Produced by Donald Cummings, Rod Crawford and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Notes: --A Table of Contents has been added by the transcriber for the convenience of the reader; it was not present in the original. --Remaining transcriber's notes are at the end of the text. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. TOUCHING SECOND 1 II. "MAKING THE TEAM" 16 III. THE "INSIDE" GAME 33 IV. THE TRIPLE PLAY 53 V. WINNING HIS SPURS 65 VI. THE FIRE 93 VII. TAKING HIS MEDICINE 107 VIII. SHOOTING THEM OVER 123 IX. A GALLANT RESCUE 144 X. A WILD RIDE 160 XI. THE NINTH INNING 182 BERT WILSON'S Fadeaway Ball BY J. W. DUFFIELD AUTHOR OF "BERT WILSON AT THE WHEEL," "BERT WILSON, MARATHON WINNER," "BERT WILSON, WIRELESS OPERATOR." Copyright, 1913, By SULLY AND KLEINTEICH _All rights reserved._ Published and Printed, 1924, by Western Printing & Lithographing Company Racine, Wisconsin Printed in U. S. A. Bert Wilson's Fadeaway Ball CHAPTER I TOUCHING SECOND Crack!--and the ball soared into center field, while the batter, swift as a flash, sped down to first. A tremendous roar went up from the thirty thousand loyal "fans" who packed the grandstands and filled the bleachers to overflowing. Staid citizens danced up and down like howling dervishes, hats were tossed into the air or jovially crushed on their owners' heads, and happy riot reigned everywhere. Pandemonium broke loose. The fight for the pennant had been a bitter one all season. First one team and then another had taken the lead, while the whole country had been as excited as though the fate of an empire hung in the balance. The third chief contender, fighting grimly to the last, had fallen hopelessly behind, and the contest had narrowed down to a life-and-death struggle between the Giants and the Cubs. The team from the Western city had hung on doggedly and every battle had been fought "for blood." Contesting every inch, they had at last drawn up on even terms with the leaders, and to-day's game was to decide which club should be hailed as champions of the National League and, later on, do battle with the leaders of the American League for the proud title of Champions of the World.