Featured Stories
Olympic Festival Excerpt
East Team Coaching Staff Jim Cutler Ed Sullivan Mack Shupe
To knock the ball straight up in the air for a catcher to practice catching it simulates a pop fly. Hitting a pop up for a catcher is extremely difficult to do if you are standing at home plate. I said, “Jesse, I’ll just throw it up in the air.” He said, “No, I want you to hit it.” By this time there were about 35,000 people in the stands who were waiting on the Astros, so I was a bit nervous. Nevertheless, I went ahead and took the fungo bat and took a mighty swing. I was saying to myself, “God, just let me hit it straight up in the air.” Instead of going straight up in the air, however, the ball went out towards the scoreboard over the top of the center fielder’s head. I heard some laughing in the stands and I assumed it was because of my hit. More determined, I prayed again, “God, just let me hit it straight up in the air.” So, I took another swing and the ball did exactly what it was supposed to do. It went straight up in the air and Jesse was there to catch it. Jesse then said, “Coach, you can’t do that again can you?” So, I hit another one straight up in the air and I was feeling really good. Then, the other catcher said, “Coach, are you going to hit me one too?”