Won in the ninth

by Christy Mathewson

Hal, in fact, was feeling very good about this time. The winter’s cold had given way to the rare warmth of the Eastern spring. The grass was green, the trees were in leaf, the sun was just right—not too warm—like his own balmy California. He was making friends among the students, his prospects of getting into some of the big games were very good—he was happy. He had a good chum in Hagner, whose more extended experience with the hard knocks of the world had made him wise for his age, and he was a good adviser for Hal.

You see Hagner had worked for everything he had gotten in the world. He couldn’t remember when he didn’t work. When he was going to Grammar School he sold papers at night and Saturdays. In the mornings he had to get up early and deliver milk to the few people who could be induced to patronize the Hagner dairy which consisted of two cows only—and whose entire output didn’t warrant a wagon or bottles—so Hans delivered the milk in tin pails.

One summer he worked in a barber shop, because that was the only thing that he could find to do around the little town where he lived. When he got into High School he gave up the milk and paper business to a younger brother and spent his time clerking in a grocery store every evening and on Saturdays, and made enough money that way, so that his parents were content to let him follow out his ambition to secure an education.

On Sundays he played baseball when it was baseball weather and in Texas where he lived it was that kind of weather nearly all the year round. That’s where he learned to like the game and also where he learned the first principles of it. After he had been graduated from the High School he went to Wahoo College, which was only fifty miles from his home.

It was a little more than a preparatory institution, although the course of study was broad enough so that a graduate from there could enter Lowell without further examination. The summer before going to Wahoo College Hagner had sold books—was a real book agent—and he made enough money in the three months to keep him at college for a year. The expenses at Wahoo were not large, and there was something left over for his folks. This he did every year while at Wahoo, so that he was able to give all of his time at school to his studies, and baseball. He learned to love the game as nothing else in the world. He found he had a certain naturalness which few boys possess. He seemed instinctively to do the right thing at the right time, and this developed a great deal of confidence in himself. His greatest ambition was to have a fine education, but as a small boy it didn’t look as though that would ever come. But little by little, as he did the things he had to do, he found he was getting there.

He had gone through High School and made his own way, and at Wahoo College he still made his own way, getting stronger and more confidence in himself every day. He stood well in his studies and he got his good marks by hard work and constant application.

On the little college team Hans was quite a wonder. What ability he displayed there he thought was all natural.

As a matter of fact he studied the game of baseball as hard as he did his Cæsar. He developed a lot of ability as a batter but he got it by studying how to hold his bat, how to stand up at the plate, by watching every movement of the pitcher, and keeping his eye on the ball all the time and by learning not to be afraid of being hit.

So by the time he had arrived at Lowell he had a lot of confidence in himself. He knew he could get out at any time and make a living as a salesman. His confidence and earnestness were a great help to him in that line, as they were in everything, and Hagner had gotten to the point, even though only twenty-four, where he was absolutely sure of himself, and he didn’t have to worry about anything but how to make the most of his time at the University—how to get the most out of his studies and how to have the most fun as time offered.

For this reason he was a good deal of help to Hal who had never had to hustle for himself, although, as he knew, his folks had pinched and saved in order to give him this first year at Lowell. His folks had been sending him the funds he absolutely needed every month, with a little pocket money besides, which Hal spent carefully. He was getting into the habit of being economical and Hagner’s self-reliance and confidence spurred him on.