Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-29
,uo., 80, Pie .,,.,-u A Base Ball Story
UUV IV IIII VIVIu Christy Mathewson
by R. J. o.
Copyright. 1910. BY R. J. Bodmsr. o..

throws the extra bat behind him with his
left hand IL means that he is going to
hit the first ball pitched.
III he throws the extra bat away from
MIN with his right hand ii means that he
mas orders TO try to get base on balls.
II Hughie on the coaching lines un-
buttons the top button of his sweater 4
means that the fellow on first must get
coaching lines jumps in the air and
waves his arms yelling 'Eyah. Eyah.'
twice 1t means 10 the batter bunt II he
only SAYS 'Eyah.' once il means hit It
out as hard as YOU can
IF the catcher in telling the pitcher
what kind of a ball to serve up lays two
myers of his bare hand against the in
side of his catching mitt. thumb out
stretched; he is signaling for an out
curve One finger means an incurve.
with two fingers on the glove, thumb
tunred under, low outcurve Is wanted.
If with one finger on the glove. thumb
The whole hand doubled up In the glove
means send one wide of the plate. |
have detected signal to steal Holding
out the gloved hand without touching 1t
with the other means send a straight ball
waist high right over the plate.
II was an exact copy of the signals
which Hughie had given out In the morn
ing. 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 / 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 Nc
Grew. McGrew was laughing, and 50
were all the rest, for by this time the
room had filled up with old graduates,
and 1t suddenly began to filter through
Halls brain that this was one of those
harmless practical jokes that he had
heard about. He thought 1t was cruel.
of course, but McGrew said he had heard
lot about Hal. and among other things
1t was said that he was so even-tempered
that he wouldn't fight with anybody. and
they wanted to see what il would take to
make him fight They were satisfied now
that he could be depended upon to fight
at the drop of the hat whenever there
was anything worth fighting about.
Then they showed him that each fell
low on the graduates team had a type
written copy of the signals anyhow, fur
nished 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 al
ways to win its game with the varsity,
and how on earth would they have any
show against these modern Lowell teams
with their inside base ball and their new
trick plays II they didn't have the sig
nails?
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 II be-
cause 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 S125 now. old
boy. l suppose you have 1t with you.
Hal thought of his half of the story
money which had come from the maya
zine, and it was in his trousers pocket
that moment. Was this another one OF
their jokes, and how did they know he
he said was. What do you know about
my 1925, brother. and they all laughed
at Halls quick guess this time.
We'll" said Fielder James, You don't
know perhaps that | am connected with
Out Door Weekly, but the other boys do
The editor knowing that / was coming
up here, showed me a story in 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. / had seen your name
mentioned In the Reporter every week,
| but / didn't connect you with the author
chap. because they have called you Hal
lately in the paper. when ! arrived
was looking for Harold Case, the
author. / found only one person i'm the
town of that name yourself, so l asked
my friend Jimmie Hamilton, the cashier
of the bank. to help me 1nd the author,
he having been here for twenty years,
and told him why.
He said it must have been you, as you
were in the bank few days before CASH
ing a check from the Out Door Weekly
for $3.50, and dividing it with Hagner.
He you give some OF it to Hagner
! own credit in the bank, and he guessed
you must have divided with him. That
was the first time / got the idea that
Hans may have been a real live person,