ow those old timers
used to bat the pitchers all over the lot! You don't see any scores of
two hundred runs in a game these days."

"Two hundred runs!" exclaimed Fred. "You don't mean to say that any team
ever made as many as that?"

"Not often, I'll admit," smiled the other. "Still, the Niagaras of
Buffalo won a game once by 201 to 11."

"Whew!" ejaculated Tom, who had been sitting on the arm of the seat,
listening to the talk. "There must have been some tired outfielders when
that game was over."

"I'd have hated to be the scorer," laughed Fred.

"Of course that was unusual," said the other, "but big scores were a
common thing. The first game between college teams was won by 66 to 32.

"There was a time," he continued, "when a man could make two or three
home runs on a single hit. The diamonds were only vacant lots as a rule
and the ball would get lost in the high grass. Then the runner, after
reaching the plate, could start round the bases again and keep on
running until the ball was found or until he was too tired out to run
any longer. Of course that was in the very early days of the game. We
used to put a man out then by throwing the ball at him and hitting him
with it."

"I'd hate to have one of them catch me between the shoulders nowadays!"
exclaimed Tom.

"The ball was soft then and didn't hurt much," explained the other. "Oh,
the game is better now in every way. We didn't know anything about
'inside stuff' as you call it, 'the squeeze play,' 'the delayed steal'
and all that."

"I'll bet you got just as much fun out of it though as we do now," said
Fred.

"I suppose we did," assented the other. "You can trust boys to get fun
out of anything. But in those days it was mainly sport. Now it's sport
and skill combined."

The lads were to get off at the next station, and there was a general
stir as they got their things together.

"I'm very glad I met you," said Fred, as he shook hands with his chance
acquaintance. "I've learned a lot about the game that I didn't know
before."

"It does me good to brush up against you young fellows," the man replied
warmly, returning the handshake. "I hope you wax the other team this
afternoon. I'll be rooting for you to win."

"We'll do our best," promised Fred. "Thanks for the good wishes. It
would be jolly if you could stop off and see the game."

"I'd like nothing better, but business won't let me. Good-bye and good
luck."

"Who's your friend that you were