Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 8, 1994 TAG: 9409080038
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
HIS return to baseball ended much like it began.
The final game of the summer was played on the same field where he first attended tryouts back in April, and where - 30 years ago - he played little league as a boy. Maher Field.
In April, he came out untested and unsure. He had not played baseball since 1966, when he was 15. He didn't know if he could still play, if he could still pitch, if any of the teams at the tryouts would want him.
For the final game, uncertainty again loomed for Larry Beheler. He had not played for his team, the Roanoke Mudcats, in a month. He had not even showed up for their games, five of them missed because of work or a sore arm, or so he said.
Among his teammates, there was doubt, resentment, a questioning of his team loyalty and his desire. Would he actually show up? He had said he would, but he had said that before.
For Beheler, there was equal uneasiness. How would his teammates welcome him back? Would they let him play? Or shut him out? And, if he was called on to pitch, he didn't know how far his sore right arm would take him.
The game was meaningless, the last game of the season, between the last-place Mudcats and the next-to-last-place Integon Classics, with neither team headed for the playoffs.
But the weather was perfect, cool for the last day in August; they were getting to play a night game under the lights for a change; and, in baseball, there is always bragging rights at stake.
The Mudcats had suffered through a painful first season. Their record going into the final game was 1-14-1. If nothing else, they wanted to go out with a token of dignity.
The last time these teams met, on July 24, the Mudcats played the best game they played all summer. Pitcher Robert Vaden had 16 strike-outs. Yet, they still lost 2-0.
For this last game, Vaden didn't want to pitch. "If I absolutely have to," he said. "But it won't be much." He had pitched three days before. His arm was tired, and he hoped to rest it for a tournament he had been invited to play in at Virginia Beach on the following weekend.
The Mudcats' other pitcher was out of town on business.
That left only Beheler, who showed up, his arm greased and burning with Flex-All 454. Hurting, but ready. "Right in there," he said, pointing to his forearm, "is like a bee sting."
Manager George Smith looked his way. "Larry, you going?"
For this game, he wouldn't be shut out.
The Mudcats huddled. Smith told the team he had been proud to play with them. "Now, let's go out as winners," he said. And on cue, they took the field. "One-two-three, Mudcats!"
On the season, Beheler's pitching had been less than dazzling. His record was 0-4. In 16 innings pitched, he had given up 26 runs, and he never lasted longer than four innings in any one game. About his only bright spot was his 17 strike-outs.
Pitching again after nearly 30 years, he admitted, had been much harder than he ever expected. "That's what happens when you're 43 and overweight. Your arm hurts all the time," he said.
By game time, any lingering displeasure about Beheler's poor attendance record seemed to fade as the usual Mudcats chatter started up. "Alright Larry, way to do it, way to do it!" "Pitching good, Larry." "Pitch, pretty pitch." "Take him down now. Take him down."
To the Mudcats' credit, in the face of such a dismal season, they never turned to finger-pointing and open bickering. Their frustration always was tempered with an easy camaraderie. Where they had been strangers just five months earlier, here they were supportive of each other, encouraging even of the weaker players. A team.
Beheler pitched well. The Classics said he was pitching meatballs. "Slow and straight," was the consensus. Still, they couldn't score. Through six innings, the game remained a scoreless draw. "I don't know, maybe I'm throwing so slow they can't figure it out," Beheler said, surprised himself.
His mood was characteristically upbeat for a pitcher enjoying a good night. Around him, his teammates were similarly encouraged.
In the seventh inning, however, the Mudcats fell behind 1-0, and Beheler's mood flip-flopped. He blamed himself for the run, which came after a wild pitch that allowed a base runner to reach third base, followed by an infield ground that sent the runner home.
Coming off the field afterwards, Beheler angrily threw his mitt against the dugout fence. "He shouldn't have never been at third base."
Then, just as quickly, his mood flip-flopped back. The first two Mudcats batters in the bottom of the seventh inning each reached base. "I may get out of this after all," he said, upbeat again.
Both scored. The next batter scored. Then they loaded the bases, still with no outs.
Two more scored. and the Mudcats celebrated like they rarely had an opportunity to do all summer. "Oh man, what a good feeling," Beheler said.
After seven innings, the score was 5-1. Beheler, beaming, took himself out of the game, leaving the final two innings of pitching to Robert Vaden.
"Come on, Robert. You can do it now. I know you can do it," he said. And with victory assured, Vaden was happy to come in. He finished with two scoreless innings, ending the game with a strike-out. In baseball talk, Vaden earned the save. Beheler got the win.
"Where we drinking beer tonight?" asked George Smith.
"Where's the closest place?" several of his teammates replied.
Smith conducted some final team business about turning in uniforms and hats - and then he resigned as team manager. He said he hoped it would become a Mudcats tradition, that the manager would step down at the end of each season and the team would vote on a successor.
"We came a long way, and I hate to see it end," he said.
Later, the Mudcats voted to begin practices for next summer around March 1. Most of them said they would be back. Already, there also was talk of adding a couple of pitchers, and some other players, to improve the lineup. They also decided to invest in nicer uniforms for next year.
As for Beheler, he vowed to be back slimmer, stronger and in better shape. He plans to join a fitness club, and his friend and teammate Jim Hamrick wants to put him on a weight lifting regimen. "Aerobics, treadmill, bicycle will put me right down where I want to be," Beheler said.
It was a good summer. "I loved it, being around all the guys and all, playing baseball, laughing and joking ... coaching, stealing bases, giving signs," he said. "It was like being a kid again."
by CNB