“Do you remember the game we played with Pittsburgh when I came near to having my head knocked off by that throw from short center to the plate? The ball whizzed past my ear with the force of a bullet. If it had hit me, it would have been good night for yours truly.”
“I remember,” replied Jim. “I was sitting near McRae on the bench in the dugout, and the old boy went white as he saw what a narrow escape you had.”
“Well, then, do you remember who it was that threw that ball?”
“Reddy Hupft!” exclaimed Jim. “He came in from center and got the ball only a little way back of second base. Then he threw to the plate to get Reilly, who was coming in from third.”
“Yes,” said Joe. “And you know that throwing to the plate is his long suit. But that day it didn’t go to the plate. I had run out of the way so that he could have a clear field, and the ball followed me. It was altogether out of Mylert’s reach, and the runner scored. It was marked up against Hupft as an error.”
“Great Scott!” cried Jim aghast. “Do you mean that he tried to injure you?”
“I’m not saying anything,” replied Joe. “I’m just stating the cold facts. One thing more. In that game with Cincinnati last week you remember that I knocked out a homer in the ninth. At least I thought it was a homer. It had gone down to the fence, and I was nearly at third when Gallagher got his hands on the ball. I knew I could make the plate, but just as I was rounding third, McCarney, who was coaching at that corner, got in my way and I went down, heels over head. It was just by an eyelash that I was able to get to my feet and scramble back to third before the ball got there.”
“I remember that Robbie gave him a good ragging for his clumsiness,” remarked Jim.
“Clumsiness!” repeated Joe, dwelling significantly on the word. “If ever a man was deliberately tripped, I was that man. I felt his spikes as I went down. Going at the pace I was, I might have broken my leg or my neck. As it was, my ankle was sore for days.”
“The skunks!” cried Jim, seething with rage that had been steadily growing as one after another of these facts was brought to his attention. “They ought to be blacklisted and put out of the league forever. You ought to expose them.”