Girdner sent an easy grasser to Larry, who booted it, and the batter reached first. Stock followed with a bunt that Denton slipped down on as he ran in for it. These mishaps must have got on Burkett’s nerves, for he squarely muffed Thompson’s pop fly that any “busher” could have caught.
There were three men on bases, though none had made a hit. No man was out, and Cooper, the slugger of the Boston team, was coming to the plate.
A hit of any kind would bring in two men and tie the game. A two-bagger would clear the bases and put Boston in the lead. The Red Sox rooters were on their feet and screaming like mad.
Joe shot over a ball at which Cooper refused to “bite.” The next one, however, suited him better, and he sent it hurtling toward the box like a bullet.
Joe saw it coming two feet over his head. Like a flash he leaped up and caught it in his ungloved hand. He turned and shot it over to Denton at third. Denton touched the bag putting out Girdner who had turned to go back and then got the ball down to Larry before Stock could get back to second.
It was a triple play! The game was over, the Series was won and the Giants had become the champions of the world!
For a moment the crowd was fairly stunned. Then wild howls and yells arose and an uproar ensued that was deafening. Staid citizens forgot their dignity and danced up and down like madmen, utter strangers hugged each other, straw hats were tossed into the air or smashed on their owners’ heads. Then the crowd hurdled over the stands and swooped down on the players who were making tracks as fast as they could for the clubhouse to escape the deluge.
“A no-hit game! A triple play!” gasped McRae, as he almost wrenched Joe’s arm from its socket. “Joe, you’re a wonder. And now for that tour around the world. You’ve got to go with me, Joe. I won’t take No for an answer. You’ll be our greatest drawing card.”
How Joe accepted the invitation and the startling events that followed will be told in the next volume of the series, to be entitled: “Baseball Joe Around the World; Or, Pitching on a Grand Tour.”
It was a long time before Joe could tear himself away from his hilarious team-mates and reach his party at the Marlborough. How his mother cried over him in her joy and pride, how Mr. Matson wrung his hand and patted his shoulder hardly trusting himself to speak, how Clara hugged and kissed him, how Mabel would have liked to do the same but did not dare to, how Jim and Reggie mauled and pounded him—all this can be easily guessed. They were happy beyond all words.