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April 1, 2059: Catalina Island – As the baseball world moves toward the magic that is Opening Day, members of the Bikini Krill gathered around the locker of ex-Bikini starter Jayden Nicholls, who was today traded to the Long Beach Surfers. The mood was bleak and somber, and after a few moments of silence relief pitcher Theron Muscouri, who has become a silent leader of the club, stepped forward to light a candle and place it on the chair of the departed hurler.
He spoke in a low, but firm tone.
“We do not gather today to mourn the velocity of our good friend Jayden Nicholls, but instead to celebrate how it once existed. How it could make the gun go to three digits, and make that speedball whiz past hitters like they were standing still. Rather than decry it’s past brilliance, we are here to remember how his once-mighty velocity made that slider bite as sharp as a rattler, and made it feel like hitters could swing twice at his changeup and still miss.”
“Amen,” said Jeffrey Smith, a Free Agent who faced Nicholls several times before coming to Bikini. “The man could really throw.” Smith shook his head morosely before Muscouri continued.
“But life moves on, and it appears so has our friend Jayden Nicholls, who will now entereth into the Valley of Velocity Death that is the Long Beach clubhouse. And as he entereth that desolate place of sloggy four-seamers and less-than-sinky sinkers, we praise our one-time teammate for the boldness with which he faced this stage of his life, chin held high and shoulder already iced. It takes a strong man to face the mortality of his fastball, and so we pause now and take a final moment to remember the sound of that pitch hissing through the air.”
An awkward moment of silence later, fellow hurler Francisco Ortiz bent down and blew out the candle.
“The velo is dead,” Muscouri whispered. “Long live the velo.”
Silently, members of the team stepped out of the spring camp locker room and through the door that took them to Vancouver, where they will open tonight against the Mounties.
@Lane
April 1, 2059: Catalina Island – As the baseball world moves toward the magic that is Opening Day, members of the Bikini Krill gathered around the locker of ex-Bikini starter Jayden Nicholls, who was today traded to the Long Beach Surfers. The mood was bleak and somber, and after a few moments of silence relief pitcher Theron Muscouri, who has become a silent leader of the club, stepped forward to light a candle and place it on the chair of the departed hurler.
He spoke in a low, but firm tone.
“We do not gather today to mourn the velocity of our good friend Jayden Nicholls, but instead to celebrate how it once existed. How it could make the gun go to three digits, and make that speedball whiz past hitters like they were standing still. Rather than decry it’s past brilliance, we are here to remember how his once-mighty velocity made that slider bite as sharp as a rattler, and made it feel like hitters could swing twice at his changeup and still miss.”
“Amen,” said Jeffrey Smith, a Free Agent who faced Nicholls several times before coming to Bikini. “The man could really throw.” Smith shook his head morosely before Muscouri continued.
“But life moves on, and it appears so has our friend Jayden Nicholls, who will now entereth into the Valley of Velocity Death that is the Long Beach clubhouse. And as he entereth that desolate place of sloggy four-seamers and less-than-sinky sinkers, we praise our one-time teammate for the boldness with which he faced this stage of his life, chin held high and shoulder already iced. It takes a strong man to face the mortality of his fastball, and so we pause now and take a final moment to remember the sound of that pitch hissing through the air.”
An awkward moment of silence later, fellow hurler Francisco Ortiz bent down and blew out the candle.
“The velo is dead,” Muscouri whispered. “Long live the velo.”
Silently, members of the team stepped out of the spring camp locker room and through the door that took them to Vancouver, where they will open tonight against the Mounties.
@Lane
