For Love of the Game Read Online Free

the game, and Pop loved the game, and I loved it so … and every year, the Old Man did the best he could … in the office, the round, frowning face: “Billy, kid, this is the best I can do. But you are the best no matter what I do. But I can’t do better. But if this
bothers you
, Billy, if it ain’t enough, you tell me, and I’ll try, so help me, I’ll borrow someplace. Billy, what do you want?”
    The Old Man is gone.
    What do you want?
    Knew this day would come.
    Did you?
    Yep. But. Well.
    It’s come.
    Yep.
    Chapel had seen this coming, knew it was coming, and had planned nothing, nothing at all.
    Ross was watching. No questions. He turned to Gus, eyed, calculated.
    “You Gus Osinski, right? The catcher?”
    “Yep.”
    “You’re hitting, ah.” Ross put a finger to hisnose, a famous position of mind packed with filed numbers. “You’re hitting right now … 206. Am I right?”
    Gus grunted. “Close enough.”
    Ross smiled, blinked, his mind moving along, rounding bends, from Gus to Billy and back. Ross said: “You know the point, Gus. They’ll say to the home fans he’s over the hill. Look at the record this last year.…”
    “Look at the club behind him. Look at
that
batting average. That bunch can’t hit as good as
me
.”
    “I know. But the records, the numbers … and his
name
. Seventeen years with the same club. The novelty of it. To have Billy Chapel on the mound for … 
them
, whoever the hell they are, maybe LA, maybe the Giants. They’ll pack ’em in out there for a while, just to see him, root for him. Even if only a few innings at a time.… Even if only in relief.…”
    “Billy? In relief? Ha. Not him. Never.
Never
.”
    “He won’t go. You don’t think so.” Ross turned back to Chapel. Billy sat there, no expression at all, drinking coffee. Ross came forward, stood in front of him. His speech was faster now, more intense: he was getting to the point.
    “Billy, I came here because I thought I owed it to you. Now, I
do
”—he put out both hands—“I know that in ways you never will. So. I thought I could let you know this thing in private, away from the crowd, the way they’ve done it so often. I didn’twant to see you, Billy, with them asking all those questions in public. So.” Pause. “I came up as fast as I could.” Pause. “And now you know the facts. You know what they want to do. But, Billy … I have a
hunch
.” He cocked a finger, like a man about to pull the trigger on an invisible gun. He smiled a strange, soft smile. “Billy Boy, Chappie, you’re the best I ever saw. I don’t say this for publicity. No cameras watching. But I want you to know what I think. After seventeen years … Billy, you’re the best.” Pause. He had said something that to him was very important and very unusual. Then his face recovered, and there came back that crafty natural grin. “So. You are the best. And when a man like you is truly the best and knows it, like Ted Williams knew it, and DiMaggio, and a few of the golden boys, there comes that special
pride
.” Pause. Smile. “I think I’ve got you figured, Billy, but … who knows? Still … I’ve got this guess. You have been traded to another team after seventeen years with the Hawks … one place, one home, and now they’ve let you go; no, they’ve thrown you away. They do that to all the big boys sooner or later. Hell, they did it to Babe Ruth, to make money, and he went, and Willie Mays, and Maury Wills. And most of them … they go on playing. But, Billy”—he leaned forward now, face coming in closer to Billy’s face, eyes there boring into Billy’s eyes—“with you, Billy, I think it could be different. Some of the guys didn’t go. Therewere guys like Williams, and Joltin’ Joe. They had the pride. When they were done,
they were done
. Isn’t that so? You know it like I do, yes you do, Billy, you know the pride. When they were done, when there was the first flaw, when the leg