Second Chance at Bat, page 15
of Lt. John McCollum many years ago and on the other side of the world, it was the
friendlies that led him to safety.
* * *
xxxxx
* * *
Other than his wedding night and the most recent Little League banquet where he won
the trip to Phantasy Baseball Camp, Joe couldn't recall a more memorable Saturday
night. Here he was in early May sitting in the conference room of his downtown
Reading insurance agency. His Mac had a Skype connection to his agent. Not another
insurance agent, but a player's agent. Shortly after confounding most of the Phillies with
his knuckleball, Hot Shot's agent, Jonas Kilcoyne, represented Joe as well. Joe was no
stranger to contracts and legal mumbo-jumbo, but everybody in the deal was a stranger
to him. 'I've (We've) never had a situation like this before', was all he heard. First, the
agent tried to structure Joe's contract without running afoul of the Player's Union and
the League. Then, the Phillies struggled with making an offer without making it obvious
that they wanted a cheap one at that.
* * *
Joe had only seen Howie completely sober at this hour just once before and that was
the night before the Little League World Series Championship. Howie was very excited
for his friend and wanted to be a witness to history. Jonas was hyping the novelty for
all that it was worth to Oscar Stemple. Tom Callahan Sr, technically an employee of
the Stadium, knew where his paycheck came from, but Joe understood where his
loyalty lay. Tommie Jr. came with dad and knew how to set up the Skype and receive/
print/scan PDFs and email them better than anyone in the room. Joe's last guest was
the Mayor, Mary Margaret O'Brien. She was the toughest and most knowledgable
negotiator he knew. What was good for Joe would be good for Reading. Joe didn't
agree or disagree with anything, until getting the okay from her off camera.
* * *
In the background, they were keeping tabs on the game which had started late after
thunderstorms moved through the region. The rookie, who had shown no interest in
Joe's no-seamer could have used it as his pitch count was over a 100, was nodding
behind his glove to Harmon Ennis on the mound. The NL East was starting to figure this
kid out on his second trip around the division. The Phillies hitting and fielding had kept
him ahead going into the later innings, but now he had runners on Second and Third
with one out and a dangerous hitter on deck. He had to get this batter out.
* * *
When the day started, Oscar had explained that he went out on a limb to make Joe an
offer. For that, he felt justified offering the League minimum. Mayor O'Brien had helped
Jonas see that if Joe was still wearing their uniform by the end of June, that Joe should
be making the average salary for a starting pitcher. Everyone got to work on the office
computers figuring out what the average starting pitcher in the Bigs made as straight
salary for one month in the season. It went without saying that if Joe pitched below
average, he'd be back pitching insurance policies. The Union and the League both
balked at Joe getting paid more each month that he toiled in the sun or under those hot
stadium lights.
Joe agreed to the Rookie minimum for the season. A single pro-rated month would be
greater than his monthly owner's draw from the agency. Unless he bombed miserably,
the agency would get a bounce from the free media coverage. The covenants
had "incentive" language and what also started to shape up was "Bonus" language for
post season awards and if Joe was on the post-season roster. This didn't affect his
share of any other post season bonuses. The incentives had to do with the number of
starts, innings pitched and days on the roster. Even with these incentives, Her Honor
showed Jonas that Joe would be in the company of elite pitchers but the pay-offs for
the incentives over a shorter season, would still be less that the average starter with the
average starts and average innings. The numbers were still eye-popping to Joe's band
of number crunchers. The push back was that Joe had no track record and the Phillies
were not concerned about locking Joe into a multi-year deal. When their ace recovered
from his surgery and Artie Culp returned from his accident, things would be back to
normal. If Joe threw well, the Phillies would not be able to afford him the following year,
as they were locked in to long term contracts with all their stars, except Ellis Long.
* * *
Post season? Mayor O'Brien hammered the point hard that if the Phillies got to the post
season, Joe should not only get a bonus but that he should be sainted. She knew her
baseball, thanks to Howie and Joe. She jabbed Jonas hard to point out that the back
end of the rotation was cracking under the strain. The bullpen was working too many
innings this early in the season. Even the Phillies announcers were already talking
about hitters pressing too hard and fielders thinking they had to be perfect.
* * *
The evidence was about to unfold before them on the TV. The rookie was down in the
count, He had to make a good pitch or he would leave the bases loaded or worse for
the next guy. The heater was not where the catcher had set up. Johnny Cater, didn't
move a muscle in Right as the ball screamed over his head like it was shot out of a
rocket launcher.
* * *
The announcers dissected the replay with several different angles of the blast while the
new pitcher completed his warm-ups.
* * *
The Skype came to life and Kilcoyne said. "It didn't take Oscar long to make his final
offer after that monster home run. I'll have their final offer in a contract if you accept."
* * *
Joe and the Mayor were scribbling numbers and phrases. Joe could see how happy
Howie and the Callahans were as they listened to the numbers like Joe had just hit the
lottery. Until today, Mega million dollar contracts were an abstract. Here they sat talking
about Joe getting paid to play Major League Baseball.
* * *
Mary Margaret asked the agent several clarifying questions. This was still business and
she treated it as such. Joe would have played for free like most guys with a pulse and
his excitement as they got closer to the end took over. He nodded to the Mayor to close
the deal. Finally, the jawing was over and Joe told his agent that he had a deal. He was
promised that the contract would be flying over the wires as soon as the Phillies could
finalize it.
* * *
The Skype image faded and Joe was the first to speak. "Who's hungry?"
* * *
xxxxx
* * *
“Who ordered the full rack of ribs and the double steamed veggies?” The server asked.
* * *
Hot Shot nodded, “Right here.”
* * *
His teammates thought it would be a good idea to take him out and let him blow off some steam after getting rocked by the Rock Cats. A player’s brother lived in Connecticut and was the designated driver tonight as a group piled into his car. Yale hadn’t ended their semester, so they decided to visit the downtown New Haven bar and restaurant scene favored by the area college kids and twenty somethings. The Black Bear Saloon was right in the middle of it. On a beautiful spring night, the coeds were out en masse. All of this was lost on Hot Shot as he stewed about the loss.
* * *
April was good for Hot Shot in the long reliever role but tonight, he was upset by a
perceived tight strike zone and complained that he got nothing on the edges. Patient
hitters fouled off a number of strike threes before milking walks. Hot Shot gave up
a two-out base clearing hit before leaving the game with the bases loaded. Why
he thought that he could get the last out was a mystery to the pitching coach and his
teammates. What was worse was the tantrum in the dugout. Link Lutek had a quiet word for Hot Shot before sending him to the showers. After toweling off, he learned that his replacement gave up a grand slam and tacked three more runs onto Hot Shot’s ERA and bruised ego. He could never remember being roughed up this much. It was the Ump’s fault, he steamed.
* * *
Swilling long necks and tearing meat off of bones was good therapy for the brooding
hulk. The other players were eating quietly and trying to talk about how the Iron Pigs and the big team did tonight.
* * *
“What are you looking at?” Hot Shot blasted a table of Yalies seated directly across from
him. A real or imagined slight was escalating quickly. “I said, what the fuck are you
looking at?” He bellowed.
* * *
Dead silence. Even the bar crowd conviviality quieted.
* * *
The bouncer and manager were on the spot immediately. “Is there a problem here sir?”
* * *
Hot Shot stood up to his full height towering over everyone in the saloon and wiped his
mouth with his hands and then his dripping fingers onto his napkin. “I don’t like the
way they were staring at me. How else you supposed to eat ribs, huh?” Feeling like a
Neanderthal, in an Ivy League town didn’t help his mood now.
* * *
“Sir, I am sure there was no offense meant here, please take it easy and enjoy the rest of your meal.” the manager said while Hot Shot and the bouncer were having a stare down.
* * *
Just then, a familiar ring tone chimed from his pocket. Hot Shot looked at the text.
* * *
He stared at the message from his old team mate Tommy Callahan. He sat down quietly
and read it again. The Phillies offered Coach D a contract, He’ll be in uniform tomorrow
for the day game. Can you believe it?
THE SHOW
Can you believe it? I am a Philadelphia Phillie going on a road trip. Joe shook
his head. For the others it was tedium, this was just part of the routine. For Joe, it was
electrifying to be on a chartered jet with the team on the way to Miami. The captain
okayed electronic devices and everybody plugged in an tuned out except for Clay
across from his aisle seat and Julio. This was a special day for them too. Just before
midnight, it went across the wires that Joe was added to the roster along with
Clay, the extra surprise was that Julio was elevated from Reading to fill Clay's vacancy
as bullpen coach. The Phillies did not offer a press release and downplayed it with their
own announcers. The plan was have Joe watch and learn on the road. Julio would be
there along with Clay to guide Joe along.
* * *
One member of the Phillies staff greeted Joe that morning when Joe finally found a
spot reserved for players. "Living the dream! Go Bay Sox!"
* * *
Joe turned to see Jim Short and it took only a second to recognize him without his
catcher's gear. They shook and hugged, both with tears in their eyes. For Joe, he could
let some of the emotion of the last week trickle down his cheeks. He shared this special
moment with his friend from Florida where it all began.
* * *
Jim had heard about the roster moves from the trainers who had gone to Phantasy
Camp.
* * *
Joe recounted the week from the time of Julio's phone call right up to inking the contract
late the night before. "And the pitch that Kiko hit for the home run, he told Oscar that
when he swung that the ball hit his bat. The ball hit his bat. That was the clincher for
me, that's when the no-seamer proved to be the real deal."
* * *
Jim said, "I am happy for Clay and Julio too. It's a nice story of second chances for
them."
* * *
Second chances. Second chances? That opened the flood gates for Joe. "Shorty,
twenty years ago, I gave up a full ride to Penn State to get married and raise a family. Since camp, I have begun to wonder what might have been".
* * *
"Was the scholarship for baseball?" Short asked.
* * *
"No, Track", Joe replied.
* * *
"So, where did you learn to throw that nasty pitch?"
* * *
"To my boy in the backyard and Little League BP".
* * *
"Seems like you needed all of your life experience to get you here."
* * *
Joe nodded, Shorty was right, but Joe was still left wondering about the path not taken.
* * *
They caught up some more as they walked into the bowels of the ballpark. Short walked
Joe to his locker and there it was, Joe's uniform. No player had number 4, so it was
given to Joe. Julio must have told them. Seeing his name on the back of a Major
League Baseball uniform was just as special as to any rookie making his way to the
Majors as a mid-season call up.
* * *
Clay was already there and was grinning like a schoolboy. "Couldn't sleep, how about
you?" He nodded to Jim and greeted Joe with a hug too.
* * *
"Last Sunday I was mowing the grass and listening to the game on the radio. Yeah, I
didn't sleep much either." Joe said as he touched his uni for the first time. Its real. I
am really here.
* * *
Clay broke Joe's moment with, "Heard that you bargained hard, Oscar looked like he
went thru a ringer last night."
* * *
"Had the Mayor of Reading in my posse. I learned a long time ago not to bring a
gunfighter to a knife fight."
* * *
Clay added, "Whatever you got I am sure you will deserve it."
* * *
Jim left the players there, "Well someone has to go work for a living, good luck guys."
* * *
Joe said, "The Phillies are keeping it kind of quiet for now, but will you let the Bay Sox
know about it when it's okay?"
* * *
"You got it D."
* * *
Clay asked, "You prefer Joe or D?"
* * *
Joe thought for a moment. "Lefty is already taken, so I guess D will have to do."
* * *
"D it is" and Clay went on to tell Joe how pre-game worked in the big leagues.
* * *
Julio arrived a bit later, sunglasses firmly in place. "Welcome to the big leagues, Mr.
DiNatale, I hope you find the uniform is suitable for you."
* * *
"Its perfect and thank you for everything, Julio."
* * *
"Don't thank me, just pitch that magical pitch. There are still skeptics here that would
like to prove us wrong." Julio said.
* * *
Clay nodded, "Yeah even in the clubhouse. Not everybody is convinced that we are
anything more than a circus act."
* * *
Joe could sense that by how he was greeted or ignored by the other players.
* * *
Ellis Long, the Phillies captain made a point to approach Joe. Word had already gotten
around to address Joe as D. "Welcome to the team, D. I am happy to give this a try, but
the best way to make believers of the rest of the team is to do what you do best with
that pitch. Everything else will fall into place. Clay and Julio have been around the block
too, but you can always feel free to talk to me about anything. I mean anything."
* * *
"Thank you Ellis, I appreciate that. Its all pretty crazy to me right now. If there is a way
I can help you with your charity work, let me know. I have always admired that about
you."
* * *
Ellis was visibly surprised by Joe's response. "You're the first rookie to ever say that to
