“And you mustn’t mind, Joe, being taken out of to-day’s game.”
“Oh, I didn’t—after the first.”
“It was for your own good, as well as for the good of the team,” proceeded the manager. “If I hadn’t taken you out you might have gone to pieces, and the crowd would have said mean things that are hard to forget. And I want you to pitch for us to-morrow, Joe.”
“You do!” cried the delighted young pitcher, all his bitterness forgotten now. “I thought maybe——”
He paused in confusion.
“Just because you got a little off to-day, did you imagine I was willing to give you your release?” asked Gregory, with a smile.
“Well—something like that,” confessed Joe.
The manager laughed.
“Don’t take it so seriously,” he advised. “You’ve got lots to learn yet about professional baseball, and I want you to learn it right.”
Joe felt a sense of gratitude, and when he reached the hotel that afternoon, he took a refreshing shower bath, attired himself in his “glad rags,” and bought a ticket to the theatre.