“Dick Merriwell’s Base Running"

          Tip Top Weekly features “Dick Merriwell’s "Base Running: The Man with the Icy Hand.” The story begins by introducing Abe and Captain Wiley, who are long-time friends of main character, Dick Merriwell. Abe and Captain Wiley are eating lunch together when a stranger approaches their table and starts asking questions about Wiley. The stranger, who is referred to as Mr. Callgaul, notices that Wiley is a baseball player, even though Wiley has never played the game in his life. Abe is intimidated by Mr. Callgaul because he has been watching him throughout the meal, and feels that Mr. Callgaul is after him. Once Abe and Wiley finish lunch, Wiley leaves Abe outside the restaurant to grab tobacco for his pipe. Once Wiley leaves Abe alone, two strangers kidnap Abe. When Wiley realizes Abe has been kidnapped, he immediately finds Frank Merriwell, Dick’s brother, who is a detective and a friend of Wiley’s. The story follows the kidnappers, Sam and Bill, as they bring Abe to a man named Mr. Jarvis. Mr. Jarvis gives the Sam and Bill fifty dollars for their work and they go off to a saloon to have some drinks. While in the saloon, the men begin to complain about the lack of money they received, and come up with a plan to get more from Mr. Jarvis. Meanwhile, Frank has been scheming with a private detective and the police, and knows where Abe has been taken, as well as where Sam and Bill currently are. Just before Sam and Bill leave for Mr. Javis’ house, Sam goes off to the bathroom where Frank assault him and steals his clothes to wear as a costume. Frank returns to Bill and the two go off to get money back from Mr. Jarvis. While confronting Mr. Jarvis, Frank suddenly removes his costume and assaults Bill. The police enter the house as they safely secure Abe; however, Mr. Jarvis is able to escape the raid.

          A few weeks later, Abe and Wiley are aboard a train headed for Fardale to see their friend Dick Merriwell play in a baseball game against Franklin. While on the train, the two overhear members of Franklin’s baseball team talking among themselves about the game they are about to participate in. Wiley hears one of the players say, “Even the umpire will be with us; but keep it quiet, keep it quiet” as well as, “…we even know Merriwell’s system of signals from the box!” Franklin arrives to Fardale and both teams begin to warm up. Just before the game begins, Wiley and Abe go into Fardale’s dugout and take a seat to watch the game. With Dick Merriwell on the mound, players at their positions, and leadoff hitter in the box, the umpire yells, “Play ball!” Dick starts by throwing a riser, also known as a fastball, and it is immediately hit into left-field gap. Dustan, the lead-off hitter for Franklin, starts the game with a leadoff double. The second hitter also hits the first pitch from dick for a single, and Franklin immediately is on the board with a one-to-nothing lead. Wiley recognizing that the Franklin hitters know Dick’s signs to the catcher, yells to Dick, “They know the signals!” As a result, Dick tells the catcher to give the signs of what pitch to throw, which significantly works as Franklin’s next three batters get out without hitting the ball once. In the top of the third inning, Franklin gets the bases loaded. With three balls on the batter, Dick throws a sure strike, but the umpire calls it a ball and Franklin scores again. Again, Wiley sees what is going on and tells Dick that the umpire has been on Franklin’s side from the beginning. After a long argument with the Franklin coach, the two decide to have one player from each team that is not playing to umpire the game.

         As the game proceeds, Fardale is losing three-to-one after 5 innings. With runners on first and third, Fardale runs a suicide squeeze successfully, putting Fardale within one run. Four innings later, Fradale is still down by one run going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Dick Merriwell leads off the inning with a base hit by tricking the fielders with a bunt down the third baseline. With no outs, Dick then steals both second and third base easily. On the next pitch, Dick takes a large lead off third. When the catcher throws the ball back to the Franklin pitcher, Dick suddenly takes off for home. After being surprised at Dick’s move, the pitcher fumbles the ball and delivers a bad throw to the catcher, allowing Dick to score the tying run. The very next batter for Fardale hits a homerun on the first pitch ending the game. Fardale leaves the field victorious with the help of Captain Wiley’s information as well as Dick Merriwell’s heroism on the field.
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