Sports Fiction, July 1948

Catalog Note This July 1948 issue of *Sports Fiction* magazine contains four baseball novelets and two stories in other sports. The featured novelet "Meal Ticket on the Mound" by T.W. Ford concerns Blackie George, a dominant pitcher for the Trojans, known as "The Big Beaut" for his exceptional talent and confidence. During a crucial game, George makes a spectacular bare-handed play but severely injures his left shoulder when he falls on wet grass, sustaining a ligament separation and bone bruise that sidelines him for approximately ten days. The injury threatens the Trojans' pennant hopes as a rival team gains ground. The narrative explores George's temperamental nature and his struggles adjusting to forced inactivity while a promising rookie pitcher named Wild Joe Spane is brought up from the minor leagues, potentially threatening George's position.