Chapter 06

Called Up

In mid August Mo is well integrated into the team when he’s called up to the Major League Club, along with Dave, and Pedro. They’ve got two days to report in, but it’s just a day’s drive away so Mo takes his van while giving Dave and Pedro a lift as well.

Late in the day after the phone call they arrive at the Club’s offices. They’re a day earlier than instructed, but that’s OK. Now they’ve enough time to complete the paperwork and to get the medical checks done before they go to the club provided accommodations for the night.

The next day they see the equipment manager about organising the gear they’ll need in the club’s uniforms. Then they spend the rest of the day exercising and practising skills as a trio. The team is on its way back from an ’away’ trip and it will be back in the late afternoon.

An hour after the team returns Mo, Pedro, and Dave are taken to see the team manager by an assistant coach who finds them in the batting cages. Mo is pitching, Pedro is catching, and Dave is trying to hit the pitches. They were fed up with taking turns with the machines so they decided to have some live practice. It also gives Pedro and Mo a real chance to get used to working together.

When they reach the manager’s office he’s not happy and he’s letting his staff know about it by saying, “How the hell am I supposed to build a decent team if they keep trading the best players? Catcher last week, shortstop two days ago, and the centre fielder off tomorrow! Damn!”

Mo grins and says, “Sorry, Skip, but you’re not supposed to put together a competition winning team! I thought you knew that.”

They all turn to look at him and the manager asks, “Who are you, and what do you mean by that?”

“I’m Mo Walker. Pedro, Dave, and I got called up to fill in for you,” he waves at the other two while he introduces them. “I take it you don’t know much about business management!” He gets a no head shake in reply. “I’ve got a degree in business administration and management. I did an analysis of this club’s operations before the draft. I did them for all of the clubs. While most clubs showed they were trying to build a team to win the pennant the owner and senior staff of this club aren’t after the pennant. Their aim is clearly to make money for the owner and senior staff. The best way for them to do that is to have early draft picks. So you’re expected to do well enough to stay in the league but not well enough to get them dropped too far down in the draft order.”

One of the assistant coaches asks, “How does that help them make money?”

Mo says, “Being near the top of the draft queue they get to draft some of the better players in the draft. They offer them a good contract and then they sit them in their Minor League affiliates for a year or two. Near the end of the main season they’ll bring a player up to show he can play at this level and then trade him to a club in need due to injuries while they make quite a few million on the deal.” He holds his hand up as he adds, “They ask for their nominal investment plus a bit more for handling, how much more will depend on how desperate the other club is. The way it works is the contract is costed as the signing on bonus plus the full annual rate for the life of the contract plus performance bonuses. When they trade the player they ask for the contract value plus the performance bonuses and the handling, less the value still to be paid to the player. So, in theory, a player near the end of his second year has cost them the two years of the contract annual rate, the signing on bonus, and performance bonuses. While the reality is they paid the signing on bonus plus a few weeks salary to play for them when called up because the affiliate pays for them while they’re in the minors.”

He stops to check they all understand where he’s at, then adds, “So, in a case where it’s sign on of five million and three million a year, after two years the formula says they invested eleven million, but all they’ve really paid is a little over five million plus anything they owe the minor club under their agreement. The rest is profit for them to put into the pockets of the owner and the senior management. All the player has is the signing on bonus and a couple of years pay in the minors. It doesn’t help that the management of the other clubs know what’s going on here and they know they can poach players any time they need to.”

All in the office are staring at Mo for a moment. Then the manager says, “Damn! That makes sense of every trade in the three years I’ve been here. How long do you think I’ll have you three?”

“I expect the three of us will be traded within a month. The Angels are having an ongoing injury problem with their infielders and need a good utility man, Dave will be perfect for them once they get to see him perform at this level. The Rays need another back-up catcher so they’ll be after Pedro once they get to see he can play at this level. The front office wants to dump my contract as soon as they can! That’s because of the way I’ve got it set up so they can’t make a profit off me at all. I’m also costing them money while they have me in the affiliate club so they want to get the money back with a quick trade. I expect they’ll tell you to put us in for the next few games.” Mo smiles at the manager when he finishes speaking.

The manager grins, “I’ve already been told to use the call up players to replace the lost starters and not to use my regular back up players. I expect a few people to be unhappy about you guys going straight in when they think they should be put in.”

Mo grins, “Tell them you know they’ll be in the starting line-up soon because you don’t expect us to be around long.”

After that the talk flows on to speculate as to where they can all play and how things work on this team. The next few days are heavy practice while they slot the three called up players into the team.

Playing in the Major Leagues

Friday: Game One

Skip was right when he said people would be unhappy. The tension in the locker room when the starting line-up is announced is so thick a heavy duty chainsaw would be needed to cut it. The three new rookies are in the starting line-up, it’s unheard of but it’s happening. Mo can see the tension is getting to Pedro and Dave so he acts to get them out from under by saying, “Dave, Pedro, no need for you guys to worry today. No one is here to watch you play. All of the scouts in the stands are here to watch the ’Magnificent Mo’ work his magic in the field. Since they’ll be watching me you guys can take it easy. The rest of the team is another matter because they have to perform well above average to get a look at by the scouts busy watching me.” As he expected the senior players who’re angry about the rookies starting now focus on Mo exclusively.

When they walk out Dave and Pedro are beside Mo and Pedro says, “Thanks for taking the heat off us. I was getting too tense, but I’m relaxed now.” Mo grins as he nods, he thought they knew what he was up to when he bragged earlier as it isn’t like him at all.

The game is fairly standard and close with Mo’s team winning by one run. The closest thing to a great play is a double play by Mo in the fifth inning and a double play by Dave in the seventh inning. Mo and Dave both get on base when they bat, and both get left there. Dave does get one Run Batted In for his statistics.

Saturday: Game Two

The locker room tension is just as bad for Mo before the game on the second day, but Pedro and Dave aren’t hassled as much.

Mo notices the manager and pitching coach are in the office having a heated discussion. He goes to the door and knocks, when told to enter he says, “Skip, everyone knows Frank can’t pitch to left-handers worth a damn and they know he’s due up on rotation today. Thus they’ll load all their left handed batters into the roster to score off him. Right!”

The manager glances at the pitching coach then says, “That’s what we’ve just been talking about. Why?”

“Let’s take the opportunity to screw them right up. They’ll pull a few of their starters to load the extra lefties from their back-ups. Right!” he gets two nods in reply. “I’m a good relief pitcher and I can pitch well cold. So we let them see Frank warming up and when they send out a lefty to bat we switch the field around. Frank goes to shortstop, Dave goes to centre field, and I pitch to the lefties. We switch back for the next inning with a right hander. I doubt they’ve got much on how I pitch from the Minor League reports since I didn’t pitch much there.”

The manager looks at the pitching coach who says, “Do it! It can’t be any worse than letting them hit Frank all over the park.” Both men nod. Mo briefs Dave on what’s going to happen while the pitching coach talks to Frank and the manager finishes the line-up then heads out.

Mo’s team are playing on their home field so Mo and company take to the field first. The first batter is the opposition’s regular lead-off batter: he’s a right hander and their second best hitter. He gets on base. Next up is their best hitter, another right handed batter. He gets on base and he moves the first man up to second base. The third batter walks out, another starter who usually bats sixth but is moved up the order because he’s a lefty.

While the batter moves from the ’on deck’ spot to the batter’s box Mo walks in from centre field, Dave heads to centre field, and Frank steps off the mound. Everyone is watching this and are wondering what’s going on. Mo and Frank have a short word while the manager talks to the home plate umpire to let him know of the position changes. He also lets the umpire know they’ll probably be swapping back for the next inning. The next batter in the ’on deck’ circle is another lefty.

Pedro and Mo are more familiar with each other now and they had a talk before the game so they’re ready. However, it’s clear the switch in pitchers is causing a problem for the opposition manager. Knowing Frank has a tendency to walk left handed batters or give them easy hits because his best pitches slide away from a right handed batter the opposition manager loaded the line-up with lefties to get a bunch of easy runs from walks or easy hits. But now the manager is not sure of what’s going to happen.

One of the assistant coaches has the pitchers’ book as he walks up to the manager to say, “We’ve got next to nothing on Walker in the book. He did pitch a few times in the minors, but not much. All it says is he has an unusual style and a great control with some oddball deliveries.”

“OK. We’ll see how he goes for a few, then we may have to make some changes. I don’t want to pull anyone because it means we’re short if there are any injuries later,” is the manager’s reply.

All of the left handed batters were warned they may get hit so if the ball is headed for them they’re to take the hit and move the runners along with the walk. Thus they all have extra padding on their right side.

Mo gets set, shakes off a couple of signals from Pedro then he lets the first pitch go. It seems to be heading for the chest of the batter, making the coach smile because he thinks he’s getting the same result. The man at bat stands and waits for it to hit him. Just before the ball reaches the batter it curves right to pass over the plate in the middle of the zone for a “Strike One,” call from the umpire. Both teams’ coaching staff are looking at each other because they can’t believe how Mo got the ball to turn so far and so late.

The second pitch looks to be the same. The batter decides to swing at it. He does and he hits it. But the ball also drops a bit when it turns inside so he doesn’t get the ball square, just enough to hit it not quite level. It looks like going just to the pitcher’s right with a slight downward angle. Both base runners take off for the next base. Mo dives to his right and he makes a bare-handed catch for the out. He rolls over and he flips the ball up to Frank while yelling, “Two! Two!”

Frank catches the ball, spins, and throws it to second base, the fielder catches it and he toes the base before the runner can return to it. The umpire calls, “Out,” as the fielder powers the ball to the first baseman. He catches it and stands on the base for the out there. Mo is very happy with his first appearance pitching in the Major Leagues and being involved in a triple play. He also got the side out in just two pitches.

Mo has made two pitches and proven the strategy works. Mo’s coach is happy the strategy is working while the opposition coach is very unhappy Mo’s strategy is working!

The switching of pitchers keeps up with Frank and Mo sharing the pitching. Frank isn’t as tired as he’d normally be by now when he takes the mound for the top of the fourth inning. Mo’s team is leading four to nothing and their pitching statistics are very good so far.

The fourth is all Frank because a few of the left handed batters have been replaced with the regular starters. The opposition coach noticed they can sometimes get a man on base with Frank pitching, but Mo has all of their lefties out with only two or three pitches. He doesn’t like how often a hit by the batter ends up as a catch by Mo with a double play to also get the base runner. He can’t work how he’s doing it, but he’s sure Mo is getting them to hit the ball to where he wants it.

Returning to the dugout for their bat in the fourth Mo’s manager asks Mo, “How do you get the left handed batters to hit the ball to you?”

Mo smiles as he replies, “Actually, Skip, I don’t. What I do is pitch it in a way they’ll get the ball fairly well but not well enough to put it over the fence. Because of where the ball is in the zone they hit it to my right or up the centre. I’m used to covering a lot of field and I can get across to cover the centre part of the shortstop position. Which is why I’ve got Frank out a bit wider. The batters see the bigger than usual gap there so they try for it without expecting my speed to cover it. It’s more of a case of tempting them to put it there and placing the ball so the best hit is into that area. They take the bait and we get them out.” The manager laughs while remembering to practice that play for some situations.

During the top of the seventh inning Frank is starting to wear out. All the lefties have been replaced and the opposition had long at bats in the fifth and sixth. The score is now seven to three and the bases are loaded. Their best batter is coming up to bat when Frank signals to the dugout. The manager nods and he comes out while waving to the bullpen. Frank is done for the day and the reliever is taking over in a very tough situation. He’s not happy about it, but that’s the fate of a reliever.

Mark’s first pitch is high in the zone and the batter gets it good. It’s heading for the stands behind left centre field. It looks like being a four run home run hit.

Mo turns to race for the wall while shouting to the left fielder, “Relay! Relay!” Shaking his head at what he thinks is a waste of time and energy the left fielder runs over toward Mo to relay the throw in from the wall. Dave is still at shortstop when Martin moves over to cover second base. Mo races for the wall while looking over his left shoulder to track the ball in its flight. The batter and runners are all in motion. Everyone who’s not running is watching Mo and the ball while thinking it’s a home run. Mo feels the difference in the ground when he hits the warning track. Instead of slowing down he speeds up a touch. A couple of paces later he throws himself upwards at the wall at an angle with his forward foot bent. He hits the wall at an angle and he pushes up with his right foot. The shoe digs into the padding and grips while he goes higher. His left shoe digs into the padding and tears it when he throws himself up and forward along the wall with just a bit of an angle into the field. It looks like he’d have landed in the seats if he’d jumped toward the stands.

With his left hand stretched out as far as he can Mo continues to go upwards just inside the line of the wall. He reaches the top of his leap and he’s starting to drop when the ball enters his glove. He pulls the glove down, reaches across with his bare hand to take the ball out. Seeing Mo has clear control of the ball the umpire calls, “Out.” Mo is halfway back to the ground when he tosses the ball to the left fielder. He catches the ball, spins, and throws it to Martin. While the ball is in the air Mo lands on the warning track. His body is still at a forward lean but his feet hit first. He staggers a bit, falls to his hands, and he slides for several feet. Martin catches the ball about the same time as Mo’s hands hit the ground. Martin toes second base and he tosses the ball to third as hard as he can at the same moment the second base umpire calls, “Out.” The third baseman catches the ball and he stands on third base. Just as the third base umpire calls, “Out,” the fielder throws the ball across the diamond to the first baseman in a pure reflex action. The runner from first had stopped running on hearing the third ’Out’ call due to the inning being over. However, also acting on reflex the first base fielder catches the ball and stands on first base while the runner is still off the base. The first base umpire also calls, “Out,” making it unanimous. All three runners were almost to the next base when Mo caught the ball so they had to go back to their starting base to ’tag-up,’ but they didn’t make it in time.

The left fielder is shaking his head while he walks over to help Mo get up. Mo is swearing up a storm. He looks up, holds out his right hand, and says, “Fucking gravel rash is murder.” The man laughs at the dirt and scratches on Mo’s right palm.

While they walk back in he says, “You know you’ll have all of the stats people going crazy to find out if anyone has ever had a quadruple play before.” Mo turns and half frowns at him. “Most people know the state of the game situation so when they get the double play or triple play to end the inning they usually hold the ball. Well, you made the catch, Martin got the runner at second before he could tag-up and he got the ball to third in time to get him that runner which completed the triple play. But José took the ball, stood on third base and then threw it to first to get the runner at first too. The batter and three runners! A quadruple play. It won’t get in the record books but it may be a first in quite a few categories. I thought the ball was long gone.”

Mo grins as he says, “Another few inches and it would’ve been.”

The crowd is still shouting and yelling when they reach the dugout so Mo takes a moment to stand to wave his cap to the different stands before entering the dugout. He uses the back of his right hand to high five his team mates. When he reaches the manager he shows him his palm and says, “Skip, send Dave to centre field and put someone else in as shortstop. I’m done for the day.” The manager looks at the hand, nods his agreement, and waves Mo toward the clubhouse while he starts rearranging his team for the rest of the game.

The team’s trainer examines Mo’s hand after he washes it and tells an assistant to bandage it. The head trainer is turning away when Mo says, “Check the left shoulder too. I think it’s out.” After an examination of the shoulder the trainer nods, writes on a pad, and hands the note to the assistant. Ten minutes later Mo is in a car on his way to the hospital for an MRI and X-ray of his shoulder. Mo’s left shoulder is slightly displaced from the shock of his left hand being the first hand to hit the ground so hard. The hospital staff put it back in and they recommend he rest it for a few days. When they get back to the stadium the head trainer reads the hospital report and agrees with the treatment plan. No practice for three days, light practice for two, and a review next Friday morning. They’ll decide if he’s in the next series of games at that time.

Mo’s team wins all three games in the series with the closest game being the one Mo doesn’t play in. However, Dave makes a few good double plays that have a big effect on the game. Mo’s recovery goes just as they expect it to, so he practices and is back on the team for Friday’s game

Second Series

The first game on Friday Mo is the shortstop and Dave is on second base. No big plays by anyone, just good solid position play across the board for all the team members for a close win.

The second game on Saturday is like the first. The visitors are up by one run in the sixth, one out, runners on first and second, and the batter hits a grounder to the left, almost at Mo. He races in, scoops up the ball with his right hand, takes a few quick strides to tag the runner going down the line to third solid enough to make him stagger two steps. Spinning, he tosses the ball to Dave who tags the incoming runner from first for the double play. The player Mo tagged doesn’t like the tag and he wants to start a fight. He races after Mo who sees him and quickly moves away from the angry player. The rest of the players are heading in and the opposition players are heading to the field. Mo moves to get an umpire between them and the angry player turns to move away.

While on his way out to his position the angry player stops to talk to the pitcher for a moment. Mo doesn’t like the way the pitcher keeps glancing over in his direction.

Dave is batting before Mo and he gets an easy base hit to first. Mo moves from the on deck circle to the batter’s box. The first ball comes in at head height. He ducks and the ball goes to the backstop. Mo steps out of the box, walks a circle and he looks up. Catching Dave’s eye he nods at second base. Dave nods back. Mo sets up toward the back of the batter’s box. Dave takes off to steal second as soon as the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. Mo ducks to avoid being hit again. However, because he’s the extra foot and a bit back from the plate the ball is flying at a slight angle away from the plate so by the time it hits the backstop and it bounces further away the catcher has to run an extra couple of yards to get it. That little extra fraction of time is all Dave needs to be safe in at second base.

Mo sets up near the front of the box for the third pitch. The ball comes in at his head again. However, he’s expecting it so he sways back to swing at it but a bit low. The catcher is already rising to catch the ball when he sees Mo swinging so he ducks again. Mo misses the ball and it goes through to the backstop for the third time. So, after one strike and two balls Dave is grinning at Mo from third base having just stolen it the same way he took second base.

Standing right up at the plate edge of the batter’s box Mo is waiting for the fourth pitch. Like the others it comes in at head height. But this time he steps back a half pace as soon as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. He tracks it, and swings. A good solid hit out toward right centre field. It hits the ground a little in front of the diving second base fielder then it hits his shoulder to ricochet a bit more toward centre field. Mo heads to first base while Dave races for the home plate when the ball hits the ground. The centre fielder gets the ball, turns, and throws to home. Mo is faster than Dave so he rounds first and heads to second just as Dave beats the ball to home and is in safe. The player angry at Mo is the shortstop and he’s now standing on second base. Mo is almost to second and he can’t see the ball but figures it’s on its way to second to get him out. Just short of second base he goes into a feet first slide. The shortstop is watching Mo more than the ball and he sees Mo’s cleats heading right for his shins so he swears while he jumps to the side and forward to save his legs. Mo grins when he sees the ball fly over the base just behind the shortstop. Knowing the ball is on its way out into left centre field Mo slides onto the base, pops up, and races for third base. The centre fielder swears when he turns to chase the ball down, again. The ball is in the middle of left centre field when he gets it, and turns. He sees Mo is on his way to third so he throws direct to third base. Mo is only a pace away from third when the ball hits his right shoulder and it bounces off at an angle. The third baseman takes off after the ball so Mo touches base and heads for home. The fielder gets the ball, turns, and throws to home. The throw is a little off so the catcher moves out a yard to make the catch. He takes the ball and turns to tag Mo just after Mo dives for the ground to slide in. Mo dives to his right, and holds his left hand out. The catcher’s tag attempt is just short of Mo’s leg just as his hand slides over the plate for a call of, “Safe,” from the umpire and an announcement of: ’An in the park home run by Mo Walker,’ on the PA.