Lefty o' the training camp

“Board o’ ’ealth?” he echoed, his sandy eyebrows arching in an odd note of interrogation. “I don’t tyke you, old chap. What ’ave the board o’ ’ealth to do with biseball?”

At the stranger’s matter-of-fact reference to a Big League organization which was almost at the top of the tree, Nelson’s jaw sagged, and for a second he sat staring at the brow...

Back in his Pullman chair, Lefty tried to forget the unpleasant encounter in the smoker. He realized that there was no one but himself to blame for what had happened, and he reg...

“That’s not as easy as it sounds, considering that your scouts have raked the field with a fine-tooth comb,” Lefty said slowly as Kennedy awaited his answer. “Have you thought o...

Anxiety continued to be present in Lefty’s mind at frequent intervals during the trip East. It made him begin even to doubt his own judgment, and wonder if, after all, he had be...

Lefty’s first thought was that he had been deceived by a superficial resemblance, coupled with the tricks played by a faulty mirror. But swiftly that explanation vanished. For a...

What little conversation passed between the two men as they hurried toward the Temple house was spasmodic and choppy. Briefly Lefty explained how he had come to see Savage. The...

In the brief, tense pause which followed, Lefty’s dominating emotion was one of thankfulness that the station platform was deserted. The much delayed fight seemed bound to come...

Delayed by a blizzard, Lefty and Gene Temple did not reach the sleepy little Southern town of Tulane until the second day of the spring training. Kennedy and his crowd of recrui...

Savage made no effort to accept Lefty’s militant invitation. He did not stir or utter a word, but remained glaring at Locke with a concentration which gave the southpaw a queer...

Thanks to the irritating nature of the encounter on the field, and the swarm of unanswerable questions it had aroused, Lefty entered the hotel in a decidedly ill humor. The deli...

Locke could scarcely believe his senses. Temple with Nels Savage, and showing by his words every evidence of a previous acquaintance! It seemed almost impossible. During the pas...

He wondered if his voice sounded as queerly to Temple as it did to himself. The youngster’s face showed no particular surprise; perhaps he was too immersed in his own thoughts t...

The pitcher’s intuition proved accurate save in one particular. From necessity, not choice, he fully expected to do his detective work alone. Neither Temple nor Ogan was to be t...

In a flash the men behind stopped, too, and stood listening with straining ears. In the sudden stillness which seemed to have fallen over everything the lazy lapping of the slug...

Kennedy was determined to find out where the busher got his liquor. Savage’s attitude next day greatly strengthened that determination. Not only did he refuse to tell anything a...

It might have been noticed, however, that none of the old squad was late in arriving at the grounds next morning. Kennedy had announced that Gene Temple would start pitching for...

“If you say so, I suppose it goes, Pink,” sneered Lewis; “but it’s a raw deal or a bum joke. You know the ball wasn’t pitched. This gink catching flashed another ball, and――”

It was not strange that Lefty gasped and stared in utter amazement. The thing was uncanny――impossible! It made him feel for an instant as if something had happened to his brain―...

Stillman was keenly interested. “By Jove!” he exclaimed when all the details had been told. “What dope for a story! A fellow’d have to make it humorous, though; it’d never go as...

Stillman recovered from his surprise just in time to observe the brief, fierce spasm of rage which seized Savage. He had partly turned, and stood, hands clenched and muscles ten...

With his mind finally made up to a step he had really wanted to take for days past, Jack Kennedy arose with extreme promptitude next morning, and dressed briskly. Having made hi...

The pitcher shrugged his shoulders. “Reckon it must have been that night a week or so ago when you came into the hotel with him about ten. You certainly acted mighty chummy then.”

With the instinct of a skilled swimmer, Lefty had drawn in a deep lungful of air before he went under. It was that same instinct which, on rising to the surface, made him thrust...

The realization had scarcely flashed into Locke’s mind when Ogan, who had dropped weakly down against a sapling, slowly lifted his head from his lax arms, and stared fixedly at...

For a minute or two Savage stood staring across the lobby after Locke and the manager. Then, as they disappeared into the dining room, he drew a long breath and raised one hand...

“Going to do anything special to-night, Lefty?” asked Savage, as Locke hastily averted the searching glance of inquiry which he had come intuitively to cast on the Westerner alm...

“And so you really think Janet and I will like each other?” inquired Miss Berkeley, her eyes sparkling mischievously above the bowl of flowers in the center of the candle-lit ta...

With proverbial Southern hospitality, Mrs. Randolph insisted that the two ball players dine at her house on each of the three evenings before the departure of her niece and Miss...

The days which followed were so full that Lefty had little time in which to trouble over the coolness of Janet. As the end of the training season loomed in sight, Kennedy worked...

It was an excellent opportunity for a squeeze play, and as Allaire hurried to the plate the infielders closed in, ready to go after the ball the instant it was dumped into the d...

Whether or not old Jack was right in his prediction――it was probable that he was, since he had few superiors in the subtle art of sizing up a ball player――Buck Liddell certainly...

McCormick was sent diving back to third by Nelson, who whipped the ball to Palsifer. The runner managed to reach the sack, but it was by a desperately narrow margin.

Sick at heart, all his recent fears revived, Lefty watched his friend step into the box and prepare to pitch. To the best of his knowledge and belief Savage had not touched liqu...

It was the shock of having his hopes dashed so utterly and completely that made Locke oblivious for a moment to Savage’s insolence. But swiftly the sting of the uncalled-for ins...

With that trained sense of observation which Big League players develop to its highest point of efficiency, Locke had noted the strength and weakness of each Tiger batter, even...

The crucial point of the game had been in that first half of the eighth. Before the inning was over the Blue Stockings had discovered the weak points of the substitute pitcher,...

The Holcombe House was a low, rambling, typical country hotel such as one sees in many small towns throughout the Southern States. A wide veranda, much frequented on balmy night...

The game at Webster was scheduled for the morning in order not to interfere with the horse race at two P. M. The latter was the big event of the fair; but the presence of an org...

It was but a momentary glimpse, for the crowd, seized with a panic at the approach of a number of policemen, fled in a body, and the busher was whirled out of sight in an instan...

There was a constant passing and repassing of people through the lobby, but not until after five did the advance guard of the Blue Stockings, consisting of Kennedy, Dalton, Gene...