Richard Michelson - Lipman Pike: Americas First Home Run King

Americas First Home Run King

ByRICHARD MICHELSON
and Illustrated byZACHARY PULLEN

In memory of John Baldwinalways gentlemanly.
RICHARD

The author wishes to acknowledge the following people for their gracious consultation:
Natalie Blitt, John Bowman, Rabbi Samuel Cohon, Peter Horvitz, Jonathan Sarna,
Robert H. Schaeffer, and James E. Young.

And special thanks to my editor, Aimee Jackson,
for her enthusiasm, advice, and friendship.

For every parent who plays catch with their kids.
ZAK

Lipman Pike hated to stand still. From behind the cashbox he shook out his left leg, and then his right.

The bell above the door jingled. Lip glanced toward his older brother, but Boaz was studying in the back room and didnt even look up.

Good day, Mrs. Kaufman, Lips father said. Mr. Pike was always polite. The neighbors called him a real gentleman.

Goede dag, Mrs. Kaufman said. She had met Lips father years ago on the boat that had brought them to America from Holland. Sometimes she still spoke Dutch. My son is in need of

Lip leaped into action. It was 45 feet to the front window display. Ninety feet round trip: exactly the distance between home plate and first base. Lip could run it in 14 seconds. He grabbed a package and raced head down. He heard fastmoving footsteps behind him and looked up in time to see Boaz slam a pair of boys stockings on the counter.

The best service in the city! Mr. Pike announced proudly. My boys could beat a racehorse in the home stretch.

I finished my bar mitzvah homework, Boaz told his father, as he and Lip headed toward the door. Can we go watch the men play Base?

It seemed like everybody in Brooklyn was playing this exciting new game. Each neighborhood club had a team and even some of the Jewish boys would practice batting and throwing when their parents werent watching.

Not my sons! Mrs. Pike complained to her husband. If grown lads chased after a leather ball in Europe, people would call them childish. Boaz is almost a man, and when Lip finishes his chores, he should exercise his mind.

I wont let Base interfere with the boys education, Mr. Pike promised his wife. But in America even the smartest young men chase balls like silly boys. We want our children to fit in with their neighbors, not to live like foreigners in their birthplace.

Some evenings, after Mr. Pike locked the shop door, the boys would quickly dust the shelves and sweep the floors. Then Boaz would toss jawbreaker candies down the center aisle as Lip swung the broom handle, and raced around the store.

Now, three years later, and only seven days after his own bar mitzvah, Lip followed Boaz to a local junior club meeting.

Sure, hes young and lefthanded, Boaz told his teammates, but hes as fast as a racehorse and as strong as one, too.

No one can outrun a racehorse, the team captain said to Boaz, but if he is half as fast as you, that is good enough for me.

Lip was invited to join the junior club and play in his first official amateur match.

A couple of ladies in lawn chairs were picnicking in the park and their young sons were climbing nearby trees, but Lip imagined that everybody in Brooklyn was preparing to watch the match. He felt butterflies rise in his stomach and his knees go weak.

Dont worry, Boaz reassured his brother. In my first match I didnt get a single hit.

Lip wondered if that was supposed to make him feel better, but as he stepped up to the plate, he forgot all about being nervous, and he hit the first pitch high over the right fielders head.

As the years passed, word of Lips batting power and speed spread throughout Brooklyn. Customers would shop at the haberdashery just to talk about Base.

The store prospered. Thats what good manners, fast service, and honest prices will do, Mr. Pike told his wife. Of course, she answered, it helps that every lad in town wants to purchase his stockings from Lip.

When Lip turned 21, he told his parents he was moving to Philadelphia to play for the Athletics. Mr. Pike was worried. Where will you work? he asked. Here, business is good. I can pay you $2 a day.

You traveled halfway around the world to follow your dreams, Lip reminded him. There is nothing I love more than Base. Then Lip waved his parents closer and whispered. The Athletics captain offered me $20 each week to play for his club.

Mrs. Pike shook her head in disbelief. Who ever heard of anyone being paid to chase a ball? she asked.

That year the Athletics won 23 matches and only lost twice. In one match Lip hit six home runs. He was their best player.

But the other club members all came from the same hometown, and they began to grumble when it was rumored that Lip was being paid.

Its unfair, the second baseman said. Who ever heard of a professional ballplayer? Only a working man should get wages.

Besides, the left fielder added, I hear that Pikes a Jew. How can we trust him when we play against Brooklyn?

Lip was voted off the team.