RMJ 22 March 8

SATURDAY, MARCH 8 ● Kissimmee, vs Cleveland

This morning, while the team was stretching, Vern and Alan Ashby were playing catch. “Check this out, Dierk,” Ashby said. As I walked over, I saw Vern cut loose a throw that sailed about six inches.

“Sign him up,” I said, as Ash flipped me the ball.

The telltale evidence was inside the “horseshoe” side of the stitching: the hide of the ball had been dimpled by an abrasive surface. It was the notorious scuff ball.

The theory of the scuff ball is that one side of the ball will have more air resistance than the other. Therefore, the ball will move away from the scuff. You can sail it or sink it, and it is equally effective either way.

The next Ruhle delivery sank about six inches. “Sign him up,” I said again.

I tried my hand at it, having never thrown the scuffer before. I couldn’t throw the ball hard enough to make it work – which, upon reflection, was quite humorous.

You see, my maternal grandfather, “Big Al” Keller, was one of my biggest fans when I was growing up. Al had played a lot of semipro ball, and when I was about 12, he told me that he would teach me the “emery ball” when I was able to throw hard enough. But he never did teach me the pitch.

When I was in the big leagues, I once asked him about it, and he just laughed. “You don’t need it now, kid,” he said.

“The emery ball required little or no skill on the part of the pitcher. An outfielder with good control and fair speed could have come in and pitched the emery ball. To be sure, a proper use of the ball demanded training, as in any other delivery, but at the same time a person did not have to be a good pitcher to use it. It really discouraged pitching as much as it did batting, for it required nothing else from a man than the ability to roughen a part of the surface of the ball and control the ball when he pitched it.”– Pitcher Walter Johnson

Later, after I retired, several people asked me if I had ever thrown spitters or scuffers. “No,” I replied. “I went from a point where I didn’t need to cheat, to where it wouldn’t help me, so fast that I never had a chance.” And that is the truth.

I didn’t have anything against it. The great tradition of the sport has always been, “if you can get away with it, do it.” There are plenty of corked bats around. But you still have to hit the ball squarely. Most of the players who hit home runs don’t need cork, and most who need it don’t hit the ball hard often enough to get the playing time.

Vern had had so much fun with the scuffed ball that he brought it over to the mound when Darryl Kile was doing his side work between starts. After Kile got up to speed, Vern said, “Here, try this one.”

Darryl threw a few pitches that sailed and sank, and he was having a great time, which is exactly what Vern wanted. Sometimes D.K. is a little hard on himself. Vern wanted to loosen him up.

I thought it was a great idea, but it came right back and hit us in the face during lunch break.

Vern and I were sitting in my office, and Darryl stuck his head inside. He was smiling, as if to show that he was only kidding.

“Hey, what was that scuffed ball about?” he asked. “Are you trying to say that my regular stuff isn’t good enough?”

I thought he was kidding, but Vern wasn’t so sure. “We were just having some fun. You know, watching the ball move. Sometimes it’s good to see how the ball can move.”

“Are you trying to say my ball doesn’t move?”

“No,” I interjected. “We were just screwing around. Don’t read something into it that isn’t there. It’s just for fun.”

The conversation went on for a while, and maybe he was satisfied — but then again, maybe he wasn’t. That’s Darryl “The Enigma” Kile.

When Darryl finally made his exit, I told Vern: “He’s your project, not mine.” 

As I was talking to Vern, Ash came in and said, “Come out here for a minute, Dierk. You gotta see this.”

When I got out to the locker room, I saw Vern’s uniform — shoes, cap, and all — spread out on the floor, with white wrapping tape surrounding the body like you would see at the scene of a murder.

“What the hell is this?” I asked.

“Vern took a header coming off the field earlier today,” Ash said, suppressing laughter.

“Who did this?” I asked, admiring the work.

“Derek,” Ash said. “Nice job, huh?”

It was, indeed, a nice job. Before long everyone, including the trainers and team doctors, was standing around gawking and laughing.

If we can keep this kind of spirit going, we will have some fun this summer.

 

The game was a beauty.  Shane Reynolds started, and he gave up only a solo homer to Kevin Mitchell in four innings. Charles Nagy was even better for the Indians. They added three in the fifth on Cory Snyder’s home run off Tom Martin.

In the seventh, we got a rally started with two outs. I didn’t expect it to keep going, so I penciled in my double-switch to bring in José Lima. But then we kept getting hits and walks, and I had to keep readjusting my lineup. By the time we tied the score, the lineup card in the dugout looked like the bathroom in a neighborhood bar. The scorecard had been scratched out and scribbled over so many times that it appeared to be a work of original urban art.

I showed it to Vern, to make sure I hadn’t messed up the switches, and he told me that I should just wait until the inning was over, then put the pitcher in his place and adjust for the rest of the changes.

“I know,” I said, “but I’m afraid it will take me so long to figure it out that I’ll be called for delay of game.”

“You’ll be all right,” he said.

And I think I will. But that inning was certainly instructive.

Richard Hidalgo led off in the bottom of the tenth. Catcher Jeff Tackett was on deck. Virdon asked him if he ever bunted.

“Sure,” he said.

Hidalgo reached on an error, and Virdon gave Tackett the bunt sign. Jeff laid down a soft bunt, but it went foul.

I said, “Take the bunt off.”

“I don’t know,” Bill said. “I like my chances in scoring position with two tries.”

“But I don’t like Tackett hitting with two strikes in the count if he fails,” I said.

“It’s your call,” he said. “You have to do what you think is best.”

Well, I had never seen Tackett bunt. His first attempt looked pretty good. But there was a young pitcher on the mound, and sometimes young pitchers just throw the ball in there if they think someone is bunting.

We took the bunt off, and Tackett promptly singled to right, sending Hidalgo to third.

“That’s why you have to go with your own thoughts,” Bill said.

Tommy Gregg came up. He has been hitting the ball real well all spring, but with no luck. His luck didn’t change; he hit a bullet to right, and the right-fielder charged and caught it. The runner at third could not score.

“Now you could pull the squeeze with Listach,” Bill said.

I liked the idea. Not that I thought it was our best bet, but sometimes in spring training you have priorities other than winning. We have been encouraging Listach to bunt since he got here, but he hasn’t gotten a single bunt down.

“It’s ‘make it or break it’ now,” I said. “Put it on.”

Well, we haven’t squeezed all spring, and I couldn’t even remember the sign. I knew it was one ear, and Bill wasn’t sure either. He gave Cubby about every sign we have, then wiped them all off.

“I can’t remember the sign,” he admitted.

“That’s okay,” I said. “Neither can I.”

I knew Listach had to be at least as confused as Cubby. He tried to bunt for a hit, but the pitch almost hit him. Luckily, the runner didn’t break. If we had squeezed, we’d have been dead. As it was, Listach chopped a ground ball to second and beat the rap on the double play. We won 5-4.

           

After the game, Gerry came by my office. “Well, that’s about it for Martin,” he said. “He doesn’t have the track record. We can’t expect him to be ready this year, and it’s a good thing it showed up early.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said, not really agreeing. “But he did come back nicely after the home run.”

“A lot of guys do well when the horse is already out of the barn,” he said.

I hoped we would get a few more looks at Tom Martin. He may not have the track record, but he has better stuff than the other lefthanders who are in the running. It may be a long shot, but I’d like to keep trying.

I talked to Vern after Gerry left. He wants to see more of Martin too.