One of my favorite FL stories

One of the charms and appeals of minor-league baseball is the characters associated with the games. The players, the coaches, the umpires, the broadcasters, the fans. There's an interesting person and good/funny story around ever corner. From Max McLeary, the one-eyed umpire, to Matt Buckmiller, the Ivy League graduate who canceled a job interview with the CIA to sign with the Wild Things in 2003, the Frontier League has had more than its fair share of interesting people and stories.

One of my favorite stories happened long before the Wild Things entered the league. It involves Kevin Rouch, the Frontier League's deputy commissioner/general counsel and an ambidextrous pitcher named Jamie Irving, who was a Harvard graduate. The old-time Frontier League people who visit this site probably already know this story, but it's likely news to many of the Wild Things' fans.

Rouch, who has a terrific sense of humor, is an attorney who teaches sports law in Ohio. But Rouch was Chillicothe's radio play-by-play broadcaster during the Paints' early days in the Frontier League. One night, Chillicothe was playing a game against the Johnstown Steal, which featured Irving.

Irving hurt his right arm during high school and taught himself how to throw and pitch left-handed. The right arm finally healed during Irving's days at Harvard and he started pitching with both arms. One weekend, Irving beat Yale on consecutive days, one game pitching left-handed and the next tossing right-handed.

Against Chillicothe, Irving was pitching left-handed until late in the game, when he decided to start an inning throwing right-handed.

When Rouch realized what was happening, he told his radio audience, "Jamie Irving is relieving himself on the mound with his right hand." Not once, but twice.

The other people in the pressbox heard what Rouch said and immediately burst into laughter.

Rouch has never been able to let that flub fade into history.