Excerpts from "The Winning Pitch"
THE WINNING PITCH
Chapter Three: The Preacher's Pitch
At this point, signing with the Orioles was the most exciting moment of my life. I signed for a bonus that would give me and the girl I wanted to marry financial security that would last for at least two weeks. I asked Beverly Grant to marry me and she accepted my proposal. That became the most exciting moment of my life.
I could now offer my bonus money as security to my fiance's parents to show that I could provide for their daughter. Bev's Dad and Mom felt that I could fall back on my college diploma if baseball didn't work out so they agreed to let me marry their daughter. All the excitement made me think that it just couldn't get any better than this.
The plan was to marry Bev right after my first season.
The season had already begun when I joined the team in Aberdeen, S.Dakota. I had a 3 win and 2 loss record when they shipped me to Paris, Texas to finish up my first year.
Naturally the guys in Texas had already picked their roommates before I arrived to join the team. The center fielder didn't have a roommate so he inherited me. I just figured that he didn't have a roommate because the numbers didn't work out.
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The first night I found out why he didn't have a roommate. He was going to be a preacher when his baseball career was over and he had been practicing on his 'Former' roommates. No wonder the guys nick named me 'Lucky' right off the bat. That first night 'Preacher Boy' talked to me until 2:00 A.M. the next morning.
His lead off question was: 'Are you a Christian?' I said of course I was. He wanted to know why I thought I was a Christian. I told him that I was born in the United States. He laughed and asked me if I was born in a garage, would I be a car? I was insulted and figured he would never make it as a preacher. He had already lost the team as his first congregation and now he seemed to be working on loosing me. Besides I figure if Preacher Boy didn't know that the United States was a Christian country, he had a lot to learn. I decide to humor him so I stayed on as his roommate.
From time to time my little buddy, Preacher Boy, would try to convince me that he could help me if I ever got into trouble during a game I was pitching. He gave me an example of what he meant. He said: 'If you have the bases loaded, say the seventh inning, no one out and a three no count on the batter, just look out to center field and I will shout instructions to you that will get you out of the inning.'
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The very next game that I was pitching, I realized it was the seventh inning and the bases were loaded; there was no one out and I had a three no count on the batter. I realized then that my center fielder was not only a preacher, he was a prophet.
I stepped off the mound to grab the rosin bag, and as I was rubbing the ball I just stood there looking out to center field. I figured that since Preacher Boy had set this whole thing up he'd better keep his word and get me out of this inning.
He saw me standing there looking out to
center field. He threw his ball glove to the ground, cupped his hands around
his mouth and yelled: 'Burnham,
That was quit a 'Preacher's Pitch.' I purposed, then and there, to never throw that pitch again.
He was really a good guy. With Preacher Boy as my roommate I still compiled a 9 win and 3 loss record over all.