“But just you wait and see how we do up Matson!” cried a local sympathizer.
At a signal the next man to bat stepped away from the plate, and Joe had the privilege of warming up by sending three hot ones to the catcher. 98
“He’ll put ’em over all right enough!” cried one of his friends.
“That’s what he will!” returned another.
“Not much! He’ll be snowed under!”
“This is our winning day!”
So the cries continued until the umpire held up his hand for silence.
“He’s going to make an announcement!” cried a number of the spectators.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” roared the umpire, removing his cap, “Matson now pitching for the All-Americans.”
A howl went up from the stands, made up in about equal parts of derision and applause. Derision because the All-American team must, they figured, be scared to death when they had to send their greatest player into the game. Whether they won or lost it was a great compliment to the Denver team. The applause came from the genuine sportsmen who knew the famous pitcher by reputation and welcomed the chance to see him in action.