most interested. I might
tell of the desperate chances the Cardinals took to gain runs, and of
the exceptionally good stick work they did, against the redoubtable
pitcher of the Giants.

For a time this pitcher held his opponents to scattering hits. Then, for
a fatal moment, he went up in the air. It was a break that was at once
taken advantage of by the Cardinals. They slammed out two terrific hits,
and, as there were men on bases, the most was made of them. Two wild
throws, something exceptional for the Giants, added to the luck, and
when the excitement was over the Cardinals had tied the game.

"Oh, wow!"

"Now, we've got 'em going!"

"Only one run to win, boys!"

"Hold 'em down, Joe!"

Thus came the wild cries from the stands. Excitement was at its height.

There was a hasty consultation between the peerless pitcher and the
veteran catcher. They had gone up in the air, but now they were down to
earth again. From then on, until the beginning of the ninth inning, the
Cardinals did not cross home plate, and they got very few hits. It was a
marvelous exhibition of ball twirling.

But if the Giant pitcher did well, Joe did even better, when you
consider that he was only rounding out his first season in a big league,
and that he was up against a veteran of national fame, the announcement
that he was going to be in the game being sufficient to attract a large
throng.

"Good work, old man! Good work!" called Boswell, when Joe came to the
bench one inning, after having allowed but one hit. "Can you keep it
up?"

"I--I hope so."

It was a great battle--a hard battle. The Giants worked every trick they
knew to gain another run, but the score remained a tie. Goose egg after
goose egg went up on the score board. The ninth inning had started with
the teams still even.

"We've just _got_ to get that run!" declared Manager Watson. "We've just
_got_ to get it. Joe, you are to bat first. See if you can't get a hit!"

Pitchers are proverbially weak hitters. One ingenious theory for it is
that they are so used to seeing the ball shooting away from them, and
toward the batter, that, when the positions are reversed, and they see
the ball coming toward them they get nervous.

"Ball!" was the umpire's first decision in Joe's favor. The young
pitcher was rather surprised, for he knew the prowess of his opponent.

And then Joe decided on what might have proved to be a foolish thing.

"I'm going to think that the next one