[Gutenberg 43021] • Baseball Joe on the Giants; or, Making Good as a Ball Twirler in the Metropolis

[Gutenberg 43021] • Baseball Joe on the Giants; or, Making Good as a Ball Twirler in the Metropolis

CHAPTER I. PUTTING THEM OVER

“Now then, Joe, send it over!”

“Show us what you can do!”

“Make the ball hum!”

“Split the ozone!”

These and a host of similar cries greeted Joe Matson as he carelessly caught the ball tossed to him by one of his friends and walked over to a corner of the gymnasium that was marked off as a pitcher’s box.

“All right, fellows,” he answered, laughingly. “Anything to oblige my friends.”

“And that means all of us, Joe,” cried one of the boys heartily.

“You bet it does!” chorused the others, with a fervor that spoke volumes for the popularity of the young pitcher.

It was a cold day in late winter and a large number of the village youth had gathered at the Riverside gymnasium. Riverside was Joe’s home town where his people had lived for years, and where he always spent the months between the ending of one baseball season and the beginning of the next.

Joe wound up, while the spectators stretched out in a long line and waited with interest for the first ball.

“Not too hot at the start, Joe,” cautioned Tom Davis, his old-time chum, who stood ready at the receiving end. “Remember I’m out of practice just now and I don’t want you to lift me off my feet.”

“All right, old scout,” returned Joe. “I’m not any too anxious myself to pitch my arm out at the start. I’ll just float up a few teasers to begin with.”

He let the ball go without any conscious effort, and it sailed lazily across the sixty feet that represented the distance between himself and Tom, who stood directly behind the plate that had been improvised for the occasion. It was a drop that broke just before it reached the plate and shot downward into Tom’s extended glove.

“That was a pretty one,” said Tom. “Now give us an upshoot.”

Joe complied, and then in response to requests from the crowd gave them specimens of his “knuckle” ball, his in-and-out curves, his “fadeaway,” and in fact everything he had in stock.

Then with a twinkle in his eyes, seeing that Tom by this time was pretty well warmed up, he cut loose a fast one that traveled so swiftly that the eye could scarcely follow it. It landed in Tom’s glove with a report like the crack of a whip, and a roar of laughter went up from the crowd as Tom danced around rubbing his hands.

“Wow!” he yelled. “That one had whiskers on it for fair. Have a heart, Joe. I’m too young to die.”

“Don’t worry about dying, Tom,” piped up Dick Little. “Only the good die young, and that makes you safe for a while.”

“Is that the kind you feed to old Wagner when he comes up to the plate and shakes his hat at you?” asked Ben Atkins.

“It doesn’t matter much what you serve to that tough old bird,” answered Joe grimly. “He lams them all if they come within reach.”

“How fast do you suppose that last ball of yours was traveling anyway, Joe?” asked Ed Wilson.

CONTENTS

1\. Putting Them Over

2\. A Fearful Situation

3\. A Crack Shot

4\. The Telegram

5\. At the Jail

6\. Glorious News

7\. Great Expectations

8\. The Coming of Reggie

9\. A Trusting Disposition

10\. Reggie Confesses

11\. A Startling Discovery

12\. The Call to Battle

13\. Off for the Training Camp

14\. Diamond Heroes

15\. A Charming Vision

16\. The Giant Team

17\. Away Down South

18\. In Harness

19\. Driving Them Hard

20\. A Test of Nerve

21\. Making Good

22.