urse I could try to hold
them to their contracts, but you know as well as I do that baseball
contracts are more a matter of honesty than of legal obligation. If a man
is straight, he'll keep it, if he's crooked, he'll break it. And you know
what a hole it would leave in the Giant team if those three men went over
the fence. There isn't a heavier slugger in the team than Burkett, except
Larry. His batting average this year was .332, and as a fielding first
baseman he's the class of the league."

"You're right there," acquiesced Joe, as he recalled the ease and
precision with which Burkett took them on either side and dug them out of
the dirt. "He's saved a game for me many and many a time."

"As for Iredell," went on McRae, "he hasn't his equal in playing short and
in covering second as the pivot for a double play. And nobody has played
the infield as Curry does since I've been manager of the team."

"It would certainly break the Giants all up to lose the three of them,"
agreed Joe. "But we haven't lost them yet. Remember that the game isn't
over till the last man is out in the ninth inning."

"I know that. You've helped me win two fights this year, Joe, one for the
championship of the league and the other for the championship of the
world. Now I'm counting on you to help me win a third, perhaps the hardest
of them all."

"Put 'er there, Mac," said Joe, extending his hand. "Shake--I'm with you
till the cows come home."

"Of course, they'll be willing to put up big money, Joe. You know that
already."

"It doesn't make a particle of difference, Mac, how much money they put
up," returned the crack pitcher warmly. "There isn't enough cash in the
U. S. treasury to tempt me."

"I know that, Joe. And I only wish that I could be as certain of the rest
of the players."

"Well, of course, I can't speak for the others. But you can be sure that
I'll use my influence on the right side every time. Some of them may
weaken and break away, but I doubt very much if they'll be any of your
main-stays. If I were you, Mac, I wouldn't let this worry me too much."

"Yes, I know it's getting on my nerves, Joe, because, you see, it means so
much to me. But having you on my side has braced me up a good deal," went
on the manager.

They shook hands warmly, and McRae, evidently encouraged and braced by the
talk with his star pitcher, made his way back to his own immediate party.

The teams were slated to play in Salt Lake City and in O