By the time Rick Anderson's heart gave out
he weighed over four hundred pounds. He'd been the best
pitcher on his high school team
and a minor league star, but in the majors
he threw only twelve innings, and walked
twice as many batters as he struck out.
After his arm went lame he lived
in a boatyard below Highway One
in a truck trailer with indoor plumbing
and no windows and a picture of himself receiving
the 1971 California state high school championship trophy.
Day and night he heard the ocean, and seagulls,
and downshifting gears, and sometimes
he heard gravel spray in the boatyard or voices
of tourists. His parents came each Christmas.
When his body was discovered he was clutching a letter
containing five dollars and a request for an autographed
baseball card. He was thirty-five years old.
Baseball I Gave You All the Best Years Of My Life
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