Lefty o' the Big League

by Burt L. Standish

Then followed pictures of the new pitcher in every variety of pose; his style was dissected and analyzed; his progress was noted; for, having launched this boom, the reporters felt under the necessity of pushing it along.

All of these things were not calculated to soothe the spirits of the other cubs, whose existence was noted by scant sentences scattered thinly throughout the sporting columns. They looked askance on Elgin, and the latter, not bearing up well under prosperity, gave them plenty to criticize. He developed an irritatingly jaunty air, which was flaunted at all times. He grew very familiar with most of the newspaper men, and when on the slab gave decided evidence of mannerisms, which tried the patience and aroused the ire of his fellow players.

Unfortunately for them, his ability to pitch increased rather than lessened, so that their sarcastic utterances rather lost point. A man can make all sorts of a fool of himself off the slab, he may even go through ridiculous posings and posturings while winding up, but when his work is as uniformly good as Bert Elgin’s was, criticism is usually superfluous.

The days passed swiftly, with the most of the squad showing an increase in efficiency. They were hitting better, running faster, and throwing more accurately. The regulars were rapidly perfecting their teamwork, and the cubs beginning to learn the importance of something more than the rudiments of “inside” baseball. Some of them took to it like ducks to water, and absorbed intricate secret signals and caught on to the theory of certain movements as if they had been brought up on nothing else from their cradles. These were the men who would push forward to the front ranks. The slower-brained recruits were doomed.

Lefty Locke enjoyed that week more than any similar space of time he could remember. Baseball as a science had always interested him tremendously. He had spent a great deal of time studying out different plays and the reasons for them, but up to now these mental exercises had been generally limited to the more obvious sort, though he did not realize that at the time.

He knew it, however, the moment the Hornets began to pick up and show what they could do when they were in trim; and, though the discovery was something of a blow to his self-esteem, it only goaded him to constant effort and increased mental agility to keep up the pace.

Therefore his work steadily improved. While, perhaps, not so spectacular and dashing as Bert Elgin’s, it showed evidence of thought and clear judgment; and very soon it became apparent that he was crowding his rival close, if not actually surpassing him in general ability and resourcefulness.

The one drawback to an otherwise pleasant period was Janet Harting’s behavior. She and Lefty had come perilously close to their first quarrel, and all because of his absolute refusal, not alone to make up his differences with Bert Elgin, but to tell her of what those differences consisted.

After her first coolness she had been very nice about it, but somehow Lefty had a feeling that she was not quite the same. She was pleasant and cordial, and went twice to the baseball park to see him pitch before she and her father left Ashland for the mineral springs at Billings. In spite of all that, however, Lefty sensed the faint rift in their friendship, and it troubled him.

Instinctively he laid it to Elgin, whom he knew visited Miss Harting almost as frequently as he did, and he despised the man more than ever for it. It was one of those cases, however, in which a person can do nothing. Locke simply had to sit still and let events take their course. He worried and fussed a bit at first, but presently his whole mind became so engrossed in the struggle to make good and win out that he ceased to be actively troubled over something which he could not remedy.