LOS ANGELES _ The letters arrive every now and then, and they always bring joy.
Nearly 70 years after he stepped into a unique place in baseball history, Paul Pettit remains adored. His newlywed wife, Sally, gets a kick out of it, too.
"He still gets fan mail," she said with a touch of giddiness.
Pettit recently checked off a new box when he retrieved his mail.
"My crowning achievement, I got one from Japan," Pettit said. "I saved it. I even framed it and put it up in my garage."
Those tasks aren't easy for Pettit these days. He is 87 and he doesn't move well. He has an arthritic condition in his spine that crowds the nerves to his arms and legs. But he's still as sharp as the fastballs that made him the first $100,000 "bonus baby" in Major League Baseball history.
Pettit can well recall the details of a life that made him the most sought amateur pitcher in America at 18, a strapping, flashbulb-inducing left-hander who struck out 27 batters in a 12-inning game for Harbor City Narbonne 70 years ago this past weekend.
After he was courted by a Hollywood movie producer in a Sunset Boulevard office in 1949, Pettit signed baseball's first six-figure bonus, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He rubbed elbows with Bing Crosby and Jayne Mansfield and was guided by Branch Rickey, who had signed Jackie Robinson.
And it all blew up with one pitch in a minor league ballpark in New Orleans in 1951.
Pettit remembers a lot, although he didn't know his pitching line in that 27-strikeout game. Told he issued three walks and allowed four hits, Pettit said, "That's good for me. I usually walk more than that."
