Normally when I start a character, I do an outline of the plot and try to flesh out relevant history. This stuff may never make the story, but I keep it to get a good feel of how I intended to craft the character. With Vaughn Ryan, the original intent was baseball meets the Army. I drew on Catch 22 and the fact that the Red Soxs never won the world series.

The following is actually a departure from what I normally do - I let Vaughn describe his family. Note that this expose does not fit in with Batter Up and paints his father as being more successful than the one in the outline. Also, at the end of this unfinished work, it isn't clear that Vaughn played baseball in college.