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they say, “Look at that son of a bitch, boy he’s really brazen. Let’s stick him in there and see what he looks like.” And a quiet guy like Lasko might never get a good look.
    So why does he go on? For one thing, he’s like me. He likes baseball. And there is still the hope that he can get just a few years in the big leagues. That would make getting a job in the future that much easier. Plus, it says here, you can’t beat the hours.

FEBRUARY
28
    Decided to get a haircut today. My hair was quite long and the sideburns were thick and heavy. I didn’t want to have a longhair image, so I got a really short haircut and look like a stormtrooper. It’s terrible, but it won’t hurt me. You never can tell how spring training is going to go. I could be one of those borderline cases and the difference between making the team and not making it might be the length of my hair.
    I wore a mustache all winter and thought I looked pretty good. Cut it off before I came down. Richie Allen can wear those pork-chop sideburns of his if he wants because he hits all those home runs. What’s standing between me and
my
mustache is about twenty wins.
    When I walked into the clubhouse with my new haircut, Sheldon said, “Now you look like the old Bulldog.” Bulldog! That’s what they called me when I was a big winner with the Yankees. Bulldog.
Gruff
! This is the impression I wanted to create all along. Maybe they’ll think because my hair is short I got my fastball back. You got to use all your weapons.
    One thing you
don’t
do is what Steve Hovley did. He’s an outfielder I played with in Seattle last year, twenty-four years old, intellectual type. He told Milkes that he wouldn’t report until March 22 because he wanted to finish up some college classes. Milkes told him he’d never make the team if he waited that long and Steve said, well, he’d looked at the roster and didn’t think he could make it anyway. Besides, he thought he could use another year or two in Triple-A.
    That’s a big mistake. No matter what the truth of it is, Milkes will now always think that Steve doesn’t have enough desire to be a major-leaguer. There are times you have to show hustle, even if it’s false.
    Lots of holler out there in the infield. “Fire it in there, Baby.” “C’mon, Joey.” “Chuck it in there.” And the word for
that
friends, is false chatter. You don’t hear it as much during the season because nobody’s nervous and nobody has to impress a coach who thinks you’re trying harder if you holler, “Hey, whaddaya say?” You only hear it in spring training—and in high school baseball. I remember when I was in high school, even if we lost the game, the coach would say, “I liked your chatter out there, a lot of holler. That’s what I like to see.” So if you couldn’t hit, you hollered.
    Another thing you need in spring training is a knack for looking busy. There really isn’t much to do in spring training, and it’s a lot like being in the army, where the sergeant will never say anything to you if you
look
like you’re doing something. I mean just stopping to tie your shoelace, or walking along briskly as if you have someplace to go. That’s what pepper games are, really: looking busy without actually doing anything.
    Sheldon was talking about that today. He says what he does is walk around policing up the area and no one ever hollers at him for that. He also walks back and forth to the dugout as if he’s on an important mission. “Do something,” Shellie said. “Walk, bend, throw a ball into your glove, swing a bat, but don’t be standing there with your legs crossed and your arms folded.”
    Also in camp is Steve Barber, pitcher, left-handed, who was with the Yankees last year. Naturally we got to talking about Jim Turner, The Colonel, Southern Fried Chicken variety. Turner’s the pitching coach over there and has been voted the champion frontrunner of the civilized world. In case you forgot, you could