European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 01, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Byjoe Heisenberg Baltimore Sun a e was just another 2 1 year old Guy. Sweating out his Summers on the South Side of Chicago working in a steel Mill and playing Salt bal at night but in was t just neighbourhood Ball he was p dying in was a game Wilh a 16 Inch Hall called a no gloves Pla cols. Crowds Kevin Mickey was the Center fielder for a learn called the to Tats. Who won National championships he had to quit playing because the i moved him to the second shift instead of chasing Down Fly balls he spent his nights welding ticks and Hool ing steel for Crane operators. He was a ballplayer without a game at least he had a paycheck but then he lost itt. Too the Mill Laid him Oil Tough times and All that to was one of 75 men told Lowa k one Day there was a buddy in the neighbourhood. Though a Guy going to the police Academy who knew someone on a semipro team. Already one of his friends from the police Academy had hooked on pretty soon Hickey was pitching for the team to did t have any Money or any place to to during the Day. But at least to had a ame one night a couple of scouts from the Chicago while sox showed up. Hickey loss. 2 1. But the scouts liked what they ii was t that to was much of a Pitcher to could l even throw a curve but. Brother could he throw hard. The scouts told him to come to Chicago s tryout Camp the next month ii was a Day for pretenders at Comiskey Park a Day of dreams lost and maybe one player Lump with any skill me and 250 in line with numbers on. Like Inri to gel Teh Bottoms and k Marl stepped to the Mound and threw l. Sha being a his Only pitch it h l the Square Between the eyes splat1 i Don t think to was ready to one thai a. H Csc said the scouts asked to see his breaking Ball Don i a nov what one Hickey said you Don t they asked incredulous Well i know what one is he said but i Don t know How to throw he shrugged hooked his wrist and throw it anyway and the scouts liked what they saw they signed him to a contract gave run $500 and a Book on How to speak hillbilly " he said the latter because he was assigned to a Rookie league team in Paintsville. By near swamp Bench. Redbush Flatgap and Oil Spring Vas the summer of 1978. The Kevin Story. It could be a movie three years later he was Back in Comiskey Park Back in his old neighbourhood in a while sox uniform this time. Hollywood would reject the Story of course too corny. His Rise was very rapid said orioles general manager Roland Hemond then the White sox s general manager. Pitching in Middle Relief Hickey appeared in 101 games in 1981 and 1982. Near the end of the 1982 season though he fielded a Ball and threw to second base. His career would never be the same. We were playing the twins Kent Hrbek hit it he said. Pain shot through my Arm. The next inning i could t even he lasted another year with the sox but his Arm kept him from throwing hard. He went to the minors was traded to the Yankees released then signed and released by in order the Phillies White sox again and giants. He pitched in Denver Columbus Ohio Albany n.y., Reading pa., Portland ore., Honolulu and Phoenix. But never in the majors. If they gave out frequent flier mileage in the minors i could Fly around the world now Hickey said. I be flown every airline in the Hemond became the orioles general manager in 1987 and signed Hickey to a minor league contract a month later. It was mostly an act of kindness. Hickey was 31 with a wife and two children working in a state s attorney s office in Chicago in the off season because minor league Money paid the Bills but Only that. He was roster padding on a team that was searching desperately for youth. At mid season in Rochester n.y., last summer though his Arm suddenly stopped hurting just like that just As mysteriously As it had begun hurting six years earlier. He finished the year As Rochester s stopper and this Spring he pitched his Way into the orioles bullpen. It helped that he was a left hander on a team with few. But there also was the night he froze Don haltingly with runners on base. And the night he broke Fred Lynn s Bat. He earned it Hemond said. Now Hickey is 33 and his Arm does t Hurt anymore. He is dancing a Sweet dance. He has pitched to 10 batters and Given up Only one hit that after Joe Orsulak displayed a Fly that would have ended an inning. He has gotten Wade Boggs twice and George Brett once. He does t throw As hard As he used to but he has three pitches and mixes them nicely and Well. It could be a movie could t it Hickey said. All the struggle the hard times we went through. And to make it Back. They Haven t invented a word to say How excited i am to be Here. Back in the Erma Bombeck it does t Surprise me a bit that one out of every live married women squirrels away Money her husband Doc int know she has although the majority of married women pledge that what s his is mine and what s mine is his if ii,1 Are a few who subscribe to what s his is nime and what s mine is none of his business. Who arc these women who have this Clandestine seedy love affair with their own Money one is Intel Suzie Sandbox who Linos up every week with her kids to receive an allowance from her husband to run the House. Anything she can Cut Back on and save is hers for years. Suzie ate Worms and held her breath until she turned Blue. Now she is trying to save enough to run away from Home. Another is Paula Grovel who Nusl extract Money from her husband As if it wore a Wisdom Tolch with roots n his Leot. Paula could buy Eastern airlines More easily than she can get Money for a bedroom carpet. She yearns Tor the Day when she can Roll Over her Page 16 the stars and stripes Christmas savings account and split. Then there s Maria me culpa. She started a Money stash of her own because with every dime she spends she has to discuss it in detail with her husband. Maria has made enough confessions to rival St. Augustine. Sibyl pm has the perfect financial setup. She and her husband have joint Bank accounts and he never questions her expenditures. So Why does Sibyl hide her mad Money in an empty Alka Seltzer Box in the Backol the Linen closet behind the Healing she s a closet sinner. Her life is an open Book and she has never had a mystique. Chances Are she will use the Money to buy her husband a fishing reel Lor his birthday but it will be her own Debbie dubious seemingly has no reason to redeem soap coupons for Cash and buy toilet tissue at discount City hers is a marriage made in heaven. Her husband Svor ships the Quicksand she walks on. But Debbie is suspicious of her husband who has had a denial monday May 1,1989 appointment three times a week for the last eight years. She is insecure about her future and is putting a Little aside. For the rest of us it s hard to explain our husbands Are generous and Don t make us feel like kept but there is a popular myth that to be Worth something you get paid something. I got $3 for the first column i wrote. I would have gone to each of the subscribers of the newspaper and read it aloud for the same Price. I had done something that not Only carried a Price tag but was actually bought by someone. For years my Mother has saved All of her Loose change in a 3-Pound Folger s Coffee can. She s like a woman of mystery out of an Agatha Christie novel. She never talks about it and no one knows How much she has until one Day she changes from a mild mannered retiring housewife into a Donald Trump. I m off to vegas she declares with my own c 1989 Erma boat Wick
