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Baseball Joe #2
Baseball Joe on the School Nine
Baseball Joe on the School Nine By Lester Chadwick
90 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1912
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 1, 2025
Baseball Joe on the School Nine, or Pitching for the Blue Banner is a 1912 novel written for children and young teens. It was part of a series, published by the same people who later put out the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries.
The Baseball Joe referred to in the title is Joe Matson. Joe attends Excelsior Hall, a boarding school with a pretty good baseball team. He hopes to make the team and become the starting pitcher. He demonstrates his pitching prowess in a snowball fight and has many supporters among the student body. Unfortunately, the baseball team is managed by Hiram, who doesn't like Joe and stubbornly insists on choosing his own pitcher. The novel tells how Hiram mismanages the team, and how Joe's supporters pressure Hiram and the school administration to make room for Joe in the pitching rotation. Does Joe finally make the team? Does he lead them to the championship (symbolized by the Blue Banner mentioned in the title)? Of course he does. In these children's novels the good guy always wins.
Baseball Joe on the School Nine is filled with wholesome goodness. Will a novel published almost 115 years ago appeal to today's children? I doubt it, although most kids would benefit more by reading this book than playing video games. Surprisingly, you can order a hard copy of this book from Amazon. If you like reading old children's books, this one is as good as any. Otherwise, there's not much of interest in this volume.
The Baseball Joe referred to in the title is Joe Matson. Joe attends Excelsior Hall, a boarding school with a pretty good baseball team. He hopes to make the team and become the starting pitcher. He demonstrates his pitching prowess in a snowball fight and has many supporters among the student body. Unfortunately, the baseball team is managed by Hiram, who doesn't like Joe and stubbornly insists on choosing his own pitcher. The novel tells how Hiram mismanages the team, and how Joe's supporters pressure Hiram and the school administration to make room for Joe in the pitching rotation. Does Joe finally make the team? Does he lead them to the championship (symbolized by the Blue Banner mentioned in the title)? Of course he does. In these children's novels the good guy always wins.
Baseball Joe on the School Nine is filled with wholesome goodness. Will a novel published almost 115 years ago appeal to today's children? I doubt it, although most kids would benefit more by reading this book than playing video games. Surprisingly, you can order a hard copy of this book from Amazon. If you like reading old children's books, this one is as good as any. Otherwise, there's not much of interest in this volume.
March 5, 2014
There are only a few people left who was alive when this book came out, but the game of baseball hasn't changed that much. This is the second of a series of Baseball Joe novels that came out early in the 20th century. It is written like much of the juvenile literature was written at the time with campy dialogue, way too innocent characters, and a sweet charm. Because baseball at the time is still recognizable today, I think that today's youth (around 10 to 11 year olds) would get into this series. The writing is old, the times have changed, but it still is a good yarn.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews