Chapter 7

While we were eating, Charley told me, "I wasn't trying to make you look good. I wanted to hit off you so bad, just like I did the other guys. That slider came from both sides of the plate. That's a first."

Jesus asked, "Can you show me how to get a slider to move back the other way. I was watching and it didn't look like you really changed your motion. Your curve is very sweet and would be a great first pitch, but guys will be blasting that thing all over the place if you throw an off speed pitch like that too consistently."

While we were eating, the Manager came over and sat down across from me. "You proved to everyone here that you are a ballplayer, Matt, but now they have to figure out where you can make the team better. Is it in the rotation, the bullpen, or is it in the field. You're a problem. I showed the observers out there the Triple A Manager's comments regarding your complaints about not being able to bat or play the field before you began pitching. One note says that you were insisting on pitching every other day if you could get up to bat more often. The guys yesterday and the men here today, think that's rich. Good luck to you three. Ah, Jesus, you're not leaving, and you're staying too, Charley. Now we have to see if Matt can bring us the other bats we need, or if we keep him the way I want to."

That little talk felt pretty good. I really hope I stay here or go to the Rays. Those people know how to make a team work. I'd bet Joe Madden would figure out a way to use my bat with his crazy lineup changes, whether or not I was pitching.

I was sent to a room to interview with the Diamondbacks after lunch. They congratulated me on how well I fielded, hit, and pitched. It was as if there was a big 'but'. I don't think they were willing to separate with what it would take to get me. The interview lasted less than ten minutes, and there were no real searching questions.

The next interview was with the Rays. Andrew Friedman is an extremely courteous and professional businessman. I almost felt bad since I was still dressed in baseball gear. He had several sheets of paper with questions on them, and we went down them one at a time. One of the questions when we were down to the personal stuff was, "Are you gay?"

I smiled when I said no. The man then asked, "Do you have any relationships with women?"

I nodded and said, "I've gone with two girls who are friends since my freshman year in high school. We went to college together at the university and graduated one, two, and three, the same as in high school."

"Are you more than friends with these girls?"

"Yes I am, and they may accompany me to wherever I am when I land on a major league team somewhere."

Joe Madden was another choice individual. He was a soft spoken person that oozed intelligence. He asked, "Do you think you're ready for the majors? You know you didn't put in any time playing in the farm clubs and came up when they had a bunch of pitching injuries. Mike told me how he had you pinch hit after clobbering one the day before while you pitched two innings. Then you hit everything thrown to you until you were hit on the wrist. That was really too bad as the Marlins might have made it out of the cellar. I know the feeling."

"So do you think you are ready for the majors, Matt? You know I have a solid infield, but utility backups are always important. I think we have a solid starting rotation, but we may need some help in the bullpen. I could really use your bat though. So tell me, do you think you're worth some good or great players?"

I looked at the two men and told them, "I've worked hard to become as good a ballplayer as possible. I've been lucky to have some great coaching to get me here, and was coached by some good men over the winter. I even worked hard to become a consistent pitcher and to learn to control my curve as often as I throw it. I'm not perfect, but I think I'm close to the best pitcher on our staff here, and I know I have the best bat on the team. I think the Marlins are nuts to trade me, but to answer your question; yes, I'm major league material."

Joe Madden was nodding his head as he smiled at Andrew Friedman. He said, "I think so too, so now it's up to Andy here to see if we can beg, borrow, or steal you. Ah, if we ask, do you think you could bring your significant other down to say hi? Oh yeah, that's significant 'others' in your case. Could you?"

"Sure, but they are finishing their Masters. They both want to be teachers and will be teaching when they finish and join me wherever that may be. We're hoping to stay in Florida, but life is what it is, as my first important coach used to say."

We had been talking for over an hour when the interview ended. I walked out of the room and the Manager and General Manager both motioned for me to come with them. We walked into another interview room and sat at a table. The Marlins GM handed me a bottle of water and said, "I'll bet you could use some of this."

I smiled at the man as he asked, "What do you think about us trading a first round pick to get a bunch of good players?"

"I'm not sure, Sir. I like playing baseball and Mike gave me a chance to play. I know our infield could use my glove, and that you can use my bat. You know that I could still relieve if something came up. I could stay sharp when you rotate players. I can still bat if you want me to be in the rotation, and you can use me in the field on my off days. I know you don't think you should do that, but think about last year. I pitched every batting practice and still threw well in relief before you put me in the field. That is until I hit a homerun. I want to play ball and not ride the pine, either in the dugout or on the bullpen bench. But to tell you the truth, you shouldn't trade me unless it is for some really good talent, and maybe even some money, because you paid me a nice signing bonus. Thank you for that."

Mike said, "I'm sure glad we didn't know how good your bat really was or you could have held us up for more than what you received."

The GM said, "I'm with you, Matt. We're not trading you unless it is for a whole lot of talent. I'm sure Mike will figure out how to use you as much as possible if you stay. Just quit pissing pitchers off and learn to get out of the way."

We laughed and they stood, so I stood up too. Mike told me, "I figured you were on something when I saw you, but we've run you through every test known, and all we know is you are in wonderful condition and I hope you stay that way. If you want to go home, we'll have a limo take you to the airport to fly you home. I'm sure you don't want to wait for a commercial flight to fly all over hell's half acre to get back to Tallahassee. What'll it be?"

"Home, Gentlemen, and thank you for talking with me. Know that I would love to remain a Marlin, but if it can't be, make sure you get a bunch in return."

The GM had one of the front office men in a suit get a limo and alert the pilot to take me home. I waved at the other players as I walked out of the room, and went over to wish luck to Charley and Jesus. I told Jesus to call me, come up to Tallahassee, and I would help him with his slider. That's the way to get friends in the industry and I always enjoy having friends.

It only took me a few minutes to get my clothes and shaving kit into my suitcase. I changed from workout clothes to jeans, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes at the hotel, and checked out. The pilot was standing at the door when the limo drove up to the little jet. He pulled the door shut when I came on board and asked if I wanted to ride up front.

Silly question. Every guy in the world wants to ride in the cockpit of a jet.

The man went through a very defined procedure as he referred to a small binder. I became excited watching what he was doing and trying to see all of the gauges, when he began talking to someone on the radio and powering the engines up to make the aircraft move.

He must have switched to intercom, as his voice was a little louder in the headset as he said, "We've been cleared to the taxiway and straight on to the runway. We would be in a long line waiting for takeoff if we were at MIA. This little airport is perfect for businessmen in the area. Cheaper fuel too. Watch what I do and then see if you can feel when we rotate off the ground. You tell me when to pull the gear."

Wow! The takeoff was smooth and fast. I felt the plane sort of glide off the ground and ceased hearing the tires on the pavement. I said, "I can see and hear we're off the ground. How high should you be when you raise the gear?"

"Oh anytime after about five hundred feet. If something happened, I probably couldn't use the gear anyway. As you can see, in just a few minutes we'll be passing ten thousand feet on the way up to twenty-one. We'll be calling for landing instructions by the time we get up there. So how did you do these last couple of days? The GM and owner sure seem to like you. They don't send me to get you guys very often. They never have me take players home, so you're important to them."

I explained they wanted to trade me to fill the team with productive ballplayers. He told me, "I wonder why they want to trade you if you're that good and they have you on a rookie contract. Just how many real bodies can they get for you? I'm sure you're not worth most of a team. I think they need to continue to develop from the farm teams and keep filling them up with good drafting."

The man began talking again and was setting switches and pushing buttons on a screen on the front panel or center console. In the intercom voice, he said, "We've been given a straight in approach, so we're on a twenty mile final and will be passing the ten mile marker soon. He tapped the screen and said, "There you go. We're going to land this bird now."

We did a very smooth landing and taxied up to the operations building where he had picked me up. He asked me, "Can you hang out here at the aircraft so I can go pee? Age is making me pee all of the time."

The man went to pee and came back smiling. He said, "Relief" as we shook hands. I grabbed my bag before he shut the door and prepared to go back to Miami.

The Jeep was where I had left it, so I drove home thinking of what a strange but fun few days it had been. I would be at spring training, either in Jupiter, or somewhere else, in about a month. This was going to be a very interesting season.

I was thinking about the two girls on the way home and what I should do to help them know how important our relationship and commitment was to me. My thoughts ran to wedding rings, but if we couldn't get married, what kind of ring should I get them?"

There is a mall on the way home and I was going to go there, but I passed an old jewelry store that I know my mom had dealt with and pulled into their parking lot. I looked around inside and was approached by an older woman. She was smiling her best salesperson smile, so I went right at my situation.

"I have a unique problem and hope you can make a suggestion. I have a very long and committed relationship with two women who are life long friends. They refuse to be separated, and I've fallen in love with both of them. It would be sort of good if one left, but that isn't happening. I think I should get them a ring to show my sincerity and as a way to show our commitment. Can you help me pick out the right ring for the two women?"

The woman looked at me a long time before asking, "Are you living together now?"

"No, Ma'am, they are still finishing their Masters. I've finished college, have a good job, and live away from here, but they will soon join me. Don't you think I should give them something special?"

"Yes, you should, but I don't think you should give them a wedding set. You won't be married, so you wouldn't or shouldn't use the wedding ring. Come look at some of these special rings that can be used as engagement rings, then matched with a simple band later. Let's see what you might like. Is there a price range we should stay at? You have a more expensive task than most men with two rings to buy."

The lady showed an assortment of rings that were very nice. I told her that I envisioned something that wasn't flashy, but elegant and still in good taste. My suggestion was that a ring didn't have to have a huge regular stone, but could have one of those beautiful rectangular diamonds and possibly blue diamonds on each side. I was pointing to a beautiful ring in the case when I was describing it. It had a big emerald cut diamond with two smaller blue diamonds on each end. The ring was beautiful and glistened in the light. Jewelry stores have good lighting, of course. I asked to see the ring and I could feel the weight of the gold while holding it, and it was beautiful. The diamonds didn't stick up high and were nearly flush with the heavy gold ring protecting the stones.

I looked up at the lady and asked, "Do you have another like this? I need two."

The lady said, "I can have another like that made, as my husband made this one." The woman turned the small display box upside down and pointed to the price of the ring that was five figures, and the first digit was an eight. She asked, "Can you afford two of these?"

"I probably shouldn't, but I can. Maybe you can reduce the price of the two since I would be buying two and I would also be helping you move a very expensive and probably very difficult ring to sell."

The lady smiled and said, "You are observant. You noticed the manufacture date, didn't you?"

I just smiled as I didn't notice it, but if she will give me a discount based on what she thinks I saw, that was fine with me. I asked, "How long would it take your husband to make another like this?"

The lady said, "Let's ask him and we'll make him give you a good deal."

The lady went behind a curtain and came back with an older gentleman. She explained that I had a special problem, had to purchase two rings, and liked the one they had. She asked him, "Two questions, Honey; first, how long would it take you to make another ring exactly like this, and two, would you allow this young man a discount if he bought two? He observed that we've had this ring in stock for a very long time."