The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1912-05-23
II.

Brockett. eager to conclude his err
rand and join his companions, lost no
time on the road. BY five o'clock the
tall yOungster was busily engaged in
an argument, accompanied by prac-
teal demonstrations pro and con, as
to the utility of the Lange steal. Some
twenty of Brockctt's frionds-clerks
like himself, collogians home on vaca-
ton, and eve the two sons of n Siam
csc legation oiicial-debated the prac-
tlcabilitY Of the trick by which Big
BllI Langc, the great star Of the long
ago, was wont to annex the middle
station. BrOckett and half the crowd
maintained that the steal was not
only possible but almost u~nstoppable;
the Siamcsc youngsters and the rest
OF the little gathering declared that
an alert battery. backed by quick
thinking infelders, would make the
play a certain loser.
You have a catcher with any head
and any arm at all" declaimed Chula
Ian o of Siam and Princeton, "and
n second bascman who can come up
fast to the bag, and you can't put it
over. No chance excepting on a muff
or a wild throw"
You don't grasp the point" Brock
eft responded. The catcher doesn't
figure in this steal at all. He is a
dead one. He is exactly as If he had
never existed. The trick in the Lange
steal is to stop OF first till the pitch
Is over, and then, when the catcher
begins to return the ball to the pitch
or, you go down. It's three to one,
easy, that the pitcher will get ratified
4 throw wide, or that the second
baseman, not figuring on a steal, has
moved away to play for the batsman."
"A pitcher who keeps his wits
about him." negatiyed Ramon Solano,
the junior cashier Of the Cuban to-
baccO house, wouldn't fall for that
play at all. Try it, with me on the
slab, and see how 1t goes through"
The experiment was Immediately
made. Chula Ian Kon, donning the
mask, went behind the plate; Solano
took a pitching attitude on the slab,
and Crockett impcrsonated the daring
base runner. Second was covered by
q fast little inGclder from Annapolis,
and a Dartmouth shortstop prepared
TO take alternate throws. It took ff-
teen minutes to fully work out tho
theories Of the LANCE steal, and the
sentiments of the whole throng were
voiced when Chula Ian Kon re-
marked didactically, "Tf you make it,
you are a hero, and if you don't mako
it you are a bOne-head."
Darkness dispersed tho crowd, and
Brockett. dead tired but full of the
sheer JOY Of living, strolled away with
Ramon SOlanO-his chosen friend and
c%onfidant, and linked in c~omradeship
by that strongest Of youthful ties
the brotherhood OF the ball field.
Brockett was ar underpaid clerk, do
ing his best to care for a widowed
mother and a younger sister. Solano's
father was the lord of broad acres in
Matanzas and Havana, and the Junior
Solaao had an Independent income.
aside from his liberal salary, that
would have turned the brain of the
average American boy. AS far as the
friendship went between Cuban and
American, however, Solano's wealth
counted exactly as much in the scale
as Brocketts poverty: nothing what
EVER. The ~allianc, cemented when
both played on a team Of ~ten-year-olds
had only grown frmer with the lapse
Of time, until Ramon Solano, pitcher,
considered Harry Brockett, center
fielder, the finest fellow Of his numer.
Gus acquaintance, while Brockett
classed the Cuban as his most loyal
friend.
1--WE go for a vacation to the yell
lowstone," said Solano. as the boys
neared Brockett's home. "My father,
brother, and two or three friends will
come over to get met will be a
Jolly crowd. If I could persuade you'll"
Brockett laughed gayly. Some day,
Ramon. but hardly this year. II I
stick to my desk, Ill climb up In the