FanPost

Cust was about to leave for Japan

or perhaps leave baseball entirely, had the A's out of desperation not acquired him.

I just read Ostler's story about Jack Cust. Quite moving:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...

Certain phrases, such as 'seeing players who couldn't carry his bat' get MLB jobs, being "half asleep" during endless minor league games in front of 100 people, even going to his hotel room these days and "staring at the walls" until it was time for the next game, make it clear that he doesn't feel he's in a fairy tale now, just where he has deserved to be for some time.