BASEBALL TALK

With so many other affairs to claim our attention, I have purposely
avoided going into the details of the baseball season at Brill that
year. As my old readers know, the college had a baseball nine and a
football eleven, and both had, at various times, done well at one
sport or the other.

This particular year, baseball matters had not gone as well as had
been expected. In the first place, several of the best players on the
nine had graduated the year before and left the college. Then had come
a long wet spell, during which time only some indoor practice in the
gymnasium could be attempted. Thus, at the opening of the season, the
nine possessed four players who had hitherto played only on the scrub,
and the whole team lacked the practice that was essential to success.
The most serious loss was in the battery, both the pitcher and catcher
of the year previous having left the college. Bob Grimes, who played
at shortstop, was the captain, and after a good many tryouts, he had
put Spud Jackson in as catcher. For pitcher, there were three
candidates: a lad named Bill Harney, who was a tall junior; a much
smaller chap who had come from Yale, named Dare Phelps; and Tom, who
had been pushed forward by a number of his friends. Tom had thought to
pay strict attention to his studies for the remainder of the term, but
finally agreed to accept the position if it was offered to him.

"I think you are going to make it, Tom," said Songbird one day after
Tom had been pitching on the regular team against Bill Harney, who had
been pitching on the scrub. Tom had managed to hold the scrub down to
three hits, while Harney had allowed fourteen hits, one of which had