The Team That Stopped Moving Read Free

Mark fielded and whipped to home in an effort to get the runner from third. The throw wasn’t bad, but the ball glanced
     off the edge of Clyde’s mitt, rolled to the backstop screen, and the run scored.
    Dick waited for a slow dribbler to come to him, caught it, then raced the hitter to first base and lost.
    “Charge those, Dick!” Coach Banks yelled at him.
    A Fox struck out, but two more runsscored before the next two outs were made. Tigers 2, Foxes 3.
    Clyde led off in the top of the second inning.
    “We know he can’t catch,” Stan remarked dismally. “Let’s see if he can hit.”
    Clyde blasted a single over second base.
    “Well, how about that? He can!” Stan cried, standing up and applauding.
    Both Jim and Tony got out, bringing up Pat. Pat took a three-two count, then laced a line drive over second base for a neat
     double, scoring Clyde. Mark flied out, and that was it for the half-inning.
    A Fox doubled on a sharp drive just inside the third base line. The second hitter socked a pop fly high over Clyde’s head.
     Clyde, circling round and round under the ball until he was nowhere near it, missed it by a mile. Then the hitter slammed
     out a long home run, scoring the runner on second.
    Another double followed and next, abatter hit a dribbler just in front of the plate and Clyde pounced on it like a cat on a mouse. He picked it up and hurled
     it to first. The throw was wild, and the sixth run scored.
    Dick didn’t know how they finally got the Foxes out, but they did. When the Tigers trotted in to the dugout, there was Eddie
     — quiet, shy, peace-loving Eddie — waiting for them, wearing his uniform and cap.
    “Eddie!” Dick cried. “Am I glad to see you! What happened, anyway?”
    “Mom and Dad had a talk,” Eddie said as everyone listened wide-eyed. “Dad won.”
    “Am I glad!” Clyde exclaimed, throwing his arms around Eddie. “I think that if I were to keep on catching I would be scalped
     after the game!”
    “Well — clipped, anyway,” Dick said, smiling. “But nobody’s done well, so you didn’t have to worry.” He saw a chilled look
     come over Stan’s face and corrected himself.“I’m sorry. I guess that the only guy doing real well is Stan.”
    The Tigers failed to hit safely in the top of the third inning, which didn’t surprise anybody. The Foxes returned to bat,
     this time uncorking five clean hits and collecting four runs. Tigers 3, Foxes 10.
    As each half-inning ended, the Tigers seemed more dispirited than ever. Now and then they hit and scored, but the Foxes, as
     if they were endowed with some magic formula, were able to do so more often. When the game ended, the Tigers were literally
     buried, 23-5. Tempers flared after the game.
    “I thought that getting up a team would help make friends, not break them up,” Dick said to Coach Banks as they collected
     the balls and bats.
    “Well, most of the guys are new at this,” he explained. “Each is hurt because he thinks the other guys are down on him for
     missing a grounder, or a fly, or for not hitting.I’m trying to teach them that we’re here to play for the fun of it. No matter what some big leaguers say, my feeling is that
     winning
isn’t
everything. Of course we
want
to win. We do the best we can to win. But somebody’s got to lose, too. Must the loser dig a hole into the ground and bury
     himself?”
    He laughed. “I sound like a soapbox lecturer. Take off. I’ll see all of you at the next game.”
    “I like him,” Eddie said as he and Dick headed for home behind their parents. “He understands.”
    “Right, he does,” Dick said.
    “I hope we don’t break up,” Eddie said sadly. “Baseball is a lot of fun, and it’s good exercise. Better than piano playing!
     I like it especially because, well …” He shrugged, as if unable to find the right words to express himself.
    “Because we can all get together once in a while,” Dick said. “It’s like a party.”
    “Right!” Eddie