Baseball Joe is the fictional hero of a number of children's books written by

Howard R. Garis Howard Roger Garis ( – ) was an American author, best known for a series of books that featured the character of Uncle Wiggily Longears, an engaging elderly rabbit. Many of his books were illustrated by Lansing Campbell. Garis and his wife, Li ...

under the name of "Lester Chadwick". The series follows the main character, a star

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player named Joe Matson, from high school to college (at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

) and then to success as a professional. The "Baseball Joe" series was produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and published by

Cupples & Leon Cupples & Leon was an American publishing company founded in 1902 by Victor I. Cupples (1864–1941) and Arthur T. Leon (1867–1943). They published juvenile fiction and children's books but are mainly remembered today as the major publi ...

. Some sources credit

Edward Stratemeyer Edward L. Stratemeyer (; October 4, 1862 – May 10, 1930) was an American publisher, writer of children's fiction, and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1,300 ...

with writing unspecified books in the series"Guide to Juvenile Baseball Books: Lester Chadwick"
Retrieved November 19, 2013. Another source cites John W. Duffield as the author of the last nine books in the series."LibraryThing: Lester Chadwick"
Retrieved November 19, 2013.

Character career

Joe Matson began playing baseball when he was just a kid. From then on, baseball was all he cared about. During various school teams he was on, rival players were sore at him but they never gave him any real trouble until he got to high school and college. They tried various things, such as kidnapping and framing. However, the "villains" are usually found out. Meanwhile, his mother wanted Joe to go to college, so he went on to

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. However, "Momsey" really wanted Joe to be a pastor, but in truth Joe only went to Yale for baseball. He was picked up by a scout and made it to the minors, and after just one year was sent to the majors. Even though rivals still attempted to "lay him up," and they were almost never found out or arrested. When Joe found out who was causing him trouble, he gave them a good thrashing. He eventually became a great pitcher and hitter, as well as the captain of the New York Giants, who are now the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

. ite

Personal life

Baseball Joe has one sister, Clara. She falls in love and eventually marries Jim, Joe's best friend. Baseball Joe's mother, who he calls Momsey, wishes Joe had higher hopes than just playing baseball, but she changes her mind after she finds out how well paid Joe is. Joe's father is an inventor of farming machinery. Joe himself is married to Mabel.

The Baseball Joe Series

# Baseball Joe of the Silver Stars, or The Rivals of Riverside - 1912 # Baseball Joe on the School Nine, or Pitching for the Blue Banner - 1912 # Baseball Joe at Yale, or Pitching for the College Championship - 1913 # Baseball Joe in the Central League, or Making Good as a Professional Pitcher - 1914 # Baseball Joe in the Big League, or A Young Pitcher's Hardest Struggles - 1915 # Baseball Joe on the Giants, or Making Good as a Ball Twirler in the Metropolis - 1916 # Baseball Joe in the World Series, or Pitching for the Championship - 1917 # Baseball Joe Around the World, or Pitching on a Grand Tour - 1918 # Baseball Joe, Home Run King, or The Greatest Pitcher and Batter on Record - 1922 # Baseball Joe Saving the League, or Breaking Up a Great Conspiracy - 1923 # Baseball Joe Captain of the Team, or Bitter Struggles on the Diamond - 1924 # Baseball Joe Champion of the League, or The Record that was Worth While - 1925 # Baseball Joe Club Owner, or Putting the Home Town on the Map - 1926 # Baseball Joe Pitching Wizard, or Triumphs Off and On the Diamond - 1928

References

External links

The Baseball Joe Page
at seriesbooks.info
Baseball Joe
at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

* {{Early Juvenile Series Literary characters introduced in 1912 Book series introduced in 1912 Fictional baseball players Stratemeyer Syndicate Characters in children's literature Juvenile series Baseball novels American young adult novels