Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: HE BEAT THE BALL BY A NARROW MARGIN, AND WAS DECLARED SAFE. Page 245.] Baseball Joe in the Big League OR A Young Pitcher's Hardest Struggles _By_ LESTER CHADWICK AUTHOR OF "BASEBALL JOE OF THE SILVER STARS," "BASEBALL JOE AT YALE," "BASEBALL JOE IN THE CENTRAL LEAGUE," "THE RIVAL PITCHERS," "THE EIGHT-OARED VICTORS," ETC. _ILLUSTRATED_ NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY Copyright, 1915, by CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY Baseball Joe in the Big League Printed in U. S. A. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I TWO LETTERS 1 II TO THE RESCUE 11 III AN UPSET 19 IV AN APPEAL 30 V THE THREAT 38 VI A WARNING 46 VII BASEBALL TALK 54 VIII THE QUARREL 61 IX JOE IS DRAFTED 70 X OFF TO ST. LOUIS 77 XI GOING DOWN SOUTH 87 XII THE QUARRELING MAN 97 XIII UNDER SUNNY SKIES 103 XIV HARD WORK 112 XV ANOTHER THREAT 122 XVI JOE'S TRIUMPH 129 XVII "PLAY BALL!" 140 XVIII HOT WORDS 148 XIX JOE GOES IN 153 XX STAGE FRIGHT 162 XXI A QUEER MESSAGE 175 XXII IN DANGER 182 XXIII A LAME ARM 191 XXIV A TIGHT GAME 201 XXV IN NEW YORK 208 XXVI ADRIFT 217 XXVII THE RESCUE 223 XXVIII MOVING PICTURES 229 XXIX SHALLEG'S DOWNFALL 234 XXX THE HARDEST BATTLE 240 BASEBALL JOE IN THE BIG LEAGUE CHAPTER I TWO LETTERS "Whew!" whistled Joe Matson, the astonishment on his bronzed face being indicated by his surprised exclamation of: "Well, what do you know about that, Sis?" "What is it, Joe?" asked his sister Clara, as she looked up from a letter she was reading to see her brother staring at a sheet of paper he had just withdrawn from an envelope, for the morning mail had been delivered a few minutes before. "What is it?" the girl went on, laying aside her own correspondence. "Is it anything serious--anything about father's business? Don't tell me there is more trouble, Joe!"