[legendsport]

Washington, DC: April 30, 1920:

Danny Barrell was miserable. Not only was he not in uniform to watch his team mates take on Bartonsville, but his father was sitting next to him as they prepared to watch the game. And Rufus was in "scouting" mode, so he wasn't even fit for conversation. Not to mention that Emily Talbot, the cute new girl whose father was an attache or something at the British Embassy... was selling peanuts at the entrance to the grandstand. Maybe he'd go talk to her (Danny loved her accent).

He thought of Claudia and frowned. He really liked her, but also knew there were three big obstacles in his way: first, she was older and saw him as just a kid (which if was being honest with himself, he was); second, she still grieved for Jimmy and third: the baby. Since the baby came she had little time for Danny - or anything/anyone else. He was jealous of a baby for crying out loud. So he had considered the state of his life and decided that aside from the decathlon (which was going well), his life was one giant ball of frustration. He sighed.

"Hey Pop, I'm going to get some peanuts," Danny told his father and stood up. Rufus grunted in reply, completely focused on the field despite the fact that the game hadn't even started. Danny didn't see how, but Rufus claimed he could rate ballplayers just by watching how they warmed up.

Danny frowned and looked out at the field, trying to discern what - or rather who - had caught his father's attention.

"Hey kid, sit down or get out of the way," the guy in the row behind them snarled. Danny tried to give him the glare he'd seen his mother use many times; this guy was apparently immune and just raised his eyebrows in response.

He wanted to snarl something about how the game hadn't even started but instead, Danny sat back down next to his father. Rufus was rubbing his chin with his left hand and tapping a pen on his leg with his right.

"Who's got you so excited?" Danny asked bitterly.

Rufus grunted again, but at least he stopped rubbing his chin. His lips twisted and without taking his eyes off the field, he asked Danny, "How much do you know about this other team?"

Danny shrugged. "Not much," he said, "I hear they're good..." and then trailed off as he remembered something Coach Beckmann had told them about the first baseman on the other team. "Of course," he thought, "that's what Pop sees." He found himself both impressed and aggravated by this.

Rufus looked at him sharply before prompting, "And...?"

"And... they have some kid that coach was saying we had to watch out for. That's who you're looking at, right?"

Rufus shook his head. "I don't know. This kid have a name?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah... let me think." In his bitterness about not playing he'd forgotten it. After all, why should he care?

Rufus sighed and shook his head in frustration. "I could ask someone else..." he muttered.

"No... I know it..." Danny's face scrunched up in thought. "Johnson? ... no... uh... Jameson. Yeah, Bernard Jameson..." he said doubtfully and punctuated it with, "At least I think that's it."

Rufus sighed and shook his head again. "Jameson?" And he stood up, and leaned over the railing.

Danny sunk down in his seat, expecting his father was about to embarrass him. Which of course he did.

"Coach!" Rufus shouted out across the field.

Every face in the tiny, but full Capital Academy ballpark turned to look at Rufus. The man he was shouting at, the Bartonsville coach, narrowed his eyes, blinked in apparent surprise, and then trotted over.

"Rufus Barrell? Is that you?" he asked as he came closer.

Rufus grinned and stuck his hand out, saying, "Holy smokes, Lew Daniels! How are you?"

Danny should have known - his father knew literally everybody in baseball. Danny had no clue who this guy was, but apparently he must have been an old ballplayer.

Daniel gripped Rufus' hand and the two had a good handshake. Then Rufus pointed to Danny and said, "Lew, this is my boy, Dan. He's a freshman at Capital, so you'll be seeing him next season."

Daniel shook Danny's hand and said, "How are you, Dan? Take it easy on us down the road, hey?"

Danny smiled and nodded.

Rufus and Daniel chatted for a few minutes with Danny only half-listening - apparently they'd played each other back in his dad's days with the Sycamores.

Then Rufus got down to business. "So... Lew, I know you know I'm in the scouting business... That kid behind first base? What's his story?"

Lew got a conspiratorial gleam in his eye and peered across the diamond to where the player in question was playing catch with one of his team mates.

"Oh, yeah - that's Jameson. Talented kid - you've still got the eye, Rufus."

Rufus nodded his thanks. "How old is he?"

"He's sixteen, a sophomore. But he's already the best player on the team."

Rufus nodded in appreciation. "He looks like a ballplayer, that's for sure."

"Well, he's not all that big, maybe 5'8 or so, but I expect he'll grow a bit more. His brother played for me a few years back - nowhere near as good as Buddy is, mind you. He turned out to be about 5'10, so figure the kid will be somewhere in that general vicinity."

"Buddy?" Dan blurted. "I thought his name was Bernard."

Lew laughed and said, "Oh, it is. He wants everyone to call him Bud - which no one does. Our seniors played with his brother who called him Buddy, so that's what they do too. He's got kind of a chip on his shoulder about it to be honest. I told him to take it out on the opposition and not his team mates."

Daniel continued, "He's hitting third for me. The kid think he's Max Morris... which I'm trying to put a stop to... but he can hit the ball a long way."

Rufus had his notebook out and was writing. "Buddy Jameson... I'll need to keep an eye on this kid," he thought as he wrote down the name and underlined it.

Lew raised his eyebrows, "So, the OSA is gonna have a report on my first baseman, Rufus?"

Rufus chuckled and said, "I expect it will, Lew, I expect it will."

Daniels laughed and said, "I better not tell him that just yet. He already thinks he's better than he is." Then his face turned serious and he added, "But I think as long as I ride his butt, he'll turn into a likely big leaguer."

Danny sighed and wished he was out there on the field. He'd show that Jameson kid how it's done.