American Yankee - Last Walk to the Mound

"I first began playing for the San Francisco Giants in their minor league system after I was drafted out of college from Florida State in 1978. I had little interest in politics and hadn't thought of anything except somehow finding myself in the World Series and someday, maybe if I was lucky, the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. What's planned and what happens are often wildly two different things. I found that out. It took me little time to know why I went to Nicaragua, a bit longer as to why I stayed, and all of my days to ponder its lasting effects upon me. I couldn't tell you what its meant for me to have been there, but I can tell you my time in Nicaragua's countryside informs me every day of my life as to why I did. I first traveled to Managua to play baseball, to get my pitch back - I never thought a game could save a nation - but more importantly, I never thought a people could actually have saved me".