WASHINGTON (AP) -- During his stint in the Person Gulf on a Navy carrier, Mitch Harris kept his pitching arm - and his hopes of eventually making it to the majors - in shape by tossing a baseball on the flight deck.
''We actually had a cook ... who grew up playing baseball his whole life,'' Harris recalled. ''He was about the only person I truly trusted to throw with, because I was scared I'd hurt anybody else.''
Harris, a 2008 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, told this story Tuesday during a news conference at Nationals Park, where the 29-year-old relief pitcher joined the St.