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

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Woodrow Wilson needed to beat Middletown to get to the state finals. I pitched fourteen innings, striking out twenty-six batters in that game. On that day, in my mind, I asked myself who else was in my class as a pitcher. Christy Mathewson, Bob Feller, and Sandy Koufax came to mind.

In the Connecticut State Tournament we won our first two games, and then I threw a one-hitter against Northwest Regional High School, led by pitcher John Lamb, who would later play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and we won the game 3–0. I could have had a no-hitter, but our shortstop fielded the ball and slipped as he made the throw.

That game was played on a Wednesday, and the final game of the tournament against Seymour High School was to be played on a Saturday. It didn’t occur to me that I wasn’t going to pitch, but our coach, Gene Pehota, announced that John Hudak would start the game.

Pehota explained to the local reporter, “Bill has a chance to play professional baseball, and he just pitched eleven innings, and we don’t want him to hurt his arm.”