Yangervis Solarte finds support among friends

We open in a simple room in the basement of a local church. There is a small group of relatively large, athletic-looking men gathered in assembly in a series of folding chairs. At the podium stands a notable face of Yankees past.

Shane Spencer: Welcome back everyone. As always I'd like to thank Shawn Chacon for keeping minutes for the meeting today. Let me start off by saying we're very pleased to have a new member in our support group today. He was a little hesitant at first, saying he was going to turn things around with the Yankees. Then again, that's what we all said at one point or another, right Vernon!?

Group chuckles in unison at the expense of Vernon Wells. He takes a swing at a return zinger and pops it straight up.

Spencer: Anyways, welcome the early breakout star of the 2014 Yankees, Yangervis Solarte!

Solarte sheepishly walks to the front of the room.

Solarte: Hello, my name is Yangervis Solarte, and I had unsustainable success with the New York Yankees.

Group: Hi, Yangervis!

Solarte: Hey guys. Man, everything was just so magical. I never thought I would even make the team, but there I was: starting third baseman for the New York Yankees. Then, I just started feeling it. The ball was the size of a canteloupe and I charged every ball at third like a bull covered with fire ants. The crowd loved me. I was proving all those loser bloggers wrong.

Crowd murmurs at the mention of icky bloggers

Solarte: Then, it all went away in a flash. I was off balance at the plate and when I made contact the ball wasn't going anywhere. Suddenly I was hitting like the rest of my teammates. I couldn't understand it. Then it hit me: it was all just a brief, magical run. I was devastated to realize I wasn't the second coming of Graig Nettles. So right as I was about to hire a witch doctor to infuse my bat with mojo, I found about this group. With time, I hope to accept that being awesome for a brief period is nothing to be sad about. I was the best player on the New York Yankees for a over a month, and nobody can take that away from me. Thank you.

Crowd stands and applauds. Aaron Small wipes a tear from his eye.

Spencer: Thank you for sharing. Young Mr. Solarte is just the most recent in the long line of us and he certainly won't be the last. Some of us were rookies, some were last chance vets. But even though we fell on hard times as the seasons and years went on, we did our best and never surrendered to the inevitable. Now lets say the group motto:

Though the time was short,

We ruled over the sport.

Despite the inevitable fall

We will always stand tall.

Spencer: Alright, we meet again next Thursday. I don't think the current team is good enough to get us any new members. so maybe we'll just play Scrabble.