Show THE F I 1 CT ION THIRD STRIKE CALLED by JACK KOFOED arhe THE sun slanted into the bull pen L where high pockets kelley was warming up and caused beads of perspiration to stipple his brick colored forehead like raindrops he threw the ball listlessly because there wasn gasn t a chance in a million that he would get into the final game of the world series his team mate slats mckeever had held the giants to three hits and the yan kees led one to nothing going into the final inning something always happens to me kelley said and it is seldom anything to write home about As far back as I 1 can remember I 1 have been the unluckiest lest guy in the world when I 1 was only seven years old I 1 met sally ryall if you call that bad luck snorted pete howard get me a load of it I high pockets this put an extra little zip on his week s fast ball that s right best but you only y got the start of fiction it he said aid were from I 1 ishpeming michigan and a lot of houses out there have board fences along the back yard I 1 tried to make a hit with sally by walkin on one of them and fell off and busted a couple of ribs when I 1 got my first job in the northern michigan league she came to see me work I 1 tore a nail off a finger of my pitch in hand and they knocked me out of the box in two innings but that wasn gasn t the worst of it we had signed a new first baseman named frederick longstreth mcgee high pockets banged the ball viciously into his glove yeah but look what luck does to me fred wasn gasn t supposed to report until the next day but he a just dumb enough to get his dates mixed and showed up in time to meet sally what s clark gable got that he hadn haan t got not a thing and me six feet tour four and with a pan that stopped every clock in ishpeming so you lost sally to him eh eha not yet if my luck in love is as bad as it is in everything else I 1 probably will when we came up to the majors mcgee was signed by the giants five minutes after he put on the pads smith is legs went bad and there was mcgee the regular first baseman TI the tie e yankees took me and all I 1 had to beat out tor for a job were jones pearson tal bot and wirtz you com complain phlin too much said pete look at me that connelly will go on catching till I 1 ve got a beard way down to here all ali I 1 get to do is warming up these bums high pockets considered that un important he had his own troubles sally talks that way too she works tor for a psychiatrist named gol and he says I 1 in obsessed by the belief that luck is the domi factor in my career well am t it this series now here we come to the last game and every pitcher on the staff except mckeever and me Is as healthy as it t they had the cholera and what happens slats makes em eat out of his hand while I 1 in here in the bull pen the boss is bavin for you luck luckl howard laughed but there was no mirth in it if you gab less and look more maybe you t feel that way Mc mckeever Keevers s lost his stuff moore singled and wilson walked and there s lake at the plate now if he gets a piece of one goodbye ball game gamel L th huh he walked too and the boss is bavin tor for you kelley stuffed his glove in his hip pocket and pulled his cap further down over his sunburned forehead be big enough to hold the two of 0 us he turned on his heel and strode back to the bench the in mf elders felders took their positions and high pockets stood in the mid die dle of the he diamond with the ball in his hand and remembered how he had fallen allen oft off the fence and how those northern michigan fellow had pinned back his ears and knew in his heart that he wasn gasn t lucky enough to get one past mcgee he better though it if he failed he could not excuse himself to sally she wouldn t listen to that bad luck stuff any more she would say he was given the greatest break of his life and had not been man enough to take advantage of it besides high pockets felt that if he let me mc gee hit he d be delivering grocer ies for old man hemingway back in ishpeming next summer instead of drawing salary checks from the yankees connelly was signaling kelley didn dian t know what the catcher was calling for A curve curved A fast ball A do doa what did it matter any way whatever be he threw mcgee was going to hit the plate umpire took off his 4 t what happened he asked dazedly good luck he echoed scorn fully if I 1 strike out the side ill bet connelly misses the last pitch and the winning runs come over mckeever was still waiting at the pitcher pitchers s box with all the infielders around him when kelley shuf shuffled fied up somebody s makin an awful mistake said high pockets les ner knows how unlucky I 1 am does he want to lose this series slats glared at him it the rest of the staff wasn gasn t on the waltin list of the hospital tor for joint diseases you wouldn t even be here forget that luck stuff it s not important aa as the hop on your fast one that s what you think kelley said but take a double order 0 luck my girl says there am t any laugh that off and tor for a real break frederick longstreth me mc gee Is battin next what a guyl guy he could trip over a cat and fa fall 11 into a gold mine this sure is a spot for a guy who am t pitched much more this season than shirley temple has mckeever s gaunt red face ex pressed the deepest disgust well you better come autta this game with so methin better than a bad luck alibi or new york wont mask and bellowed if you can pull yourself out of that trance kelley how about working at your trade I 1 don t want to stay here through the whole football seasonal season well there wasn gasn t anything else to do then high pockets wound up his mind on sally and bad luck and the instant the ball left the tip of his fingers he knew it didn dian t have anything on it but the stitches and it was straight as a ruler and big as a balloon he saw mcgee N cgee pull back his club a and d then there was a whack of wood against leather and that was all he remembered high pockets woke up in a nice clean hospital bed witti a nurse tak ing a thermometer thermo out of his mouth pete howard stood nearby the doc says you re all right said pete its it s lucky you got a head like a wrestler or they d be tuning up the harps for you now high pockets twisted his neck there was a little ache in the back of his skull but not much what happened 7 he asked howard seemed embarrassed well mcgee tit hit a line drive that bounced off your noggin into stone s hands and lou made a triple play unassisted kelley sat straight up in bed holy moses the first break I 1 ever had in my life and we win the world series with it never crab any more wait till I 1 see I 1 wouldn t bother if it I 1 were you pete said moving toward the door women are awfully funny sally said nobody ever got a worse break in luck than fred mcgee and before she the marries him she s going to tell dr golenpaul he doesn doean t know what he s about |