Abner & Me Read Free Page B

asked.
    â€œThe story goes that Doubleday grew up in Cooperstown, New York—yeah, where the Baseball Hall of Fame is today. And one day—this is 1840 or somethin’ like that—he sketched out a baseball diamond in the dirt with a stick outside the local barber shop. He put nine players on each team, three outs,three strikes, yadda yadda yadda, and told the kids how to play this new game. But he never put it on paper and never copyrighted it or nothin’.”
    â€œSo how did anybody find out?”
    â€œWell, that’s the thing. It wasn’t till long after Doubleday was dead that one of those kids came forward and said that was the first baseball game. Maybe he was lyin’, or maybe he was tellin’ the truth. Nobody’ll ever know for sure if Doubleday invented baseball or not. That’s who I’d like to talk to, old Abner Doubleday.”
    â€œI could find out!” I said excitedly. “I could go back in time and find out! Maybe I could even watch baseball get invented! How cool would that be?”
    Flip snorted. “Only one problem, Stosh,” he said. “There’s no such thing as an Abner Doubleday baseball card. They didn’t even have baseball cards back then. End of story.”
    â€œOh,” I said, getting out of the car. “Bummer.”
    â€œYeah, I guess we’ll never know who invented baseball,” Flip said. “Too bad, huh?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œHey Stosh,” Flip said before he pulled away from the curb. “Don’t let Fuller get you down. We’ll figure out a way to beat him next week.”
    â€œOkay, Coach.”

4
Mom and Uncle Wilbur
    WHEN I GOT HOME , I KNEW RIGHT AWAY WHY MOM hadn’t made it to my game. She was fast asleep on the couch in the living room.
    My mother is a nurse in the emergency room at Louisville Hospital. That’s in Kentucky, by the way. Mom works really long and crazy hours. Sometimes she’s so exhausted at the end of the day that she just sacks out, still wearing her nurse’s uniform.
    It’s hard on Mom because she has to take care of me and my great-great-uncle Wilbur too. He was sitting across from the couch in his wheelchair. Uncle Wilbur was also sleeping when I came in, but he opened his eyes when I clicked the screen door shut. He smiled at me and gave me the shush sign so I wouldn’t wake Mom.
    I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Uncle Wilbur is alive thanks to me.
    What happened was that when I went back to 1919 to meet Shoeless Joe Jackson, I also tracked down Uncle Wilbur when he was a kid. Mom had told me that he died from a disease called influenza when he was a boy. I gave him some of the flu medicine I had brought with me, and when I returned to the present day, Uncle Wilbur was alive . The medicine I gave him in 1919 saved his life. It was the most amazing thing.
    Now Uncle Wilbur is really old. He doesn’t do much besides sit around and watch sports on TV.
    â€œDid you win your game?” he whispered.
    â€œNah,” I said. “Tied. I hit a triple, though. I would have tagged up to score the winning run, but the third baseman grabbed my belt and held me back for a second.”
    â€œYou shoulda beat the crap outta him,” Uncle Wilbur said. “That’s what I woulda done.”
    I guess I’m just not the crap-beating type.
    Mom opened her eyes. When she saw me standing there in my uniform, she quickly looked at her watch and slapped her forehead.
    â€œJoey!” she said. “I missed your game! Oh, I’m so sorry! I meant to come. I just sat down on the couch to rest for a minute and—”
    â€œIt’s okay, Mom. Coach Valentini gave me a ride home.”
    â€œI’ll fix dinner,” she said.
    â€œWhy, is it broken?” I said to make her laugh, and I went up to my room to change clothes.
    As I was peeling off my sweaty uniform, I started thinking about Abner