The awards banquet was great. It was attended by virtually everyone in camp. Each team was acknowledged in ascending order from 8th to 1st. In-between, the individual awards were handed out. All of the players from Broken Bones were seated together at two adjacent tables. It was fun to see the team dressed in some of their best duds. I wore a tie again as I usually do. Coach Bobby Wine came over to give me grief about overdressing. It's just my style.
I handed out a baseball which got passed around. I asked each player to sign it for me. I'm not a big collector, but in this sense, I certainly wanted this ball. As far as the individual awards were concerned the Bones earned more than a normal share of them. Frank Christiana, Livio Forte, Mike Aranzullo and Phil Forman earned top honors in six categories. Phil was nominated for Rookie of the Year just as I was last year, but he won the Keith Hernandez Award for best defensive performance.
When team awards were announced our entire group got up to move near the stage. Wives, girlfriends and significant others brought cameras to the area just in front of the elevated stage. We were introduced by name as we made our way to the stage and soon after our coaches made their short speeches. A waitress brought a tray of glasses with champagne passed in front of us and each player and coach took one and we toasted our championship right on the spot.
I saw this part of the banquet take place last year from the back of the room. I was moderately envious, yes. But now, having seen it from the stage, I realize that my envy was justified. It was so cool!
We passed around a sheet upon which we all wrote down our names and email addresses. This will allow those of us who have pictures to send them to us in the future. Isn't technology great?
The banquet ended with John Stearns telling us the format for Sunday's games vs the pros. First game at 9:00 featuring the pros vs the camp champions, Broken Bones. My thanks to all of the members of Broken Bones: Livio Forte, Fred Hetzel, Ken Barnes, Lee Weiner, Brian Bowers, Mike LoGuercio, Jimmy Derrico, Mike Aranzullo, Elliot Kaplan, Frank Christiana, Phil Forman and our coaches Anthony Young and Alan Friedman.
My wife has asked me why at the conclusion of a World Series some players on the losing team remain in the dugout while the celebration goes on. I told her it's because they want to have something to aim for in the future. They want to know that same feeling themselves. It visualizes goal yet to be achieved. I once heard Joe Garagiola say, during the closing credits of the 1986 World Series, that "losing feels worse than winning feels good".
One thing that makes winning something like this even more special is the knowledge that we'll never put this exact team together again. At his camp some of us will participate in future years, some will not. Some of my teammates I may never see in person again. But that's just how life works. Knowing that this assemblage of people may never happen again is what make it all the more special.
The photos of the team after our victory are just moments, frozen in time, to be reflected upon in years to come. Most of my friends know how much I love Billy Joel. Billy recorded a song called "Souvenir" back in the mid-seventies. It's literally only 2 minutes long. But it speaks to how "Every year's a souvenir that slowly fades away." I hope that the memories made today and this week fade away as slowly as possible.
The Pro Game
The Pro Game
We got to play a 3-inning game versus the pros. The format runs like this. All eight teams play against the pros. The championship team plays first and then the other teams play the pros in the order in which they finished in descending order.
This meant that Broken Bones would be first to take on the pros. We got to the field around 8:40 a.m. We loosened up by throwing in the outfield. Now, I'm not sure if it was entirely adrenaline-related, but my arm felt as good during warmups as it had all week. That's crazy.
We got the opportunity to do something that the other seven teams did not. We were introduced individually on the p.a. system and we made our ways out to the first base line. The anthem was actually sung live by Jack, the clubhouse manager. I know that I had a huge grin on my face during the entire rendition just because I was that happy. I could consciously feel that I was doing it, but I was virtually powerless to stop doing it.
Following the anthem the pros took the field. The pros, according to John Stearns, have lost only one of these 3-inning contests. Their record is something like 243-1. If you think that winning a championship was a pipe dream before our first game, then this was even more of a pipe dream.
Our leadoff hitter, Lee Weiner, led off against Dwight Gooden himself. We were in awe on the bench because we all knew that unless something strange occurred in the game, we would each have the opportunity to step in against Dr. K himself. Weiner doubled into the right field alley to start the game. Number two hitter Mike Loguciero worked out a walk and then our MVP, year, Mike Aranzullo doubled down the third base line. We were up 2-0 on the pros! We scored first in every game we played during the week, and now we were ahead of the pros!
The pros mounted a rally to tie in the bottom of the first. Their leadoff hitter reached on a throwing error by Aranzullo, but I blame myself because it was a pickable throw. John Stearns ripped a liner to center and then Dwight Gooden ripped another pitch to score the first run. When Doc was over at first I asked him what position would he have played had he not become a pitcher. He said probably a corner outfielder or shortstop because he lacked the range to patrol center field. We also chatted briefly about his playing time in the Belmont Heights little league program in Tampa. He asked how I knew about that, and I told him that I resided in Tampa from 1979-1985. It's amazing how much conversing first basemen like myself can do in a short period of time. Dwight had to leave our witty reparte quickly as he was doubled to third base on a hit by Todd Pratt. Doc scored on a single and the game was tied.
We got the last out and we were ready to bat in the top of the second. I made my way to the plate and heard my name called over the p.a. system. I could never have imagined that I would get to face Dwight Gooden one-on-one, but that moment had just arrived.
I watched his last warm-up toss to catcher Duffy Dyer and stepped in. I knew just what his motion would look like, having watched video of him pitching over the last 30 years. The question was how fast would he be chuck in' it.
I went up looking for a pitch in a particular location. I followed the ball all the way in and made good contact but hit a hard grounder to shortstop who threw me out by two strides. But what a great moment. Getting a hit wasn't the point, although it would've been just as incredible. But now I can tell people that Dwight Gooden has never struck me out.
The rest of the half inning is a bit of a blur because I was still coming down from the moment I'd just lived. We took the field for the second inning with Fred Hetzel on the mound. The pros managed to squeak out a run and suddenly we were in the top of the final inning. Even though we were at the bottom of the order, which had started all the magic in the semifinal game, we couldnt get a run across and we lost 3-2.
There were hugs and thank yous and exchanges of business cards in the dugout. Some of us made our ways back to the clubhouse where we showered and dressed for what we were going to do next. Many players went back to the ballpark to watch some of the other teams take on the pros. Their flight wasn't due to leave for at least 4 hours. I'm pretty sure none of the Broken Bones had even thought we would be playing this early in the day when they made reservations. And certainly not the leadoff game. I, myself went back to the home of my hosts for the past week to start the process of packing for my drive up to Orlando to see my aunt Bea, the woman who is responsible for my love of the orange and blue.
At that point it turned into a party where nobody wanted to leave. Most of us will see each other in New York at the reunion on Father's Day weekend in June. But the tough part of the end of the week was knowing that no matter what happens in the future, this group of guys will never be together on a team again. We have a shared experience that no one can take away from us. This same thing happens to championship teams in every sport. Players retire, get traded and the like in the off-season and thus the same exact group never exists. For us, this realization had hit us right between the eyes.
Phil first wrote me on October 9th, but on the 27th of October he wrote:
"As I see in my web surfing, there are a lot of awards, trophies, plaques, ropes, etc. for everyone to bring home. Any tips on getting this kind of stuff home? Do I leave room in my luggage, ship it separately, what did you or your friends do? My optimistic self says that if we are teammates, and joined by Aranzullo, we will win a big championship trophy, right? How could we lose?"
I replied by replying to Phil with:
"You're kinda right about that, Phil. If we do end up with Aranzullo we should be in contention for some hardware. There are trophies for rookie of the year (I was a finalist for that last year- YOU must win it his year), best e.r.a, best batting average, best sportsmanship, and a couple of other awards. I believe that shipping the trophy home may be better as far as getting it home in one piece. I love your confidence. You're gonna be a great teammate."
So, not only was Phil right, but so was I. He IS a great teammate and a great guy on top of it. I got my picture taken with him one last time and then I was gone. I told him that I felt like I gained a new brother and he agreed with me. I look forward to getting to know him as time goes on. I kinda knew he was upstanding and my kinda guy when on our first day he was wearing a Foghorn Leghorn t-shirt under his uniform top. Given how much of a Warner Brothers/Bugs Bunny fan that I am, this was a match made in Looney Tunes Central Casting.
We've already discussed a posting in this blog which will allow you to meet the Broken Bones team. Individual profiles with interesting stories will allow you to know them as Phil and I do. Pictures should accompany the posting. Watch for it soon, shortly after my iPhoto program is running correctly.
That's all I've got for now. I hope those of you who have been following along have enjoyed it at least half as much as I enjoyed living it and writing about it, because it was truly one of the best weeks of my entire life, and that's not an exaggeration.
Thanks for allowing me to share it with you.
Won't you join me?
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