Excerpt

He alternately ran, jogged and walked. He did not take his car to the restaurant. It must have been close to ten minutes before the barracks came into view. But what was this? What was going on? Individuals as well as groups were at each other’s throats. As he turned up the walk leading to the building, the front double hung window burst from it’s frame followed by a Palestinian and Israeli ballplayer locked in combat. As he came closer, the front door slammed outward, torn completely from it’s lower hinge, gyrating from it’s upper hinge, ending up on the ground when a Palestinian and an Israeli came barreling through, again in combat.

He rushed into the building. It seemed as if every individual was fighting with one another. Some of the injuries were severe, blood was on many faces. A blow was thrown at one person, then a wrestling match ensued, and both opponents fell to the floor nearly toppling Marty.

“Stop!!! Stop!!!” Marty practically screamed at the top of his voice. He rushed from one to the other intervening in the struggles; “Stop this minute. Do you hear me?”

He went into a room set aside as his office where he picked up a megaphone and rushed outside. There was fighting everywhere. Some of the youths were lying on the ground not moving, some trying to get up on their feet. Again, blood was everywhere.

“Stop!!! Stop this minute,” he bellowed through the horn. A crowd of onlookers began to gather at the front walk. He waved at them.

“Bring ambulances. Get help”

He ran about pulling antagonists from each other, even grabbing them from the scuffs of their necks, exerting himself to stop the bloodshed. He picked up the megaphone again.

“You will stop this minute or else”

Pointing to the people in the building who by this time had come to the windows and to the front entrance he bellowed,

“And this goes for you, too. I want the injured taken care of. Tomorrow at ten in the morning I want all of you here in the front yard. There will be no exceptions as I have a very important announcement to make. Do you hear me?”

How could they help but not hear him. And the look on his face. It was a look that struck fear of the consequences of this day’s happenings.

That night Marty was on the phone to Beth. He railed on and on at what took place that day. She had never heard him so upset as he was. She tried to intercede, to let him realize that he was losing control over himself, but to no avail. She finally let him go on. Let him get it out of his system. That was the only answer she could see.

“I’m sure you’ll work this out,” she finally was able to say, “remember, honey, “you’ve had many problems before that you were able to work out. I know that this problem will be no hindrance to your wonderful ability to manage people. You’ve already proved that. That’s why you’ve been employed as a manager. Get a grip on yourself.”

“I know, I know, but you should have seen what went on. It was horrible, unbelievable. There was no sense to it. Why? Why? Everything that I had worked for, everything that I believed in had turned inside out. How could human beings act out their feelings in such a way?”

Beth, as only Beth could, attempted to soothe his feelings. She wasn’t sure that she succeeded. She could only hope she was successful. She felt so frustrated that she could not be there. She missed him so much, especially at a time like this.

Marty was beside himself. Ultimately, he became increasingly tired and told Beth he was too sleepy to go on with the phone call. Beth told him she understood and ended the call with, “I love you, Marty.”

The next morning the players assembled on the ball field. They watched Marty as he walked onto the dais. He was dressed in his coaching uniform complete with baseball cap with the letters insignia. He did not have his usual look of anticipation that he normally brought to the players in past speeches he had made. One could see that this was a very troubled man and words to that effect were definitely going to emanate from his lips.

The players themselves, aside from whispered words, were mostly silent. They knew that what had taken place the day before did not fit in with the type of person Marty was and what he expected of them. Was there to be fallout from that event? Would Marty tell them he was through? That he was going back to the States?

If that would be the case, all that they had experienced, had endured, had worked for not only for glory but for compensation would come to naught. That was hard for the players to stomach. Anything but that. Marty must not go. Mouths grimacing, fingers tightening. One could not help but feel the tension.

Marty glanced out at the assembled players. Some of their relatives were there at their sides. An important moment had arrived, too important for them to stay away. They had to learn of the consequences of the prior day’s happenings immediately, good or bad. Finally, Marty spoke:

“You all know how much I love the game of baseball. This wonderful game brought a lot of joy and happiness into my life as well as the lives of so many millions of others the world over, players and spectators alike. One of the side benefits this game has brought is the diversity of players and spectators and the interplay between them. It was not always this way. Yes, there was a color barrier for many years. You did not see players from foreign countries. Through the years the barriers were removed. Players of all descriptions intermingled and this undoubtedly helped the game to spread throughout the world.

“What I witnessed yesterday went against everything I knew, learned and believed in…..it went against my very grain.”