The Contract (11 page)

“Way to go, Derek!” his mom said, giving him a fierce hug and a kiss. “You made us all proud.”

“Aw, Mom . . .”

Sharlee leapt into his arms. “Yay, Derek!” she cried.

“Hey, Derek!” It was Coach Kozlowski, calling him over to join the rest of the team. They had all gathered around the bench so he could talk to them one last time.

“I just want to say thanks to each and every one of you,” the coach began. “This has been a great season, and I'm really proud of the way you guys rallied to finish with a winning record. I wish we could have gotten to the play-offs, but that's how it goes sometimes. Maybe if I'd been a better coach—”

“You were a great coach!” Isaiah said. And everyone cheered, chanting “Coach! Coach! Coach!” until he stopped them.

“Thanks, guys,” he said. “Really. I'm deeply grateful. I did the best I could, and so did you. And now I want to announce my two All-Star selections.”

Derek felt a pulse of excitement go through him. He leaned in, holding his breath.

“I wish I could have nominated one or two more of you, who were certainly deserving of the honor. But I get only two picks. So here they are. . . . Pete Kozlowski . . .”

Everyone cheered Pete, and he high-fived all the kids who were within reach. Pete might not have been the nicest kid Derek had ever met, and he certainly wasn't the most popular member of the team, but even Derek had to admit he'd been the savior of their pitching staff. And he'd hit the most home runs of anyone on the team too. That had to count for something.

“And . . . ,” Coach continued.

Derek held his breath again. He felt in his heart that he deserved it, but Isaiah and Ryan had also been key for the team.

“. . . Derek Jeter!”

“Thanks!” Derek cried, clenching his fist and then exchanging high fives. Everyone congratulated Derek and seemed glad that he'd been named. Especially Vijay, who was beside himself with joy.

“You deserve it!” he cried, clapping Derek on the back again and again.

“Stop,” Derek said, but he couldn't help smiling.

The coach raised his voice so he could be heard over the cheering. “One more thing before I treat you all to ice cream at Talbot's—”

That brought the biggest cheer yet from the team. They were all hot and sweaty, and in the mood for a celebration.

“I want to give out this trophy.” He pulled it from his backpack, a beautiful gold trophy on a black marble base, of a hitter in midswing. “This,” said the coach, “is for our most valuable player.”

A wave of murmuring rose from the team as they exchanged guesses as to who it might be. “You'll win!” Vijay whispered to Derek. “It has to be you!”

“Come on, man,” Derek said. “Don't be so sure.”

“As I said,” the coach went on, “lots of you made big contributions—and this was a hard decision. But in the end the choice was clear. Let's all give a big hand for our own MVP . . .
Pete Kozlowski
!”

There was a round of applause and some cheers, but they seemed halfhearted next to the ones for the coach and his All-Star selections, and especially for ice cream. Clearly the coach's choice of his own son as MVP was not nearly as popular.

“That is so
wrong
!” Vijay whispered to Derek. “You should have won!”

“Hey, he played great for us,” Derek said. Inside, though, he was a little disappointed. But then he remembered the last rule: “Work hard.” He knew he had done that.

“Okay. We'll all meet at Talbot's in ten minutes!” said the coach, and he began packing up their equipment for the last time.

Derek and Vijay stayed behind to help him. When they were done, Derek clapped his friend on the back and said, “Come on, Vijay. Let's go get us some ice cream and celebrate a winning season!”

“OW!”

“You okay, Grandma?” Derek asked, suddenly concerned. His grandmother was shaking out her glove hand.

“I'll be fine if my hand isn't broken,” she answered with a smile, still wincing. “Where'd you learn to throw that hard? Seems to me that last summer you weren't throwing nearly as fast.”

Derek beamed. “I'm three inches taller, too!”

“Well, now, is that right?” she said, looking impressed. After putting her mitt back on, she threw the ball back to him. She had a pretty good arm herself, Derek thought.

“Did Mom and Dad tell you I made the All-Star team?” His parents had left just an hour before, heading back to Kalamazoo after driving Derek and Sharlee to New Jersey to spend the summer with their grandparents.

It was only eight in the morning, but Mr. and Mrs. Jeter had wanted to get an early start on their long drive home. Sharlee had woken up to kiss them good-bye, and now she was playing in the big backyard behind the house, kicking a soccer ball around with two of the neighbor children.

Their grandfather was already at work. He was the caretaker for a big church that had its own school, so he had to wake up at four thirty every morning to get to work on time. He didn't get home till seven or eight at night either.

Derek and Sharlee loved spending the summers here. It was all play, all day, with lots of sports activities and swimming in the lake whenever they wanted to cool off.

Their grandma was a huge New York Yankees fan, too. That was how Derek had come to root for the winningest team in baseball history. Even her car had a Yankees bumper sticker on it. “So,” she said, “how'd your team do this year?”

“We had a winning record,” Derek said proudly. “And I hit .597 for the season!”

“Hey, that's pretty good!” she said. “Even better than last year, right?”

“Yup. I didn't win the team MVP, though,” he admitted.

“Oh, no? Who did, then?”

“This other kid.”

Derek decided not to tell her about Pete being the coach's son. Even though Derek suspected Coach Kozlowski gave him the award to avoid a long summer, he had to admit that Pete played well enough to deserve it. “I was the MVP of the All-Star game, though. I got three hits!”

“Fantastic!” said his grandma. “See if you can catch this one, Mr. All-Star MVP!” She threw a high fly ball that Derek had to run back to grab. “Nice play!” she said, clapping her hand against her mitt.

When Derek trotted back toward her, he saw that she'd gone to the front porch and was fishing for something in her big handbag. “I've got something for you,” she told him. “I know you've set your sights on being the Yankees' shortstop someday, so I've decided to do something to help make your dream come true.”

“Huh?”

“First of all, if you're going to play for the Yanks, you've got to have a Yankees cap.” She took a brand-new one out of her bag and handed it to him.

“Thanks, Grandma!” Derek said, giving her a hug before putting the hat on and bending the brim to break it in.

“A little birdie told me your old one had gotten too small.”

“And too smelly!” Derek added with a laugh.

“They are washable, you know,” his grandma said with a laugh. “AND . . .” She fished something else out of her bag, something small that she now hid behind her back. “Second of all, IF you're going to be the Yankees' shortstop someday, you'd better watch how it's done
today
.” She showed him what was behind her back.

“Yankees tickets!” Derek cried. “Wow! When are they for?”

“Tonight!” she said, pointing at the printing on the tickets. “Your grandpa's coming home early to be with Sharlee, and you and I are going to the big ballpark in the Bronx. Look there. We're sitting right behind the Yankees' dugout, so don't forget to bring your mitt. You might catch a foul ball.”

“Grandma, that's so fantastic! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you soooo much!”

“Oh, I see. Get him Yankees tickets and he's yours forever.”

“Grandma, you know that's not true!” He gave her another big hug. “You're the best ever, tickets or no tickets!”

“Okay, okay,” she said. “Besides, your parents told me it was part of some contract you signed.”

• • •

At seven o'clock that evening, Derek and his grandmother walked down the ramp and emerged to see the vast, green pasture of Yankee Stadium. The stadium cast its magic spell over him, same as it had done the very first time he'd seen it.

Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by wonder. The enormous crowd, already getting loud . . . the monuments to Yankees greats in center field . . . the cool facade that surrounded the top of the stadium . . . the lights on the roof making the grass impossibly green.

Best of all, there were the Yankees themselves, out on the field! Derek spotted Dave Winfield in right, tossing the ball around with the other outfielders. Closer in, Willie Randolph, the second baseman, was doing wind sprints to warm up.

The air was warm and smelled of hot dogs and cotton candy. His grandma bought hot dogs and sodas, and they took their seats to watch the Yankees play the Boston Red Sox.

As he sat there, taking it all in, Derek thought about the past few months that had led him here. So much had happened!

In school he'd finished with all As and Bs, just as he had agreed in his contract. Even better, he'd beaten Gary on a math test for the first time—but not the last, he promised himself.

On the Little League field, he'd helped his team win its last three games to finish above .500. He'd had a great season personally, too—getting to play shortstop and being named an All-Star. He'd even been named MVP of the All-Star game, although not of his own team.

Most important, his dream of playing for the Yankees had taken shape, his parents had promised to help him make it come true, and with his first contract signed, he would be well prepared for his negotiations with the Yankees down the road.

And now he had the whole summer to work on his game, to dream of the future, and to plot the next steps on his way to get there.

Watching the real Yankees out on the field, Derek felt full of hope and inspiration. People could say what they wanted about his dream of playing in the majors, but he didn't care. Setting his goals high had really paid off for him so far—and from here on in, the sky was the limit!

TIGERS' OPENING DAY ROSTER

Chris Chang—CF

Derek Jeter—2B

Pete Kozlowski—SS

Ryan McDonough—1B

Isaiah Martin—C

Ernesto Alvarez—P

Sims Osborne Jr.—3B

Elliott Koppel—LF

Norman Nelson—RF

Reserves: Vijay Patel, Sun Lee, Mark Feinberg

Coach: Hank Kozlowski

THE CONTRACT

Jeter Publishing's first middle-grade book is inspired by the childhood of Derek Jeter, who grew up playing baseball.

The middle-grade series will include ten books based on the principles of Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation.