excerpt from The Greatest Right Fielder of ALL Time

...Daryl’s early years, the elementary school years were like any other american child coming of age in the cold war. baseball was life. Daryl’s first home run was at age 10 when D nailed a 450 foot drive to take out mr. zwiker’s windshield in the parking lot of the denny’s that neighbored the park. Daryl was forced to pay for the windshield, but being ten, money was scarce, this is when D’s life changed forever. a local boy named paul diapolnataski, being several years older than Daryl, suggested that Daryl could move some product for him. Daryl didn’t understand at first, but learned fast. Daryl had stumbled upon Quaaludes. Daryl said they took the edge off. D’s reputation had spread to the neighboring towns, also asked not to be named, and the boy who couldn’t miss couldn’t get a moment to himself. everyone wanted a piece of Daryl. Daryl quickly figured out Quaaludes were great for playing Right Field, but would hurt his batting. this is when D found Riddilin. Daryl would blow two Quaaludes before taking the field, then three Riddilin before batting to counter act the Quaaludes, then next inning, two more Quaaludes for Right Fielding. Daryl was taking 45 pills a game, Daryl was 13. by the time Daryl was in sixth grade D had reached his final height of 6 foot 6. no one will ever know what kind of effect the drugs had.

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...it’s tough finding people to give anecdotes about Daryl, everyone knew him, but no one actually got to know Mr. 1000, they loved his bat, his glove, the idea of 1000, no one knew Daryl, not because they didn’t want to, it just never crossed their minds. who ever thinks to ask their hero how his day was, or what his dreams are. every one assumed Daryl’s dreams were what they dreamed for him. but this was small town living, they needed that, Daryl couldn’t have taken it from them if D wanted to. maybe everyone just though someone else really knew him, what ever it was, it was the loneliest time of Daryl’s life. to combat this at age 17 Daryl married his high school sweet heart debra doberona. 6 domestic disputes, hundreds of beers, 57 home-runs, and six months later it was over, as fast as it began. Daryl’s first of many depression-ignited binges started. ten hours later the dog was dead, the coffee table burned in the back yard, and Daryl lay in a pool of bodily fluids no one dares guessed the exact make-up of. Daryl’s eye’s open, it’s time for practice.