The year was 1987, and the serenity during a rather meaningless spring training game under the comforting Arizona sun was suddenly punctured by a perturbed Dennis Eckersley. Then with the Cubs, Eckersley startled onlookers as he stood on the mound, grabbed his crotch and yelled obscenities toward the A’s dugout and manager Tony La Russa.
Neither man could realize it at that moment, but in just a few days they’d be joined together, and their lives would change forever.
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Still just 32 years old but seemingly on the downside of his career, Eckersley was struggling to earn a spot in the Cubs rotation.