May 5, 200422 yr http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor...yson&id=1795255 Stark's inane stories segment... In a related Billy Wagner item, we recently witnessed a man essentially volunteer to get hit by a Wagner flameball on purpose. Ouch. That man was the always-selfless Juan Pierre of the Marlins. And on April 21, in the 10th inning of an insane 7-7 game, Pierre saw a 98-mph Wagnerball heading directly for his own personal self. Now the reaction of most people would have been: HELLLPPPPP, followed immediately by a quick dive into, oh, the nearest luxury suite. But the reaction of Juan Pierre was to turn slightly and "take one for the team." Just below the shoulder. At 98 miles an hour. (OK, make that only 98 miles an hour.) Later, Pierre rolled up his sleeve to show us where it hit. Amazingly, the ball wasn't still wedged in his arm, an hour and a half later. That, Pierre said, was because he deftly twisted toward the catcher as the baseball made contact. "I was going to let it hit me," Pierre told Wild Pitches. "But I wasn't just going to let it get me." When a man gets nailed by a 98-mph fastball, you would think he wouldn't be sure whether to go to first base -- or the emergency room. But Pierre said he was fine, all because when he was in college at South Alabama, "our coach taught us how to get hit." So how, we asked him, did he do in that course, anyway? "Oh, I passed," laughed Juan Pierre -- and he had the lack of stitches in his arm to prove it.
May 6, 200422 yr How could anyone not love JPs attitude he is out there to do whatever it takes to get the W for his team.
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