A DIFFERENT PITCH
Here is a sports story about a young minor league pitcher cast in the mold of Mark “The Bird” Fidrych and Bill “Spaceman” Lee. His name is Turk Wendell, he plays for the Atlanta Braves organization with their class AA affiliate, the Greenville, South Carolina Braves. Here’s the story: “Before pitching every inning, Wendell jumps three feet in the air like a kangaroo to cross the foul line, circles the mound counter-clockwise and squats on the rubber… points to the center fielder, who must wave back, draws three crosses in the dirt on the mound, licks the dirt off his fingers!?!” “That’s not all folks. He sometimes does not wear socks to pitch, has thrown to first often as eight or nine times — with no one on the base — and once pulled a camera from his pocket and took a picture of the batter before pitching to him.” “Least, but certainly not least, Turk refuses to catch a ball…
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