Baseball is a game of many superstitions

Baseball is a game of many superstitions

fiction
edward w pritchard

Baseball is a game of many superstitions but one was followed religiously when Manny Watkins pursed the major league records for number of consecutive innings without an error at shortstop.

Around the old horn the ball would fly after Manny handled the ball during his nearly two year streak without so much as one error. At first base I would be part of the routine. Smack the ball would thud into my glove, over to third and back to whoever was pitching. Manny had done it again; another game without one error. Win or lose the game, the streak continued. The fans packed the stadium and national television broke into prime time reality TV or Brady bunch reruns to show us live, doing the old around the horn baseball toss.

Mr. M owner of the Cleveland Indians hired the best jazz musicians from New Orleans to play as the around the horn was performed and the fans would clap and sway as the number of consecutive days climbed. We all were a little famous for a while those two Summer's when our shortstop Manny Watkins handled the ball hundred's of time without error.

No one would talk to Manny during the streak so he always sat in the dugout by himself looking a little nervous. To me, there at first base, the only time Manny seemed to relax during the streak was when the New Orleans Jazz group would play. A distant smile crossed Manny's visage as he prepared himself to handle the next hot grounder far to his left.

end part 1