“That you, O’Brien?” he said when he had got the connection. “This is McRae. Feeling fine, thanks. How’s yourself? Good! Listen, Tom. I want you to look up a couple of Wall Street men and see if you have anything on them. Tompkinson and Harrish, brokers. Got it? Yes, that’s it. On the dead quiet, understand? See what kind of a place they’re conducting, if they’ve ever been in trouble with the courts or police, indicted or anything like that. You will? Good! Do as much for you some day. Yes, the Giants are going fine. Run up and see them play whenever you can. What, didn’t you get the pass I sent you? Must have been lost in the mail. Send you another one to-morrow. All right, Tom. Give me the low-down on those fellows as soon as you can. Thanks. So long, old man.
“Well, that’s that,” said McRae, as he hung up the receiver and turned again to Joe. “It’s just as well to know all we can about these scoundrels and their connections. It may come in handy some time. I’ll pass the tip to Robbie and we’ll all be on the lookout for any developments. Of course, I suppose you’ve told Jim about it, but don’t let any other members of the team get hold of it. It might get them nervous and unsettled and affect their playing. Gee, Joe, I can’t thank you enough for the way you trimmed those fellows. It does me good every time I think of it. And we’ll all do our best to see that the dirty crooks lose their two hundred thousand.”
It was now the Giants’ turn to visit the grounds of the other eastern teams, and they braced themselves for the struggle. Thus far they had had the advantage of playing on the Polo Grounds, where they knew every inch of ground, were familiar with the lights that slanted across the field in the late afternoon, knew just at what angle the ball should be played when it struck a fence or wall, and, above all, had the inspiration and encouragement that came from the crowds who were anxious to see them win.
Now conditions were reversed and it was the turn of the other fellows to fight on their own stamping grounds. But the Giants were known as a good “road team,” and they faced the issue with confidence.
Joe had inspired the others with his own never-say-die determination and the team had never been in better fighting trim. Like the proverbial war horse, they sniffed the battle from afar and were eager to plunge into the struggle.
Boston came first, and the team from the city of culture went down before the savage onslaught of the Giants. The latter fairly swept their opponents off their feet, and when, at the conclusion of the series, the men from Gotham jumped to Philadelphia they had four additional scalps at their belt.
The downtrodden Phillies did a little better, but not much. They got one game from the invaders and another was prevented by rain. But of the three that were played the Giants annexed two and then moved on to Brooklyn.
Here, as usual, they met their stiffest opposition. Every one of the games was played for blood. One resulted in a tie after seventeen scoreless innings. The Brooklyns took another, but the other two were swept into the Giants’ bat bags.
So the results of the short tour were eight victories, two defeats, and one tie for the Giants.