The following Short-Story is excerpted from Sivaram Hariharan's Novel BEES: A Hive of Short-Stories.

Clutch: A story of redemption

Looking out of the dugout and seeing his friend Bhandari on the pitching mound, it all seemed like yesterday to Kumar Krishnan. It just seemed the other day when his best mate Bhandari and he were chatting together during lunch time of the third day of the 2001 Mumbai-Punjab Ranji semi-final. Kumar batted three down for Mumbai and Bhandari bowled his off-spinners for Punjab. Mumbai was well on the road to victory and yet there was a look of abject frustration on Kumar. Bhandari was commiserating with him and in a way he could relate very well with Kumar. It was failure in the clutch: Both of them had miserably failed in their respective international cricketing debuts. Kumar had failed thrice against Pakistan; his stumps sent flying by the Pakistani speedster Rehman Ahmad in three successive one-dayers and he had not even scored a single run in any of those occasions. It was as if Ahmad had reached an inch deeper into his body with each of those successive outs and ripped out his cricketing soul. Kumar could never get over of the smirk on Ahmad’s face as he walked back to the pavilion on all those three times. As for Bhandari, he was very unfortunate to run into the mighty Australian bats on a placid Kanpur wicket. His bowling was torn to shreds and he was never selected again. Moreover, both had turned 30 and time was running against them. It was getting more and more difficult to compete with all those precocious youngsters making spectacular debuts and for all practical purposes the door to the national squad was firmly shut.

It was during that particular lunch time when Bhandari had made a suggestion to Kumar: to go to New York for a holiday to see their mutual friend Agnihotri. Agni, as he was nicknamed, had made it big in Wall Street over there and had been constantly egging his friends to come over for a visit. He had even offered to pay for their airfares. Bhandari had always been keen to go but Kumar had always stalled him. ‘Come on yaar, It is a good way to get over our cricketing blues,’ Bhandari had persuaded and Kumar had finally relented. So in the summer of that year, the two were off to NY. Agni had organized a spectacular welcome for them. It was going to be an eight-week holiday and it seemed to be one grand vacation. But things took a different turn when Agni took them to the local baseball club, The Bayswater Sharks, the very next evening. Agni was a cricket fanatic of the first order and it came as a surprise to his visitor friends that he had now taken the same attitude towards baseball. And Agni played the game with great enthusiasm even though he was never athletically gifted like his friends. And baseball thus entered into the lives of Kumar and Bhandari.

Kumar took an instant liking for hitting and Bhandari for pitching. What seemed like a mere fascination was slowly getting into their blood. Kumar had never been a big hitter in cricket and was more of a timer and placer of the ball and he used the same style in baseball: a line drive hitter finding the gaps in the field and getting singles and doubles. Meanwhile, Bhandari was experimenting with different styles of pitching. He found that he did not have the arm strength to hurl the ball at incredible velocities and hence he adapted the slow-knuckle-ball style which was more apt with his cricketing off-spins. And he took to it like a fish to water and very soon mastered it. He was fortunate to get some help from an old American veteran knuckle bowler who had played some top baseball during his time. Very soon both were adopted by the local club and within a month became integral parts of the club team impressing one and all with their baseball prowess. Kumar also impressed the club manager, Donald Stone, with his brilliant fielding and defence at second base and also with his base running skills.

Soon it was time to go back, but manager Stone had urged them to prolong their stay. The Sharks had now made it to the playoffs for the first time, thanks to contributions of Kumar and Bhandari and now the club wanted them to stay for the finals. The twosome managed to extend their visas and stayed on to play in the final. The Sharks however lost in their maiden finals but Kumar and Bhandari had managed to catch the eye of a minor league scout. This minor league team, The Arizona Desert-Wolves, was associated with the MLB National League Milwaukee Brewers. The league scout approached the twosome after the final and asked them whether they would be interested to try out with the Desert-Wolves. Both of them said yes without any thought that their involvement with baseball was getting deeper. In a try-out at Flagstaff Arizona the following week, they managed to pass with flying colours. Consequently, they were offered a one-year contract with the Desert-Wolves. It was a big decision for the twosome as it meant a goodbye to their cricket in all probabilities. After some heavy deliberations later that night at their hotel room, they decided to take the baseball plunge. It was as if baseball was offering a new lease to their sporting lives.

They spent the next two and a half years toiling in the minors. It took some time for them to shine as the competition was severe and there were many gifted young athletes from North, Central, and Latin America as well as some very talented ones from Australia, Korea, and Japan. But patience and perseverance eventually paid off and both of them got simultaneously called up by the Milwaukee Brewers in a crucial three-game home series against the mighty Atlanta Braves: Bhandari as a middle reliever in the bullpen and Kumar in the starting line-up. It was first time in the history of MLB that players from Bhaarath had taken the field. The first two games were high scoring games but Kumar had miserably failed in both of them and did not even manage a single hit. But Bhandari had given some excellent relief pitching in the first game, which the Brewers won 7-5 and got the win to his name. He did not pitch in the second game, which the Brewers lost 10-9 by committing 6 errors. And now it was the third game and it was crucial that the Brewers win this one. But Kumar was not in the starting lineup for this game and was sitting with an air of deep resignation on the bench. This morning, both Bhandari and himself had been told by the management that their permfomance in this three game series was vital for their continuing in the Majors. It was September baseball and the race for playoff spots had reached a climax. The Brewers were in running for a wildcard playoff spot, but the Houston Astros and the SF Giants were hot on their heels. This was the last game of the regular season for the teams and a win here would seal their wildcard spot from the National League. But the Braves were themselves embroiled in a very close race with the NY Mets for the National League-East title and it was imperative that they also won this game in order to clinch their division. Moreover, the Mets had won that day and this meant that the Braves HAD to win. 

Kumar yanked back to attention. It was top of the 9^th inning and this game was scoreless so far. Bhandari had taken over the pitching in the top of the eighth from a tired starter Bob Marshall. Marshall had pitched solidly for 8 innings till he had put two Atlanta runners on base with no outs in the 9^th. Brewers manger, Peter Wayne, had made the trip to the mound and summoned Bhandari from the bullpen. Bhadari answered his skipper’s call like a seasoned warrior and got the next two batters striking out by his devilish knucklers. But the gates opened for Atlanta when with two outs, their Short Stop, Ruberto Alonzo got a triple scoring two runs. And then there was an unlikely wild pitch from Bhandari that scored Alonzo. By the time the top innings closed, the Braves were up 3-0 just like that. Bhandari returned to the dugout with his head hung low. Now his hitters had to bail him out.

Mark Lakes, the starting pitcher for the Braves had also coasted along comfortably in these pitchers’ duel until he loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 9^th.with a series of wild pitches. And that set the stage for the dreaded Brave’s closer, Rocky Wohlers, in his familiar role of closing the game with his thunderbolts hurled consistently at 100 mph plus. In fact, Wohlers had been leading the last four seasons, including this one, in the number of saves and second place was nowhere close. Moreover, Wohlers had not conceded any homeruns in these past four seasons and that was a crippling mental block on all the opposing hitters that faced him. Brewers’ pinch-hitter Derek McGuire went on the plate to face Wohlers. He represented the go ahead run with no outs left. McGuire was a genuine homer threat. If anyone could get the ball out of the park consistently, it was McGuire. But Wohlers struck him out by his flamethrowers in three straight pitches. Now it was down to the last out and it was the pitcher Bhandari’s turn to bat. But manager Wayne walked up to Kumar and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Time to step up my friend,’ he looked into Kumar’s eyes. Kumar was stunned. He didn’t expect to bat at this crucial juncture. To top his poor form and nerves, he was not a genuine homerun threat and he had an unenviable record of never hitting a homer anytime in his baseball career. ‘But I’m not much of a power hitter skip. I think even Bhandari himself has more power than me.’ Kumar stammered.

‘Just keep this going, will you,’ the skipper replied nonchalantly. Kumar stepped up to the plate and sweat was streaming down his face. He felt as if the skipper had placed the entire world on his shoulders by his demonstration of faith in him. But then he also felt the familiar feeling of failure in the clutch. His hands were shaking and his brains stopped functioning just like in his international cricketing debut. Hopelessness and was written all over his face. His internal demons had begun to cast their spell and he felt himself spiralling down an endless black abyss.

Wohler’s first pitch was pure thunderbolt for a clean strike. His next one was a nasty sinker. Kumar swung and missed by a mile and the count was 0-2. One more strike and Kumar and his nascent MLB stint would be finished. The next pitch was high and Kumar had begun to swing his bat. But he checked himself with great difficulty and the first-base umpire ruled him not-out much to the disappointment of the Braves. The count became 1-2. Then Kumar hung around by the skin of his teeth by fouling the next five pitches and each time he felt the power of Wohler’s flame-throwers. The vibrations of the ball hitting the bat jarred his entire body. Kumar had never faced a monster like Wohlers before. The next pitch Kumar fouled again and his bat splintered into two. Kumar looked at Wohlers and could see a smirk on his face. And suddenly Kumar was reminded of how Ahmad had smirked at him when he had uprooted his stumps three times. He felt a wave of rage go over him. He fouled the next three pitches before leaving the next pitch which went low. Now the count was even (2-2). The next pitch by Wohlers was again low. Kumar again swung but checked it in time. The Braves vigorously appealed but were denied. Now the count was full (3-2) and there was no option for Wohlers but to go to the strike-zone.

The ball left Wohler’s hands and the entire thing seemed like slow motion. It was now or never for Kumar and he saw the ball early. ‘Jai Hind,’ he yelled and swung with all his kunnas (temper) and made contact with the sweet spot. The vibrations jarred him hard and the ball screamed just over the reach over the jumping Braves third-baseman. Kumar watched as it swung back towards the foul pole at the left field corner due to the wind. The ball did not gain any more significant height as it rocketed towards the outfield. It was a powerful liner. And it was also a possible catch for the left fieldsman Jerry Bonds. Bonds, one of the best and most gifted gloves in the Majors in the left-field had a history of making impossible and out-of -this-world catches. He had to just time his leap and make the out. Using the left field wall as a launch pad, he leapt with all his might using his superb athletic reflexes and the perfect timing of a jumping Caracal hunting down a bird in mid-flight. The ball almost grazed the left field foul pole and hit Bond’s glove that he wore on his right hand (Bonds threw with his left), which was reaching strenuously over the left field wall. The ball smacked dead centre into the glove but Bonds was unprepared for its force and velocity. Kumar’s heartbeat stopped for a second as the ball jumped out of Bond’s glove and dropped on the bleachers outside the left field wall. The umpire signalled homerun and Kumar had hit one of the miracle homers in League history. Moreover, he had hit a grand-slam off the almost un-hittable Wohlers to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. All his internal demons had been slain in that one shot. As Kumar rounded the bases for the homerun with his right fist raised, he felt his spirits soaring high above the ball-park and he blew a kiss at his jubilant mate, Bhandari with his left hand. And at the home plate he was mobbed by his ecstatic team-mates. For the first time in his sporting life, Kumar had come through in the clutch.

EPILOGUE

The Brewers qualified for the wildcard spot in the playoffs but were eliminated by the rampaging Cincinnati Reds in the National League-Divisional playoffs. The Reds then went on to win the World Series that year. But Kumar and Bhandari were there to stay in Major League Baseball and made top-notch careers.

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This story is inspired by the Boston Red-Sox’s soul stirring victory over the mighty New York-Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series where they came back from being 0-3 games down to winning the best of seven series 4-3. The Red-Sox then went on to beat the St Louis Cardinals 4-0 in the 2004 World Series for an epic championship.

This story also champions the winning Grand Slam homer in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game-2 of the recently concluded 2011 American League Championship Series by outfielder Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers against the Detroit Tigers.

Shiva IYER aka Sivaram Hariharan

https://sites.google.com/site/omsriguru/

Copyright © 2005 - 2011 by Sivaram Hariharan. No part of this Short-Story shall be reproduced in any part, form, or manner without explicit written permission of the author Sivaram Hariharan.