“But I’ll show him!” whispered Joe fiercely to himself, as he clinched his teeth and stung in the ball. It landed in the mitt of the catcher with a resounding thud.
“That’s the boy!” called Gregory to him. “You’ll do, old man. Sting in another.”
Joe threw with all his force, but there was a sickening fear in his heart that he was not keeping good control over the ball. Nelson signalled to him to hold his curves in a little more, and Joe nodded to show he understood.
“Play ball!” drawled the umpire again, and the batter took his place at the plate.
Joe looked at the man, and reviewing the baseball “dope” he recalled that the player batted well over .300, and was regarded as the despair of many pitchers.
“If I could only strike him out!” thought Joe.
His first ball went a little wild. He realized that it was going to be a poor one as soon as it left his hand, but he could not for the life of him recover in time.
“Ball one!” yelled the umpire.
“That’s the way!”
“Make him give you what you want!”