Ballpark Mysteries #9: The Philly Fake Read online

  Mike and Kate bounded down the dugout steps. The dugout was empty except for paper cups on the floor and some towels on the benches. In the corner were bins full of dozens of bats. Mike and Kate wanted to head right for the bats, but Carol made them sit with Mrs. Hopkins on the long bench against the back wall while she took pictures. Mike kept messing up the pictures because he was fidgeting so much.

  “It’s hard to sit still with the bats so close!” he whispered to Kate.

  “One more picture!” Carol said. “This time with the Phillies logo in the background.”

  Finally, Carol was done.

  “Now’s the time,” Kate whispered to Mike.

  They walked to the corner of the dugout, near the stairs down to the locker room. The bins filled with bats sat under shelves of batting helmets.

  “So what are we looking for, Sherlock?” Mike asked.

  “I’m not sure. A crack maybe,” Kate said. “Or anything that doesn’t seem right.”

  They pulled up one bat after another. There were brown bats and black bats and new bats and old bats. But none seemed to have any cracks.

  Mike held up a tan bat. He was about to put it back when something caught his eye. “Kate, look,” he said.

  “What?” Kate asked. “I don’t see any cracks.”

  Mike pointed to a line of red dust across the middle of the bat. “Take a closer look,” he said.

  Kate leaned in. The red dust on the bat handle had marks in it! Zigzag lines ran through it.

  “I’ll bet it’s like my bat pen,” Mike said.

  Mike took the bat and placed the end of its handle on the dugout floor. He held the bat at an angle and pushed.

  Nothing happened.

  Then he turned the bat a little and did it again.

  This time, a split appeared in the handle, just above the red dust marks! Mike searched the bins for another bat with red dust marks. When he found one, he tested it the same way. It had a split, too!

  “See?” Mike said. “Someone is putting cracks in the bats!”

  “But how?” Kate asked. “They’re too thick to step on like your baseball pen.”

  Mike pointed to the zigzag pattern in the red dust. “But they’re not too thick to drive over,” he said. “Those are tire marks!”

  Mike and Kate riffled through the rest of the bats in the bin. Now that they knew what they were looking for, the damaged bats were easy to spot. By the time they went through all of them, Mike and Kate had found five bats with tire marks on them. Kate called Carol and her mom over.

  Mike held up one of the bats. He pressed its handle on the ground.

  Carol and Mrs. Hopkins both gasped when the handle split open.

  “Somebody’s driving over the bats,” Kate said. “It must crack them just enough inside so they’ll break but look normal on the outside.”

  “How would someone get a car in here to run over the bats?” Carol asked.

  Mike traced the zigzag treads with his finger. “It’s not a car,” he said. “That would leave bigger marks. It’s something smaller.”

  “Like what?” Mrs. Hopkins asked.

  Mike looked up at the infield. The groundskeepers in their green shirts were raking the infield dirt, stirring up clouds of red dust. “I think I know,” he said.

  Mike ran up the dugout stairs with the bat and raced down the warning track to the other end of the dugout. He skidded to a stop in front of the groundskeepers’ green cart that they had passed on the way in. When everyone else caught up, Mike knelt down and held the bat next to a tire.

  The tread marks didn’t match at all!

  “Oh rats!” Mike said. “I guess it’s not a groundskeeper. I was sure the cart made those marks!”

  Kate let out a low whistle.

  “Well, I’ve got another idea,” she said. “But no one’s going to like it!”

  “Why not?” Mrs. Hopkins asked.

  “Don’t blame me,” Kate said. “But I think we need to check the tires on the Phillie Phanatic’s ATV!”

  “Oh no!” Carol said.

  The four of them hurried through the stadium to the hallway where the Phanatic’s ATV was parked.

  Mike knelt down again and placed the dusty tread marks on the bat next to the ATV’s tire.

  Kate gasped.

  It was a perfect match!

  “I just can’t believe it would be Phil or the Phanatic!” Mike said as they got out of a taxi the next morning. It was ten o’clock, and they had just arrived at Penn’s Landing for the tall ships festival. Families, street performers, and kids dressed up in colonial costumes wandered around the open brick plaza.

  “Don’t worry,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “Carol told me they’re checking the tire marks on the bats. She’ll give us an update at the Phanatic’s autograph signing. The only thing you two should be worrying about is the costume contest!”

  “No problem,” Mike said. “How do I look?”

  Mrs. Hopkins stood back to examine him. He was dressed like a cross between a Phillies player and George Washington. He wore tan pants and a ruffled white shirt with a long blue coat like George Washington, but bright red kneesocks like a Phillies player. Instead of an old-fashioned hat, he wore a Phillies baseball cap over a white curly wig. He had a baseball glove on his left hand.

  “You look great, Mike,” Mrs. Hopkins said.

  “I don’t know,” Mike said. “I still wish I had an ax. It’ll be a little hard to chop down that cherry tree with my glove.”

  Kate grinned and pretended to swing a baseball bat. “The only things you’ve ever chopped at are all the pitches you’ve missed!” she said.

  Kate’s costume was unusual, too. In one hand, she held a Phillies flag. In her other, she had a needle and length of dark blue thread. Kate was dressed as Betsy Ross, with a white cap, a blue shirt, and a bright red, white, and blue skirt that looked like a flag. She also wore baseball socks and red and silver sneakers.

  Mike straightened the curly white wig under his Phillies baseball cap. “We’ve got to win that contest,” he said. “I really want to throw out the ball at tonight’s game!”

  Mrs. Hopkins led them through the crowd to a large building at the end of the plaza. Big letters on the building spelled out SEAPORT MUSEUM. They followed MEET THE PHANATIC signs inside.

  Parents and children filled the large room. Many of them had Phillies baseball caps, T-shirts, or programs for the Phanatic to sign. Carol stood near the back wall.

  “You two look great!” Carol said to Mike and Kate as they walked over. “I feel like I’ve stepped back in time to 1776!”

  Kate curtsied to Carol. Mike tipped his hat. “Is the Phanatic here?” Kate asked.

  Carol shook her head. “Not yet,” she said, checking her watch. “Hopefully nothing will go wrong. My boss wants to keep an eye on him until they figure out what’s happening to the bats.”

  After ten minutes, the Phanatic still hadn’t shown up. The crowd was restless. Some of the children were running around the room playing tag. Carol kept checking her watch. She was about to make a call when the door opened and everyone looked up.

  But it wasn’t the Phillie Phanatic.

  It was Ben Franklin!

  He gazed at the crowd through his bifocal glasses. Then he held up his hands and gave them a big smile.

  “I know you’re here to see our city’s favorite mascot,” Ben said. “But I heard he couldn’t make it today, so I thought I’d stop by.”

  Ben walked to the front of the room as the children sat back down. “Maybe you’d like to hear how I almost got shocked by lightning flying my kite during a storm!” he said. “Or how I helped the United States win the Revolutionary War!”

  For the next twenty minutes, Ben kept the audience on the edge of their seats. When he finished, he signed autographs.

  “Wow! Ben did a great job!” Carol said. “It’s funny. A few years ago he applied for Phil’s job, but we picked Phil instead. As much as I like Phil, Ben Franklin is re
ally good!”

  “Did you hear that?” Kate whispered to Mike. “Ben Franklin applied for Phil’s job! That’s weird.”

  Carol pulled out her phone. “I’ve got to find out what happened to the Phanatic,” she said as she walked to a quiet spot and called the stadium. When she returned, she looked sick.

  “I just talked to John, the head groundskeeper,” Carol said. “He saw Phil at the ballpark early this morning. He said Phil left two hours ago. Something’s wrong!”

  “What do you think happened?” Mike asked.

  “I don’t know,” Carol said. “But the Phanatic has to be at the big Fourth of July show after tonight’s game! There’s a special event planned. I’ve got to go back to the stadium to see what I can find out.”

  As they left the building, Ben Franklin was still signing autographs. Once they were outside, Carol said goodbye and headed for the parking lot.

  Kate tugged at her mother’s sleeve. “Can Mike and I look around?” she asked.

  Mrs. Hopkins nodded. “We have about an hour before the costume contest.” She pointed to the tall ship the Eagle. “I’ll meet you up on deck.”

  “Okay, great!” Kate said. She gave her mother a hug. “We’ll see you in a little while! Can you hold on to some of our stuff until the contest?”

  Mrs. Hopkins nodded. Mike handed her his baseball glove. Kate turned over her Phillies flag and the needle and thread. Then she and Mike ran to explore the plaza.

  “I hope Phil’s okay,” Kate said as they headed for a ringtoss booth. “It’s weird he didn’t show up. Maybe his car broke down.”

  “He probably would have called Carol if it did,” Mike said. “Hopefully he’ll turn up before the game tonight.”

  The line was too long at the ringtoss booth, so Mike and Kate stopped at the American history booth next to it. Kate won a Liberty Bell sticker by answering three questions correctly. Mike got two correct, so he won a USA sticker.

  As they turned to leave, Mike spotted a man dressed as a giant lemon. He was yellow from head to toe and was handing out something to people walking by. Mike and Kate ran over. The man handed them a flyer. “It’s a coupon good for ten percent off a Philly cheesesteak and lemonade,” he said.

  “A Philly what?” Kate asked.

  “A Philly cheesesteak. It’s a sub roll filled with thin slices of steak and melted cheese,” the lemon man said. “They’re one of Philadelphia’s favorite foods.”

  “Sounds great! Let’s get one!” Mike said.

  After waiting in line, Mike and Kate ordered two cheesesteaks and lemonades. They found a bench in the shade and sat down to eat.

  “Yum,” Mike mumbled with his mouth full.

  “Me gusta,” Kate agreed. “I like it!” She was teaching herself Spanish. Kate wanted to be like her father, who was a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He spoke Spanish because he worked with a lot of players from Spanish-speaking countries.

  As they were throwing their wrappers away, Kate nodded to the other side of the plaza. “Hey, there’s the Phillie Phanatic,” she said. “He finally made it!”

  The Phanatic was standing under a tree on the far side of the plaza. A small crowd had gathered around him as he signed autographs.

  Mike and Kate watched the Phanatic for a few minutes from the back of the crowd. They waved, trying to get his attention, but the Phanatic seemed to be ignoring them.

  As they watched, Kate frowned. Something didn’t seem right, but she couldn’t put her finger on what.

  Fans from the crowd kept handing the Phanatic things to sign. He’d take them in his right hand, sign them with his left hand, and then give them back. Kate watched him sign six different things the same way.

  Kate thought about all the photos she had seen in the Phanatic’s locker room. Then it hit her. She clapped her hands over her mouth and gasped.

  “Mike!” Kate said. “He’s not real!”

  Mike looked at her. “Huh? You think the Phanatic is a robot?” he asked. “That would be cool!” Mike stuck his arms straight out and started to talk in a robot voice. “This—does—not—compute.”

  Kate shook his shoulder until Mike stopped being a robot.

  “That’s not what I meant,” she said. “What I mean is that’s not the real Phillie Phanatic! He’s a fake!”

  “We saw a lot of photographs in the Phanatic’s locker room, remember?” Kate asked Mike. “In the photos, he’s always signing with his right hand. This Phanatic is signing with his left hand!”

  “I don’t know,” Mike said. “It sure looks like the Phanatic. If that’s not the Phanatic, then who is it?”

  Kate crossed her arms and rocked back on her heels. “I’ll bet it’s Ben Franklin!” she said.

  Mike’s mouth dropped open. “What?” he asked. “How could it be him?”

  “He’s trying to get Phil’s job!” Kate said. “You heard Carol. Ben Franklin tried out for it. Then he showed up this morning instead of the Phanatic. I’ll bet he did that because he knew Carol would be watching. He wanted to show how good he was with kids!”

  “He also shares the Phanatic’s office, so he could have planted the broken bat that first day,” Mike said. “That would mean that Ben Franklin is causing all the trouble. He’s trying to get rid of Phil so he can take over his job!”

  Kate bit her lip. “I’ve got an idea,” she said.

  She moved closer to the Phillie Phanatic. Children crowded around him, getting things signed.

  “Hey, Charlie! Hey, Phil! Hey, Jimmy, over here!” Kate called.

  Nothing happened.

  Kate looked over her shoulder and gave Mike a thumbs-up. She had a plan. She turned back to the Phillie Phanatic.

  This time, Kate yelled, “Hey, Ben Franklin, over here!”

  The Phillie Phanatic glanced up from the book that he was signing and looked directly at Kate.

  Kate waved.

  The Phillie Phanatic stopped for a moment. Then he shook his head and returned to signing things for the children.

  Kate ran back to Mike.

  “That’s Ben Franklin, all right!” Kate said.

  “Let’s find a police officer!” Mike said. He scanned the plaza. “There must be one around here.” He was about to take off when Kate stopped him.

  “We need more proof,” Kate said. “I wish Phil was here! He’d know if that’s the real Phanatic!”

  “Let’s find your mom,” Mike said. “Maybe she can call Carol.”

  “Okay,” Kate said. She checked the time. “The costume contest is about to start. Mom should be waiting for us on the Eagle.”

  They ran across the plaza to the ship. Kate bounded up the gangplank. At the top, she turned around. Mike was still near the bottom.

  “Mike! Come on!” Kate called. “We’ve got to find my mom before the contest!”

  “Hold up!” Mike called out. “Look at this.” He pulled something off the split wood in the handrail. It was a few pieces of green fur!

  Kate ran back down the gangplank. Mike showed her the inside edge of the handrail. The fur had been caught on a splinter.

  Kate took the strands of green from Mike’s fingers. “It looks like the Phillie Phanatic’s fur!” she said.

  “That’s what I thought,” Mike said.

  Just then, an announcement came over the ship’s loudspeaker. “The costume contest is starting. Please go to the front of the ship to register.”

  “Let’s come back to this later,” Mike said. “I really want to win so I can throw out the first pitch at tonight’s game!”

  But as they rushed up the gangplank, another piece of green fur caught Kate’s eye. “The Phillie Phanatic must have come by here,” she said. “He’s the only one around with green fur like that!”

  Mike studied the fur. “You think this is from the fake Phanatic or the real one?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Kate said. “But we need to find out.”

  At the top of the railing, they found a third piece.
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  “What do we do?” Mike asked.

  “We can get to the contest a little late,” Kate said. “It will take them a while to get through all the kids.”

  The gangplank ended at the deck of the ship. To the left were the front of the boat and the costume contest. To the right was the side deck.

  Kate turned to the right. “Let’s start looking here,” she said. “There are too many people up front. We can check the rest of the ship next.”

  Mike and Kate searched the deck and the side rail, but they found nothing odd. They heard the announcer call the name of the first kid in the costume contest. Mike was just about to give up when he spotted more green fur caught in the doorway.

  “Kate! Here’s some more!” he said, holding up the strands. “He must have gone through here.”

  Mike and Kate stepped through the doorway. A few feet inside, Kate found a wisp of green fur caught on a door latch. Just past that, the hallway split. On one side was an open area at the back of the ship. On the other, a flight of stairs led belowdecks. A small chain hung across the stairs. It read EMPLOYEES ONLY.

  Mike looked around to make sure no one was watching. Then he undid the chain. “Let’s try the stairs,” he said.

  “We’ll just say we were looking for a bathroom if anyone asks,” Kate said. After they slipped past, Mike hooked the chain again. A quick search at the top of the stairs revealed no fur.

  Kate nodded to the deck below. They scampered down the narrow stairs. On the bottom step, Kate found a few strands of green fur. “Bingo!” she said.

  Ahead of them, the lower deck opened out into a bigger space. White cloth hammocks hung in rows down the middle of the deck. On the other side of the hammocks was a row of doors.

  Kate twisted her ponytail around her finger. “If the Phanatic was here, he must have been in one of those rooms,” she said.

  Without wasting time, they dodged the hanging hammocks and ran to the first door. Kate opened it. A large Philadelphia Phillies duffel bag sat in the corner. Mike unzipped it.

  “You’ll never believe this,” he said. From the bag, Mike pulled out Ben Franklin’s head!