I went to fetch the bat Solaris stretched that double into a single I heard someone shout It had to be Ernie Hecker Ernie had the biggest mouth in Pine City and he always shouted stuff at the players and umpires This time he was right Most baseball players would have reached second base easily on a hit like that Sammy took his lead off first The pitcher didn’t even look at him There was no way Sammy would try to steal a base Now batting baseman Teddddddddy the first Larrrrrabeeeee Victor Snapp announced Teddy hit the ball hard and it sailed to the right field corner The outfielder caught it Sammy took a couple of steps toward second then changed his mind and stayed at first The crowd groaned again Most runners would have tagged up and advanced a base Now batting the right fielder Danny O’Brien Victor announced Sammy must have heard the crowd boo because he did something crazy The pitcher threw an off-speed pitch to Danny and Sammy took off He kicked up a cloud of dust and started toward second Danny didn’t swing The catcher threw the ball to second The second baseman took two steps off the base to catch it He ran back to the base and tagged Sammy Sammy was out by a mile I could have stolen that base from up here Ernie Hecker shouted Sammy Solaris is caught stealing said Victor Snapp
And so we head to the tenth inning Sammy returned to the dugout and slumped onto the bench Good try Sammy I told him Nice of you to say that he said I didn’t signal for you to steal a base said the Pines manager His name was Harry Humboldt but everybody called him Grumps You’ll know when I do because it’ll be never That’s when it’ll happen Never Ah come on I just thought I’d get into scoring position Sammy replied I missed the rest of their talk because Wally tugged on my sleeve You got a phone call Wally was the clubhouse manager He was my boss Thanks It’s probably my dad I’ll have to go home That’s all right Wally said You should go home We want you kids fresh for tomorrow I went back to the locker room to take the call The phone was the old-fashioned kind with the receiver wired to the base and the base stuck to the wall I’m waiting out in front said Dad Are you ready I just have to change Hey ask Dylan if he wants a ride too said Dad Sure Dylan was the other batboy for the Porcupines He was working in the Finches dugout for tonight’s game We took turns helping the opposing team See you in a sec I told Dad
I changed clothes grabbed my baseball card binder and went to the Finches dugout Even though he’s a batboy Dylan isn’t a big baseball fan I showed him my baseball card collection sometimes well part of it I had more than 5,000 cards I told him about my favorite players I explained plays during the game Dylan didn’t know it but he was my secret mission By the end of the season I was going to make him the greatest fan of the world’s greatest game I found Dylan sitting on the edge of the bench in the visitors dugout Hey I nudged his elbow Shh Dylan pointed at something I scanned the infield and didn’t see anything unusual What It’s right there He pointed again and I realized he was pointing at the fence that protected the dugout from foul balls I set my baseball card binder down and knelt by the fence to get a better look
There was a little creepy-crawly thing sitting on the chain link It’s just a bug I said It’s not a bug It’s a spider said Dylan Spiders are bugs Not exactly They’re arachnids Bugs are insects Hey look It’s spinning a web Great I said Wally said we should go home My dad will give you a ride Thanks Dylan replied I want to stay and watch I can call my parents later I thought baseball bored you Dylan had admitted that when we first started working for the Porcupines I mean watch that he said He nodded at the spider Of course I knew Dylan liked animals but did a spider count as an animal
