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Frederick Debut (cont - 9)

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Frederick had been having trouble generating any kind of offense.  The game had gone to the bottom of the sixth inning with neither team scoring.  Jason had recorded thirteen strikeouts, giving up just two hits, one of them a bunt single for the first hit in the game in the third inning.  The manager had already told him he was done.  If he was to get the win the team had to score in the bottom frame and then hold them.

At that point Alexis got up from the bench screaming in English, “We got to get some runs.  Too much chitter chatter going on here.  The pitcher is giving away his pitches.  We’ve got to see that, but no one is paying attention.  No respect for the game.  We can’t be happy with our bats here.  Time to wake them up.”  He walked over to the bat rack, pulled a number of bats out and threw them to the ground, kicking them where they lay.  The other players were struck with silence, watching him as he booted the bats around like soccer balls.  “Wake up bats.  Get some life in you.”

Alexis was easily the biggest man in the dugout so they certainly did not want to confront him.  His tattoos also made him intimidating.  Alexis grabbed his bat from the others strewn about the dugout floor.  He left the other bats lying there for the batboy to pick up, stormed up to the on deck circle.  “The Beast will wake things up.  The Beast is going deep.  Deeeeeeep!  I know exactly what this pitcher is throwing.”  He stomped into the on deck circle like the giant he was.  

When Alexis talked about himself he liked to use the first person.  If he was hungry and wanted to get something to eat it was “Alexis is hungry.  Where are we going to eat?”  If it was baseball related he always referred to himself as The Beast.

The opposing pitcher had only given up three hits, none of them stroked solidly.  If he was giving away his pitches Kevin hadn’t noticed. 

One of the players mumbled under his breath once Alexis walked into the on-deck circle, “Rookie.  He hasn’t been in the locker room long enough to be messing with our bats.”   Kevin glared at him and the player shot his glance towards the ground.

Alexis didn’t hit a homerun but he rocked a pitch into the right centerfield gap.  He was no gazelle when running the bases, but the further his body lurched forward the faster his long strides carried him.  He didn’t stop when he hit second and he rumbled for third.  As soon as he got close to third he flew his body into the air, stretching his arms out as far as they could go, eventually hitting the ground with a thud and bouncing like a basketball towards the base.  It was an ugly slide, but it got him to the base before the ball did. 

There was a huge roar from the crowd.  Alexis bounced up, called time to brush the dirt from his uniform.  He gave out a yell, shouting out unintelligible words to his teammates in the dugout.  Those in the dugout were also starting to show some enthusiasm for the first time.  They were yelling “Beast” back at Alexis while bumping each other’s chests.  

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Kevin yelled from the dugout among his celebratory chest bumping teammates, even though he didn’t have a clue what Alexis was screaming from third.  It was a mixture of Spanish and English. 

As the next batter walked to the plate Joe Palmer said to Kevin, “Good ballplayer.”  

“Yep.  He can play on my team any day.” Kevin was still a little amped up and he shouted out his response a little louder than he wanted.  He began to realize the more he played with Alexis the better he liked him.  He still didn’t like the rap music he played in the locker room or the tattoos riding along his arms, but at least he stopped wearing his pants halfway down his rear.

“Wonder where he learned to read pitchers like that?”  Palmer shot Kevin a knowing smile.  Moose talked to the other managers almost weekly via tele conference calls.  Larvell wanted them all on the same page.  To do that they had to talk to each other to find out what the others were doing.  Dusty Rhodes had already relayed the story of Kevin dressing down Alexis for his inattentiveness to the game.

“Makes you wonder,” was all Kevin would offer.

>>>>>>>

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Frederick Debut (cont - 8)

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

Once inside the stadium Misty gave up on her thought of walking up to Jason to see if he would recognize her.  There was a large crowd already gathered by the first base side of the dugout where Jason stood signing autographs.  There were a lot of people there shoving programs, balls or hats in his face.  It reminded Misty of the African scenes as people jostled each other in an attempt to get a bag of rice.  These people were pushing and shoving each other, all of them trying to get noticed just for a signature.  There was no way Jason would see her in that mess.  

She noticed another player signing with Jason.  She guessed it was the player Sophie seemed to have a crush on when they had all gathered at her place to watch a game on television that night in March, but she wasn’t sure.   

“Who is that guy?” she asked Luke, pointing to Kevin Beamer.

Luke looked into the direction Misty was pointing.  “That’s Kevin Beamer.  He’s Jason’s catcher.”

“He seems pretty popular too.”

“They say he speaks Mandarin.  He’s more popular with the women in China, though he is married to a Chinese gal so he is not available.  That doesn’t seem to stop the adulation.  From what I understand he is baseball’s version of the now retired soccer star David Beckham.”

“Lucky gal.”  

Misty watched the two of them flow through the crowd, taking the balls, programs or hats shoved in their faces, always trying to smile while they calmly signed whatever object they were given.  She was oblivious to the cacophony surrounding her, lost in her own concentration. 

Eventually, both Jason and his catcher broke away from the autograph seekers to warm up in the bullpen area.  Since they had gotten there a little late she didn’t know how long the two had been signing autographs.  She thought it was inconsiderate of people to be mad at them for leaving to prepare for the game.  It would have taken them at least two more hours to sign autographs for all the people gathered in front of the dugout.

Jason had grown quite a bit since she had last seen him.  She would have never guessed he would grow to be 6’5”.  He still lacked the handsome face, but then she was always more attracted to his kindness when he was around her than his looks.  He had a dorky kind of shyness about him Misty found refreshing.  It was nice his once sullen look had been replaced by smiles.  This game called baseball had been good to him. 

With every ambition comes the possibility of failure.  Misty was sure Jason had no hope for a future with his obsession of throwing a ball against a concrete wall.  If she had not been adopted so early in his obsession she would have eventually tried to steer him away from constantly throw a ball against a concrete wall, guiding him in a direction she thought had more of a future.  Fate had a way of taking her away from his life early to allow him to develop as he did.  Now look at him. 

Misty finally took note of the crowd.  They seemed very enthusiastic.  “Is it always this noisy at a baseball game?” she asked Luke.  She had to speak louder than she wanted because of the noise.  The stadium was full.  Misty had never experienced such excitement.

“Not really.  They are all here just to see Jason pitch.  They bring a different atmosphere to the ballgames here.  It is always a noisy crowd when Jason pitches.  If you come here tomorrow the stadium will be almost empty.”  He handed her what appeared to be a couple large, uninflated balloons.

“What are these?”

“They are cheer sticks.  Blow them up and you can pound them like most of the people here are doing.”

She was impressed so many people would come to see this dorky little boy now transformed into a man perform.  She admired in silence as her gaze swept through the stadium, witnessing the laughter and joy Jason brought.  So many people coming to see a game she cared nothing about.

Luke interrupted her thoughts.  “Crazy isn’t it.  But as you can see, most of them are Asian, probably with some affiliation with China.  Jason is the first person from China ever to make an impact in this game.  Others from China have come here to play, but they have been an afterthought, never developing the skills to really earn a starting job in the grandest arena of the all, the major leagues.  Jason is their best hope for that to happen.”

“When he was growing up Xiang…I mean Jason was so obsessed about throwing a baseball.  It was funny watching him throwing the ball for hours each day.  Other than eating, doing chores and finishing his home work that is all he did.  We were all self taught at the adoption center.  John didn’t want any of us going to the public schools there.  He said there was nothing they could teach us.  So we had a number of women come in to teach us what John thought we needed to know.  John was not very trusting of others to fashion our lives.”

“Jason never played on a team in China, even as a youth?” Luke asked surprised.

“Not that I’m aware of.  I got adopted when I was thirteen and he was only eight.  So maybe later in his life he played for a team.  I do remember reading that one of the things which make his baseball skills so amazing is his lack of any formal coaching.  When I was there it was only John, Moogie our housekeeper or I that would help him throw.”

She stayed for the six innings Jason pitched.  She had to admit watching him pitch was exciting.  She had blown up her cheer sticks and was pounding them like the rest of the fans.  After the first strikeout she thought they were booing him.  Luke had to explain to her they were only chanting his last name, “just wooing him”.  After the third strikeout Misty and Luke began joining the crowd in their chant of “Woooooo….”

Jason struck out 13 batters in his six innings of work, five of the first six hitters he faced.  That was a lot of “Woos”.  After they took him out of the game in the top of the seventh she asked Luke if he was ready to go.  The Keys had rallied in the bottom of the sixth to score a couple runs to take the lead.  A new pitcher was coming on to pitch the seventh.  Despite the lack of scoring she still had fun.  More fun than she could remember having in a couple years.   

“You want to try to get in the locker room.  I could make a few calls.”

“That’s ok.  I’ve seen enough.  It was fun.  I’m sure the locker room will be a madhouse filled with reporters.”  Besides a madhouse, she didn’t want to run the risk of naked men walking in front of her.

They left with many of the others who had stayed just to see Jason Woo pitch.

>>>>  

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Frederick Debut (cont - 7)

Friday, May 17th, 2013

Misty had heard many at the Raburn building talk about the game at Frederick today.  Jason Woo was pitching.  “You going?” was the echo heard in the hallways.  She didn’t know much about baseball but she wanted to see Jason Woo pitch.  Maybe she would walk up to him to see if he remembered her.

Her dilemma was who to see the game with.  She didn’t want to go alone.  She didn’t know enough about baseball to navigate around the park.  All of her Margarita Mix friends were busy that day.  Brandi had a date with a guy who wasn’t into sports, especially baseball.  Misty also did not feel like being a third wheel in that arrangement.  She had been a third wheel on too many outings with Brandi before.  Carmen had her mom in town.  She wasn’t much of a baseball fan either.  Sophie had an important softball game she couldn’t miss.  She certainly did not want to ask Lindsey Graham to take her.  She would rather spend the night sticking a finger down her throat.  Her only ace in the deck was her gay friend Luke Carter.

If you saw him in the Congressional building you wouldn’t think he was gay.  He seemed like a normal acting guy with short, cropped hair, good build, talked like any other athletic looking guy when he opened his mouth.  Once he got around his gay friends those mannerisms changed, becoming more effeminate.  The transformation was slight, but quite shocking as the day progressed.  There was a higher pitch to his voice and more swish to his hips.  His gaydom became more apparent.  She was one of the few people in the building who knew he was gay.  Probably the only straight person, though she didn’t really know his circle of friends that well.

Luke was up for the game.  He enjoyed baseball.  The fact Jason Woo was pitching only made it better.  He warned Misty getting a ticket to the game would be difficult.  “From what I’ve heard it’s already a sellout.  Do you have tickets?”

“Me”? Misty replied.  “I don’t even know where I could go to get tickets.”

Luke went to one of the lobbyists for major league baseball.  The lobbyist was able to get Luke two tickets to the game.  Luke paid the lobbyist $24, the combined listed price for the two tickets.  It avoided any conflict of interest issues, even though he had seen on the internet individual tickets for the game were selling for more than $100.  “Who would pay $100 to see a minor league game,” he had said to Misty.

“I wouldn’t know.  I wouldn’t pay $100 to see a major league game.”

“I wouldn’t either.  It’s just crazy.”

She noticed the quick change in Luke’s mannerisms once he left the Raburn building.  He became more effeminate, his voice lisping and becoming higher pitched.  She wondered if he thought she was gay.  While she hadn’t been out with a guy in over two years it wasn’t because she didn’t like guys.  She was just too busy working, plus the guys she worked with didn’t attract her either.  They all seemed to in to themselves.  Sometimes she wished Luke wasn’t gay, but perhaps if he was straight she wouldn’t feel so comfortable around him.   

Misty was glad Luke drove.  The place was a mess as far as traffic and parking.  Luke explained to her there is normally free parking in the front next to the cemetery but those places were filled early.  They had to drive around awhile, park farther away and walk to the stadium, paying someone $10 for the luxury of parking in their back yard.  Since the free parking lot was filled people were taking advantage of their land space and charging up to $20 for parking.  They were fortunate to find a spot for $10.  These were times when Misty hated the whole concept of capitalism, especially when it inconvenienced her.

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Frederick Debut (cont - 6)

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

The game was on a television set in the living room of the Chinese Premier.  He was watching the game with two of his Ministers.  He had a putter in his hand and was attempting to put a golf ball into a glass cup that was placed ten feet away.  He paused from lining up his putt.  “We spend all our money identifying kids who will fit best in a particular sport based on all these scientific studies and here we have a kid we knew nothing about all of a sudden become one of the most popular personalities in China in a sport we barely support.  Why do we have to have a young man go to America to achieve success?  We need to keep these athletes here.  Develop our own league.  That tells me there is something wrong in how we approach our sports.  Also, look at that American Kevin Beamer.  He is probably more popular in China right now than I am.  Why can’t we have a Chinese kid playing a sport in China that becomes as popular in America as the President of the United States?”    He looked at his sports minister.  “What do you say to that Mr. Zhang?”

Mr. Zhang was struck with silence, unprepared to explain why a Chinese youth was having so much success and popularity in a sport they barely supported.  He didn’t want to say anything to upset Premier Li Jiabao.  “We will re-evaluate the process to see if improvements can be made,” he finally blurted out.  “The last Olympics we competed in we won more overall medals and gold medals than the United States.”

“The bureaucratic answer I expected Mr. Zhang, but I have faith you can make it work.  Does anyone in the world really care about ping pong or diving?  Where are we in the team sports like soccer, baseball and basketball?  Those are the sports the world watches.  Those are the sports China must excel at.”

“I will have my men look into it sir.”

“Also, look at the symbiosis between Kevin the American and Jason from China.  They work together as a team, conquering the opposing batters.  That is how our relationship with the United States should be, conquering the world’s problems through our cooperative effort.”  He took a glance over at his Minister of Defense, Mr. Jiang.  Mr. Jiang was wiping a handkerchief across his polished boots.   “What do you say to that Mr. Jiang?”

Mr. Jiang looked up startled.  “Very astute observation sir.  I will have my men look into it sir.”   

The putter struck the ball and the ball rolled slowly until it travelled inside the glass cup.  The Premier pumped his fist.  Jason Woo struck out his fifth batter.  The crowd in the stadium roared at the same time the golf ball clinked the glass.  Premier Li Jiaao smiled in triumph.

>>>>>

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Frederick Debut (cont - 5)

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

Watching the television screen mounted in the corner of his office Larvell marveled at the number of people at the park.  They had put up temporary bleachers to accommodate the overflow crowd to the small park.  The cameras captured the smiling faces, sweeping over the celebratory tone in the stands.  That excitement grew louder once the fans saw they were on television.  Larvell was starting to recognize the Chinese flag.  There were a number of them being waved at the ballpark.

The network checked in with a couple reporters who were each at bar/restaurants located in Beijing and Shanghai.  It was 12 hours difference between those two cities and Frederick, so the 7 PM game would be showing in China at 7 AM.  The camera rolled through the audience inside the bars.  There was a celebratory atmosphere despite the early hour, all to watch a minor league game.  They smiled, they waved, they put up two fingers for the victory sign, and they posed.  Many held up posters praising Jason.  A few had signs referencing the Warrior.  Larvell was surprised to see those signs for Kevin Beamer.       

The stadium was a sellout.  According to the announcers it was the highest number of people to see a Frederick Keys game in the history of the franchise.  Bringing in some special temporary bleachers along the left and right field lines to try to accommodate the crowd increased those attendance figures.  Larvell wished he could be there, but looking at the crowd there appeared to be no place for him to sit except in the owner’s box, which he never enjoyed.

There was a nervous jumble of excitement rumbling around his stomach.  His biggest worry was the belief he was rushing Jason to meet the requirement he be ready to pitch for the Orioles by September.  He wanted Jason to pitch well to justify the promotion.  If he didn’t pitch well it would make promoting him to AA more difficult.  A lot of people would also question why he promoted him from Delmarva after only two starts.    

Larvell had nothing to worry about, at least for this game.   Jason struck out five of the first six hitters he faced.  The announcers were overly effusive with praise when one of Jason’s fast balls in the second inning hit 106.  “That is unbelievable,” one of the announcers gushed.  “That would be the fastest recorded pitch ever in major league baseball if it had been thrown in the major leagues.  Unfortunately, records are not as complete in the minor leagues so we don’t know for certain if that is the fastest recorded pitch ever thrown.  The fastest pitch in major league history was recorded by Aroldis Chapman at 105.1 miles per hour.  That last pitch by Jason surpassed that at 106, according to the radar gun here.  He is amazing.”

“Well, the radar gun here may be a little fast, but Jason Woo is still phenomenal,” the color commentator added.  “When you look at his background, the fact he didn’t play a baseball game until winter ball last year it is truly remarkable what he has accomplished in such a short period of time.  They talk about musical prodigies who sit at a piano and learn to play a song from Beethoven on their first sitting.  Well, Jason is a baseball prodigy.  He learned how to pitch throwing a baseball in the back fields of Beijing without any formal coaching.”  Larvell could imagine the roar from the bars in Beijing once those comments were translated.  “He is only going to get better once they tweak his technique.  His curveball is already nasty, he has a low 90s slider that looks exactly like his fastball when it comes off his hand and he just learned a changeup last winter that comes in at 85.  It will tie hitters in knots if they are expecting the fastball.  I know I wouldn’t want to be facing him.”

 >>>> 

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Frederick Debut (cont - 4)

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

Friday came quickly.  The team was now on a three game winning streak.  They had not lost since their arrival.  On the ride to the game Kevin could sense Jason was a little nervous.  It was unusual for him to be nervous.

“What’s wrong?  You seem a little jumpy today.”

“We have three game winning streak.”

“So.”

“I no want to pitch bad and break streak.”

“Why so much concern now.  You pitched a couple of games with Delmarva and I think there was a three game winning streak there somewhere.”

“This my first game with this team.  I know guys at Delmarva.  They know me.  I not know guys here at all.  I not want to let team down in first game.”

“Relax.  You’ll be fine.  Besides, you have Alexis in right field.  Just pretend you are still pitching for Delmarva.  If you need reassurance look at Alexis in right field. ”

It was obvious from what Kevin had seen of the pitching staff on Frederick they did not have any pitchers on the roster with near the talent of Jason or Roy.  They were lucky to hit 90 miles per hour with their fastball.  Kevin recognized their stares of envy when they first watched Jason warm up in the bullpen in between starts.  His fastball split the plate at more than 10 miles per hour faster than any pitcher on the roster.  Jason’s changeup had more velocity on it than all of their fastballs.       

When Kevin ran back to the plate after the national anthem and turned around to face the mound he saw Jason staring out in right field at Alexis.  He took a deep breath and everything seemed calm.    

The crowd in the stadium was not.  Most had not seen Jason pitch.  It was a sellout, standing room only with fans sitting along special outfield bleachers that had been set up for the game.  The same cheer sticks from Delmarva had somehow found themselves in Frederick.  They were being banged relentlessly.  Horns were blaring and drums were being pounded.  If Kevin closed his eyes he would think he was playing in the Caribbean with Licey doing battle against Las Aguilas.         

Major league baseball requested an interview with either Jason or Kevin prior to the game.  Larvell turned them down.  He wanted his players to focus on the game.  There would be no distractions.  Instead, the announcers were stuck with interviewing the manager, Joe Palmer, who didn’t really have a lot of information to give them.  He had yet to see Jason pitch, but he had seen his bullpen warm-ups.  “He’s pretty impressive in the bullpen warm-ups.”  He chuckled, his puffy cheeks breaking out in laughter.  “I’m just as anxious to see if he can take that stuff into the game.  When he warms up in the bullpen the ball just makes a different sound when it explodes into the catcher’s mitt.  I certainly wouldn’t want to be standing up there with a bat facing him.”

When Joe sat in the dugout he was a man of constant movement.  He would cross his legs, uncross them, rock back and forth, cross the legs again, get up and gingerly walk from one side of the dugout to the other, sit down, cross his legs again and repeat the whole routine.  Not like the calm Dusty who would park himself at the end of the bench and there he would sit until he had to take out a pitcher or coach third base. 

When Frederick was hitting and they were on the first base side of the dugout Joe would let the hitting coach take the third base coaching responsibilities.  He would stand at the edge of the first base dugout his hands in constant movement, always giving signs to the third base coach, even if half the time the signals didn’t mean a thing.  He could make all the movements, but until he hit the trigger, a finger to the nose, a hand to the top of the hat, or a brush of his belt, all the other hand gestures meant nothing.  When they were the visiting team and resided on the third base side of the field Joe would go out and coach third base so the players had to be aware of his constant hand movements.      

Joe also preferred wearing tennis shoes instead of cleats, making his uniform look a bit awkward and baggy at the bottom.  It almost made him look like he was wearing pajamas but the tennis shoes were easier to walk in with his cranking knees.      

Joe had a minor league career of 10 years.  He always thought the next year would be his break.  “It is kind of like golf.  You birdie that last hole and it motivates you to go back out there and hack at the course again.  I always had a good last month of the season to motivate me to come back next year.  It took me three releases to realize the major leagues would never call.”

Kevin was in his eighth year.  Two releases.  He could empathize with Joe.  Though his Augusts were not as successful he kept coming back because teams kept calling him.  There was always a need for a catcher.  Before a season would end Kevin’s arms, legs and chest would be filled with black and blue spots from the bruises the ball made after striking his body, whether it was one foul ball after another striking him or he placing his body in front of a pitch in the dirt like a moving target.  Despite all the armor he wore the ball still stung when it hit.  There were also spots the armor did not protect.  When the ball hit those spots it could feel like hammer striking bone.  Kevin always wondered how much more of the pain he could take to put on the tools of ignorance for one more year.

>>>>

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Frederick Debut (cont - 3)

Monday, May 13th, 2013

During the bullpen warm-up Kevin felt William Hagey had a decent fastball.  Not quite major league quality, but good enough for A ball.  His big problem was his breaking pitches.  He couldn’t get them over the plate or locate them to where Kevin held the mitt.  “We’ll focus on the fastball and mix it up a bit with the curve and your change to keep the hitters honest.  You need your breaking pitches to survive in the major leagues so you can’t ignore them.  Besides, if you threw the fastball the whole game you would not survive past the third inning.” 

For this young pitcher he must have felt the shark tooth necklace was finally working.  He soaked up Kevin’s knowledge, didn’t shake him off once during the game and had a shutout through the first seven innings.  The bullpen worked the last two innings to complete the shutout.

Alexis struggled at the plate his first two at bats.  He struck out in both appearances.  He was batting fourth so he was concerned about his performance.  Kevin could see he was pressing to try to impress his new teammates.  His knees were bouncing up and down with nervous energy as he sat in the dugout stewing over his first two at bats.  “Relax,” Kevin said to Alexis.  “You’re pressing.  Just watch the ball into the bat with that nice easy swing.  You don’t have to swing the bat hard with your strength to hit the ball a long way.  What has he started you out with your first two at bats? ”

“Fastball away,” Alexis said as he stared at the pitcher.

“He’ll start you with a curveball your next at bat.  You see the spin and you mash it.”

Just as Kevin had stated, the pitcher started Alexis off with a curveball.  He mashed it sending it far over the left field wall to give Frederick a 2-0 lead.  He was smiling now in the dugout.  More relaxed.  “How did you know he was going to throw a curve ball?” Alexis asked Kevin as he sat next to him on the bench, trying to capture some of his wisdom.

“Pitchers are so predictable.  He wasn’t going to throw you three fastballs in a row.  He figured you were going to be waiting for the fastball a third time so he was going to change it up on you with the curveball.”

Frederick ended their three game losing streak with a 2-0 win to reach .500.  Alexis got credit for being the offensive star of the game.  William Hagey got credit for his first win, pitching seven shutout innings.  Kevin got no credit for giving Alexis the tip leading to the homerun scoring the only two runs of the game or calling the pitches resulting in the shutout for the young William Hagey, but Alexis and the starting pitcher were very appreciative of the guidance Kevin gave them. 

Kevin went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, but Joe Palmer recognized his contributions to the victory.  Some of the other players had noticed it as well.

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Frederick Debut (cont - 2)

Sunday, May 12th, 2013

Jason was impressed with Kevin’s knowledge of the stadium, but Kevin only told him what he had read on Wikipedia.  One of his hobbies to make the bus rides to the various minor league cities more tolerable was to research every city he visited to learn their history.  This was his first visit to the Carolina League so there were new cities to discover. 

Jason looked over at the cemetery like a forboding storm.  “This place still give me cweeps.”

Kevin had no clue who was actually buried at the cemetery in Frederick but he tried to convince Jason, “Only great patriots are buried here.  Patriots who died for United States independence.  If there are ghosts here they will only be good ghosts.  Patriotic ghosts.”

That explanation had little meaning to Jason.  Being from China he had little knowledge about United States patriots.  All he could think about were headless horsemen. 

Stepping into the locker room for the team’s first game felt like walking into a new school halfway through the year.  Only the player’s faces would be familiar because they had seen them at some point in spring training.  Their quirks and personalities were strangers.  One by one the players would walk up and introduce themselves.  The names would be forgotten as quickly as a midnight dream.          

Kevin’s big concern was meeting the pitchers and trying to get an understanding of the pitches they threw.  He had arrived two hours early to the park in order to review video.  The pitching coach arrived an hour early and was surprised to see Kevin in the locker room studying video on the one television screen they had.  “I got here a little early because I thought you might be here,” said the pitching coach.  “Guess I should have gotten here earlier.”

For the next hour the two went over the pitchers on the staff, detailing their strengths and weaknesses and what pitches they threw.  While they discussed the pitchers for the first hour Jason spent the early part of this time running laps around the outfield warning track.  When that was done he spent the rest of his time playing games on his phone as he huddled up next to his locker.  Kevin wondered how much battery life he had on that phone but it survived the full hour of review.  Jason would interrupt his game playing to join them watching video, but he would quickly get bored, especially when he couldn’t learn anything from these pitchers.  Not everyone can be a Greg Maddux.  There were no budding major leaguers on this staff.  Even Jason could recognize that.

When the day’s starting pitcher arrived the pitching coach introduced him to Kevin and Jason.  His name was William Hagey.  He was a distant cousin of Bill Hagey, who will always be remembered by Oriole fans for being one of the most eccentric fans in Baltimore.  The young William Hagey was a late round pick for sentimental reasons.  The Orioles did not really expect him to pitch in the major leagues at any point in his career, but he filled a role because he ate up the innings until Larvell could stock the farm system with prospects.

William Hagey had not won a game yet.  He was a young kid with long grasshopper like arms and a fresh scrubbed face that did not have to fight too many battles with razors, unlike his distant relative who carried a beard in his maniacal cheers from the upper deck of Camden Yards in the days when the Orioles made the playoffs. 

Across the neck of William Hagey rested a necklace carrying what he claimed was one shiney white shark’s tooth.  The tooth looked pretty menacing so Kevin accepted it as a shark’s tooth.  The necklace was supposed to give him luck, according to the vendor who sold him the talisman when William played last winter in the Dominican Republic.  The fact he had yet to win a game in five starts would seem a cause for concern.

Based on Kevin’s experience in the Dominican Republic there were many of these so called vendors who were prepared to sell gringos anything, identifying a rock as a talisman if you were willing to pay good money for it.  Talisman were like the slips of paper fortunes in a fortune cookie.  If the fortune was good you were more inclined to keep the little slip of paper.  If it was not so good you would discard it.  These talisman sold by the vendors were cheap by ballplayer’s standards so if they were having a bit of bad luck there was no harm in making a purchase, especially if it looked fashionable when being worn.

The only luck the necklace accomplished so far was to the vendors who sold the talisman.  They had at least received ten dollars from this gullible pitcher.  It allowed the vendor to make a dozen more talisman.  William Hagey had yet to win a game while wearing this talisman across his neck.  Kevin kept these thoughts to himself.  He had seen plenty of these necklaces at the stalls in the markets in the Dominican.  It did not seem to create that much luck to the economic status to the vendors trying to sell them.

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Frederick Debut

Friday, May 10th, 2013

Chapter 25

Frederick Debut

May 19 – Based on information provided by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, the government of India has arrested three Iranian nationals suspected of involvement in committing future acts of terrorism.  The three men were found with two tons of fertilizer stored in their garage and numerous timing mechanisms in their house that appeared to be instruments with the sole purpose of setting off explosives.  The three men have admitted they were paid by the Government of Iran to place these improvised explosive devices at the embassies of Israel and the United States.  The government of Iran has denied any linkage to these three men.  They claim it is another attempt by the United States to libel the Iranian government with the sole purpose of overthrowing it in order to establish another puppet regime in the Middle East.

Major league baseball contacted Larvell with a request to televise another game pitched by Jason Woo.  It seemed to be perfect timing, since the game they agreed upon would be Jason’s debut with Frederick.  The real challenge was trying to accommodate all the cameras and audio equipment with the expectant overflow crowd expected to show up for the game.  It made for the usual circus like atmosphere.  The owner of Frederick was not complaining.

For Kevin the Frederick promotion lessoned his commute by almost half.  It gave him a half hour more to be with Shu and Jasmine, the little things he appreciated.  Jasmine was discovering life with her gurgled little laugh and Kevin was drinking it in.  The tough part of the move was entering a locker room with a new set of teammates. 

Most of the players on the Frederick team were part of the group three spring training players, a group Jason and Kevin rarely socialized with.  They saw them in the locker rooms, ate with them in the cafeteria during spring training, played against them in intrasquad games, but when it came to the act of socializing they hung out more with their own group, group four. 

The manager Joe Palmer had a completely different personality and style than Dusty Rhodes.  Joe was more a rah rah, slap you on the butt type of manager, a sharp contrast from the silent but cerebral Dusty Rhodes.  With Dusty, you knew you had done something wrong just by the look he gave you.  When the game was over you knew you would be getting a call into the office after he shot you one of those looks.  Joe was more emotional, with more of a temper.  He wasn’t afraid to yell at a player even if it was in front of God, the rest of the players or your mother if he felt the player had done something wrong he needed to correct.  There was no waiting until a call to the office to communicate this change of behavior.  He also was not afraid to heap on the praise.  Slapping you on the butt seemed to be what he liked to do the most as the players came into the dugout, his voice ringing encouragement.  Sometimes he would get so carried away you could see the chewed up sunflower seeds spilling down his mouth to his chin as he yelled with enthusiasm. 

It was obvious his playing days had ended a number of years ago, with a gut hanging over his belt and his knees no longer functional.  It was painful to watch him amble about, limping along with knees having thoughts of their own, twisting and turning in a direction he did not want to walk.  He meandered almost like a paraplegic.  Both his knees were filled with metal to replace the ligaments that had snapped and disappeared with years of abuse.  At practice, he rode around in a golf cart to ease his movements around the field.  For short distances, like walking to the mound to change the pitcher he still struggled to get from point A to point B using his own two feet.  He welcomed the trio of Jason, Kevin and Alexis to the team in his tiny manager’s office that could have been used as a janitors supply closet in a major league stadium, with enough room to store a mop and a bucket and other cleaning supplies.

“Excited to have you.  If you can do half of what you did for Delmarva we’ll win our share of games.  Alexis and Kevin, both of you will be in the starting lineup right away.  Jason, you’re on the bump for Friday.” 

Jason looked at Kevin for clarification.  Kevin translated in Mandarin that “the bump is just American slang for the pitcher’s mound.  So you will be pitching Friday.”

Jason smiled, nodded his head towards Joe, his hands clasped together as if in prayer to thank him for the opportunity.  Kevin thought it was quite odd how polite Jason was towards everyone when they told him he would pitch.  Jason was easily one of the most talented pitchers he ever saw climb the mound, yet it was Jason who always seemed grateful for being given the opportunity.  Kevin could see Joe bubbling with anticipation for his debut with Frederick on Friday. 

The owner of the Frederick Keys was also giddy with excitement.  He had seen the way attendance had shot up for his two games he pitched in Delmarva.  He tried to capitalize on the days Jason would pitch by offering four game ticket packages, guarantying at least one of those four games would be for when Jason Woo was on the mound.  In fine print was the caveat “provided Jason Woo is still on the roster for more than one month of his time in Frederick”.  Once it was announced Jason was pitching for Frederick on Friday the game sold out in fifteen minutes.   

Frederick was not having quite the success of Delmarva, floating just one game under .500.  They were going from a team of winners to a team filled with mediocrity.  This didn’t really have an emotional impact on Kevin since he was hoping Jason would get a quick AA promotion.  Kevin was pretty certain the two wouldn’t be here at the end of the year even if they could turn the season around for Frederick to guide them into the playoffs.  In the minor leagues, if a player is good enough to get a team to the playoffs he rarely sticks around to participate in those playoffs because he is usually promoted to a higher level.  It was always another group of players at the lower levels who tried to finish what the first group started.  Jason would be one of those players too good to stick around in Frederick for long, not if Larvell wanted to have him see the major leagues this year.  

Jason was a bit freaked out by the large cemetery located just outside the front of the stadium.  “This place looks very spiritual,” he commented with some concern and trepidation in his voice, his eyes fixated on all the tombs stretched across the grounds.  “Do you suppose this place is haunted with ghosts?”     

“There are a lot of patriots buried here,” Kevin explained.  “I’m not familiar with any ghosts or stories about ghosts floating around the stadium.  The team is named the Frederick Keys after one of the patriots buried here, Francis Scott Key.  He wrote the words to a song you are probably very familiar with.  You hear it almost every day.  Do you know the song he wrote?”

Jason thought awhile and shook his head no.

“He wrote the United States national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.  The song you stand up for before each game.  He is buried in this cemetery.  You can see his statue there.”  Kevin pointed to a statue of a man standing on an upraised column holding a piece of stone paper in his hand, with his other hand pointing at something in the distance, probably the bombing of the Harbor that gave him the motivation to pen the words.  “So when the national anthem is played here it is even more special, since the body of the man who wrote the words to the song that’s played before every game is buried here, standing with you in spirit as the song is played.”

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The DUI (cont - 7)

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

Jerry Springhouse, the owner of the Delmarva franchise emailed Larvell once he heard of Jason’s promotion.  “I suppose two appearances and eight innings of Jason is better than nothing.  For some reason I have the same feeling I would have after a date with a famous movie actress, who for whatever reason had to end the date early.  It was nice that I got to spend some time with her, but oh I wanted so much more.”

The promotion of Jason Woo put the DUI of Troy Harper to the back pages.  Some felt Larvell Blanks was a genius for limiting the impact of the Harper DUI with the promotion of Jason.  Larvell saw no reason to tell them the promotion would have happened even if there had been no DUI. 

No matter how poorly the Orioles played, no matter how badly a player behaved, no matter what kind of debauchery the owner got involved with, Jason Woo triumphed over all.   

The final Delmarva Numbers for Jason Woo and Kevin Beamer:

Jason Woo  8 IP, 2 Hits, 2 walks, 14 K’s, 0.00 ERA

Kevin Beamer 90 Abs, 26 hits, 8 doubles, 5 homeruns, 8 walks, 12 K’s, .289 average

End of Chapter 24

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