Baseball Joe Around the World; or, Pitching on a Grand Tour

by Lester Chadwick

As may be easily understood, with all the competition he had to meet at the great University his chance was long in coming to prove his class in the pitching box. But the homely old saying that “it is hard to keep a squirrel on the ground” was never better exemplified than in his case. There came a time when the Yale “Bulldog” was hard beset by the Princeton “Tiger,” and Joe was called on to twist the Tiger’s tail. How well he did it and what glory he won for his Alma Mater can be read in the third volume of the series, entitled: “Baseball Joe at Yale; Or, Pitching for the College Championship.”

But even at the top notch of his popularity, Joe was restless at college. He was bright and keen in his studies and had no difficulty in standing up 15 well in his classes. But all his instincts told him that he was made for the out-of-door life.

His mother had hoped that Joe would enter the ministry, but Joe, although he had the greatest respect for that profession, did not feel that his life work lay in that direction. He had been so successful in athletic sports and took such pleasure in them that he yielded to his natural bent and decided to adopt professional baseball as his vocation.

His mother was sorely grieved at first, and the more so as she felt that Joe was “stepping down” in entering the professional ranks. But Joe was able to show her that scores of college men were doing the same thing that he planned to do, and she had too good sense to press her opposition too far.

The opening that Joe was looking for came when he was offered a chance to play in the Pittston team of the Central League. It was only a minor league, but all the great players have been developed in that way, and Joe determined to make it a stepping stone to something higher. How he speedily rose to leadership among the twirlers of his league is told in the fourth volume of the series, entitled: “Baseball Joe in the Central League; Or, Making Good as a Professional Pitcher.”

While Joe had been winning his spurs, the keen-eyed 16 scouts of the big leagues had not been idle. The St. Louis team of the National League drafted him into their ranks and took him away from the “bushes.” Now he felt that he was really on the highway to success. Almost from the start he created a sensation, and it was his pitching that brought his team into the first division.

A still wider field opened up before him when after one year with St. Louis he was bought by the New York Giants. This had been his ambition from the start, but he had scarcely dared to hope that his dream would come true. He promised himself that he would “pitch his head off” to justify the confidence that McRae, the Giants’ manager, had put in him. How he came through an exciting season and in the final game won the championship for his team can be seen in the sixth volume of the series, entitled: “Baseball Joe on the Giants; Or, Making Good as a Ball Twirler in the Metropolis.”

Of course this brought him into the World’s Series, in which that year the Boston Red Sox were the Giants’ opponents. It proved to be a whirlwind series, whose result remained in doubt until the last inning of the last game. Joe had fearful odds to contend against since an accident to Hughson, the Giants’ standby, put the bulk of the pitching burden on our hero’s shoulders. 17 Unscrupulous enemies also sought by foul means to keep him out of the Series, but Joe’s indomitable will and magnificent pitching won out against all odds, as told in the volume preceding this, entitled: “Baseball Joe in the World Series; Or, Pitching for the Championship.”

If ever a man had earned a rest it was Joe, and, as we have seen, he was taking it now in his home town. Jim Barclay, a fine young Princeton man and second-string pitcher on the Giants, had come with him, not so much, it is to be suspected, because of his fondness for Joe, though that was great, as to be near Clara, Joe’s charming sister, who had been working all sorts of havoc with poor Jim’s heart.

By the time the orchestra had finished the tune, the panic had about subsided. But Joe was taking no chances and he motioned for a repetition. The leader obeyed, and at the end of this second playing the danger was entirely over. The audience was seated, with the exception of the man whom Joe had knocked down, who slunk shame-facedly out of the hall holding his hand on the place where the blow had landed.