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

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Stuart stepped down and said, “Gus, it may be big, but wait until you see this ass tie into a fastball.”

In one of the intersquad games, a pop-up was hit down the first base line, and Dick circled under it like only he could. He put his glove up, but caught the ball in his bare hand. You talk about a guy who was made for the role of designated hitter—the rule adopted by the American League in 1973 that let one batter in the lineup do nothing but bat.

Unfortunately for Stuart, the DH wouldn’t be instituted for another six years.

On opening day of spring training, the Mets faced Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets scored five runs off Gibson in the three innings he pitched.

I was sitting on the bench next to outfielder Al Luplow during the game.

“I hope I’m not speaking out of turn,” I said to Al, “but Gibson doesn’t look too impressive to me.” I didn’t realize it, but the veteran Gibson was working on a particular aspect of his mechanics and wasn’t caring too much about the results.