Note to readers: In honor
of Sports Illustrated’s recent “where are they now” issue, we’ve decided to
introduce a new feature to the Out of Ink blog. We’re taking the best sports
movies ever made, and giving our opinion on what happened to our favorite
fictional characters after the movie ended.
--by Josh Suchon
We start with the movie The Natural. The final scene of the
movie shows us Roy Hobbs, back at some farm, playing catch with his son, while
his wife looks on with a big smile on her face. We’re led to believe that Hobbs
retired after his dramatic home run put the Knights in the playoffs.
What happened in the
playoffs? Earlier in the movie, manager Pop Fisher says he just wants to
reach the World Series. He doesn’t care if he even wins. This is typical of why
Pops wasn’t a very good manager. Who on earth is just happy to be there and
doesn’t want to win it all? Hobbs’ home run was so eerily similar to Kirk
Gibson’s in 1988, it’s not a stretch to think that Hobbs wasn’t healthy enough
to perform in the playoffs, just like Gibson didn’t play again the rest of the
1988 World Series. Hobbs was bleeding, after all. This doesn’t mean the Knights
won, just like the Dodgers did. No chance. Not with Pops’ attitude. The Knights
didn’t have Orel Hershiser either. Without Hobbs, the Knights had no chance.
They were swept in the World Series.
The Pittsburgh
manager: Without question, his performance in the one-game playoff was one
of the worst in history. Why on earth didn’t he intentionally walk Hobbs? In
case you forgot, Hobbs hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning to beat
Pittsburgh, 3-2, in the one-game playoff. There was nobody else in the Knights
lineup who could beat you. Who cares if Hobbs is the go-ahead run? The
Pittsburgh media crucified the manager for this strategy, and management
agreed. He was fired, justifiably, two days later.
Pittsburgh starter
Youngberry: Yes, he was so good, he didn’t need a first name. Youngberry
was furious that he was lifted. Youngberry ripped his manager for taking him
out. He’s got a shutout with two outs in the ninth inning, he’s struck out
Hobbs twice already in the game, and you take him out because the count is 2-0?
Youngberry was livid and demanded a trade. After the manager was fired,
Youngberry agreed to return, and won the Cy Young the next season.
Pittsburgh reliever
John Rhoades: The play-by-play announcer said he had the best fastball to
come into the game in years. As Rhoades learned, you need more than one pitch
in the majors though. Rhoades wasn’t affected by giving up the dramatic home
run to Hobbs, just like Dennis Eckersley wasn’t affected by Kirk Gibson’s home
run. Rhoades learned to trust his slider, developed a changeup, and became the
most dominant relief pitcher in baseball the next five years.
Knights owners: Considering
the amount of money the owners lost betting against their own team, they were
desperate for cash and wanted to make somebody pay. If any mobsters had bet
against the Knights, thinking the starting pitcher and Hobbs were on the take, they’d
have probably put a hit on somebody’s life. But let’s not kill anybody too soon.
Let’s assume the owners were the only ones who lost all their money on the
Knights.
Knights pitcher Al
Fowler: You might recall, Fowler was weighing the pros and cons of tanking
the one-game playoff and accepting the gambling money. Hobbs saw this, and called
him out on it after Fowler gave up a two-run homer early in the game.
Evidently, Fowler then went back to trying, since he didn’t give up another run
the rest of the game. After the season, the owners want to get rid of Fowler.
They sell him away -- like the Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees -- for
straight cash. They need cash just to operate the franchise the next season. In
response to irate Knights fans, the owners try to destroy Fowler’s credibility
in the press.
Max Mercy, the
sportswriter/illustrator: Mercy led the original crusade against poor Fowler,
printing every lie the Knights owners told him. But even if Mercy was a slime ball,
he was a dogged reporter, and he got to the bottom of the gambling scheme.
Mercy’s got the scoop and he’s about to break the story, but Fowler beats him
to it. Fowler drops the gambling news at a bombshell press conference.
The commissioner: After
the gambling charges come to light, the commissioner investigates what the heck
is going on with the Knights ownership -- and let’s hope he reaches his
conclusion in a shorter amount of time than it’s taking Bud Selig to rule on the
A’s-Giants territorial rights to San Jose. Let’s say the commissioner is somebody
like Bart Giamatti, and he hired somebody like John Dowd. The results are made
public pretty quickly and the public is outraged. The Knights owners are forced
to sell. There’s a silent, not organized, but very clear boycott of the stadium
until new owners are brought in.
The new owners: Their
first move, naturally, is reaching out to Hobbs. They need him to come out of retirement, to
bring the fans back, and for the good of baseball. Hobbs says no. He’s done. He’s
retired. After more prodding, Hobbs’ wife and son give their blessing, and
Hobbs makes his celebrated return to the Knights in mid-season.
Roy Hobbs: Of
course, Hobbs hits a home run in his first at-bat. The scene is incredible. You
can’t write a script like this. Actually, you can. I just did. Hobbs’ body can’t
handle the day-to-day demands of playing ball though. He does his best and
tries to play, but his performance suffers. He’s on the disabled list for most
of the year. Fans boo him. Those damn New York fans boo everybody. They
speculate that Hobbs is tanking it on purpose because of gamblers. Hobbs
struggles through the rest of the season, the Knights don’t make the playoffs,
and Hobbs calls it a career. Again.
The Pittsburgh club: After
choking away the pennant last year, there’s no stopping them. They run away
with the pennant. They’ve got Youngberry. They’ve got Rhoades. They’ve got a
manager with a clue. Pittsburgh wins the World Series and dominates baseball
the next few years.
Bobby Savoy, the Knights
bat boy -- he was besieged with questions about the bat that he picked out
for Hobbs to use. Once the story goes public, everybody wants a similar “Wonderboy”
bat for themselves. Realizing this is a golden opportunity to make money, the kid
quits the team, drops out of school, and opens a bat-making business. Orders
fly into his bedroom office. He hires his mom and dad to keep up with the
demands. The problem with the business was the bats never cracked, so people
only needed one. A few years later, he sells the bat-making business to Rawlings,
and goes to junior college to study economics.
If I ain't mistaken, Bobby Savoy went out with some players the night of the playoff game. Early in the morning, deep in their drink, the ballplayers decide that since Bobby's name is Savoy, they have to go to Harlem and dance at the Savoy Ballroom. There Bobby meets Detroit Red and spins into an off-season of small-time crime.
ReplyDeleteBobby's folks finally get fed up and send Bobby to live with grandma and clean up. Bobby lives out his days in Haw River, North Carolina in an ever-increasing pique of religious ferver. His daughter Annie, however, worships at the church of baseball. At 14 she makes Duke Sims her idol, but when he turns out to be a cad, she pledges to always be in the drivers' seat with her Body Electric. Against her dad's wishes, Annie moves to the big city of Durham where she becomes the anti-Memo, using her magnetism & sexuality to propel ballplayers to be better and more balanced than they ever knew they could be. She teaches at Alamance Comm College and is a little much for the Carolina League.