Won in the ninth

by Christy Mathewson

Jefferson College had been founded but twenty years before. A very rich man had endowed it with millions and added more millions every year. The best teachers that money could secure were obtained and the college had done remarkable things for the boys who entered it, but no amount of money they could spend could give that which Lowell had spent more than a hundred years to acquire—recognition as the greatest seat of learning in the country. But the western college was proud of the remarkable progress she had made in so short a time and she was reaching out in every way, hoping that some day she would overtake and pass her great rival.

Naturally athletics was selected as one of the chief fields of effort. Her managers knew that athletic supremacy would give the college the greatest prestige. Championships in the different branches of sport would attract students, and with a full roster of students, year after year, it was thought to be only a question of time when all the rest would come to her.

So they had built a magnificent athletic field costing over a million dollars, the finest equipment in the country. There were enough seats to accommodate 50,000 people, and every seat was taken at the big games which took place there, for the people of this Western city were proud of their college, as they had a right to be, and they made up attendance what Jefferson lacked in alumni, and they “rooted” just as hard for their college as they would have had they graduated from the beautiful though as yet not classic halls.

The rivalry between the two schools was therefore keen, even though one was, in baseball at least, the defender and the other the aggressor. Lowell came to Jefferson as the recognized champion in both baseball and football this year and of two teams evenly matched, Lowell would have the slight advantage which champions always have and her games were usually conducted with this advantage in mind.

Jefferson on the other hand had still to win the championship and was fighting hard for a reputation. She was inclined to conduct her games desperately, to try by the force of brawn to overthrow the champions.

For this reason the annual struggle over the Baseball Championship stirred up a lot of excitement and this excitement was felt throughout the city.

On the day of the great game, business houses closed early and everyone talked baseball. Everybody that could get in went to the game. Many were always turned away, for even the vast amphitheater seating fifty thousand was not big enough. After all the seats had been filled and ten thousand others were let on the field to sit on the grass or stand for two hours through the contest, the gates would be locked and no more could get in.

Long before ten o’clock the streets surrounding the field were crowded with people standing in line hoping to get one of the choice seats, many of which were not reserved. At eleven o’clock the gates were thrown open and for more than an hour the people poured into the grounds in a steady stream. By 12.30 the stands were full and ten thousand or more had been let out on the field below the stands to sit in cramped positions on the ground or stand with aching legs through the great game. If anyone in that crowd got tired standing, he didn’t show it.

At one o’clock the two teams emerged from the club house to make the annual march across the field to the benches reserved for players. They were preceded by a band of sixty pieces. Jefferson College wore white uniforms and maroon stockings and sweaters, Lowell wore gray uniforms and green stockings and sweaters, for the home players always wear white. As they came marching across the field, both teams abreast in one single line, the crowd in the stands arose and began to cheer.

Hal and Hans looked ahead of them at the thousands who had been crowded out onto the field. Neither of them had ever before seen such a crowd to say nothing of playing ball before so many people. In two thirds of the stand, from the extreme left way over almost to the visitors’ bench, nothing could be seen but a mass of white and maroon. Back of third base from where they approached, the maroon gave place to green. As they came nearer they could see the white places represented white shirt sleeves or ladies’ dresses or straw hats. The maroon they saw was the color of Jefferson in the form of thousands of flags, banners, and handkerchiefs, while the green on the left was caused by the green of their own university proudly worn by more than ten thousand Lowell men. On the field the crowd was mixed, maroon and green and white, for here there were no reserved spaces. Each had to shift for himself and in the effort to find the best place to see the game and have the most possible fun, maroon mixed freely with green even before the game began.