The 85-86
Here's another....
Back in
'85-'86 we had the draft in
My 1st round pick in the draft that year (either '85 or '86) was Joel Hesketh, a pitcher who I thought was destined for greatness but whose career was sidetracked by arm injury. After the draft and after the out-of-towners had gone home on Sunday, remaining at my condo with me were Bob Michal and Lary Wesley. Bob had the Devon Motorheads and Lary had the Pottsylvania Muggers, both teams being woefully awful and well under .500 in those days. Their prospects for the coming season were equally bleak. This was in the day when we still rolled dice and kept score by hand. I challenged Bob and Lary to an exhibition game. I would start Hesketh and they could combine their teams to form one lineup and bench to take on Hesketh. So we set about on that task. I can't remember exactly who was on the Outs back then, but probably Dale Murphy, Jack Clark, Rickey Henderson, Ryne Sandberg and Cal Ripken. In other words, a darn good club. Players on the Motorheads and Muggers at that time, well, it's anyone's guess. In any event, we started the game and the Outs scored early and scored again and again. Meanwhile, the innings were clicking by for the Bob/Lary squad without a hit. Hesketh had walked some hitters but didn't allow a hit. The game ended with Hesketh throwing a no-hit shutout. The look on Bob and Lary’s faces was one of disbelief.
I
should point out that neither Bob nor Lary have ever
been short of confidence when it comes to baseball knowledge. But for that one
moment both of them were speechless. I even took out a Polaroid camera and took
a photo of the game's scoresheet. That photo still
exists somewhere, proof that the game actually was played (unfortunately, the
image is very cloudy and the fact is you can't tell a think from looking at
it). I also have, somewhere, some photos from that draft, where we're all
collected together for a group shot of Dennis,