Josh Ryder spent ten years in Yuma for something he didn’t do. Accused of murdering Sheriff Matt Malloy, Josh was one of his deputies, he’d been set up by men in the town who wanted both out of the way. The sheriff couldn’t be bribed and Josh backed him. so he was framed, his own gun used to kill Malloy. A quick trial, though manslaughter was all the jury would convict him(still had friends in town).
To top things off, the warden was Cash Malloy, the less than honest brother of the murdered Sheriff and, while believing the story, he was paid to break Josh, kill him.
Nothing worked.
After ten years, Josh got out and exacted a little revenge on the brutal guard doing the warden’s billing, then disappeared.
The ten years had changed the naive young man. At thirty-one, with the beatings, the several times broken nose, Josh was hardly recognizable. He would use that to get the people that put him falsely in prison.
Originally published as a Black Horse Western in 1997, the book I have is a large print by Linford Western Library for a 1998 edition.
Not The Baseball Pitcher 
Sounds good to me. My kind of story.
Hank J. Kirby is an unfamiliar name, but I’ll be on the lookout for this book.