Matty was born in Factoryville, Pa., thirty-one years ago, and, after going to Bucknell College, he began to play ball with the Norfolk club of the Virginia League, but was soon bought by the New York Giants, where he has remained ever since and is likely to stay for some time to come, if he can continue to make himself as welcome as he has been so far. He was only nineteen when he joined the club and was a headliner from the start. Always he has been a student and something of a writer, having done newspaper work from time to time during the big series. He has made a careful study of the Big League batters. He has kept a sort of baseball diary of his career, and, frequently, I have heard him relate unwritten chapters of baseball history filled with the thrilling incidents of his personal experience. "Why don't you write a real book of the Big Leaguers?" I asked him one day. And he has done it. In this book he is telling the reader of the game as it is played in the Big Leagues. As a college man, he is able to put his impressions of the Big Leagues on paper graphically. It's as good as his pitching and some exciting things have happened in the Big Leagues, stories that never found their way into the newspapers. Matty has told them. This is a true tale of Big Leaguers, their habits and their methods of playing the game, written by one of them. JOHN N. WHEELER. NEW YORK, March, 1912. CONTENTS PAGE I--THE MOST DANGEROUS BATTERS I HAVE MET 1 II--"TAKE HIM OUT!" 21 III--PITCHING IN A PINCH 54 IV--BIG LEAGUE PITCHERS AND THEIR PECULIARITIES 74 V--PLAYING THE GAME FROM THE BENCH 93 VI--COACHING--GOOD AND BAD 117 VII--HONEST AND DISHONEST SIGN STEALING 140 VIII--UMPIRES AND CLOSE DECISIONS 161 IX--THE GAME THAT COST A PENNANT 183 X--WHEN THE TEAMS ARE IN SPRING TRAINING 206 XI--JINXES AND WHAT THEY MEAN TO A BALL-PLAYER 230 XII--BASE RUNNERS AND HOW THEY HELP A PITCHER TO WIN 255 XIII--NOTABLE INSTANCES WHERE THE "INSIDE" GAME HAS FAILED 381 Pitching in a Pinch Pitching in a Pinch I The Most Dangerous Batters I Have Met _How "Joe" Tinker Changed Overnight from a Weakling at the Plate to the Worst Batter I Had to Face--"Fred" Clarke of Pittsburg cannot be Fooled by a Change of Pace, and "Hans" Wagner's Only "Groove" Is a Base on Balls--"Inside" Information on All the Great Batters._ I have often been asked to which batters I have found it hardest to pitch.