Make a fist. So simple and yet so miraculous. A thumb, four fingers, muscles, tendons, bones and nerves working in unison to do what your brain commands. Yet as his life came to an end, Catfish couldn't sign anything. He couldn't even feed himself.
Life can be so cruel.
The ravages of Lou Gehrig's disease robbed Catfish first of his fingers, then his hands, then his arms. The creeping paralysis left him unable to feed himself. Then I appreciate even more than ever my ability to shake a hand, to hug someone, to write a note - and to throw a baseball with my sons. Whatever physical and mental capabilities we have. Steve Bryant, owner of the Mudcats and a baseball fanatic, recently told me he loved Saturdays as a kid when he and his friends would go to the Western Auto to buy a gleaming white, brand-new baseball.