Suitors of Spring, The: The Solitary Art of Pitching, from Seaver to Sain to Dalkowski (Summer Game Books Baseball Classics) (19 page)

Sain will also say very little to Vincente Romo, the club’s 28-year-old Mexican-born relief pitcher, but for a different reason. Romo, a syrupy-smooth–skinned man who resembles an overweight bullfighter, is another Red Sox castoff. He possesses an elaborate windmill motion (similar to Luis Tiant’s) that seems to deliver a thousand different pitches from a thousand different angles. He also speaks little English, and for this reason Sain finds it difficult to communicate with him as deeply as he’d like. With Romo he deals primarily with pitching mechanics. To speak to him in more personal terms would be to risk a misunderstanding, says Sain. The limits imposed on him in his relationship with Romo disturb Sain, and from time to time he will admit, “I wish I could get closer to him.” Last year, his first with the Sox, Romo was 1 and 7.

Sain talks a good deal with Joel Horlen, the club’s 34-year-old, 10-year veteran. Horlen, a small, soft-spoken man with a preoccupied gaze, is at a crucial juncture in his career. He was once the ace of the Chicago staff, winning 19 games in 1967, but has fallen on hard times of late as he has lost speed from both his fastball and his curveball. Sain is trying to help Horlen make that adjustment all pitchers must make in their mid-30s, when the quality of their pitches deteriorates and so they must add to their pitching repertoire. Sain is working with Horlen on a screwball, which he hopes will prolong his career. “He doesn’t say much to guys who are going good,” says Horlen. “He’s a funny guy. He seems to spend more time with guys who are having their problems. Like he always says, he waits for guys to hit bottom before he talks to them.” After a 6 and 16 season in 1970, Horlen posted an 8 and 9 record in 1971, his first year under Sain.

Rich Hinton, a 22-year-old graduate of the University of Arizona, has pitched only one inning in this his first major league season. Yet Johnny Sain calls him a terrific prospect, if for no other reason than “he looks at you real straight.” Of Sain, Hinton says, “Working under John is the best break I could get. Every club he’s been with has had a 20-game winner. The only problem is that he’s been with so many clubs that all the pitchers he’s taught cut each others’ throats. It’s like telling everyone in a card game the same trick. Pretty soon they’ll all use it and nobody benefits. What I like best about John, though, is that he never second-guesses you. He’ll come out to the mound and say, ‘Don’t you worry, that was a helluva pitch. He never should have hit it.’ Then he’ll say, ‘Now this batter is a poor breaking ball hitter, but you can throw him whatever you think best. You’re the judge.’ And when you get the guy out with a breaking ball you believe it was your pitch, not his. You made that final decision. Johnny Sain lets you make the act of will.”