Free Comeback of the Home Run Kid by Matt Christopher Page A

Instead, he floundered.
     His coach, Stan Corbin, had no choice but to bench him. Sylvester spent the first few games watching from the dugout and feeling
     like a complete loser.
    Then a man who called himself Cheeko entered the picture. Sylvester believed that Cheeko was Mr. Baruth's friend. So when
     Cheeko gave him some pointers to improve his game, Syl listened. Following that advice, Syl started leaning into pitches to
     get a free trip to first base. He pretended he'd caught fly balls that had really fallen out of his glove. And he “accidentally”
     bumped into opponents as he rounded the bases.
    These tricks did help Syl's stats. But it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Cheeko wasn't teaching Sylvester
     to play better ball. He was teaching him to cheat.
    And there was something more, too. Sylvester had a nagging feeling that Cheeko's help went much further than just advice.
     How else could he explain the weird sensation that he'd gotten an invisible boost in time to make a spectacular top-of-the-fence
     catch? Or that he'd started getting hits again, and always —
always!
— when there were people on base? Much as he wanted to think that he was doing these things himself, he just couldn't. Somehow,
     he believed, Cheeko was helping him.
    The mystery didn't end there. Toward the end of the season, Sylvester made two startling discoveries.
    His friend Duane had a sizable collection of baseball cards. One was of the most famousslugger in the world, George Herman “Babe” Ruth. When Sylvester saw that card, he nearly fainted. The man in the picture looked
     exactly like Mr. Baruth!
    Duane had another card in his collection, this one of southpaw pitcher Eddie Cicotte. Cicotte played for the White Sox in
     1919. That year, the White Sox went to the World Series as the heavy favorites to win. Instead, they lost to the underdog
     Cincinnati Reds, five games to three.
    The reason for the surprising defeat soon came to light. Cicotte and seven of his teammates had lost the World Series on purpose!
     Gamblers had promised to give them a lot of money if they flubbed catches, struck out, and got caught stealing base. Knowing
     that the White Sox were sure to lose, the gamblers bet on the Reds instead — and made a pile of cash when the Reds won.
    People everywhere were outraged whenthey learned that the players had thrown the World Series. Dubbed the Black Sox Scandal, it was the biggest disgrace in baseball
     history. Cicotte and the others were banished from the sport forever. To this day, they are viewed as some of the most dishonest
     players the game has ever seen.
    Sylvester had never heard about Cicotte or the Black Sox Scandal. He was stunned when he saw Cicotte's picture for the first
     time. The corrupt pitcher was the spitting image of Cheeko!
    These discoveries made Syl's imagination go wild. Was it possible that he'd been coached by the ghosts of these two players,
     one famous, one infamous? It seemed too fantastic to believe, and yet, whenever Sylvester looked at pictures of Cicotte and
     Babe Ruth, he couldn't help wondering.
    But one thing was certain: whether Cheeko was really the disgraced Cicotte or not, Sylno longer trusted him. Right before the last game of the season, he told Cheeko he wasn't going to play dirty anymore. That
     very afternoon, Cheeko disappeared, never to be seen again. And that very afternoon, Sylvester stopped hammering in hits and,
     instead, played with the same skill as any other thirteen-year-old kid.
    That game had been weeks ago. Now Sylvester stared up at the man in the Yankees cap sitting next to him. Was yet another mystery
     about to begin — and, if so, how would this one end?
    “Who — who are you?” Sylvester asked. “How did you know my name?”
    The man smiled. “I'm a ballplayer, like you. And I've recovered from my share of injuries, too. In fact —”
    He broke off in mid-sentence. Head cocked to one side, he seemed to be listening to