The Jon Secrist Diary: Entry 4: "I could have gone nine innings I felt so strong"
In his first mound performance for the St. Paul Saints in nine years, Jon Secrist was dancing.
Tuesday night, in an exhibition game against the Ibaraki Golden Golds, the 53-year-old knuckleball specalist from Westlake Village, trying to reclaim the title as the oldest pro baseball player in the country, gave up one hit, one walk, struck out two and allowed one earned run in two innings in the Saints' 3-2 loss before 1,923 at Midway Stadium.
It wasn't going to be easy for Secrist, given a chance for a do-over by team by co-owner Mike Veeck after a failed attempt in 1999. Coming in relief to start the fourth inning with the Saints trailing 2-1, Secrist had to stare down at the first batter -- a 4-foot-7 female, Ayumi Kataoka. -- who appears to be a legit player.
Apparently, Veeck's motto that "Fun is Good" has been translated worldwide. The Golden Golds are owned by a Japanese comedian who believes in the Veeck philosophy of promotions, gamesmanship (and their version of Eddie Gaedel).
Secrist walked Kataoka, naturally. She eventually stole second and scored on a two-out double by Kenta Sasaki. But Secrist retired the side in the fifth inning and left the game.
The Saints put this story on their Website about the game, picked up by several wire services.
==The story has also got a snip of national attention when the Associated Press sent this out on Monday, picked up on the Boston Globe website.
==Locally, Secrist's story is gaining momentum.
A story on Secrist from Wednesday's St. Paul Pioneer Press, that credits the Daily News in helping Secrist get another tryout with Saints based on Veeck seeing the story we ran last July.
Secrist also says at the end if he's cut, he'd ask to stay on as a pitching coach.
==And here's a link to the piece that KCAL Channel 9 did on him a few weeks ago, before he left for St. Paul.
Here's Jon to explain more about how the day unfolded:
"I didn't sleep one minute the night before, I was so anxious. I just couldn't fall asleep. But boy, last night, I sure slept well.
"Tuesday afternoon, we had an exhibition game, and they let me coach first base. But man, was it cold. About 38 degrees, but with the wind chill, maybe in the 20s. When it came time for the night game against the Japanese team, I stayed in the clubhouse to stay warm, but when I went to pitch and warm up, a couple of kids were watching me and one said, 'Now there's a knucleball.'
"I had watched the Japanese team warm up, and some of them had long hair. The second baseman was one of them. Once the game started, I realized -- that was a girl. And sure enough, she's the first batter I faced. The irony was unbelieveable. It was like Ila Borders against Eddie Gaedel. The strike zone had to be four inches. Talk about a no-win situation. I couldn't dare hit her by accident. I did throw a couple of knuckleballs and it was moving well, even in the cold and still air. It was really dacing. I got her to a 3-2 count before she walked. I was just trying to throw anything down the middle. I realized she could hit because earlier in the game, against a guy throwing in the high 80s, she grounded out to short. She was really impressive.
"So she walks, and I thought to myself, 'There's no way she's going to steal.' And she did! I got the next two batters on called strike three, so I was almost out of the inning. But unfortunately, on one of the best knuckleballs I threw, the guy flung his bat out and got a bloop double down the left-field line (driving in the run). Next inning, three up and three down. I know a couple of the players were impressed with how it was moving.
"The manager (George Tsamis) was quiet again, but he said, 'Good job' when I got back to the dugout. The fans seemed to be into it. It's weird, but when I'm on the mound. I don't hear anything. I'm just focused like in a zone, I can't hear the fans or music or anything. But coming off the mound I got a lot of compliments. I helps to be sandwiched in the middle innings between two guys throwing in the 90s. But I think I show the manager and a couple of guys have come around. I think I could have thrown nine innings last night, I felt so strong and things were working so well.
"As for gatting a roster spot and how many pitchers they're going to carry, I don't know to be honest. I think I'm competing with a couple of guys. It's a very good level of baseball. I'm surprised how good these guys are. The toughest part will be the first week of the season. It starts May 8 and they're allowed to carry 24 players but then have to cut to 22 for the rest of the season. If for some reason I don't make the team, I'd like it if they kept me around as a coach and then I could be on call if a pitcher gets injured or is good enough to get signed by another team. We have one guy we just signed, Craig Molldrem, who throws in the mid 90s and is really good. You'd think someone would pick him up soon. You know how the game goes, anything can happen. I just want to be around the club in some way.
"I'm a little sore today. I dropped a couple of Aleve and that really helps. The arm feels strong. A lot of the aches and pain come from all the fielding practice. Today I think I'll do some light throwing but really take it easy. Hit the jacuzzi. There's a local hangout, Gabe's, where a lot of the players and fans hang out. I don't have my rental car anymore. The friend who drove here with me has gone home, so I really have to walk to get anywhere. They may have me go with the team to an autograph session at the Metrodome on Thursday. But I've been doing a lot of interviews and there's supposed to be a Fox News story on me tomorrow.
"And I finally got to meet Mike Veeck yesterday. I didn't want to take up too much of his time -- a TV crew was interviewing him -- but I got to shake his hand and thank him for the opportunity. Then I had to hustle to get back with the team. I don't want to alienate anyone.
"I'm not slated to pitch again until either Sunday or Monday when we play some exhibition games against Winnipeg here. I'm hoping it's Monday. They have a big promotion where they bring a bunch of school kids out for an 11 a.m. game, and they get autographs and everything. What a great thing. I even signed a few autographs for some kids the other day. A couple of older guys, too.
"I finally got a check for a couple hundred dollars for spring training, but I had to call back home to get someone to fax my birth certificate here so I could cash it.
"Oh, and I got my first nickname. One of the kids who caught me last night, from Puerto Rico, called me 'Papi,' with the accent and everything. There was a couple of references to 'Redford' or 'Sundance Kid.' And one even said, 'Secrist, out.' But I'm still here."
From The Automated ScoreBook play by play sheet:
Ibaraki inning 4: Secrist to p for Shepherd. Kataoka walked. Sato, M. flied out to rf. Kataoka stole second. Ikegami struck out looking. Sasaki doubled to right field, RBI; Kataoka scored. Sakamaki struck out looking. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Ibaraki inning 5: Fukui popped up to 1b. Iwata flied out to cf. Sakai flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
And the box score:
Ibaraki at St. Paul
Apr 29, 2008 at St. Paul, MN (Midway)
Ibaraki 3, St. Paul 2
AB R H RBI AB R H RBI
Sasaki cf 5 0 1 1 Jordan cf 4 0 1 0
Sakamaki c 3 1 0 0 Thames 2b 4 1 1 1
Sanjyo c 2 0 0 0 Krause rf 4 0 1 0
Fukui 3b 3 0 1 0 Brown 1b 3 0 0 1
Iwata rf 4 0 1 0 Colson dh 4 0 0 0
Sakai ss 4 0 1 1 Sprout 3b 3 0 0 0
Ojima 1b 4 0 1 0 Reyes c 4 0 1 0
Kataoka 2b 1 1 0 0 Marshall lf 4 1 1 0
Watanabe 2b 2 0 0 0 Priddy ss 3 0 1 0
Sato, M. dh 4 1 0 0 Shepherd p 0 0 0 0
Ikegami lf 3 0 0 0 Secrist p 0 0 0 0
Suzuki p 0 0 0 0 Whinnery p 0 0 0 0
Kitano p 0 0 0 0 Foster p 0 0 0 0
Yoshida p 0 0 0 0
Totals...... 35 3 5 2 Totals...... 33 2 6 2
Score by innings: R H E
----------------------------------------------
Ibaraki 011 100 000 - 3 5 2
St. Paul 001 000 010 - 2 6 3
----------------------------------------------
E - Sakai(1); Watanabe(1); Sprout(1); Priddy 2(2). DP - Golden Golds 1. LOB
- Golden Golds 8; Saints 6. 2B - Sasaki(1). SB - Kataoka(1); Ikegami(1).
IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF Fly Gnd
Suzuki W 1-0 5.0 3 1 1 2 4 0 0 0 0 18 20 8 3
Kitano 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 7 7 1 3
Yoshida S,1 2.0 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 8 8 1 3
Shepherd L 0-1 3.0 3 2 0 1 2 3 0 0 0 14 15 1 6
Secrist 2.0 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 7 8 4 0
Whinnery 2.0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 8 1 5
Foster 2.0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 7 7 1 1
WP - Shepherd 3 (3).
Strikeouts - Sasaki; Sakamaki; Fukui; Sakai; Ojima; Watanabe; Sato, M.;
Ikegami; Jordan; Krause 2; Brown; Marshall 2; Priddy. Walks - Fukui;
Kataoka; Ikegami; Brown; Sprout.
Umpires - Home: Tony Mueller 1st: John Moynihan 3rd: Lance Schoenwald
Start: 7:05 Time: 2:28 Attendance: 1923
==Previous journal entries:
April 25: "I got by the first hurdle"
April 24: "I'm in a curious spot"
April 17: "It could be five days or five months"
Leave a comment