Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-21

After several minutes of waiting, this
unusual figure in the ill-fitting uniform
cleared his throat and said, Say, are
you the coach?" Coach Haggerty
glanced around, and his eyes opened a
bit wider. Then he looked the boy over
from head to foot noting the uniform,
the air of innocence on the face, and
the shock of yellow hair above it. His
eyes twinkled
ct am the COACH" he replied. and
who are you?"
I'm frankie Lum."
"Oh, you're frankie, are you?" said
the coach. amused by the name. And
where's johnny"
Frankie evidently didn't get that one.
His face took on a puzzled expression.
I'm coming out for your ball team" he
announced after a moment.
I'm glad to hear it," said the coach
with suspicious enthusiasm. But aren't
you bit late? We took care of fellows
like you two weeks ago"
"Yeh, I know, but couldn't come out
until today because Pa didn't have
hired man yet to help him on the farm.
But he got man yesterday, so here I
am"
Sure enough. here you are" agreed
Coach Haggerty. And what position
are you going to play on my ball team?"
The serious expression on the youths
face showed that he did not realize that
he was being "kidded" I'D like to
pitch" he replied.
eyes, they all would" laughed the
coach. I'VE had about 20 youngsters
this year who wanted to be pitchers, but
you see we only use one pitcher at a
time, and We have couple of good ones
already. So the pitcher market is
rather over-crowded."
That's what I've heard" said the
boy. But thought you could use an
other one. I've got lots of speed"
The coach suddenly rose to his feet.
Evidently he had spent enough time In
idle conversation with this raw recruit.
We'll, since you're out here we'll see
what you can do, but I'm afraid there's
not much chance. The squads been
cut, and the team is pretty well picked
he finished shortly.
He walked away, leaving Frankie gaZ-
Ing after him, undecided as to just
what course of action he should pursue
AS the coach approached the plate,
Art Belden, captain and first baseman,
walked up to him.
:, Who's your friend?" said the cap
tain, indicating the boy by the bench
with grin.
That's Frankie" replied the coach
solemnly. Hes pitcher. He tells me
he has a lot of speed. He's just come
out"
Yes. know him." said Art. He's in
my English class. He lives out in the
country, and drives in every morning
in the saddest apology for an automo-
bile that ever took drink of gasoline
He has gone to some district high school
until this semester, and then came in
here to finish up. Nice kid, but didn't
know he played ball."
Take him nVpr and catch 11{v%a
while, will you?" said the coach. See
II he has anything. If he hasn't, we
might as well not monkey with him."
Sure" said Art. A few minutes
later he had led Frankie aside, paced
of the pitching distance, and donned
catching mitt.
"All right, toss me up a few" he said
70 the recruit. Better take it easy at
first"
frankie evidently didn't know much
about the technique of pitching, and as
Tor taking it easy, that was very dis
tasteful to him. Suddenly his arm
whfrled back over his head and the ball
came tipping to the captain like a
"Wow" exclaimed Art. '1s that
taking it easy? You'll wreck your arm,
Nav, I won't" replied frankie con-
Fifteen minutes later Art had had
enough. He removed the mitt from
his singing hand and walked over to
the coach.
when that fellow said he had speed
he wasn't fooling anybody" he said
ruefully. Hes a regular siege gum"
With this introduction. he went on to
tell the coach that frankie had learned
to throw by hurting rocks at various
~ NvH be fa Iaa4 u. Il. -
kinds of control, that his pitching had
a natural 1ncurve, but he had not the
slightest notion of how to throw any,
thing but fast ball. The recruit had
played base ball for his district school
team, and said that he was a pretty
good hitter.
Maybe we'd better see him hit
then" said the coach. He beckoned
to frankie, who was standing some
distance away, and sent him up to the
plate, ordering Waite Roberts to pitch
to him.
FRANKIE picked Up the heaviest bat
that he could find, walked to the bat
ter's box and, placing his feet well
apart, waited for the pitch. Waite,
snaothering a grin at the rather strange
appearance of this new player, wound
up and sent In tricky drop. Frankie
saw 1t coming, stepped into it with q
savage lunge before 1t broke, and sent
the ball crashing against the fence In
deep center field.
The face of the pitcher was a study,
while the coach uttered startled ex-
cIaInation Waite set his teeth, took
the ball from the catcher and wound
up again. This time he put everything
he had into wide outcurve. The hit
ter again stepped into 1t, caught the
ball with the end Of the bat, and