Baseball Stories (4)

. . . toward the end of a good game gone ugly, he chews confidently and winks at the third base coach as he faces a 2-2 pitch to the heckles of the opposing bench.  A fast ball fouled finds its way to their dugout, careening off all four walls and sending the hecklers to the deck amid the caps and bats and bubble gum wrappers.

"The count is even," declares the umpire.  A vendor makes change for a dollar.  A bachelor decides to ask her to marry.  In his locker, under a towel, rests a long forgotten copy of "The Art of the Foul Ball", with one page missing . . .