My relationship to Christy is more shirt-tail than that. He was my grandfather’s cousin, though there’s some doubt as to whether it was a first or second cousin. My grandfather was actually named Clarence, as was my father. The pen name is after my father, who taught me how to pay attention to the little things in baseball while listening to Herb in the back yard.

My fastball is about 65, if the Dome gun at Twins Fest is to be believed. I used to throw in the mid-80s until I threw my shoulder out in a snow ball fight. And I used to have a good curve that I could throw right at right handed batters but would break over the plate. Eighth grade is a little young to be throwing that, though, so that might have contributed to my early pitching demise. Now when I try to throw the curve, it’s somewhere between a slider and a cutter.