“And that isn’t all,” he went on without waiting for an answer. “I’ve got a much better chance to get into the World’s Series on the Giants than I would have on the Cardinals. McRae has won several pennants already and it’s getting to be a habit with him.”
“Is that because he is a so much better manager than those of the other teams?” asked Clara.
“Maybe not altogether,” answered Joe reflectively, “though there’s no doubt he’s one of the very best. He gets a salary of thirty thousand dollars a year”—here Mrs. Matson gasped—“and I guess he’s worth it. But he has some advantages that other managers don’t have. In the first place, there’s unlimited money behind him and if he wants anything that can be bought he goes after it regardless of price. Then too, New York is the best paying town in the whole league, and it’s to the interest of the other clubs to see that the New York team is a good one so as to draw the crowds. So that McRae’s attempt to strengthen his team doesn’t meet with such stiff opposition as some other manager’s might. But the chief thing is that he’s allowed to run the team without any interference by the owners of the club. He hires or discharges just whom he likes, and they never make a peep. In that way he can maintain discipline over his players, because they know that whatever he says goes. Oh, he’s a great manager all right, and I’m mighty glad to have a chance of playing under him.”
“Suppose you do happen to get into the World’s Series, will it mean much extra money?” asked Clara.
“I should say it would,” answered her brother. “After taking out ten per cent. of the receipts for the first four games for the National Commission, sixty per cent. of the balance goes to the winning club and forty per cent. to the losers. That makes anything from three to four thousand apiece for every member of the winning team, and from two to three thousand apiece for each member of the losing team. It’s almost like getting another year’s salary just for an extra week’s work.”
“Just that World’s Series money alone would be enough to start a nice little home with and settle down to housekeeping,” remarked Clara, with a sly glance at her brother.
Joe laughed, a little sheepishly, and again a flood of color swept over his neck and face.
“Never you mind about that,” he said loftily. “Plenty of time to think what I’ll do with the money after I get it, if I ever do. But at least I’ve got a great deal better chance than I would have had on the Cardinals. Not but what I hate to leave the old bunch,” he added a little soberly. “I’ve had a mighty good time this last year, and Watson has treated me white. Most of the others, too, were good fellows, especially Rad Chase. I wish he were going along with me.”
“The change is going to be a mighty good thing financially,” said Mr. Matson. “But leaving out the money end altogether, how do you figure that it’s going to be such an advantage to change from the St. Louis to the New Yorks?”
“Oh, in a heap of ways,” replied Joe. “For one thing, I’ll be playing before bigger crowds, and that’s always an inspiration to a pitcher. Then, too, we’re pretty sure to be well up in the race and fighting for the lead, instead of being down in the ruck. You don’t know how much difference that makes to a player. Instead of being in the doleful dumps, he’s feeling as frisky and gay as a two year old. But the most important thing of all is that with a good club he has smart, snappy fielding behind him, and that makes him feel that he’d pitch his head off to win. With the Giants’ brilliant infield behind me, many a hard-hit ball will be turned into an out where with a poorer club it would go as a hit. That helps my percentage. Oh, it will make all the difference in the world. Just watch my record from now on,” and Joe swelled out his chest, while Clara mockingly knocked her head on the table to do him reverence.