.

"I mean how much coin did you pay him?"

"You know I didn't have anything to do with it!" our hero fired back.
"He asked me for my record, and I gave it to him. I didn't know he was
going to write that."

"A likely story," grumbled Willard.

The other pitchers did not say so much, but it was clear they did not
like the "roasting" they got. But it was not Joe's doing.

There were shifts and re-shifts, there were hard feelings manifested,
and gotten over. But nothing could disguise the fact that the Cardinals
were in a "slump."

Loyal as the St. Louis "fans" were to their teams, when they were on the
winning side, it was not in human nature to love a losing nine.

So that it got to be the fashion to refer to the Cardinals as "losing
again." And this did not make for good ball playing, either. There were
sore hearts among the players when they assembled in the clubhouse after
successive defeats.

Not that the Cardinals lost all the time. No team could do that, and
stay in the big league. But they never got to the top of the second
division, and even that was not much of an honor to strive for. Still,
it was better than nothing.

Joe pitched occasionally, and, when he did there was a little
improvement, at times. But of course he was not a veteran, and once or
twice he was wild.

Then the paper which bore the least friendliness to the Cardinals took
a different tack. It laughed at the manager for sending in a young
pitcher when a veteran was needed.

"Say, I'd like to know just what those fellows want me to do!" Mr.
Watson exclaimed one day, after a particularly severe roast. "I can't
seem to please 'em, no matter what I do."

"Don't let 'em get your goat," advised his coach. "Go on. Keep going.
We'll strike a winning streak yet, and mark my words, it will be Joe
Matson who'll pull us out of a hole."

"He hasn't done so well yet," objected Mr. Watson, dubiously.

"No, and it's because he hasn't exactly found himself. He is a bit
nervous yet. Give him time."

"And stay in the cellar?"

"Well, but what are you going to do?" reasoned the other. "Cooney and
Barter aren't pitching such wonderful ball."

"No, that's true, but they can generally pull up in a tight place. I'd
send Matson in oftener than I do, only I'm afraid he'll blow up when the
crises comes. He is a good pitcher, I admit that, but he isn't seasoned
yet. The Central League and the National are a wide distance apart."

"That's true. But