The 823rd Hit (8 page)

Uh-oh. I knew where this story was going. But I didn't say anything. Uncle Marvin kept talking.

“I didn't dare take Dad's playing cards, but my brother, Carl, had a cigar box full of baseball cards. I grabbed a handful. Carl wasn't home, and I figured I'd put them back before he knew they were gone. I shouldn't have done it, but that's what I did. I didn't even look to see who was on the cards.”

“Was Andy Pafko one of them?” I asked.

“He was. I rode all over the neighborhood, across muddy lawns, and through puddles. The cards were all wrecked. I realized I was in big trouble, so I threw them all away. When Carl
asked about them, I said I didn't know anything. He knew I was lying, and I never fessed up.”

“And that's why you two don't talk now?” Casey guessed.

“That's not the only reason, but I feel like that's where it all started,” Marvin said. “Well, Carl is coming for the game tomorrow. I can make a lot of amends if I give him this card. ‘Handy Andy' was his favorite player. Carl could put it on display with his ball …” Uncle Marvin sniffed. “Yeah, that's worth more to me than my home run ball. I guess you've got a deal.”

“Good,” I said, but I didn't feel good. I was doing the right thing—helping Teddy and helping Uncle Marvin—but I was going to miss that card. Especially when I did math problems.

eddy was confused when I handed him the wreck of his home run ball.

“What's this?” he asked. “Your lucky birthday baseball,” I told him. “The guy who caught it has a cat.”

“You must mean a cougar,” said Teddy.

“For a lucky baseball, that thing sure doesn't look like it's had much luck,” said Wayne Zane. “Just sayin'.”

“It's the right ball, though,” said Teddy. “I can feel it.” He tossed it in the air and caught it. “I feel luckier already. This ball has been
through a lot, but it's still here. Just like us Porcupines.”

“Let me hold it for a second,” said Tommy. “I could use some good luck.” He took it, gripped it, smiled, and then handed it to Sammy.

The Pines passed the ball around. Everybody squeezed a bit more luck out of it until it got to Lance. He held the beat-up ball, muttered something softly in Spanish, and then gave it back to Teddy.

“We're going to win today,” Lance said. “I just know it.”

• • •

Spike was back! The junior mascot and Pokey did some of their best bits from the season: Spike and the radio; Spike and the water balloons; Spike learning how to drive the golf cart. The crowd loved it.

That gave me time to go see Casey and his family. His granddad and Uncle Marvin were sitting next to each other. They were practically twins. Carl even had a matching wool cap.

“Is this the kid you swindled out of that card?” Casey's granddad said.

“I told you, I didn't know,” said Uncle Marvin.

“Didn't know what?” I asked. Did Uncle Marvin give me the wrong baseball? If so, I wasn't telling Teddy and the team. Not after they had passed the ball around for good luck.

“Tell him, Marvin,” said Carl.

“I didn't know,” he grumbled. “I never would have taken it if I'd known.”

“What's going on?” I asked.

Casey jumped up to explain. “Granddad says the Andy Pafko card is worth a small fortune. It's one of the most valuable baseball cards there is. So he's making Uncle Marvin give it back to you.”

“Really?” I didn't care how much the card was worth, but I was getting it back? I couldn't believe my luck. “Does that mean Uncle Marvin wants the home run ball back?”

Casey shrugged.

I looked at Uncle Marvin, who shrugged, too. “Keep it. I think Arthur misses it more than I do.”

“I'll get you another ball, at least,” I offered.

“Bah. It's not the same if I don't catch it,” said Uncle Marvin. “But I go to a lot of games, and I'm young yet.”

“It was nice of him to trade for the card for me,” said Carl. “That was a nice gesture.”

“It was the least I could do,” said Uncle Marvin.

• • •

Lance got everybody out in the first two innings, but Damien was just as good. In the bottom of the second he had two outs, and two strikes on Teddy Larrabee. It looked like the game would go just like the first game in the series.

Then the Bear got a bloop hit. That means a lucky hit. The ball just kind of landed between the Rogues' shortstop and the second baseman. Either one of them could have picked it up and thrown to first, but neither of them did. They both thought the other would do it. They looked at each other for a second—and that was long enough for Teddy to scamper to first base.

It was just a two-out single, and a lucky one, but it felt like a big deal. The Porcupines had gotten to Damien Ricken!

The Rogues' pitcher shook his head, got a new ball, and struck out Danny O'Brien. Teddy didn't even score, but his one hit—his first hit in two weeks—got the fans clapping and chanting.

The Rogues got a leadoff walk in the third inning. The base runner then stole second. It was just one potential run out there, but today one run felt like a hundred.

Lance was calm. He walked the next batter, too. There was still nobody out. Down at the end of the bench, Grumps the manager watched with no expression on his face.

“Double play,” Sammy whispered. “Come on, double play.” A second later the batter hit a bouncing ball toward the shortstop. Mike Stammer fielded it and tossed it to George “President” Lincoln at second base for one out. The President threw it to Teddy at first base
for the second out. “Yeah!” Sammy pumped his fist. “I told ya!”

Grumps still looked blank. He could have been waiting for a bus.

Now there was a Rogues' runner on third and two outs. I felt a lot better, but the go-ahead run was too close for comfort.

“You're grinding your teeth,” Sammy told me. “Calm down.”

“Sorry.” I hadn't even realized I was doing it.

“Never mind. That was me,” said Sammy.

The batter hit a hot smash toward Mike. He dived, snagged the ball, got up, and fired it to first. The umpire called the runner out, and the Rogues' manager rushed over to argue. The argument went on for a few minutes, and the crowd started to get restless. Pokey and Spike ran out to mimic the argument. Pokey looked stern while Spike pretended to complain,
kicked dirt, and gestured wildly. Pokey finally threw his thumb back over his shoulder—the sign that someone was thrown out of the game. The crowed cheered, playing along, while Spike stormed off.

Meanwhile, the Rogues' manager really
was
thrown out of the game. He glowered and started to stalk off the field, but Spike ran after him. The manager realized something was going on, stopped, and turned around. Spike gave him a big, consoling, porcupine hug. The crowd cheered wildly. It was the funniest thing Spike had ever done. The manager did calm down and even patted Spike's spiny head. I had tears in my eyes, I was laughing so hard. Even Grumps was smiling. I decided that even if the Porcupines lost, this was the greatest game ever.

n the bottom of the ninth inning, Myung and Mike hit singles and Sammy walked. That put a Porcupine on first, second, and third base. Teddy came up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs. The Rogues changed pitchers after the walk. Damien Ricken went back to the dugout looking miserable.

“Good game, though,” I said out loud. I clapped along with the rest of the Porcupines' fans as the new Rogues' pitcher walked to the mound. I didn't know his name, but based on his warm-up pitches he was a knuckleballer. A
knuckleball drops and darts and seems to hang in the air like a butterfly. It was a big change from Damien's slider. I hoped the Bear could swat one of those butterflies.

“This is a big one,” said Wayne, as if I didn't know. A base hit, and the Porcupines would win the game and tie up the series. Just yesterday, that seemed impossible.

Teddy flailed at the first pitch, missing it by a mile. Then he watched the second one float over the plate for a called strike. The third pitch was a ball.

The Rogues' pitcher wound up and threw the fourth pitch. Teddy kept his eye on the ball, and at just the right moment he swung hard.

The ball sliced down the first base line, a close, very close call …
fair ball!
It kept on rolling—all the way to the wall. While the Rogues' right fielder scrambled to get it, Myung, Mike, and Sammy were racing around the bases.