GMS/TEAMS
SEASONS
CAREER STATS
March 20, 1910
Well, it’s come down to this. Thirteen seasons in the bigs, and I’m reduced to pitching in lost causes in the middle of nowhere on a team that can't win. And on top of it, being razzed by a no-talent bum like this Larry Gardner kid.
“Hey Vic”, he’ll yell across the clubhouse, “Why the sour expression? You know if you have the toothache, Hoblitzel’s a dentist…He can yank it out for you. Then the rest of us can get on about our business without you looking at us like you just bit down on a persimmon”.
“You just watch your mouth, kid”, I replied. “I was winning games in the big time when you were still shitting yellow”.
“Losing them, too”, he shot back. “Didn’t you lose 29 of them one year? How does a fellow lose 29 games in a season- were you the only pitcher on the club? Or was your manager in a coma?”
That’s the kind of crap I have to put up with. Me, the man who tossed the last no-hitter of the 19th century! Of course, none of these young punks have any idea of that. I never seen a club so young- If I want to stop in a local saloon after a dusty day at the ball yard, I have to go alone- I don’t think any of them are old enough to be served. Once in a while I can get Johnny Kling to go with me if they have a pool table, but that’s about the limit of it. And of course, God forbid any of our Holy Joes like that Eddie Grant should hear that I was in a saloon…
Well, maybe at least the team will win a game or two eventually. I have my doubts though; our boss, this Momberg guy, doesn’t inspire much trust. Something about his tiny forehead and shifty, rodentlike eyes. We’ll see.........V G W
Victor Gazaway Willis