Yale Murphy, the Great Short-Stop — page 7: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee ee, pee When he was nearly nineteen years old his par ents thought it was time to send him to Yale. He returned to Southland on his vacation. “And do you go to Yale?” said Rosa; who was quite a big girl by this time. There was a tender look in Rose’s eyes as she spoke. ‘“VYes, Rose, or, 1 should say, Miss Short,” and the face of the little Midget ‘got very red. morrow.’ Rose’s eyes dropped. She was -sorry Midget could not stay longer in South- land. As he had spent over two weeks at his old home, and, as the college term was about to begin, he wanted to com- mence his studies at once. Midge was very ambitious. He wanted to excel in his studies. It was with great regret that he bade good-by to South- land and all his old friends. On the train going to New Haven, Midge thought: “ What will my new life bring me?” Had he at the moment thought what success he was to. —_ NEW YORK BiY E CENT LIBRARY. ‘‘T leave for Yale to- | land team. Carter was the pitcher of the Yale team. He was big and powerful, with an immense reach. He was also an athlete. Carter took Midge aside, and said : “You want to do your best, my Boy, in this practice ‘game, for on it depends whether or not you will be chosen as a member of the Yale team.” “ All right,” replied the little ex-short-stop of the South- “T will do the best I know how.” “Vou certainly can do no more,” at which the big fel- ‘low slapped the little one on the back. -It was arranged that Midge should play center field. This is an important position on a big college team like Yale. The other college team had many hard and heavy bats- men, and games were fr equently won by those men who played center field. : Midge appreciated the importance of the position, and he resolved that it would not be his fault, if he did not give a good account of himself. The regular Yale team on which Midge plaved center field that day played another team made up of other Yale attain, both as a student and as a ball player, he would ' ‘students who were not such good ball players. have smiled at his fears. The regular Yale team had an easy thing with their op- “Took at the little fellow! I wonder if he can play'| ponents. ball!” said a student, whom the boys good naturedly | called Dutch Carter, as Midge Murphy walked on the ball- field a week after his arrival at New Haven. | Midge overheard the remark, and said : “T should like to have the opportunity to try, gentle- men.’ Up to the fifth innings, Midge did not have a chance to show how clever he was, but in the last part of the fifth, when he was away out in center field, he made a running catch, which surprised all who saw it. One of the strongest batsmen on the opposing team caught the ball on the end of the bat and hit it so hard “Well that’s a pretty good joke, eh, Carter? said a that it looked asif it.would go over the center fielder’s: tall, broad-shouldered student, who had the reputation of head. being one of the heaviest batsmen on the Yale team. “Why not give Mr. Murphy a chance to see what he can do in the practice game we play to-day?” asked Tom Case, who was one’of Yale’s best players. “T am agreed,” said Carter, and four or five other players in a breath. And so it was that Midge Murphy, although he had been at Yale only a week, was chosen asa practice player on the crack Yale base-bal! nine. ‘Students on entering Yale, who have any taste for}. athletics, are given 4 trial. Midge knew what a trial meant on the Yale Ball Club, and he was determined that afternoon to show the other members of the team that he could hold his own, even with them. CHAPTER VI. MIDGE MURPHY’S FIRST GAME AT YALE. Midge had no time to have a uniform made for him, and so he played in knickerbockers and a flannel shirt. Every one was kind to him, and he was much pleased with his: reception. Dutch Carter said afterward it would no doubt have gone over any other fielder’s head but Midge Murphy’s. Midge saw the ball as it left the bat. He saw it sail upward, and knew that to catch it he would have to run some distance back. Unlike some players, he did not back up and try to catch the ball that way, but facing the fence in the rear of the center field, he ran as fast as his little legs would’ earry him. When he had run fifteen or twenty yards, he turned, and again judged the ball. He saw that he had to step back at least ten feet. This he did. The players on both nines were watching him. “Good boy, Mr. Center Fielder,” cried Dutch casters “That's the ticket.” ' Midge Murphy had caught the ball. It was a wonderful catch. There were few men on either of the three great college teams, the Yale, Princeton, or Harvard teams, who could have made the catch. “That was a wonderful catch, wasn’t if, Billy?” inquired Dutch Carter of Billy Curtain, who was not much of a Between Midge and Dutch Carter a friendly feeling had| player, and who was envious of any other player who sprung up. Dutch was six feet five inches tall, or over a foot taller than Midge. made a success on the bull-field. “Not so wonderful,” he replied. Dutch looked at Billy for a moment, and shrugged his As the two walked out on the ball-ground from the shoulders. dressing-room, arm-in-arm, they made a very funny sight. ‘“There’s the iong and the short of it,” cried Tom Case, as he laughed. | Dutch did not say any more about it. He knew Billy’s envious disposition, but as Billy Cur- tain’s character was so well known to all in the college, MICLOOOKS.CO (CO) (C