THE NIGHT I LET TOMMY WHITE'S SON STAY IN THE GAME

I look for the ironies in life and you would be surprised where I find them.

Yesterday in my well-received "Autograph to Bob Massecar, 62 Years After the Fact" post on Wrights Lane, I talked about my consternation in manager-coach Tommy White taking me out of a baseball game in 1956 in favor of a pinch hitter.  Instead of announcing his intentions to me while still in the dugout, he gave me the yank after I had actually stepped into the batters' box.

The crowd and my teammates were privy to my embarrassment and deflation. It was all part of the game of baseball, of course, but the incident had an impact on a guy as young and as sensitive as me at the time.  Up to his death some 20 years ago, Tommy and I never once discussed the night he lifted me for a pinch hitter.

Tommy White

Dick Wright

 Well, jump ahead another 14 years when I myself was manager/coach of St. Thomas Empires in the Southern Ontario Intermediate Baseball League. The scene was again Pinafore Park in St. Thomas and I called the same Tommy White's youngest son Jim up from the Junior Tom Cats to pitch a few games for my Empires.  In his first starting appearance young Jim did quite well until he ran into trouble in the 7th inning.  With one out in the inning, he loaded the bases and allowed the opposition to score two runs, reducing our lead to a single run.

Fully intending to bring in a relief pitcher, I went to the mound to announce my decision to Jim.
"You're getting tired Jim, I'm bringing in Al Gibbs to replace you!" I said with as much authority as I could muster.

"No, I'm not coming out," Jim replied, punching a fist into his glove and turning his back to me.

"Come on Jim, you've got to go...I'm the manager, or did you forget?" I insisted.

"No, I'm not!" he replied, demonstrating a firm insistence I had never before seen from him.  "I can get them out, you'll see."

Feeling myself weakening just a bit, I asked: "Are you sure you're alright?"

With the words "Yes, definitely!" from Jim, I recanted and let him "stay in for one more batter."

I gave him a pat on the back and left the mound saying "You'll have something to tell your dad when you get home tonight...How you talked Dick Wright out of pulling you from the game."  No one in the park knew what had transpired between the two of us...For all anyone knew I had just delivered a pep talk.

A suddenly rejuvenated Jim went on to retire the side. We scored a single run in the 8th inning and held the two-run lead to finish out the game.  End of story.

Regardless of the outcome, I often wondered if my handling of the Jim White situation was the mark of weakness on my part as a manager. I wonder too, what would have been the outcome if his dad, Tommy White, had let me bat in the 6th inning of that fateful night at Pinafore Park in 1956.

I could have hit a home run, for crying out loud and impressed Milwaukee Braves Scout Dewey Griggs who was in the stands that night.

Knowing me though, I would have struck out!