A True Story (or so I was told)

 

 

 

 

A friend of mine told me this story. Although the facts of this are extraordinary, he told it in such a manner that I have no reason to doubt its veracity. Unfortunately, this medium of retelling the account lacks the emphasis and the apparent sincerity of its telling. I have added quotation marks to indicate the sincerity of the story even though I cannot swear to the accuracy of the statements. Here is the story with my effort to recount it exactly as my friend told it.

“My cousin, ‘One Eyed Joe’, was a big-league baseball player when the game was much younger. Joe’s grandson told me this story that was told him after several years of the happening. Given the twists of time, it is impossible to verify the details of the story but it is clear that the ballplayer did indeed suffer an injury from an encounter that occurred during his playing career. Baseball is great for keeping records, however; during this era games were described only on the radio and many details have been lost. Note that TV was unknown and the league owners wished to avoid some of the nastier parts of the story.”

“Joe played first base during the period when players were assigned a particular position after spring training and little changed during the year. Furthermore, team owners didn’t want to pay more players than the game demanded save one or two extra players for emergencies. This account describes one of those emergencies that occurred after a confrontation with a group of baseball fans from an opposing team took issue with the players from Joe’s team.”

“One hard-fought game occurred during a road trip where the fans were particularly rabid and Joe made a hard tag on the runner who had taken a long lead from first base. Joe’s tag ended the game. The losing home team booed Joe long and hard as he left the field of play. It should have been a warning to Joe and his teammates. As was their practice, several members of Joe’s team left the visitor’s clubhouse for a visit to the closest tavern. After the 4^th or 5^th round was consumed, the players became a little too loud for several fans from the home team, and a fight broke out. Joe was one of several players who joined the fight. It was not an unusual battle except for the fact that Joe was cold-cocked by an adversary. It wouldn’t have been noteworthy had the punch landed somewhere else other than Joe’s right eye.

By the next day Joe sported a black eye that was so swollen than he couldn’t see to shave. The manager called the injury a sprained ankle and put Joe’s name on the disabled list. He was replaced by one of the players from the emergency squad, a man who was barely able to catch the ball let alone drive the ball over the home run fence as Joe had done with some regularity.

After a two-day period of convalescence, the swelling around Joe’s eye had eased considerably but he was still unable to see. The team manager met with the owner who decided that Joe was too valuable to sit out more games. The pair decided that the team should send Joe to a physician who had experience in treating eye problems. The owner insisted that the manager should accompany Joe to the hometown hospital for treatment so that he could oversee the treatment and keep quiet about the extent of the injury. The treatment had to be done in secret to assure that the newspapers didn’t get wind of the serious threat to first base and the likelihood that Joe and his team might suffer in game sales if Joe was not available to play.

The sawbones that looked at Joe’s injury wasn’t particularly helpful. He told Joe and the manager that there was little likelihood that Joe’s vision would ever return since the eye was severely damaged. He said that over time Joe could get used to seeing out of one eye. The doc said the newest glass eyeballs were nearly impossible for casual observers to determine a glass eye from a real one and that Joe could get used to seeing from one eye only. The manager asked if the glass eye could be installed before the next weekend since a double-header was scheduled for then. The deal was done with the team paying the bill after a deduction from Joe’s salary was agreed upon for the balance of the year. The glass eye was installed that afternoon and the doctor’s nurse showed Joe how to remove and re-install the glass orb. The manager told Joe to report for team practice the following day.

Joe took the field for practice the next day. He was a little bit slow at first base but the Manager said that Joe was well enough to play after he watched Joe catch a few balls and make the obligatory toss to the 2^nd baseman. The manager reported to the owner who told Joe that he was back on the team but his salary would need to be reduced to cover the doctor’s bill. Joe played both ends of the double header. During the second game of the double header, Joe made an error and the reporters who covered the game asked about it. The manager coached Joe to say that he suffered from a wasp sting just as the ball arrived at first and that was the reason for the rare error. In fact, Joe could barely see and it was a miracle that he was able to catch the ball. Joe was 0 for 3 at the plate that day.

The following day saw more problems at first base. Joe had practiced removing and reinstalling the glass eye if he had a mirror to help. He didn’t confide his circumstance with his teammates, but insisted he was back to normal. Exactly one week after the installation of the glass eyeball Joe had another confrontation with a runner at first base. The opposing team’s runner had hit the ball to the 2^nd baseman and what should have been a routine out became a major confrontation. The runner might have heard about Joe’s injury. No one knows. Instead of trying to step around Joe and reach first base, the runner bent over and aimed his shoulder directly at Joe’s midsection causing both Joe and the runner to tumble backwards. The runner quickly returned to his feet while Joe moved slowly, seemingly dazed by the collision. The truth was that Joe was not dazed, he just lost sight of the ball and, to make matters worse, his glass eye popped out and was somewhere in the dirt.

The runner continued onto second base, and the umpire called him safe. The crowd of 30,000 fans erupted. Joe didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to reveal the loss of his glass eye. The first base umpire saved the day when he saw the eye looking up at him. He picked it up and handed it to Joe without ceremony and then called time out. Joe ran to the dugout at the suggestion of the umpire, to find water to wash the glass eye.

The Chief of the umpires for that day was behind home plate. He had seen the collision and was about to call the runner safe when the first base umpire quickly explained the glass eye problem and suggested that the runner had purposely caused the collision. The game’s three umpires had a quick consultation at first base. The Chief wouldn’t stand for an intentional collision and he called the runner out, a decision that caused the home crowd to roar their approval as Joe returned to the base.

Joe had a quick exchange with the first base umpire who whispered to Joe. “You need to fix that glass eye, Joe. What are you going to do the next time you are playing on the road and the eye comes loose? You won’t be able to count on a friendly umpire like the Chief. You probably can’t see worth a damn with that eye wiggling around.”

Joe responded. “You’re right. If I can’t get it fixed, I’ll be like you for the rest of my career.”

The End