DOBY AND THE TITTY PITCH

I was perusing Danny Peary's oversized, oral history, "We Played the Game: 65 Players Remember Baseball's Greatest Era--1947-1964" (1994} this weekend, looking for the lowdown on Minnie Minoso. I happened to run across an entry from Mudcat Grant, a player I recently encountered in Terry Pluto's "The Curse of Rocky Colavito", and I wanted to share this entry because it sheds some light on Larry Doby, president of the Nice-Guys-Finish-Second Club, and offers a good Satcial Paige anecdote. (Aren't they all good?)

Next to Grant's entry, is a photo of a young Mudcat in 1958. Resting his hand against his cheek, Grant's wide face is open and curious. There is a restraint there, but it barely conceals a sense of pride, and accomplishment.

The caption reads: A personalbe, outspoken right-hander from Lacoochee, Florida, Jim "Mudcat" Grant reached the Cleveland Indians in 1958 and would become the American League's first black starting pitcher.

In my rookie season, I was inserted into a good rotation with Cal McLish, Gary Bell, and Ray Narleski. I pitched over 200 innnings, won 10 games and never returned to the minores. I preferred beginning my major league career with Cleveland rather than the Yankees or the Red Sox because the Indians and Dodgers had been the ringleaders in signing black players. As a young boy, Jackie Robinson had been my main hero until the Indians signed Larry Doby. I liked that name! [which proves that it takes one to know one] Thos guys inspired me to want to be a major league ballplayer. Now the Indians made me the only black starting pitcher in the American League. The only other black starters were Don Newcombe and Brooks Lawrence of the Reds and one of my heroes, the Cardinals' Sad Sam Jones. On the Cubs, Sam became the first black to pitche a no-hitter after staying out all night.

I got to play with my greatest hero, Larry Doby. The most I ever learned about the game was from him. He taught me everything I know from how to dress and mix colors to how to become part of the community. Larry made sure he went out into his community and spoke to people. He knew people by name from everyhwere from Kansas City to Washington D.C. Larry would say we're going to some barbershop in Cleveland or restaurant in Chicago or some friend's apartment in Detriot. When I first went to Washington D.C., he introudced me to Adam Clyton Powell. He introudced me to Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis, Count Basie, and Billie Holiday. I had listened to their music on 78s and here was Larry casually introducing me to them. We'd sit down and talk about everything under the sun---all day long. Larry was quiet to people who didn't know him and never said too much or ventured an opinion. But he'd open up to those he knew well. I knew of his disappointments because I'd ask him...
Of course, Larry couldn't really teach me much about pitching. But I already knew something about that. You know who gave me the best advice? Satcial Paige. I met him in about 1955, when we both were in the minors, and had some great conversations with him. I asked him what he thought was the most important thing about being a pitcher. He told me, "Young man, you gotta have a titty pitch. If you don't have a titty pitch, you can't win." I asked, "What is a titty pitch?" I thought he was putting me on, getting ready to say something about sex. He ran his hand across his chest and said, "A titty pitch is right here." Of course, he was right about the need to pitch inside to win the big leagues. He just had a different way of putting it.

Venezuela has for decades been one of the most dependable sources of petroleum for the United States, where industry analysts say the strike has already hurt some refineries and driven up the retail price of gasoline by at least a dime a gallon.

Those shortages will only worsen, and prices continue to rise, if the United States attacks Iraq, they prediceted. That means that war in the Persian Gulf could prove more costly to the American economy than had been projected if the Venezuelan standoff is not ended soon...

"This is an incredibly important moment in Venezuelan history," a senior State Department offical said. "Things are happening now that are going to affact Venezuela for decades: its energy relationship with the United States, the structure of PDVSA, the integrity and credibility of its democratic instituions---all of these things are at stake."

But many Latin American experts say the administration's efforts have been too little, too late. They contend that the Bush Administration, distracted by Iraq, allowed Venezuela's problems to fester.

...The State Department's Latin America desk has been leaderless through much of the strike. The last assistant secretary of state for Western Hemispher affairs, Ott J. Reich, was reassinged in November after his temporary appointment expired...

"There is no one at the wheel here, "asserted Moises Naim, the Venezuelan who is the editor of Forgein Policy magazine."

The impact of the Venezuelan crisss has been widely underestimated by officials and consumers, oild experts said. Venezuela once exported 2.7 million barrels a day, 1.5 million barrels of that going to United States, or about 14 percent of America's curde oil imports.

Now, Venezuela says it is producing about 600,000 barrels a day, though outside experts estimate the volume at less than 400,000 barrels.

That means that more than two million barrels a day of Venezuelan brude have been removed from the gobal market, making this the worst disruption in supply since the Persian Gulf war of 1991, experts said.

¡¦LUCKIEST MAN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH¡¦

Lou Gehrig ain't got nuthin on me. I received the following e-mail from my girlfriend, Emily, in response to a brief article I posted last week, in which I basically gushed about our baseball-friendly relationship:

¡¦Yes you are right, I am excited for the season to begin - an opportunity for me to learn more about the game, as well as another 6 months to watch you perform your rendition of a Mexican jumping bean¡¦ And hey, how 'bout eating ice cream and having sex all afternoon, WHILE watching baseball? Your mind and body are likely to explode with all that stimulation. Well, at least your body. Mmmmmm.

And you can't beat that with a baseball bat.