“Put your uncle on ice!” added Pete Backus.
“Leave him out after dark, and Proc. Zane will catch him,” came from Snail Looper.
“Well, I was only going to say,” went on Ford, but such a storm of protesting howls arose that his voice was drowned.
“And that’s the chap they talk of for manager,” said Phil to Tom disgustedly.
“Oh, I guess it’s all talk,” remarked the pitcher. “We will rush Ed Kerr through, and the season will soon start.”
The scrub game began. It was not remarkable for brilliant playing, either in the line of fielding or batting. Tom, though, did some fine work in pitching, and he and Dutch worked together like well-built machines. Tom struck out three men, one after the other, in the second inning, and repeated the trick in the last. Sid Henderson rather surprised the coach by making a safe hit every time he was up, a record no one else approached that day, for Rod Evert, who was doing the “twirling” for the team opposed to Tom’s, was considered a good handler of the horsehide.
“Good work, Henderson,” complimented Mr. Leighton. But Sid did not seem particularly pleased.
“Everybody on hand for the election to-night,” commanded Tom, as the game ended, the pitcher’s team having won by a score of eight to four.
There was a large throng assembled in the gymnasium that evening, for at Randall sports reigned supreme in their seasons, and the annual election of a baseball manager was something of no small importance. For several reasons no manager had been selected at the close of the previous season, when Tom had been unanimously selected as captain, and it now devolved upon the students who were members of the athletic committee to choose one.