Fantasy Camp.
Part deux.
I'm goin' back.
Because once was NOT enough.
For those of you who were not part of my fun LAST year when I wrote a blog, let me give you some background information as to how this has all come to be.
In December of 2012 I received notice from my former employer, the Minnesota Twins Baseball Club, notifying me that they were offering me the opportunity to cash-in my Major League Baseball pension from my six seasons in the front office. Instead of opting for monthly payments which would not even begin until 2025 I chose the lump-sum payout. I was going to use the money for household expenses. My wife, Bryn, "suggested" that I take money that I'd made in baseball and spend it on something in .......baseball. THIS year I took the remainder of my 401k to pay for part of camp. I figure that I'm in better shape and I want to do do a better job than last year. More later on my preparation for MFC 2014.
I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. I was born on the same day that ground was broken on what was originally known as Flushing Meadow Park, and was later named Shea Stadium. I found out this fact when I was about 10 years old and I was rather proud of it, and I still am. So, I believe I was born to be a Mets fan.
I grew up as a New York Mets fan. Mostly because my dear aunt Bea was a fan. The Mets were a new team in 1962 and she took to the new team in town. Not wanting to have anything with that other team in New York, she put up with the long struggling of a team that was untalented and were basically a laughingstock in the league for their first 7 seasons. But then in 1969 all of the planets aligned and they won 100 games during the regular season. They blew past the Braves in the playoffs and won 4 of 5 games versus the Baltimore Orioles to win their first World Championship. I was only 7 at the time of the Series, but Bea was "in da house" when Cleon Jones caught Davey Johnson's fly ball.
Baseball is my second love. My mother was my first love. I think that it is the greatest game ever invented. When I landed a job working for a Major League team I was over the rainbow. I was on the field when the 1991 World Series ended and I have met dozens of major leaguers, some whom are now hall-of-famers, some who are my personal friends and I was even a major league mascot. I could NEVER have dreamt of those experiences when I was a kid.
During my time with the Twins I kinda lost touch with my "real" team. The internet had not yet been invented and it was tough to keep up with the orange & blue on a daily basis. Interleague play had not yet begun and my schedule didn't allow for much viewing of games from other markets. But after I left the team I took a year off from watching baseball altogether. But in 2003 I started to get back into the game "full bore".
What helps the most today is something called SNY. SNY is a channel which allows me to keep up with the orange and blue and watch nearly all of their games. The voices of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are heard at my house a whole lot between April and September.
My love of this team runs deep and one of the thrills I will experience next week is the fact that nearly all of my fellow fantasy campers are life-long Mets fans. We have a common bond. We tell stories about players, games and moments that we can each recall as though they happened last Saturday. We also get to rub shoulders with some of those players we recall so fondly. So the stories will be flying at great speed all week, to be sure.
This year will be better than last for many reasons. A gentleman who read last year's blog contacted me a few months ago and we've been exchanging e-mails ever since. He will be joining me as a "teammate" for this camp, but you will learn about him soon as well.
I eluded to the fact that I have a "teammate" this year. His name is Phil Forman. He will be a rookie this year and he read my blog and enjoyed it. He has been in high anticipation of the start of camp, much like all of us. There are about 100 campers or so and a happier bunch of middle-aged guys you will probably never see.
Phil knows a lot about the game and he's helping me out with my new gloves and their break-in process. He has theories that are very different from what I grew up with, but I already trust him and have the utmost confidence in his teachings. He's also selling me a new bat to use. I purchased a couple of "off-the-rack" bats last season for my senior league team, but ended up breaking them both before the season ended. I ended the year using a bat that once belonged to a guy named Alex Rodriguez when he played for a team called the Seattle Mariners. It's not new at all, as Alex apparently last played for the M's in 2000. I came upon it when a clubhouse guy from the Twins left it in my office inside of a Mariners equipment bag. I never used it until last year. I got a single in my first at bat with it and it has performed quite well. But it can't last forever, so a new stick is in the works. I look forward to meeting Phil on Tuesday.
I have looked at the mailing list which is attached to the information updates sent to us by coordinator Doug Dickey. Doug is in his second year as coordinator and he did a superb job last year. I know he was pretty nervous last year but I'm sure that experience will come in handy in a few days. There appear to be a whole lot of returnees for 2014. It will be so cool to see those guys. That's something that I didn't get to experience last year. I DID get some of it in May at the reunion in New York. I'm so bad with names sometimes that having the last names of the players on the uniforms is a HUGE benefit to me.
The coach/pro list has lost two names in the last couple of days. 1969 champions Ed Charles and Bud Harrelson will not be with us next week. I had the great opportunity to meet Ed last year. We had a great conversation during dinner at the awards banquet. We talked about his meeting Jackie Robinson during his childhood and the then-upcoming movie release of "42" in April. If you've seen the film, you know that there's a character who later grows up to BE Ed Charles. I will always remember my time with Ed because he always referred to me as "Bobby". Now, I'm guessing that he misheard me when I introduced myself to him. I didn't want to correct him, so I went with it. Bud Harrelson, former shortstop and one-time Met manager was scheduled to be with us LAST year also, but he couldn't make it then either. I was kinda hoping to meet him, for sure.
The weather looks like it will be dry and in the high-60's and low 70's. 70 degrees would be 90 degrees warmer than it was outside my front door last week. Now, I wear long sleeves when it's 90 degrees, so I will probably be in a parka for the morning workouts during the week. Long sleeves is merely a comfort zone for me and that's pretty much it. My teammates ask me how I can do it in the temps that are above 80. I tell them that I have no blood, then turn and walk away.
Time keeps on ticking into the future. That future includes a week playing baseball in Florida.
That's good stuff, right there.
P.S.- I actually have some blood.
No comments:
Post a Comment