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

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He has the most pathetic-looking legs I ever saw, I thought.

He was getting big rolls of elastic bandages wrapped around him. I was escorted back to the clubhouse, to dress in the ball boys’ stall. Then I was told, “We made a mistake. You’re not supposed to dress back here. We’re going to move you.”

They took me to the locker closest to the trainer’s room in the Yankee clubhouse, which belonged to Mickey Mantle.

“You’re going to get dressed here,” I was told.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yeah, Mickey wants you to dress here.”

“Mickey?”

“Yeah, he’s in the trainer’s room. He saw you coming in.”

That’s when I realized the player standing on the trainer’s table with the gimpy legs was Mickey Mantle.

I was dressing when Ralph Terry, who pitched for the Yankees, walked over to me and introduced himself. He said, “Listen, if you’re going to dress here, you have to look like a Yankee. We don’t have red undershirts on here. Put on one of mine.” He gave me a navy-blue-and-white undershirt to wear.

I was then introduced to Bill Dickey and Whitey Ford, two legendary Yankees. Dickey was going to catch for me. Whitey, one of the greatest Yankee pitchers ever and the Yankee pitching coach for that year, was coming along for a look-see.