Hide Article Text (OCR)
JLVners ivy nu whas confidenceto be confident after throwing a baseball the way he has in Us last two yean of minor kague baseball ; .He m» not make it this year to the bigleagues, ni aren't many people around who know how Eckmlty throws that doubt hell make it soon.Only » (he went be 21 until October), he signed a major league contract for the 1975 sea**i which puts him on the 40-man roster ofthe parent dub ahd gives him a good shot atsticking with the Indians this season.Even if he doesn't make it to the AmericanLeague this spring, he'll play Tripie-A ball ark! will be watched ckaely by the Indians’ management with the possibility of being brought up part way thougj the season.The day I get good control 111 be there,” Eckersley said I’m not a wild pitcher, but I’m not a control pitcher either. I guess thebest way to describe me would be a power pitcher.”■ Power pitchers usually record a lot of strikeouts and Eckersley is not an exception there as he led the Texas League of Double-A ball last year in strikouts enroute to being named the lop pitcher in the league.But it takes more than confidence and a good fast hall to make a major league pitcher.It takes being able to think on the mound, pitch out of dfficult situaUor.s and keeping jour coolat alt times.The latter ingredient was one thatEckersley, at least at one time, was lacking in.“I used to embarrass myself sometimes, Eckersley said with a smile and a duke of his head. ‘‘I embarrased myself one game this year.••ffe were leading V3 in Amarillo and it was raining. I was trying to get in the top of the fifth inning so it would be a legal game.I walked the bases loaded (in the sixth) and they had to stop the game because of the rain. I was so happy. It looked like! had gotten out of that jam.“But a half hour titer, it slopped rainingand we had to go out to finish the game, I couldn't do anything right and I started yelling and throwing things around. The manager knew I was cl there.lowing It and he got me out of“I think that helped me calm down. I don't ever want to do that again,” he laughed That's why I have to cnrtrol my temper, because when 1 lose it, I lose U.”Evidently, Eckersley has teamed to controlseriousness.'That’s why my chances are slim of makingit this year/’ .. * - . ■ w *, t ^ rI ‘'When I look backt I was' scared when I first started playing... The thing that impressed me the most teas that everyone was equaL It all depended on what you did then, not what you did in the past.5Demis .was all set to be brought up in September last year when the top minor league prospects are called up for the final month of the major league season, but an ankle Injury he siifertd while covering first base kept Eckersley from making it as he missed several starts at the end of the season.• I wish they'd have brought me up. he said “I was as exdted as hdl.”:For Eckersley. that was one of the few disappointments he's suffered in ids baseball career.From the time he first started playing in organized ball in Frtmont Baseball Inc., he was always in the spotlight, always the player, people came to watch.Even as'a sophomore in high school, playingwith some kids that were almost three yean older than he was, he was a standout.“When I was a scohomore. everybody said, Whoa, he’s not bad. It seemsliie tVe always had it that way, he said looking back.Even at that, Dennis had to nude several adjustments when he started playing pro ball* for Reno of the Class A California League as a 17-year old high school graduate.v “When I look back. I was scared when 1 firstPUMIKU IIWU ftUfl* U«jMUKyear Dennis did) tells me Im not very friendly, but you have to have friends (in pro bell). I’m not a loner, that’s for sure.]; ■If Eckersley has teamed anything In the minor leagues, U would probably be that a good pitcher has to use ras mind as much as his arm. • ■ j -There's a lot to (Ms game — and a lot of' it Is merial he stressed “Don't let anything get In the way of jour concentration is one thing I've learned. When I'm pitching, I pul my mind on the smallest thing on that catcher's milt.“At night, the day before I’m supposed to• pitch, all I see Is that catcher’s mitt and a left • handed totter, because I hate left handed hitters. ’ :-“You gift me a right handed hitter and he's gone. Left handers are my trouble, but 1 can! really think that way either. You have to go out there knowing that you can get anyone WL • • - •By all rights. Eckersley should have pitched Triple-A baseball last year instead of Double-A, .“They said, ’Deiris, you're going to have to pitch yourself off of the Triple-A learn.* I threw sqjer and was on the Triple*A roster but when the last day came, my name wasn’t• called. -Hie manager told me. ’I know you're sad and mad about rot going Tripfe-A, but we've got the old guys that are either ping to make• it or not* “ •So Eckersley pitched Double-A last year —. and. with the season he had, it shouldn't have hurt Ws confidence one tot, something which good professional ball players have to have.“What they look at is how,you improve' . yourself,’ Eckersley rated “You don't hit your peak until you've been In the bigs at least three or four years.“In A ball, you can pitch great one day and then go out and get shot to bell the next. There are too many, free swingers and guys that swing at everything.• “For that reason. I think the transition from A to Double-A is bigger than from Double-A to Tripie-A. You have a little better professional in Double-A and that makes it easier to be consistent. '.“The thing with baseball is you either have U or you don't, so a lot of people take it for grantedAnd with Dennis Eckersley, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Newspaper Details
Argus
Fremont, California, US
Sun, Feb 16, 1975
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Elyria P.
OH, USA 06 Aug 2019
Other Publications Near Fremont, California
Argus
Fremont Argus
