74. The Clouds in My Heart are Clearing (3)
Once, they were the two men who led the KH Cannons to their first championship.
And now, they were meeting as rivals in the same division.
That day, Jiseop and Jimmy Morris headed to a bar located in downtown Baltimore.
Basement level 1. A place filled with cigarette smoke, reminiscent of a raccoon den, and rock music that assaulted the eardrums.
It was said to be a place that Jimmy Morris had frequented with his teammates since his rookie season.
“Ah, Jimmy! This way!”
As soon as he opened the door, a young man in the corner waved his hand.
“It’s always crazy here. It was hard to get a seat.”
Jimmy Morris patted the young man on the shoulder and turned his gaze to Jiseop.
“Jiseop, say hello! This is Ronnie Cordell, a friend who works for our Baltimore Orioles.”
“Ah, I see. Nice to meet you.”
It was said to be an internal regulation of the Baltimore Orioles team.
If there was a personal schedule at night, a team employee had to accompany them.
Baltimore was notorious for its poor security, even within the United States, so this regulation was created.
Of course, Jiseop knew that the team employee wasn’t just there for that reason.
[Ronnie is known for being quick-witted within the team… He’ll definitely be helpful in getting information about Victor Johnson Jr.!]
This was Jimmy Morris’s inner thought.
[Damn it, why did I have to be assigned to this… I hope there won’t be any problems later?]
And this was Ronnie Cordell’s inner thought.
‘Hehe, Jimmy, you son of a gun… you came out fully prepared, huh?’
Knowing exactly what the other party was aiming for, there was no need to waste time.
Rather, the sooner he got rid of what he needed to get rid of, the more time he would have to share old memories.
So, Jiseop decided to take the initiative before Jimmy Morris could.
“Hey, Jimmy.”
“Hmm?”
“Why don’t we just take care of what we need to do quickly? I think that would be better.”
“Do, do what we need to do?”
Jimmy Morris made a face that said, ‘What are you talking about?’
No, to be more precise, it seemed he was trying to make that face.
When Jiseop came straight to the point, his eyes started to tremble tremendously.
“Do, do what we need to do? I don’t know what you’re talking about? I just wanted to have a drink with you…”
“Hey, don’t play dumb. It’s written all over your face.”
“Victor, right?”
Jiseop asked.
“Victor Johnson Jr. Our Tampa Bay’s ace. You want to get information about him, right?”
“No, that’s…”
“I also needed information about Vincent Hiyama. Then there’s no need for us to test each other, right?”
When Jiseop said this, Jimmy Morris couldn’t deny it anymore.
“So, so what?”
Jimmy Morris looked nervous.
“What do you want to do?”
“Let’s have a match.”
Jiseop looked around and said.
“There are a lot of games here. Chess, Halli Galli [a fast-paced card game]… Why don’t we pick one and have a match? The condition is that the winner tells all the information they know.”
If it were someone else, he would have added words to scratch their nerves, but at this time, Jiseop didn’t feel the need to do so.
Who was Jimmy Morris? In the past, he was a player who was second to none in terms of competitiveness in the KH Cannons.
He didn’t change his personality just because he moved teams, so Jimmy Morris readily accepted the ‘deal’ that Jiseop proposed.
“Not bad. Let’s do that.”
The team employee sitting next to him was surprised and tried to stop him, but once the switch was flipped, he couldn’t be stopped.
“But I’ll decide the game. You don’t have any complaints about that, do you?”
“Well, as you wish.”
Jiseop nodded willingly.
It was a kind of handicap.
Whether it was chess or Halli Galli, Jiseop was unconditionally advantageous in the games that could be played here.
So, he was telling him to choose a game that he was even a little confident in, but Jiseop’s old friend couldn’t even take that consideration properly.
“Hmm, then…”
After stroking his chin and thinking for a while, he finally chose a game.
“Let’s play poker!”
Jimmy Morris said.
“My poker skills are completely on fire these days! No one in the team can beat me!”
“Ah, is that so?”
Looking at Jimmy Morris, who confidently took out the cards, Jiseop was reminded of a saying by heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.
‘Everyone has a plan, right?’
Yeah,
Until they get punched in the face.
* * *
The former ace of the KH Cannons.
Jiseop’s one and only same-age friend.
And (self-proclaimed) poker champion of the Baltimore Orioles team, Jimmy Morris.
“…….”
It didn’t take long for his mentality, which had been firm with confidence, to be completely shattered.
Less than 30 minutes after shuffling the cards and placing them on the table, Jimmy Morris ‘thudded’ his head on the table.
“Holy God…….”
Jimmy Morris lifted his head, staggering, with a dumbfounded expression.
“Jiseop, what are you? The Cannons guys said you were good at poker, but… this isn’t just good, is it? You’re a complete pro?”
“Oh, what pro? The cards just stuck to me today.”
During the two years he spent as a baseball team’s front office, Jiseop had become very skilled at manipulating players with poker.
Without showing much enthusiasm, he organized the cards and looked at Jimmy Morris with a smirk.
“Well, then…”
Thud, thud.
Organizing the cards and putting them aside, Jiseop continued.
“Is it time to receive information now?”
“Keueung…….”
Jimmy Morris scratched the back of his head with a troubled expression.
The answer he gave after hesitating for a while was as follows.
“Um, Jiseop. Actually…”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry to tell you this so late, but I don’t know much about Vincent Hiyama.”
Jimmy Morris continued.
“That’s the information you want, right? What kind of pitch will Vincent Hiyama choose as his finisher in the game the day after tomorrow.”
There were three.
Splitter, cutter, slider.
“But Vincent doesn’t usually talk to his teammates often… I don’t know what kind of ball he’ll throw either.”
Shrunken.
Perhaps feeling sorry, Jimmy Morris shrank his neck like a turtle.
However, Jiseop’s expression didn’t change much as he looked at him.
“Yeah, well, I guess so.”
Jiseop knew from the beginning because he had been looking into Jimmy Morris’s eyes.
That his old colleague didn’t know Vincent Hiyama’s finisher at all.
Nevertheless, he had engaged in the match because there was another intention.
“You don’t have to worry about the finisher.”
“Re, really?”
“Hey, even so, would I ask you about the finisher? There’s a team employee right next to me, watching?”
Jiseop pointed to the team employee sitting next to Jimmy Morris and laughed.
“Instead, I’d like you to tell me more about Vincent Hiyama as a player.”
“Tell you? What about?”
“Well, you must have felt something while being teammates. His attitude towards baseball, his relationship with other players in the team…”
This was what Jiseop wanted.
Even the smallest information about Vincent Hiyama.
Even the smallest information could lead to unexpected answers if gathered.
“Hmm, if it’s about that…”
It wasn’t awkward to talk about this even with a team employee next to him.
Jimmy Morris opened his mouth again with a more relaxed expression.
“Honestly, he’s a bit of an awkward friend as a teammate.”
Surprisingly, a negative evaluation came out first.
“It’s not that he’s arrogant or selfish. Rather, he’s a humble and altruistic player. But as you know… that friend is a two-way player [a player who can both pitch and hit].”
Jimmy Morris continued.
“He’s always seriously thinking about something. So, it’s not easy to talk to him. Honestly, there’s almost no one in our team who jokes around with him, right?”
Was he like Tampa Bay Rays’ manager Mike Clemmblas?
While Jiseop was thinking that, the word ‘but’ popped out of Jimmy Morris’s mouth.
“But as a player, I have nothing to complain about. He’s a great player.”
“Hmm.”
“His attitude towards training, his attitude towards preparing for games… He’s not just working hard, he’s also very meticulous.”
Was he a little excited to brag about his teammate?
Jimmy Morris continued with sparkling eyes.
“This is a story I heard from that friend’s interpreter the other day. Vincent Hiyama prepares a separate pitch to use in important games.”
“Prepares separately?”
“Yeah!”
Jimmy Morris clapped his hands.
“The more important the game, the more thorough the opponent team’s power analysis comes in, right? To prepare for that, he practices a lot of breaking balls that he doesn’t usually use. So that he can surprise the opponent team if necessary!”
“…Amazing.”
Jiseop, who had been making a blank expression for a while at the unbelievable story.
However, suddenly thinking of something, he asked Jimmy Morris.
“But what is an important game? Does it mean a postseason game?”
“It could be the postseason, it could be the opening game… And sometimes, it could be a game before an important contract, right? Because the starting amount of negotiations changes depending on the game.”
“Ah, an important contract?”
It was at this moment that Jiseop’s eyes narrowed.
“For example, a player who is about to become a free agent meets his original team and has… a contract extension negotiation?”
* * *
About 30 minutes later.
Jiseop was in the bathroom.
It was partly because of the beer he drank with Jimmy Morris, but it was also to organize the information he had gathered.
‘That’s right, Vincent Hiyama said he would soon enter into contract extension negotiations with the Baltimore Orioles.’
It was a story he heard from David Wilson of the Future Strategy Planning Department.
‘He said he was forced to leave early after giving up 5 runs in the last starting game.’
This was a story he already knew.
‘And for the starting game the day after tomorrow, he said he wouldn’t play as a hitter tomorrow?’
Finally, this was what the Baltimore manager announced himself a few hours ago.
Looking at these three pieces of information, there was only one conclusion Jiseop could draw.
‘Unorthodox pitching.’
Jiseop continued thinking as he approached the sink.
‘Instead of the three finishers he usually uses, he might bring out a completely new pitch.’
Even for a great pitcher, it’s burdensome to collapse in two consecutive games.
Especially if he has an important event called contract extension negotiations ahead of him.
Even if the player himself doesn’t want it, he thought that the agent might have put subtle pressure on him.
‘Yeah, it’s not impossible…’
He had come to a new conclusion, but Jiseop’s expression in front of the sink wasn’t very bright.
It was because the possibility of finding out Vincent Hiyama’s finisher had decreased.
‘That bastard can throw a total of 7 pitches… Which ball is he going to bring out?’
Just then, as he was washing his hands with the water running loudly in frustration.
Squeak-
A familiar face came into the bathroom with the sound of the door.
“Ah.”
It was the Baltimore team employee.
Was his name Ronnie?
The very person who had secured a seat at the bar that day in place of Jimmy Morris.
Jiseop pointed to the inside of the bathroom with his chin.
“It’s all empty.”
He also added a good-natured smile.
“You can go anywhere.”
“Ah, yes, thank you.”
He nodded his head, saying thank you, but the guy named ‘Ronnie’ didn’t seem to want to move easily.
He didn’t take toilet paper separately, and he didn’t run to the urinal.
He was just hesitating, looking at Jiseop’s face.
“Ah, are you going to wash your hands?”
Just as Jiseop, who had finished washing his hands, took a step to the side.
An unexpected word popped out of the Baltimore team employee’s mouth.
“…It’s a curve.”
Barely audible.
It was a very low voice.
“In the game the day after tomorrow, Vincent Hiyama will use the curve as his finisher.”
“…Excuse me?!”