CHAPTER XXX
THE FINAL BATTLE
The game was to be played on the Polo Grounds, and excitement was atfever heat. It seemed as though the whole male population of GreaterNew York had determined to see that game. Men waited in line all night,and from early morning the surface cars and elevated trains were packedwith people going to the grounds.
The weather was fair, and the lovers of the game had a day that was allthat could be desired. The turf had been rolled and groomed till itlooked like green velvet.
The odds were in the Giants' favor, because they were the strongerteam and because they were playing on their own grounds. Still, theyhad been whipped by the same team before on the same grounds, and theymight be again. And the nervous tension they were under because of theimportance of the game made them the more liable to break at criticalpoints in the contest. The Brooklyns, on the other hand, had nothingto lose, and for that very reason might be the cooler-headed.
McRae had picked Joe as his pitching "ace" for this deciding contest.Grimm had been selected as the boxman for the delegation from acrossthe bridge. At the moment, he was going better than any other of theDodgers' staff, and any team that whipped him would know at least thatit had been in a fight.
But on that day Joe feared no pitcher in the League. He was inmagnificent shape in mind and body. In the preliminary practice withMylert he made the latter wince, as the balls came over smoking hot.
"Save that stuff for the Brooklyns, Joe," Mylert protested, "or you'llhave me a cripple before the bell rings."
Not only Joe's arm but his heart felt good that day. Mabel was sittingin a box, watching him proudly, and he felt that he simply couldn'tlose. She was his mascot, and he carried near his heart the littleglove that had rested there when he won the championship of the world.
Beside her sat Clara, flushed and happy and as sweet as a rose. She hadcome on from Riverside, bringing the glad news that Mrs. Matson wasmaking astonishing progress and had now almost entirely regained herhealth.
So it was with a mind at peace and spirits high that Joe faced thedoughty sluggers of the team from across the big bridge.
From the very start, it was apparent that he had "everything." Neverhad he been in finer form. Brain and muscle worked in perfect unison.Every ball he pitched had a reason behind it. He knew the weaknesses ofevery batter, and played upon them. The man who was death on low ballsgot a high one, and _vice versa_. His speed, his change of pace, hiscurve, his fadeaway, his hop, his control--all of these obeyed him asthough under the spell of a magician. If ever a man made a ball "talk,"Joe did that day.
Again and again the Brooklyns switched their tactics. Sometimes theylashed out at the first ball pitched. Again they tried to wait him out.These failing, they resorted to bunting. Nothing was of any avail. Theywere simply up against unhittable pitching.
Inning after inning went by without a score. In the fourth, Naylor madea scratch, and in the seventh, Leete hit the ball for a clean single.But on these occasions, Joe tightened up, and no man got as far assecond, despite the desperate efforts of their comrades to advance therunner.
Grimm, too, was pitching fine ball, but not by any means airtight. TheGiants had gotten to him for six hits, but, with one exception, no twohad been allowed in the same inning, and the Giants were as scorelessas their opponents.
Grimm had thought discretion the better part of valor when Joe hadfaced him, and had twice passed him deliberately to first. The boosof the spectators failed to disturb Grimm's equanimity. His motto was"safety first." On a third occasion, his cunning miscarried, and Joe,walking into the ball in desperation, had clouted it for a two baser.But as two were out at the time and the next man fanned, he was leftholding second.
In the ninth, Joe put on extra steam and fanned three men in a row,amid the cheers of the Giant rooters.
Then the Giants came in for their last half. Grimm made Burkett hita grounder to first that was an easy out. Larry sent a Texas leaguerbehind second that was gathered in by the guardian of that bag. ThenJoe came to the bat.
Grimm still had no mind to give him a hit, and the first two balls werewide of the plate. He tried to put the third in the same place, but hiscontrol faltered and the ball came within Joe's reach.
There was a mighty crash, and the ball started on a line between rightand center. At the crack of the bat, Joe was off like a frightenedjackrabbit. He rounded first and started for second.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the right- and centerfieldersrunning for the ball, which had struck the ground and was rollingtoward the wall. He knew that it would rebound, and that one of thefielders would "play the angle," and thus get it the sooner.
The people in the stands had risen now, and were shouting like madmen.He caught just one glimpse of Mabel, standing in her box with her handspressed on her heart.
He made second and kept on for third. On and on he went, as though onwings. His heart beat like a trip hammer. His lungs seemed as thoughthey would burst. The wind whistled in his ears. He had never run likethat in his life.
He rounded third and made for home. The ball was coming, as he knewfrom the shouts of the spectators and the warning yells of hiscomrades. Down that white stretch he tore. He saw the catcher sethimself for the coming ball, knew from his eyes that the ball was near.With one mighty leap, he threw himself to the ground in a marveloushook slide that swung his body out of the catcher's reach and yetjust permitted his outstretched fingers to touch the plate before thecatcher put the ball on him.
"Safe!" cried the umpire. The game was won, the pennant cinched, andthe Giants once more were the champions of the National League.
What Mabel thought of Joe she told him privately. What McRae andRobbie and his teammates thought of him they told him publicly. Whatthe newspapers thought of him they told the world. As pitcher, asbatter, and as captain, Baseball Joe was proclaimed the king of themall.
And what Mr. and Mrs. Matson, the former happy because of the successof his invention, the latter because of her restoration to health,thought of their famous son they told to him a few weeks later at awedding ceremony in the Riverside home, when Clara placed her hand inJim's and made him the happiest of men.
THE END
Baseball Joe, Captain of the Team; or, Bitter Struggles on the Diamond Page 30