After this winter and all that happened this winter, I thought I might have at least two books that I got from all of the writing I did. On the one side, I thought the whole thing could be called the press tour or something like that. But then there was all that baseball material and I thought that putting it all in one place might be an interesting reading for people who like such things. I think there’s quite a bit of decent writing in there. There are certainly intriguing moments and I’m sure it takes a left turn or two. I guess my thinking is that if you are a fan of my writing and a fan of that great grand old game of ours, maybe this is a book that might even produce a couple of clicks on Amazon. What do you think? Do we become a multi-millionaire from this one?

I’m not actually doing any writing on it. I’m editing it which is a combination of compiling the original writing and giving it a good scrub. No, I’m not changing the original text but as always, there are just mistakes that happen along the way. Sometimes it’s a matter of helping the point get through but really it’s just a matter of cleaning things up. I think it stands on its own two feet actually. I’m not trying to be salesmanish about it but I get a kick out of it. I think that means something.

But I want to print here something that will end up as an editor’s note in the book itself because it is new writing but I also think it’s a bit newsworthy in its own way. Or, maybe it just brings into focus that I have been quite an influence over the last few months. I understand that I have no value or I’m even a public target, which is obviously the case. I understand that I am suffering for trying to be an eco warrior. Apparently this is the lesson that we tried to teach people who use their senses. That’s very wrong. Get back in the factory or get hammered down like a nail that was improperly placed the first time. Welcome to naziburg. Welcome to America and Russia and their joint efforts at world domination through the spread of disease.

I guess I can’t be too verbose here and waste too much time going in. I think I should preface this by saying that I have not really been following MLB at all. Not the Giants or anybody. I am aware they have a great third baseman who plays the game well and even they have Matt Williams as a third base coach. I’m sure having these two elements and what is basically a completely new giants team should mean something to me but it really doesn’t. I keep trying to follow the bay stars. I keep trying but Yokohama just keeps tightening the screws. The only way to follow the game is to follow statistics or to listen to a Japanese radio announcer give you the pitch by pitch. They’ve wiped out all pirate videos and they don’t even allow foreigners to buy the packages. I wrote them a letter but it’s really sort of taking away from that part of my day that I have allowed for watching baseball games. Now they are mostly snoozing. There is no baseball to watch.

The segment in the book concerns a simulated game of baseball where I replayed the infamous final playoff game for Yokohama last year in Hiroshima. The argument was whether or not Bauer could have been ready to pitch. I replayed the game where he was a vegan and he produced this otherworldly game including striking out the entire Hiroshima order. In the simulation game, there is rain that stops the game after six innings but nobody seems to mind. The pitching performance was so stunning that nobody could believe it.

This is kind of why I’m writing about this right now. What Trevor Bauer did in Mexico, well, it is pretty much how I scripted it.

All this being said, I did have this last episode with Trevor Bauer. As you will see in my comment, I really am not following the story anymore. But what happened happened and maybe it’s interesting. I don’t believe I have talked about this until now. I just simply have not been writing. But I wrote it for the book and so I want to put it here. Maybe it’s just the joy of being an influencer especially when in your heart, you believe you’re doing a good deed. People don’t really like being helped unless they are in a truly sick situation. It was a perfect storm that I managed to get through to Bauer. But again, this is Trevor Bauer do you know he’s going to make dicey choices.

I don’t think I can give any more of an introduction than that. So, here is the blurb in its entirety and just so you know, this is kind of an advertiser for my new book currently titled baseball which be ready in a short period of time. I’m pretty much done with the compilation and it just needs a read. I like it. I like it a lot.

Editor’s note: Trevor Bauer did not resign with Yokohama. I don’t know the reasons. Either he did not want to go back or they refused to offer him a contract. He also didn’t turn vegan, not that this was expected. He ended up in Mexico pitching for the first place Los Diablos Rojos del Mexico, who play at altitude in Mexico City. The reason I am mentioning this is I have two videos and a comment. The first was from his first game from April 15th which he botched. You can catch this video here. 

Game number one

comment 500.. Hey Trevor. I saw your video blog today of your first game in the Mexican League where you got shelled. I have not been following you. I stopped watching your videos and I stopped watching the velocity videos. I just left your story to do other things. But today, when I was very tired at the end of the day and thought that maybe just watching a video would be okay, the YouTube algorithm pointed you out to me even though I no longer even have YouTube installed on my phone. I went in via Chrome but yet there you were. 

I want to give you some advice. You don’t have to listen to me. You don’t need to have any reaction to me at all. But if I were you, I would follow this advice to the letter as if it was the most important advice you ever got in your life. 

1. Stop being a blogger and start pitching. You have an opportunity to play professional baseball which is something not everybody gets. In fact, so few people who love the game of baseball ever get paid for their efforts, it’s not even a number worth looking at. But you are so caught up in being the center of attention that you miss everything going on around you. I think you should just pitch and shut up and just not worry about it for a while. Maybe you could blog once a week when it is the least painful or when you wish to take a look at what you did a few days later in the days between your starts. But you need to turn off the camera that’s on you and you need to stop being the star. Maybe the pitcher is the star of the show, but there are also relief pitchers who come in when the starter doesn’t have anything. It’s not really becoming to blog your failures with bravado and certainly not the time to sell your products. 
2. You are currently playing in warm weather Colorado. The air is thin and though you have nice movement on your pitches, you are in a hitter’s paradise. You are in the worst place in the world to make your pitches dance. Think location more than movement. Change speeds. Welcome to Mexico.
3. You need to temper your language. If I am to blame for your use of foul words, please remember that I am a writer. I put things in print for people to read. They will be there the moment I put them there and then they will stay there forever and ever. If I choose to use a particular form of language, it is because I’m looking for a particular effect. I am painting my character in a particular light. You are painting yourself in this light publicly and I’m not sure it’s becoming of a person who wishes to be known for his intelligence. 
4. I think you should take a moment and learn the names of the players on your team. If you cannot refer to your third baseman by his name, this is an incredibly disrespectful thing. You were not welcome back in Japan for being so disrespectful that it was painful to people to be connected with you. You are now going exactly the same way down exactly the same path and with exactly the same people that are as tired as hell of white people. If you cannot learn the names of your fellow ball players, there is no reason for you to be on their team. 
5. And finally, it has nothing to do with your attitude. It has nothing to do with your image. It has nothing to do with symbolism of any kind. You are getting older. You are past the age of infinite energy. You are on the downside of your career where guys need to learn to throw junk in order to stay in the league. If you no longer have the arm to throw 100, you have to deal with it just like everyone else who ever grew old playing baseball. And this is not my advice, this is advice from the baseball encyclopedia.

I’m sorry but I don’t think I’m going to follow your story anymore. I wish you the best and I hope that you help your team win some games. I hope that you become a wise old player, a former major leaguer, who has a chance to make a few starts. Good for you for finding a place to play. I am following the Yokohama Bay Stars this year. I’m grateful that I have found a way to watch almost all the games and I try to be there every day even though they are currently getting their asses kicked. I have my theories but I’m keeping them to myself. I’m currently not blogging my life because I see no purpose in doing it anymore. I’ve already done my job. Now I’m just working on my garden.

By the way, I’m including this comment in a book that I’m compiling called Baseball. You and your friend Eric are of course in it. Thank you.

The reason I am mentioning this is because of the next game he pitched on April 21st. There were three videos made about it but the first one is the only one worth watching. It’s the one where he involves himself in altitude training, cuts out all the swearing and does everything he can to be a good guy and to be friendly to the other players. It was the greatest game he ever threw in his life. He also threw what is called an immaculate inning, nine pitches, all strikes and three strikeouts. When he finally came out of the game, he drew three curtain calls even though he was with the visiting team. Good job.

Here’s the second game video

Is there any mysticism to all of this? I don’t know. The Bay Stars were in first place and riding high heading to Hiroshima on the 15th of April. That was the day Bauer got shelled. The Bay Stars won both of those games and were firmly in first place. When Bauer threw his epic game, Yokohama got beat by Tokyo Yakult and started on a losing streak that dropped them out of first place. Trevor Bauer is 5-0 in Mexico and they have just offered him a contract for the rest of the season. Yokohama is struggling to get back to .500.

But if there is one little hand of God thing to deal with here, it has to do with someone directing my actions to be at a particular place at a particular time for a particular event. I sat on writing this blurb for a while. My original intent was to put it at the end of the book but as the game itself finally made its way into the text, I decided that today, April 28th, was the day to do it. If it means anything to anybody, Yokohama won a rain shortened 6.2 inning game today behind some pretty good pitching from Anthony Kay, a former Blue Jay prospect who just happens to wear number 69, the opposite number of Trevor Bauer’s 96. You can look it up.

What also has become clear since this dice game is that the Momentum batting cage is Trevor Bauer’s personal facility and it is in Arizona. The guys working there and making videos simply work for Bauer. After a couple of good games, despite the fact that I think he’s worth about $50 million from his MLB pitching days, he decided to offer a $2,000 trip for wannabe pitchers to work out with him at “his personal facility”. Yes, the dreamers must pay this money and yes, this is the facility with Eric Sim screaming at you after every pitch. I have no idea what gets into Bauer’s head but I guess if you are a true Los Angeles guy, rebranding is all it’s about and a couple of good pitching outings is all you need. 

Unfortunately, this rebranding away from foul language and being as abusive and rude as possible has had an effect on Momentum. One of the characters has already left and just today, Eric Sim posted the following video about rumors concerning himself. 

The rumors are true

And just for the sake of clarity, I have never actually met Trevor Bauer or had a conversation with him other than some notes I’ve given him that he seems to have listened to and that have served him well. In this case, what can I say?