Life In The Minors
Over the 62 games we have played thus far, I have gotten to know the 30-or-so players who have at some point in the season taken the field for us. One character who I will never be able to forget is our lone Englishmen, Gavin Marshall. Dragons’ Englishman
one of a kindWhen Marshall arrived from Hull, England for spring training this past May, he seemed like the gentlest of souls and the finest of young British gentlemen. There was always a "please" and a "thank you" and always a "yes, coach."
The first born and bred English citizen ever to play professional baseball in the states according to Baseball America, Marshall is the proud owner of a strong right arm, an affection for athletic tape, and no use for clothing.
To best characterize Marshall, one must imagine a young, skinny Benny Hill, with a 90-mile-per-hour heater.
My first image of Gavin, post spring training, is a scary one. Just imagine a grey-haired 23-year-old ball player resting after pre-game batting practice waiting for the game to start, standing outside our clubhouse, with shower shoes, a jock strap, some eye black, a batting helmet, and nothing else.
When the host mother for our center fielder Kurt Fillmore turned forty, Gavin took it upon himself to advertise the fact that Jenny Fowler had just hit the four-decade milestone by running back and forth in front of the first base stands with the number 40 made-up in athletic tape on the back of his jacket.
Jenny got a big kick out of it.
When the benches cleared during our brawl at home with the Springfield Capitals, Gav made sure he ran by the stands pumping his fists to incite our crowd as he sprinted from the bullpen to the field.
Thanks to Gavin, our candle-lit bullpen at home at League Stadium has curiously started to resemble the living room of Tim Meadows Saturday Night Live character Leon Phelps, "The Ladies Man." All that's missing is the soft music, a velvet couch, and some Courvoisier. By the way, Gavin has marked his spot on the bullpen bench with a huge "G" made out of athletic tape.
Sometimes during games, it is quite difficult to tell which planet Gavin is on, especially when he strolls through the dugout with a transistor radio taped to his ear so he can go about his business while listening to the play-by-play.
Before games, our relief pitchers are required to do some road running through town, presenting Gav a daily opportunity to express himself. He usually expresses himself by jogging with flip-down shades, taped wrists, eye-black, a headband, and hiked up shorts. We just kinda hope that no one notices.
Lately, Marshell, who insists on being called "G-Diddy," has taken to choreography, lining-up the relief pitchers in the bullpen for each game's national anthem, having them move in formation to get in and out of their leg-locked position. It's actually quite impressive.
So as the season has progressed, we have found that the best way to keep Gavin behaving, well, "normal" is to put him on the mound to pitch, where he has actually done his best Turk Wendell impersonation, silencing foes with a devastating slider during middle innings.
Now if we could only stop him from dancing in the bullpen during games.
Brendan Sagara, a former University of Hawaii-Hilo pitcher,
is in his first season as a pitching coach for the
Dubois County (Ind.) Dragons