My brief moment in the sun, long ago. My bat, right-hand. I had some tips from Norm Cash (catcher, Detroit Tigers).
Pitcher was a lefty. Speed 90 mph plus. Threw from the side.
From my view (left-right), first baseman was midway between first and where the pitcher stood at the rubber.
Pitcher threw, and the ball quickly appeared to be originating from the first baseman.
The ball then increased in altitude, followed by a decent, followed by a curvature and alignment over the center of home plate . . . as if thrown from the center of the mound.
I thought, “So this is what it is like in the majors.”
Three such pitches in a row. I did swing at the first pitch, noticing in braniac-stop-motion that before my bat got near the plate, the ball was crossing the plate.
That thought stuck in my mind. Two more swings were pointless - but I tried anyway.
I was amazed. The pitcher was a senior at Redford High, Detroit. A very good pitcher, but average for the majors, is my guess.
“decent” -> descent
I could only image how intimidating it had to be to bat against Randy Johnson, LOL as John Kruk found out.
Norm Cash .361 in 1961 , I was crushed when it came out later he used a corked bat. He was part of that ‘68 series team, and had a good series