Return of the Home Run Kid by Matt Christopher Read Free Book Online Page B

in their usual spot, applauding loudly with the others. His heart throbbed with such pride, he thought it would burst.
    As he trotted around first base, he heard Russ Skelton, the shortstop, sneer. “Lucky break, Coddmyer. He threw ya’ a meatball!”
    Meatball, huh? Sylvester wasn’t about to let him get away with that. On his way around the infield, he made a big loop and managed to give that loudmouth a nasty jab in the ribs in passing. Act tough, right? Isn’t that what Cheeko would have done?
    “Oof!” he heard Russ groan at the surprise poke. Sylvester just smiled and continued merrily on his way around third and then home.
    Hooper Redbirds 5, Lansing Wildcats 4.

9
    S ylvester could hardly believe the shouting, the cheers, the jostling, as the fans came streaming down onto the field.
    “Syl! You were fabulous!” Joyce cried as she threw her arms around him. “But what happened with Russ out there?”
    Oh, she noticed, he thought. So what? You have to be aggressive. That’s what he’d learned from Cheeko.
    Before he could explain all that, she got swept off in the crowd and was pointing him out to a bunch of her girlfriends.
    Even some Wildcats fans were coming down to shake his hand. It was like a dream, a wonderful dream that had happened before, thanks to Mr. Baruth, and now was happening again thanks to someone else.
    And there he was. Cheeko appeared out of the blue and stood next to him, grinning from ear to ear, holding out his hand for a high five.
    “Nice, that last one, really nice,” Cheeko said. “You’re coming along great, kid.”
    “I owe it to you, Cheeko,” said Sylvester, slapping his outstretched palm. “Every hit of it. I sure forgot everything I learned last year, but you brought it all back and then some. You showed me how to field, how to hit again, and …”
    “Hey, you’re the guy who does the work,” Cheeko cut in. “And I like the way you got that shortstop.” He chuckled softly. “You’re learning. Look, I gotta run. Don’t forget our practice session tomorrow morning. Same place as usual, okay?”
    Sylvester quickly nodded as Cheeko started to leave.
    He watched Cheeko thread his way through the crowd. Suddenly he remembered something and yelled after him. “Cheeko! Wait a sec!”
    But his voice was drowned out by the noise all around him. Anyway, Cheeko was gone. Just like that he seemed to have vanished.
    Sylvester felt the disappointment deep in the pit of his stomach. He was anxious for his parents to meet Cheeko. It would mean a lot to him if they could get to know the one who had worked with him and shown him the
real
ins and outs of baseball.
    Even as he was thinking about them, his mother and father got through the crowd and embraced him. They were so excited, he couldn’t tell whether they were flushed or they’d been crying. It almost brought tears to his own eyes, but he bit his lip and hugged them back.
    “Rats, I wanted you to meet him,” Sylvester said, “but he’s gone now.”
    “Meet who?” Mr. Coddmyer asked. “The coach? We’ve met him lots of times.”
    “No, Cheeko,” said Sylvester. “He was here, but he had to leave.”
    “Another elusive mentor,” said Mrs. Coddmyer. “Maybe some other time, when it’s not so crowded.”
    “Yeah, okay,” said Sylvester lamely.
    “Sylvester?”
    He turned. There stood Snooky, holding out his hand.
    “I’m not angry even though you were kind of mean to me,” said Snooky. “And I want to congratulate you. You came through in a pinch. You did really great. No matter what’s going on, I have to say that I admire you.”
    “Thanks, Snooky,” Sylvester said, slapping the little guy’s outstretched palm. “Hey, listen, I gotta go. See you around.”
    Snooky tugged at Sylvester’s uniform shirt. “One more thing I noticed,” he went on. “I saw you poke Skelton as you went by him. Isn’t that kinda dirty playing?”
    Sylvester thought for a quick moment, then looked him in the eyes