“How do you expect your rope knots to hold, if you can’t tie your neck-gear right?” said Jack Perkins, as they all tumbled into the ship’s cutters and rowed ashore.
Mr. Miller and Perkins were chosen captains for the two teams, and Boatswain Fred Hamilton was elected umpire. Then Mr. Miller and Jack began choosing their men alternately; and, as they stood in two bunches opposite each other, “the Blues” and “the Reds” appeared to be fairly evenly matched.
About half a dozen boys who had not been lucky enough to be chosen for the teams, sat on the benches and improvised score cards, hoping that some of them might be called upon as substitutes before the game was over. Mr. Miller himself was a good player for “the Blues.” He was more than an average player, having served on his freshman nine at college, and having always gone out regularly as a candidate for the “Varsity” up to his senior year. On two or three occasions he had even played as a substitute on the “Varsity”, and was looked upon as a valuable and reliable man in reserve. “The Reds”, on the other hand, had a first-rate player in their captain, Jack Perkins, who, besides being a prize-winner at track athletics, had served as captain of his class nine at the Northbridge High School.
Both Mr. Miller and Jack usually took the position of catcher. Mr. Graham Wentworth, the assistant scout master, was made pitcher for the “Reds”, and Clarence Ellsworth pitcher for the “Blues.”
At the toss up, the “Blues” won their first innings and went in with Mr. Miller at the bat. He knocked a swift grounder, which was picked up by the shortstop, Tom Sheffield, and thrown to first base, so that Mr. Miller was put out at the very beginning of the inning. Chippie Smith, who was sitting on the benches, climbed up and waved his hat frantically at this good play of his chum’s, and the spectators, who had now begun to gather around the stands, gave a round of applause. Tom was surprised at himself, and began muttering “steady, now, steady!” to keep from getting excited.
Mr. Miller felt rather queer as he sat down on the grass and watched Ellsworth go to the bat. The latter helped the situation for the “Blues” somewhat by making a two-base hit to left field. He held second base all right, and the “Blues” felt a little better. Ellsworth, however, tried to steal third, but was put out by a pretty cross-diamond throw from the pitcher, Mr. Wentworth. This made two out for the “Blues”, and it looked as if the first inning was to end unluckily for them. Nobody scored, that inning, until all had been at the bat excepting Dick Gray, who got his first base on a “single” to right field, but then, to the astonishment of everybody, kept on running to second. Guy Plummer, who was playing right field, picked the ball up quickly and threw it to second, at just about the same time that [Dick dove forward on the ground to touch the base]. The second baseman, Sidney Malloy, was a good player but rather a small boy, and immediately turned to the umpire and claimed that Gray was out; but Dick gave him a dig in the ribs; and, at the same time grabbed the base, loudly claiming that he had made good.
Dick dove forward on the ground to touch the base. [Page 70.]
The umpire took a few minutes to consider, and then decided that Gray was “not out.” Plummer had been in a pretty good position to see what had actually happened and he thought it was a clear case of “out”; at the same time, it was quite possible that Gray had honestly believed that he had touched the base before the ball was caught. Nobody really had any unpleasant feeling over the incident, except Malloy, the second baseman, and Mr. Wentworth, who from the pitcher’s box had noticed the ugly look in Dick’s face when he told the small-sized second baseman to “shut up!”
This made “three out” at the end of the first half of the first inning. The “Reds” only made one run in their half, and this was scored by Perkins on a “three-bagger” to left field, caught, but dropped, by the left fielder. During the next four or five innings no very remarkable work was done on either side. There was some good hitting, but the fielding was rather poor; and, at the beginning of the sixth inning, the score stood at seven to six in favor of the “Reds.” During this inning, however, Mr. Wentworth began improving in his pitching. He seemed to have got his second wind and threw his balls with a kind of regular swing, and with greater swiftness and accuracy.