Pitchers and Catchers

  White Sox pitchers and catchers report to camp in Arizona today.  Rookies and veterans alike arrive with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads.  This is the year to snare the big contract, to break out of the minors into the bigs.

In grade school one spring I remember Manly Johnston; he must have had those dreams, too.  It had to be 1965 that Johnston went to camp in Sarasota, off his 20-win season the year before.  The man was a minor-league Babe Ruth, going 71-42 and hitting 101 homeruns over a nine-year career.  Johnston left baseball at the age of 27, after going 18-7 for AAA Indianapolis.

I also remember Bill Heath and Jerry McNertney.  They were testament to the wisdom of Casey Stengel, who knew that without a catcher you have a lot of passed balls (why not wild pitches?).  But Heath and McNertney made it to the majors, at least.  The minors were for other guys, like Johnston and Joel Gibson, another Indianapolis pitcher.

What I remember might frighten the pitchers and catchers reporting today.