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She Throws Like a Boy
The mystery of the Vinny Castilla baseball
I have no idea if genetics and baseball are in any way connected. Part of my noggin says that it is impossible while another part is whispering, “Just wait and see.”
My father was a natural born athlete. He excelled at every sport he played. His favorite sport, though, was baseball. He first learned baseball playing stick-ball in the streets of a ghetto of Pittsburgh, where he was born. If there was no ball available rocks were thrown and the batter with a stick might hit a home run that lands on and cracks the windshield of some parked car, at which point everyone ran away as fast as possible — to resume their game on a different street.
My father’s life-long dream was to pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He worked hard towards that dream and he had tried out for the team a few times without being chosen. But he never gave up….
That is, until the United States Government sent him a draft notice. His services were needed in the great fight against fascism in Europe; “Dubya, dubya two,” as some Texans called it. His baseball dreams were snatched away.
My father’s dreams of pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates were lost and he eventually lived out his dreams watching baseball on TV sitting in his Lazy-Boy recliner. And, of course, he…
