It must not be supposed from what has been written in these pages that the Lakeport Baseball Club as now organized was the first club that locality had ever had. In the past the boys, big and little, had had various clubs, and had played numerous matches with lads of their own age. But all of those had been nothing but boys' games and the organizations had been largely so in name only.
Now, however, matters were different. The new club had a duly elected set of officers, a regular clubroom, and, what was equally important, a treasury with some dollars in it. More than this, the club was to be uniformed and was to play match games under the rules of the regular amateur baseball associations.
"No more such hit-or-miss playing as we used to have," said Joe. "Every fellow has got to toe the mark every time, or I'll put him off the field and put somebody else in his place."
It had at last been decided what positions the various members of the club should play, and Joe was now drilling them in to team work and in a knowledge of signals. The line-up at the first game was to be as follows; the figures representing the batting order:
LAKEPORT BASEBALL CLUB.
| 7—Joe Westmore, captain, and pitcher. |
| 3—Fred Rush, catcher. |
| 6—Harry Westmore, first baseman. |
| 8—Link Darrow, second baseman. |
| 2—Bart Mason, third baseman. |
| 4—Matt Roscoe, shortstop. |
| 9—Paul Shale, centerfield. |
| 1—Walter Bannister, leftfield. |
| 5—Frank Pemberton, rightfield. |
SUBSTITUTES:
| 10—Augustus De Vere. |
| 11—Teddy Dugan. |
| 12—Ike Suttervane. |
"I want you all to remember that this list is open to change," said Joe. "If I can't pitch to suit I'm going to put somebody in my place, and what holds good of me must hold good of everybody else. Perhaps before the season is over we'll all be changed around."
"I'm sure I'm satisfied," said Walter. "I didn't expect anything but a field position."