“That all? Well, some fellows are like that. Sort of born with the baseball knack. Comes naturally to them. My roommate in college was that sort. He didn’t have to learn, you might say. He was the shiftiest shortstop I ever saw outside professional teams. You sort of remind me of him the way you handle the ball.”
“Do they really pay as much as twenty dollars a week?” asked Wayne. “I mean just for fielders. Of course I know that pitchers and star batters get lots of money, but I always thought most of it was just—just on paper.”
“There are all sorts of salaries. You get somewhere near what you’re worth, as a general thing. Twenty a week is poor pay for a good fielder, my boy, even in the bushes. Thirty-five’s more like it.”
“Thirty-five dollars a week!” exclaimed Wayne. “Why, that’s more than two hundred a month!”
[CHAPTER X]
NEW FRIENDS
“Yes, I believe it figures out something like that,” laughed the other. “But, mind you, I’m not saying you could get that. Probably you couldn’t get anything yet. You’re a year or two too young. If I were you, and thought seriously of playing professional ball, I’d get on some amateur team this year and play with them for the practice.”
“What’s the difference, please, between an amateur team and a professional?”