[...]... “He’s layin’ one down!” the coach of the other team screamed The pitch was right over the plate, just where I like it I held the bat out the way Coach Zippel taught us in our bunting drills You’re supposed to sort of “catch” the ball with the bat The idea is to tap it just hard enough so the catcher can’t pounce 10 BABE AND ME on it, but softly enough so it stops far in front of the third baseman It was... baseman’s mitt Out! ” bellowed the umpire “That’s the ball game!” “What?” I yelled, turning around to find the ump “I beat it out! I beat the ball to the bag!” “Son, I had the best seat in the house,” the ump said, “and you were out. ” “Oh, man!” The kids on the other team were pounding the third baseman on his back and congratulating him on his great play My teammates just packed up their gear Nobody... supermarket in Louisville The Little League sold a lot of ads this year, so they made the fences even higher to have a place to put them all Casey Tyler—one of the kids on my team—hit a ball off the wall once In left center He only got a double out of it because the ball bounced right to 8 BABE AND ME the centerfielder I hit pretty good—I mean, pretty well—but I can’t imagine hitting one out of Dunn Field “Be... forth a few times The pitcher wasn’t so tough I had already singled off him A solid hit would score both our runners and tie the game An out of any kind would end the game, with our team losing “Smack one, Joey!” my mom shouted She was sitting in the “mom” section of the bleachers That’s where all the moms sit I don’t think any of them are big baseball fans, but they like to get together and gossip and... sign read UNION SQUARE PARK But there was no playground or anything Nobody was playing ball or lounging in the sun in this park One side of the park had a row of rickety shacks made out of packing cases and sheets of scrap metal One of them was painted with the words WELCOME TO HOOVERVILLE Inside one of the shacks, a lady and two kids were warming their hands over a fire they had made in a metal garbage... cause the tingling sensation Brand-new cards didn’t do anything Cards from the 1960s to the 1990s didn’t do much But I could get a definite buzz from any card from the 1950s The older the card, I discovered, the more powerful the tingling sensation One day, I got hold of a 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner card the most valuable baseball card in the world The tingling sensation started the instant I picked up the. .. other I took the Ruth card out of its plastic holder “How do we do this?” Dad asked “Do I hold the card, too?” The power isn’t in the card,” I told him “It’s in me To take you along, there has to be a connection between you and me.” I hadn’t held hands with my dad in years, but there was no other way I put out my hand and he took it His palm was sweaty So was mine I held the Ruth card in my other hand... Hoover, his Republican opponent The total of votes in the eleven States gives Mr Hoover 100,323, or 45.18 per cent of the total, and Mr Roosevelt 102,185, or 46.03 per cent The remaining 8.79 of the total vote is divided among minor candidates 25 DAN GUTMAN “Hey, why are you selling the New York Journal?” he asked the boy The kid looked at Dad suspiciously “Faw da fun of it, Mac I’m really a millionaire... hands around his mouth “That baseball is your worst enemy! Slam it.” My team, the Yellow Jackets, was down by two runs There were two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, which is all we play in the league for thirteen-year-olds As I stepped into the batter’s box, Casey Tyler took a lead off second base and Kevin Dougrey edged off third “Run on anything!” Coach Zippel yelled “Two outs.” I pumped my... one outta here so we can get outta here.” I snorted Nobody has ever hit a ball out of Dunn Field, the park where most Louisville Little League games are played It’s not because the outfield wall is so deep It’s because it’s so high The plywood fence in left-, center-, and rightfield extends twenty or thirty feet off the ground The wall is plastered with ads for just about every hardware store, car . Gutman Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher The Mystery IT’S THE GREATEST MYSTERY IN THE HISTORY OF SPORTS. It’s one of the greatest mysteries of the twentieth century. And. until the last possible instant to square around and slide my hand up the barrel of the bat. “He’s layin’ one down!” the coach of the other team screamed. The