I put it right on the bag...

 I put it right on the bag...





      A bad memory Greg could never leave behind was when he tried out for the JV baseball team at South Gate Jr. High School. The Ram teams were coached by the somewhat legendary Cliff Ditto who was a coarse and blunt closeted gay man whose brain was 99% sports and 1% something else. Because of the great baseball development programs at the park he managed a city championship team in 1960 and thought he was Casey Stengel after that. Ditto went on to be a scout for the Padres, Expos and Angels who had the dumb luck of signing the great Tony Gwynn and Randy Johnson. He also managed for the Padres in the lower minors for seven years and was the brother in law of Duke Snider. The guy had a big rep and when Greg stood beside him for infield during early workouts Ditto pushed a little bunt out in front of home plate to see the catcher's reaction on such a play. Greg, having been an all-star at the position in SGJAA leagues bounced out to grab the ball and threw down to second where the kid down there let it go into center field. Ditto barked at Greg and later told him "you're too slow and you can't throw" before cutting the crest-fallen kid. Years later, Greg could not let go of this humiliation and used to repeat the lines he should have said which were "I put it right on the bag, what do you want me to do, go down there and catch it for him?!" Greg would then go on to assault the jerk's character and his cowardice in not admitting his true orientation that may have been true or not. While he was never the fiery type guy in any sports, baseball was his best sport and Greg felt some pride in his skills on the diamond. For this old bastard to demean him in front of his peers stung as much as any insult he ever had to endure. I used to fan the flames and rip Ditto as a guy who preferred to hang out with 14 year old boys and never mention the fact the prick actually did sign two hall of famers.




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