Roddie scooped up the ball in right field and heaved it. It was a good throw. It struck the ground twenty feet in front of home plate and bounced up into Rabbit’s waiting mitt.
The runner hit the dirt and slid across the plate just as Rabbit put the ball on him. It was close. Very close.
But the umpire’s hands were spread out flat. And very clearly he shouted: “Safe!”
That was it for the Moose that inning. Now they led 4-2, and Jody didn’t think the Dolphins had a chance. He was getting tired sitting on the bench, too. And worried. Would Coach Fisher ever let him catch again this year?
Birdie walked, and Johnny Bartho doubled, sending Birdie around to third.
Joe Bell, who was due for a hit, was up next. Coach Fisher gave him the squeeze signal. Joe tried twice to bunt, and both times fouled the pitches. On the next pitch he struck out.
Rabbit tossed aside one of the two bats he was holding and started for the plate.
“Rabbit, wait! Jody, hit in place of Rabbit!”
Jody looked up, surprised. Had he heard right? Had the coach spoken to him?
“Come on, Jody!” said the coach. “Let’s hustle!”
“Yes, sir!” murmured Jody, and sprang out of the dugout.
15
Jody moved as if he were in a dream. He picked out his favorite bat and swung it back and forth a few times to limber his muscles. Then he stepped to the plate.
“Strike!” The first pitch was near his knees, and he backed up a little.
“Stay in there, Jody, boy!” someone yelled in the bleachers. “Be a hitter!”
His heart warmed. He knew whose voice that was. I’m not afraid, he thought. I’m not.
Another pitch. “Ball!”
Then it came in, letters-high. Curving in toward him. He pulled back his bat and swung with everything he had.
Crack! The blow could be heard all round the field.
The ball sailed out to deep right field—over the fielder’s head! It looked as if it would go over the fence. It didn’t. It struck the grass in front of it, bounced up against the fence, and the fielder caught it. By the time he pegged it in, Birdie and Johnny had scored, and Jody was resting on third base.
“Beautiful hit, Jody!” yelled the coach. He ran forward and slapped him happily on the back. “You really blasted that one, fella!”
“Thanks,” said Jody, breathing hard.
Roddie came up, socked a one-one pitch toward center field. It was a real high fly. Jody held up at third until the fielder caught the ball. Then he raced in as hard as he could, scoring easily.
Duane grounded out, and the rally was over. Three runs, and Jody had knocked in two of them himself and had scored the third. He felt just fine.
And that curve he had hit—he knew he’d never be afraid of a pitched ball any more.
The Moose came to bat for the last time. They were a beaten bunch. Moonie mowed down the first two hitters, and the third popped out to Jody.
The Dolphins won, 5-4.
They had won their chance to compete in the play-off game.
They beat the Gophers on Tuesday to clinch second place with ten wins and five losses. On Wednesday the Tigers walloped the Bobcats to win first-place honors with twelve wins and only three losses.
The standings:
WON LOST GAMES BEHIND
Tigers 12 3 —
Dolphins 10 5 2
Bobcats 8 7 4
Bears 6 9 6
Moose 5 10 7
Gophers 4 11 8
Now the two teams were to play each other for the championship. Coach Fisher was keeping Rabbit Foote behind the plate. Rabbit was doing all right. In the Gophers game he had thrown out two men who might have scored if they had stolen second safely. Coach had had Jody pinch-hit, though, and he had hit safely.
It was Jody’s arm the coach was afraid of. He couldn’t trust Jody to throw that ball hard and straight when he really had to.
The Tigers started things rolling immediately. They began hitting Terry McClane, scoring two runs in the first and then two more in the second. The Dolphins got a run in the bottom of the second to make the score 4-1.
Then Terry bore down. He threw the ball across the corners, and the third inning went by without the Tigers’ scoring.
Johnny blasted a long drive in the bottom of the third and scored on Joe Bell’s single. The Tigers held them from scoring more that inning.
Then, in the top of the fourth, with Tigers on first and second, a terrible thing happened.
Rabbit’s right thumb was split open by a foul tip.
Time was called, and Coach Fisher looked at the thumb. It was a nasty cut.
“Just patch it up, Coach,” Rabbit said. “I can still play.”
“I’ll patch it up,” replied the coach, “but you’re not going to play.” He looked around. His eyes spotted Jody. “Jody, help get those things off Rabbit and put them on yourself. Hurry it up.”
Jody unbuckled the shin guards and buckled them on his own legs. Then Rabbit tossed him the chest protector and the mask.
“Good luck, Jody,” he said.
“Thanks,” said Jody.
Coach Fisher took Rabbit to the dugout, opened the first aid kit, and took care of Rabbit’s thumb. On the field Jody was catching for Terry. He threw the ball twice into the dirt, then tried harder and threw the others perfectly. After eight pitches the umpire called time in, and the game resumed.
“Okay, boys!” the Tigers’ fans began to yell. “Now’s your chance! You can steal this catcher blind! That glass arm of his can’t throw out a turtle!”
“Come on, boy! Come on, Terry! Slam it in here!” Jody rattled on like this. He hoped it would smother those awful things the opponents were yelling about him.
He caught Terry’s first pitch, rising quickly to throw to third if he had to. But the runners remained on their bases.
“Come on! Steal!” someone in the bleachers yelled. “Let’s see you steal on him!”
That voice! It wasn’t the same one that had yelled the first time. That one wasn’t familiar. This one was. It belonged to Mr. Myers. But why should Mr. Myers … ?
The pitch came in. From the corners of his eyes Jody could see the runners take off.
“Throw ’im out, Jody! Throw ’im out!”
Jody pegged the ball hard to third. The ball shot like a white meteor. Duane caught it, pulled it down, and touched the runner sliding in.
“Out!” yelled the base umpire.
The Dolphins’ fans screamed happily.
Jody could hear Mr. Myers laughing in the bleachers.
There was no more base-stealing that inning. And no more runs for the Tigers.
The Dolphins began blasting the ball and put across two runs to tie the score 4-all before the Tigers stopped them.
The Tigers came up in the fifth, the top of their batting order ready to gnaw the Dolphins to bits.
The first man walked, and once again the cry rose for the runner to steal.
“He can’t throw to second! That glass arm broke when he threw to third!”
That was the Tigers’ fan yelling.
“Sure! Try out that arm! See what happens!”
And that was Mr. Myers.
It was like a game those two men had up there in the bleachers, one sitting on the Tigers’ side, the other on the Dolphins’.
The ball came in. The batter shifted his position in the batting box. He was going to bunt.
He met the ball squarely. It struck the ground in front of the plate, hopped twice, and Jody pounced on it. He picked it up, pegged it hard to second. Frank York caught it, stepped on the bag, and whipped the ball to first.
Twice the base umpire jerked up his thumb.
A double play!
“There you are!” yelled Mr. Myers. “There’s your glass arm!”
The Dolphins’ fans cheered, clapped, and stamped their feet on the bleachers’ seats. The Tigers’ fans only stared and shook their heads unbeliev
ingly.
The next batter whiffed.
Jody was first batter for the Dolphins. Loud applause filled the stands as he stepped to the plate. He felt good. Real good.
He took a called strike, then knocked out a clothesline single over first. Roddie bunted him to second. Then Duane socked one into the opposite field for two bases. Jody scored. Terry singled, too. Duane was called out at home after a strong peg from the outfield. Frank popped out, and the inning was over.
The Tigers got men on, but they couldn’t bring them in. The Dolphins won, 5-4.
Coach Fisher and all the rest of the Dolphins team crowded around Jody. They slapped him on the back and shook his hand and all talked at the same time.
When things quieted down a little, the coach said, “Nice game, Jody. You certainly came through when we needed you the most.”
“Thanks, Coach,” said Jody. “How’s Rabbit’s thumb?”
“Oh, it’ll be all right.” The coach grinned. “I patched it up fine.”
Mr. Myers stepped forward and stretched out his hand.
“May I have the honor?” He smiled. “Guess you proved what that arm is really made of, didn’t you, Jody?”
Jody took Mr. Myers’s hand and smiled back. “I guess so, Mr. Myers,” he said.
“It’s iron, Dad,” Moonie said, laughing. “It’s never been glass!”
THE #1 SPORTS SERIES FOR KIDS
MATT CHRISTOPHER®
Read them all!
Baseball Flyhawk Dirt Bike Runaway
Baseball Pals Dive Right In
Baseball Turnaround Double Play at Short
The Basket Counts Face-Off
Body Check Fairway Phenom
Catch That Pass! Football Fugitive
Catcher with a Glass Arm Football Nightmare
Catching Waves The Fox Steals Home
Center Court Sting Goalkeeper in Charge
Centerfield Ballhawk The Great Quarterback Switch
Challenge at Second Base Halfback Attack *
The Comeback Challenge The Hockey Machine
Comeback of the Home Run Kid Ice Magic
Cool as Ice Johnny Long Legs
The Diamond Champs The Kid Who Only Hit Homers
Dirt Bike Racer Lacrosse Face-Off
Lacrosse Firestorm Snowboard Champ
Line Drive to Short ** Snowboard Maverick
Long-Arm Quarterback Snowboard Showdown
Long Shot for Paul Soccer Duel
Look Who’s Playing First Base Soccer Halfback
Miracle at the Plate Soccer Hero
Mountain Bike Mania Soccer Scoop
Nothin’ But Net Stealing Home
Penalty Shot The Submarine Pitch
The Reluctant Pitcher The Team That Couldn’t Lose
Return of the Home Run Kid Tennis Ace
Run For It Tight End
Shoot for the Hoop Top Wing
Shortstop from Tokyo Touchdown for Tommy
Skateboard Renegade Tough to Tackle
Skateboard Tough Wingman on Ice
Slam Dunk The Year Mom Won the Pennant
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Matt Christopher®
Sports Bio Bookshelf
Muhammad Ali Randy Johnson
Lance Armstrong Michael Jordan
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Jeff Gordon Alex Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Jr. Babe Ruth
Mia Hamm Curt Schilling
Tony Hawk Sammy Sosa
Ichiro Tiger Woods
Derek Jeter
Catcher With A Glass Arm
Will one pitch end Jody’s baseball career?
Jody just can’t bring himself to throw hard, so the ball usually falls short of its mark. Taunts of “catcher’s got a glass arm” echo in his ears.Then injury is added to insult when he’s beaned by a wild pitch—and suddenly he’s having trouble hitting as well as throwing. What good is a ballplayer who’s afraid of the ball?
Matt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they’re looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports stories.
For more exciting baseball novels, check out:
For a complete list of all Matt Christopher titles, please turn to the last pages of this book.
* Previously published as Crackerjack Halfback
** Previously published as Pressure Play
Catcher with a Glass Arm Page 5
