“Morris says,” replied Dick with his slow smile, “that he can play a lot better than most of you fellows and that if Bert and Tom Haley and some of the others weren’t down on him he’d have made the team last spring.”
“Guff! He can’t catch a ball. He’s not a bad sort, Morris, if his dad _does_ own the town, but he’s no Ty Cobb! Well, what do you think about getting up a team, Dickums?”
“Why not? You’ve got plenty of fellows. Most of the school team are still around, aren’t they?”
“All except Bert and Warner Jones and Joe Browne.”
“I don’t know. Gone away with his folks somewhere for the summer. Wish my folks would do that.”
“Well, get out your pencil, Gordie, and let’s make up the team. Haley, pitch, and Lanny, catcher——”
“I’ll play first and Harry Bryan second——”
“N-no, he’d better play in the outfield. I’ll put him down for right. I guess Pete Robey’s the chap for short. That leaves us Way for left field and I guess Fudge will do for center. He can’t hit much, but he can pull down a fly.”
“There you are, then. What will you call the nine? You can’t be the High School team, I suppose.”
“N-no, we’ll have to find a name. The Clearfield—what, Dickums?”
“Sounds like a troupe of trained dogs,” laughed Gordon. “We might call ourselves the Purple Sox, only it’s sort of hard to say.”
“Shorten it,” suggested Dick. “Call yourselves the ‘Purps.’”
“That’s worse than the Rovers! Why not just the Clearfield Ball Club?”
“Why not? That’s settled. Now you want a manager——”
“Surest thing you know. That’s partly why I came. To tell you. You see, I thought you’d want to know it.”
“Very thoughtful of you,” Dick laughed. “But will you tell me how I can manage a ball team, you idiot?”
“Why can’t you? All you have to do is to arrange games for us and look after the expenses and see that we behave ourselves. If they make me captain——”
“It’s really Bert’s. But if they do I’m going to tell the other fellows that they’ve got to do just as you say. You know more baseball than I do and you’re going to be the real thing.”
“No nonsense about it. That’s settled, then.”
“But, look here, I’d have to go to places with you and—and—well, you know, Gordie, I can’t afford to do that very often.”
“It won’t cost you anything. Your expenses will be paid by the club. Besides, we’ll only go over to the Point and places like that, I guess. Now I’m going to see Lanny and talk it over with him.”