Three Strikes And You're In

The Knicks have never lost to the Giants. But on Thursday, Kenyon was touched for five runs in the fifth inning. After he was relieved, he went to rightfield—you don't want to get sent to the showers here. The Knicks failed to rally, and the game was still tied 7-7 when it was called for darkness. The only lights at Unsafeco are searchlights.

It's just as well. "We tell ourselves it's not important if we win or lose," says Kenyon. "The important thing is that we're leaving."

As for those who can't leave, they might console themselves with the thought that it's no great leap from the big house to the big leagues. And vice versa. In both places you'll get a numbered uniform and try to go yard and maybe—just maybe—room with Pete Rose. Ron LeFlore was discovered by Billy Martin at Jackson State Prison in Michigan while doing a five-to-15 stretch for armed robbery and went on to play nine years in the majors. Indeed, many of our better ballplayers have done (or are doing) time, among them Rose, McLain, Strawberry, Aikens, Willie Wilson, Orlando Cepeda, Vida Blue, "Blue Moon" Odom....

"John D'Acquisto?" says Kenyon, naming a San Francisco Giants pitcher of the '70s.

"You mean John Montefusco," I reply, naming another San Francisco Giants pitcher of the '70s.

Turns out we're both right: Montefusco served two years at Monmouth County ( N.J.) Correctional Institute while awaiting trial on 20 felony counts, including assault and kidnapping charges. (He was acquitted.) His teammate, D'Acquisto, is serving a 55-month sentence at a federal prison in Florence, Colo., for defrauding investors of nearly $7 million, money he used to buy luxury cars, racehorses and an interest in a Mexican baseball team.

Be nice to see him in a Giants uniform again, wouldn't it?