The first full day is now history. It was a great one and tomorrow can't come soon enough.
I got to the complex at 7:30 and had some breakfast before getting my uniform on. My buddy Phil came in and we caught up on some things. He brought a bat down for me to purchase. It's a nice piece of wood that feels good in my hands and should take me into my season with the Prior Lake (MN) Pacers.
The day started off with our commissioner, John Stearns, discussing what happens at the morning meetings. We also learned about the remainder of the day's activities. We would have player evaluations (we used to call 'em "tryouts" when I was a kid) followed by lunch and the player draft by the coaches/pros. The draft is serious stuff. Now, I'm not privy at all the draft, but we players all imagine it to be a trash-talking exhibition of monumental proportions as bragging rights a huge thing at camp among the coaches/pros.
After lunch all the players were in high anticipation of finding out what team they would be on, who their teammates would be and who their coaches would be. At about 1:15 I found out that my team would be coached by current Mets major league bullpen coach Ricky Bones (pronounced "boh-ness). His team is known as Broken Bones (pronounced bohnz). I'm not sure if his team won the championship last year, but I know they were near the top at the end.
We hit the field for game 1 of our camp schedule. We played a team called The Piglets, coached by Joe Pignatano and two others. We started the game by scoring 5 in the first inning and coasting from there. We won by over ten runs and we were ecstatic with our performance. Personally, I batted seventh in the order of 13 players. I singled to center in my first at bat. In my second I basically produced a carbon copy of my first at bat, although even after it cleared the infield dirt, the runner in front of me was forced out at second base. It will probably go in the books as a fielder's choice, but under any other circumstance, it would be a hit. In my third at bat I did not get a hit and thus my average will be either .667 or .333.
We lost our starting catcher, Livio Forte, who was one of the leading hitters in 2013 to a foul pop which hit him in the right eye socket. It hit with such force that he had to go to the hospital and may need surgery. It's a shame because he only got one full inning of play completed before the injury. Friends who know him well say that unless it's something very serious, he'll be back tomorrow.
It was great to be back on the field in game situation. Granted, its been nearly four months, but I could be better than I fared today.
After the games everyone retreated to the clubhouse where we all caught our collective breaths and tried to soak in what had just happened. None of the rookies has any real idea and veterans like myself are shaking our heads nearly as much.
Today we put on uniforms that not only matched, but the uniforms had our own names on them and we played in games that meant something. How we are going to come back to earth by the time we play tomorrow is beyond me.
Tomorrow we play games 2 and 3. Our first opponent will be known by the time we show up in the early morning. We will attempt to find out how good we may actually be, or if we just got a favorable opponent draw today. This team's pretty good from what I can tell. If we get our catcher back, we could go places.
My buddy Phil was nice enough to give me a ride to the complex on the morning of day two which I appreciated greatly. I had a nutritious breakfast before I.........okay, it wasn't as nutritious as it could've been. It was quite tasty, however. I try to avoid nutrition as I sometimes tell people "nutrition- (pronounced nu-tree-shee-ohn) is a French word which loosely translated means "devoid of real taste". As a matter of fact, a comedian once said, "children who eat a balanced breakfast are the only ones who throw-up in gym class".
After breakfast I moved over to my locker where I put on my road grey uniform as my team would be the road team in game two of our schedule. Our opponents would be the Crash-Test Dummies, coached partly by Doug Flynn, Anthony Young and Rodney "Crash" McCray. If you've never seen it, go to youtube.com and look up Rodney McCray to see the play he made in 1994 in the minor leagues during the time when Major League Baseball was on strike. You will be amazed.
The day actually started with the taking of team photos, which took place in the stands of Tradition Field. We had the group photo which is a photo of everyone in camp including pros and coaches. From there we had a picture of each camper with the pros/coaches. Then came the individual team photos. It was a "chilly" morning as the scoreboard in the stadium told us that it was 51 degrees. With the steady wind, it was kinda uncomfortable for a bit.
We jumped out to another early lead. I started the game at first and made a
nifty stab of a ground ball which was smoked to my left over at first base. However, I messed up on the following batter when I dropped a catchable throw on a bang-bang play. The runner eventually scored an unearned run. I actually threw out a runner on a force play at second in inning number two while playing right field. Yes, right field. Let me assure you of one fact. I am NOT an outfielder. Under normal circumstances my appearance in the outfield should be accompanied by two things: an inquiry as to why anyone would want me out there, and a laugh track. The run which scored was the only one which we gave up. I felt bad in that it was because of my dropped ball my pitcher, Frank Christiana, was robbed of the shutout which he richly deserved. I managed to eke out one hit in the game and then it was time to look forward to game 2.
Once again we jumped out front early. Our opponents were not on the highly-
talented realm. Phil started on the hill and pitched quite well. The bats were working as we scored 23 runs in the game. I had a single, double and triple for the closest thing to a cycle in my life. I fielded well and we cruised to another victory. Like I said, I had a triple in the game. Triples are a rarity for me. I'm 52 years old, and a triple requires the batter/runner to run some 270 feet in a fairly short period of time. Now, when I typically run 270-280 feet I have usually just hit a home run in softball or have outrun a would-be thief.
We found out that Livio, our original catcher, had eye surgery today. No telling what his status is as we have received no news about his condition. We all hope that he may be able to at least be on the bench to join us on our run at a championship.
The team is hittin' and stickin' like momma's fried chicken. Tomorrow we play
game 4 of our schedule against a team to be announced. Some players believe that we will play the other 3-0 team. That would be a good matchup, that's for sure.
After the game we had the bull session with the pros/coaches. This allows us to
ask questions to any of them about the game we love. Some players talked of how today's players don't appreciate the efforts made by their predecessors. I agree with this wholeheartedly. But most of the stories dealt with funny incidents where the story has gotten more spectacular with each passing year. There was also a barbecue dinner and raffle in the tent tonight. The raffle had some pretty good items on it, but none were taken home by myself. That's all good because where
After breakfast I moved over to my locker where I put on my road grey uniform as my team would be the road team in game two of our schedule. Our opponents would be the Crash-Test Dummies, coached partly by Doug Flynn, Anthony Young and Rodney "Crash" McCray. If you've never seen it, go to youtube.com and look up Rodney McCray to see the play he made in 1994 in the minor leagues during the time when Major League Baseball was on strike. You will be amazed.
The day actually started with the taking of team photos, which took place in the stands of Tradition Field. We had the group photo which is a photo of everyone in camp including pros and coaches. From there we had a picture of each camper with the pros/coaches. Then came the individual team photos. It was a "chilly" morning as the scoreboard in the stadium told us that it was 51 degrees. With the steady wind, it was kinda uncomfortable for a bit.
We jumped out to another early lead. I started the game at first and made a
nifty stab of a ground ball which was smoked to my left over at first base. However, I messed up on the following batter when I dropped a catchable throw on a bang-bang play. The runner eventually scored an unearned run. I actually threw out a runner on a force play at second in inning number two while playing right field. Yes, right field. Let me assure you of one fact. I am NOT an outfielder. Under normal circumstances my appearance in the outfield should be accompanied by two things: an inquiry as to why anyone would want me out there, and a laugh track. The run which scored was the only one which we gave up. I felt bad in that it was because of my dropped ball my pitcher, Frank Christiana, was robbed of the shutout which he richly deserved. I managed to eke out one hit in the game and then it was time to look forward to game 2.
Once again we jumped out front early. Our opponents were not on the highly-
talented realm. Phil started on the hill and pitched quite well. The bats were working as we scored 23 runs in the game. I had a single, double and triple for the closest thing to a cycle in my life. I fielded well and we cruised to another victory. Like I said, I had a triple in the game. Triples are a rarity for me. I'm 52 years old, and a triple requires the batter/runner to run some 270 feet in a fairly short period of time. Now, when I typically run 270-280 feet I have usually just hit a home run in softball or have outrun a would-be thief.
We found out that Livio, our original catcher, had eye surgery today. No telling what his status is as we have received no news about his condition. We all hope that he may be able to at least be on the bench to join us on our run at a championship.
The team is hittin' and stickin' like momma's fried chicken. Tomorrow we play
game 4 of our schedule against a team to be announced. Some players believe that we will play the other 3-0 team. That would be a good matchup, that's for sure.
After the game we had the bull session with the pros/coaches. This allows us to
ask questions to any of them about the game we love. Some players talked of how today's players don't appreciate the efforts made by their predecessors. I agree with this wholeheartedly. But most of the stories dealt with funny incidents where the story has gotten more spectacular with each passing year. There was also a barbecue dinner and raffle in the tent tonight. The raffle had some pretty good items on it, but none were taken home by myself. That's all good because where
am I going to put anyhow?
Even though I'm at my second camp, I still felt like a rookie today when the day began. That all went away when I approached the batter's box for my first at bats of a game and the catcher stood up and said, "Welcome back, Rod". I said thank you and that it was good to be back. I didn't think that anyone even remembered me from the previous year's camp. The catcher was Bill Waschenko. I knew from just watching him and the other veterans how much Bill is respected in this group and thus I felt like he'd taken my training wheels off and now I was one of the veterans. I will always remember that moment when I think of MFC. Thanks, Bill.
Even though I'm at my second camp, I still felt like a rookie today when the day began. That all went away when I approached the batter's box for my first at bats of a game and the catcher stood up and said, "Welcome back, Rod". I said thank you and that it was good to be back. I didn't think that anyone even remembered me from the previous year's camp. The catcher was Bill Waschenko. I knew from just watching him and the other veterans how much Bill is respected in this group and thus I felt like he'd taken my training wheels off and now I was one of the veterans. I will always remember that moment when I think of MFC. Thanks, Bill.
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