Raymond Stone

“ Tommy and Dan Danforth, the rival captains, had decided that an older lad’s decisions would stand better than those given by a small youth. “Play ball!”
“Now, Tommy, show ’em how you strike ’em out!” called Sammie Sandlass.
“Yes, nothing less than a whitewash!” added Teddy Bunker. It was all in good-natured fun, and no one minded it.
“We’ll get all the runs we need this inning, and then we can take it easy the rest of the game,” predicted Captain Dan.
“Yes, we’ll see what kind of a wooden arm Tommy has,” put in George Squire.
“Come on! Play ball! Play ball!” advised the umpire. ”

“ Coward!” they yelled, tauntingly, but Tommy was no coward, and they knew it.
“We’ll catch you, and when we do we’ll duck you twice for running!” yelled Sam.
“You haven’t caught me yet,” reflected Tommy, with a laugh. Somehow, he did not mind the loss of his fish very much, for Jakie still had his string of prizes.
Tommy was now running along the bank of the creek, through a grassy meadow. He could not see his pursuers behind him, but he could hear them, for he had taken a short cut through the bushes which Joie Grubb had shown him one day, and this gave him a good start. ”

“ The man seemed to have taken a liking to Tommy. “I’ll look after him,” he went on. “The drive will do him good, and there’s no hurry. He’ll be safe.”
“And there’s no danger of him getting stepped on up there, either,” went on the man with the big feet, who seemed to worry about treading on someone.
“Now for some fun!” cried Tommy as he caught up his ball and bat, which he had refused to allow to be packed with the other things. “I’ll see you in Riverdale!” he called to his mother, father and sister, as the head driver helped him up to the high seat. ”

“ He was quite shaky, and besides the pain in his head, his ankle hurt where it had been caught in a hole in the wheel.
“I wonder if I’ll be able to play ball to-morrow?” he asked of Old Johnny Green, as they walked along.
“Play ball! Well, I declare! You boys beat all! Here you’ve been close to being badly hurt, to say the least, and the first thing you think of is baseball.”
“But I’m the captain of the team,” explained Tommy. “I have to be there. I wonder if I can run on this ankle,” and he was about to try a little sprint, when the old man caught him by the arm. ”

“ That’s fine!” exclaimed the lad. “The one that got run over was only a fifteen-cent one. Say, now I will have a good ball team!” And he hurried off to find a store where baseball goods were kept.
It was when he was going along the street, swinging the bat around in the air, and wondering how far he could knock a ball with it, that Tommy saw two boys, of about his own age, walking slowly ahead of him.
“I wonder who they are?” he mused. “I’d like to know them. Maybe they play ball. School must be out,” he added, as he saw some books slung in a strap across the shoulder of one boy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There was a crash of the bat, and the ball went sailing over the grass.
“Run, Patsie! Run!” his friends advised him.
“Come on in, Tommy! Come on in!” were the other shouts, as Tommy, who had started for second base, reached it and hesitated about going “home.” Then he concluded it was safe, and he raced on. But Pete Johnson had the ball now, and threw it in.
“Look out!” yelled George Squire. “He’ll get you, Tommy!”
Sammie Small stretched out his hands to gather in the ball and put the runner out at the home plate. ”

“ Tommy had a firm grip on his bat, and, though his heart was beating rather fast, he made up his mind that he would fight with all his strength to retain his property.
“Say, he’s all right!” exclaimed Teddy, admiringly. “Let’s go help him. I like a fellow that does things!”
“So do I!” agreed Billie. “The three of us ought to be able to stand up to that mean Jakie.”
“Of course we can! Come on,” and the two started on the run toward Tommy and his enemy. Tommy heard them coming, but did not turn his head to look at them. He was eyeing the bully, ready for anything that might happen. ”

“ It was the day after he had had his idea about building a back-stop from the lumber of the old boxes, and he and his chums were clearing the packing cases out of the cellar of the florist’s shop and out of the alleyway.
“Look out for nails in your hands!” warned Mr. Fillmore, as he watched the boys at work. “You can’t play ball if you get all scratched up.”
“Say, we ought to get a hammer, knock out some of these nails and save ’em,” proposed Tommy. “We’ll need all the nails we can get to put up the back-stop.”
“That’s a good idea,” declared Joie Grubb. “I’ll ask Mr. Fillmore for the hammer.” ”

“ He got to third base on it, and if he had been a little quicker he would have gone home.
“Play for the batter,” advised Teddy, who was catching, and Tommy nodded his head, to show that he understood. If they could get the batter out, the run would not come in, and the Roarers would still have a chance to win, as they had the last chance at bat.
“Three balls!” called the umpire, after there had been two strikes named.
“If the next one is a ball, he’ll take his base,” reflected Tommy, “and the next boy up is a heavy hitter. I’ve got to strike him out. I must do it!” ”

“ Then Tommy started after him.
Jakie Strode Up to Him and Roughly Took the Bat Out of His Hands.
“Where are you going?” asked Teddy.
“I’m going to get my bat!”
“Don’t interfere with Jakie,” advised Billie. “He’s real mean, and he’s a bad fighter. Better let him go.”
“Let him go? With my new bat? Not much!” exclaimed Tommy. “I’m going to take it away from him.” And he set off on the run, while his two new friends looked after him with wonder, fear and admiration on their faces. ”

“ Next, a place for the pitcher to stand was dug out, the base lines were marked by taking a hoe and cutting out some of the sod, and then the place began to look like a real diamond, though it was rather small, for the boys could not run the full length of regular bases.
“If we only had a back-stop!” exclaimed Tommy regretfully one day after school, when he and several others of his new friends were working on the field. “That’s what we need most now.”
“Can’t we build one ourselves?” asked Teddy. ”

“ He took the spade from Sammie’s hand, and soon had a hole sufficiently deep to hold a post when the dirt was filled in around it.
“Who is he?” asked Tommy of Teddy in a whisper, as the two lads were knocking more sides off the boxes.
“Johnny Green is his name, and everybody always calls him ‘Old,’ because there is another Mr. Green, of the same name, in town.”
“Is he a tramp?” asked Tommy.
“No, but he never works—that is, to make any money. He’s always willing to help everybody else at any work he sees going on, but he won’t work for himself—sort of shiftless, my father says.” ”

“ Ted and Tommy moved back out of the way, and the game went on.
“Two out all out, isn’t it?” asked Sammie, as George Squire knocked a little fly that was caught by Dan.
“Yes, two out all out,” agreed Tommy. “Say, I wish we had enough for a regular nine,” he went on. “I’d like to play in a match game.”
“You’re too small.”
“I am not. Some day I’m going to get up a regular nine, and have uniforms, and bases, and a lot of balls, so if we lose one we don’t have to stop the game. I wish——”
“You’re out!” interrupted Dan, calling to Frank Nixon, who was up at the bat. “Three strikes and you’re out! ”

“ The big team here is so professional, and they depend so much on the pitcher, that it’s no fun watching them play sometimes.”
“That’s right,” agreed Mr. Fillmore. “Some day you and I will go and see these small chaps play an old-fashioned game of ball, without much regard for the rules—the same kind of a game you and I played when we were youngsters.”
“Oh, but the game is different now,” said the hardware man. “You’ll find that these small chaps know almost as much about the rules as their bigger brothers. But that Tommy Tiptop has certainly started things moving around here. ”

“ I’ll be glad to, but I don’t know much about the game. We boys never had a team before.”
“Then it’s time you did!” declared Tommy, with a laugh. “I’ll start one. We’ll have some fun. Know any other fellows who’ll join?”
“I guess so,” replied Teddy, while Herbert said in a low voice to Billie:
“Say, this Tommy Tiptop certainly does things, doesn’t he?”
“Yes; I’m glad he moved to town,” replied Billie, eagerly.
“There’s Joie Grubb!” called Teddy, as the boys stood in Tommy’s front yard. A very fat boy was walking slowly on the other side of the street.
“Does he play ball?” asked Tommy, quickly. ”

“ Luckily for himself, Joie was one of the batters. Tommy took a number of blades of grass in his hand and let the other boys draw them. The one who got the shortest was to be the runner, and the one who had the next in size the catcher, then the pitcher, and then those who had the two longest blades were to be at bat first. Joie and Teddy were the first batters.
Next to the house into which Tommy’s parents had moved was a vacant lot, and it was there that the boys went to play ball. Stones served for bases, and the rear fence was the back-stop. ”

“ When it came time for the fifth inning, which was the last they were to play, Dan’s team got one run.
“Two more and we’ll beat!” he called to his friends.
“Don’t let ’em get anything!” advised Patsie.
“I won’t,” declared Tommy, who was pitching, and he kept his word, for that one run was all Dan’s side got that inning, and Tommy’s team won the game by seven runs to six.
“Let’s see if we can’t get more fellows here to-morrow, and have a better game. I wish we had more bats. One isn’t enough. And we need some more balls. This one is losing the cover,” said Tommy. ”

“ Just then the wagon went over a rather large stone, gave a lurch and swayed to one side.
“Look out!” cried the man, pulling on the reins sharply and making a grab for Tommy. The lad grasped the side of the seat with both hands to save himself from falling, [Pg 29] and to do this he had to let go of his ball and bat. They both slipped down, and the next instant there was the sound of splintering wood.
“Whoa!” cried the moving man, sharply. “What’s that? Is something broken—a wheel?” He pulled in the horses, which had almost stopped of their own accord.
“It isn’t a wheel,” said Tommy. ”

“ Wentworth, the hardware merchant, who had a store next to the florist’s. “Are those boys going to have an election bonfire?”
“They’re going to make a baseball back-stop,” explained Mr. Fillmore. “That’s a plucky chap at the head of the nine—Tommy Tiptop.” And he related how our hero had gone on the errand for him and had had the idea about using the old packing cases.
“Say, that’s the kind of boys I like!” exclaimed the hardware man. “Boys who do things. If they want any nails for their back-stop, just you tell ’em I’ll supply all they need for nothing. ”

“ The captain has to be the best player,” explained the lad. “Of course I don’t say I am the best,” he hastened to add, “but the fellows said I was good, and they hadn’t ever had a nine before, so that’s why they wanted me to be captain.”
“But when are you going to play games, Tommy?” asked his mother.
“Oh, pretty soon now. We’ve got the grounds nearly fixed, and we’ve had a lot of practice. We’ve got to build a back-stop next, and the catcher needs a mask. We’ve got enough balls and bats and a few gloves,” he went on. ”

“ If he would only work steadily, he could make good money, for he is handy with tools. But he wanders all around. Everybody likes him, for he’s kind and gentle. He’ll probably be around our ball field all summer, and he’ll help us all he can.”
“Then we’ll treat him right,” decided Tommy. “I’m glad he’s digging those holes, for we never could do it.”
Old Johnny Green proved that he knew how to do [Pg 81] other things besides dig the holes, for he showed the boys the best way in which to nail the boards on the posts. ”

“ Talking while she got out food from the cupboard, and [Pg 37] asking questions about himself and his family, the lady soon had a nice lunch ready for Tommy to take back with him.
“I think the moving man will have enough, even for his big appetite,” she said, “and I will put some milk in the top part of the pail. You can use the cups from which to drink. And, if you can’t find the nut to hold the wheel on, perhaps there might be one in the barn that could be used. I know what it is to have your goods delayed, and your mamma will be worried if you don’t soon get to the new house. ”