Welch, the team's owner, wants to arrange for more publicity, but Benny tells him that Joe is "strange" in that he is afraid of reporters. After seeing Joe play and reading Gloria's article, Mr.
Once Joe is signed to the team, Gloria Thorpe, a sports writer, publishes a favorable article about Joe and the incident with his shoes. However, when asked where he has played before, the only information Joe offers is that he is from Hannibal, Missouri. Borrowing another player's shoes, he impresses everyone with his amazing batting and fielding. Applegate and Joe arrive, asking for a tryout, but Joe finds that his old baseball shoes do not fit his new body. At the stadium, Benny Van Buren, the Senators' coach, bolsters the morale of his players, who are intimidated by the Yankees. Applegate then transforms Joe into Joe Hardy, a vital, twenty-two-year-old athlete. While Applegate gloats, Joe fetches his baseball shoes and writes the sleeping Meg a final note. Applegate and Joe then seal the bargain with a crossed double handshake. Although unused to negotiation, Applegate claims he does not want "those damn Yankees" to win again and agrees to give Joe one chance to back out of the deal at midnight on 24 September. In return, Joe is troubled to learn, he must leave his wife Meg, but, being a shrewd businessman, he insists on an "escape clause" in case he does not like his new life. Applegate explains that he will turn the out-of-shape Joe into a young man who can lead the Senators from seventh place, where they currently stand, to a championship victory.
Joe is skeptical of Applegate's claim to be the Devil until he realizes that only he can see him.
Knowing that Joe has always yearned to be a baseball player, Applegate offers to make him the greatest ball player in history. Applegate, who is more commonly known as The Devil, agrees with him. Early in the season, after witnessing their defeat by the New York Yankees, Joe says he would "sell his soul for one good ball hitter." Appearing suddenly out of nowhere, Mr. In Washington, D.C., middle-aged real estate salesman Joe Boyd is an ardent fan of the unsuccessful Senators baseball team.
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