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“Baseball is my number one concern now,” Don said, “and it always has been.” During the off-season, the lanky pitcher had been learning the insurance business from Frederick agents of All-American Life and Casualty Co., but he stressed, “insurance is a livelihood in the winter, but baseball comes first with me,” For the time being, insurance, according to Don, is “in the future and you have to prepare for it although I don’t like to think of the day when I have to quit baseball,”* * *A STRING of injuries hampered Don’s progress on the baseball ladder. There was arm trouble in 1963; tendonitis in his shoulder in 1964 and a sprained toe in the ’64 winter league; and a pulled muscle along the rib cage on his right side last season. “I didn’t know there were so many (injuries) until I started to count them,” he chuckled.Another setback last season was being shipped to Hawaii, Washington’s class AAA farm team in the Pacific Coast League, without, what he thought, a fair trial with the parent club. Rut, Don hoped out loud, he’s gotten over this mental block. “It’s a matter of maturity,” he said. “Over the winter I tried to analyze myself. I realized that the rookie year in camp is the toughest and I ran myself into the ground. You can overdo things and that’s exactly what I did. For instance. I'd concentrate so hard on fielding bails coin-| ing off the mound that I’d forget about pitching from the 1 monnd.”This spring, however, it’s all changed, he insisted. “I knowit’s no ‘do or die1 effort out there. I’m just going to do the best job I can and I’m going to think about that job entirely. Last season I guess I got pushed aside. It might have been different, but I really don’t know. It just worked out that way. This spring I want to pitch my regular turn, that’s all. I canlook out for myself, but I can’t put myself in the game.”% * *
Newspaper Details
The Frederick News Post
Frederick, Maryland, US
Tue, Feb 22, 1966
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Frederick C.
MD, USA 16 Feb 2023
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