CHAPTER XXVII
CHAMPIONS OF THE LEAGUE
"There are three more of the bellboys doing various errands about thehotel," replied the clerk. "If you gentlemen will wait around they'llbe back in a few minutes."
"All right, we'll wait," said Joe.
Before long, all the bellboys were back, and Joe had had a good look atthe entire staff. Not one resembled the boy who had come to his room.
"I can't understand it," mused the clerk, to whom the boys had beencareful not to impart their suspicions. "It must have been sent in bysomebody from the outside. It's certain that it wasn't sent up fromhere."
"Oh, well," said Joe carelessly, "it doesn't matter. I just wantedto find out, so that I could thank the one who did it. Sorry to havetroubled you."
They strolled off indifferently and returned to their room.
"'Thank' is good," said Jim, as soon as they were out of earshot.
"I'll thank him all right," replied Joe grimly. "In fact I'll thank himso warmly that it will stagger him."
"May I be there to see!" replied Jim gruffly. "I can figure out thewhole thing now. Fleming had had that lemonade doped and it was meantto put you out of business. It was easy to find out what hotel you werestopping at, as that's been in all the papers. Then it was a simplething to glance over the register and get the number of your room. He'seither got a bellboy from some other hotel or dressed up somebody ina bellboy's uniform. He's probably bribed him well, and it's been allthe easier because he didn't have to let on to the boy that there wasanything crooked about it. Told him perhaps that he was just playinga little joke on a friend or something like that. There's the wholestory."
"I guess that's about right," agreed Joe. "Gee, Jim, it's mighty luckythat you knocked that glass out of my hand. I had noticed that ittasted rather bitter, but put that down to too little sugar."
"Let's send some of the stuff to a chemist and have it analyzed,"suggested Jim.
"No," objected Joe, "that wouldn't do any good. The thing would be aptto get into the papers, and that's the very thing we mustn't let happenfor the sake of the folks at home. We know enough about the stuff tobe sure that it was doctored in some way. Everything about the incidenttells of crookedness. Fleming was probably the master hand, although hemay have simply been the tool of Braxton. Those fellows are running upa heavy account, and some day I hope we'll get the goods on them. We'lljust dump the stuff out so that nobody else will be injured. Then we'lllay low but keep our eyes open. It's all that we can do."
"Gee, that was one dandy homer, Joe," said the catcher some time later.
"Best ever," added the first baseman.
"Oh, I don't know," answered the young ball player modestly. "I thinkI have done better. But it was great to carry it along to eleveninnings," he added, with a smile.
"That tenth had me almost going," said the shortstop. "We came close tospilling the beans," and he shook his head seriously.
"Well, 'all's well that ends well,' as Socrates said to General Grant,"and Joe grinned.
From Chicago the Giants jumped to St. Louis, where, despite thestiffest kind of resistance, they took three games out of four. Theywere not quite as successful in Cincinnati, where the best they couldget was an even break. The Reds saw a chance to come in third, in whichcase they would have a share in the World Series money, and they wereshowing the best ball that they had played all season. The Giants hadall they could do to nose them out in the last game, which went toeleven innings and was only won by a home run by Joe in the wind-up.
Seven games out of twelve for a team on the road was not bad, but itwould have been worse if the Pirates, in the meantime, had not also hada rocky road to travel. The Brooklyns had helped their friends acrossthe bridge by taking the Pittsburghs into camp to the tune of threegames out of four and the Bostons had broken even. With the Phillies,however, the Pirates had made a clean sweep of the four games. So whenthe Giants faced their most formidable foes, they still had the lead offour games with which they had begun their Western trip.
This, of course, gave the Giants the edge on their rivals. ThePittsburghs would have to win the whole four games to draw up on eventerms with the leaders. In that case a deciding game would be necessaryto break the tie. On the other hand all the Giants had to do was to winone game of the four and they would have the championship cinched. Andthat they would do at least that seemed almost a certainty.
But nothing is certain in baseball, as soon became evident. Perhapsit was overconfidence or a sense of already being on easy street thatcaused the Giants to lose the first game. That, however, could not besaid of the second, when the Giants "played their heads off," Jim said,and yet could not win against the classy pitching and stonewall defenseput up by the Smoky City team. Things were beginning to look seriousfor the Giants, and some of their confidence was vanishing.
Still more serious did they become when the third game went into thePirates' basket. Jim pitched in that game and twirled wonderful ball,but his support was ragged, and several Pirate blows that ought to havebeen outs were registered ultimately as runs. They were unearned runs,but they counted in the final score as much as though they had been dueto the team's hitting. The Giants were long-faced and gloomy.
McRae was clearly worried. If the next game were lost, the leaderswould be tied, and the Pirates would still have a chance to win. Itwould be a bitter pill to swallow if the Giants lost the flag just whenit had seemed that all was over except the shouting.
Moreover, the manager was in a quandary. All his first string pitchershad been beaten. His best one in active service at the present time,Jim, had pitched that day and it would not do to ask him to go into thebox again to-morrow. In his desperation he turned to Joe.
"Joe," he said, "we're up against it unless you can help us out. Howis your hand feeling? Would you dare to take a chance with it?"
"I think it's all right now, or nearly so," replied Joe. "I've beentrying it out in practice right along, and it seems to me it's about asgood as ever. I was putting them over to Mylert yesterday, and he toldme he couldn't see any difference between them and those I threw beforeI was hurt. The only thing I'm a little skittish about is my fadeaway.That gives me a little twinge when I try it. But I guess I can leavethat out and still pull through."
"That's good!" ejaculated McRae, with great relief. "Go in then, oldboy, and show these pesky Pirates where they get off. We simply mustwin this game."
There was a startled murmur among the spectators who thronged ForbesField that afternoon when they saw Joe go into the box. They had beengloating over the supposition that McRae would have to use again one ofthe pitchers whom the Pirates had already beaten in that series, andthe way their pets were going, they looked for a sure victory. Now theysaw the man who had always baffled the Pittsburghs again take up thepitcher's burden, and their faces took on a look of apprehension.
The Pirate players too shared in that apprehension. They had a profoundrespect for Joe's ability, and had always had a sinking of the heartwhen they saw him draw on his glove. Still, they comforted themselveswith the hope that his long layoff had hurt his effectiveness, and theybraced to give him the battle of his life.
Joe himself felt a thrill of exultation when he stepped on the mound.That was his throne. There he had won the laurels that crowned him asthe greatest pitcher of his League. Now he was back again, back tobuoy up the spirit of his team, back to justify the confidence of hismanager, back to uphold his fame, back to bring the championship of theNational League once more to New York.
He still carried in his pocket Mabel's glove, that he had come toregard as his mascot. He touched it now. Then he wound up for the firstpitch and split the plate for a strike.
It was an auspicious beginning of one of the greatest games he had everpitched in his whole career. The Pirates simply did not have a chance.All through the game they were swinging wildly at a ball that seemed tobe bewitched, a ball that dodged their bats and appeared to be laughingat them. Angered and
bewildered, they tried every device to avoidimpending defeat. They bunted, they put in pinch hitters, they calledthe umpire's attention to Joe's delivery in the hope of rattling him,they tried to get hit with the ball.
Through it all, Joe kept on smiling and mowing them down. Only threemen got to first. Not one got to second. Thirteen men went out onstrikes. And then, to cap the climax, Joe sent a screaming homer intothe right field bleachers, sending in two men ahead of him.
The final score was 8 to 0. The Giants had won the championship of theNational League. Now they were to battle for the championship of theworld!