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"Can I first call home and just let Mom know I made it safely?"
"Use the pay phone! And call collect. And hurry up! You need to start warming up with your catcher."
Less than five minutes later....
"Alomar! Come here! Get your new pitcher ready. Alomar! James. James. Alomar."
"Robert."
"Sandy."
Something in the back of my mind tried to crawl forward and tell me that I knew this name but it just wouldn't completely register.
We made a little small talk and then he asked me what my pitches were from best to worst. Fastball. Then curve ball and slider. And lastly change up.
"I'll be calling the pitches. You know to trust your catcher, right?"
"Of course."
Sandy may have mumbled something in Spanish after that. I'm not sure. I didn't take Spanish in high school. He then headed behind the plate and I went to the mound. Not only to warm up but also to get him used to my pitches.
And soon it was time to...
Play ball!
We went to bat first and got nothing. Then I came out to make my professional baseball debut.
The very first pitch I threw was hit solidly! And rolled right to my short stop for out number one.
The second hitter got a base hit. But Sandy tossed him out as he tried to steal second.
And I ended the first with my first professional strike out!
I was quite pleased with how things were going.
And then the second innning happened.
It started with a one out walk. The next batter doubled and then a 2-run single followed. Another hit followed and then Sandy tossed the ball into the outfield on a a double steal.
And it just went to the toilet from there.
By the time I finally got the third out, 6 runs, 7 hits and 2 errors.
Absolutely brutal.
I sat on the bench in the top half of each innning, watching the opposing pitcher easily destroy our offense.
"Yes, he is from Japan. His name is Yasuo Kushihara. Thing is," Coach Broadway said, "California League is probably as far as he will go."
Still, I watched.
And I took mental notes on small details that I might could work on.
It was 7-0 when Skip (Keith Stephen) took the ball from me and sent me to the showers.
The final score was 9-0.
And then things really got entertaining.
Kushihara was a bit demonstrative following the last out. Skip didn't take to kindly to it and got in some verbal expletives that their manager wasn't pleased with and the players ended up having to separate the two managers!
The things you miss when you get sent to the showers.
What I didn't miss was Sandy tossing his face mask against the wall after the field cleared.
A guy angry with losing!
I like that in a catcher.
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