As I looked in at Harold, our catcher, I knew he was probably worried. The batter, their cleanup hitter, had just hit my best fastball 250 feet down the right field line and it crashed into a wooden barrier with such force that it startled the umpire, who stopped the game for a second. But, I wasn’t afraid . . I was 13 and the world was at my feet.
Now I had to deal with their power hitter . . and he just hit my best pitch as far as I have ever seen a ball hit, except for Stanley Higa, of course, who was our power hitter.
The last time I faced this left-handed power hitter he pulled another fast ball almost as far. Fortunately, it was foul and missed the barrier that was now permanently dented. At that time, I had just come in, in relief and didn’t realize what I was dealing with, so I threw him a blooper. He was so excited he hit it another 250 feet down the right field line. No more bloopers for this 5 foot 9 inch, 160 pound Japanese power hitter! I threw my best curve and he grounded out to shortstop. I can recall that on the way to first base he was jumping up and down agonizing over the fact that he hadn’t hit a home run off the little runt. Well, I was only 5 feet 2 inches and probably 115 pounds.
However, I knew how he felt. I would hate to miss a fat pitch over the middle of the plate.
So there I was. Two outs in the last inning, boys, aspiring to be men, on second and third, and the Pearl City Tigers ahead 11 – 9 against the team from Maui. Their gigantic home run hitter who had already proven that he could hit my best pitches, and had seen all of my best pitches, was now angry and proverbially snorting at the plate. So, I threw the blooper ball.
Truthfully, I don’t think I have ever seen anyone hit a ball that far. However, this time, it was fair. I looked at the batter as he jumped up and down for joy running around the bases.
One thing I didn’t count on. We we playing in a pasture that had been turned into a baseball field. Our coach had positioned the right fielder, Masa, out about 300 feet, and he caught the long fly ball.
This was the Pearl City Tigers, a team of destiny!