Alan Schwarz, a contributor to ESPN The Magazine, is filing regular Pulsecards from spring training. Today he samples life on the fringe of baseball society.

Bit players will do anything to make a major league team in spring training. Especially 30-year-old bit players with 31 days of major league service. Just ask Red Sox outfielder Mike Neill (who, let it be known, is willing to play left field). He will be a reserve today in Fort Myers as the Red Sox split squad takes on the Twins. Then, right after the game, Neill will jump on a bus and ride 45 minutes up to Port Charlotte for a game against the Rangers. "Hey, I'm a seasoned veteran when it comes to that stuff," he says.

He isn't kidding. Last Friday, Neill sat on the bench during a home game against the Reds as the clock ticked toward 4, when the bus was scheduled to leave for a Twins tilt across town. With 10 minutes left and the game out of hand in the ninth inning, Neill went to the clubhouse and changed into the away grays. He was inhaling a turkey sandwich on his way out when coach Buddy Bailey came in. "Mike, we've cut it to three," Bailey told him. "Get ready to hit."

Alas, Neill's home uni was already in the laundry. His gloves and bats were already packed. "So I put on someone else's uniform," he says, "and got dressed to go hit. Then I get down to the end of the tunnel and somebody hits into a double play. Game over. So I had to come back and change again."

Neill changed again in about 30 seconds and made the bus just as it was about to leave. He started that night in left field but went 0-for-4.

Still, Neill got invaluable practice for his day today. "I'm totally prepared," he claims. "It's like Little League -- I'll probably have to change in the bus one of these days. But I got a lot more hits in Little League."

Alan Schwarz is covering spring training for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at als1492@aol.com.