Rambling On About My Glory Days: The One That Got Away

Saw the movie Big Fish for the umpteenth time the other night, and I was thinking about some of my major league experiences and how, sometimes, the stories seem to be right out of that movie.

I thank God for our hard-working Seamheads leader, Mike Lynch, because he can verify some of my tall tales to make sure I am not dreaming them up, or that I am wishing that they occurred the way I say it happened. Unfortunately, the only way Mike can verify this story is to talk to the great Red Sox player Dwight Evans. I hope he doesn’t try that for fear that Dwight would say “Jack Who?”

Anyway, let me tell you about the one that got away.

As some of you may know, I had virtually no power as a hitter. I went a great number of at bats without hitting a Major League homerun, and I will leave that amount up to Mike to report. I just wish there was video review of homeruns back in my day, because that number should not be so high. Here is why.

As a member of the Cleveland Indians, we were playing the Red Sox at Fenway. I will accept your condolences on those facts for three reasons. First, I was with Cleveland back when they weren’t exactly a big draw. Second, I played absolutely terrible for them, kind of like I was dead. Finally, for whatever reason, I never hit the ball very well in Fenway Park.

However, one night I belted a ball down the right field line, all of 296 feet away from home. The ball was right on the line and could have gone either way. It veered just right of the foul pole for a foul ball and that was that. Or so I thought. The next day Dwight Evans came up to me in batting practice and said, “Jack, you know that ball you hit down the line, when I got to the foul pole, I placed my hand on the fence at the bottom of the pole and felt the ball knick the pole.” That is what made the ball veer to the right and cause the umpire to call the ball foul.

Wow. Homerun! I have never lost sleep over that hit (well, maybe a little) because, as previously written in my last post, I went on to smack two homeruns in my career. In retrospect, the highlight of the story was that a superstar like Dwight Evans would approach me and address me by name. At least I believe he said “Jack†before telling me of his experience at the foul pole. This is the part where Big Fish stories sometimes get out of hand.

Former major leaguer Jack Perconte is the author of The Making of a Hitter (http://jackperconte.com) and has a baseball instruction site that can be found at www.baseballcoachingtips.net. He has recently published his second book Raising an Athlete – How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sport