We were just arguing over who he really was. He said that he was incorrigible. That’s the word they gave him. He just couldn’t sit still and didn’t want to read. He just wanted to play. Just a big bag of meat that wanted to run.

The truth is that I worry about your health. You’re a big man and really like to party. You drink and smoke a lot. You eat a lot. I mean, I love to eat but you just can’t stop. You’re hungry all the time for more and more and more. It’s non-stop. You just want more. You’re a symbol of excess. But you like it and like they say, if you can back it up, it must be true. And you do back it up on the ball field. You’re a difficult fellow to be around. You’re always on. You’re always the Babe. There is no genuine conversation possible. You’re just on and delivering lines. And brother, you smell bad. The diet and alcohol and smoking sort of hangs around. Pretty tough for a vegan to take.

He swears it’s carrot dogs so we’re going with that story.

Anyway, he told me to take my best shot at him so I did. He said I threw pretty hard for an old man but that he still got a hit off me. And then he smiled and put his arm around me in a buddy hug and laughed and said, “Well, see you round G” and that was it and he was gone, off to find a good time somewhere. Anywhere…

And then I looked at this picture of when the Babe was just a babe. And without any statistics and just looking at bodies, who looks like him? I think it’s Shohei. I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Shohei didn’t pitch so well his last game but that’s the way baseball goes. You win some, you lose some. Some days your Babe Ruth and other days you’re not. That’s baseball.