Chapter 19

Hairy

The Main Office was in the stadium. Roz introduced me around, picked up a pass from Security and hung it around my neck. She escorted me out to the field and I met the coach.

“Nope ... not a player.” I said.

“Wanna try out?”

That was probably the funniest thing I had heard in ten years. I mentioned that I’d like to sit behind home plate ... the bastard put me to work running the speed gun. That freed up the third base coach.

The pitcher, a young fella I’d never heard of was blazing ‘em by batter after batter at 90 mph or better when I realized all the kid had was a fastball.

I called out to the batter, “Look. He’s throwing the same pitch every time. The ball crosses the plate in the same place over and over. He’s pitching in the low 90’s. Time it.”

Two pitches later.

CRACK

CRACK

CRACK

The grin on the batters face was priceless. The pitcher, however, wasn’t happy.

So I hollered, “Hey. Stop throwing the four seam fastball. Try something else.”

And that ended up as a lesson in aerodynamics.

“The seams interrupt the airflow across the surface of the ball. So how you hold the ball determines the direction of rotation and backwards rotation keeps the ball straight and fast. If you grip the ball with the seams the seams catch the air. Interrupting the airflow the ball will be almost as fast ... and look like a fastball, but the ball moves down and in to a right hand batter.”

The pitcher tried it.

STRIKE

“What else ya got?” said the smiling pitcher.

The coach called in another pitcher and I took the kid off and taught him the Run fastball, the Cut, the Slider, the Curve, the Knuckleball, the Slurve, a Change-up and the Split finger. I couldn’t throw the pitches but I could show him how to hold the ball to get the expected result.

“It’s simple aerodynamics. The air moves across the surface of the spinning ball and the seams get in the way, disrupting the airflow.”

And it’s true in all ball games. The seams dictate ball direction.

Aerodynamics.

That kicked my brain in gear. I wonder if I’d like to learn how to fly?

At the end of the business day, Roslyn retrieved me and off we went.

“I always have an after work drink. My job is pretty stressful.” She asked, “So ... how was your day? Should have been pretty boring.”

I laughed. “Wasn’t too bad. The pitching staff want me back tomorrow and the third base coach wants me to run the speed gun again.”

“What?”

“I gave your new pitcher a lesson in the aerodynamic properties of baseballs.”

She just looked at me.

“That got me to thinking about aerodynamics for myself,” I said. “Where would I go to see about flying lessons?”

“Rachael would know,” Roz said.

“Now, why didn’t I think of that?” I continued, “You’re more than just a pretty face ... and a smokin’ hot body.”

Roz said, “You say the nicest things.”

And Rachael did know. She looked in the book, the Yellow pages.

“Metropolitan State has had a ground school/flight school since 1967. You have to be a student ... a college student.

“Alliance Flight just started this year. I hear they’re fun.