Hang Time by Elgin Baylor

Author:Elgin Baylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

7

Hollywood (Act I)

The headline nearly blinds me.

LAKERS TRADE BAYLOR TO HAWKS FOR $200,000 CASH AND A PLAYER TO BE NAMED LATER.

I’m shocked.

The Hawks would pay $200,000 just for me? That’s more than Bob Short paid for the whole Lakers franchise.

Then my mind goes straight to basketball. I picture my new frontcourt—Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan, and me. The three of us would tear the league up.

Almost as soon as I read the headline, my phone rings. Bob Short.

“Is this a serious offer?” I say.

“Completely serious,” Bob Short says. “They know I’m strapped for cash.”

“It’s crazy,” I say.

“Unheard of,” Bob Short says. “I turned them down.”

The silence between us goes on for so long I think the phone has died.

Finally, I say, “So, you said no—”

“Elgin, they’re acting like I’m having a going-out-of-business sale. I’m not going out of business. Far from it. We’re just relocating.”

“To Los Angeles?” I say hopefully.

“You got it. The hell I’m trading you. We’re moving because of you. You’re our centerpiece. You’re the franchise.”

Of course, I don’t want to be traded. I especially don’t want to be traded to St. Louis. Bill Russell and several other black players around the league constantly remind me how some of the St. Louis fans taunt them during games, slinging racial slurs at them mercilessly. But I can’t help kidding Bob Short, even during what I know to be an anxious time. “I don’t know, Bob. Pettit, Hagan, me—we would do some serious damage.”

“There’s only one ball,” Bob Short says.

“It’s a lot of money. You sure you can afford to pass it up?”

“You’ll need a new wardrobe in L.A.” Bob sniffs. “Go heavy on polo shirts and Bermuda shorts.”

“With your legs,” I say, “you may want to hold off on the shorts.”

He sniffs again. “I never said I was relocating.”

…

As the players prepare to move to Los Angeles, Bob Short begins retooling the team, confident he can run the franchise long-distance. He entrusts our general manager, Lou Mohs, to handle all the day-to-day operations. While Ruby and I are packing up and having a yard sale, Bob Short takes step one with the team. He sits down with our coach, Jim Pollard.

Jim has asked Bob Short for a meeting to discuss his future. Much to Bob’s surprise, Jim asks for a raise and a long-term contract. In order to function at his best, Jim says, he needs job security. Bob listens to Jim’s compelling argument and then fires him.

Like a chess player, Bob has been thinking two moves ahead. He and Lou have long coveted University of West Virginia coach Fred Schaus. Fred, a former NBA forward, has become one of the most successful college coaches in the country, leading West Virginia to six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and making it to the final in 1959, where they lost the championship by one point. In addition, he coached both Hot Rod Hundley and Jerry West, a two-time All-American forward, who finished this past college year averaging 29 points, 16 rebounds, and four assists a game while shooting 50 percent from the field.

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