Just try stealing first base.

• Author: Drew, Cynthia
• Position: Literary Scene - 'Stealing First' - Short story

IT IS LATE JUNE 1957 in Louisiana Bayou country and integration has not yet come to baseball in the rural South. On a hot, still afternoon, Ronnie LeBlanc, pitcher for the American Legion Post's Nina Redbirds, has a no-hitter going against the Redbirds' archrivals, the Bayou Braves. However, in the top of the seventh inning, someone behind the scenes has ruled that the Redbirds must forfeit the game because they have no coach. LeBlanc appeals to the only person who might hell--former Negro League pitcher Scoot Devereux.

With a limp in his left leg, Devereux walked to the door. "Why'd you come out here?"

"Well, you were at yesterday's game?"

"I was there, yeah."

"I thought I spotted you. Then you saw what happened."

Devereux swung the door open and motioned LeBlanc inside. "When the game was called because you didn't have a coach?"

"We've never been told before that we need to have someone coach us."

Devereux laughed. "How you expect to play baseball without a coach?"

"Okay, but I just went to the Legion post. They turned me away. Nobody has the time, they said. They'd like to see us win, but they don't want to help. It burns me how everybody gets breaks but the Redbirds, you know? Fancy uniforms, more equipment than they can use in a game, lots of coaches and here we got ..." He stopped.

Devereux had fixed him with a glare. "You laying to tell me how you've been treated unfair?"

"We can win the championship, I know we can! The Legion, they suggested I come see you--that you might have the time to coach us."

Devereux sat silent, massaging his left knee. "It takes more than a coach to be a winner; it's having the right equipment--up here," Devereux pointed to his temple, "and here," as he thumped his chest. "Baseball ain't no fashion show, either--ain't about the fancy jersey. It's about attitude. Right attitude, you can be a winner; crummy attitude, you'll always foul out, but I'll tell you what--a winning attitude is the sweetest secret you can carry."

"Like stealing first base."

Devereux flexed his left leg. "Man, there's no such thing as stealing first."

"Sure you can." LeBlanc's eyes lit up. "Let's say you're at bat. Catcher drops your third strike, right? While everybody's groping around for the ball you scramble for first base. If it works, if you get on; it isn't recorded as a stolen base but as a passed ball or a wild pitch, but you know what it is? It's luck."

"Why, you could say that about the whole game, I guess," Devereux replied. "Somebody hesitates or makes a mistake and you take...