I love old books, and I love baseball, so you’d think I’d love this book! Don’t worry, I was fooled too! The idea behind it is great, and the baseball action is really cool—the book does a neat job capturing the excitement behind a pennant race in the final weeks of a baseball season. However, it completely falls apart at the end, owing to a hero who’s an idiot and an absurd moral principle not found anywhere in the Bible—
But, I’m getting ahead of things here. This is the eighth book in the Chip Hilton Sports Series, tales of a young athlete whose a star at baseball and football apparently. In this story, Hilton is at a baseball tournament in the town of Parkville, hosted by Eddie Duer, manager of the Parkville Bears, a fictional team in the fictional Midwestern League (which seems to be about the AAA level). While in Parkville, he meets Scissors Kildane, the flamethrowing lefty sensation who’s expected to be the greatest pitcher since Bob Feller (still active in 1952, the year this book came out). Scissors invites Chip and some of his friends to appear on a TV program, much to Chip’s delight. Kildane’s a nice guy, and the two become friends. Hilton’s team wins the tournament, and Chip is named MVP. In return for this, Eddie Duer offers him the prize of getting to spend the rest of the season following the Parkville Bears around, practicing with the team and watching them from the dugout. Naturally, Chip accepts.
However, Hilton also catches the eye of Gabby Breen, an egotistical, unscrupulous scout for the rival Hedgetown Mules who’s only looking out for himself. Breen is friends with Corky Squill, the second baseman for Parkville, and asks Squill to introduce Hilton to him so Breen can make a play on signing Chip out of high school. Breen promises Squill a bonus if Chip signs. Hilton had actually already drawn interest from another scout, Stu Gardner, but when Gardner heard that Chip wanted to go to college and get an education, he backed off from pursuing him, promising not to offer him a contract again until after Hilton graduated. After all, an education will stick around long after a career comes to an end.
Gabby Breen has no such scruples, though—and so, after getting introduced to Chip, he gives the youngster a ride home, then tries to sign him to a contract. This is not merely an unprincipled move by Breen—Gabby resorts to dishonesty, telling Chip that even if he accepts money, he can still pitch for an amateur college team (a two-faced lie). Chip nearly takes him up on the offer but winds up turning him down, determined not to let anything get in the way of his dreams for an education. This, of course, means Squill won’t get his bonus, and Squill becomes furious at Chip. He starts being rude to Chip at every Parkville practice and refers to him in the presence of everybody as a “dugout jinx”—meaning that having people who are not members of the team in the dugout will bring the Bears bad luck.
Breen, meanwhile, has other schemes up his sleeve. The Mules have been in a losing streak lately, and Breen is considered a prime candidate for the manager position. After the Mules drop yet another game to the Panthers, Breen is hired to take over for Boots Rines as Hedgetown’s manager. He tells Squill that Hoot Kearns, the owner, is interested in acquiring the second baseman next season. All Squill needs to do is change his style of play a bit, start yelling a lot and moving around nervously on the diamond, as Kearns is looking for a holler guy. Squill, mad at Chip Hilton and annoyed at his manager for letting the kid stick around, decides to do just that—
And things go terribly wrong for the Parkville Bears. They play Hedgetown in Breen’s first series as manager, and they lose every game—pretty horribly. Each Hedgetown hitter seems to know somehow what pitch is coming—they have no trouble with any of Parkville’s pitchers, even Scissors Kildane, the ace of the staff. With nothing they try suddenly working against Hedgetown, the Bears begin to wonder if someone for the other team is stealing their signs.
This is where what has been an excellent story up until this point goes down the drain. Chip Hilton is sure that there must be a reason for Parkville’s sudden struggles, and he studies the team closely. If nothing else, he’s observant, and he figures out what’s causing the problem. He informs the team he knows the answer, but refuses to tell them what (or who) is responsible, saying simply, “I don’t play ball that way.”
Why won’t Chip Hilton reveal the secret? Is it because he’s afraid he’ll get somebody in trouble? If so, who is it? Well, you’ll just have to read this book to find out the answer…but I can tell you this much. If Clair Bee was trying to teach people that you shouldn’t tell anybody when one of your teammates is doing something that’s causing the team to lose, he couldn’t have done it in a worse possible way. After you sit there, yelling angrily at the book (either aloud or in your head, depending on who’s watching) “Come on, Chip—there’s no reason to keep silent about this!” you then realize the actual message this book manages to convey, and that is this. When someone has a problem, and you fail to alert them (or others) to it, the consequences can be disastrous. Indeed, they are disastrous for Parkville—just how disastrous, you’ll have to read to find out—and it’s all because of some strange moral principle that certainly isn’t found anywhere in the Bible—
That said, I’d probably read another Chip Hilton Sports Story if I ever found a copy—but I can tell you this! The series won’t be my first choice at a booksale, and my expectations will be lowered should one turn up. Great idea, lousy author—where’s Matt Christopher when you need him?
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