An Innocent Abroad On The Baseball Diamonds

"Dammit," he said. "This spring's been rough. This is the first one."

I had taken enough from his back, so I moved around in front of him. I wanted to lie down and shoot up at him. The long leg kicking forward would make an ideal 3-D photo. But I felt I'd have to discuss something of interest to keep him from complaining that I was getting in his way.

This was the Braves' first trip to Arizona. And I had heard they were looking it over, with a thought to moving their training site out in future years.

"I'll tell you something about Arizona," I said, lying down and focusing my camera. "The air is so thin here curve balls don't break. The Cubs told me that."

"I think that's an excuse bad pitchers use," Spahn answered.

"It wasn't the pitchers that told me," I said. "It was the hitters."

I had heard Ernie Banks discussing it. And Banks does not strike me as the sort of fellow who analyzes things wrong. But Spahn would also have to be smart to win more than 300 games. "The Cub hitters say they haven't seen a curve ball all spring," I said.

"Well, they're going to see some today," Spahn said.

Then the national anthem started up. "See you around," Spahn said. But he wasn't seen around Rendezvous Park for long. He gave up six runs, including a homer to Banks, in the first two innings. "Arizona air," I thought to myself as I watched the ball (and Spahn) disappear out of the park.

ERNIE BANKS