CHIEF SUNRISE JOHN McGRAW and me Part 2
Fifteen-year-old runaway Hank Cobb joins up with Chief Sunrise, a Seminole Indian determined to try out as pitcher for the New York Giants’ 1919 season. Before heading north, Hank and Chief stop off in Gainesville, Florida, where Hank is recruited to play shortstop for a traveling team. The manager, Mr. Jameson, sends Hank and Chief to the hotel to clean up before the afternoon game against the locals. After Hank takes a bath, Chief gives him a killer shampoo to get rid of “cooties.” Then he hands Hank his uniform—a jersey with the team name Bloomers, a gray flannel skirt, and a blond wig.
A girl?” Hank howls. “I’m supposed to be a girl?”
“You leave this room in uniform or in your underwear,” Chief answers.
MY FACE BURNED with anger and shame, but I snatched the bloomers from the floor and pulled them on. I think Chief knew that if he so much as cracked a smile, I’d be at his throat again. “I’ll wait outside,” he said and set the wig on the floor.
I pulled on the skirt and buttoned it up. It reached my knees, and when I bent down, I could see that a flash of lacy bloomer would show every time I moved. The wig was another torture. That shampoo had left me feeling like I had combed my hair with a blowtorch. The wig ensured that none of the heat could escape.
I clenched my fists and walked to the door, praying that no one would
