Baseball Joe, Home Run King; or, The Greatest Pitcher and Batter on Record

by Lester Chadwick

  CHAPTER XII

  JIM'S WINNING WAYS

  "Good boy, Jim!" cried Joe, as his chum came in to the bench. "You putthe Indian sign on that fellow all right. Just hold them down and trustto the boys to bat in some runs to even up the score."

  But if the boys had any such intentions they certainly took their timeabout it. Larry, to be sure, poled out a long hit to right that had allthe signs of a homer, but Astley backed up and fairly picked it off thewall. Denton cracked out a single between first and second. Jim hitsharply to third, and O'Connor by a superb stop got the ball to firstin time, Denton in the meantime reaching second. Mylert swung savagelyat the ball, but it went up straight in the air and Dawley gathered itin.

  In their half of the second, the Pittsburghs increased their lead tofive. O'Connor struck out on the first three balls pitched, but Jenkinscaught the ball on the nose for a single to center. Curry thought hehad a chance to make a catch, and ran in for it, instead of waiting forit on a bound. By this mistake of judgment the ball got past him, andbefore it could be retrieved Jenkins by fast running had crossed theplate. Dawley was easy on a bounder to Willis, and Ralston, in tryingto duck away from a high incurve, struck the ball with his bat and sentit rolling to Burkett for an out.

  "Not much nourishment for us in that inning," muttered McRae, as hewatched the man chalking up another run for Pittsburgh on the bigscoreboard at the side of the field.

  "No," agreed Robbie. "But you'll notice that the run wasn't earned.If that hit had been played right, Jenkins would have been held for asingle."

  "Give them a row of goose eggs, Dawley," was the advice shouted to thePittsburgh pitcher, as he stepped into the box.

  Dawley grinned with supreme confidence. And for the third and fourthinning his confidence seemed justified. The ball came zipping over theplate with all sorts of twists and contortions, and the Giants seemedhelpless before him. They either struck out or put up feeble fliesand fouls that were easily gathered up. Only one hit went outside thediamond and that plumped square into the hands of the waiting centerfielder.

  But in the meantime, the Pittsburghs were getting a little uneasyabout the kind of pitching that Jim was sending across. His fast ballwent so swiftly that the eye could scarcely follow it. He had perfectcontrol, and the "hop" on the ball just before it got to the platewas working to perfection. The way he worked the corners of the platewas a revelation. And in the fourth inning, when he struck out theside on nine pitched balls, a ripple of applause was forced from thespectators, despite their desire to see the home team win.

  "You're going like a house afire, old man," exclaimed Joe, as theGiants came in for their turn.

  "That's what he is," agreed Robbie, who had overheard the remark. "Butit won't do any good unless our boys wake up and do something withtheir bats. That five run lead is bad medicine."

  It did not look any better to the Giants than it did to Robbie, andin the fifth inning they began to come to life. Dawley, for the firsttime, seemed to be a little shaky in his control. He passed Iredelland then tried to fool Burkett on a slow ball. But the latter timedit exactly and poled it out between left and center for a beautifulthree-bagger. Iredell scored easily and a roar went up from the men inthe Giants' dugout as he crossed the plate.

  "Here's where we start a rally, boys!" cried Robbie. "Every man on histoes now. Here's where we send this pitcher to the showers."

  Wheeler went to the plate with directions to sacrifice, which he didneatly by sending a slow roller to first, on which Burkett scored.Willis clipped out a liner to right, which was really only good for asingle, but in trying to stretch it to a two baser he fell a victim atsecond. Then Larry came to the bat.

  "Show them that your layoff hasn't hurt your batting eye, Larry," sangout McRae.

  The first ball was wide, and Larry held his bat motionless. On thesecond offering he fouled off. The third was about waist high, andLarry swung at it. The ball soared off to right field and landed in thebleachers. It was a clean home run and Larry trotted easily around thebases, a broad grin on his good-natured Irish face.

  "We're finding him!" shouted McRae. "We've got him going! Now, Denton,put another one in the same place."

  Denton did his best, but it was not good enough. Dawley had tightenedup and was sending the ball over the plate as though thrown from acatapult. Two strikes were called on Denton, and then he put up a flyjust back of second which Baskerville caught in good style.

  The inning was over, but the Giants felt better. There was a bigdifference between five to none and five to three. Besides, they hadlearned that Dawley could be hit.

  "Keep them down, Jim, and we'll put you in the lead next inning,"prophesied Larry, as he passed him on his way out to second.

  Jim proceeded at once to keep them down. He had never been in betterform. The three runs that his mates had scored had put new heart in himand he made the Pittsburghs "eat out of his hand." They simply couldnot get going against him.

  His sharp breaking curve had their best batters completely at sea. Theywere swinging in bewilderment at balls that they could not reach. Forthe next three innings not a man reached first base and in the eighthinning he mowed them down on strikes as fast as they came to the plate.

  "Oh, if we'd only started the game with him!" groaned McRae, as theeighth inning ended with the score unchanged.

  For in the meantime Larry's prophecy had not been fulfilled that theGiant batsmen would gain the lead. They had been hitting more freelythan in the early part of the game, but had been batting in hard luck.Every ball they hit seemed to go straight to some fielder, and thePittsburghs were giving their pitcher magnificent support. There wasone gleam of hope in the eighth, when with two men out, a Giant wasroosting on second and another on third. But hope went glimmering whenBurkett's hoist to center was easily gathered in by Ralston.

  "We can win yet," crowed Robbie, with a confidence he was far fromfeeling, as the Giants entered on their last inning. "There's many agame been won in the ninth. Go in now and knock him out of the box."

  Wheeler started in with a single that just escaped the outstretchedhands of Baskerville. McRae himself ran down to first to coach him.Willis followed with another single on which Wheeler went all the wayto third. It looked as though the long-hoped for rally had at lastcommenced.

  But a groan went up from the Giant dugout when Willis, on the next ballpitched, started for second and was nailed by three feet. Still Larrywas next at bat, and his comrades, remembering his last home run, urgedhim to repeat.

  Larry was only too eager to do so, and on the second ball pitchedlaced it to right field for what looked to be a homer but went foul bya few feet only. The next was a missed strike. Two balls followed inquick succession and then, with the count three to two, slapped out arattling two-bagger to center. Wheeler scored and the tally was five tofour in Pittsburgh's favor.

  Then to Joe's surprise McRae beckoned him from the dugout.

  "What's the big idea?" Joe asked, as he came up to his manager.

  "I'm going to put you in as a pinch hitter," answered McRae. "I'drather take a chance on you than Denton. Get in there now and knock thecover off the ball."

  There was a gasp of surprise from the stands. In their experienceit was usually a pitcher who was taken out to make room for a pinchhitter. It was almost unheard of that the procedure should be reversed.To them it seemed a sign that McRae was at the end of his rope, andthere were catcalls and shouts of derision as Joe came to the plate.And these redoubled in volume as he missed the first ball that Dawleysent over.

  "What did I tell you, boys?"

  "Nit, on that!"

  "Matson is all right as a pitcher, but as a batter, nothing doing."

  "Give him two more like that, Dawley!"

  "Take your time, Joe!"

  "Make him give you the kind you want!"

  "Here is where Pittsburgh chews the Giants up!"

  "Maybe you can do it somewhere else, but you can't do it here!"

  "
One, two, three, Dawley, remember."

  So the calls ran on as Joe waited for the pitcher to deliver the sphereagain.

  The Pittsburgh rooters thought they had Joe's "goat" and they wereprepared to make the most of it. They began a chorus of yells andgroans that grew louder and louder.

  They stopped suddenly as Joe caught the next ball about a foot from theend of his bat. There was a mighty crack and the ball soared up and upinto the sky over right field. The fielders started to run for it andthen stopped short in their tracks, throwing up their hands in despair.The ball cleared the bleachers, cleared the wall, and went through thewindow of a house on the other side of the street.

  Joe had started running like a deer at the crack of the bat, but as herounded first McRae shouted at him to take his time, and he completedthe rest of his journey at a jog trot, Larry of course having precededhim. There was a wild jubilee at the plate. Robbie threw dignity to thewinds and danced a jig, and Joe was sore from the thumping of his mates.

  "The longest hit that's ever been made on Forbes Field!" cried Larryexultingly.

  "Old Honus Wagner in his best days never made such a clout," joined inJim. "Joe, old boy, you've saved the game."

  "It isn't over yet," cautioned Joe smilingly; "but if you keep upthe same brand of pitching you've been showing us, they won't have aChinaman's chance."

  The next two batters were easy outs and the Giants' half was over. ThePittsburghs came in for their last chance, determined to do or die. Itwas exasperating for them to have the game snatched from them when theywere just about to put it on their side of the ledger. But Jim put outthe first one on a puny fly and sent the last two back to the bench bythe strike-out route--and the game was over.

  In their first clash with the redoubtable Pittsburghs, the Giants hadwon by six to five!