o send their hits straight
ahead, and high over the head of fielder Major, who did duty in the
middle garden. They assured him they would not be found wanting
when the time came, though, of course, much must depend on how they
were able to gauge the slants and drops of the artful Kinsey, pitcher
for Belleville.

When the two high-school nines took the field they were found to
consist of the following players in their batting order:
Scranton High Player
Position
--------------------------------------
"Just" Smith Left Field
Joe Danvers First Base
Horatio Juggins Right Field
Owen Dugdale Short Stop
Hugh Morgan Third Base (Field capt.)
"K.K." (Ken Kinkaid) Center Field
Julius Hobson Second Base
Alan Tyree Pitcher
Thad Stevens Catcher

Belleville High Player
Position
--------------------------------------
Conway Left Field
Gould First Base
Wright Right Field
Waterman Shortstop
"O.K." Kramer Third Base
Major Center Field
O'Malley Second Base
Kinsey Pitcher
Leonard Catcher

Of course the home team elected to go into the field in the opening
inning. This brought "Just" Smith to the bat to start things moving.
Well, he proved to be the "round peg in the round hole," for what did
he do but tap the very first ball up for as pretty a single as any
one would want to see. This was certainly a good beginning. Joe
Danvers "whiffed out" after knocking several foul strikes. That was
one down, but the eager Scranton fans were saying to each other:

"Notice that our fellows don't seem to have any trouble as yet in
getting to Arthur Kinsey this fine afternoon! Oh! wait till they
limber up, and you'll see them knock him out of the box."

"Yes, just wait," some of the local rooters would call out, "and
see how he mows your fellows down in one, two, three style. Arthur
always starts in easy and stiffens up as he goes along. He has
pitched two games in an afternoon, and won both. They do say he
was better at the end of the eighteen innings than when he started.
Yes, please don't take snap judgment on our poor pitcher. There,
did you see how Joe Danvers nearly broke his back trying to hit
a ball that didn't come within a foot of the plate. He'll have
them all guessing pretty soon and eating out of his hand. The game
is lo