Читать книгу Rage. The Legend of "Baseball Bill" Denehy онлайн

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“I think you’ll have more movement on your fastball if you pitch this way,” he said.

I returned home, and that night in my game against Cromwell American Legion, I pitched using the motion Bots showed me. Throwing three-quarters motion, rather than up and down, I found I could get the ball down, and I threw a lot more strikes than I ever did before. I threw a no-hitter against Cromwell, retiring the last twenty-one batters in a row.

I went back to the Red Sox camp the next day. Bots asked me, “How did you like that?”

“Pretty good,” I said. That was an understatement. I had never pitched better in my life.

In my next start against East Hampton, I used the same motion. Thanks to Bots Nekola’s advice, I was throwing nice and easy, and I retired the first twenty East Hampton batters in a row. With two outs in the top of the seventh, I was one strike away from throwing a perfect game. Coach Pehota called time and came out to the mound.

“A bunch of scouts are sitting here,” he said, “and you haven’t thrown a really good curveball all game long. You have two strikes on this guy. Snap off a really good curve and show them you have that pitch, too.”