A Ring of Truth – Telling a Tale on Myself

Tonight’s starting pitcher for the Red Sox at Comerica Park in Detroit will be rookie Clay Buchholz. You may recall that last September, as a late season expanded roster call-up from Pawtucket, he pitched a no-hitter in his second major league start.

Last weekend I was at Boston’s Copley Place Mall, and noticed Clay looking in the window of one of the stores. I went up to him and we had a pleasant conversation. We know some people in common, and we talked about them for awhile. I noticed that a friend of mine, who runs a kiosk in the Mall, was waiting on a customer just a few feet away from where Clay and I were holding our conversation. Knowing that my friend is a huge sports fan, I decided to have some fun. Clay was wearing his impressive World Series Ring.

“Clay, would you mind if I borrowed your ring for a minute?”

He was gracious, and went along with the scheme. I walked over to my friend, waved the ring in front of his face and said: “Look what they are giving out at Starbucks today!”

His jaw dropped as he gaped at the enormous bauble. Then he noticed Clay Buchholz standing behind me with a grin on his face. And then he understood the ruse. So it was time to return the valuable ring to Clay. It had not occurred to me when I asked to wear the ring that Clay is tall and thin and has the long and slender fingers of a piano player. I am anything but tall and then, and boast short and stubby fingers with knuckles that show the effects of several decades of gratuitous knuckle-cracking. In a word, the ring was stuck on my finger. I could not get it to slide over the knuckle of my ring finger! For a brief moment, I was not sure what to do. But after a few seconds of twisting and turning and straining and grunting, I managed to free the ring from its digital dungeon and return it to its rightful owner.

So, when young Mr. Buchholz toes the rubber tonight in Detroit, I will be thinking about my little faux pas and his graciousness in going along with my craziness.

Go Sox!

Al