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Without using the letter "e," Ernest Vincent Wright once wrote a 50,000-word novel called ‘Gadsby’. Team Canada Manger Terry Puhl (Melville, Sask.), who holds the career major league record for fielding percentage at .993 also saw very few ‘e’s over his 15-year Major League Baseball career.

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If Puhl should opt to publish his own manuscript outlining how to play ‘D’ on a ball pitch, I think anybody that has anything to do with this sport should study it from front to back – start to finish. For all you kids and aspiring MLB stars, you would consult this book to find out if your ability away from batting is as good as you claim it is.

Just for fun, try to unfold you own microcosmic variation on Puhl’s 15 MLB campaigns, which saw him botch but 18 balls hit towards him from 1977 to 1991. I will toss all of my gambling chips in, and risk all my cash to hazard a supposition that you will last about as long as Moonlight Graham did in a Giants uniform back in 1905 or as long as Mitch Williams did on a 2-2 count of a sixth and final match-up for a World Championship in 1993.

Tackling such an arduous task is about as inviting as physical with an unusually thorough proctologist or facing David Ortiz in a walk-off situation in Boston with that ridiculously inviting short porch in right, gobbling up long balls on a nightly basis.

I don’t know how long it took Puhl, a 1978 all-star, to polish his skills on ‘D’, but my assumption is that this man would stop at nothing to attain his goal. Puhl was, without a doubt, a workaholic and a champion at anticipation, thus not much got by him.

Truthfully, Puhl’s passion was probably of ridiculous proportions, proving to gain him much admiration from thousands of ball fans in Canada and abroad in towns such as Houston and Kansas City. Fans that saw Puhl play will concur – Puhl always put on display his skillful command of running, catching and throwing. An old myth also told Puhl could guard a turf of potato chips and not crush anything whilst chasing down a long warning track fly.

I find it difficult to dismiss his amazing .993 mark as anything short of inspirational – most apt ‘D’ man in history and without a solitary gold mitt award. I must admit that I hold an unconditional admiration for such an artist.  

It is obvious that Puhl has not and will not obtain as much acclamation as stars such as Ruth, Aaron, Williams or Jackson – goliaths who could swing a bat with intimidating fury. Many fans may not forcibly honour his flair for his tactful manufacturing of a myriad of outs – a final total of 2,576 in addition to 57 assists – but historically, Puhl is a king at his craft, a top-notch man and catalyst for his squad.

Puhl will look to apply such skills and bring a similar approach to Canada’s squad in its bid to win a 2^nd straight Olympic trip, starting in Havana Cuba, August 23. By playing solid ‘D’ and swinging that bat on occasion, Puhl and his troops know anything is possibl‘e’ . . . . . Oops.