Free The Home Run Kid Races On by Matt Christopher Page A

very old, sepia-toned photograph of two baseball players. They wore different
     uniforms but were examining a baseball bat together. Sylvester identified the man on the left immediately: it was Babe Ruth.
     He wasn’t sure who the man on the right was. Then he looked closer and gave a small laugh.
    The second man’s ears stuck out quite prominently on either side of his head. Syl still didn’t know his name—not his real
     name, anyway—but he would have known those ears anywhere. They belonged to Mr. Teacy.
    Syl flipped the photograph over and saw that there was a short message written on it. “To replace the one that was lost,”
     the note read. It wasn’t signed.

Epilogue
    S ylvester Coddmyer III didn’t plan on showing the photograph to anyone. But the day after he stole home, he changed his mind.
    That afternoon, he found a very special book about baseball history at the neighborhood yard sale. The stories were fascinating,
     but the pictures were what really captivated him.
    As he paged through the volume, he saw countless images of Babe Ruth, along with other familiar figures. There was Eddie Cicotte
     standing with “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and the rest of the Black Sox players. Jackie Robinson, the man who broke through baseball’s
     color barrier, had a chapter all to himself, as did the Negro League. A photo of Mickey Mantle made him smile. Sprinkled among
     the biographies and game recaps were graphs comparing stats of one player to another and lists of all sorts, including one
     of the sport’s longtime record holders.
    One name appeared on that list more than once: Ty Cobb. Sylvester was interested to see that, among other things, Cobb had
     stolen home more often than any other professional player—over thirty-five times.
    Intrigued, Sylvester flipped to the index to see if the book had more entries about Cobb. He found one labeled “Cobb versus
     Ruth.” He turned to that page.
    “No way!” he breathed. There, right smack in the middle of the text, was a copy of his photograph!
    “Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth with bat,” the photo’s caption read. Syl stared at it for a long time and then shivered.
    Ty Cobb. T. C.
Teacy!
    Just to be sure, he scanned the blurb on Ty Cobb, looking for similarities between the long-dead ballplayer and the man he
     knew as Mr. Teacy. They leaped out at him one after another.
    “Known for his bunting.”
Check,
Syl thought.
    “Top batting average of all time.” Syl remembered Mr. Teacy’s insistence that hits were better than homers because they helped
     batting averages.
Check again,
he thought.
    “From Georgia. Hated for spiking basemen during slides.”
Check and check,
Syl thought as he recalled the man’s slight accent, as well as his spike-high slides.
    He closed the book then. He didn’t need any more convincing that Mr. Teacy and Ty Cobb were one and the same person.
    “Who’d ever believe me, though?” he said to himself. He knew the answer, of course. And as if he’d conjured up the person
     just by thinking about him, the boy suddenly popped up from behind a table laden with glassware.
    Sylvester grinned. Tucking his new book under his arm, he called out, “Hey! Snooky! Wait up! I’ve got something to tell you
     that I just know you’re going to want to hear!”

THE #1 SPORTS SERIES FOR KIDS
MATT CHRISTOPHER ®
    Read them all!
Baseball Flyhawk
Dive Right In
Baseball Turnaround
Double Play at Short
The Basket Counts
Face-Off
Body Check
Fairway Phenom
Catch That Pass!
Football Double Threat
Catcher with a Glass Arm
Football Fugitive
Catching Waves
Football Nightmare
Center Court Sting
The Fox Steals Home
Centerfield Ballhawk
Goalkeeper in Charge
Challenge at Second Base
The Great Quarterback Switch
The Comeback Challenge
Halfback Attack *
Comeback of the Home Run Kid
The Hockey Machine
Cool as Ice
Hot Shot
The Diamond Champs
Ice Magic
Dirt Bike Racer
Johnny Long Legs
Dirt Bike Runaway
Karate Kick
The Kid Who Only Hit Homers
Slam Dunk
Lacrosse