[...]... there was no telling what might happen, what could go wrong “Stoshack,” Bobby said, “I need to meet Jim Thorpe.” JIM THORPE? Who’s Jim Thorpe? I searched my memory for the name Jim Thorpe wasn’t a baseball player, that I knew of anyway And I know a lot about baseball history I have a collection of baseball books, and I’ve read them all I know the name of just about every player in The Baseball Encyclopedia... one of my dad’s old baseball cards and feel this strange tingling sensation in my fingertips It was like they were vibrating or something I didn’t think much about it, until one day I found an old card while I was cleaning out the attic for this lady named Amanda Young I held the card in my hand and closed my eyes The next thing I knew, I was back in 1909 Baseball cards sort of act like a plane ticket... right away because of all the times I played baseball against him She knew the horrible things he did and said to me over the years too “Hello, Mrs Stoshack,” Bobby said pleasantly, shaking her hand Like a lot of bad guys, he knew how to act like a little angel when he was around grown-ups That way, the grown-ups didn’t know what a jerk he was 17 DAN G UTMAN I figured my mom would probably slap Bobby across... wash up for dinner I asked her if we could go out to eat, knowing full well she’d say no We don’t have a lot of money, especially since my mom and dad split up Anything other than fast food is a “special occasion.” I was washing my hands when the doorbell rang 10 JIM & ME Mom shot me a look that said I should go answer it She was afraid it was my dad, and she never wants to talk to him if she can avoid... baseball different from other sports Look at it this way: In basketball, you have to be tall In football, you have to be big But a skinny little kid who can throw or hit a curve has it all over a big, strong doofus who can’t That’s because baseball doesn’t require height or weight It’s a game of deception When I was little, my dad taught me everything about curveballs It’s all physics You see, a baseball. .. more than a hundred bucks But there was another reason I didn’t take the cash Even if I’d wanted to help Bobby, I couldn’t “I’m sorry,” I told him, “but in order to go back in time to meet Jim Thorpe, I would have to have a Jim Thorpe baseball card And I don’t even know if there WERE any Jim Thorpe baseball cards.” And with that, Fuller reached into his pocket and handed me this: JIM THORPE – N.Y GIANTS... was throwing me a fastball! It may not have been that fast, but it was a lot faster than his curve I tried to adjust and get my bat on it, maybe foul it off Too late I hit air “Strike three!” the ump yelled “That’s the ball game, boys.” The Exterminators went nuts Their stupid roach mascot started dancing around the infield I dragged my bat back to the bench, steam coming out of my ears Everybody said... Encyclopedia But that name was familiar Jim Thorpe may have been a pro football player, it seemed to me And I thought he had something to do with the Olympics a long time ago One of the kids in my class did a report on him a while back I didn’t remember any details “Who’s Jim Thorpe?” I finally asked “Only the greatest athlete of the twentieth century,” Bobby told me “And he played baseball? ” “Sure, he played... Olympic medals.” What?! The guy was the greatest athlete in the world and they took his Olympic medals away because he made a few bucks playing baseball? Wow 25 DAN G UTMAN That was unbelievable Jim Thorpe really got screwed over Maybe I’m dumb or something, but I didn’t even know there was a day when professional athletes weren’t allowed to compete in the Olympics I mean, pros are in the Olympics all the... “Sure, he played baseball! ” Bobby insisted “How do you know?” I asked Bobby is probably the dumbest kid in our whole 15 DAN G UTMAN school I heard he flunked gym last year, and I have no idea what you have to do to flunk gym “I read a book about him,” Bobby said Bobby Fuller read a book? Now, that was a shocker “So why do you want to meet him so badly?” I asked Jim Thorpe was my great-grandfather.” 16 3 . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" JIM A Baseball Card Adventure Dan Gutman To Rachel Orr and Barbara Lalicki and all the good folks at HarperCollins who have been so supportive Sir, you are. out almost 3,000 batters during his career. He’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But Flip wasn’t always famous. He used to be just a plain old guy who owned Flip’s Fan Club, a baseball card. teams. They’ve got a roach for a mascot. They also have this tall left-hander named 2 JIM & MEJIM & ME Kyle who we nicknamed Mutant Man because the kid is virtually unhittable. He throws