“I don’t know anything,” said Hughie. “For a big awkward fellow, he seems to be about the quickest thing I ever saw. Why! he didn’t even look ready to hit at that ball until it started to shoot in toward the plate, and I was sure he was going to let it go by. If he can bat like that regularly, we’ll play him some place if he fumbles every ball that is batted to him.”
Pretty soon Hughie asked, “Haven’t we got another left-hander here?”
“There ought to be,” said Everson, looking around. “Here, Case, get out there and show what you can do. This is your chance.”
“Thanks,” said Case in his polite way. “I’ll try if you want me to.” He walked into the box and picked up the ball where Miner had dropped it. He had not really tried to pitch since last summer and was a little nervous. The first ball went a little bit wide. The second one nearly hit the batter. The line of waiting batters grinned.
“Southpaws are either very good or very bad,” said Captain Larke to Delvin. After he had thrown a dozen balls or so, however, Case’s arm got in working order and only an occasional ball went wide of the plate.
“He seems to be pretty good on the straight ones,” said Jenkins. “If he can do as well when we let them begin to try the curves, I think we can put him on as a substitute.”
“What do you think of the bunch in general?” asked Everson.
“Well,” said Hughie, “I think I can see a team out of this crowd all right, though I am not quite sure of Dill at first base. This fellow Robb seems to be a fine batter and so does Talkington. Coach Young says there was one of the young pitchers that looked good, too—young Radams. If this Hagner knows as much about any position as he seems to about batting, I think I’ll let him choose his position. Think of trying to tell him how to stand up to the plate. He’s just a natural ball player. Don’t believe he knows himself how he hits them. Black told me, after he came out of the box, that he did his best to fool Hagner every time after that first time up, and you know how he succeeded. We’ll know more when we get them out on the diamond in the various positions.”
By this time the sun was sinking and it was too dark for further practice. Hagner and Case walked over to the clubhouse together.
“You sure made a hit with the crowd to-day, Hagner,” said Case.