Chapter 15 – You’re Like a Unicorn Friday February 26
After school, Moose sent us all out to the practice field. He gathered us all around to give us his opening speech of the season. I was happy to see some familiar faces.
“Okay, settle down. I’m Moose. Just so we’re clear, I answer to Coach or Moose; either is fine. Coach Haskins is going to work with the outfielders. Coach Herndon will work with the pitchers and catchers. The rest of the infield will be with me. The JV team will go with Coaches Stevens and Hope.
“I also want to clear something up for you freshmen and first-year players. You will not be playing varsity ball. I don’t believe in throwing anyone onto the varsity squad before they have at least a year of high school ball under their belt. This is nonnegotiable. The first one of you that has his momma or daddy call me about it will be running until they either drop or quit, I don’t really care which.
“There will be two teams this year, varsity and JV. Normally I try to put only first-year players on JV. If you’re cut from varsity, I’ll
I think that speech was almost verbatim what he gave every year. Of course, he broke that rule last year, but it looked like it was back in force. I hadn’t expected Mike and Luke’s dad would still be our coach. I assumed he would either help Wesleyan or quit, but I guess he liked the game that much. Coach Haskins had been promoted from JV to varsity. He took Coach Diamond’s place as outfield coach. I was surprised to see Coach Hope had decided to work with the JV again. I thought for sure he would be working with the seven-on-seven football players with Coach Rector. The only new coach was Coach Stevens.
I would find out later that they hadn’t gotten the budget approved for the seven-on-seven coaching positions. This was a new spring sport that hadn’t been planned for. All the football coaches would help Coach Rector out, but they wanted the extra money more. I suspected that Mr. Hicks, our athletic director, was afraid he’d be told to take the seven-on-seven cost out of his existing budget. I couldn’t wait until the Booster Club found out. If I’d been Coach Hope, I would have just picked up the phone and called Mrs. Sullivan. But, as a retired Marine, it was ingrained in him that you followed the chain of command. I’ll give him credit for finding a work-around solution. I just knew that if Mrs. Sullivan and the Boosters had found out, they’d have given the school the money and an even better solution.
One of the poor freshmen raised his hand.
“I think I can win a spot on the varsity. I was the best player in my summer league last year, and I’m sure I could contribute.”
“No,” was Moose’s one-word answer.
“I’m serious. I can beat out whoever you have playing center field.”
Oh, shit. Had someone put this kid up to it, or was he just that stupid? No way would Moose let that one slide. Jim had a big grin on his face. I’d been gentle when I whacked him in the jewels last time, but I would put a little effort into it now.
“I’d like to see a little competition,” Jim said, confirming my suspicions.
“What do you think?” Moose asked Coach Haskins.
“If he really is better, I’d like to see it.”
Moose acted like he was thinking about it. I’d finally had enough.
“Let’s just do this and get it over with,” I said.
It was at that moment the kid figured out who the center fielder was and gave Jim a dirty look. I looked closer, and the kid resembled Jim a bit. He was tall, maybe six-one, and they had the same platinum-blond hair and blue eyes.
“Are you two related?” I asked.
“He’s my cousin. He just moved here from Pennsylvania. If you could teach him some manners, I’d be appreciative,” Jim said.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Dan,” he said.
“Dan, I’m David. Don’t worry, Jim’ll get what’s coming to him,” I predicted, which made Dan smile.
“Let’s get this started,” Moose said.
He and the other coaches put their heads together to come up with the challenges.
“The first challenge is to see how fast you are on the basepaths. You’ll start out in the batter’s box, and we’ll time how fast you can get around the bases. Dan, you’re a lefty, so you take the left-hand box and David the right. When you’re ready, Dan, start running, and the clock will begin,” Coach Haskins said.
Dan took off, and I waited my turn.
“You’re running at the same time,” Moose said.
“Bite me,” I mumbled under my breath and began to run.
