“Kevin, we need to sit down and discuss this whole situation.” Not know Amber. “Kevin, I have tried continually to talk to you, but you put me off every time. We are expecting our child in four months and I’m scared. Even with our parent’s help, we are barely getting by.”

        “Amber, I said not now, I got to get out to the Park. We have a twilight game and the skipper wants to talk with me first. Who knows about what? God, I hope I am not getting sent down to Lakeland, our single A team in Florida.”

        ”Don’t even say that Kevin. I can’t move again. I won’t do it! I just won’t do it. “I have to go now Amber, we will talk after the game, I promise.” As I walked out the door, I looked intently at Amber and I saw the anxiety in her beautiful green eyes. My heart hurt for her, for us.

        I walked out to our clunker, (beat up wreck) of a car and hoped that today it would at least get me all the way to the field. Unlike last game when I had to walk half way only to get there and have a lousy game. I don’t get it! Why can’t I hit a slider?! I am a damn good fielder, but I just can’t hit! I have all the tools; I am 6’2, 190 lbs., bat left, throw right. I have been hanging here at double A ball on the strength of my glove, for the last two years but now, they have a young kid coming up who can both hit and field. What can I possibly do? I love baseball. I need to play baseball. God knows I have paid the price. I am 27 years old and have been in the minors for 6 years. I could have done anything. I graduated from Lafayette and have an engineering degree. I can undoubtedly get a job with the help of our alumni, but I can’t even think of doing that! I am not a quitter. Hell, I can’t quit. I won’t quit! I have invested everything we have into this. What about Amber living like a displaced person moving from apartment to apartment, from city to city? I don’t know our future holds. Today, I have the meeting I’ve feared for weeks. It has been hanging over my like a sword. Well, I will find out in a few minutes. Up ahead is the park. 

        “Kevin, come on in, sit down and close the door”, skipper requests as I approach his office. “Would you like a bottle of water? “No thank you skiiper, I’m all right.” I lied; my throat is so dry I can barely swallow.

“Kevin I like you a whole lot, everybody does.  You have always been straight up right down the line. You have done everything you were asked to do by the organization except hit. It is not for the lack of trying, I’ll give you that. I have seen you taking extra batting practice more times than I can count over the years you have played for me; but, you just can’t learn to hit a slider. Either you can hit a slider or you can’t hit a slider and you can’t hit.” “I know skip, but I have been studying the films and I think I see flaw in my swing.”

        “Kevin, we have scheduled the Santilli kid to come up from our single A club in Salem in the next week or 10 days. We are going to have to make room on the roster for him. This is hard as hell, but you know the deal. I take orders from Detroit; I can try to hook you up with another team looking for a glove man.” “Skip, thank you for the heads up. I am going to talk with my wife tonight. I owe it to her to assist in making the right decision.” I felt like I was walking to the gallows.

        Well, we won the game but I had another 0 for 4. I have had just 1 hit in the last 14 times at bat. I was terrible at the plate and have lost all confidence. So you could imagine my surprise when just as I staggered off the field a young kid, seemingly of Middle Eastern decent, came up asked me for an autograph. Maybe he thought I was Shawn Raymond because Shawn Raymond had a home run and a triple. However, I gave the kid his autograph and both he and his father thanked me.

        I approached the car and let out a long sigh. It is going to be tough facing Amber after the bad news about my probable release with no job in sight. I love her and hate to see her so fearful. I’ll pick up an inexpensive bouquet of flowers on the way home to try to cheer her up.

        While going home yesterday, I had seen a new flower shop located on the next block. I walked through the door greeted the tan completed statuesque women with a pleasant face behind the counter. “Hello ma’am, how much for a dozen red roses $9.95 a dozen.” Do you still have a nice dozen left in the shop? “Yes I do. I’ll go in the back and get them for you.”

I heard a young voice say “I’ll get them mother” and a young boy came out

from behind the high counter. It was the same little kid who got my autograph

at the game. Talk about coincidence! When he saw me, his mouth flew open, and

he whirled around and disappeared into the back. In a minute his father came out front and gently shook my hand. I remembered than that I read somewhere that in the Middle East a soft handshake was correct. “I am Doctor Fahrid Inahari and I welcome you.”“You honor me, Mr. Matthew.” “Just call me Kevin”. He nodded “please address me as Fahrid”. “It would feel better for me to call you Doctor; and the way I am hitting, I don’t honor anybody.” He didn’t smile at my self-effacing wit.

        “I will not forget your kindness to my son when you gave him your autograph his friend Jimmy is sick and he could not come to the game, but Jimmy says you are the best fielder on the team and he wanted your autograph because he is the best fielder on his school team.” “If you have time we would like to share a cup of tea with you.” I am not a big tea drinker and I felt a little embarrassed by this whole affair, but for some inexplicable reason I found myself saying yes and going to their small clean kitchen, in the back, where I sat down to drink the tea.

        “Mr. Matthew, in my country I am a medical doctor doing research on the human eye, but in the U.S. I have no medical license, so we own this little flower shop and am happy to be here.” I thought this was interesting but I was thinking how I could leave quickly without hurting their feelings too much? I put down my cup and started to get up “Mr. Matthew I would like to explain to you a little of what I was doing before I was forced to flee to America.” I thought good God what next? However, I nodded and he proceeded with his explanation.

        “As I stated previously, as a research doctor, I was studying the

interaction of a precise section of the brain related to visual activity. In,

how you say, condensed form, the time taken for the image seen in the eye to

travel to and from the brain before a responsive action is taken. This was, of course, of very much interest to the military. We found, during years of

intensive research, that we were able to decrease time necessary for the interaction by a measureable period of time. This means that the responding action could be speeded up by a small fraction of a second. Do you follow me?””Yes I think so. I believe you are telling me that I can pick up the flight of the ball a blink of the eye faster than I could before I had this induced new reaction time.” “That is close enough, Mr. Matthew.”

I thought to myself, “this sounds like science fiction”, on the other hand, he had no reason to lie to me.

        “Mr. Matthew before you leave I would like to examine your eyes. I have a small amount of equipment with me here and it will only take a few minutes of your time.” Now, I was in a quandary. I really wanted to pick up the roses and get home to Amber who was certainly still very upset even without knowing I received bad news from the skipper. I could call her, but how could I explain all of this quickly and coherently. Anyway, I was intrigued by this whole affair and, I figured, a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt anything at this stage of the game. S I said, “All right”. We went into a small room he is using for an office. I figured he is probably making a few dollars on the side by doing eye exams on friends and neighbors. He examined my eyes with his optical equipment, gave a few umms and uh huhs to himself, “physically, your eyes are fine, they are healthy.” I knew that. The team tests them frequently. “In view of that,” he said I have proposal to make to you. I believe I can enable you to hit a baseball with much greater efficiency with my help by using a highly developed set of eye lenses. However, this help will be on a short-term basis because I have no way to get these Top Secret lenses from my country at this time. What I do have, now, are eye drops that simulate the TS lenses necessary for your eyes.  They will perform, on a short term basis, precisely the same as the TS lenses. They have a molecular base which will be stable for only 1 day in the eye usage.”

“Wait a minute, are you telling me I can use these eye drops and slow the ball down to make it easier to hit?” “No, the ball will not slow down, but you will be able to react more quickly.”What are the risks to me? To my eyes if all of this is true ? “Absolutely none, we have tested far beyond this stage.”

        “Why are you doing this for me instead of going worldwide with this program?” “You were very kind today to my family with the thought of no gain. My people are men of honor and we respond in kind. As far as announcing this breakthrough now with the same leaders in power my family back there would cease to exist in a few days time. I am happy and secure right here. However, you cannot divulge any of this to anybody until my country is free from the despots. Not even to your wife, not even to your team.” “I have always gone with my instincts and my instincts shouted to me “Do It!”, so I said, ignoring potential risks, “Dr., I am in. What do we do next?” “Come by tomorrow morning and we will set up the procedure”. I picked up and paid for the flowers and drove home to Amber with my mind whirling.

        “Hi honey, I am sorry I am late, but I stopped to pick up some roses for you and got talking to a young fan and his father.” This much was true . “Do you want to go out to eat?” She made a face which indicated to me the answer was no. “You know we cannot afford eating out right now, besides I made some burgers patties and we need to talk.” “Honey, how does this sound to you? I met with the skipper today and we came up with a game plan.  He said that I can have a month or so to see if I can get it going. During that time, he and I will look for a baseball opportunity for me.”

        I was winging it as I went along, staying pretty close to the truth. “In the meantime, I will get a hold of Lafayette to start networking with my college contacts to see what is available in the engineering sales field. This way we cover all bases, no pun intended.”  She didn’t laugh. “Amber, I give you my word I will quit baseball if I can’t turn it around. “Kevin, I know this breaks your heart, but we need to survive as a family, you, I and the baby.” “I know that Amber. Sit down lover and let me grill the burgers. I’ll even make a salad. Do you want a little el cheapo red wine?” “I’d love to, but the baby comes first.”

        It was an early afternoon game so I was on my way to the park at 9am. By the time I arrived at the flower shop I was damn near ready to go straight to the park. I was apprehensive about what might happen to my eyes since I obviously didn’t know this doctor at all well. It was just gut instinct coupled the fact they were helping the sick kid and truthfully, I was desperate for this thing to work so that I could stay in baseball and maybe get up to Detroit. Anyway, I arrived at the shop and they were waiting for me. I had some passes for the game and I told the kid, Azhari, to go get his friend and I would take them to the game. His father nodded assent and he ran down the street shouting loudly with the happiness only a young boy can have to be going to a baseball game.

        The doctor asked me to please take a seat. I was overcome with doubt. He went to a little 3 cubic foot office type refrigerator and took out a small glass vial containing a clear liquid. The bottle was equipped with an eye drop dispenser on one end. He held it up to the light and said something softly to himself. “This is all of the solution I have,” he said looking straight at me. Production was halted when we went to the Top Secret lenses.

“This solution must be applied 1 drop in each eye every day you play. There are exactly 60 drops in the vial, enough for 30 games. During that time, I will endeavor to get the TS lenses from overseas though it will not be easy.

These drops will speed up the reaction time between your eyes and your brain, as I told you earlier.  This will assist you in sizing up the pitch. You will have no other physical or mental effects. The drops are effective in your eyes for 12 hours only. I will keep the vial in my possession so that I can better control the drops. Do you have any questions Mr. Matthews?” I had a million, but I said no. He then applied the drops.   

        I blinked a few times, my eyes then cleared up, and I gave huge sigh of relief. All morning I have had a bad feeling down deep inside that I was taking a terrible risk putting my sight in the hands of a stranger. I did this only because I want so badly to continue to play baseball and get to the Majors. My vision was clear and I gathered up the two boys and went to the park. The doctor was coming along closer to game time. I dropped the boys off with a clubhouse attendant with instructions to watch out for them and to feed them from the small team buffet. My heart was racing with anticipation as I got dressed and went out to the diamond. I got my glove and fielded grounders without noticing any appreciable difference in the velocity of the ball as it left the bat and smacked into my glove. It seemed exactly the same as before. Hell, I thought maybe this whole thing is a damn con. But, why? What for?

        After fielding practice I grabbed a bat and went into the batting cage

for the hitting session. Once again, I didn’t see any difference in the speed of the ball or in my ability to locate it in flight. I had the sick feeling that you get when your hopes are shattering. I looked up in the half filled stands and saw the doctor looking intently at me and nodding his head in an affirmative manner. Our batting practice pitcher, Jay Hutchinson, was only lobbing the ball just trying to get it over the plate and this was no test for the solution. I still had no idea what was going to happen during game conditions, but I was about to find out.

        We took the field and I went to my usual third base spot. The very first batter hit a sharp grounder to my left, which I fielded normally and threw him out, a routine play. I didn’t get my first at bat until the third inning, but in the meantime I did field one very sharp line drive snaring it with a dive right over the bag. I got slaps on the back from my teammates and the skip said, “great stop.” “Finally I got to the plate in the bottom of the third inning. I was as nervous as a cat, on a hot tin roof I knew that their scouting report highlighted the fact I couldn’t hit a hard slider with a plank and I expected one on the first pitch. I was right. I saw it breaking out of the strike zone. I believe I would normally have chased that pitch. So did the catcher. He called for the same pitch and it broke right over plate at knee level. I swung; hit the ball solidly over the first baseman’s head and into the right field corner for a double. Rounding first I was thinking my God it works. There was a nagging doubt that maybe I was just lucky this time. Their pitcher thought so because my next time up he threw the exact same pitch in the exact same spot and I did the exact same thing. Their second baseman I have known since college asked “what the hell are you doing?” I smiled and replied you get a break once in awhile.

        What a game I had! Two doubles, a walk and a hard liner out to the first baseman. Even the skipper looked a little shocked. It was only 1 game, but it was a start. The remaining 6 home games went past in a whirl. I carried the team with my hitting. I hit .410 with 2 home runs, 3 doubles and I had 7 RBI (runs batted in) and my normally good fielding was great.

We won 5 out of 6 games and we were only 3 games out of first place. Scouts for the opposing teams were going crazy trying to figure how to pitch me.

We went on the road for 5 games and I was still on fire, I hit .385 with 2 more home runs a double and a triple. I had a 10 game hitting streak and was twice voted minor league player of the week.

        I have used the solution for 12 games.  I worry about what is going to happen when the solution is gone and the doctor cannot get the lenses, but I try not to dwell on it too much. Today the skipper called me into his office and told me he had heard from Detroit and he was moving me up to triple A, our Toledo club, to replace their 3rd baseman whom had gone on the disabled list for 15 days. I was going up for a 3 game weekend series.

        Amber, who was taking all this in stride, was afraid the bubble would burst and I would not keep my promise to cut loose from baseball and get a job. On the other hand, she was happy for us. If I continued on this pace I would be well established and our financial troubles would be over. “I am so happy for you. Maybe if you do well they will keep you up triple A.” It broke my heart that I could not tell her about the solution. Further, I knew the end would come when I used the last drop.

        I went up to the triple A club for the 4 game set played in a 3 day weekend. I hit .370 with a home run and a pair of doubles and played flawlessly in the field.  I was told that all the eyes in Detroit were on me.  I also heard that there were 3 major league scouts in the park. I returned to my home club and we played 8 more games. My torrid hitting and fielding continued and we won 7 of them and took over first place. I am the toast of the baseball world. SI, The Sporting News, and ESPN mentioned the new phenom in the minors.   The fans in Detroit are screaming to have me sent up. The Tigers are locked in a fierce battle with the Indians and could use a good left handed bat on the bench. I have a thousand new ‘friends’ and even agents are starting to call me. It is heady stuff!

        So far, while all of this is going on, I have had one thing on my mind. That is, “Get To Detroit”. No matter what, “Get To Detroit”. However, now that reality is at hand I am fighting a battle within myself. I wonder if I am a fraud. No, I didn’t break any rules. I didn’t take steroids. I just improved my eyesight. While it shouldn’t make a difference whether I improved my eyesight by glasses, or by contacts, an operation, or by drops, I wonder if somehow, someway, I am doing something wrong. 

        Amber is totally convinced I am destined for stardom at the top level, going straight from here the double A to the Major Leagues.  She sees the financial rewards resulting from this advancement as the security we never had for the family. I decided to have a discussion with the Doctor tomorrow morning to tell him my thinking on this situation. In fact, I am also going to have Amber with me. I might just as well get it over with once and for all.

        “Good morning Dr., this is my wife, Amber.  If you’ve guessed that I’ve broken our agreement about keeping the eye drops just between the two of us, you’ve guessed right,” Kevin said as he looked over at Amber. “With everything that has been happening lately, I felt it was time to bring Amber into the loop.” “Good Morning Mrs. Matthew. It is my pleasure to meet you.”

“Good Morning Dr., Kevin has told me about what you are doing for him and I appreciate this very much. I also understand completely your desire to remain obscure in this matter. However, Kevin felt it mandatory to bring me into his confidence, I can assure you it is to all of our best interests to see that your efforts to help Kevin are known only to the three of us. “Thank you Mrs. Matthew. I know you are concerned for your husband and yourself and I am happy that you are here to hear what I have to say to your husband.”

         “I felt certain that you, Mr. Matthew would speak to your wife about the reason for your dramatic success on the baseball field before you used the last of the eye solution and I was to endeavor to secure lenses from my military sources. I have seen and felt the strength of your character. You are a warrior. I now want to speak honestly with you both. There is at this time no TS solution’ so to speak. I put in your vial common eye drops available to doctors in my country. You, Mr. Matthews did the rest. You learned to wait just a fraction of a second longer before you committed your swing and you believed you would hit the pitch, NO! You knew you would hit the pitch. Just as you knew in your heart before that you couldn’t. I had done work before in this discipline and I recognized your ability to win your battle. You can now go to Detroit and be a great player. If you wish, you can donate some of your income to the registered orphans fund in my old country, go in peace.”

        “Thank you doctor from both of us. We will most certainly give generously to the fund. ”You and your son will always have a ticket to any Tiger home game so long as I am playing.

R.V.Morrow