Me, Mop, and the Moondance Kid

  “Moondance, come over here,” she said.

  Moondance went over to where the coach was kneeling.

  “This is your pitching position,” Maria said. “Mop, get down there to where Peaches is standing. That's home plate.”

  “Go on,” Sister Carmelita said. “Warm up.”

  Moondance looked at me. I shrugged. I didn't know what was going on either.

  He threw the ball a few times to Mop. Nothing special. He was too busy looking around the old store. There were racks and counters, and even an old cash register with the drawers open.

  “You can throw harder than that, Moondance,” Maria said.

  Zip¡ Whick.

  Zip¡ Whick.

  Zip. Whick.

  That's how it sounded. Moondance kept looking around the store. I guess he was wondering why we were practicing in there instead of in the park. I know I was.

  Zip. Whick.

  “This here is where I stay sometime when it be raining out,” Peaches said.

  Zip. Whick.

  Zip. Whick.

  The ball went straight over the plate into Mop's glove.

  “How's he doing, Mop?” Maria asked.

  “Pretty good,” Mop said.

  “You think he's ready for Babe Ruth yet?” Peaches asked.

  “I think so,” Maria said.

  Peaches went behind one of the counters and came out with a dummy. It was the kind of dummy you see modeling clothes. Only Peaches had him dressed up in a baseball uniform and had a bat taped to his arms so he looked as if he could be batting.

  “Must be an Eagle.” Mop rubbed her nose with the palm of her hand. “He sure looks dumb.”

  “Let's see you pitch to him,” Maria said to Moondance.

  “If he gets a hit, you're off the team,” Mop said.

  Moondance was smiling. He wound up and threw the ball.

  Zip¡ Right across the floor of the department store. It had to be a mile outside.

  “Okay/’ Maria said. “You don't want to hit the dummy. But you know you can't hurt him so we're going to keep practicing until you can throw the ball closer.”

  Moondance threw the ball again, but he was still outside with the pitch.

  “Slow it down a little,” Peaches said.

  Moondance threw the ball slower and it went over.

  “There you go!”

  He kept pitching, each time throwing just a little harder. The ball was still going outside a lot, but he was coming closer.

  “Aw, you can't pitch!” Sister Carmelita called out.

  Moondance looked over at her.

  “Ignore the crowd, Moondance,” Maria said. “Just concentrate on your pitching.”

  Zip¡ Whack¡ Right over¡

  “It looked like a ball to me!” Sister Carmelita had her hands cupped around her mouth and sounded as if she were a long way away.

  Moondance smiled.

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  “Just think about Mop's glove,” Maria said.

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  “Think about Mop's hand too,” Mop said.

  “You okay, baby?” Maria put her hand up to stop Moondance from throwing the ball.

  “You kidding me?” Mop said. “I don't hurt that easy, and I ain't your baby!”

  Maria took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Then told Moondance to pitch again.

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  Then there was another noise. It sounded like something banging on the ground. I looked at Maria.

  “I don't hear anything!” Sister Carmelita said. She put both hands over her ears.

  “Pitch, Moondance.” Maria folded her arms and watched my brother.

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  Then there was the other sound again. There was the banging and then a soft little noise. When we heard that soft noise, something between a bark and a moo, we knew what it was.

  I looked over at Maria and she looked up at the ceiling. I looked over at Peaches and he pointed behind a counter at the back of the store.

  Mop got there first and by the time Moondance and I reached the counter, she had both of her arms around Taffy's neck. She was tied to a small pipe and there was a bowl of vegetables near her. Taffy was humming.

  “How long has she been here?” Moondance asked.

  “That's not the question,” Peaches asked. “The question is, what are we going to do with her?”

  “We'll think of something,” Maria said. “Now we have to get back to our practice. That is, if anyone here is interested in beating the Eagles this Friday.”

  The rest of the practice went okay. Sometimes Moon-dance would pitch outside, but he got a lot more of the balls over the plate. He looked like he was going to be okay.

  he play-offs¡ It was us against the Eagles. Whoever won two out of the three games would be the champions of the league.

  The first game was on a Friday, and it was one of those just perfect days. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Dad came home early to watch the game. I wasn't too happy about that, but I guess it was okay. Moondance pitched.

  The whole game was like a dream. The Eagles were up first and they didn't score. Then we got up and we didn't score. That was the way the game went for four innings. Then, in the fifth inning, they got two hits in a row. One guy got a single and Rocky hit the ball against the fence. They scored one run and then their next batter struck out. The score was 1 to 0.

  Taisha was on the sideline biting her nails. She was too nervous to cheer.

  In our half of the fifth inning we didn't score.

  In the sixth inning they got their first two batters on base. Then they tried a double steal and Mop threw out the guy going to second. The next guy popped up to Evans on first, and the last guy struck out.

  We got up in the bottom of the sixth. Their best pitcher, David Babar, was pitching. Joey DeLea got a single. Then Frank struck out, and Mop grounded out to first base. Joey DeLea went to second on Mop's ground-out and it was all up to Brian. He hit the first ball as hard as he could and the ball went flying toward the outfield.

  Their center fielder kept backing up and backing up. Then, at the last minute, he jumped and caught the ball. Brian was already past second base, but it was no use. It was the third out. We had lost the game.

  Miserable. That's how everybody felt. Moondance had pitched well. We had only given up one run. One run, and we had still lost.

  We were supposed to play the next game Saturday, but it rained for three days straight. Then the game was canceled the next day because the field was too muddy.

  When we did play, Maria had Brian pitching.

  We got up first and Joey DeLea hit the first ball into center field for a base hit. Then Frank walked and Mop struck out. Brian struck out, too, and all the Eagles were glad to see that. Mike missed the first two pitches and the next pitch hit him. He went to first base and the bases were loaded. But Chrissie was up.

  The Eagles’ third-base guy moved in and Rocky moved in from first base.

  “Let her hit it!” Mr. Treaster was calling.

  The first pitch was high, but the umpire called it a strike anyway. Maria kicked some dirt with her foot.

  The next pitch was high, too, but Chrissie swung and knocked it over the second baseman's head into center field¡ Joey and Frank both scored. It was the first time that Chrissie had ever got a swinging hit.

  Her brothers were going crazy on the sidelines and all the Elks were screaming.

  Moondance made the last out. Their pitcher made a good play and stopped a hard ground ball. But that was okay, we had scored two runs¡

  We stayed two runs ahead until the third inning. In the third inning Rocky hit a ball that went over the right-field fence. It was 2 to 1.

  In the fifth inning Brian walked a batter and then Rocky hit the next pitch over the center-field fence and the score was 3 to 2, their favor.

  They all gave Rocky high-fives when
he went into their dugout and they thought they had the game won. So did we.

  In the sixth inning Frank was up first and was thrown out at first. Then Mop got a single and Brian came up. Their outfielders started backing up and I was just hoping that Brian would smack one. I thought he would. I could almost feel it.

  Maria called time out and went and talked to Brian.

  Brian nodded and went up to the plate. He put the bat between his legs and spit on his hands. Man, he looked so good it was wonderful. Then the pitcher threw the ball and Brian bunted. When the bat hit the ball, the first thing the third baseman did was to back up, that's how sure he was that Brian was going to smash that ball. By the time he saw it was a bunt, Brian was on first base and Mop was on second.

  “I don't believe it¡ I don't believe it!” Mr. Treaster was screaming at the top of his lungs. “She has the best hitter on the team bunting!”

  He started laughing and the Eagles started shaking their heads as if it was some kind of a big joke or something. Mike was due up next, but Maria put in Jennifer to bat for him. Mr. Treaster was really laughing and all the Eagles were pointing at Jennifer.

  Maria called Jennifer over to the batting cage.

  “This pitcher throws the ball high,” Maria said. “He doesn't throw very hard, either. Just meet the ball with the bat.”

  “If she hits it, she's too fat to run!” Rocky called out from first base.

  I felt like running over and punching him in the face.

  The first pitch was over and Jennifer didn't swing.

  “Strike one!”

  Maria wiped her hands on her pants. She was nervous too.

  The next pitch was over.

  “Strike two!”

  Jennifer turned and looked at the umpire.

  “She don't wanna swing!” Mr. Treaster called down to Jennifer.

  The next pitch was high and Jennifer swung. The ball went out toward center field. The second baseman ran out and the center fielder ran in. The ball dropped right between them.

  Mop scored easily. Brian came around third base just as the center fielder got the ball. The center fielder threw the ball to the second baseman and the second baseman threw a bullet right to their catcher. Brian and the ball reached the catcher at the same time. No contest. Brian knocked the catcher down and we were ahead.

  We didn't score any more runs. We were ahead 4 to 3.

  Their first batter hit a soft grounder to Evans. He took the ball and stepped on first. One out.

  The second batter hit a ground ball to Brian. Brian threw the ball to Evans at first. Two outs.

  The next two batters walked. Then Brian hit the next guy with a pitch. The bases were loaded and guess who was at bat?

  Maria called time out and switched me and Jennifer. I was going to play right field and Jennifer was coming in to play third base.

  “They won't have him bunting, I'm sure,” Maria said.

  From where I stood in the outfield, home plate seemed a thousand miles away. I watched as Brian wound up and started to pitch.

  Crack¡

  Rocky hit a high fly ball. I could tell it was coming toward me. All of a sudden I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. The ball came down so slowly. I backed up a little.

  I don't pray to God to catch a ball or anything like that. They say that you shouldn't pray for little things like catching a ball. You shouldn't.

  I kept backing up.

  The ball got faster as it came down. And faster. And faster. And all of a sudden it was dropping in front of me. I reached out at the last minute and felt it hit my glove.

  Then I looked on the ground for the ball and I didn't see it. I turned and looked behind me, but it wasn't there either. I lifted my hands and there, in the webbing of my glove, was the ball. I had caught it¡ I had caught it¡

  The whole team jumped on me. They were screaming in my ears. Maria was banging me on the back and Jennifer was shaking me. Brian had his arm around my neck so hard, I could hardly breathe, but it didn't matter. I had caught the ball¡ The Elks had won¡

  e were really up when we took the field for practice the next day. Some of the Eagles came around and watched us and made a lot of stupid comments. But they weren't that stupid anymore, because we had finally won a game from them.

  When we were finished, the Eagles took the field. I watched them for a while and saw that they could do two things really good. They could catch good and they could curse good.

  The Eagles cursed more than any team in the league. But the funny thing was that the cursing seemed to help them win games. Everybody was a little afraid of them. They seemed older than the rest of us.

  Mr. Treaster was good at yelling. He yelled at everybody on his team except Rocky. I guess you didn't fool around on Mr. Treaster's team.

  When we were leaving the field, Mr. Treaster came over and asked Maria who was pitching in the final game.

  “Williams,” she said. “Number Twenty-one.”

  “Yeah, I saw him in the first game,” Mr. Treaster said. “That's quite a combination, that Williams boy and your little girl catcher.”

  “We hope so,” Maria said, and walked away from him.

  I liked that. The way she spoke to him and then just walked away like it didn't mean a lot when it really did.

  After everyone had gone home, Maria took me, Moon-dance, and Mop back to the old department store. Moon-dance practiced pitching against that dummy again.

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  Zip¡ Whack¡

  The ball flew over the plate, just inches from the dummy. I looked over at Maria and she looked at me and smiled. Moondance was good. Real good.

  The last game. Whoever won would be the league champion. Moondance was going to pitch and everybody was nervous. Fifteen minutes before game time and Lo Vinh hadn't shown up, Evans hadn't shown up, and Chrissie's mom had called Maria and said that she was sick and wouldn't be coming to the game.

  Everybody else came, though. I mean everybody else in the entire world. Sister Marianne brought some of the kids from the Academy, the ones that hadn't gone out to Riverhead yet. Peaches and Miss Sally brought some of their friends, and some guy came from the mayor's office. That was lucky for us because Mr. Treaster wanted the game forfeited when we didn't have enough players at game time.

  Brian's mother had brought a cooler full of lemonade, but Maria said that we weren't to have any before the third inning.

  “I want you all to drink plenty of water before the game,” she said.

  We weren't that thirsty, but all of us had to go to the bathroom. Even Taisha.

  The guy from the mayor's office said that the mayor would show up any moment and not to start the game before he got there.

  “You are playing in a city park,” the guy said.

  Treaster smiled but he wasn't happy. The mayor showed up just when Evans did. And by the time a woman from the Journal had taken pictures of the mayor and everything, Lo Vinh had shown up and Chrissie, too. Her mother said that she had been so nervous before the game that she had thrown up. I can't even imagine Chrissie being nervous.

  The Eagles were up first and Moondance threw strikes right past them. One—two—three.

  The Elks were cheering like crazy. I looked at Maria and she was smiling away. I looked over at Mr. Treaster. He wasn't standing in front of the Eagles’ dugout the way he usually did. He was standing to one side talking to a guy in a suit.

  The bottom half of the first inning and Joey, Frank, and Mop all made outs in the same way, ground balls back to the pitcher. Now the Eagles were cheering. Maria still looked like she thought we were going to win and Mr. Treaster was still standing off to one side talking to the guy in the suit.

  The Eagles got up in the second inning and Rocky got a double, but the next three guys made outs.

  When we took the field, the mayor came out and said how wonderful it was that we were all playing baseball and that the Little League was making America great. He didn't
say how it was making America great, just that it was. Then he left. That's when the trouble started.

  Moondance made the first pitch. It was a strike. Then the guy in the suit came over and spoke to the umpire behind the plate. He was pointing at Mop. Maria went over to see what was going on. The umpire behind the plate shrugged and came over to the umpire who was on third base. That's how I heard what they were talking about.

  “This guy's from the Children's Welfare Association,” the home plate umpire was saying. “He says that they shouldn't have a girl catching.”

  “And just why not?” Maria asked.

  “Because her body weight might not be able to take the heat of the day and the heat generated by the catcher's equipment,” the guy said. “He thinks that it's wrong for anyone to have a young girl catching on a day like this.”

  Maria's lips were moving, but nothing came out.

  “I can catch!” Mop said.

  “What do you say?” Maria asked the umpire.

  “There's nothing in Little League rules that make differences between boys and girls,” the umpire said. “So I guess it's up to you.”

  Maria looked at Mr. Treaster and then at Mop. She called Evans over from first base and Frank in from the outfield.

  She told Evans to catch, put Frank on first, and Mop in the outfield. Mop was mad and started to argue with Maria.

  “Either play where you're told or I'll bring in another player,” Maria said.

  Maria turned on her heel and started back to the dugout.

  “I thought she liked me.” Mop was pounding her fist into her old fielder's glove.

  “I think she does,” I said.

  “She sure has a funny way of showing it,” Brian said.

  You could smell trouble.

  Moondance pitched again to the first guy. He popped up and Brian caught it. The next guy walked. Then he stole second when Evans missed Moondance's pitch.

  “Throw the ball straight!” Evans chirped from behind the catcher's mask.

  The ball had been straight, but Evans had just missed it.

  The batter struck out, but not before the runner stole third. He scored on a groundout. The next guy struck out. We were behind by one run.