocket. Hughie was, of course,
watching, but instead of laughing to himself and enjoying the joke on
McGrew he ran over, stuck his hand in McGrew’s pocket and pulled out a
paper.
“What are you fellows up to,” he asked, and then he opened the paper
and looked at Hal in surprise. He started to read and his eyes bulged
almost out of his head. “Why, these are the day’s signals,” said
Hughie. “What does this mean?”
[Illustration: “Why these are to-day’s signals,” said Hughie.]
“It means that one youngster on the Lowell team hasn’t stood the test
of loyalty which is required of our Alma Mater. I arranged with Case
last night to tip me off to the signals to-day in this way. I paid him
a hundred and twenty-five dollars last night,” said McGrew.
“Is this true?” asked Hughie. “Did you write this?” as he handed Hal
a sheet of paper of the same kind he had handed McGrew. Hal took the
paper and almost collapsed. On the paper was the following written in a
very good imitation of his writing:
“SIGNALS.”
“When Hughie uses a player’s name after the word careful, as
for instance ‘Careful Johnny,’ even though mixed up in a lot
of talk from the coaching lines, it means that the coach has
discovered that the opposing pitcher is about to throw a fast
straight ball, and Johnny at bat is thus given the signal to
hit at it.
“With two men on bases if Hughie raises his cap, it is a signal
for a double steal.
“When Hughie pulls grass with his right hand it means hit the
next ball pitched, and when he pulls the grass with his left
hand it means try to get a base on balls. If he lifts his left
foot and whistles it means that right field is the best place
to hit it, and if he does the same but with his right foot it
means that the left fielder is out of position and the best
place to knock the ball is there.
“When a batter walks up to the plate with two bats in his hand
and one or more of his team mates on base, if he throws the
extra bat behind him with his left hand, it means that he is
going to hit the first ball pitched.
“If he throws the extra bat away from him with his right hand
it means that he has orders to try to get a base on balls.
“If Hughie, on the coaching lines, unbuttons the top button of
his sweater it means that the fellow on first must get ready to
steal second. If Hughie, on the coaching lines, jumps in the
air and waves his arms, yelling Eyah! Eyah! twice, it means to
the batter ‘Bunt.’ If he only says Eyah! once it means hit it
out as hard as you can.”
“CATCHER’S SIGNALS.”
“If the catcher in telling the pitcher what kind of a ball to
serve up lays two fingers of his bare hand against the inside
of his catching mitt, thumb outstretched, he is signaling for
an outcurve. One finger means an incurve. With two fingers
on the glove, thumb turned under, a low outcurve is wanted.
If with one finger on the glove, thumb turned under, a low
curve is asked for. The whole hand doubled up in the glove
means ‘send one wide of the plate, I have detected a signal to
steal.’ Holding out the gloved hand without touching it with
the other means send a straight ball waist high right over the
plate.”
It was an exact copy of the signals which Hughie had given out in the
morning. Hal was mad. He never was so mad before in all his life. He
was mad enough to kill some one.
“I can lick any fellow that suggests such a thing, and I am going to
start in right now on the bunch of you.”
The first fellow he started for was Hughie. Just then Hughie winked at
him, and he stopped and looked at McGrew. McGrew was laughing and so
were all the rest, for by this time the room had filled up with old
graduates, and it suddenly began to filter through Hal’s brain that
this was one of those harmless practical jokes that he had heard about.
He thought it was cruel, of course, but McGrew said he had heard a
lot about Hal and among other things it was said that he was so even
tempered that he wouldn’t fight with anybody, and they wanted to see
what it would take to make him fight. They were satisfied now that he
could be depended upon to fight at the drop of the bat, whenever there
was anything worth fighting about.
Then they showed him that each fellow on the graduates team had a
type-written copy of the signals, anyhow, furnished by Hughie. That was
one of the rights which every player on the Alumni team could enjoy for
one day in the year. The old graduates’ club was expected always to win
its game with the Varsity, and how on earth would they have any show
against these modern Lowell teams, with their inside baseball and their
new trick plays, if they didn’t have the signals?
Then they all shook hands with Hal and told him he was a member of the
“Tried and True Club” of Lowell, and made him understand that this was
an honor very rarely given to a freshman, but that they wanted him to
have it because of the wonderful work he was doing as a first baseman.
When he shook hands with McGrew, however, he got another bump.
“Better give me back my one hundred and twenty-five dollars now, old
boy. I suppose you have it with you.”
Hal thought of his half of the story money which had come from the
magazine, and it was in his trousers pocket that moment. Was this
another one of their jokes, and how did they know he had it, was what
he thought. What he said was, “What do you know about my one hundred
and twenty-five dollars, brother,” and they all laughed at Hal’s quick
guess this time.
“Well,” said Fielder James, “you don’t know perhaps that I am connected
with the _Out Door Weekly_, but the other boys do. The editor, knowing
that I was coming up here, showed me a story in a recent issue of
the magazine and asked me to look up the author of the story, Harold
Case, and arrange with him for some more of them. I had seen your name
mentioned in the _Reporter_ every week, but I didn’t connect you with
the author chap, because they have called you Hal lately in the paper.
So when I arrived I was looking for Harold Case, the author. I found
only one person in the town by that name, yourself, so I asked my
friend, Jimmie Hamilton, the cashier of the bank, to help me find the
author, he having been here for twenty years, and I told him why.
“He said it must have been you, as you were in the bank a few days
before cashing a check from the _Out Door Weekly_ for two hundred and
fifty dollars, and dividing it with Hagner. He saw you give some of
it to Hagner, and then Hagner deposited one hundred and twenty-five
dollars to his own credit in the bank and he guessed you must have
divided with him. That was the first time I got the idea that Hans
might have been a real live person, because in the college news he is
of course referred to as Hagner. We just guessed you probably had the
one hundred and twenty-five dollars in your pockets, and so we arranged
the practical joke to fit what we knew. Now is it a real story or not?”
“Let’s go and ask Hans,” was all Hal would say. When they did get to
Hans they made him tell the whole story over and McGrew said, “If you
come to New York again let me know and I’ll lend you my auto.”
Hal was happy. It meant a great deal to him to be recognized by these
older graduates as their equal, and he had a right to be happy. It was
recognition of his merit by those whose opinion was valuable, because
they had enough practical experience of the world to enable them to
recognize true worth. None of the other Freshmen on the team were let
into the secret of how the old graduates were able to beat them so
badly. They marveled at the fact that the old timers were on to every
play that the boys attempted, and they had a great respect for the old
crowd that licked the Varsity that day by the one-sided score of 11 to
2.
But in the evening the old graduates’ club gave the team a little
dinner at which this tradition of the university was explained for the
benefit of the other youngsters, Hans, Ty, Tris and Radams, Ross and
Huyler. Then they were all initiated into the mysteries of the Lowell
O. K. Club, which meant that the team had been inspected by the old
boys who had won laurels for Lowell in the past, and was good enough in
their minds to go against Jefferson.