Jimmy Kirkland and the Plot for a PennantFullerton, Hugh S. (Hugh Stuart)
General
Jimmy Kirkland and the Plot for a Pennant
Fullerton, Hugh S. (Hugh Stuart)
Baseball -- Juvenile fiction
The Bears had accumulated two runs and seemed winning easily in the
fifth, when, before a runner was out, McCarthy, cutting across in front
of Swanson to scoop an easy-bounding ball, played it too carelessly,
fumbled and allowed the first batter to reach first base. The error
was common enough, but allowing the first batter to reach a base on an
easy chance was serious at that stage of the game. Williams turned
upon McCarthy and gave him a violent rebuke. McCarthy was not in a
position to respond. He saw that, in spite of his angry words,
Williams seemed pleased by the error. An instant later a drive whizzed
past him and then another screamed by him en route to left field. A
run was across the plate, runners on first and third and no one out.
"Trying to toss off this one?" demanded Swanson angrily. "You big
stiff, pitch ball."
The next batter sacrificed, and again Williams broke the ball low and
inside the plate to a right-handed hitter. The ball came like a shot
at McCarthy, who dived at it. It rolled away toward Swanson, who
recovered just in time to throw out the runner at first, but another
run had counted and the score was tied. Another hit screeched past
McCarthy, another run counted and the Travelers were one run ahead
before the attack could be stopped.
The Travelers held their advantage to the eighth, when, rallying
desperately, the Bears drove home two runs by sheer force of hitting
and the ninth found them hanging to a one-run lead. They failed to
increase their advantage in the first half of the inning and took the
field determined to hold their lead. McCarthy was puzzled. He thought
Clancy knew what was happening on the field and had expected each
inning that the manager would rebuke Williams when they returned to the
bench. Instead Clancy had remained strangely silent.
Tuttle, the first batter for the Travelers in the ninth inning, hit a
fierce bounder down the third-base line. McCarthy, knowing Tuttle to
be a right field hitter, was swung a little wide from the base. He
threw himself out toward the line, his hands extended to the full
limit, and the ball stuck in one outstretched hand. Scrambling to his
feet he threw hard and fast to first, retiring the speedy runner by a
step. The next batter hit fiercely between third and short and
Swanson, by a great play, retrieved the ball back on the edge of the
grass, but could not throw the runner out. The next batter, a
right-hander, hit a vicious single past McCarthy and there were runners
on second and first.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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