A Mile in His Shoes Page #2

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your phone call. I think it's best you go

back out to the road, wait by your car.

Uh, yeah. Can I talk to you about

something, Mr. Tussler? Did I tell you what

I do for a living? You mentioned you were

a baseball coach. Is that a living?

Well, yeah. What I meant was that I am the manager of

the Clayton River Rats, we're a semi-professional

baseball team in Clayton, Ohio. Right near Toledo.

Have you heard of us? 'Fraid not. Not much use

for games here on the farm. All right, sir, then I'll

get right to the point. That son of yours

is a very gifted boy. That's what all the doctors and

social workers keep telling us. Always wanting to cure him. Snake oil, as far

as I'm concerned. They don't know

who Mickey is at all. I'm not talking about

his condition, sir. I'm talking about his arm. That boy has a golden arm.

A what? I've been around a lot

of pitchers in my day, but nobody throws the ball as hard as Mickey just did

right now. If it's because of these apples,

I'm going to have an entire truckload shipped

into our next practice. Mechanics could use some work,

but it's remarkable really. What do mechanics have to do

with Mickey throwing apples? Mechanics...

uh, form, the technique for pitching

a baseball. If you're not standin' by your car

when "B" Bob's Towing comes by, they'll tow it away

and leave you behind. I know 'em when I see 'em. I will pay you $200 if you'll let Mickey come and

try out for my baseball team. We'll take great care of him,

anything he needs. That's crazy.

What's the rube? Molly! Come on over here. Mr. Murphy wants

Mickey to try out for some baseball team in Ohio. Can you believe that? That sounds nice. Well, what does that mean? That means that Mickey

would be pitching for a professional

baseball team, ma'am. Well, Mickey hasn't been away

from home very much, Mr. Murphy. All I'm asking is that

you let him try out. Well, I don't see any harm... We need the boy around here. Work on the farm.

This is what he knows. This is his world. Mickey could be a very

successful pitcher. Make some money, maybe even

some very good money. That certainly would be helping

out around the farm, so to speak. Uh, maybe we could talk it over

and get back to you. Well, thank you very much

for your hospitality. Um, here's my card. Uh, I'm just gonna say

good-bye to Mickey and then I'll be on my way. I'll say good-bye to Mickey

from right here. Uh, Mickey, very nice

to meet you, son! Um, enjoy that baseball. And I hope to see you soon. Uh... Thank you very much. Goodbye, Mr. Murphy. Bye-bye. [Cell phone ringing] MURPH: Hello?

WARREN:
Hello. Murph, glad I caught you.

You in Indiana yet? 'Cause we lost that prospect. Radler snapped him up. I told you he was good. MURPH: Well, like they say, when one door closes,

God opens another. And I may have found

that door, Warren. WARREN: Ah, those guys

don't grow on trees, you know. MURPH: Yeah, but apples do. Apples? What kind of gibberish

are you talking in? [Laughs] I'm losing you, Warren. Uh, bad cell phones out here.

Murph? MAN:
[On TV] And here comes

the 0 and 2 from Dawson and it's a single

to shallow right field which is gonna bring in a run

and tie our score at two here in the bottom

of the seventh inning. Coming up next we've got Cross

followed by Vere. MURPH: All right, guys.

Hey, guys, guys, listen up. Listen up. I want you guys

to meet Mickey. Mickey Tussler. He's a pitcher and a good one

and he's here for a tryout. Well, there goes

your job, Lefty. Say hello to the guys, Mickey. Go ahead, it's just the guys.

Just say hi. We passed under 36 bridges. [Man chuckles]

2nd MAN:
What was that? Mickey's what you'd call

autistic. Okay? He's got a condition

called Asperger's syndrome. Whoa, Skip's using

big words again. Some of you college guys

might have actually heard of it. What it means is it makes him

a little bit sensitive, he doesn't like surprises. So be nice to him and if he needs a hand,

help him out. Okay?

MAN:
All right, man. Right here, this is going to

be your locker, right here, it's got your gear and

everything you're going to need. It's right next to Pee Wee's. What up, Mick?

Welcome aboard. MAN: Just leave it there. He's a little bit, uh,

shy at first, but once you get to know him

he's downright friendly. All right? And, Pee Wee, I'm counting on you to

make him feel welcome. Before you know it, me and

Mick'll be best friends. Good thing, 'cause he's going

to be staying with you, too. What? What about your place?

You got the spare bedroom. He's going to stay

with you, Pee Wee. 108 stitches on a baseball. 108 stitches... It's good to know, Mick.

All right. So, what do you think? Think you can stay with my

good friend Pee Wee here? Okay. We can be friends. All right. I'll leave

you guys to it. Oh, Pee Wee, if you plan

on eating this apple, I'd put it somewhere else

'cause my man Mick here, he's got a thing for apples. Oscar is the one who eats them,

I just smash 'em. Okay, I'm going to take

that as a good thing. For now, let's just get out there

and show them how it's done. We're gonna have a good time.

Let's have fun, all right? [Men shouting instructions] Let's have a catch. MURPH: All right, Mick,

let's see what you got, buddy. Whoa! A little help. It's okay, Mick, it's okay. Look, buddy, you gotta learn

to walk before you can run. I know how to walk. And run. I know that, Mick.

It's just an expression. Okay? Let's try it again. Throw strikes! Whoo! That's it. Oh, Mick. Clearly, you've got

the power, Mickey, no question about it. Okay? We're just going to work

on your mechanics so you can really harness it. Okay, Mr. Murphy. I want you to watch

the next few games from the dugout with me. I'll teach you how to score and pretty much what everybody

on the field is doing. Would you like that? Yes, sir.

All right. Great. Now, I'm going to show you

how to throw the fastball, the curve. Okay? Now, the next pitch I want to

show you is a knuckle ball. 'Cause you have so much power, every now and again you have to

take a little something off and you can really

fool the batter. Take something off? Yeah. Take something off. Not exactly, but... I liked it. Okay. The knuckle ball, okay,

it's kind of a misnomer because you're not really

using your knuckles, you're using your fingertips to dig into the laces

right like this. And unlike a fastball,

or a curve you're not going to break

your wrist. I want you to keep

your wrist straight. Okay? And when you throw it, keep

your wrist straight like that. If you do it right,

it'll float, float, float, and at the last second,

drop off the table. Okay?

Okay. Let's give it a shot. Here we go, Mick,

let's go, buddy. Let's go, Mick! Whoa. Okay, okay. Hey, Mickey, the knuckle ball

is the hardest pitch to hit because not even the pitcher

knows where it's going. I don't like surprises. Sometimes you can use surprise

to your advantage. Now look, just trust

your ability and let the ball do the rest. All right, Mick, look at me. Got it?

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