Acts of bravery (or foolishness) by writers in the batter’s box
Published 1:51 pm Thursday, May 5, 2011
I’m sitting out tonight’s Mariners-Rangers game in order to write for our baseball page in Sunday’s Herald sports section, but I couldn’t help passing along this display of bravery (or foolishness).
Lee Judge, who blogs on the Royals for the Kansas City Star, wrote recently that Wilson Betemit should have kept his hiney in the box and gotten hit by an 81 mph pitch. One thing led to another, and then a double-dog dare, and Judge wound up in the Royals’ batting cage learning for himself what it’s like to get hit by a baseball.
This reminds me of a day at spring training in 2004 when Jim Caple, the entertaining writer with ESPN.com, decided to see what it’s like to stand in against some bona-fide heat. Jim arranged to get an at-bat in a minor league intrasquad game against former Mariners left-hander Matt Thornton.
About an hour before that game, Jim walked into the media work room in Peoria dressed in full Mariners road gray. And, seeing that he hadn’t quite checked his courage at the door, a couple of us gave him a hard time.
“Who you facing?” I asked.
“Matt Thornton,” he said.
“Ooooooh,” I replied. “Last I heard, Matt was still working on some control issues after he plunked a couple of guys in his last game.”
Jim laughed (a little painfully, I think) and made his way down to the practice field. So did the rest of us, eager to see his at-bat more than anything Thornton was working on. (By the way, to the best of my knowledge Thornton had not plunked anyone and wasn’t battling anything more than the need to build arm strength.)
To his credit Jim hung in there against Thornton, although I’m sure there was a lot of puckering going on under that uniform. Thornton struck him out, but Jim did get the bat off his shoulder and there was no visible nervous knee-knocking.
Here is Jim’s story on his at-bat.
I give Lee Judge and Jim Caple tons of credit for what they did in the name of entertainment and humility. You wouldn’t find me volunteering for anything like that. Heck, I don’t even reach for foul balls into the press box anymore, ducking out of the way like this guy last night in Boston. If Nomar Garciaparra bails into his buddy’s lap, I don’t feel so bad about doing it myself.
