Playing the Baseball Card

PLAYING THE BASEBALL CARD by Wilson James

Devin is almost 14 years old. His mother died six years ago, and he helps look after his younger brother while their father works. Devin’s dad is a pitcher for a minor league baseball team, and is trying to make it into the major leagues.

Just when it seems that things are looking better, tragedy strikes again. Now, it’s all up to Devin. He has his own dreams, and he desperately cares about what’s left of his small family. Will he be able to make it work?

The story of Devin Robinson as the kid pitcher for the San Francisco Giants becomes well known, but what was never told is the story of Devin and Jordan’s early years. They have long since reached adult age, and they have decided that the time is now right to put the journey of the beginning part of their lives into print.

This is a story for baseball fans and anyone else who wants to read about personal courage and determination

Reviews

A reviewer at Barnes and Noble called the book 'inspiring'.

A reviewer at Apple's iBookstore wrote: In my 53 years of living this may be one of the most emotional books I personally have read. Being a big baseball fan and a father of a son who played baseball this book was awesome. I would think any baseball fan and father would love to read this, I actually had a good cry for the first time all during this book. Any if you have time this is a must read book!!

OTHER FICTION TITLES by Wilson James

Sons and Brothers in Seattle

Playing the ‘Son’ Card

Robert’s Ride

A Family Legacy: The Watson Works

Aiden’s Arrival: Honor Before Gold

PLAYING THE BASEBALL CARD

Fifth Smashwords Edition, April 2017

Copyright © 2010, 2017 by Wilson James

Cover Photo Credit: Sonya Etchison

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission, except that short passages may be reproduced for purposes of review.

For information, see author’s page at www.wilsonjamesauthor.blogspot.com

ISBN: 978-1-4523-0062-7 (ebook)

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

WORK OF FICTION

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, public or private places, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

This story is dedicated to those who have found themselves forced into a role beyond their years, with the hope that they have been able to persevere.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 – The News

Chapter 2 – The Minor Leagues

Chapter 3 – The Show

Chapter 4 – The Show Ends

Chapter 5 – The Invitation

Chapter 6 – The Welcome Home

Chapter 7 – The Pitch

Chapter 8 – The Series

Chapter 9 – The Offer

Chapter 10 – The Judge

Chapter 11 – The New Seasons

About the Author

Bonus with this eBook – first 7 chapters of Sons and Brothers in Seattle

Additional fiction titles by Wilson James

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CHAPTER

1

THE NEWS

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Devin tried to pull himself awake as the phone rang on the table next to his bed. He glanced at the clock-radio as he picked up the handset. Six thirty, it read. Pretty early for a Saturday morning.

Hello. A young male voice, full of sleep, was the best he could muster.

Devin, an older male voice replied. It’s Daryl. Sorry to wake you.

Devin snapped awake. His father’s teammate did not phone this early unless there was news that could not be good.

Daryl continued without waiting for a reply. He knew what his best friend’s son must be thinking. The problem was, he thought, that the news was worse than anyone could imagine. Devin, I am phoning because I wanted to let you know, in person.

A long pause, and just the sound of breathing on the line coming from the west coast. Daryl looked around the Boston hotel room, wondering how he was supposed to pass on this information. He wondered how it was that he was now the person to make the one phone call that no one should ever have to make.

He and Tommy had been friends since their college days, when they played ball. He was there when Tommy met his wife to be, and he was there for the birth of Devin and the marriage which followed shortly afterwards. Tommy was only aged 20 at the time, but he was determined to work hard for his family, and he gave up the sport he loved to do it.

Daryl was fully aware of his late friend’s current situation. He knew, for example, that 13-year-old Devin and his younger brother, 11-year-old Jordan were almost certainly alone in the house.

He knew that, in spite of Tommy Robinson’s new-found fame as a major league pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, the Robinson’s were still hurting, financially and emotionally, from the death of Tommy’s wife more than six years ago. Tommy had been pitching for one of the Pirates AA farm teams at the time, and he had taken an unpaid break from Baseball to be with his family.

Tommy’s wife was sick for almost a year before she died, and the family gave up all of their hard-won possessions, including their home, to pay for the medical bills. His wife had encouraged Tommy to go back to baseball only a year before, and she supported the family with her work until she became ill with cancer.

Tommy was devastated when she died, and even more so when he realized that there was no family on either side to help him raise his two boys. He moved the boys into a trailer park, and went back to work.

Sitting on the bed in his Boston hotel room, Daryl realized that Devin was waiting for him to deliver the news that had prompted the early morning phone call, but again, Daryl’s mind was drawn back to the family’s early years.

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CHAPTER

2

THE MINOR LEAGUES

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For five years following his wife’s death, Tommy worked long hours in the baseball off-season to try and pay some of the still-outstanding medical bills, and give the family a cushion for the poorly paid baseball season.

Daryl recalled the day that Tommy described how Devin, then only seven-years-old, told him that his mother would want his Dad to go back to playing ball, and that he shouldn’t give up until he was ready. Tommy had related how Devin told him that he and Jordan would be just fine, and they would look after themselves whenever they had to.

With such encouragement from his boys, Tommy returned to baseball, starting off a single A team and then quickly moving back up to AA ball. Of course, it meant a lot of time on the road during the season.

What Tommy hadn’t known for the first two years was that when he went off on road trips and left the boys at home in Rochester, was that the boys did fend for themselves a lot.

Each time Tommy went away, he arranged for the boys to be looked after by friends, usually by staying with families in the area. Unknown to him, the families frequently reneged on their commitments at the last moment, or changed their plans after Tommy had left town. When that happened, Devin would gather up Jordan and head home.

Tommy couldn’t afford to pay anyone, so he was depending on the kindness of others, and quite often they were not so kind.

The first time this happened was on a Thursday night, in the middle of a seven-day stay. The family they were staying with decided to go away for the weekend, and were uncertain as to who to ship the boys to. Devin stepped in, and said that he would organize it. What he didn’t want was for them to phone his Dad, and have his Dad come home. The other thing he didn’t want was for them not to be welcomed back to this home in the future, and that might be the case if he and Jordan became a millstone around their neck.

Knowing that his Dad had tried absolutely everyone else for to look after the boys for this road trip, Devin decided that the best thing to do was for him and Jordan to just go home and look after themselves. They did it quite well, and when their Dad came home, they just told him that everything was fine.

On an increasing number of occasions in the next two years, Devin would tell his Dad that he had organized someone for them to stay with, and then he and Jordan would stay home and look after themselves.

Devin proved to be a mature caregiver for himself and Jordan, in spite of his own young age. Things were kept in good order at home, and Devin made sure that they ate well, had clean clothes, and stayed active. Devin even got hired to do a paper route that he and Jordan did together before school, each morning, to give them a little spending money.

The family would continue to grow and thrive, thanks to the guidance of Tommy, the hard work of Devin, and the cooperation of Jordan.

By the time Jordan had completed second grade and Devin third, the family had achieved a routine of sorts. Tommy worked in their hometown during the off season, and the boys looked after themselves during the spring and summer.

That June, with the school year over, the boys started to talk to their Dad about what they might do over the summer. Tommy had some ideas of his own. He had moved up to AAA ball, and would be playing in Buffalo, which meant a little more time commuting for home games, but he had a plan that would make the summer a good one.

To start with, Tommy started taking the boys to all of the home games. At first, he got the boys tickets for the regular seating, and a little cash for hot dogs and soda. It was after about the fifth home game that they attended that the manager suggested to Tommy that he could invite his boys to sit in the dugout, if they wanted.

I’m sorry that I didn’t suggest that earlier, the manager had said, But it wasn’t until today that I realized that your kids were coming to all of the games.

Tommy hadn’t talked much about his home life to anyone at the team, but it wasn’t a secret that he was a widower, and the manager was not unsympathetic to most of his players.

Tommy was grateful for the invitation, and the boys were excited and thrilled. It wasn’t long before all of the players made them feel welcome, trading high fives when the team got solid hits or good calls. Devin and Jordan became something like mascots, and even got to go out on the field during warm ups to do a little throwing of their own, as long as they didn’t get in the way. After a while, they found that some of the players would help them by giving them hints on their throwing skills, and letting them try a little batting practice from time to time.

They became a part of their father’s world, and a part of the team. For two young boys, those were heady days.

To give them something to do when he was away, he got each of the boys a bike. Second hand or not, it was great. The boys would frequently take an entire day, and pedal to one of the lakes in the area to swim or hike. Some days they would head off to one of the small towns nearby just for something to do. Of course, no one would knowingly let six and eight year old boys go off on their own like that, but there was no one to tell Tommy anything different than the news he heard from his boys.

Later in the summer, Tommy packed up the boys and their camping gear, and headed out on a combined camping and baseball road trip. They were gone for almost two weeks, following the team to four different cities. They continued their routine of watching the games from the dugouts, and had a great time.

Fall rolled around, and school started again, with Jordan in third grade and Devin in fourth. Two things of major import happened that school year. The first was that the boys joined the Cub Scouts right after Jordan’s birthday in December. After all, Jordan was supposed to be eight, the earliest age to join, and Devin was supposed to be nine. They had a fairly decent leader who managed to keep a troop of eighteen or twenty boys busy, and they had a good time in Scouts that year. Tommy even helped with the Scouts as often as he could, and worked tirelessly to assist in whatever fund-raising efforts were held during the off-season.

The second major incident came in the spring, as the time for spring training drew near. Tommy knew he had to go Florida, to the Pirates camp if he wanted a chance at the show, and certainly if he wanted to keep on the AAA roster. He would be gone longer than in previous years, and Devin had begun to tire of fending off bill collectors and telling stories that would keep the power on and the phone hooked up.

Tommy and Devin were reluctant to discuss what happened that day, but Jordan remembered the Saturday morning that he came downstairs to find his Dad and Devin in a discussion in the kitchen.

It had been two full baseball seasons that the boys had been looking after themselves, and Devin finally decided to come clean with his dad, not only to clear up the lie they had been living, but to organize the household better for all of them.

Look, Dad, Devin was saying, "I already plan our meals and grocery shopping, and run the house. I think that you should put my name on the bank account. I will set up a monthly budget, pay the bills, and