[CHAPTER XXVII]
AWARDING THE PRIZES
It would be impossible to describe in words the reception which the team received upon its return to Lowell after this memorable game at the Polo Grounds. Of receptions, there had been plenty to victorious teams at Lowell, but all those that had gone before could not compare in any way with the glorious welcome that was given the team of 19—.
Commencement was still a few days off, but the season was over and it was time to put away the ball, bat, and glove, so far as real games were concerned. Very soon commencement day would arrive and that day would see the departure from school of some of the greatest players the college world has ever known.
The evening before commencement the scholarship prize winners were announced by the Intercollegiate Athletic Association. There were hardly any surprises on this score, for it was apparent even before the games with Jefferson, to the few who had seen the two teams play, that Lowell would again carry off the prizes.
The wonderful showing made by Case, Hagner, Radams, and Robb during almost the entire season, put them so far ahead of all competitors that there could be but one result.
Hans, of course, standing head and shoulders above all of them in the records, carried off the prize as the best all-round man. Hagner was, next to Hal, the happiest man in school. No more selling books for him. His college course was assured. Furthermore, he received an invitation from the Pirates to join them at the end of his course at a salary which was so tempting that right then he signed a contract to begin as soon as he graduated, or before, if he chose.
Case also need not worry in future about his college expenses. All tuition and five hundred dollars per year during his college course was a wonderful thing for him, he thought; but when the manager of the Highlanders came along and offered him five thousand dollars a year to play with them after he was graduated he could hardly contain himself.
