Baseball Joe in the Big League

"Baseball Joe in the Big League" is the fifth volume in the Baseball Joe series, written by Lester Chadwick, a house pseudonym created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate in the early to mid-1900s. The series follows the ambitious journey of "Baseball Joe" Matson, who dreams of becoming a professional baseball pitcher. In this installment, Joe's dreams come true as he is drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the major leagues. However, his successful pitching season is plagued by various misfortunes. It all starts with a request for a loan from a washed-up ball player and escalates to the kidnapping of our hero. It is believed that Howard R. Garis, a contract writer for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, ghost-wrote most, if not all, of the 14-volume Baseball Joe series.