Baseball Joe, champion of the league

by Lester Chadwick

Joe’s birthplace was Riverside, a thriving little town in a middle western state. His parents were estimable people of moderate means and respected by the citizens of the town, with whom Joe became a prime favorite as he grew up. He early became a leader of the boys of his own age in all kinds of sports, but especially in baseball, for which he developed a natural aptitude. His inclination drew him toward the pitcher’s box, and here he showed such skill and speed, combined with coolness and good judgment, that he became a fixture in that position. His reputation quickly spread beyond the confines of his own town, and under his leadership the local team won many victories from nines of the same age throughout the county. What difficulties he encountered in climbing the first rungs of the baseball ladder and the way in which he overcame them are narrated in the first volume of this series, entitled: “Baseball Joe of the Silver Stars; or, The Rivals of Riverside.”

He won new laurels on his school nine, a little later on, despite the obstacles thrown in his way by the bully of the school. The experience he there gained stood him in good stead when, on the completion of his course there, his parents sent him to Yale. Here he maintained an excellent rank in his studies, but found plenty of opportunities to develop his skill and muscle in the pitcher’s box. By a combination of unlooked for circumstances he was called upon to assume the pitcher’s burden in a critical game with Princeton. The Tiger had come down from old Nassau prepared to claw the Bulldog to bits, but Joe’s great work sent him back to his lair with his tail between his legs and another victory was chalked up for Yale.

Such a light as Joe’s could not be hidden under a bushel, especially with keen-eyed scouts ranging over the country in search of talent. One of them had witnessed the Yale-Princeton game, and shortly afterward Joe got an offer from the Pittston team of the Central League. He accepted it, and soon became known as far and away the best twirler in that organization.

Still he was in “the sticks,” and his ambition reached much higher. It was realized sooner than he had expected when the St. Louis team of the National League put in a claim for him at the end of the season and secured him through the draft.

Now he was at last in “fast company,” and the acid test was applied to him when he was called on to hold up his end against the greatest boxmen of the country. But he refused to be daunted by their reputation, and in his duels with the best won oftener than he lost. His team played behind him with confidence, for they knew that he would never quit until the last man was out.

McRae, the manager of the Giants, himself an old-time player of remarkable ability and one of the best judges of men in either league, laid his lines for Joe and at last succeeded in getting him.

Now at last Joe felt that he had the chance of his life time. He was on the pitching staff of the most renowned team in baseball, and it behooved him to make good. And this he did to such purpose that he soon became the mainstay of the team.

In baseball parlance, Joe “had everything,” curves, drops, hops, slants and speed. But it was not only his arm of steel and his eye of a hawk that made him a wizard in the box. Those were physical assets, indispensable to be sure, but valuable only as a foundation. What made him the greatest pitcher of the national game was the brain that dominated his nerves and muscles. As McRae had said, he played with his head all the time. He studied the characteristics of every man who faced him, learned his weaknesses and his strong points, what he could hit and what could fool him; and what he learned he never forgot. He was unequaled in outguessing the batter. Many a game that with any other pitcher would have been absolutely lost he had put in the winning column by his quick thinking, which led him to some unexpected move that had never been seen before on the diamond.

Nor was the prowess that had several times led the Giants to the championship of the National League and to victory in the World Series confined wholly to the pitching mound. Joe had developed into the leading batsman of his circuit. When he hit the ball, it traveled. His timing was perfect, and when with all the strength of his mighty shoulders he “leaned” against the ball, it was usually ticketed as a homer. Soon it became a habit with the crowds to pack the baseball parks in the various cities of the league not only to witness his wonderful pitching but to see Baseball Joe “knock another homer.”