Chapter 6

Classes and sports practice had begun. The house was once again busy with people going to work out before breakfast and between classes. Jill had probably signed up for too many hours because she wanted to try to finish early if I was going to graduate and potentially leave after the fall semester. Courtney was scheduled to be a grad staff player coach and as well as teaching two classes.

Dan and Gloria our now married senior citizens were signed up for graduate classes and Dan had one more year of eligibility so was going to give football another try. His theory was that if he could show off enough, he might get some attention when the draft came around the next year. A team had selected him in the fifth round the last time but he had declined the offer to stay in school and perhaps improve his chances the next year. The man was working hard to gain weight, muscle, and speed. He was also constantly lobbying me to play football one more year. My answer remained no as I didn't want to take the chance of an injury and not be able to play baseball.

Clarice had found a steady friend in Curt who was spending more nights at the house than in his dorm. The guy thought the house full of willing women and men with some mixed up trannies to be a haven for a horny guy his age. Curt was about to become the starting quarterback for the football team so you know Dan was watching out for the hardworking second year student.

My fall days were spent working with the coaches. The pitching coach couldn't get over how I had been hiding my ability to pitch these past years while the batting coach was promoting my ability to see balls and strikes and hit anything that would be a strike. The batting coach would set up Nelly, the pitching machine, to pitch either low and away or low and inside. He showed me how to pull my hands in on the inside pitches and get them over the third baseman's head batting right and the first baseman's head batting left.

The pitching coach began working with me as to how to pitch the deceptive slider. We had figured out how to release the curve at a slightly lower point with some velocity in order for the ball to either drop on the back of the plate on into the catcher's mitt. I could still throw my slow curve that had such a sweet arc to drop like a rock while a batter swung. Experienced players were going to recognize the high release one of these days and let the ball fall in for a non-strike. The key strategy the pitching coach was teaching me was to move the ball around. A low and away followed my belt level inside then down the middle at the bottom of the strike zone. Everyone's advice was to keep the ball down and to challenge the batter to keep the ball in the infield.

While working the field, I was charged with getting new players ready to play an infield positions. I was still playing short and second when I wasn't pitching and only rarely sent to the outfield or behind the plate. My main position was standing where a second base official would be and coaching the infield. This was fun and it gave me a chance to observe and help pitchers as well as infielders. I was playing my dream by playing ball and coaching.

Our last series of the fall season was in a nearby big city with a division one school that was a shoo-in to be in the college NCAA tournament. Our school was not looked upon as being a major contender although we had only one loss in our thirty fall games.

When we were suiting up after some warm up infield practice, coach came to me and said, "I want you to pitch a few innings before I use you in the field. If the game is close in the late innings, I may want you to close out the game pitching. I don't think anyone will hit you enough to do any damage but our bull pen is only so-so against bats like we're going to see today. We have three games to show the world we should be in the big tournament so give it your all."

I told the coach, "No sweat coach. I'll play where ever you want. I want to win as bad as you do."

The pitching coach laughed with the head coach before saying, "Then how about pitching nine inning for a "no, no"?

That made me laugh, "Give me a break. I doubt that will happen in my life time. I'll give you my best so call a good game for me."

We did the before game batting practice and infield warm ups. The coach let me throw about two dozen batting practice pitches before I had my chance at the plate then worked the grounders on the infield for the rest of the warm up. I was now accompanied by the other bench utility guys keeping a hot hand using the glove.

We were about to take the field for the national anthem when I saw Sonny, Paul the scout's girlfriend, in the stands with Courtney and Jill. The softball game was not going to start until six this evening so the girls were all in the stands to cheer us on. You had to figure that if Sonny was there, Paul was in the scout box seats to evaluate talent. I wonder if there were many scouts present.

The coach had me designated as the pitcher but also fourth, clean up. As always, I had watched the other team's starting pitcher warm up and paid attention to his knee raise, leg kick, and delivery. He was smooth and had a very good fastball. Most of his fast ball deliveries were either inside or outside at the belt or higher. His curve came out of his hand a little funny and never made it to the plate. The guy had a change-up that looked like a knuckle and would go where ever it wanted but hardly ever over the plate. As an assistant player coach, I had the guys with me as the pitching coach and I evaluated the pitcher.

The lead-off man was a good listener and watched how the pitcher was turning his body to know what the pitch was going to be. A first pitch curve didn't make it to the plate. A fast ball outside was almost tempting but the batter caught himself. A change up went over his head. A fast ball strike went back up the middle.

The number two hitter had a bad habit of always wanting to watch a pitch. The other team must have had a book on him as the first pitch was so fat a little leaguer could have belted a home run. The second pitch was a fairly decent curve the batter swung at. I could see the pitcher getting ready for another curve but changed his delivery a little and the ball stayed high until the batter hit it short to the right fielder who threw him out at first.

With a man on second, our third man had to back off the plate to check the signs twice as the third base coach was signaling bunt. I was standing next to the coach and I knew it wasn't his idea. The man got his bunt up the first base line and was able to make to first while the pitcher was waiting for the ball to go foul. It never did and now there were men on the corners.

The teams in the area knew I could hit but every pitcher liked to challenge me. The third base coach gave me a swing away sign but not a big swipe. The first pitch was going to be a curve so I watched it dribble across the plate. When the pitcher went into an exaggerated leg kick, I knew this was going to be a change up and that the man on first would steal. I needed to swing to keep the catcher from having too much of an advantage to throw the guy out.

Thank goodness the ball came out of the pitchers hand way too early and went over the ump's head. The guy on third scored and the guy stealing ended up at third. The third base coach gave me full swipe from shoulder to groin. It was time for something other than junk so as I watched unbelieving, the pitcher got his knee up the way he would if he were going to throw a fast ball and really burned one. It was just above the belt and left my bat in just a slightly upward trajectory. It was still climbing on the way over the left field fence. Pitches just didn't get any better than that.

All the way around the bases I could hear Courtney, Jill, and Sonny cheering me. My team mates were used to the soft ball team cheering me and all of us, so they only gave me some minor razing. The rest of the inning gave us another run so we were up four to nothing going into the bottom of the first.

The first three batters watched first pitch strikes low and outside. All three swung at what should have been belt high curves but dropped into the catcher's mitt at the plate. The catcher asked for change up but I didn't want to use that for a third pitch for the lead off guy. I could remember his write up saying he hit off speed stuff well.

After shaking off the sign twice I waved him to meet. I told him, "You saw the write up on this guy. He hits off speed stuff. How about an inside fast ball since he's battling left?"

The catcher said behind his glove, "The coach is signaling your change so just throw it. If he hits you go bitch at him. See if you can jam him a little or make sure it's a ball he won't swing at but throw what the coach wants."

I kicked the dirt on the mound in front of rubber, picked up the rosin bag and looked back to the catcher. Sure enough, the sign was the same. I used my same stance and began the motion to throw and hoped I was keeping the ball low but still over the plate.

Amazing, the guy swung so early the catcher almost didn't catch the ball. The other two batters fell to fast balls that were right on the corners. This is where the catcher comes in as he was telling the ump that I threw on the edges all of the time. The umps watched closely and called them fair, or so I thought.

After the fourth inning of twelve men up and twelve men down, the coach asked how I felt about continuing to pitch. I told him fine but if he pulled me I still wanted to play infield. The fifth and sixth inning was a repeat but in the seventh the lead-off man hit a burner to the second baseman who threw him out. This was the first contact they had made so it woke me up. The number two and three hitters went down to low and outside pitches that looked similar to everything else I threw. The eighth inning my third strike curve hung a little but it was low and dribbled out to me so I could throw him out.

When I went in after the eighth, the coach asked me, "Do you want to finish this or do you think you might want a break?"

I still felt good and had not thrown that many pitches. Why would the coach even ask me a question like that?

"Let me try coach. I still have another at bat this inning."

The man laughed, "Like they are going to pitch to you after going five for five with two homers. Get your bat, you lead off."

I figured the reliever would either walk me or throw at me. Instead he threw a first pitch fast ball that I was a little late on and watched it go over the right field fence. I didn't expect that.

When I reached the dugout the coaches were laughing. The pitching coach said in a soft voice, "Another Babe is born." That got a blush from me.

When we took the field in the bottom of the ninth, the softball girls and the few fans from school were cheering for us. As I threw my warm ups I was still feeling fresh. Before the first batter the catcher came up to me and said, "Make it easy on yourself and see if you can get some grounders so you don't have to throw so much. You have to be getting tired by now."

"I'm good. Let's do what we've been doing and see if we can finish this. This is the end of the order and only one guy to worry about with the change up. Let me open with low inside and you tell me from there."

The man did his bowlegged catcher's jog back to the plate.

I didn't need a big knee lift for velocity and it seemed to help me with accuracy. The batter watched two low inside but across the plate fastballs. The catcher signaled for a fast curve which I consider dangerous but I threw it. The batter watched the ball drop across the plate in the zone.

The next batter fouled off the low inside fast ball before fouling off a fast curve. The catcher signed fast ball and set up outside so I burned one in that must have been on the black because the batter was looking and the ump was calling him out.

The last batter was the off speed hitter so I burned him on a fast ball outside and one inside. The man had a determined look on his face while the catcher was signing high inside fastball. The man hit the ball but it went straight up. I called for the ball with my arms out to wave off anyone coming to assist. As my glove closed around the ball, the third baseman collided with me and knocked me down.

Somehow the ball stayed in the glove and I jumped to my feet waving the glove around in excitement. I had just caught the last out of a twenty-seven man no hitter. My team mates mobbed me and hoisted me up in the air as everyone was doing the baseball victory bounce. When we finally finished celebrating, the crowd was still standing, applauding. Now that is embarrassing. I looked up in the stands to see the girls with Paul standing with them. How about that, I pitched a no hitter with scouts watching.

In the locker room the coach got me aside and said, "You know you were being scouted by almost every major league team. I saw the scout from the team you interned with sitting with the girls in the ninth. Do you know him?"

"He's sort of a friend and really taught me a lot about what to do and not to do to stay qualified for NCAA."

The coach smiled, "Glad to hear it. I've always heard good things about Paul. He'll be a good friend to have when the time comes."

All of the guys wanted to hurry and get to the softball field to watch the girls' game. It's crazy the way ball players can play a killer game then hurry to watch another, even softball. It's all in the game.

I sat with Paul and a couple of other scouts who were sprinkled into our team. Paul told me quietly, "You know you sealed the deal with pitching today. Who would believe you would begin pitching six month ago and pitch a complete game much less a no-hitter. I've already called back to the coaches and told them. They all said to give you their best and congratulations."

We watched the girls in a tight game that ended with them giving the winning walk off run on a single. It was disappointing but a good game.

When the girls emerged from the locker room, Paul asked my coach if he could take Jill, Courtney, and me out to supper. He even offered to take the coaches with us. It was decided to let us go but they didn't want to come along.

We went to a steak house that sold monster steaks. We didn't attempt to eat the advertised seventy-two once steak but we all had thick porterhouse that were over a pound of meat. The fixings were all you could eat so I had a couple of baked potatoes and a bunch of delicious string beans and okra.

Paul told me, "I can't have you guys to our room tonight as there are too many scouts watching. Sonny and I are planning to visit you guys this weekend if you'll invite us. How about it, can we come?"

Jill hugged Sonny and Paul, "Oh yeah, you can come and come and come. Just show up at the house and all of us will have you coming continuously."

When we went to our hotel, the coaches were in the lobby and noted that we were well before the curfew. We went to our hospitality room and had some soft drinks and snacks before going to bed.

The next morning I was stretching in front of the hotel in running gear when Jill, Courtney, and most of the softball players showed up. As they stretched, several of the baseball players showed up to join in the morning run.

It was a tradition for us to run through the campus saying good morning to the early students heading to breakfast, a lab, or class. After cleaning up we had a big breakfast and were told that we should be at the stadium no later than eleven for one o'clock game. The girls were playing at five so they would be able to watch again today.

While we were dressing for the game, the coaches had some sandwiches and fruit brought for us. He kept trying to dodge me until I finally cornered him. I said, "You're going to let me play in field right?"

He made several faces before he said, "You pitched nine inning yesterday. Don't you think you should rest your arm? I can play you tomorrow but you should take a day off."

"Coach, coach, you know I could probably pitch today if you needed me. Come on, let me play ball. You need me in a good mood and you need my glove in the field. Jonesy throws a lot of ground balls and you know you'll need me to direct out there."

The second baseman was nearby and came over, "We need Dean Coach. Charlie will be a decent short one of these days but he isn't there yet. Come on, we need Dean's glove and you know we need his bat."

"Okay, okay, Dean," the coach grimaced, "the other coaches and the scouts are not going to believe you. We do need your glove and bat so go warm up but try to keep the throwing down."

I laughed and asked, "So that means I can't throw batting practice?"

The coach threw a pair of rolled up socks at me.

Batting practice was fun today as the pitching coach was throwing some decent stuff. All of the good hitters were putting balls over the fence. I hit my twenty by bunting five, doing five over third, five over first, and wailing five either over or to the fence. I spent the rest of the time handling grounders and then hustling in the field catching flies.

The game was almost ho-hum because we jumped out to a lead in the first and didn't have any worries until the fifth. Our first reliever walked two straight then signaled that he had a wrist problem. Another reliever walked a guy and finally threw some low balls that gave us grounders but allowed two runs.

The sixth inning was another two relief pitchers that were having trouble throwing strikes and we were able get out of the inning giving up only two more runs but now we were leading only eight to six.

The top of seventh, I was up to bat and was able to get my fifth hit and my first home run of the day but no one else was on base. When we went out to the field, the new reliever walked the first two men before the manager/coach came out. All of the infield was huddled around the coach and pitcher when the pitcher said, "Use Dean. Bring in another infielder and let him see if he can finish. He shouldn't need any special warm up as he's been throwing in the infield."

The coach looked at me funny and raised his eyebrows. I screwed up my mouth and nodded, "Let me try."

The coach was shaking his head as he went to the approaching umpire who was coming to break us up. The umpire and the coach had a long conversation before the umpire called the other coach over. This was a legal position change as I was in the game but just changing positions. As I was tossing the ball back and forth with the third baseman, I heard the other coach say, "There's no way the guy can pitch two days in a row."

The catcher was the same as the day before so I warmed up with fast balls and tried one curve and one change. Not bad but the curve wasn't happening yet.

The first man I saw hit a flat ground ball to second who tossed to the short covering second and threw the out at first base but a runner scored. We were back within two runs with the bases empty.

The next pitch was supposed to be low and outside but it was about belt high and outside an inch or so. The batter went after it but thank goodness he hit by way of Mars and it came down in a fielder's glove.

The eighth was about the same after we fell three up and three down. I was able to have some control with my curve and my fast ball was going where it was intended.

The ninth inning saw us load the bases and I had another at bat. This time I was sweating it as we needed the insurance runs. We had one out so I knew everything I saw was going to be low and probably outside. The first pitch was off the plate. The second was belt high but way outside. The third pitch was inside enough I had to fall back to avoid getting hit. I was ready for that perfect fast ball but it didn't happen. The pitch died five feet in front of the plate and rolled to the catcher. They guy walked me and walked in a run. Now that is embarrassing.

The next batter hit into the double play. The coach asked me, "Do you still want to pitch this last inning? We have a man warmed up."

"Let me do it. We're up by three so if I get hit, pull me." The coach smiled at me and patted me on the butt on the way out of the dugout.

The first pitch was a rocket back to me. The second pitch to the second batter was a bloop to the first baseman who not only caught it on the fly but walked over the base. The third pitch was a grounder to the freshman shortstop who fielded the ball cleanly and threw out the runner. Game over.

I liked a three pitch inning. That's the way to do it.

Once again I saw Paul and Sonny sitting with the softball girls.

In the locker room the coach told me, "I want you to rest tomorrow. I know you have all of the energy in the world and you would prefer to play rather than ride the pine but you should rest."

I stood up still in my uniform pants and undershirt. "Rest? Why? Tomorrow is the last game of the season. We don't have a NCAA fall bid and even if we did it would be a week away. Come on coach, let me play the last game of the season. If I move on to a pro team at the end of the semester, it could be my last college game. Let me play, you need my bat, right? Want me to pitch? I'll even catch but let me play."

The coach wouldn't look at me but said, "We'll talk about it tonight or tomorrow."

I was really down. I couldn't believe the coach would actually sit me for the last game of the fall season. It was as if I had done something wrong or pissed him off.

After showering I went out to find the girls had already taken off to get ready for their game. Paul and Sonny were waiting for me and Paul noticing my demeanor, asked, "What's up pal?"

I told him what the coach had said and that it was possible this could have been my last college game. Paul said that he thought the coach just didn't want me to hurt my arm or any chance to get drafted in the future. It still didn't make any sense to me.

Paul said that he and Sonny had to go to another game to scout this evening and would see us this coming weekend. I shook hands with Paul and hugged Sonny before finding the hot dog stand at the softball stadium.

The girls did better today and blasted their way to an easy win. We celebrated together and went to supper as a combined group of the two teams. As we all finished eating, the head coach stood up and announced, "I have a special problem this evening that you all can help me with. One of our players is being approached by a team that wants him to come to their minor league camp immediately. They are prepared to negotiate a major contract to pay him as much or more than the first pick of the draft next summer. Now I can't stop them from offering and if he even acts like he's talking or negotiating with them, he's out of NCAA sports. I might be able to hide him from these guys but that's going to be tough. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

I had not seen him but Paul stood up and told everyone who he was and assured the people that he did not represent the team that was pushing an offer. Paul said to everyone, "You may have the best way to handle this by inviting the coaches from the school here to join you and witness the confrontation with the team trying to hire Dean. I know Dean wants to play ball but I also know he wants to possibly keep his eligibility for Spring ball if he stays on. So, I recommend that you have Dean prepare a statement and you gather the coaches to witness the meeting."

The coach was nodding and I saw him get on his cell phone. The pitching coach came to get me and had the kids arrange tables to be set up like a meeting. In a few minutes, the local school coaches showed up and the host team's head baseball coach congratulated me on the no hitter and the save today. I felt honored as he always sent several players to the majors.

Soon, all of the two teams were standing around the outer area of the banquet room with what looked to be about two dozen scouts, some news reporters, and of course all of the coaches from the two teams.

My coach said, "Dean wants to read a statement to everyone here to let everyone know how he feels about what may be offered."

I stood and held the paper in front of me, "To whom it may concern. I, Dean, want to complete my college eligibility and schooling before I consider any professional sports. I do not want any offers, monies, or consideration before I graduate. When the next draft comes, I will enter the draft the same as all other prospective players. Thank you."

I sat down and looked at all of the scouts who were sitting around the tables. Two scouts were sitting with a guy in a nice suit. The suit stood and opened a nice brief case. He pulled two bundles of money from it and stacked them on the table. He had a group of papers in his hand and said, "Before you say no Dean, look at the money on the table. This contract I hold in my hand entitles you to a hundred times what is on the table. We are the richest baseball team in both leagues and have the money to back it up. Sign this deal and you will never want for money again. You know our history and will be playing for a true winner. Sign with us?"

The man was all puffed up and confidant. He was looking around at everyone smiling a victorious smile.

I didn't flinch. I told him from a sitting position then stood so I could be heard, "So all of the coaches, my team mates, and the other scouts hear me, I will not sign any deal from anyone and will not accept anything that will jeopardize my college career. Without being rude, please go away. Somehow I don't think what you're doing is the way major league sports is supposed to do this. Please, go away."

While I was standing, I thanked the other coaches for coming to witness this meeting and said to my coach, "How about making sure I get to my room without talking to any more of them."

We walked out of the room to the elevators and went up to our floor. The coach said, "I guess I'll have to let you play tomorrow after all of that. I do have a question for you though. If you're going to wait until next summer's draft, are you going to leave school if you graduate?"

I smiled at the coach and told him, "I think I'll be here for spring ball. Jill has to graduate and I would rather take a couple of other classes next semester and have that double major. Besides, I need to learn how to be a better hitter and even learn how to pitch."

We laughed together as Courtney and Jill came down the hall. When they went into my room the coach said, "You kids be good and no fooling around. There will be bed check in an hour or so."

When the door was closed, the girls hugged me and kissed me. I told them, "I just told the coach I would be here through spring semester. So Jill, withdraw from some of your courses so you're not covered up with too many hours. We'll both take classes in the spring and graduate at the regular time."

Jill announced, "I want to do the classes anyway. I can do it and be ready for spring ball and be taking some extra classes that will improve my grade point. Courtney and I will be learning sports marketing and business management. We'll be ready to work in any front office."

We hugged again and decided to not take a chance of getting caught enjoying ourselves. I walked them to their room and returned to mine. A little later, a coach came by to check on me and my absent roommate. As always, the guy I was saddled with enjoyed drinking too much. The assistant coach told me, "Tell Tom to see me first thing in the morning. The guy plans on being drafted next year but he won't get any coaches recommendations with his attitude. Just tell him to see me."

I went to bed and slept while dreaming of the weekend coming up with Paul and Sonny.

The Friday game was at one in the afternoon again but this time the girls game was at the same time. As we dressed before warm up, the coach asked me, "How about I give the new kid another shot at short and you play right field. There should be a lot of activity over there for you since we're throwing right and they have a bunch of left handed hitters. Hopefully I won't have to use you to finish another game."

The game was a real baseball game and we finished off the season with a five to four win. I was hitting good again today and was five for five with another home run. That should convince someone that I should be playing the infield and not pitching. The world thinks a pitcher can only work every fifth or sixth day. How boring is that?

The softball team won their game too and what do you know? They were offered a birth in the college fall softball classic. Once again, our baseball team was snubbed as being little league and not in the same class as every division one team we beat this season.

My opinion was not important but I didn't care that much as I had plenty to do. I was dedicated to working with the underclassmen infielders and planned to spend the winter using the field house whenever possible.

The indoor batting cages were going to be busy because I needed to remain proficient and I was now the assistant batting coach although I was still trying to get all of the coaching I could get.