The man dropped his head and began to laugh

He was too old to be a minor league player, but certainly young enough to still be in the major leagues.The more I stared, the more I began to realize that I'd seen him somewhere before.Suddenly, while talking to first baseman Jim Maler, the other guy went into a mock windup and pretended to throw a pitch.Bingo!It was former Senators' pitcher Joe Coleman. Confusion didn't begin to describe the look on his face."Um, we're not part of the picture day event" the man said. "Oh, I know; hold still please," I replied.He then gave me a half-smile and said, "Oh, you must be from Spokane!""Nope. Can you move your head to the left please""Seattle""Never been there. Raise your cap just a bit."I snapped the above picture while he was still trying to figure out why this guy from Salt Lake City shoved a baby into his arms. You can clearly see that "what in the heck is going on" look on his face.Now, I wasn't just a Washington Senators' fan you understand. I knew every stat of every player who ever wore the expansion team's uniform.I knew all about this guy.I was refocusing my camera when I said almost matter-of-factly, "In your first three starts, you went 3-0, all complete games, and all before the age of 20 at that.

Who are you"I smiled and said, "Just another fan who'd loved to have had the chance to beat the hell out of Bob Short when he made that trade in 1970."The man dropped his head and began to laugh. "If you want to beat up Bob Short, you must be from Washington," he said, still shaking his head.He put my baby girl onto his left shoulder and walked to me with his arm outstretched. "Hi, I'm Joe Coleman" said the lanky pitcher with still a "tinch" of his Massachusetts accent remaining.We talked for about 15 minutes before the "Picture Day" event came to an end.He told me that he really enjoyed his time in Washington, and yes, he couldn't believe that he went 3-0 with three complete games to start off his major league career.Coleman told me that, at first anyway, he was saddened to move on to Detroit, but he began to realize that he moved with a large part of his team, so at least he wouldn't be lonely, and maybe, just maybe, he'd have a chance to finally win a pennant.I asked him about Ted Williams. He said that during spring training of 1969, Williams scared him to death "I was 22 for crying out loud, just a kid, really.

And me, being a kid from Natick, playing for a guy I grew up watching, a guy my dad pitched against It was crazy."His dad was Joe Coleman Sr., a pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics for many years and finished his career with a 52-76, 4.38 record.Was Frank Howard as nice as he seemed "Nicer."Who was the better left side of the infield, Mark Bellanger and Brooks Robinson of the Orioles, or the Senators' Eddie Brinkman and Ken McMullen"No one was better than Robinson, but Kenny was the best of the rest. I thought that Denny (McLain) would regain his stuff and win 15-20 games for Washington in 1971."I thought Toby Harrah was close enough to take over at short or third, so they really needed to replace only one starting infielder I didn't think it was a great trade, but not a bad one. I guess I was wrong."I got the impression that no one had asked Coleman these questions for some time, and that he enjoyed the trip down memory lane.Although he had three or four outstanding years for the Tigers, he was never a household name, especially in his team's hometown of Spokane, Washington. I think he actually enjoyed the time we spent talking about his past.I shook his hand and told him I enjoyed coming to RFK and watching him play. I had gotten about five or six steps towards the stands when he said, "Hey!"I turned and looked back to see that he had walked towards me. He put his hand out one more time and said, "If you paid those ticket prices at RFK, I guess I can 'comp' you a few tickets now."For the remainder of the series, I got into Derks Field free, thanks to Joe Coleman, former Senator.Coleman didn't just burst on to the scene in 1965, much was expected of the kid. Most of us with graying hair remember that Rick Monday was the first pick of the very first major league baseball amateur draft ever held.Few remember, however, that Coleman was selected by the Senators with the No.