Chapter 9

I didn't try to break the sound barrier on the way down, but I kept up a steady speed of about eighty all the way. The hypos (highway patrol) usually don't bother you if you don't try to outrun traffic, but they like to help you with some flashing lights if you want to lead the parade. I made one stop to pee and get some coffee, and arrived at the Port Charlotte training facility and Grapefruit League ballpark about 11:20.

I was sent to the office to check in and was treated as any other player. They said that the cafeteria was serving lunch and that I should go eat and come back to the office afterward.

The cafeteria was very good and served some good tasting food. There was a variety that had a lot of protein items that I filled up on along with iced tea. There was another player there but he didn't speak English so I left him alone. I probably could have upheld a conversation with him but he didn't act as if he wanted to be friendly.

After lunch I was sent to the local clinic they had set up. They were like a vampire in taking my blood, and watched as I peed in a cup. They took another X-ray of my wrist and an MRI on my mid-section to be sure where I been hit hard by a bad pitch didn't create a tumor.

I wanted to do something by two in the afternoon, and couldn't get the other players who were showing up to do anything. This was boring.

Joe Maddon saw me and pulled me to the side. "Go find a place to stay tonight if you don't want to stay in the training facility. You'll get more sleep in a hotel. The club will pick it up for you since we screwed you around so much. Just don't broadcast that you're getting special treatment. The guys will realize that soon enough. We do some workouts around nine in the morning, so be here and you can do some throwing. The afternoon might find some guys working some infield stuff, so stick around and see what you can get into."

The hotel he suggested was just down the road. I was able to get a room and stashed my stuff. The front desk wasn't that helpful in recommending a place to eat, so I decided to cruise the area to find something.

I found a barbecue place that had inside dining, and ate enough ribs to make them charge me a lot of money. I argued that I had two meals, but I didn't eat all of the baked beans of one, and only the slaw off one, and that I should get credit for that. The manager was grinning at me the whole time I discussed this with the cashier. He finally told the girl to add a couple of bucks to the bill and to tell me that was to tip the staff.

I looked at the guy and smiled. He winked at me and directed me to the side. "I know who you are and know you'll probably be one of the most famous ballplayers we'll ever have in here. You were cool when I suggested that you should tip the kids rather than get a discount. That told me it was really you. Joe Maddon often comes in, so make sure you tell the other guys about us. We do make some dynamite ribs."

I called home from the room to let them know all was well and that I had passed my physical. They were happy for me and said they already missed me. It sure was special to be loved by so many.

I was up and running within fifteen minutes the next morning. I worked out in the hotel gym after running, then showered and had a big breakfast of a steak, a half dozen eggs, and a couple of glasses of milk.

I had to wait for the security guard at the ballpark to let me in. He said, "No one gets here before eight, and the office staff shows up at eight-thirty. The group you'll be with doesn't show up until nine, so go have some coffee in the lounge and wait for the crowd.

I remembered the short period of time I was with the Marlins' major league club. The folks were all late risers, but a lot of that had to do with evening games, going to bed late, having something to eat, and traveling to the next venue. I would learn to get back into sleeping later in due time, but right now I wanted to run and exercise before breakfast and come in early.

The coffee was fresh in the lounge outside the cafeteria. I was sitting, drinking coffee when Andrew Friedman came in. He smiled at me and asked, "Did you drive down early this morning?"

"No Sir, I came yesterday so I wouldn't be in a rush. I suppose it probably isn't much of one, but I wanted to get here and settle in."

"You must be like me and enjoy getting up early. I usually try to do a little workout and run a while in the morning. Are you the guy who was out running early? I saw you when I came from the gym."

"That was me. I wanted to have breakfast before I came in and I like to be able to pick and choose what I order since I'm trying to stay on a high protein diet."

"You'll have to share your diet with me. I would love to bulk up a little and put on more muscle like you did. I'm going to go in and have breakfast. Come in, check out what they serve, and decide if you can eat here instead of the hotel restaurant."

We went in and Andrew told the cooks that I ate a special diet and I would tell them what I ate and they could tell me what they had. I explained that I was on a strict high protein diet with the big requirement being no carbs, or as few as possible, and lots of rich protein to help with muscle. The head cook or chef said, "I know what you want; something like an Atkins diet. We do that for a couple of people who are on a weight loss program. You're different because you want to pack it in. We do have baked chicken for lunch, so that will work for you and you can always eat the hamburgers without the buns. We don't use any filler. We don't serve a lot of steak, so if you're eating a lot of lean beef, you might have to continue to buy your meals."

Mr. Friedman told me, "We'll go out together for supper and load up on steak. There are a couple of decent steakhouses here, and would you please stop calling me Mr. Friedman and doing the 'Sir' stuff. I'm Andy to you, but not to all the players. They have to earn that the way you did. I think that half the women on the front office staff would be taking a number outside your door if you weren't committed. They all think you're special by the way you are always soft spoken and courteous."

I smiled as my demeanor was the result of teaching by my mom and coach. It has always been easier to be nice than to be rude or a jerk.

I went to the locker room that was now unlocked after having some bacon with Andrew, and dressed in my workout clothes. I had brought my old gloves to use for part of spring training and would break in my new gloves a little at a time until I was one hundred percent confident with them.

It was still only eight fifteen, so I went to the indoor batting cage and loaded balls into the hopper. I found a bat that felt good and turned the machine on. It was throwing about eighty to eighty-five, so I used the time to get the feel of swinging through the ball and attempting to direct it to where I wanted. I always tried to put the ball right back to the hole it came out of whenever I was using a machine. I was being consistent this morning and hit the machine three times straight. I had to go straighten the machine before I began placing hits over what would be first and third.

I switched to batting left-handed about twenty minutes in, and was doing about the same routine. That's when the batting coach came in and asked, "Hey! What're ya tryin' to do, wear out my machine? We're getting another machine that can pitch up to about ninety-five so you can get some practice with some real fastballs. You have a good swing, but you don't step into the ball very hard. I think we'll work on your hips and shoulders a little and see how we can get you hitting even harder than you do now. Go out to the field. The other guys are running and you should be out there too."

I went out and ran the field with the other men there. Today was actually the reporting day, and there were only a couple of relievers who weren't there yet. This group looked to be ready to practice.

We went through little league type preparations by playing catch, lengthening our throws until they were only about half to three quarters of the distance for long toss. They didn't want to hurt any arms by over extending them this early in practice.

Joe Maddon came out and had me and a reliever pair up to do some real long toss because we were both prepared for the season. We began taking turns throwing off a mound from there, with a coach behind the catcher evaluating the pitches. I was asked to throw straight fastballs and to put them in the sweet spot my first time through. I threw five and was told to slow them down so I didn't wear my arm out.

I threw the four seam fastball the next time through, and was told to stay and throw the split finger. They told me to slow it down again.

If I have a weak pitch, it's my changeup. It'll work against a batter who is setup, but it's easy to hit if I throw it as a first pitch. The curve can be a good first pitch strike if the guy is known to take a pitch. It can also be good as a strikeout pitch, but my favorite is my slider.

I threw my slider that went from right to left and threw it perfectly five times in a row the last time up. I changed my stance a little and threw my slider that went the other way so it looked to be way outside and then darn near hit the batter. That was for lefties and situations where I needed a batter to get off the plate.

I was getting a little bored by lunch because we really didn't do anything but throw. We went in for lunch and I was amazed at the guys with their arms wrapped with ice. My goodness, they couldn't be sore from the little workout we just had. I ended up eating with the reliever who I had been paired with. He asked, "I work out in the fieldhouse of Okie State. I have several guys who will catch for me and my old pitching coach still helps me out. Where have you been practicing?"

I've been practicing with the Noles over the winter. We have baseball twelve months a year here in Florida, and the university coach still likes to work with me. He's the one who helped me get my curve to be consistent and taught me the backup slider."

"Figured you for doing something like that. You're ready for the season and I think I am too, but I don't think I'd be a good starter. I could do a spot start if needed, but I'm a damn good pressure reliever. I can give three innings all out, but I just don't have the stamina to do much more. Tell me about this high protein diet you're on. I might have to get on it with you. You seem to have all the energy in the world and you're really built. I thought you were skinny last year when I watched you play with the Marlins."

"I put on a lot of weight and now I'm about at my max weight. I'm trying to bulk up with muscle and the diet is helping. It's just a lot of food that's high in protein. I avoid carbs and only eat what's necessary."

We went out to toss the ball back and forth after lunch, but no long toss. A catcher came out and said he would dress if we wanted to practice some pitches. The reliever told the catcher to put his gear on as I was going to teach him how to throw a backup slider.

We were working on the pitch for almost an hour when the pitching coach came out. "What the fuck are you two doing? You had your practice this morning, and you shouldn't be throwing so much this early in training."

Joe had followed the coach out to the field and told him, "These two are ready for the season and have been practicing all winter. What are you doing, Don, teaching the kid something new?"

"No, Joe, Matt is teaching how he gets his slider to go the other way. The way he's showing me isn't that hard and I'm already getting good movement on the ball. We're not burning them, just trying to get the movement while I learn to throw the pitch."

The pitching coach was shaking his head. "Shit, what do they need me for? These two can teach the rest of these knuckleheads to throw. I think they need to teach them how to live and eat first. All of them were out drinking last night and that isn't the way to start spring training."

The catcher was walking out to Don and me, and as he passed the coach, he said, "And you were setting a good example. I left you at ten last night and you were entertaining all of them with a glass in your hand."

"Yeah, that was me, but I'm not being paid the big bucks like these guys to be ready for the spring."

I could see that the place could become too much of a party when the regular position players began coming in. I'll bet Joe settles them down right away and makes them get serious.

The rest of the players who were in camp came out on the field, and Joe asked, "Who wants some batting practice? You pitchers should stay sharp with a bat so you can hit when we play at a National League park. You know any of you who want can get some DH work on your off days or even get an at bat as a pinch hitter.

All of the position players in camp began setting the cages up. Joe told some pitchers to warm up so they could each throw ten to fifteen balls. Joe told me, "Go first, and do what your coach, Earl, said he taught you, bunt then bat, first left this time, then right next time through."

Don, the reliever, pushed to the front to throw to me. He had been told to throw batting practice pitches but I knew they were going to be fast and they would be accurate. I did the five bunts from the left with two of them going foul and one popping up. I blasted all he threw into the deep outfield or over the fence. Don threw a slider that I waved at when I switched to right. All of the players watching, including Don, laughed at how badly I missed the ball. I bunted the next pitch perfectly and did it again four more times. Don threw another wicked slider when I squared off to hit, but I was ready this time and put it into the next county. I hit the ball hard enough every time afterward that Joe finally said, "Enough, you're embarrassing a guy who isn't supposed to be throwing ninety miles an hour."

I grabbed my glove when I left the cage, and watched Don move to first. I began fielding the grounders and throwing them to Don on first. A tall, smiling player went to Don and acted like he had his feelings hurt. The two men were giving each other a hip push to move the other off first. That's when I realized it was James Loney, and he felt as if first base was his territory.

I was about to go out to the outfield when Joe told me to pitch. "Only throw batting practice pitches except to Don. You can do anything you want with him except hit him."

I must have thrown three hundred throws while the guys cycled through the cage batting left one time and right the next. A lot of guys were yelling that Don was a good bat when he got up, so I threw him a fat one that he watched go by. I hollered, "That was your cherry, now you get to look silly."

I threw him a slow slider that walked across the plate below his bat. The next was a split finger that danced all the way to the plate. I threw my change and I swear he swung twice at it before the ball fell into the catcher's mitt. I threw another blazing fastball that he was able to get a piece of and then threw my curve that almost looks like it will be off the plate but came back to drop into the mitt again. I decided to give him a back up slider and he noticed that I changed stance, so he was ready but I threw the pitch with split fingers and not only did it slide the other way, but it danced. I'm glad I tried that one. I hollered, "Get ready; here's a fat one to hit."

Don hit the ball hard driving it over the fence at the spectator berm.

Joe hollered for me to hand the ball to the next pitcher and waved at me to come to him and the pitching coach. He told me, "I really shouldn't let you throw so much, but I wanted to see if you'd say uncle. I guess not, so it's going to be up to us to pace you. Just don't hurt yourself so we have you for the whole year."

I knew that I wouldn't or couldn't be the same batter that I had been last year when I began seeing good major league pitching. You just can't hit that well the entire season, even by practicing all winter. I was going to try though.

I did have a little bit of a sore shoulder that evening, but it wasn't bad enough to get any aspirin. I soaked in the shower before going down to fill up on steak with broccoli, and I had a potato smothered in cheese, bacon, and sour cream tonight. Potatoes have a lot of protein, but they're also heavier in carbs. I figured I might need the bulk to keep my weight up since I was going to be working out more.

The girls were still at Mom's house, but were preparing to move back home. Mom would be lonely, but I'm sure the girls would be over often. Mom told me that the Regional Manager for Walmart interviewed her for the Store Manager position. She felt she had a good chance to get the promotion. She also mentioned that she had gone to dinner with a pharmaceutical salesman who came to the store. She told me that he wasn't the typical blowhard salesman, but seemed to be a nice guy. He said he would call her to do something this weekend. She seemed excited that she was getting some attention.

All of the position players came in over the next week, except a couple with passport problems. It's amazing how these guys put off problems with their passports until the last minute. They then end up late for camp and could be sent down to the minors or just flat released in some cases.