SHORT HOP - My Career In Baseball by David Driscoll - Page 11

Tib · 09-26-2004, 11:41 PM

OK. Fair enough. You're right about the paper airplane line seeming "set up". Come to think of it, Atcheson would probably line his birdcage with it. So do we want the toilet paper comment, then? I'll take suggestions.

Skywalker76 · 09-27-2004, 03:33 AM

Great read !

Ford Prefect · 09-27-2004, 12:37 PM

I was offline for 5 Weeks and i missed it. Great Stuff TIB keep on rockin

jaxmagicman · 09-29-2004, 11:09 PM

Hey TIB, please make sure you have your Saturday chapter out ealry in the day, there is an encore presentation of LOST that I want to see Saturday night and I woulldn't want to miss it because I am reading your story.

Vezna31 · 10-01-2004, 12:24 PM

Ok...I have blown off over 3 hours of work yesterday and almost 2 hours today reading every chapter, some of the best baseball writing I've ever read. I'm an accountant by profession and I'm trying to do some writing myself because I enjoy it, but my level of creativity and is pretty far down after reading this. Thank you for the hours of entertainment and I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

Vris · 10-01-2004, 09:50 PM

Great stuff Tib. The world of mouth is worth it. You're doing a fascinating job. I got kind of lost, but then realized that ITP is different than OOTP so I just shrug it off on that.

It's fascinating what you've done with this. I'll be around tomorrow to check out the newest installment.

Tib · 10-02-2004, 09:59 AM

Welcome to another edition of SHORT HOP. Like all good serials, Saturday is the day! I'm posting this story at about 7:00AM my PDT so I hope that's early enough for you, Jax. As for some of the other comments, I still and always appreciate the compliments. I'm not sure how news of this thread is getting around to folks like Vris, but I'm not going to argue.

For those that wonder, I usually sim about a half-season ahead of the story. This gives me some time to formulate the upcoming plot; to draw all the threads together and make sense of some of the quirks in ITP's personnel moves. I go day-by-day, recording as much player performance information as I can; not just from Dave, but I keep a weekly eye on his teammates, past and present. ITP makes this hard to do because other teams stats are not available, but I can find most of what I need by searching the minor league leader lists ("display all", baby!). I also record conversations that result in attribute increases, injuries to anyone, player movement/trades and any noteworthy accomplishments by the pro teams or players. It's painstaking, but that's how I discover the plot most of the time.

And now, on to Chapter 18: Indecision and General Confusion.

jaxmagicman · 10-02-2004, 10:10 AM

Good I get in on the ground floor.

Tib · 10-02-2004, 10:23 AM

CHAPTER 18:

Indecision and General Confusion

Game 23 saw us drop below .500 for the first time that season. I had been hitting consistently, hovering around .300. I’m convinced now that keeping Atcheson off my case was the reason for it. Not only did I luck out a little on his opening day challenge, the juice I got from that lasted a long time. It was like a guy winning the lottery and now all of a sudden he’s an expert on finance. I had instant credibility and like Hal said, all I had to do now was play the game.

By the 26th of April I had committed only one error (.990). Thanks to the advice of Nohorski and Meticas, and even Atcheson once in a while, I felt comfortable at the plate for the first time in a long time. That’s when I felt it.

I hadn’t felt that familiar twinge for months. I had been working out and running and strengthening my knee since I got to Little Rock. I thought it was as close to back to normal as it could get. I even stopped thinking about it. But on April 30th, in a game against Cheyenne, I went to my right on a ground ball and I felt it. It was like my knee was a bass fiddle and someone snuck up on me from behind and twanged the hell out of it. I took a header in the dirt and an error on the play. In horror, I realized I couldn’t put any weight on it. I shook off Cal, our trainer, and finished the inning. I managed to get through the game, but not before going 0 for 3, bobbling a double play transition at second and throwing one in the dirt that cost us the game. Three errors in sixty minutes after only two errors in 32 games.

The next game wasn’t any better. Neither was the one after that, or after that. 1 for 14. I couldn’t make a confident turn at the plate. I began favoring the knee in the field, too. And there was something else: this wasn’t high school ball. I couldn’t “take it a little easy” and still perform. Succeeding at this level required all my concentration and physical skills. My suspect knee was undermining my confidence. I played it off as a minor twist and had Cal wrap me before each game. It helped. He wanted to have our doctor look at it, but I talked my way out of that. Exams lead to tests. Tests can lead to MRIs. An MRI could be a very bad thing for me. I admit some of this was fear at work. Part of me deep down inside didn’t want to know how bad it was. Remember, there wasn't any nanosurgery back then.

On May 7th I had to come out of a game after one at bat with a tight shoulder. Favoring the knee was affecting other parts of my body. It was nothing but willpower that kept me going, kept me producing. I let another shortstop in too easily once before and it cost me my job. I wasn’t going to do it again. I gritted my teeth and went on a tear the next month. I ended May at .316, going .333 with the tricky knee.

But my knee problem was nothing compared to what was going on with the team. What was happening with the organization’s shortstops left me angry and confused. Hal had warned me, didn’t he? Here’s what happened:

As I was busy raising my average to .316 and compiling more runs, hits and steals than anyone on the team, the Knights’ starting shortstop, Jimmy Hollars, was busy wearing out his welcome. Hollars was always a streaky hitter, but his play was not up to even Kansas City’s meager standards, so they sent him and his five years of CBA experience down to AAA Santa Fe. Richie Godina was Hollars’ backup in KC, but does he get the nod? No, because he’s hitting .118. So what does Kellinger do? He promotes Lorenzo Medina, my backup! I was a little confused, to say the least. I can only imagine what Ricardo Garcia, Santa Fe’s shortstop, must have thought. Medina goes to the active roster from AA, jumping right over Garcia and me. Not only that, but now they demote Garcia to be my backup! He was hitting .262 in AAA and now they tell him he’s my backup in AA! I never found out what Kellinger had against Garcia, but it must have been something to screw him like that. The word I heard from players when I got to Topeka was that Kellinger did stuff like this, but I didn’t want to believe it. Now I knew it was true.

To me, situations like this show Kellinger was to blame for a lot of the problems KC had during that time. I don’t know what went on in the Knights’ front office then, but I can’t believe Frank Faraday would not have said something. There must have been a lot of internal turmoil as well.

To Atcheson’s credit, he phoned Faraday on Garcia’s behalf and gave him an earful. Atcheson, for all his mind games, stuck up for the players who worked hard for him. Atcheson knew Frank would listen; Faraday was Atcheson’s protégé back in the 70’s.

All this while KC is a whopping 18-28 on the year.

When my 15-game hitting streak ended in early May, I was at .326. In KC, Godina was at .203 and Medina was at .191. Meanwhile in AAA, Hollars was at .290. And oh, it gets better. First, let me tell you about Hinesville.

I gave the old house a call in mid-May and got J.R. He told me Moose and Landeros had been called up to Durham and were doing well. He was hitting .356 for the Gents and expected a call-up soon.
“That’s great, J.R.” I said.
“Yeah, man.”
“How’s everybody there?”
“Pretty good. Miss Draper’s the same and Cliff’s doing well. He had a thing with his blood pressure, but he’s fine now. Some kind of medication problem, I guess.”
“He’s all right, though?”
“Yeah, he’s fine.”
“How’s Old Flattop doing?”
“Theo? He’s not here, man.”
“No?”
“No. He’s long gone. Went to Baltimore. He’s a scout now.”
“No ****.”
“Yep. Costello’s managing us now. He’s pretty good.”
“How’s everything else?”
“Good, I guess. You know, it’s Hinesville, man. Nothing much changes.”

So Theo was a scout. Well, if there was any way for him to get back to the CBA, it was as a scout.

In the middle of June Godina was dropped to AAA. That left Medina as the only KC shortstop. He was hitting .100 (4-40). Fantastic. I, by the way, was at .319 and had nine errors in 65 games (.969) including my three-gaffe debacle. The Stars were at 35-30, third place. I was sitting in the sauna one day after infield practice when Atcheson came in to talk to me.
“Dave, I want to tell you what’s going to happen around here.”
“Is something happening?”
“The front office is making moves with the shortstops in the organization, as you well know. KC is looking for that one guy who’s going to solidify the position. Kellinger doesn’t know yet who that person is going to be.”
“Yeah.” You can tell him it’s going to be me.
“I want you to know it’s not going to be you. Not this year.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, instantly confused. I wondered if it was my turn to get screwed. Was Atcheson messing with me again?

“I mean I’m not going to let him screw with you. You’re staying here this year.”
“I’ve been playing well, though. Shouldn’t I be moved up if the others aren’t doing as well?”
“Yes, but it’s not that simple. Kellinger will bounce you around, like he did to Rico. He wants to shake things up. I don’t want you shaken up right now.”
“You don’t? I thought you always liked messing with me.”
Atcheson gave his head a little shake. “Those times before were to assess your reactions to things; challenges, stress, unfairness. I had to know who I was dealing with. This is your career I’m talking about.” He really was serious.
“I’m listening,” I said.
Atcheson looked around furtively to see if anyone was within earshot. “You are going to be the future of the Knights,” he told me. “You and Espina and Von Jones and maybe Cottrill. I know it, Palmer knows it, and everybody who’s stepped on a CBA ballfield knows it. Kellinger doesn’t know it. He’s never played ball. He managed a sporting goods chain, for Christ’s Sake. He doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know. But that’s fine, for now. As far as I’m concerned, he can shuffle the deck as much as he wants, as long as I’ve got the aces in my hand. You understand?”
“I think so. Me, Espina, Jones and Cottrill.”
“Yeah. Jones is in Santa Fe, so I don’t have any control over that. But I want you three here to play ball this year. That’s it. No moving around, no bouncing from here to New Mexico and back, no trades, no reassignments, no nothing. Just baseball. So I’m telling you now I will be resisting any attempt to move you up until the end of the season.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“By telling him you’re not ready, or that you’re injured.”
“But I’m not injured.”
“Yes you are,” he said conspiratorially. “You have a knee injury. You can’t play AAA with an injury like that until it’s been sufficiently rehabbed.”
I understood what he was doing now. Little did he know that my fake knee injury was an actual injury!
“Isn’t that going to get you in trouble? You could lose your job if Kellinger finds out.”
“You let me worry about that.”
“Thanks for the heads up, skip.”
“Yeah.” He slowly stood, bracing his arm against the stainless steel wall of the whirlpool, and shuffled out the door on his two bad knees. “Just write something nice about me in your memoirs,” he called back over his shoulder.
He actually said that.

Well, Doug, there you go.

Two weeks later I strained my back striking out against Wichita and I missed the All-Star game. I still traveled to Cheyenne with Espino, Fuensanta, Cottrill, Conklin and Costin, but I didn’t play. I didn’t mind too much. It kept my profile low. If I played well, Kellinger might decide to move me. God knows he was moving everybody else.

Hollars was back to KC now. Godwin and Garcia were in AAA. Medina was back to being my backup. He bought a car with the new contract money he got for being on the active roster. He was disappointed in his performance (.112) but very happy about his new Corvette.
“You ever seen such a beautiful car, Dave?” he asked me.
“Yes, I have,” I said. “But I bought a truck instead.”

Fast forward to the end of July. We’re 52-47, second place behind Ottumwa. Believe it or not I’m hitting 5th in the lineup. So much for keeping a low profile. I’m doing well (.303) and my knee is feeling better. It’s a good thing too because Medina has been promoted to KC’s active roster again. For the second time this season he has leapfrogged AAA and gone straight to the show. Godina and Garcia are furious at Kellinger. Godina is hitting .294 in Santa Fe and can’t figure out what he did to deserve what he’s getting. Garcia is Godina’s backup now and he’s not happy about it, either. In fact, in the entire Kansas City farm system I’m the happiest because I haven’t been promoted! Things are so chaotic Baseball Insider does a story on KC’s “quixotic search” for the next Horatio Munoz. The Knights are 42-57, 4th place. Kellinger does not look good.

As August starts I go on another hot streak (.373) and we win ten of thirteen. This was a time when I really felt in stride as a ballplayer. I was unattached, though I thought of Gwen all the time and called her several times a week (subleasing the house to her was the perfect excuse to call her). I was in great shape in spite of my knee. My focus was honed to a razor’s edge. My skills were growing, my confidence was growing and my notoriety was growing. Del Harrison became a friend after the popularity of the Short Hop article got him noticed with the local papers. He did several articles on me and the team. I actually appeared on a billboard promoting the Stars. “Come see ‘Short Hop’ and the rest of the Stars drive toward the league championship!” it read. I was a young man on top of my game with a bounce in my step and a smile on my face. What’s the catch?, you may be thinking. What’s going to go wrong?

Nothing. Nothing went wrong. August was a very good month. In the heat of the division race we won six games in a row to pull even with Ottumwa at 70-58 with two games to play. We were solidly in the playoffs. I was hitting my ass off (.316), leading the team in hits, runs, doubles, triples, and stolen bases. I had made 19 errors in 600 chances (.968).

On the 28th, a week from AA playoffs, I got called into Atcheson’s office before practice.
“How’s the knee?” he asks me.
“Uh, it hurts?” I said, giving him my pat answer for the last two months.
“No,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No,” said Atcheson, with a grin. “No, Dave, you’re knee feels very, very good.”
“Why does it feel very, very good?” I say, on guard for something bad.
“Because,” replied Atcheson, “you can’t play AAA ball on an injured knee.”

I arrived in Santa Fe on August 30th. Once again I had no place to stay. Once again I knew no one. Once again I drove into town with nothing more than my luggage, my gear, and the address of the stadium.

Success. Beautiful.

Next week: Chapter Nineteen: Short Hops, Tall Tales and Midnight Chili

Faroo6 · 10-02-2004, 12:35 PM

good read

Vris · 10-02-2004, 02:29 PM

Why is he getting called up to AAA so late in the season? Why not just let him ride out the wave in AA and then move him up next year? What happened to him going no where the rest of the year?

Nice job.

cknox0723 · 10-02-2004, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tib

“Just write something nice about me in your memoirs,” he called back over his shoulder.

Reminds me of Ball Four. Ah, and next chapter...more chili? Well, it is Santa Fe.

davwms · 10-02-2004, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vris

Why is he getting called up to AAA so late in the season? Why not just let him ride out the wave in AA and then move him up next year? What happened to him going no where the rest of the year?

Nice job.

He didn't say the rest of the year..
He said, "I will be resisting any attempt to move you up until the end of the season.”

Anyways.. this is just an incredible read.. I've been quietly reading this since the beginning, the only thing negative is that only 1 chapter comes out per week.

I haven't touched ITP in some time, each Saturday, I get the urge to give it another go..

Ford Prefect · 10-02-2004, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vris

Why is he getting called up to AAA so late in the season? Why not just let him ride out the wave in AA and then move him up next year? What happened to him going no where the rest of the year?

Nice job.

Great as always

I guess Dave got his call in ITP and Tib´s Story must catch up.

jaxmagicman · 10-03-2004, 07:37 PM

Another Great Week. I can't wait for next week.

Vezna31 · 10-03-2004, 08:56 PM

Markus should hire you to do marketing. This thread convinced me to buy the game today.

mauboy · 10-03-2004, 10:20 PM

Wow, you're just 30 views from surpassing my thread (5300+)! Congrats on a great story so far. It's also about to match my thread post total as well. Keep 'er up.

rknauber · 10-05-2004, 11:36 AM

Hey Tib,
Thanks to you I went on a 5-63 slump in the Majors and didn't realize I had be moved from leadoff second basemen to 8th in the lineup because of a couple of trades the teams made. No, but serious, this has been awesome, I don't ever read much beyond magazines, but this has had me hooked. Awaiting the next chapter.

Tib · 10-05-2004, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vezna31

Markus should hire you to do marketing. This thread convinced me to buy the game today.

In its current state, ITP is what you make of it. If you do a little detective work and pay attention to teammates and trades, the stories are there. That was the reason for SHORT HOP; to see how far I could go with it. Glad you're liking it.

Reechards · 10-07-2004, 03:22 AM

This is flat out amazing. I haven't been to the thread in a while and sure enough, I come back and spend two ours reading the new chapters. Just when I thought I couldn't be anymore wrapped up in the story, Dave gets traded to Little Rock which is where I live!! Your story inspired me to head off to the UALR (yes i am a trojan) library and pick up some baseball stories. I just finished Finding Buck McHenry by Alfred Slote. Look it up if you're a big baseball fan

. It won't dissapoint.

Keep the Davey saga going. You are a world wonder. It is 2AM and I realize that I am rambling. I also realize that I have class tomorrow. I realize that I am now screwed. Good night everyone.

09-26-2004, 11:41 PM	#201
Tib All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Paso Robles, CA Posts: 995	OK. Fair enough. You're right about the paper airplane line seeming "set up". Come to think of it, Atcheson would probably line his birdcage with it. So do we want the toilet paper comment, then? I'll take suggestions. Last edited by Tib; 09-27-2004 at 11:00 AM.

09-27-2004, 12:37 PM	#203
Ford Prefect Major Leagues Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Hamburg Posts: 470	I was offline for 5 Weeks and i missed it. Great Stuff TIB keep on rockin __________________ I would pay 50 Dollars for BM 2006, if everybody does. Lets campain for higher but equal pricing, support a good product

09-29-2004, 11:09 PM	#204
jaxmagicman Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Retired defloration-maker living in Myrtle Beach, SC Posts: 7,801	Hey TIB, please make sure you have your Saturday chapter out ealry in the day, there is an encore presentation of LOST that I want to see Saturday night and I woulldn't want to miss it because I am reading your story. __________________ See ID Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with the permission of Minor League Baseball. All rights reserved.

10-02-2004, 09:59 AM	#207
Tib All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Paso Robles, CA Posts: 995	Welcome to another edition of SHORT HOP. Like all good serials, Saturday is the day! I'm posting this story at about 7:00AM my PDT so I hope that's early enough for you, Jax. As for some of the other comments, I still and always appreciate the compliments. I'm not sure how news of this thread is getting around to folks like Vris, but I'm not going to argue. For those that wonder, I usually sim about a half-season ahead of the story. This gives me some time to formulate the upcoming plot; to draw all the threads together and make sense of some of the quirks in ITP's personnel moves. I go day-by-day, recording as much player performance information as I can; not just from Dave, but I keep a weekly eye on his teammates, past and present. ITP makes this hard to do because other teams stats are not available, but I can find most of what I need by searching the minor league leader lists ("display all", baby!). I also record conversations that result in attribute increases, injuries to anyone, player movement/trades and any noteworthy accomplishments by the pro teams or players. It's painstaking, but that's how I discover the plot most of the time. And now, on to Chapter 18: Indecision and General Confusion. Last edited by Tib; 05-01-2010 at 05:24 PM.

10-02-2004, 10:10 AM	#208
jaxmagicman Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Retired defloration-maker living in Myrtle Beach, SC Posts: 7,801	Good I get in on the ground floor. __________________ See ID Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with the permission of Minor League Baseball. All rights reserved.

09-27-2004, 03:33 AM	#202
Skywalker76 All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Miami Posts: 833	Great read !

10-01-2004, 12:24 PM	#205
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,981	Ok...I have blown off over 3 hours of work yesterday and almost 2 hours today reading every chapter, some of the best baseball writing I've ever read. I'm an accountant by profession and I'm trying to do some writing myself because I enjoy it, but my level of creativity and is pretty far down after reading this. Thank you for the hours of entertainment and I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

10-01-2004, 09:50 PM	#206
Vris Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: somewhere where I don't know where I am Posts: 3,251	Great stuff Tib. The world of mouth is worth it. You're doing a fascinating job. I got kind of lost, but then realized that ITP is different than OOTP so I just shrug it off on that. It's fascinating what you've done with this. I'll be around tomorrow to check out the newest installment.

10-02-2004, 10:23 AM	#209
Tib All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Paso Robles, CA Posts: 995	CHAPTER 18: Indecision and General Confusion Game 23 saw us drop below .500 for the first time that season. I had been hitting consistently, hovering around .300. I’m convinced now that keeping Atcheson off my case was the reason for it. Not only did I luck out a little on his opening day challenge, the juice I got from that lasted a long time. It was like a guy winning the lottery and now all of a sudden he’s an expert on finance. I had instant credibility and like Hal said, all I had to do now was play the game. By the 26th of April I had committed only one error (.990). Thanks to the advice of Nohorski and Meticas, and even Atcheson once in a while, I felt comfortable at the plate for the first time in a long time. That’s when I felt it. I hadn’t felt that familiar twinge for months. I had been working out and running and strengthening my knee since I got to Little Rock. I thought it was as close to back to normal as it could get. I even stopped thinking about it. But on April 30th, in a game against Cheyenne, I went to my right on a ground ball and I felt it. It was like my knee was a bass fiddle and someone snuck up on me from behind and twanged the hell out of it. I took a header in the dirt and an error on the play. In horror, I realized I couldn’t put any weight on it. I shook off Cal, our trainer, and finished the inning. I managed to get through the game, but not before going 0 for 3, bobbling a double play transition at second and throwing one in the dirt that cost us the game. Three errors in sixty minutes after only two errors in 32 games. The next game wasn’t any better. Neither was the one after that, or after that. 1 for 14. I couldn’t make a confident turn at the plate. I began favoring the knee in the field, too. And there was something else: this wasn’t high school ball. I couldn’t “take it a little easy” and still perform. Succeeding at this level required all my concentration and physical skills. My suspect knee was undermining my confidence. I played it off as a minor twist and had Cal wrap me before each game. It helped. He wanted to have our doctor look at it, but I talked my way out of that. Exams lead to tests. Tests can lead to MRIs. An MRI could be a very bad thing for me. I admit some of this was fear at work. Part of me deep down inside didn’t want to know how bad it was. Remember, there wasn't any nanosurgery back then. On May 7th I had to come out of a game after one at bat with a tight shoulder. Favoring the knee was affecting other parts of my body. It was nothing but willpower that kept me going, kept me producing. I let another shortstop in too easily once before and it cost me my job. I wasn’t going to do it again. I gritted my teeth and went on a tear the next month. I ended May at .316, going .333 with the tricky knee. But my knee problem was nothing compared to what was going on with the team. What was happening with the organization’s shortstops left me angry and confused. Hal had warned me, didn’t he? Here’s what happened: As I was busy raising my average to .316 and compiling more runs, hits and steals than anyone on the team, the Knights’ starting shortstop, Jimmy Hollars, was busy wearing out his welcome. Hollars was always a streaky hitter, but his play was not up to even Kansas City’s meager standards, so they sent him and his five years of CBA experience down to AAA Santa Fe. Richie Godina was Hollars’ backup in KC, but does he get the nod? No, because he’s hitting .118. So what does Kellinger do? He promotes Lorenzo Medina, my backup! I was a little confused, to say the least. I can only imagine what Ricardo Garcia, Santa Fe’s shortstop, must have thought. Medina goes to the active roster from AA, jumping right over Garcia and me. Not only that, but now they demote Garcia to be my backup! He was hitting .262 in AAA and now they tell him he’s my backup in AA! I never found out what Kellinger had against Garcia, but it must have been something to screw him like that. The word I heard from players when I got to Topeka was that Kellinger did stuff like this, but I didn’t want to believe it. Now I knew it was true. To me, situations like this show Kellinger was to blame for a lot of the problems KC had during that time. I don’t know what went on in the Knights’ front office then, but I can’t believe Frank Faraday would not have said something. There must have been a lot of internal turmoil as well. To Atcheson’s credit, he phoned Faraday on Garcia’s behalf and gave him an earful. Atcheson, for all his mind games, stuck up for the players who worked hard for him. Atcheson knew Frank would listen; Faraday was Atcheson’s protégé back in the 70’s. All this while KC is a whopping 18-28 on the year. When my 15-game hitting streak ended in early May, I was at .326. In KC, Godina was at .203 and Medina was at .191. Meanwhile in AAA, Hollars was at .290. And oh, it gets better. First, let me tell you about Hinesville. I gave the old house a call in mid-May and got J.R. He told me Moose and Landeros had been called up to Durham and were doing well. He was hitting .356 for the Gents and expected a call-up soon. “That’s great, J.R.” I said. “Yeah, man.” “How’s everybody there?” “Pretty good. Miss Draper’s the same and Cliff’s doing well. He had a thing with his blood pressure, but he’s fine now. Some kind of medication problem, I guess.” “He’s all right, though?” “Yeah, he’s fine.” “How’s Old Flattop doing?” “Theo? He’s not here, man.” “No?” “No. He’s long gone. Went to Baltimore. He’s a scout now.” “No ***.” “Yep. Costello’s managing us now. He’s pretty good.” “How’s everything else?” “Good, I guess. You know, it’s Hinesville, man. Nothing much changes.” So Theo was a scout. Well, if there was any way for him to get back to the CBA, it was as a scout. In the middle of June Godina was dropped to AAA. That left Medina as the only KC shortstop. He was hitting .100 (4-40). Fantastic. I, by the way, was at .319 and had nine errors in 65 games (.969) including my three-gaffe debacle. The Stars were at 35-30, third place. I was sitting in the sauna one day after infield practice when Atcheson came in to talk to me. “Dave, I want to tell you what’s going to happen around here.” “Is something happening?” “The front office is making moves with the shortstops in the organization, as you well know. KC is looking for that one guy who’s going to solidify the position. Kellinger doesn’t know yet who that person is going to be.” “Yeah.” You can tell him it’s going to be me.* “I want you to know it’s not going to be you. Not this year.” “What do you mean?” I asked, instantly confused. I wondered if it was my turn to get screwed. Was Atcheson messing with me again? “I mean I’m not going to let him screw with you. You’re staying here this year.” “I’ve been playing well, though. Shouldn’t I be moved up if the others aren’t doing as well?” “Yes, but it’s not that simple. Kellinger will bounce you around, like he did to Rico. He wants to shake things up. I don’t want you shaken up right now.” “You don’t? I thought you always liked messing with me.” Atcheson gave his head a little shake. “Those times before were to assess your reactions to things; challenges, stress, unfairness. I had to know who I was dealing with. This is your career I’m talking about.” He really was serious. “I’m listening,” I said. Atcheson looked around furtively to see if anyone was within earshot. “You are going to be the future of the Knights,” he told me. “You and Espina and Von Jones and maybe Cottrill. I know it, Palmer knows it, and everybody who’s stepped on a CBA ballfield knows it. Kellinger doesn’t know it. He’s never played ball. He managed a sporting goods chain, for Christ’s Sake. He doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know. But that’s fine, for now. As far as I’m concerned, he can shuffle the deck as much as he wants, as long as I’ve got the aces in my hand. You understand?” “I think so. Me, Espina, Jones and Cottrill.” “Yeah. Jones is in Santa Fe, so I don’t have any control over that. But I want you three here to play ball this year. That’s it. No moving around, no bouncing from here to New Mexico and back, no trades, no reassignments, no nothing. Just baseball. So I’m telling you now I will be resisting any attempt to move you up until the end of the season.” “How are you going to do that?” “By telling him you’re not ready, or that you’re injured.” “But I’m not injured.” “Yes you are,” he said conspiratorially. “You have a knee injury. You can’t play AAA with an injury like that until it’s been sufficiently rehabbed.” I understood what he was doing now. Little did he know that my fake knee injury was an actual injury! “Isn’t that going to get you in trouble? You could lose your job if Kellinger finds out.” “You let me worry about that.” “Thanks for the heads up, skip.” “Yeah.” He slowly stood, bracing his arm against the stainless steel wall of the whirlpool, and shuffled out the door on his two bad knees. “Just write something nice about me in your memoirs,” he called back over his shoulder. He actually said that. Well, Doug, there you go. Two weeks later I strained my back striking out against Wichita and I missed the All-Star game. I still traveled to Cheyenne with Espino, Fuensanta, Cottrill, Conklin and Costin, but I didn’t play. I didn’t mind too much. It kept my profile low. If I played well, Kellinger might decide to move me. God knows he was moving everybody else. Hollars was back to KC now. Godwin and Garcia were in AAA. Medina was back to being my backup. He bought a car with the new contract money he got for being on the active roster. He was disappointed in his performance (.112) but very happy about his new Corvette. “You ever seen such a beautiful car, Dave?” he asked me. “Yes, I have,” I said. “But I bought a truck instead.” Fast forward to the end of July. We’re 52-47, second place behind Ottumwa. Believe it or not I’m hitting 5th in the lineup. So much for keeping a low profile. I’m doing well (.303) and my knee is feeling better. It’s a good thing too because Medina has been promoted to KC’s active roster again. For the second time this season he has leapfrogged AAA and gone straight to the show. Godina and Garcia are furious at Kellinger. Godina is hitting .294 in Santa Fe and can’t figure out what he did to deserve what he’s getting. Garcia is Godina’s backup now and he’s not happy about it, either. In fact, in the entire Kansas City farm system I’m the happiest because I haven’t been promoted! Things are so chaotic Baseball Insider does a story on KC’s “quixotic search” for the next Horatio Munoz. The Knights are 42-57, 4th place. Kellinger does not look good. As August starts I go on another hot streak (.373) and we win ten of thirteen. This was a time when I really felt in stride as a ballplayer. I was unattached, though I thought of Gwen all the time and called her several times a week (subleasing the house to her was the perfect excuse to call her). I was in great shape in spite of my knee. My focus was honed to a razor’s edge. My skills were growing, my confidence was growing and my notoriety was growing. Del Harrison became a friend after the popularity of the Short Hop article got him noticed with the local papers. He did several articles on me and the team. I actually appeared on a billboard promoting the Stars. “Come see ‘Short Hop’ and the rest of the Stars drive toward the league championship!” it read. I was a young man on top of my game with a bounce in my step and a smile on my face. What’s the catch?, you may be thinking. What’s going to go wrong? Nothing. Nothing went wrong. August was a very good month. In the heat of the division race we won six games in a row to pull even with Ottumwa at 70-58 with two games to play. We were solidly in the playoffs. I was hitting my ass off (.316), leading the team in hits, runs, doubles, triples, and stolen bases. I had made 19 errors in 600 chances (.968). On the 28th, a week from AA playoffs, I got called into Atcheson’s office before practice. “How’s the knee?” he asks me. “Uh, it hurts?” I said, giving him my pat answer for the last two months. “No,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” “It doesn’t?” “No,” said Atcheson, with a grin. “No, Dave, you’re knee feels very, very good.” “Why does it feel very, very good?” I say, on guard for something bad. “Because,” replied Atcheson, “you can’t play AAA ball on an injured knee.” I arrived in Santa Fe on August 30th. Once again I had no place to stay. Once again I knew no one. Once again I drove into town with nothing more than my luggage, my gear, and the address of the stadium. Success. Beautiful. Next week: Chapter Nineteen: Short Hops, Tall Tales and Midnight Chili Last edited by Tib; 05-01-2010 at 05:27 PM.

10-02-2004, 02:29 PM	#211
Vris Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: somewhere where I don't know where I am Posts: 3,251	Why is he getting called up to AAA so late in the season? Why not just let him ride out the wave in AA and then move him up next year? What happened to him going no where the rest of the year? Nice job.

10-03-2004, 07:37 PM	#215
jaxmagicman Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Retired defloration-maker living in Myrtle Beach, SC Posts: 7,801	Another Great Week. I can't wait for next week. __________________ See ID Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with the permission of Minor League Baseball. All rights reserved.

10-03-2004, 08:56 PM	#216
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,981	Markus should hire you to do marketing. This thread convinced me to buy the game today.

10-03-2004, 10:20 PM	#217
mauboy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 2,906	Wow, you're just 30 views from surpassing my thread (5300+)! Congrats on a great story so far. It's also about to match my thread post total as well. Keep 'er up.

10-05-2004, 11:36 AM	#218
rknauber Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 47	Hey Tib, Thanks to you I went on a 5-63 slump in the Majors and didn't realize I had be moved from leadoff second basemen to 8th in the lineup because of a couple of trades the teams made. No, but serious, this has been awesome, I don't ever read much beyond magazines, but this has had me hooked. Awaiting the next chapter.

10-07-2004, 03:22 AM	#220
Reechards Bat Boy Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4	.. This is flat out amazing. I haven't been to the thread in a while and sure enough, I come back and spend two ours reading the new chapters. Just when I thought I couldn't be anymore wrapped up in the story, Dave gets traded to Little Rock which is where I live!! Your story inspired me to head off to the UALR (yes i am a trojan) library and pick up some baseball stories. I just finished Finding Buck McHenry by Alfred Slote. Look it up if you're a big baseball fan . It won't dissapoint. Keep the Davey saga going. You are a world wonder. It is 2AM and I realize that I am rambling. I also realize that I have class tomorrow. I realize that I am now screwed. Good night everyone.