Chapter 6: Smoking

 




Starting pitchers Richard Jeskie and Sean Doremus



     “Time to turn it over, Sean?” appeases Coach Martin holding out his palm for the ball with two on and two out in the bottom of the seventh inning at the Middlesex field.

“My arm’s got one more out in it!” exclaims our left-handed starter brushing blond locks under his white mesh cap with red brim and front panel.

“Sammy’s ready when you are,” proclaims our manager skipping over the right field foul line on his way back to the bench.



    Long hair and cigarettes were the order of the day for rebellious athletes in the post-Vietnam period of the middle 1970s. The time when jocks played sports and freaks played pinball was morphing into a new and better era. Our two starting pitchers, senior Richard Jeskie and junior Sean Doremus, were good at letting that freak flag fly both off and on the field.

     Most of early April had been rained out so the late month brought bunches of games each week. Richie and Sean had been alternating starts, and Sean's shoulder was feeling the effect of too frequent pitching. His wicked natural slider that carried him through the first innings of the Middlesex game was losing it's cut. 

     We had two good relief pitchers in Tom Moriau and Rich Florczak. Both had excellent control of pitch location and gave up very few walks, but we still needed a closer to shut down late rallies. Hard-throwing Sam Venditti, just up from JV, was in his second year of organized baseball, but his arm was well known from epic snowball fights on Old Ladies Hill. The Venditti's lived at the base of that mound, and brothers Danny, Sammy, and Mikey presided over inner tube rolling in the summer, sledding in the winter. Everyone except the Middlesex hitters knew to duck when Sammy was packing.



     "Still got it?" exhorts catcher Matt Vischetti striding to the mound after Sean bounces one off the top of the backstop to walk the bases loaded.

"Fucking arm!" Sean bawls thudding the ball down into the dirt and stomping over to the bench.

     "Hey Sam, hey Sam, you da man, you da man..." I chatter from shortstop as he starts his windup and the runners take off with a full count.

"Way to go, Sammy!" thunders Mr. Matthews after the strikeout to win a key Mountain Valley Conference game.



Final score: Bound Brook (5-1) 5, Middlesex (4-4) 3




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