Original subtitles

he can't live.

Sure. We gotta be in first place, don't we?

Positive thinking.

Hey, Clint.

Hey, Ed.

Nice going, buddy.

Thanks. I think the wind pushed a little.

There was no wind. It was all of us in a dugout. We were blowing it. Yeah.

Ed, this is Joe Bigelow. Hi, Joe. Nice game.

Sergeant Ed Brown, San Francisco Police.

Hey, police.

Just the man I want to see. I got me this little parking ticket. Pay it.

That's what I thought you'd say.

Oh, man, that was a big one. You guys keep going like this, you'll be in first

place for the weekend. Yeah, sure.

Marcy and Joey waiting for me? No, Marcy told me to tell you they were going

straight home.

Good, good.

So, that gives us our chance to talk.

Haven't seen you since before your last road trip. All of a sudden, an

invitation to the game, insisting I take the afternoon off.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be that transparent.

No, you weren't.

Just a cop's training. I even start wondering when somebody says hello. You

trouble? I don't know.

Maybe this is some kind of a nut or some crackpot.

Just maybe.

How long have you been getting these?

Over the last couple of weeks. They're mailed to me here, Mark, personal.

Dear world's greatest, you've really made it, baby. You are the greatest.

It only takes a little slip to make you a bum.

Or maybe it's not a slip.

You're pushed.

Spoiler.

It's kind of silly, huh? The guy really must be some kind of a crackpot.

Best of these about the same?

Yeah, you know, he calls me the greatest and all that jazz.

Any specific threats?

No, he just needles me.

Oh, listen, I'm being stupid.

This stretch drive's got me uptight.

You let me take these down to headquarters and run a check on them.

No, no, listen, I don't want you to go to any trouble.

I'd appreciate it.

That probably don't mean a thing.

You just forget about it and concentrate on getting those base hits, okay?

Mr. Atkins, a letter for you. Thank you.

Hey, guard!

Who gave you that? When?

A little kid about a minute ago outside. Can you remember him? Yeah. He wore a

baseball cap and, uh, gee, there's a million kids in the park today and they

wear caps. Yeah.

Thanks.

This isn't just a needle.

Dear Greatest, so you're a hero again, right at the top.

There's only one place to go now, down.

Straight down.

I don't care if he is a penmanship dropout. That printing has to be a put

This line of the letters was obviously done left -handed by a natural right

-hander. Characters are too perpendicular.

Some of them even slant to the right.

Although I'm certain the writer was trying to be deliberately crude in his

style, there are certain consistencies.

Unconscious carryovers from his natural writing habits.

Note how he crosses a T.

The tail on the letter A. Circle dots over the I's. A looped H and the full

G's and F's. Then you feel we can pin the note on him if we can find him.

That writing expert could.

All right, Mark, let's try the lights.

Well.

Well, what?

Do we move? In what direction, Ed? Every public figure receives this kind of

hate mail.

Thinly veiled threats, obscenities.

Something they have to live with, unfortunately.

The key word here is mail, Chief.

Clint said the other letters were mailed to him at Candlestick. The last one was

hand -delivered.

We'll just have to wait and see how this develops.

Mr. Atkins' reaction to unfriendly mail, if that's all it turns out to be, is

not a police responsibility.

But suppose these notes are only the groundwork for something more.

Then it is police responsibility.

Look, Clint, it was an error, not the end of the world. Forget it. Tomorrow's

another day.

I'm not getting through to you. Something hit me. It still hurts. Now

look.

Hey, anybody could throw a rock that straight and that hard. Maybe we could

them on the team.

How do you know it was a rock? Well, what else could it be?

Well, it had to be something that had weight to be thrown that far.

What makes you so sure it was thrown?

Have you got a better idea?

I don't know.

Mr. Cruz, could I borrow a couple of your groundkeepers?

No, Ed, he isn't back yet.

Sure, I'll tell him.

See you later.

Who wants you to tell me what?

Oh, Ed, he's on his way over to see Clint Atkins.

Another letter?

No, something a little more direct.

22 caliber.

Clint Atkins was hit in the back with it this afternoon.

Fired from a CO2 handgun, most likely.

Ed found it in right field.

Lucky for Atkins, it wasn't a real gun.

That can still hurt.

You know, I fired a CO2 gun in target practice.

The noise that it makes would be covered by the yelling in the stands.

And the gas is odorless, next to invisible.

Wouldn't the cat who fired the gun have to aim it to hit Atkins in the back? He

was moving target.

The gun was probably hidden under skies.

This may seem obvious, but wouldn't the case of a home movie camera hold a cut

-down handgun?

It could.

No one would ever question a fan taking a shot of a ball player in action.

I get the feeling that the man who wrote these notes is starting to warm up the

action. It's possible. Or there might be no connection.

Sick minds are not in short supply.

But look at the pattern, Chief. Five needling letters received by Atkins in

last couple of weeks. Now he's shot in the back with a pellet gun.

Pursuasive, but not conclusive enough for us to move yet.

What do we need?

A call for help.

From Atkins.

Going out with Mom. Night -night.

Come on.

Hello. Hi, Clint.

Who is this?

Never mind. I know who you are.

The world's greatest outfielder. You. You're... You're the one that wrote the

letters. Uh -huh. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was to see you miss that

easy fly ball today.

I understand.

Something hit you in the back.

Next time it could be a bullet.

You did it.

I had to make sure you took your fan mail seriously.

I wanted to show you how easy it would be to cut you down.

Even easier with your family.

Know what I mean?

Who are you?

Why are you doing this to me?

Because you've got it. The greatest.

You're loaded and I want my share. A hundred thousand bucks.

A hundred?

But I don't have that. I want it!

Say I could scrape that kind of money up.

Where do I leave it?

I'll tell you in plenty of time. Oh, and a little thought. Don't get the fuzz in

this or all bets are off, understand?

All bets are off.

How long you been there, honey?

Long enough.

Flint, what was that call about?

Oh, it's just some nut. I don't know. Just forget it. Forget it? Clint, I

you tell that nut you'd raise money.

Ask him where you could leave it. Now, I want to know what's going on.

Clint, answer me.

A man wants $100 ,000 or he'll kill one of us.

I'm calling the police, of course. No.

He warned me not to.

He'll do it then, sure.

That's what he said.

That thing that hit me in the back today, he did it.

He was in a stance?

Yes, ma 'am. And he said that it just as easily could have been a bullet.

I believe him, honey.

Who is it?

Ted Brown.

Not a word to Ed, honey.

But Ted... Not a word.

But I've got to work this out myself.

Promise me you won't say anything.

Okay.

Hey, Ed, old buddy. Hey, Clint. I'm sorry I didn't call. Oh, that's all

Come on in.

Hi, Marcy.

Hello, Ed. You're Miss Joy. He just went to bed.

Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't see you.

Funny, isn't it? We don't see you for months and then two days in a row.

Come on. Come on. Sit down. Thank you. How about some coffee? Yeah, if it's

already made. A fresh pot.

Oh, cream, sugar? No, straight, thank you.

Well, what brings you out this way? I thought you should know.

Looks like those weren't just ordinary crank letters.

Whoever wrote the means business.

Oh, come off it.

You weren't hit by a rock this afternoon, Clint.

It was a .22 caliber pellet fired by a CO2 gun.

Well, how about that, huh?

I mean, when the fans start shooting at the players, we better go in and get

combat pay.

Clint, this is serious. I think you're in big trouble.

Oh, Ed, come on. We got a kook that wants to be my pen pal, and some giant

shoots a BB in my back.

You know, they used to use pop bottles.

It's all part of the great American pastime.

Not the way I look at it.

If you get any more of those letters, I want to see them.

He might try to call you.

I'll send out a tape recorder with a phone jack.

Tape recorder?

Listen, Ed, this is all getting to be a little bit too much. I mean, you know,

just the whole detective scene.

And besides, what am I going to tell Marthy?

If this man means business, you're going to have to tell her something.

Ed, look, we've been old buddies, good friends for a long

time, right?

Get off this kick.

When I need a policeman, you'll be the first guy I call.

Clint, you opened this can of peas, remember?

Yeah, I know.

I'm sorry about that.

Like I told you, Ed, I... The pressure and the stretch drive.

Look, just forget about the thing. It's all a bad joke.

All right. Marcy, all right, so Ed knows I was lying.

What can he do about it? The question is, what are we going to do about it?

over and play dead?

Honey, there are worse things than playing dead.

Look, Marcy, if I had opened up, I mean, told Ed, spilled the whole thing, I...

Well, at least we might have some help.

Yeah, and what if something goes wrong and you enjoy your hurt, or worse?

But what if it happens anyway? How can you trust that man?

It won't happen, not if I pay him the money.

But how do you know?

I don't know! What do you want from me?

Lab report, papers of common drug and dime store stock.

The computer couldn't find a match for the writing.

So we're blanked. I know the writer has been clever enough not to be caught

committing a felony. Up to now.

What about the pellet gun? Maybe we can find the owner. Oh, no, Mark.

CO2 gun can be bought in almost any hardware store, department store, or

-order house in the country, no questions asked.

Ed, I understand your concern for Atkins.

But if he's holding back, I just don't know what we can do about it.

He's been reached again. I'd swear he has.

When he first gave me the letters, he wanted me to help.

Last night, he told me to forget it, laugh the whole thing off.

But he wasn't being very funny.

All right. As soon as Squeeze is on and Atkins is going along with it.

Why? Why?

Obvious reason is to protect his family.

There must be something we can do.

You two ganging up on me?

Of course we should do something. But if we charge in openly now, we really

would jeopardize the family.

You said openly.

I said openly.

You're temporarily detached from duty on our present case, Ed.

Special assignment.

How baseball combats crime.

It's from Mr. Atkins.

I didn't order anything from Hi -Fi House.

Ed Brown wanted you to have it.

I see.

Thank Ed for me.

Good luck at the game this afternoon.

Thank you.

What is that?

A tape recorder.

Boy, don't buck Ed Brown. It won't get you anywhere.

Ed's a good friend.

Yeah, a real pal, right to the end.

That's a very bad joke.

It's time I got Julia.

Joey, you've just got time to... Joey, you've just got time to get dressed to

school. Come on, get up.

What's the matter?

I don't feel so good, Mom.

Uh -huh. I've heard that one before, young man. Come on, let's go.

You're going to use it?

Yeah.

Well, then you're changing your mind about going to bed.

No, honey, I can't take that chance.

Then why are you bothering with the tape recorder?

It's for me.

I've just been bugged with the idea that I know that man's voice.

Now, if he calls again, I'm going to record it. Maybe it'll come to me.

Joey!

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm with you.

Then you get my message.

Yeah, I got the message.

You can have the money.

But you've got to give me a chance.

It's going to take some time.

Unless you want my blood, too. That's the best I can tell you.

Don't lose your cool, baby.

What have you got to be so sensitive about?

Anybody gets to be a big baseball star like you must have stepped on a lot of

bodies on the way up.

I'm trying to get over to you that I don't keep a hundred grand around the

house. So lay off us!

I might just do that.

I'm one of your fans, Atkins.

Sure would hate to see you blow the Giants out of the pennant just because

you're all shook up.

I'll be watching every play you make.

Sitting out there right over the pasture.

I keep

thinking

I know that voice.

At least it seems like I do. I just... I can't put a face with it.

What are you going to do, Clint?

Get the money. What else can I do?

I think we're worth $100 ,000.

Oh, honey, listen. Some families are wiped out in an accident on the freeway.

We're not wiped out.

You bet we're not.

I got to get down to the park.

Are you sure Joy's all right?

First time he ever wanted to go to school.

Couldn't wait to tell the other kids.

Don't worry, honey.

But keep the doors locked.

you're cool, baby.

What have you got to be so sensitive about?

Anybody gets to be a big baseball star like you must have stepped on a lot of

bodies on the way up.

Oh, Ed.

I haven't caught you in a bad time, have I? Oh, no, of course not, but Clint's

already gone to the park.

I know, I saw him. I wanted to talk to you about him.

Oh.

Oh, come in.

Sit down.

Is, uh, is something wrong?

I mean, uh, Clint's not in any kind of trouble, is he?

You tell me.

I don't know what you mean.

Well, I suppose I could be wrong, but talking to him last night, he seemed all

tied up, like something was bothering him.

Oh, well, of course. Every game is vital now. The pressure on him has been

terrible. I'm sure, but Clint's a pro. He's used to that. I got the idea it was

something else.

I can't imagine what.

You haven't had any strange visitors lately or unusual phone calls?

Uh, no.

Ed, you're beginning to frighten me.

I'm sorry, Marcy. I guess I'm just imagining things.

I didn't mean to barge in on you.

Don't rush off.

Have that some coffee.

No, thanks.

Hey, what did you do? Burn the toast this morning?

No.

You've had a fire.

Oh, oh, that. Well, we had a little one in Joey's room. He was playing with

matches.

Doesn't sound like Joey.

Well, wait till you have one of your own, Ed. They're full of surprises. Not

of them, bless you. Well, he's all right.

Yes, just scared himself to death enough, too.

Say, could I change my mind about that coffee?

Well, yes, of course. Make yourself comfortable. I'll get it. Thanks.

What have you got to be so sensitive about?

Anybody gets to be a big baseball star like you must have stepped on a lot of

bodies on the way up.

A little further, Eve.

Right about there.

The pennant, just because you're all shook up.

I'll be watching every play you make.

Sitting out there, right over the pasture.

All right, Eve. Take it down to the voice profile analyzer and wait for it.

As soon as they have a copy to work with, I want it back.

Right, Chief.

Well, Ed?

There's nothing bush about this guy. He knows exactly what he's doing.

Certainly knows Clint and how to get to him.

That thing he said about stepping on a lot of bodies on the way up.

Key words.

And sitting over the pasture.

He's either an old ball player or he's dreamed of being one.

A few people outside the game would call the outfield the pasture.

So where does that leave us? Where do we go from here?

Only one play for me. You can play it straight.

You're now investigating a felony.

All right, get back to the field. We've still got a game to play.

Say it, Cruz.

What happened to you?

This.

Now, it must have come from the stands in back of first.

That's where I was heading.

Well, at least I got something to tell the reporters.

No, no, no.

I just say that I slipped. I pulled a muscle.

Anything. Well, why were you heading for the stands? To look for a doctor?

Just cover for me, please.

All right.

Take it easy.

Nobody in the stands you recognized?

Hey, Ed.

What does this guy want from me?

Clint, I think you just gave it to him.

Why?

Why is he doing this to me?

Sergeant Brown?

Telephone. Thank you.

Sergeant Brown.

Yes, Chief.

I'll be there as fast as we can.

Get dressed.

We're going to take a run down to headquarters.

There's something Chief Ironside wants you to see.

All I can tell you is that Clint Atkins has been taken back into the dressing

room. I don't know what happened. We turned one of the nicest guys in the

into a madman.

All of a sudden, he... turned and started running for defense behind first

His teammates grabbed him, but he tried to fight him off.

Yeah? Is this the wife of the world's greatest baseball star?

Glenn isn't here.

I know. I wanted to talk to you.

Why? Were you listening to the game?

Yes. Then you know, you went a little ape out there. Too bad.

And I know why you did, too. You shot him again, didn't you?

Did you say shot?

Yes, with that pellet gun.

How'd you know it was a pellet gun?

Well, I don't. Don't lie to me.

Clint's gone to the cops. No. Come off it.

They'd have to be the ones to figure that out.

No.

No, it was Clint.

After the game yesterday, he found a pellet. I don't buy that.

Well, I don't care what you buy. You're a filthy animal. Now leave us alone.

TV camera was shooting the crowd when you tried to climb the fence.

I called the director and had him take a couple of pictures of the instant

replay tape.

Right off the tube.

Take a good look.

Man in the aisle, Clint.

Have you ever seen him before?

I can't tell. It's too far away.

We'll get a blow -up made.

I'd be willing to bet he's the man who shot you.

Nobody else is leaving, you'll notice.

Would you take these pictures down to the lab?

Have them frame on a man.

As large as they can get it. Right.

Thank you.

Clint, while I have you, there's a question you can answer for me.

I know the Atkins legend.

Slum kid makes good.

You moved up very fast. Less than a season with the farm down in Phoenix.

I was in a hurry.

Marcy and I had it all to make.

Clint.

Did you step on anyone in the rush?

How'd you know about that?

I dropped by to see Marcy this morning. Picked up the tape you made of his call.

Marcy gave it to you? No, I took it.

Well, thanks.

Thanks a lot, old buddy, for staying out of my business.

Felony extortion is our business, Clint.

And keeping Marcy and Joy safe is mine.

I think you'd better be on the next plane to Phoenix.

No, it was Clint.

After the game yesterday, he found a pellet.

I don't buy that.

Well, I don't care what you buy. You're a filthy animal. Now leave us alone.

He had me so confused, so upset, I didn't even know what I was saying,

I'm sorry.

Oh, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

I tell you, the fuzz are all over me like a blue serge suit. He would have

tumbled onto it.

Well, isn't there anything we can do?

I could send you and Joey away.

Take a chance so he wouldn't follow you. That I'm the prize he's after.

I won't go, Clint.

I won't.

I won't.

The Phoenix Club management let me go over their transfer files. I found this

insurance questionnaire.

We're in business.

Same way of crossing a T, circle dot over the I, the way the A tails off. And

was printed by a right -hander. It's funny how it looks the same even though

was printed left -handed.

Same brain produced them.

There has to be visual conformity.

Ernie Wilson.

I guess I haven't been following baseball closely enough. I don't know

You have a lot of company, Eve.

I could only find two men in the entire Phoenix organization who remembered him.

Wilson had one season, the year before Clint joined the club.

Led the league in runs batted in looked promising.

Then Atkins overshadowed him.

No, not altogether. They were kind of neck and neck that year.

In fact, Ernie was brought up to the majors for the spring exhibition season.

The report was he choked when he faced big league pitching.

That's what separates the men from the boys.

The Giants brought Clint up late that year.

Ernie went all to pieces. He started boozing. They had to drop him.

We could have R &I do a makesheet on him.

It's in the works.

He did time in Illinois where that picture was taken, Colorado and New

Poor Ernie.

I never knew anything like this happened to him.

Spent nine of the last 14 years in correctional institutions.

Every one of his convictions involved assault.

I don't know what to say. I can't believe it.

The writing on the note he put in your locker matches up with his handwriting.

And there's another picture of him. Blow up one of those pictures I had you look

at yesterday.

Recognize him?

I'd pass him on the street.

Quinn, I'm going with Taylor in right field tonight. You go in if we need a

pinch hitter.

You're benching me?

I want a man out there who's got his mind on baseball, period.

You talked to him.

I did.

Ed will stay here with you to keep you out of trouble.

Now look, Chief, if I don't go out there and play, he'll get to Marcy or Joey.

We're covering those possibilities, Clint.

Mark. For how long?

Until we have that gentleman safely in custody.

And here's a surprising change in the lineup. Number 47, Juan Gonsalvo, right

field, batting in the number five slot.

Glenn Atkins has been benched.

We're checking with the dressing room now to find out why.

Who's this?

You know who this is, baby.

And you know what I told you if you went to the cops?

But I did. You're lying.

Why ain't you in the lineup tonight?

Cruz, he benched me.

Listen, I got the money. Where do you... Keep it.

I got something for you.

All right, baby.

He's in the park, Ed.

How do you know?

Well, that whistle you heard, it's a bosun's pipe.

Belongs to Salty, one of the program butchers.

He always worked 8 -3.

8 -3?

That's behind section 19, isn't it?

Almost on top of us. He's close.

You stay here.

Wait a minute. You're not going to go after him alone. You're not going with

You stay here and keep the door locked.

You heard me.

Do you know Chief Ironside? Yeah.

He's in a field box behind the dugout.

Give him a message for me. Tell him Ernie Wilson is in the ballpark.

But I care to leave here.

There's no one else. I'm going after Wilson.

Now hurry up!

Right there, Wilson. Police.

Clint! Hold it, Atkins.

Slide your gun over here, copper.

Inside, bum.

All right, give it up, Wilson.

Not till I'm through with the bum.

Better save some for me.

Hey, you had your shot.

You okay?

Yeah, yeah.

Ed, I'm sorry. I should have known you had a playbook. You pulled it out.

Hey, I don't know what's going on up there, but you better get off the bench.

spot is up next joy just hang on right oh i thought you said everything's all

right was last i heard

you're up they gotta

put him in now they gotta they gotta wilson's all wrapped up on his way

downtown now batting for the giants number 29 clint atkins

Positive thinking. I'll take a clean single.