Dick Merriwell's Heroic Players; Or, How the Yale Nine Won the Championship

by Burt L. Standish

Dick Merriwell was satisfied with the result of the game. Poor as the work of the Boston team had been, it had still served to show players as observant as Phillips and Brady certain tricks they would have to be on the lookout for when it came to the meeting with the Harvard varsity nine. The old-timers on the Boston team had known what to do well enough; the trouble was that they had forgotten how to do it. For instance, Bill Brady had noticed a peculiar shifting of the infield whenever two men were on the bases with one out, a shifting that was evidently meant to make a double play easier.

“They learned that trick from Jimmy Collins ten years ago,” laughed Dick Merriwell, when Brady spoke of it. “And they have kept on using it right along. I wondered if those fellows would try it. Did you notice anything else, Bill?”

“Yes,” said Brady, with a grin. “If the ball is hit where nine balls out of ten are hit under those conditions, they make a double play—if it isn’t, it’s a sure safe hit, because there’s a big hole between first and second they don’t cover at all, and another right inside of third.”

“Exactly,” said the universal coach, with a smile. “It pays to keep your eyes open in baseball, just as it does in everything else. You can’t do it all yourself—you’ve got to use the other fellow’s mistakes sometimes to help you out. That’s inside baseball, and I think it’s the way to get along in the law or business, too.”

Altogether, by the time that Dick Merriwell had gone over the game with the Yale team, which had attended in a body, although Phillips, Brady, and Winston had been the only ones in uniform, a lot of things, that might be looked for to make up a part of the Harvard attack, were foreseen and discounted.

“This will all help,” said Merriwell, “but don’t get the idea that you can win the game by just being ready for a few old tricks. They have a great way at Harvard of working out a system and sticking to it, but some time they’re going to fool us. In the past, we’ve beaten them some times by being wide awake. They stick too long at anything that has worked well once up there. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to keep on doing it. They may make a change now. It’s a good time for them to do it. So we’ve got to be ready to shift whenever they do—to follow them, if they lead the way.”

Dick Merriwell had to hasten away from the conference with the baseball team to attend the meeting of the football players, who were that day to elect a new captain. He had no vote, nor, theoretically, any voice in that election. But, as a matter of fact, he had a great deal of influence; and, while he did not want to interfere in the free choice of the players, he was far from anxious to see Parker elected captain of the team. He knew the junior only slightly, and he knew, moreover, that he was a first-class football player: strong, rugged, and, on the field, quick and intelligent. To all appearances, Parker would make a good Yale captain. But Dick distrusted him.

In the football season, Parker stuck admirably to his training. But now, as Dick knew, he took no pains to keep himself in good condition. He drank more than was good for him; he smoked immoderately, and, generally, he set a bad example for athletes, who should, to keep themselves ready always to do their best, be very careful, even when not in the strictest of training. Dick heard of all this, but he did not feel justified in moving against Parker for such a reason. Parker might retort that, so long as he observed training rules in the football season, it was no one’s business what he did at any other time. And there was just enough truth in that, in case Parker had much support among the players, to make it embarrassing for Dick to oppose him on such grounds.

Sherman, captain of the baseball team, who had a vote in the election as an end of the eleven the previous year, although he had played his last game on the gridiron for Yale, walked over to the meeting in Dwight Hall with Dick. At the door of the room they were joined by Sam Taylor, the big senior catcher, who had been a tackle on the football team.

Dick knew that both the seniors were devoted to him, and would do what he asked. So he halted them, just before they went in, and spoke earnestly to them, explaining his feelings.