Adventures of Pudge

Baseball Hi-Jinks

It was a night Pudge had been looking forward to for several months. Major league baseball players were coming to town

for an exhibition game with a local team. It was a time when many of the players had a few days off while the annual All-Star

break was in progress.

Some of the players used this time to pick up extra money for themselves by appearing in these games in towns not too

far from their regular team’s home base. The Boston Red Sox were well represented as were the New York Yankees, who

would be the Red sox next opponent when regular play resumed.

Twelve year old Pudge arrived early with his mother and dad and found seats in the bleachers behind home plate. This

way Pudge could watch every pitch that was made He had also brought his glove with him; you never knew when a pop fly

would come his way.

It was a festival atmosphere; the crowd had come from miles around to get a glimpse of the heroes they followed every

day on the radio. They also knew it was going to be more fun and hi-jinks than just baseball, as it had been on previous

occasions.

No lineup of the major leaguers was announced. The only announcement over the public address system was the fielding

position of each player when it was his turn to bat. Even this was a source of merriment for the crowd. The first batter to be

called was announced as the third baseman but everyone knew he he was a catcher with the Yankees. Other players, as they

were announced, also playing entirely different positions from where they regularly played. The first baseman was a pitcher,

one of the better pitchers for the Red Sox, but one not chosen for the All-Star game.

The first pitch thrown by the local team’s pitcher was way outside; the umpire called it a strike. Immediately the batter

turned to look at the umpire and said, “Did you say strike?” When the umpire answered yes the batter stomped over to his

bench, reached into a large duffel bag and hauled out a pair of glasses. These he handed to the umpire and returned to the

batter’s box. The crowd roared with delight.

The next pitch was over the batter’s head. He again stomped to the bench, reached for the bag and dug out a football

helmet, which he put on before returning to the box. The crowd howled; the pitch was called a ball. On the third pitch a well

placed bunt caught the third baseman napping, allowing the batter to reach first base.

Play became more serious for the next several batters. Each pitch was driven through the infield and four runs scored.

Only when the centerfielder made a miraculous running catch did the inning end.

The home team was quickly disposed in their turn at bat. Pitching for the visiting major leaguers was the Red Sox

second baseman. He had remarkable control, not much of a fastball but a hard-breaking curve which the hometowners

couldn’t unravel.

The visitors again scored runs during their next at bat, making it appear that it was no more than batting practice for them.

In the next at bat for the home team the second batter, with one out, hit a slow ground ball towards shortstop. The crowd

again howled when the shortstop called time out and ran over to the hot dog stand, letting the ball roll into center field. By the

time the centerfielder reached the ball the runner had reached second base. The shortstop nonchalantly returned to his

position eating his hot dog.

When the next batter popped up to the shortstop’s position the crowd watched in anticipation to see what he would do this

time. The shortstop faced the centerfielder and pointed to him and to the high rising ball, indicating he was to catch it. At the

very last second the shortstop put his glove behind his back and caught the ball.

At the end of five innings the score was 9 to 1 in favor of the visiting major leaguers. The only run scored by the home

team was a comical one. With a runner on first, as the result of a hotly disputed base on balls, a slow roller was hit toward

first. The first baseman stood there and waved at it then picked it up and walked towards the stands.

As he approached the stands and reached out to hand the ball to a young fan the crowd began to roar; a runner was

racing toward home plate. This prompted the first baseman to tun toward home plate and bounce the ball, in several high

bounces, to the catcher. Before the ball reached home the runner had scored all the way from first base. The batter who had

hit the ball was out by an eyelash when he also tried to score.

The fun continued for two more innings, with each of the visiting players taking a turn to pitch. Some of them had good

control, others couldn’t find home plate. One was so wild the catcher made a big show of washing off home plate and then

drawing a line from the plate to the pitcher’s mound. When this didn’t help he reached under the bleachers and came up with

a peach basket which he used instead of his regular mitt.

After seven enjoyable innings the game concluded with the final score 11 to 2. Pudge didn’t get a chance to catch a pop

fly but he was thrilled at the experience of seeing some o his idols up close.