The Giants took their turn at practice on the diamond and their snappy and brilliant plays brought round after round of applause from the spectators.
Then the bell rang, the members of the home team scattered to their positions, and the umpires took their places, one at the plate and the other out in the field just beyond the base line from first to second.
The plate umpire took off his cap, lifted the megaphone and announced:
“Ladies and gentlemen: The battery for Brooklyn will be Rance and Tighe——”
There was a burst of applause from the Brooklyn supporters who had come in thousands from across the bridge.
The umpire went on:
“The battery for New York will be Matson and Mylert.”
Then uprose a terrific yell compared with which the previous outburst had been almost insignificant. The shouts swelled into a roar of redoubled volume when Joe walked out to the box drawing on his glove, and the applause continued until he was compelled to doff his cap again and again.
There was no mistake as to the position that Baseball Joe held in the affections of the people of New York.