[legendsport]

Atlanta, GA: December 3, 1911:

Joe had won his first professional fight - and by knockout. He had spotted Edna while the referee was holding his arm up as the winner. She had been standing at the back wall of the hall, smiling shyly and she had waved, just slightly as if unsure he had seen her. He smiled and winked and though it was far away and there was a lot of smoke between them, he thought she blushed. Luckily she managed to get back to Atlanta without her father finding out she had been in Tampa. For now, their secret remained safe.

After showering, Joe dressed and joined his family. It turned out that Jack had gotten sick and Possum had stayed back at the farm with the Barrell boys. So only Joe's grandfather had joined his parents in Tampa. Still, it was a nice reunion, made sweeter by victory. Joe had watched some of the other fights on the card, staying for the title fight between Ken Phillips and Paul Anderson. That had turned out to be a particularly nasty fight - Phillips was winning, but he ended up losing by disqualification in the fifth for continually hitting Anderson below the belt.

Joe had found out that night that his father was going back to scouting. But Rufus had surprised him when he told him he'd be working for the Washington Eagles.

"It's because of the Atlanta affiliation," Rufus had explained. "I love Mr. Presley like a father, but if I can work out of Atlanta I'll be close to home, close to you," he smiled at Joe, "and get to work with your grandfather again."

Joe thought this sounded good - he'd always found his father to be a fun guy to be around. He didn't take himself too seriously and usually had let the boys run on a long leash - which could not be said for his mother (or her mother for that matter). Alice, for her part, had agreed that the Eagles job was better "geographically" but was unsure if this would be seen as a betrayal by Presley who had always been very good to the Barrells.

Now, back at Cooter's ratty gym in Atlanta, Joe was training for his next fight, which would be in January. Cooter had told him the fight would be local - there was a watering hole called Ty's Tavern that hosted fights on Saturday nights and Cooter had booked Joe there with an opponent yet to be determined.

That morning Joe had earned a rebuke from Cooter. Standing on the scale, he saw with dismay that his weight was 162 pounds. "You better watch out you don't get spread out like a cold supper, son," Cooter said. Joe frowned and replied, "I'm not getting fat - and I have time to take it off before the next fight."


That same day, Rufus was visiting the offices of the Atlanta Peaches downtown. Specifically, he was chewing the fat with his father-in-law, who just happened to be the Peaches' Club President.

"Well, Joe, there ain't nothing worse than sitting around in the winter waiting for it to be spring," Rufus opined.

Joe Reid squinted at his son-in-law. "You're not wrong. Nothing's sadder than an empty ballpark in December."

As the Peaches prepared for their first season as an affiliate of the Washington Eagles, the Club President and the Eagles' newest scout were discussing the upcoming amateur draft - the first one in FABL history.

"The buzz I've heard is that the Eagles are going to draft a kid from Nebraska with their first pick - assuming he's available at the twelfth pick," Joe Reid said.

"Hmm, that's Art Murphy, right? Second baseman. Polman scouted him I think..." Rufus flipped through some papers and then tapped one. "Yep, here it is - Polman did scout him. He's pretty high on him too, so I guess that's where that rumor got started."

Noting the frown on Rufus' face Joe raised an eyebrow as he said, "You look like you disagree."

The frown deepened. "Well... I've been out of it for a while now, but I never really thought much of Bill Polman's scouting abilities."

"Ha, I'm sure that will go well when and if he becomes the scouting director... which is another rumor I've heard."

Rufus waved his head side-to-side, "I can work with him if necessary. Being the director might be the best spot for him - instead of eyeballing these kids personally, he just can evaluate the reports sent in by better scouts." He grinned wolfishly and added, "Like me."

Joe chuckled and replied, "Feeling a bit full of ourselves today, aren't we?"

"Naw, I think my portfolio speaks for itself."

Now Joe guffawed and exclaimed, "Portfolio! You been reading the dictionary lately, Rufus?"

The grin changed from wolf to sheep. "Naw, but Jimmy's been trying to improve my... what's it called? Vocabulary?"

Joe laughed. "Ah, yes - James is the Barrell boy most likely to not be just a dumb athlete. Maybe the milkman snuck one in on you while you were out on the road."

"Very funny - that's your own daughter you're slighting there." Rufus pointed a finger and added,"Besides, he looks just like me, so that seems unlikely. But I will admit he probably gets his smarts from Alice."

In point of fact Jimmy was every bit as athletic as his brothers - but he did have a more academic bent than they did. Certainly his grades were better (and in the case of Jack, much better). And he - with Alice's prodding - was making an effort at improving Rufus' knowledge of things outside of baseball. Alice called it "rubbing off the rube."

Joe grabbed the scouting report on Murphy from Rufus. "Let me see that... if we draft this kid he could end up playing here."

"Bah - you know who the Eagles should draft? Newell Winn. He's the guy I'd peg as the best second baseman in this group." Rufus tapped the pile sitting before him.

"We won't get Winn - I've heard the Keystones are going after him. And before you mention Mark Robinson, he'll probably go early too. You need to remember - we pick twelfth."

"Where do you get your information, anyway?"

"Ah, I've been around a long time. My grapevine is pretty long. Not always right, but..." he waved a hand. "This whole thing is new to everyone. It's all guess work."

Rufus shrugged and then smiled, saying, "You know, this draft stuff might be new, but it already sure is fun to speculate about."