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Bif Warfl Npwa-drthtmfT^cii* Wedi*eai«y. August 15,1]SPORTS ]SCENEBy STAN HOCHMANYou It *rvmg I*am old and yoiir eleventh season in baseball l«You’re a pitcher and it's the only trade you fcnos’ TV big league dream lhat goaded you out of high school and into prufeaiJona! ba^bal! !1 years ago. has shrunk to the warmth and moderate wealth of the Pacific Coaat leagueYou’ve kicked around the lower depihs of hasehall. the dimly-llt carka and the reconditioned huaes that separate the dreamy-eyed boys who go back to the farm from the men who make base ball their career.You’ve been as high as San Diego and the vision of a return trip there keepsvon going on the C1 a s a B tread-mill You started out as a third baseman a thousand games ago in a Los Angeles hteh school. ItNIMH .0*1saishrugged, The 'ups’ include San Diego and Oklahoma City, the •’downs include the bush-league whistlestops of Santa Rosa and Tucson.At 2*. the shots that remain in the right-arm rifle are getting numbered Nicolosi admits he has his moments of despair But when I get discouraged. I know in my heart that I’m better than some of the guys in higher classi f nut ion*. and I don’t want toold story of a switch that turned d*11*-intoI Ilife’s work always hada good arm.I know I can pitch for four or five more years. the curly-and I wasn’t too good a hitter. I haired Californian insisted but Victoria’s Chris Nicolosi remem-1 if I cion * go up. it s time I be red with a smile yesterday I started thinking about a joh •'The rext year I was a pitcher. I A pitcher works every fourth In 1946. Nicolosi. as green as the i day and only for a coup e of scrubby outfield grass, reported | hours that day ’ Sure it 11 be to Riverside m the Sunset League hard adjusting to that 8-to-S rou-•Tve been fooling around ever tine, but I’ll have to do it some since, up and down. Nicolosi J day he admittedFirst Rim in 32 InningsNicolosi has been Involved in | ord. but he led the league in“~ “ “sjssvstfcv:and errors, the strikeouts and lpm.v bouRht hlm and he rewalks have melted into a kind of ported to the Mexican League haze. Only a few games stand camp in the spring, out In sharp focus, resisting the -That was the worst spring rust of memory. training I’ve ever had, WeChris talked willingly of Mon- played 25 exhibition games, trav-day’s 1-0 victory over Waco in 14 innings I was lucky. he smiled I got beat here last year. 1-0. by Jack Brown, and I thought it was going to happen again But Billy Dashner homered in ♦he 14th and Nicolosi had his marathon shutout That’s the first run we've scared in 32 in-eling ail over Mexico and South Texas. Nicolosi winced as he talked about the thing closest to a ballplayer’s heart, his stomach.The food was terrible and the hotels were bad. I reported at 160 and was down to 140 for a while. You travel with the team and stay in the dumps they staynings. Nicolosi revealed, in. Nicolosi got his reprievewhen he was traded to Victoriain a deal which sent Mel Raineysouth.■ “Mexico City was okeh. he said, echoing Jim Mehan’s de-he got last script ion. but the air was so« 14-20 rec-1 thin, you couldn’t curve a ball.Jus! Wind I p and ThrowAndis N»c-olosi's beat pitch. His high school Spanish had faded with disuse, but he picked up enough of the language to get alongMonday, batting against Chico Salgado with an 0-2 count, he stepped out to glare at Waco first baseman Eli Osorio. Osorio had shouted in Spanish to Chico to throw one at his cabeza and Nicolosi knew enough Spanish to duck.I've had some bad years. he confessed, when all I knew was to wind up and throw He credits Kenny Meyer a former catcher, with bolstering his control at Tucson in 1951.Chris chucked a 14-inning shutout for Tucson and came within a breath of a no-hitter for the same team. I went eight and two-thirds innings. I can t even remember the kid’s name, but it was a gocd. clean single *He flexed his right arm. Tt never gives me trouble, there’s nothing there to get sore.” he chuckled. He's pitched in relief twice, since joining Victoria in late June, but otherwise has been a regular starter and the Eagles’ only consistent winner.Nicolosi served with Temple in 1953 That’s a good baseball town with a winner, he volunteered This Waco club would have drawn there this year.He singled out Jodie Phipps and Gayle Pringle as the outstanding Big State pitchers he’s seen and he picked Dean Staf-ford. Ed Charles and Jim Kirby as the leading hitters of recent vintage.Chns shook his head sadly and snapped a toothpick in two as the talk turned to bonus players. They ought to sign a regular contract and then prove themselves. he said. They ought to have to prove themselves.”
Newspaper Details
Waco News Tribune
Waco, Texas, US
Wed, Aug 15, 1956
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Drinda J.
NV, USA 14 Nov 2016
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