C.J.: Ex-Twin R.A. Dickey's book details his childhood secret

A former Twins pitcher's memoir makes claims of being sexually abused when he was 8 by a teenage girl baby sitter.

R.A. Dickey reveals his horrible secret in "Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball," which he wrote with Wayne Coffey. Dickey, now a New York Met, was with the Twins in 2009.

In the book, excerpted by SI.com, Dickey recalled being headed to the fourth grade that summer in Nashville when his mother said she was going out on a Saturday night and leaving her son and daughter with "somebody new. She's supposed to be very nice," the book states.

"We drive over to a condominium and my mother introduces me to the new sitter. She is 13, a tall girl with an athletic physique and fair skin and long brown hair. She does seem nice. My mother goes over the basics -- bath, bedtime routine -- and lets her know what time she'll be back," Dickey writes.

In the den, the teenager "puts on some country music, and I find a big, bulbous set of headphones and bop around the room to 'Elvira' by the Oak Ridge Boys. Why don't we go upstairs, the girl tells me. I like it in the den, but OK, she's the baby sitter. She takes me into a bedroom with a four-poster bed and a bunch of pillows and stuffed animals scattered around on top of it. The bedroom is pink and frilly."

Downstairs in the living room, the baby sitter's mother, Dickey's mom and a group of friends are having drinks before going out. Upstairs in the bedroom the sitter "chucks the pillows and stuffed animals out of the way. She looks at me and says, 'Get in the bed.'"

Confused, frightened and trembling, he complied, and this sad chapter in his life began. The alleged sexual abuse happened four or five times that summer and every time he knows she'll baby-sit, he starts to become anxious and sweat. "Each time feels more wicked than the time before," Dickey writes. "I never tell [his mom] why I am so afraid. I never tell anyone until I am 31 years old. I just keep my terrible secret, keep it all inside, the details of what went on, and the hurt of a little boy who is scared and ashamed and believes he has done something terribly wrong, but doesn't know what that is."

A reader whose e-mail was signed Deb Rankin-Moore informed me that she had posted this on her Facebook page: "I could NOT believe my ears this morning. I listen to the KQRS morning show for about 7-8 minutes every morning. I tune in to listen to Mike Evans -- he is pretty funny and gives an interesting report on Hollywood news. I turn the dial, just in time to hear Tom Barnard call Congressman Keith Ellison 'Keith Boy.' Barnard continues to rant about how ignorant Ellison is, blah, blah, blah. Seriously -- he called a grown man, a grown AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN, a boy?!?!? Welcome to the 1870's I guess."

I called the offices of KQRS, where phones are answered in part as "Radio Disney," and left two voice mails for operations manager Dave Hamilton. Hamilton shot me an e-mail: "I just listened back to a recording of today's KQ Morning Show. Tom spent 10 seconds talking about Congressman Ellison. He DID NOT use the word 'boy' or any other word that could be construed as a slur. If you speak with the person [who] is making this accusation, please send them our way."

Barnard, however, called me later to confirm that he had indeed referred to Ellison as "Keithboy" in the best sense of the word. "It was not a racial slur in any way. It was a term of endearment, actually, even though I'm not very happy with him," Barnard told me in a voice mail. "Instead of calling him an a-hole or something like that, I actually did call him 'Keithboy.' Everybody calls me 'Tommyboy.' I was watching a movie last night where a black man called a white guy 'Jimmyboy.' It was said like 'my boy.' It was 'Keithboy,' one word, not two. I did not call Keith Ellison a 'boy.' I'm not that stupid. Plus I don't hate the guy; he's annoying to me."

Given how many people, black and other hues, have found KQ92 a hostile environment for those with skin tone, Barnard should be smart enough to steer clear of calling Ellison "Keithboy" or anything else with "boy" attached. Barnard may enjoy being called "Tommyboy," but "boy" is still a loaded word when a man with Barnard's track record directs it at someone who looks like Ellison.