Hawaii Tropics GM Jim Walker was sitting in his office/suite at ‘Iolani Palace looking over the final financial numbers from the 2063 BBA Season. His cube chimed in with the old, “You got mail!”. He opened the message and read.
Ernest McBride has hung up the spikes.
Short but sweet. Walker dialed up his former slugger himself because his AI assistant Cassie is on vacation with The Brain of Bobby Cox. That’s weird but whatever makes them happy.
A woman answered the call, “McBride residence.”
“Hi, Emma! It’s Jim…”, Walker started but was cut off with, “Ernie, baseball calls!”
“He’ll be here in a sec, Jim. He’s tossing batting practice to the boys. How’s Hawaii?”, Emma asked.
“Sunny and beautiful as usual. You wanna come back?”, Walker asked.
“Let me see. Surfing, tanning, surfing, hiking, surfing, luau. And did I mention surfing? Here he is, Jim. Nice to hear from you.”
Jim laughed, “Thanks, Emma.”
Ernest McBride said, “Hey Jim! How’s it hanging?”
“Low and to the right. I got a job for you, Ernie. How would you like to manage?”
“Where and when?”
“We want to start you out in Gaylord.”
“Is Mike Campbell still in Death Valley with Alaric?”
“Alaric is still there but Mike is now the bench coach for us. Rodrigo Galvan decided to call it a day. He said he bookended his time in Hawaii with playoff appearances and decided to stop there.”, said Walker.
“Ok, I’ll do it. When do I report?”, asked McBride.
“When you want. Just show up here and we’ll sign contracts. We’ll get you a place to stay that Emma will choose and set up a ‘Together Door’ so you can be home nights and off days during the season.”, said Walker to sweeten the deal.
“Gotcha. Be there in week, Boss.”
Walker rang off.
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Ernest McBride played 21 seasons in the BBA after being drafted by Hawaii in the 1st round (4th pick). He played from 2041 to 2047 with the Tropics hitting 276 homers with a .295 average, .365 OBP and a .612 slug. He won two Silks in his time on the islands with one in 2043 and the second in 2046. He was the Newcomer of the Year, 15-time Player of the Week, 14-time Batter of the Month, 3-Time Rookie of the Month, 2-Time MVP, 10-time Puckett, 2-Time Playoff Series MVP and 8-Time All Star.
After leaving the Tropics in free agency he had stops in Portland (4 seasons), Phoenix (3 seasons), Brooklyn (5 seasons), Madison (1 season) and Sacramento (1 season).
