[jomby]

Chapter 5: Supply and Demand.


In the 10th round, with the 300th pick, I had been drafted by Tampa Bay. And I truly owed it all to Scotty, although it didn't quite play out the way that anyone could have imagined it.

You see, for a player to be drafted, his name must first be registered with the commissioner. It doesn't matter whether the player was already a household name; if he wasn't registered, he couldn't be picked. Well, Patterson used to register his prospects at the last possible second, to give his opponents the least amount of time to scout out who he had-- until one year when he missed the deadline by a day, and his diamond in the rough ended up staying in the rough. Scotty nearly lost his job. Since then, he made it a habit to submit a list of his prospects well in advance. But-- and here's the kicker-- in order to guard his players, he made their names practically illegible.

So a sheet with my name on it was submitted the day after Scotty Patterson talked with me. And nobody had a clue what the name was. But it didn't matter-- it was legal, and I was still eligible.

But that wasn't enough to get me on a team. Fate went out of her way to make amends for Scotty's death.

A week before the draft, a huge story was about to break. One year ago, a member of the Associated Press had noticed a dramatic increase in wild pitches thrown the year before-- about 100% more. After investigating newspaper clippings and photos, he uncovered what he thought was a point-shaving conspiracy. It seemed that a good number of catchers across the ILB had been throwing games at crucial moments merely by setting up their stance a few inches behind their normal position. These extra inches were just enough to turn a precision-placed curve into a back-stopped dirt ball. But instead of publishing this story, the reporter began blackmailing those who he thought were involved.

Although that story never officially broke, at the beginning of February, future hall of famer John Fortney announced his retirement. 3 other starting ILB catchers immediately followed suit. When team owners caught wind of this scandal, they "battened down the hatches" and began preparing for the worst. Out of the 300 picks in that year's draft, 102 were going to be catchers. But not every owner knew what was going on.



The draft that Monday was pure chaos. As commissioner J. Wilson Grant put it, "It was the biggest brawl in baseball history." It all started in the second round of the draft when Detroit picked a catcher, Steffan Melancon. Pittsburgh followed suit with Shigemasa Senichi, and then Chicago with Coy Morillas-- both catchers. Those who were savvy knew they had to act now if they were going to salvage their team. The next eleven picks were all catchers, and everyone scrambled to make sure they got one before they were all gobbled up. Arguments ensued, and even a fist fight broke out. But the run was on. Many prospects like Nicky McCray and Norbert Fuller, who were slated as 8th to 9th rounders, were picked as early as the 2nd and 3rd round. But Tampa Bay's owner, Paul Fiztle, knew nothing of the Wild Pitch Scandal. On day one, he missed the train.



Day two was like a hangover. The majority of the catchers were taken, so picks were more conservative. But Fiztle, having finally heard about the scandal that morning, adamantly refused to pick an over-priced catcher. He was shrewd, but most certainly frugal. With the 15th pick in the tenth round, they drafted a pitcher, James Nott. Fitzle was proud of himself because, as he saw it, Nott should have gone in the 9th round.

Tampa still needed a catcher, though. So Paul Fitzle hobnobbed a little with New York's Lenny Cohn, and managed to finagle the last pick of the draft for a song. Actually it was for food and a song, as Fitzle offered to take him out to the cabaret for dinner. After closing the deal, he pulled his assistant Kerry Whitten aside and said, "You better get me something good with this."

But the catchers were all gone ... except that one name scribbled on a sheet of paper that nobody knew anything about. And so, in the tenth round, the Tampa Bay Bombers declared:

"We'll take Hurl ... Hurk? Hunk? We'll take Hunk Johnson."