On The Road With Pat Neshek: My Site News
Below you will find every article I ever wrote about in order starting with Spring Training 2004 at the bottom of the page working up to today. Scroll down to a date and read the history. Also there is a lot of stuff in this section and it might take a little bit of time to load.
Sunday, January 30
Twinsfest
I'm getting ready to head over to Blaine right now for the last day of Twinsfest. It went by pretty quickly and I'll be back in FL feeling like I never left on Friday morning. I talked with a lot of cool people from the message board and got to hear how their weekend went and if the executed how they wanted to in getting autographs. I thought it was pretty awesome to hear how a lot of the message board contributers worked together and knocked out some tough names. As far as myself goes Twinsfest went by pretty quick. I really didn't have to do anything else except sign autographs wheras in the past I did a ton of interviews/radio, filmed commercials, sponsor meet & greets & things like that. I had a kid's question & answer session the first night and it was about 25 feet away from a Joe Mauer signing. I think about 5 kids showed up and we still had a good time. The thing I like about Twinsfest in the past is walking by the dealers and trying to get a deal. This year though it was a mess trying to just find space to walk. I'm planning on running around a little bit after my signing when Twinsfest closes at 4 today. I spotted a ball I need in my collection with PSA/DNA certification & will update everyone on here if I get it. There were some other great deals but I am a king at buying fake autographs & have a tough time being put on the spot so I just pass altogether. I wish it was easy to trust everyone in the industry but there are tons of Operation Bullpen items still being carted around throughout the hobby.
Thursday, January 27
January 27th, 2011
It's been a great off-season & it is about to wrap up soon. I've been spending most of my time on my message board lately ( http://pneshek.proboards.com/index.cgi? ). There have been tons of things going on with the boards lately & if you are into collecting anything this is a pretty fun place. In the last month we have had a couple of free signed baseball giveaways of guys like Nolan Ryan, Yogi Berra, Catfish Hunter & a bunch of others. Also there have been lots of game used items from myself and teammates that has been traded off. The best part though is that it has become a pretty neat community for trading and sharing info. Like I said above if you are into collecting of anything this might appeal to you.
I've spent most of my collecting time cleaning up my collection and I can finally report after three long years I'm happy where I'm at with my collection. I think every collector goes through a phase like this if they are serious enough where they have just too much stuff of too many different sports or items that just don't fit in. For me this stuff kind of took on a life of it's own & I had to take a long hard look at what I wanted to achieve. I decided that I needed to pick certain items I wanted to go after and get rid of everything else. When everything was said & done I was looking at a few different items
Things I Collect
1. 1970 Topps Baseball PSA Graded Cards - No certain reason...I wanted to do graded cards and I wanted a tough set to go after over my lifetime
2. Single Signed Baseballs (ROMLB, RONL, ROAL) of Hall of Famers - I have quite a collection & figured to keep going on this journey
3. Kirby Puckett Signed Items, bats, balls, cards, books, photos
4. Series 1-7 Topps Garbage Pail Kids PSA Graded Cards - I've loved these things since pre-school
5. TTM (Through The Mail) or In-Person Autographs on cards...Baseball or Hockey. I have 10 full bloated binders of cards people have given me over the years or that I got myself...I love these things and will never get rid of them...unless of course in a trade
6. ROCK N ROLL - Early Music Autographs - Probably the biggest thing I collect...I spent the off-season acquiring tons of autographs in this category...Eddie Cochran, The Big Bopper, Jan & Dean, Chuck Berry the original Jimmie Rodgers....I started getting stuff over the past couple years & I have a pretty nice collection going. I'm very interested in anything pre 1970's & will listen anytime to trade offers. I like anything in this category 8x10's, Albums, Note Cards, contracts...anything
7. Historical autographs...anyone that is highly collectible...Napolean, JFK...stuff like that
8. Random stuff...I did keep some items just because they are cool...I still collect some jerseys...kept some nice looking football minis & a couple Game Used jersey cards
Things I pulled out of
I pretty much pulled out of baseball cards...shocking but I just didn't like the prices on a pack of cards & had an incredible time getting my money back with them. They are fun to collect & I really had a blast with the Topps Million promotion but they just aren't doing it for me. If anything I might try to focus on 1 set...Topps Heritage. I believe this is one product that they have right.
8x10's...don't like them (unless they are RocknRoll or have some type of significance) & don't really collect them. Most that I get in trade go directly to my brother.
Saturday, December 25
Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season! I am down in Florida, lifting weights, running, and getting ready for next spring. I will be on the message boards so be sure and check in.
Sunday, October 17
New Free Contest Up on Message Board - NOLAN RYAN Signed Baseball
Be sure to check out the message board and the free contest section. I just put up another great item that can be yours if you pick the correct # & the contest is FREE. The item up for grabs is a Nolan Ryan Signed Baseball. This morning Punter96 picked the correct # in the Stan Musial Signed Baseball contest so congrats to him! Good luck http://pneshek.proboards.com/index.cgi
Tuesday, October 12
A Trip Back In Time - My Rookie Dress Up Costume
Yikes, haha
Tuesday, October 12
My Butler Recruiting Letter - AKA Crystal Ball
When you are getting recruited to play college baseball you get many calls and letters from college coaches. I was digging through my old folders and came across this letter from Coach Steve Farley (My College Coach at Butler). Maybe he should go into fortune telling in the offseason. Most of this stuff came true and it's pretty funny to look back and read this considering the last time I read this I was 17 years old.
Tuesday, October 5
Honus Wagner - What it is currently worth?
CHICAGO -- The hobby's biggest event was the perfect location for
a rare auction of the hobby's biggest card. A 1909 T206 Honus Wagner
was sold for $1.62 million in Chicago on Friday, sending a buzz around
the crowded floors of the National Sports Collectors Convention.
The buyer was identified as John Rogers, 35, of North Little Rock, Ark.
The card, offered by Mastro Auctions, was the highlight of an event that
also saw a 1938 Lou Gehrig Yankees jersey sell for $240,000 and Ken
Griffey Jr.'s 600th home run ball go for $42,000.
The Wagner card was in Excellent condition, graded 5 by PSA. There are
thought to be fewer than 100 copies of the Wagner in existence,and less
than 10 of those are in at least excellent condition. The sale price
set a record for the condition, vastly outdistancing pre-auction
estimates of $500,000-$750,000.
The card, which offered sharp colors and surprisingly crisp borders,
remained on display at the show throughout the weekend. Sizable crowds
of rubberneckers crowded the Mastro display, taking advantage of the
rare opportunity to see the hobby's most famous card first hand.
"It's a beautiful card," said Ace Grenier of Des Plaines, Ill., who was
spotted admiring the card. "It's one of those things you never think
you'll get a chance to see in person."
http://www.beckett.com/estore/news/?eskin=subBB&a=9792&s=1
Tuesday, October 5
Another Video
Sunday, September 26
Rookie Dress Up Day
Jeff Manship & Drew Butera
Trevor Plouffe
Ben Revere
Alex Burnett
The Group
Saturday, September 18
Free Contest - STAN MUSIAL Signed Baseball
Check out the boards to have a chance at winning this ball
Saturday, September 18
Sidearmers
Wednesday, September 8
Jeff Manship Game Used Items Up For Trade
Be sure to check out the message board, lots of game used items are up from my teammates. Today we have hats from Jeff Manship.
Wednesday, September 8
Here's A Video Told By A Cat On How To Make A Baseball Card
Tuesday, September 7
Kyle Gibson Game Used 2010 Cleats Up For Trade
Tuesday, September 7
This Happens A Lot
Friday, September 3
Matt Fox Game Used Items Up For Trade
Be sure to check out the message board, yesterday we launched a free Yogi Berra Signed Baseball contest giveaway. Today we have the newest MN Twin Matt Fox's stuff up for auction on the message board. Fox gave me 2 pairs of cleats and his hats from the first and second half of his AAA season with the Rochester Red Wings. Check out the boards for more info.
Friday, September 3
Free Yogi Berra Signed Baseball Contest
I just posted a free contest on my message board, the free item is a Yogi Berra Signed Baseball. Anyone on the message board is able to enter this free contest...good luck!
Thursday, September 2
Contest & Trades
Be sure to check into the message board next week and for the entire offseason. I will be giving away lots of great HOF signed baseballs...Yogi Berra, Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Ozzie Smith and much more...also be sure to make a request for a future free giveaway and I will try my best to get it up for you guys.
Also bringing back a blast from the past with Game Used Items from myself as well as some of my teammates like Kyle Gibson, Jeff Manship, Kyle Waldrop and maybe a couple more guys...just waiting to see what they give me at the end of the season. I will put this stuff up most likely in the next 1-2 weeks and you can offer in each section on the boards.
Saturday, August 28
I Love How He Gets An Autograph In
Tuesday, August 10
August 10th, 2010
We are back in Rochester after a trip to Georgia, Charlotte & Syracuse. I've never been to Charlotte before and if nothing else it was great to check off another field. The stadium was pretty aged and gave you a feel for the history that has come through it's door. I got to see a bunch of graphers I met in Florida during past spring trainings and signed up everything they had. Syracuse really changed since I've been there last in 2006. The last time I was there it was a cage fence for the outfield walls, the bullpens were in centerfield and the entire field was artificial turf. Back then a lot of the guys would dread playing games there. This time around it actually felt like baseball, they did a great job fixing up that place. As far as pitching goes things are going great. Instead of looking up at the radar gun and seeing 86 & 87 a month ago nearly every pitch now is 89 with a couple 88's. In Gwinnett last week I flashed 90 a trio of times. As far as the positives go I've given up 1 run in my last 11 outings. I've also held righties to a .167 batting average and if you take out my team leading 4 intentional walks my whip is close to 1. I do need to get better on getting lefties out & getting my slider to bite more with 2 strikes, then I will start seeing more k's. Overall I'm very happy with how I have been pitching and know I will continue to get stronger.
Wednesday, July 28
July 28th, 2010
We arrived in Atlanta yesterday for our game against the Gwinnett Braves. Yesterday was quite the adventure for our team. This was one of the few trips in the International League where we fly instead of taking the bus. Flying here is a lot different than in Minnesota. In Minnesota all of the plane trips are chartered and the bus basically pulls up to the plane and we leave within 30 minutes. Here we did all the normal things we would do if we went on a commercial plane. We left the stadium yesterday at 5am, got the airport a little after and sat in line waiting to check in our bags and go through security. We didn't have a direct flight so we landed in Philadelphia and waited a couple hours to leave for Atlanta. When we finally got into Atlanta we waiting for our bags and the bus and then headed to the hotel. You would think that was a long enough day but it really didn't even start yet. We arrived at the ballpark and found out that none of the equipment made it in yet. Instead of flying the equipment, a van was driven down after our night game the day before. As the hours went by there was no equipment. Finally around 6:50pm, 10 minutes before the start of the game our stuff showed up. We dressed really quick, played catch and stretched and went on to play the game...it was a long day.
Sunday, July 11
July 10th, 2010
Well, what a day...the team bus arrived in Rochester, NY at 6:30am and I was actually able to get a couple hours of sleep on the bus. For the bus trip we took 2 buses and on the first half of the trip Brad Hennessey accidentally left his pillow on the other bus...I lucked out because he left it near my seat and I needed something to rest my back on...we stopped about halfway and he jumped on our bus and took it back. That made for an interesting night of falling asleep for about 5 minutes and waking up because an elbow rest was poking me...it was impossible to get comfortable. You gotta love minor league bus trips...they really suck but they also make for some fun times telling jokes and stories with teammates and listening to music. To tell you the truth, the bus trips kind of have a peacefulness that I enjoy where you can just sit back with no computers, tvs and just relax to music...anyways. Over the past couple years my music listening time has dwindled and this trip got me back into some songs. Here's some NEW stuff that I liked from last night. If anyone has any suggestions on tracks from new releases be sure to let me know on facebook or twitter.
the empire shall fall - we the people
apostles of solitude - other voices
priestess - the gem
soulfly - soulfly vii
the ocean - metaphysics of the hangman
deftones - risk
taproot - stolage
fear factory - powershifter
Friday, July 9
July 9th, 2010
I'm about to head to the field for game 2 in Pawtucket. After the game we are turning right around and heading back to Rochester and arriving around 7am. I've been staying downtown in a hotel in Rochester and will probably sleep in the clubhouse when we get back to avoid paying for a hotel room for 3 hours. Anyways Pawtucket was full of autographers before and after the game...If I had to guess I would say it ranks 2nd in autographers with Scranton getting the top honors so far and Rochester not too far behind. Before the game one awesome fan gave me a Tim Thomas & Zdeno Charo signed hockey card. After the game I was hooked up by my favorite Boston collectors with a stack of hockey cards that they got for me over the years. The running joke with them is that I skip the Boston Red Sox trip every year so I don't have to sign for them. In 2006 I made the 2 day trip and told everyone to bring everything they needed signed for years to come. Then in 07 I got shut down with a week in the season to go and missing Boston, 08 and 09 was Tommy John surgery and this year I was in Rochester. Anyways it was awesome hanging out with them and talking about autographs.
Thursday, July 8
July 8th, 2010
A couple more days have went by and right now we are in Pawtucket, Rhode Island getting ready to play the Red Sox (AAA) team. I know this may come off as complaining but our travel schedule down here has been rough. Earlier this year with the Twins we took a flight out of Anaheim to Chicago and got in at 6am...I thought that was a tough one. Last night was the fourth time in a month we left a stadium at 11pm or later and got in at 6:30am or later. Last night we drove from Rochester, NY to Rhode Island and it took 7 hours. Tomorrow we will head back to Rochester from here and get back at....7am! No big deal though it's actually a lot of fun hanging out with guys on the team and telling stories & jokes the entire time...and around 3-4 am most guys fall asleep, I just need to remember a pillow one of these times, the arm rest can really do a number on your back & neck.
Last month when I was sent here the Twins really wanted me to work on getting my velocity up and pitch as much as I could. So far I have been progressing well on both fronts. After sitting out for nearly two years I knew I had a lot of things to work on. Just being on the mound to me felt a little strange sometimes and I wasn't the most comfortable in certain situations. Every now and then I would forget to do little things like check the runner at first, cover first on a ball to the first basemen and back up. Don't get me wrong, I have good stuff and can compete and do well and get big league guys out but after coming off this injury the biggest thing needed was to pitch and pitch and pitch. By doing this I could work on all aspects of the game and at the same time see my arm get stronger. In the past month I'm closing in on 20 innings pitched and I have been getting a lot more confident on the mound and throwing a lot more fastballs. The last two outings I have been getting ahead of a lot of guys with my fastballs and seeing a lot of those late foul ball swings, something I rarely have seen all year. My stats aren't looking the best but for me stats are kind of on the backburner and the more important thing for me is knowing my stuff is there and feeling comfortable out there and having a plan. For me just getting off the mound every other day has been huge and I know that if I keep working I will eventually have the stuff I had before surgery. Right now according to the stadium gun my fastball has been up to 88-89, who knows if this is low or high but it's the highest I have seen on the thing since I've been here. In my prime I was around 90-92 for most pitches.
Sunday, July 4
July 4th, 2010
Yesterday we played out last game of the roadtrip in Buffalo. They had a fireworks night and it seems like those nights bring the people out and the crowds get large. After the game I ran into one of my favorite former teammates Ramon Ortiz. He pitched a heck of a game and looked great on the mound. He told me that he has seen a lot of guys have the same surgery I had and that I looked great. I told him that I'm about 1-2 mph off from what I had when we were teammates and he told me that things usually take a year or two before your stuff comes back to what you had before. After that the team bus hurried to get out of town before the fireworks crowd left the stadium. We made it back to Rochester about 1.5 hours later and I headed back to the hotel with my suitcase and computer bag to get ready for another fireworks celebration tonight.
Saturday, July 3
Ozzie Smith Giveaway
Be sure to become a member of my message board above and check out the free Ozzie Smith signed baseball giveaway.
This free contest is for a STEINER certified OZZIE SMITH Signed Sweetspot baseball. Comes with steiner sticker and authenticity card.
http://pneshek.proboards.com/index.cgi
Saturday, July 3
Day 3 in Buffalo - July 3rd, 2010
Very odd day at the park, only signed 1 autograph and that was for a lady and her kid and she had no clue what she was getting...she handed me a Buffalo Bison glove with sigs from the other team and I signed it thinking I'm not on that team...why am I signing this. So far my number down here is #20...I've still been signing everything #17...I don't think this will change unless you guys request it (making it a rare #20 graph). At the field tonight I came in with bases loaded no outs. I pitched two innings and felt a little rusty out there but still managed to pitch well. The first inning I threw a lot of sliders and my fastballs were 86-87 for the ones I peaked on. My next inning I was hitting 88 and 89, about where I have been since I've been here. I'm heading to the park, see you out there.
Friday, July 2
July 2nd, 2010
Right now we are playing in Buffalo, NY and nearly over with our 9 game road trip. I've met a lot of autograph collectors along the way and tried my best to get everything signed up that was needed of me. I would have to say Scranton had the biggest crowd of graphers that I have seen this year and that includes the big league cities. I've tried to tell collectors to not be shy and bring all your cards of mine instead of pulling out 3 one day and 3 the next. If I have time I will knock everything out...I signed 220 for baseballaddict the other day in Rochester...it took forever! In Scranton I was amazed at all the collectors and the different cards of me that they had, even signed up some rip cards, ripped of course. From there we went to Lehigh (County) Valley, PA and once again the autograph crowd was out in force. Buffalo wasn't that great...I came out yesterday late and was rushed and couldn't get all the cards signed...will try to get everything done tonight. Be sure to check back now as I will be trying to update this numerous times each week, there are a ton of stories I have & I think you will enjoy. A lot of people that I met have asked me how I have been feeling on the mound and had a lot of questions about me pitching. The normal question was about how I feel. So far down here with the exception of one really bad outing I have been pitching about as well as I have in my career. Also another question is how hard I throw and with the exception of an outing my velocity has been at 88-89 on average (yes I have been scoreboard looking in between pitches). The funny thing is that I throw my slider about 50% of the time to righties and always have even in 06 & 07. I rely more on deception than blowing (velo) balls past guys, I'm a sidearmer for crying out loud...Overall I feel great and have good stuff on the mound. For those that have been waiting on the Ozzie Smith contest, I'm going to try and get that started tonight after the game...I know I have been saying this for a long time & I think tonight is the night for it to start.
Friday, May 14
May 14th, 2010
Since February I have been a big fan of the Topps Million card giveaway promotion. Basically it's a pretty cool promotion that takes nearly every card Topps has produced over it's history and will give them away in packs of cards. Topps printed code cards at a rate of 1 in 6 packs and seeded them throughout their Series 1 &2 products. When you get a code card you go to toppsmillion.com and enter your code to see who you get. I started with 6 code cards in February...1 of my cards was from 1955, the rest were 1987 or newer. On the Topps website the best feature they have is the ability to trade your cards for others. Granted the Topps website needs some work still, it's pretty slow and the sort feature are a little behind but just the thought of a safe way to trade online is huge. For those of you wondering, you can cash out and have the cards shipped to you whenever you want. I traded my 1955 card for a 85 Puckett RC and had it shipped to me and it looked pretty good. As I mentioned above I started with 6 cards...my collection is now up to 26 and nearly all are pre-1970. Granted most of these cards have very low book value but it is a fun addiction and a place where I like to kill time.
Monday, April 26
April 26th, 2010
A couple weeks have gone by really quick and it has been a lot of fun. For me it has been a month of ups and downs. I felt great pitching again after the long time off rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. I also hurt my middle finger and have had to sit out a week of games. The finger is a lot better right now, just a little sore still. The thing that I've noticed the most about playing again is how busy we are. Going from rehab to an MLB season is at total opposite sides of the spectrum. I'm enjoying my time and am thankful to be playing again.
I thought I would share a couple of stories from the first month dealing with some bad fans that don't understand no. Ever since I have been in the minors when I step on the field once the game starts I'm watching the game and staying focused. I sit in the bullpen and usually keep to myself. The other day in KC there was a fan that came down and shouted out my name...I waived back. He asked for a ball and I said no...I very rarely give balls out when the game is going on because I like to stay focused, plus it's annoying listening to people ask for a ball every inning and once one is given out people will flock to the scene and repeat. The guy turned around and came back a couple innings and asked for a ball again...also shouting out my name. Since I already waived and said no I just shook my head (in my head) wondering if he was serious. The next inning he brought his kids down and made them beg. Another inning went by and the same thing went on. During the entire time I kept my eyes on the game...then the guy yelled out..."let's go kids, THANKS PAT" in anger. The next night a lady came down begging for a ball for her son...she begged for 6 innings after we said no in the first. In the fourth her demands were for a bullpen sweat towel...never heard that before and it's no even our property to be giving away. Every game is another story...
Tuesday, April 6
April 6th, 2010
I'm about to head out to the field for tonight's game. Yesterday was a blast in a lot of ways since it was opening night and Butler (where I went to college) was playing in the final NCAA game. Opening night always brings out the nerves and adrenaline. As a player you want to get in as soon as possible and get the first one out of the way. For me it was a lot to think about and how far I've come since the surgery that left me out of baseball for nearly 22 months. As I ran in I got that excitement feeling and realized I had to hit my spots and make sure my slider was moving and not backing up because any MLB hitter is going to kill a bad slider. My outing went well and I was happy to see my slider running across the plate. I sat in the dugout afterwards and thought of all the time away from the game and how amazing it was to be back. That's the thing with the injury, you never know if you will ever get the chance to pitch in the big leagues again.
At the same time of the game the Butler game was going on. I stayed inside for the first inning and that got me to halftime. After that I went to the bullpen and noticed they were updating the score every 5 minutes outside. The crowd kept yelling owwwww...&....ahhhhh for no reason. Then I realized they had the game televised in the concourse and about half the crowd was watching. As the game got close to the end I knew it was close and heard the crowd let out a huge OHHHHHHHHHH. That's when Butler's last shot banked off the backboard. The best part of the night came 5 minutes later when the big screen showed the final seconds. It posted the final score and the crowd Booed Duke for a couple seconds. What a remarkable year for college basketball.
There were a couple winners in the Neshek.com Bracket challenge included one winner that picked 3 of the four final four teams, the national title game and picked Duke to win it all. Good luck and I will be trying to contact the winners shortly.Sunday, April 4
April 4th, 2010
I can't believe how fast spring training went by and we are getting ready for the start of the season. Yesterday we arrived at Target Field around 8:30am to play our last game of the spring. Once the game was over we rushed over to catch a flight to California and get ready for opening day. The flight left Minnesota around 5:45pm. Ever since we left Florida it seems like things I haven't had any time to think. When you leave Florida it's a mess of packing everything up and making sure it gets to where it needs to go. Then when you arrive in Minnesota you have to pick everything back up at the field and unpack it and get the house set up. I have always hated the first week of the season for as long as I have played pro baseball. This year we flew in for a quick 2 days and out to CA. From here we head to Chicago for another series and finally back to Minnesota for the opening of Target Field.
Right now like I said above we have arrived in LA to play the Angels tomorrow night. Today we have a workout and will rest up for the long season ahead. As we were flying last night we missed both of the NCAA tourney games...I was scrambling with my phone as we landed to see who won the Butler game and I was pretty happy with the result. There have been some pretty messy brackets this year. So far there are a lot of brackets in the Neshek.com bracket challenge that will come down to the last day. A lot of people (nearly all) did not pick Butler but for those who did have a shot at pulling off the amazing feat of winning the Neshek.com overall score and making some Duke fans mad in the process. We'll see what happens, go DAWGS.
Monday, March 22
2nd Chance - Sweet Sixteen NESHEK.COM Challenge
One more time to try again...enter the sweet sixteen 2nd Chance bracket...winner will recieve a signed Duke Snider baseball as well...GOOD LUCK, first 500 people only
http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t2/group/17617/invitation?key=1987b2bdc4baf9e0
Monday, March 22
Sweet Sixteen
The first two rounds are over and my brackets are still alive but very ugly. According to Yahoo, the best bracket in the country in any group picked 43/48. That just doesn't seem right to me but proves how tough a year it was. The Kansas game proved to be a killer for many brackets and will come into play for those who picked them to win it all. It's going to get interesting, here's how the Neshek.com bracket challenge stacks up.
In Neshek.com Bracket #1 the standings look like this
1. bobg with 103 points (39/48 correct picks)
2. Rosco with 96 points (39/48 correct picks)
3. pgaspe with 92 points (37/48 correct picks)
In the Neshek.com Bracket #2 the standings look like this
1. liz with 90 points (36/48 correct picks)
2. jahiem j with 89 points (33/48 correct picks)
3. mrg with 87 points (36/48 correct picks)
The winner of each group will recieve a signed Duke Snider Steiner Baseball
My brackets are in pretty sad shape...the fighting dachshunds have 38 points and 30/48 correct picks
The MNmetrodomers have 38 points as well and 30/48 correct picks
There will be a sweet sixteen 2nd Chance bracket to come very soon...be sure to check back
Wednesday, March 17
March 17th, 2010
Be sure to get in the NCAA bracket challenge if you not signed up yet, it's always a fun tourney to see how you stack up. So far over 750 users have signed up and it starts tomorrow. I always love this time of year because I spend a ton of my offseason following the college teams. It's funny to hear people on TV talk about who they think will win & you sit and wonder if they even followed any of the teams because they all seem to jump on the #1's & 2's. Either way I'm sure tomorrow night my bracket will be a mess of red...I always pray for the underdog.
Spring training is flying by and it's going to be over before we even know it. I've felt great this spring. I think the thing I'm happiest about is that I've been able to handle the workload and think I have the ability to handle even more. There have been a couple outings where I felt like I have had everything back and all my pitches were working. My first outing was one of these and outing #3 in Clearwater was another. I felt like in these games my velo was around 89-90 due to the late reactions of the hitters and the foul balls they hit. Then I had outings #2 & #4 both in Ft. Myers where my velo was down but the ball was moving a ton and I got a lot of quick outs. I like to think that my hamstring was bothering me in outing #2 and that set me back a little velo-wise and in outing #4 I never really threw any pitches (got 3 outs on 5 pitches). This is the type of stuff that pitchers right now are going through. The other day I wanted to really work on throwing my slider to righties and I faced another batch of lefties, not much I can do. Spring training for the most part is about getting comfortable on the mound and getting use to throwing all your pitches. Granted there are other worries about getting cut, pressure, putting up numbers but for most guys they are using this time to get comfortable out there, it's just hard to believe there is only 2 weeks left.
Monday, March 15
First One Filled - Starting #2
If you missed out on the first neshek.com March madness NCAA challenge I just added another group right here http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/group/111639/invitation?key=a5bd89de232271ff
Please only 1 bracket...I'd like to give everyone the chance of getting in.
Sunday, March 14
Neshek.com Bracket Buster NCAA Tourney Challenge
Just like last year, the Neshek.com NCAA tourney Challenge is back. Free to join and it's filling up quickly...the first bracket only holds 500 users. If that fills I will enter another bracket for late arrivals. The winner of the tourney gets a Duke Snider Signed Steiner Baseball. Click here http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/group/84062/invitation?key=573c0f2a43e355d8
Thursday, March 11
Newest Grapher HOF addition
Name: Peter Gourlie
Hometown: Merrill, WI (currently live near Milwaukee, WI)
Home park/Graphing Stomping Grounds: Miller Park
Nickname: Peteloaf, or Loafski
Best Autograph Moment: Brewers just clinched the Wild Card, and I was first row behind their dugout. Eric Gagne got up on the dugout, sprayed the fans with champagne, and other players followed. I had worked on a team ball, and only needed 3 more signatures, one of which was CC Sabathia. CC got up there, sprayed us, and signed up and down the dugout, including my team ball! This moment is one I can easily remember, because now hanging in right field entrance at Miller Park is a picture of Prince Fielder on top of the dugout that day, and in the lower right corner is me!
Runner up: Last year, Phillies vs. Brewers at Miller Park. I was wearing my Brewers hat, but a Matt Stairs Phillies jersey (because I can’t find a Matt Stairs Brewers jersey). Matt Stairs came up to bat during batting practice, we yelled and waved (because we are the Matt Stairs Fan Club from when he was a Brewer back in 2002), and he tossed me a ball. After BP, we tried to get him to come over, but he jogged into the dugout. A few minutes later, a clubhouse attendant came out and handed me a bat, saying it was from Matt. He autographed his batting practice bat and gave it to me! One of the best moments of my autographing career!
Worst autograph moment: Back to the same team ball (2008 Brewers). At the ball drop where we lower a bag down with stuff to sign, Mike Rivera stopped and said he’d sign stuff for us. One of us sent a card and a blue sharpie, and I sent my beloved team ball and a blue pen. Well, Mike signed the card, and proceeded to sign my team ball… in blue sharpie. It’s ok though, because it is the sentimental value and the great story behind the signature that I really enjoy. But when it happened, we were a bit bummed out! And now, we call him Mike “The Sharpie” Rivera.
Runner Up: Nomar Garciaparra outright saying no to signing my ball with 3 sigs on it already in pen, because he had a sharpie in his hand and didn’t want to grab my pen. I was disappointed to say the least.
Other Reasons for being in the HALL of FAME: I come up with awesome nicknames for our favorite players, and they sign them on some of my memorabilia. Corey “The Condor” Hart is one our favorite guys! Also, I try to get almost all of my autographs in person. I believe part of the nostalgia of receiving an autograph is being able to say thank you, to ask questions, and to be able to listen to some of their stories.
Athlete that hates you the most and why: I don’t think any player really hates me, but I know the ushers are not fond of us banging on our sign chanting Lets Go Brewers out in right field. It’s loud as hell, and really gets the fans in the bleachers fired up to cheer our team!
Misc Info: One night, I had the pleasure of listening to Trevor Hoffman tell stories about his career, including why his entrance music is “Hells Bells” by ACDC.
Mark DiFelice can sing karaoke very well. I witnessed this firsthand. And he signed a ball for us.
Any other crazy stories or things that have happened during graphing: During Spring Training in AZ during 2009, we made up Corey “The Condor” Hart T-shirts. I’m pretty sure the whole team knew who we were by the end of our week vacation, and Vinny Rottino asked for a shirt, and we traded a shirt for autographs. Corey always waves at us and signs whatever we got, even though we have now run out of stuff to get signed.
Second great story, last year down at Wrigley before a Cubs/Brewers game, we were out trying to catch the Brewers as they got out of their cabs. Not only did a bunch of them sign, but Jeff Suppan stayed out by us, chatting and joking for almost 20 minutes! He signed my current team piece, a picture of Miller Park on canvas, along with David “Stormy” Weathers and a bunch of other guys. Suppan definitely is one of the best guys to talk to while graphing!
Motto: The 3 P’s. Politeness, and persistence lead to payoff!
Friday, March 5
March 5th, 2010
Whew...I'm glad to have that first game out of the way. I've pitched in tons of pressure games before but this one had a little more meaning to me. It seems like I have been asked a million questions about my arm since January and I would always say that I would know more when the first games start. You can never really tell until you get out in a game situation where the hitter doesn't want to look bad and has a little on the line. Granted this was the first game of spring training but deep down nobody wants to give up a HR or whiff on three pitches. Usually in the spring in the past I have pitched the third or fourth game of the spring. This year I stayed on the pitch, day off, pitch program since day one of the spring. It's been a big test on my arm pitching all out for this ammount of time and to me my arm has responded better than I thought it would. I have been getting sore in all the normal spots and even had some shoulder blade soreness this past week for the first time in years. One teammate told me that after his TJ surgery it took him two years to feel the normal soreness and it was good for me and meant that my arm was getting extended. Anyways, last night was a lot of fun. I guess it wasn't too much fun sitting around all day waiting to get on the mound because I was pretty anxious. We arrived at the field around 4:30 and got ready for BP. The weather down here just isn't cooperating...it's been this way since November. The temperature was around 49 degrees with a 10mph wind blowing out to right. Batting practice wasn't too much fun trying to catch balls that would start out in center and end up in right. Anyways the game started and most of the guys in the pen got a little cold and decided to move from the CVS bullpen tower we were in down to the ground and did anything we could to stay warm...sprints, squat jumps and stretching. As I was warming up it was fun to get that adrenaline rushing in and then to hear my name called in to the game gave me a big rush. As I was running in I noticed I was going to face Marco Scutaro, Jermey Hermida and Josh Reddick. This was probably the best group of guys I have ever faced in a spring training game so I knew this would be a great test to see where I was at. Usually in the spring most reliever's come in around the 6th inning and by that time the teams usually put in all the backups. The backups are a pain to face by the way because they are the ones fighting to make the club while the Vets are just trying to track the ball coming in from the pitcher's hand. I must add that I played a lot of fantasy baseball last year being out and I knew that Scutaro had a career year since he was on my team. Things felt great out there, after my initial pitch to Scutaro I felt that zone that you hear pitchers talk about. For my second & third AB's I faced two lefties, during my batting practice sessions a couple weeks ago I talked a lot with Erik Lis and he gave me some great feedback about keeping the fastball low and how my slider was tough. For both of the ab's I threw a couple good fastballs, some nice sliders and even broke out a changeup that was taken for a strike. As I walked off the mound I felt like a small 50lb weight was off my back. I realize I have a long ways to go still but it was nice facing top of the game talent and doing well.
Tuesday, March 2
March 2nd, 2010
Spring training keeps chugging along...I can't believe we are already into March and games start in 2 days. Since we started last week we have pitched every other day at a really good pace. It's always a tough part of the year because you will get sore and a little bit less rest but this is where you really get into that groove that prepares you to throw everyday. My arm has responded better than I thought it would. If you would have told me the workload a month ago I might have been a little uneasy about it. But like I said my arm has responded really well. As of today I'm scheduled to jump right into our first game on Thursday vs. the Red Sox. I have to admit I have a lot of emotions going on right now because it's the first game and my first outing in a game setting since I got hurt. You never know what you are going to get on the mound so it's really hard for me to pinpoint how I will do. I've done great with bullpen sessions and batting practice & have received great comments from the coaches and players. Either way I will be out there competing and giving it my best and it sure beats sitting on my butt and doing nothing. It's going to be really fun to see how my slider moves and if I can get any K's...I'm going to focus on hitting my spots and keeping the ball low. In the past I never liked pitching in the first game because, well...it's a spring training game and there is too much emphasis on that 1 game. It's amazing the coverage of that first game...then that game goes by and you might find a story or two on each game that comes after.
Yesterday we had photo and media day. Basically it's a day when all the baseball card photos are shot and you do all the shots for the scoreboard for the regular season. I also did an interview for Athletes Quarterly and was filmed by the legendary baseball photographer Tom DiPace. The interview centered around sports names and websites. It was a pretty cool photo shoot and I got to hear some great stories from Tom who has many huge photos to his credits including the Griffey UD RC and basically anything else that was on Beckett or Topps & Upper Deck cards. Check out his website here, http://www.dipacefotos.com/
Friday, February 26
Topps Million Card Giveaway
I got a box of 2010 Topps series 1 today not expecting much because well, these cards don't really have much value. Basically I just wanted to check them out and try to pull one of my cards. To my surprise Topps added a really cool promotion that might get me to go out and buy a couple more blaster boxes. The newest innovation from Topps is called the Topps Million Card Giveaway. Basically Topps put 1,000,000 of their cards from throughout their history starting from year 1952. Every card that they produced for that year's Topps set can be had if you find the right redemption card, oh a Mantle rookie sounds so good. Now for me I was quite curious to check this out and see how it worked. Basically you buy a blaster box or hobby box or a pack of cards and you have the shot at getting a redemption card. In hobby boxes there are 6 per boxs (seeded at 1 in 6 packs). In blaster boxes for $9.99 at Target or Wal-Mart there are 2 per box. Basically if you buy a blaster you will get 2 redemption cards where you go online at www.toppsmillion.com and enter your code after you register. From there the card image will be revealed with name and year and most of the time it will be a let down but there's always the shot of getting something crazy. From there the cards are placed in a virtual card collection where you can trade for cards you want from other collectors or ask Topps to send you the card(s). I put in a bunch of trades for my own "Pat Neshek" cards, we'll see how many people are trading. If anyone has any codes they don't want be sure to let me know. If anyone wants to trade here's what I pulled. 1955 Willie Miranda - 1974 Larry Stahl - 1978 Francisco Barrios - 1979 Manny Mota - 1980 Bombo Rivera - 1980 Phillies Rookies.
Thursday, February 25
Spring Training Fan Mail w/Pics
I just wrapped up all the fan mail a little bit ago. The total came out to 231 letters of all shapes & sizes. Some of the mail had Metrodome addresses and was from last season that the Twins brought down. Other mail was from the past month and sent to the right address. I'm pretty easy with fan mail, if you need anything signed send a return stamped envelope and I will sign what you send, the address is right above this entry and is current. Here are the highlights & oddities & I included pics so nobody can call BS on me. Click on the links to see the letters
- Out of all the letters 2 did not include SASE's, you have to remember those if you want the cards back.
- Most were straight to the point and included cards & a few 8x10's, didn't get 1 baseball/hat or jersey to sign.
- 7 people sent me signed cards of other athletes for my collections, thank you very much, here's who I got
Aaron Harang, Ricky Bones, Wilson Alvarez, Deryk Booker, Dennis Boyd, Mark Cohoon, Marian Gaborik, Greg Bullock, George Kell, Ramon Hernandez, Dave Gagner & Eddie Perez.
- 1 USPS note saying I owed them .24cents or else my letter was being returned...hopefully it got returned ok
- Might want to straight up avoid this guy...he isn't referring to Bernie Madoff either
Tuesday, February 23
February 23rd, 2010
Day two of camp has already passed, it really doesn't surprise me after this past year at how quickly time goes by. Not really much to report on, it's your basic spring training. The daily plan is usually the same until games start. We usually come out for stretch around 9am and do that and play catch for 30 minutes. After that we break into three stations and work on signs, ground balls and throw bullpen sessions. Right now we have half the pitchers in camp throwing pens on one day and the rest will throw the next day. My first pen went well and I was pretty happy to hear Rick Anderson say that my stuff looked good. With this injury it's really hard to tell where you are at because most of the time it feels good but you can't tell certain things like velo and how well the ball is moving. I still have a lot of hurdles to get over in the next couple weeks. Games are coming up quickly and I need to keep bouncing back from bullpen sessions like I have been...so far so good.
There are tons of fans this year so be prepared if you are coming down here. The best time to get autographs is after practice anytime (Walking to gym, back) and I will stop pretty much everytime if asked. I hate turning people down when we are walking out to the field before we start but I need to get out there and stretch.
It's pretty funny to see this but I remember a couple years back when I was coming up (2004) and got a lot of crap for blogging from pretty much everyone. Back then it seemed that only a handful of guys on the team had computers and they mostly had them from college. I loved having access to all the stats and to look up whatever I wanted with my all access sprint card. I couldn't imagine life without it and how my teammates survived the boredom of minor league ball. That year though I would get the computer geek comments and things like that from the other guys. Fast forward now to 2007 and it seems like the entire team has a laptop and was online. I always thought it was funny seeing teammates coming up to me for help when they crashed their computer or had a problem with their ipod. I had quotes back then saying that this wasn't going away and will only get more and more in depth (2005). This year it seems that every media person has a blog or is tweeting or has basically made their coverage you could say "fan friendly". It's pretty cool to see this happen in such a short time. I envision the future of sports reporting going more and more all access, videos, sights, sounds. But the biggest thing I think will center around the athelete themselves and the access they can give...interactive interviews with fans, photos & thoughts. I think this has yet to really be explored and marketed by agents as well as big companies. I think this is still a couple years away but it will be cool to see how this evolves into a major source of revenue for whoever has the coolest way to make this happen. As for me I will go with the flow, I have no big plans although the thought of adding video might happen sometime down the raod.
Sunday, February 21
February 21st, 2010
Today is known as reporting day. Basically it's when the guys on the team show up...get their uniform together and unpack everything in their locker and get that situated. Most of the guys show up and head out when they get done with their lockers. Today I played catch with Joe Nathan and got a light workout in at the weight room. When we were leaving the field from playing catch there were a ton of fans waiting outside for autographs. One lady asked where the rest of the team was...I had to give her the bad news that nobody really comes outside today, I told her she might want to try again tomorrow when we actually have practice. I have a feeling there will be record crowds this year. Just on the minor league side for the past week there have been tons of people and I can only imagine how many people are going to be here when we start practicing. Tomorrow I will be getting to the field early so I can get all my shoulder exercises out of the way. I think I'll be showing up to the field around 7:15am, I'll let you know how it goes. Usually we have bullpen sessions tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 16
February 16th, 2010
I just got back from the field a little bit ago and thought I would do a quick update on my throwing session today. Today was another one day rest between throwing hard sessions and I was still just a little sore in my shoulder. As I played catch my arm loosened up a lot and then I got off the mound to get a bullpen going before I faced hitters. I don't know what happened but everything clicked today. I tried to really concentrate on hitting my spots and keeping the ball low. My last outing I did really good but lefty Erik Lis mentioned that when my fastball was left up it was flat meaning it didn't have any movement...not to mention he crushed it off the wall. I didn't want to see anymore hard hit balls so I decided to listen to his feedback and keep the ball low. Sure enough my fastball was on...I don't know what changed in the last week but my ball had life and it was low. A couple hitters didn't even swing and the ball was in the strike zone. This is the feeling I wanted to have instead of the guys making contact...I needed to know that it was tough to hit. Facing RH batters I threw my slider a ton and that pitch was biting a ton more than last week...let's just say I was having fun on the mound. When I got done I asked catcher Korey Feiner to give me the scoop...he said my stuff was lights out, tons of movement...hitting spots...slider was sharp and fastball was 88-90...& no I didn't pay him to say this:) So with that I'm feeling really good and it's great to know that I keep getting better. I was really happy at how quickly my arm is bouncing back. During the first week of spring training we usually hammer it home to go bullpen session day 1, off, bullpen, off, bullpen. It's a ton of work and I wanted to make sure I had it and I didn't have to be babied...or the guy they are going to have to take it easy with. Eventually towards the end of spring we will all be asked to go back to back days. Right now I'm going to play easy catch tomorrow and Thursday and then face hitters for the last time before spring training starts. Man, I can't tell you how great it feels to throw a pitch and see the hitter miss once again!
Sunday, February 14
February 14th, 2010
It's hard to believe that spring training starts in one week. It's also hard to believe that I have been in Ft. Myers for 1 full year. I've been in the same routine now for this entire time and it's great to take the next big step and rejoin the team as a guy that can help the team. This past week I've thrown a lot off the mound. On Tuesday I faced hitters for the first time and things went great. One of the hitters I faced back in November, and I faced him again this time said that I had a lot more zip on the ball this time around. I was happy with the outing but still wanted to see how my arm felt the next day and how I felt my next outing out. On Friday I faced hitters again. It took me a couple days to get over the soreness...normal soreness I should say from pitching a couple innings worth of hitters. This time around I wanted to work on different arm angles and see where I felt better. My velocity felt good but I felt like it still wasnt' where I was at during my peak. On the other hand my slider was a ton better and got some remarks from the hitters. I asked both guys what they thought my velo was and they said I was sitting most likely around 88-89 on my fastball. Like I said in previous post with this injury you slowly get your velo back by doing more and more mound work and feeling comfortable with mechanics. I was really happy because in November my fastball high speeds were 85 & 86. The hitters also said that my fastball was pretty straight when I left it up in the zone (duh) but when it was down it was very hard to see and was a great pitch for me. After hearing this I knew I had to concentrate now on hitting my spots and keeping the ball low. Lately my mechanics have felt really good on the mound and just doing moundwork every other day is making me feel more and more comfortable out there. So for the past week I have been going mound, toss, toss making sure I gave myself enough time to recover. This week I wanted to focus on going mound, toss, mound since this is what we will be doing in spring training during the first week. Yesterday I was the least sore I have been after doing a bullpen this year so today when I got off the mound everything felt great. This week I'm going to face hitters again on Tuesday giving me 1 day of rest tomorrow. After that I'm going to take 2 days from the mound and throw again on Friday. After that it will be the start of spring training. By doing all this I will be prepared for all the throwing that is to come and know that I will be fine with the workload.
So far down here there hasn't been too many guys that have shown up. Last week Mauer and Hardy were here but they both took a week off and flew back to MN. Today I noticed Crain & Guerrier and a couple days ago Swarzak & Harris. I'm guessing the bulk of the guys will be here this week, I can't wait to get going.
Thursday, February 11
Bad Letter Of The Month
For some reason I feel like he's lying about me being his favorite player!
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| Is that all you want? |
Friday, February 5
Daily Arm Update
Daily Arm Update: I had a great bullpen session today, mechanics are starting to come together finally...it's tough to replicate the motion...don't laugh! Velo was up, no gun but rehab master & catcher Lanning Tucker told me it was coming in fast and heavy. My confidence is going up:)
Thursday, February 4
Joe Mauer Just Told Me He Signed !!!
Just kidding, I'm just messing around, I haven't talked to Mauer at all...I needed to get some more hits and I figured Google's algorithm would put me on the top search!
I've made some huge strides in the last couple days with my mechanics and I have another bullpen tomorrow. I'm probably the most excited for this one because I think I figured out what I wasn't doing and that I might have some mojo back...I'll tell you one thing though, it's been very hard to figure out how I threw that way...I think I have it down though. I'll let you know how the bullpen session goes.
Tuesday, February 2
February 2nd, 2010
I got back from Twinsfest late Sunday night and went right to bed...got in at 11:50 pm. Yesterday I played catch and got back into the swing of things working out. Today I threw another bullpen session and it went well but something mechanically still feels off. I think today I was rushing my windup and when I do that things can get out of whack pretty easily. My next bullpen is on Friday and I can't wait. Right now at the field they are having Red Sox and Orioles fantasy camp. I didn't recognize anyone but heard Rico Petrocelli and Steve Finley were in town, later in the week Jim Palmer is suppose to show up.
Twinsfest Sunday went just as good as the previous couple days. I signed with Jeff Manship and we signed non-stop for an hour then nobody came through the lines. I picked up some sweet heavy metal cds, a Death Row Rap shirt and some more signed cards from fans. After I got done signing I walked around the dealer tables and came across a sweet Burleigh Grimes signed baseball and added it to my collection, a nice way to end the weekend.
I thought I would include this pic of my interview on XM...I didn't know they updated it for every guest...pretty cool stuff.
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| On The Air - XM 175 |
Saturday, January 30
January 30th, 2010
It's been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me. Last week I went on the Twins caravan bus tour, this week I flew back to do Twinsfest and during the rest of the time I'm busy getting ready for the season. Of course the question from everybody was about my arm...sure beats answering how I throw the way I do:)
Last week was Twins caravan and I went on tour with Joe Vavra, Ron Gardenhire and Matt Tolbert...plus TC Bear. This year was probably my favorite of the 3 caravans I have been on. The weather wasn't bad cold wise...we did get an ice storm that cancelled a couple stops. Highlights of the tour...our bus driver drove most of the participants in the MN Vikings boat scandal and had some funny stories. The bus we drove was one of those party buses that had lights that lit up to the music, big screen TVs and everything else you could think of in a party bus...I did get some pretty incriminating pics of TC Bear haha. The stops this year were fun, we went to some great schools, great nursing homes and had some great nighttime stops. The least favorite stops on tour are usually the radio stations because most of the time there aren't too many fans and they make you read these things called liners...stuff like "Hey it's Pat Neshek of the Minnesota Twins and you are right at home at WAAA". One of the stops the radio guy thought he was funny and made me say Mower County about 20 times...I was pretty sure I was saying it right but he disagreed. In the end it was a great trip, got to see my friends at Wincraft in Winona again, picked up a nice signed Robin Yount ball from a guy in New Ulm and picked up some sweet autographs from fans in Winona including a Steve Liddle and Wayne Haddaway signed minor league card.
Once caravan got over I flew back to Florida for the week to keep working out and threw another bullpen. When I got back my dog Kirby must have thought I was gone a month because he went nuts when I came through the door. My bullpen session went great. I thought I was doing excellent the week before but that week of rest during caravan really helped my arm. Throwing long toss I felt myself again...not to say I didn't feel like this before but man I really felt like the ball was doing things I wanted it to do. Sure enough I threw my bullpen and it was my best one yet. I was still doing something weird with my mechanics (not that my mechanics are great in the first place) like opening up my shoulder too quickly or popping up to quickly...I really can't wait for Rick Anderson to get down here so he can check it out. I think in the meantime though it will iron itself out...a lot of pitching is doing things over and over again and that is where you will start seeing things do what you want. All in all though last week was a pretty good one confidence wise knowing I can build off of this and I'm pretty close to game ready.
This week is Twinsfest...the Twins invite nearly everyone in the org...probably over 60 players to come sign autographs. The players do not get paid but do get a hotel room and coach plane ticket to get up here and back. Last night I got a ton of cool things from fans. A Telsa (The band) signed photo, a sweet homemade patch card of myself that looks better than something Topps can produce and also picked up a Johnny Bench Rookie card in a trade on my message board. Yesterday I signed for about 1.5 hours and it went by really quick. At night I got a firsthand tour of Target Field from Twins Director of Public Affairs man Kevin Smith. The place is pretty incredible; they didn't skimp in details on that place. Today I sign later in the day and have to go in around 1pm for the yearly team physical...all the other guys go as well. Give me a shout if you head out to Twinsfest.
Tuesday, January 5
January 5th, 2010
I don't know what's going on but for the past week in FL it has been 30 degrees everynight...you're right though, that's nothing compared to up north. I just find it unusual for South Florida. Things are going great for me, I took a week off for the holidays and I'm at the point where I don't even think about my arm being hurt anymore. For me the one big thing that is missing is facing hitters and getting that competitive fire inside...I can't wait because sitting here thinking about baseball and mentally wearing myself out got old about 14 months ago.
So far there are only a handful of guys working out down here. There have been a couple guys from other teams here as well...5 total guys so far, pretty boring. Next week I'm going to start throwing light bullpen sessions.
We put in a good charge but John Gordon just missed out being added to the HOF ballot for announcers. I didn't see the final vote total but the 3rd place finisher Joe Nuxhall got 1,100 votes...I know we were close. Hopefully tomorrow Bert will be added to the Hall, if not this year then next year for sure.
Thanks to everyone who is following me on Twitter, I thought having a website, message board, myspace & facebook were enough but I was wrong...Since myspace isn't cool anymore I'm going with Twitter.
Once again be sure to get on the message board right above this and chat about anything baseball and collecting.
Tuesday, December 29
December 29th, 2009
I just got back from the Colorado College - Cornell hockey game. It was cool having ranked teams come to Ft. Myers and play a couple games...we don't get much hockey down here. Colorado College was really good and controlled the entire game. When I got home I was surprised to realize that tons of guys on the CC team were from Minnesota. I really liked the play of Nate Prosser from Elk River, he nailed a bunch of guys and got in their faces after the play was over. I can always remember the MN Gophers being the top college hockey team...what the heck happened...I can see that a CC team full of Minnesota guys might have something to do with it.
Not much else is new, killing time down in Ft. M
Monday, December 28
Vote for John Gordon
The Baseball Hall of Fame is letting fans vote on the Ford C. Frick award this year to be a finalist on the ballot. Please vote for JOHN GORDON by clicking here
Friday, December 25
December 25th, 2009
Merry Christmas to everyone. This year we stayed down in Florida and it really doesn't feel like Christmas at all...but at least we don't have to worry about feet of snow coming our way. This is about the last week of relaxing in the offseason for most guys...once January 1st hits it is go time for most baseball players. This is about the time of the year when guys will start getting into their throwing programs and eventually start to throw bullpens. It's amazing to think how quickly the offseason has went by already.
I last threw a couple days ago and am taking a couple days off to relax and enjoy the holidays. My arm is getting closer and closer to feeling like I never had the surgery. I can't wait for spring training to come along so I can get some of that adrenaline flowing...I think that's when I will really find out where I am at. It's been nearly 2 years and I can't wait to get back on the mound and strike some guys out.
Sunday, November 29
Top 20
I decided to bring this back after a long time off. This is a very rough list of stuff I've listened to in the past month. For the most part these albums have all been released in the past month or so. Of course this list is a lot of Metalcore and hard rock. I'm not a big death/dark metal fan but if it has a catchy riff or sound to it I'm sure I'll be into it. Be warned there's a lot of screaming and it's a strange genre that's not for everyone. Here's the first installment, I'm hoping to make this at least a bi monthly deal.
Top 20 - November 29th, 2009
20. Devildriver - Bitter Pill
19. Earth Crisis - So Others Live
18. Between The Buried & Me - Desert Of Song
17. Nile - Kafir
16. Scar Symmetry - Ascension Chamber
15. Texas Hippie Coalition - Pissed Off & Mad About It
14. Poison The Well - Are You Anywhere?
13. Converge - Damages
12. Scar Symmetry - Radient Strain
11. CKY - A#1 Roller Rager
10. Earth Crisis - So Others Live
9. The Red Chord - Hour Of Rats
8. Isis - Hall Of The Dead
7. Despised Icon - MVP
6. Skindred - Stand For Something
5. Gwen Stacy - A Dialogue
4. We Came As Romans - Roads That Don't End
3. Dredg - Pariah
2. Pelican - The Creeper
1. Texas Hippie Coalition - Leavin
Tuesday, November 24
November 24th, 2009
I threw my last bullpen session until January yesterday and it went really well. Technically it was called a simulated game. I took the mound and two minor league guys, Nick Freitas & Max Kepler (16 year old) stepped in to face me on the mound. It was a rush just to be on the mound looking into the catcher's mitt with a hitter in the box. I threw about 30 pitches and it went really well. I was pretty happy with my slider as my velo went up a bunch since my last pen. I also gained a mph on my fastball but I got a little ways to go still. I think the rest this next month and a lot of long toss will really stretch me out & help me a ton in the velo department. As of today I have 3 months until spring training starts up. This next week I'm going to take a few days off and get back at it on Saturday. My program now consist of doing the same shoulder exercises & stretches that I've done all year followerd weights and conditioning and throwing long toss every other day.
Today I got a phone call from the Twins about doing the Winter Caravan. I was asked if I wanted to go out on the first leg of the caravan and I accepted. I'm not sure where I am going or who's coming with but I thought I would let everyone know.
I've been doing a lot of message board maintenance lately adding sections and I am getting ready to give stuff away on there. If you are a sports fan or collector of anything it's a great community and I think you will be very happy you joined, there's a ton of info inside. Today I added an upcoming autograph signings section by state on there. If this stuff interest you, you have to check it out. You can get there by clicking on the message board logo above or on the side tool bar that says message board. Takes a minute to sign up and a day or two to get accepted and is free.
Sunday, November 22
Letter Of The Month
I got a pretty cool letter a couple weeks back. It came from the 2008 Topps Ginter Code Champion. He wanted me to sign up a card of me from 2009 Ginter. He also included 2 of his cards signed and inscribed. Check it out below.
Friday, November 20
November 20th, 2009
For the past 2 months my schedule has been going like this, throw long toss, the next day is a bullpen followed by an off day of throwing. I still come in and work out and do all my arm maintenance exercises. This stuff gets really repetitive and I think this is why my year down here has went by pretty quickly in my mind if that makes sense...my days seem to run together. Today I had a bullpen session...my second to last one until January. It went ok, my velocity was down a little from where I want it to be but my slider's speed picked up a bunch and was starting to run a lot more. At this phase of my rehab most guys are considered about 80% good. If I had to guess right now I would say I'm a little past 80%. I'm throwing max effort and working on all my pitches and location. The next part of my rehab starts on Tuesday and will be a rest phase. This is where a lot of guys say they get back their velocity and feel good. Starting Tuesday for nearly the entire month of December I will be alternating throwing long toss with conditioning afterward by a day of not throwing with a ton of conditioning. Lanning Tucker our rehab coordinator here thinks once I hit January is when I'm going to start feeling great, not that I don't feel good right now but I'd like to add a couple more MPH's
For one really messed up kid's baseball video click to watch
Tuesday, November 17
November 17th, 2009
I had another really good bullpen session today throwing all three pitching really well. We had the radar gun out but for some reason it wouldn't work right. The other radars were locked up in the equipment room and the man that had the key wasn't around. The speed for me really doesn't mean much I just want to know where I am at...if I'm throwing 87 and thinking I'm throwing 93 or vice versa, throwing 93 when I feel like it's 87. If I had to guess I'm in the 89-92 range right now but that's just a guess. My slider today was still a little slower than I like and I think it will get faster with time and throwing it more...I've only been throwing it for 3 weeks right now. At the field the past couple weeks there have been tons of teams from around the country playing in the Roy Hobbs World Series. They have tons of different age groups, I think one is 29 and under, one is 39 and under, another is 49 and under and right now they have the 50 and over leagues going on. It amazes me that guys can still throw really well, no offense to anyone but it's pretty cool to see...I noticed tons of sidearmers out there slinging it up. The teams are from all over but over the past week I met people from 3 different teams in Minnesota...say hi if you are down here.
For all you metal heads you are going to be happy. I'm working on a new top 20. Right now I'm in the gathering process and might have something out soon. For me music has always helped me relax and escape and in some cases blow some steam off after a tough game. Over the past couple years the music kind of got away from me a little bit and I feel this was one part of me that helped me get to the big leagues. Maybe if I can find some awesome songs with riffs we can vote on my "walk in" song for next season.
Monday, November 16
November 16th, 2009
Another couple weeks have gone by and my arm is feeling great. I threw another great bullpen session on Saturday. I'm still ironing out my slider because it's such a feel pitch for me but I'm really surprised at how easy I picked it up after surgery. I'm very curious to see the velocity on my fastball because I think it might be coming in pretty hard...I'm going to try and get a radar gun out for my bullpen session tomorrow. It's hard to imagine but I have 1 week left of rehab and then I am done. On Wednesday it will be 1 year since my surgery, hard to imagine how fast the time went by. My last day is the 23rd and after that I plan on playing catch every other day until January hits and then approach it like any other season to get ready for spring training. I will be staying in Florida the entire winter working out with MN TWINS strength coach Perry Castellano and I know he is going to work me.
I've had some pretty good autograph successes lately. My brother & I drove up to get NHL autographs in Tampa last week and did pretty good going for the Wild. The highlight was getting Tony Esposito on a stick. The week before that I met Gary Puckett from the Union Gap, he had hits in the 60's like Young Girl...very cool guy. He signed 5 items for me and posed for a pic. I also met Jewel and got two autographs from her. I also had a couple failures...one involved Smokey Robinson...just didn't see the guy. This past week I went for T-Pain and Juvenile & now I see why there are so few autographs of rappers out there, those guys are tough and I wonder if they ever sign that's all I'll say haha, it was a mess. All in all it was a blast getting stuff signed again, during the season I am so focused on ball that I don't get the chance to do this type of stuff.
Monday, November 2
November 2nd, 2009
I've been messing around with the site and changed the look up a little. Let me know if you want more changes...looks pretty good for me. I would like to add a cool banner on top...not that the one up isn't cool but was thinking it would be fun to see who could submit a cool banner that actually matches...write to me on the message board.
I think for the most part I will be updating this site very often from now on. There seriously wasn't much to talk about with the injury and it got old answering the same questions, I'll go into all the stuff down the road in updates. For right now though I just wanted to mention a quick update that things are going really well on the mound. I've been throwing fastballs and change-ups at full speed off the mound and my arm feels better than it did before I went down during the season in 08. This week we start with sliders and I'm excited because that's my pitch! Last year I was hesistant when we started messing with breaking balls but this year I'm ready to go because mentally I know I'm good. The trainers down here say if I didn't do anything the rest of the year I would be good to go for spring training. It excites me because I'm at month 11 on the rehab and most guys say it takes to months 12-14 to feel 100%. I'll keep you updated...
Got lots of autograph stories and other stuff, be sure to start checking in on the site often.
Friday, August 28
Update
Just wanted to post a quick update. Everything is still going great and on track. About a month from now I will begin bullpen mound work with an eye at being 100% game ready in November. The first rounder from this year showed up here the other day and the GCL and Miracle seasons are wrapping up down here. It's pretty cool meeting all the younger guys and seeing the future Twins hard at work.
Thursday, July 23
2009 Allen & Ginter Review
I couldn’t let this product go by without a review. I just got done opening up 2 boxes of Topps’s latest installment of 2009 Allen & Ginter Baseball. Once again this is the product I recommend to all people ready to get back into baseball cards. They represent a little of the old, the new and the crazy part of collecting baseball cards. These cards unlike a lot of other brands offer real value for the most part and are a lot of fun to open, trust me I’ve opened a lot of cards.
For people not aware of the Allen & Ginter brand I’m going to quickly explain what it is about this product that makes it special. These aren’t your usual baseball card. After opening the first pack you might find yourself going “what or who the heck is on this card!). You see 2009 Allen & Ginter not only uses the top baseball players in its product, they use champions from all sports and history. My first pack I open had a card of the Milky Way staring back at me, then I got a card of the 2001 Scrabble champion followed by a Pujols card and a mini card of a Yeti…seriously it’s not your usual pack of cards. The only problem with this brand is finding these cards in stores…they usually sell out pretty quickly in most big cities at Target & Wal-Mart stores although last year’s Ginter could be found with some effort. I mentioned last year with the 2007 Ginter brand that people could buy the box and hold them for a year and sell the unopened box for a premium, not sure if that was the same for the 08 Ginter but the 09 product looks to be the same way, it’s very tough to find down here in Ft. Myers.
For me this brand represents a little of everything. It’s great for set builders. There are tons of different sets inside this brand. The mini cards have tons of variations such as the black bordered cards, Ginter ad backs, bazooka backs, no numbered backs and the regular minis. The regular set also offers challenges with 50 cards being short printed. I’ve put together a set from each Ginter year and am already close to checking off this one as well. These cards are also great for autograph seekers. They offer a non-gloss finish and the white background makes an autograph stand out. Also this set offers a lot of collectors the challenge of getting every card autographed either in-person or ttm. You might say how would you get the Milky Way signed or even the Yeti…well you have to be creative. In one Ginter set the card Pluto was included and people went after the guy who denounced Pluto as a planet…you make the rules on who signs your Ginter card. Another reason I love this product is that it’s a fun time. As I mentioned above I’ve open tons of packs, some are fun, others you feel like you are doing a chore because you know nothing inside is worthwhile to open. Allen & Ginter is different. You could open up a Rip Card, a red autograph, a bazooka back, a printing plate, an autograph, a relic or even Napoleon Bonaparte’s hair…no I’m serious there is a piece of his hair in a pack of these. The last reason this product is great and it’s a personal one, there are cards of me loaded inside for me to sign for collectors all over the country. This year I’m in the set and have a ton of cards. I even have a Rip Card…How do I know, well because in the box I just opened I got my rip card in it, what are the odds of that? So what can make this product better? Well, the last two years A&G has run a promotion called “Crack the code” in which they make code cards and anyone has a chance to crack the code. I just found out that Topps used my card as the answer. Check it out here http://2009gintercodeunraveled.blogspot.com/
Ginter is the brand I always buy each year because it’s the most fun box of cards to open (& no I don’t get any kick backs from Topps, I wish I did!). Here’s how I did with my two boxes of cards.
2009 – 2 boxes of Topps Allen & Ginter results
Hits
Pat Neshek Rip Card (No way I’m ripping this thing) – My all time best hit, I’ve opened up a lot more expensive cards but this was the coolest card I have ever opened. Considering there is one rip card in every 12 boxes and many subjects have rip cards… to open this card of myself is statistically crazy.
Chris Carpenter Silk Cloth card #’d to 10 (Another tough pull)
CC Sabathia GU Jersey, Nate Mclouth Jersey, Melvin Mora GU Bat & Ryan Ludwick jersey cards
Brian Cappelleto Game Used Shirt worn during the 2001 Scrabble Championship
Cuba & Constitution Cabinet cards as my box toppers
Analysis – Considering you are suppose to get 2 hits per box I did exceptionally well. Not bad to get 7 hits in 2 boxes. I still think getting my rip card was my all-time greatest hit. The only thing better is if my Wood card is inside but I’ll never know since it’s staying unripped. I liked the cards a lot. I think the checklist of players works just as it has in the past. I still liked last year’s state cards but the National pride cards are great as well. Not much has changed since last year and this will once again be the top brand out. As always if you find my printing plate or wood card we need to trade!
Sunday, July 19
July 19th, 2009
The pain in my elbow from the surgery has went away over the last month and it should...it's been 8 months right now. I've known a lot of minor league guys that have came back in 9 months but the way we wrote up the rehab program I've been going a little slower and full recovery will be in 12 months. It's pretty awesome to be able to stretch out my arm and bend it and not have any pressure or pain. My elbow still acts up every once in awhile especially after I get done lifting my upper body or doing some of the rehab stuff such as resistence exercises. I think the biggest thing I need to get over right now is trusting my arm once again. I really like to baby it for stupid things like opening doors and reaching for things...I really still favor my left arm and I'm making it a priority to do everything with my right hand once again. As always with my rehab I have my good days and bad ones...It still feels like I'm riding a wave with highs and lows but after each week I feel like I'm improving a ton from the week before so I know everything is going on track.
I've still been collecting autographs and watching the games on TV. I've added a couple really cool pieces to my collection. I started getting into the online auctions such as RR Auction...you can search for it in yahoo. In June I purchased an authentic original letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte talking about how he wants supplies and troops relocated...and it includes his signature written in French. I also found an authentic Jimi Hendrix autograph from a guy in Sweden and added that to my collection as well. It took me a lot of long hours doing quick opinions on PSA/DNA.com finding real stuff of Hendrix but I finally came through. I've also been meaning to put this on here for a long time but never have. I've been trying to track down Michael Lang the producer of Woodstock. I bought a check that was written to Hendrix from Lang paying him for a concert...I sent it in to PSA/DNA and they said everything checked out but they needed Lang's final approval to say real/fake. If anyone has any leads on how to get in touch with Lang or knows him please let me know how I can get in touch with him and I will reward nicely, message me on Facebook...my image is of my dog Kirby driving our car.
2009 Topps Allen & Ginter made some sweet new baseball cards of me. If anyone gets anything of me and need it signed send it my way with a SASE and I will ink them up for you. The address is above.
Sunday, June 21
June 21st, 2009
I don't like taking this much time off between updates but my days really haven't been anything to write about down here rehabbing. To start things are going great. I just passed the 7 month mark and my arm is really strong. Right now I'm throwing from about 70 feet and even doing push ups. I will be game ready in November...still a long ways to go but it's great to be getting stronger each week.
About 3 weeks ago the team came into Tampa and I met up with them. I got to sit in the dugout for a couple games and it was fun to see everyone. Taking BP with the team made me feel like I was making my Major League debut again...the balls were jumping off the bat and coming at me fast, it's amazing how fast stuff moves up there when you haven't been around for a little bit. The highlight for me was the Rays annoucer Rusty gave me a shout out in the first inning. Rusty also works for the Minnesota Wild in the winter and IS a Ryan Seacrest body double. Anybody who has been to a Rays game in the past 4 years can verify this.
I've been busy buying autographs, trading autographs and cleaning up my collection. I'm working on acquiring a new personal favorite autograph at the moment so check back later to see what I got...might take awhile to get here. I've also been doing a lot of in-person graphing here...we get done at our workouts around noon each day and gives me the perfect schedule to get some autographs. I'm a big fan of music graphs so that is who I have been going after. Last week I got Steely Dan (Donald Fagan & Walter Becker) on an album and was pumped because they are tough signers. The week before I got a couple guys in Blue Oyster Cult as well as a guy named Rudy Sarzo who played in Quiet Riot & White Snake as well as with Ozzy. The week before that I got Vanilla Ice & Lita Ford. I also had some misses but it's because I didn't know the venue I was working with...The county race track and casino here are tough to get autographs and I missed getting Charlie Daniels and John Kay from Steppenwolf. So this is some of the stuff that has been keeping me going down here...It's starting to get very hot as well.
It's been very fun watching the Twins play lately. I think we are going to be in the thick of it this year for sure. I still worry about the White Sox...we'll see how July plays out, that's always a big month right before the trading deadline.
Down here a lot of the new draft picks have been showing up. It's fun to watch a guy show up for the first time with the deer in the headlights look. After a couple days they seem to get use to the way things are done and settle in. I think it's been really cool to meet a lot of the younger guys & hopefully play with them some day in the big leagues.
Sunday, May 17
May 17th, 2009
I just thought I would give a little update. On my facebook page I've been getting a lot of inquiries about when I'm coming back...Well, for those of you that don't know I will be out all year...well until November is when I will be 100%. I know it sucks...I hate it and want to pitch really really bad but there's nothing I can do but take things slow and rehab and get back. As I mentioned above I do have a facebook page and accept everyone who wants to be my friend. Currently my picture is my dog Kirby driving our car...get on there and send me a friend request. I haven't updated this site in awhile...mostly I've been fixing stuff in our yard down here and trading stuff on my message board which is right above this entry in the black box. There is some great discussion on there about autographs and anything you ever wanted to know about autographs! Check it out if you are curious. As far as autographs go I starting doing some in-person graphing down here. Starting last night I went for The Geogia Satellites...really nice guys. They signed 2/2 albums and thanked me, you can't beat that. I've also picked up a sweet 1/1 UD Spectrum Cut Auto of Fats Domino of eBay. I've been going after music autographs like crazy lately. Also I was just issued a new Bowman Baseball card. Check it out on eBay by searching Neshek Bowman, please let me win some of the rarer cards when they come up on there...please!
Tuesday, May 5
Ahhh The Minor League Kid's Race - I Always Wondered If This Ever Happened
Friday, May 1
Please Vote
Friday, May 1
Time Killer
I thought this was pretty cool and have been aware of this for awhile but I thought I would share. Under thebaseballcube.com you can search any high school in the country and see what big leaguers came out of it...It also has every high school in the country ranked by big leaguers produced...some hs in Cali - Freemont high had the most big leaguers...check it out
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/hs/index.shtml
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/hs/top_mlb_teams.shtml
Tuesday, April 28
New T-Shirts For Sale
Be sure to check out the new t-shirts at www.sidearmstore.com
My entire share of the sales goes to charity
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| Click Here |
Tuesday, April 28
April 28th, 2009
I've been away for a couple weeks...actually I've had a couple friends come down to visit and there wasn't much internet time. In the last couple weeks I've been to Busch Gardens, watched nearly every baseball game with the MLB Package and I'm in 2nd place in my fantasy baseball league. I haven't had any ebay purchases but that might change soon.
Rehab is going great, I'm throwing without worry right now and slowly but surely moving up day by day. The rehab is a little bit easier this year because Boof is down here and it's been a ton easier having another guy that is going through the same thing. Right now I am still at 20 and 30 ft. for my throwing program but right now I am throwing 60 pitches every other day.
Monday, April 13
R.I.P. Harry Kalas
One of my favorite voices in the game & a heck of a guy & signer. 2009 has been a tough year for a lot of people, R.I.P. Phillies announcer & HOFer Harry Kalas
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| He signed this for me in 2006 |
Friday, April 10
Collector's Corner
A couple weeks have went by and I've once again been busy scouring the depths of eBay for some deals. The week started off with a purchase of a Rick Stelmaszek wire photo from his playing days. I thought it was pretty unique in that it was a photo of him laying on the ground after getting whacked by a baseball in the throat. On the back it had the newspaper caption and the edited caption that appeared in the NY paper. I had him sign the photo up and offered it to him but he said he had the paper from back in the day. The photo caused a ruckus in the clubhouse with people laughing at him and making jokes about what happened. It was pretty cool hearing what really happened and what his teammates were like. My next purchase was a cut auto from an index card of Oral Hindebrand...you're probably going who the heck is that. Well he played a bunch of years in the early 1900's in the big leagues including playing for the Yanks but to me he's better known as being a former Butler Bulldog baseball player. I thought it was pretty rare to see his autograph up for bids so I placed a bid and won it. Up next I went back to the Mystery cut autographs from Legendary cuts. To my surprise there was a John Lennon & in a different auction a Jimi Hendrix cut auto from Legendary cuts. Knowing they would probably go for a ton I thought I would watch them. Well with 30 mins left on the Lennon I started thinking and told myself I was going to make a run at the card. It was at $1700 with 8 mins left and I had to ask Stephanee if it was fine if I went after this card. She agreed and with 12 seconds left I put a high bid of $2150 in. For 6 seconds I was the high bidder and then I got outbid...then that person got outbid with 1 second left. The card closed for $2650. Later on the Hendrix went for $2700 something but I stood on the sidelines and watched it close. After those 2 cards I vowed to take it easy and set my sights on cards with a lower price range. I ended up winning a pretty sweet 1/1 from Legendary cuts of musician Carl Perkins for $75 and a 1/1 legendary cuts cut auto of John Denver for $250. Those were my purchases of last week. I also picked up my printing plate from Allen & Ginter last week from a nice seller in Irvine, CA. At the moment I am only missing 1 plate from finishing that set. For this week I am not sure what I will be going after. I've been eyeing actual graded baseball cards & football cards. I've been looking at Roger Maris rc's & Jim Brown football rookie cards, not sure if I want to bid on anything but I'll keep you updated.
Thursday, April 9
April 9th, 2009
Right before the big club broke camp I got a pretty neat autograph. It's radio announcer John Gordon with his famous call "touch em all Kirby Puckett" inscribe. This is one of my new favorite autographs.
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Tuesday, April 7
April 7th, 2009
I've been reading a lot of stories about how much people hate the Metrodome lately that I thought I would chime in and let everyone know that I am a big time fan of the dome and don't want to see it go. Contrary to newspaper articles that have quotes from players bashing the place I just thought it would be fair to let people know the general consensus amongst the players and what they think about the dome. Let’s start with the cons from the player's point of view. The clubhouse is awful and outdated. It's very small in terms of space and the amenities. It really needs to have more rooms such as a bigger video room, a weight room & training room. Basically those complaints are the biggest concerns. Yes some guys hate playing indoors or don't like the turf. Others don't like the white roof and how hard it is to catch the ball in the outfield. I'm sure there are other complaints but these are the most common ones I have heard. Now for the pros, there are many. Baseball players HATE playing outdoors from April til Mid May unless they are in warm weather. Being in Minnesota everyone knows you can still have snow on the ground in May...let's just say nobody is looking forward to playing outdoors next April. The Metrodome also provides the comfort of knowing that every game is going to be played whether it is snow or rain, cold or hot. From a player's point of view knowing the game is on time is huge. The biggest thing for me and why I like the dome is the home field advantage. Opposing teams are scared to play at the Metrodome if we have a team in contention. They know the place will be the loudest place in MLB and are not use to the turf and how the field plays. I haven't looked up the exact stats but I'm pretty sure in my time at the dome we have kicked butt basically because of how comfortable we are there and how scared opposing teams are. Granted the place doesn't look the best from a fan's perspective but I think the loudness, the way we play there and the uniqueness of the dome makes up for that. Add in the 70 degree temp everyday of the year and I am sold. I really don't understand the bashing of the dome. I truly think after the nostalgia of the new stadium rubs off in a couple years that we are all going to wish the place was enclosed like the dome or we had the dome back. Add in how cold it is going to be, not knowing if the game is going to be played due to rain or cold, the loss of the huge home field advantage and loudness of the dome, the smaller max crowd capacity and I think things will be just a little different in Minnesota. It will be nice to play outdoors but sometimes it's a lot better playing in neutral conditions where the wind isn't blowing 20 mph some nights, the sun isn't torturing the players in the bullpen or it rains or snows so much that we have 10 doubleheaders throughout the year. In my mind I'd rather have a place where the temperature is always 70 degrees with no wind any day of the year.
Monday, April 6
April 6th, 2009 - Opening Day - All Games Free
I don't know if this is nationwide but if you are able to get the MLB extra innings package with whatever cable service you have they are airing every game for the first week for free. Check it out, go to the high TV channels that say MLB on Demand and you should be able to watch any game that is being played, pretty sweet. Just thought I would share that with everyone...back to watching the games for me.
Sunday, April 5
April 5th, 2009
Well, the team is gone and I am going at it with my rehab. Yesterday was a hectic day for just about everyone. I think the clubbies had to be the busiest people on earth. They had to make sure all the uniforms, baseballs & equipment made it on the plane as well as clean out the clubhouse and make sure everything is in order before they left. I packed up my locker at the end of the day and had one of the ushers drive me over to the minor league side in a golf cart. On my way back I chatted with a couple graphers and made my way back to the clubhouse. As I walked into the clubhouse I noticed that everyone on the team was gone. All that was left were the batboys digging through lockers and grabbing freebies that the guys left behind. Just like that the entire team packed up and was on the plane. I did get to say goodbye to most of the guys and wished them luck. During the season I will probably make it up to the dome sometime to visit the doctor and make sure everything is going as planned. I'm also going to visit the team when they come into Tampa in late May. As I grabbed my last bag of stuff one of the batboys hit the jackpot...a brand new pair of custom Nike cleats...not sure if he was pumped so he could wear them or if he was going to put them up on eBay later in the day!
Today I walked into the minor league clubhouse at 7:30am and was amazed at how many people could fit into one little building. If we were talking about bugs this would be an infestation with how many people were getting treatment from the trainers or just hanging out wherever they could find space. To understand how many people were in one space I had to TRIPLE up lockers with Scott Baker & RA Dickey for a couple days. I just left my bag packed and will unpack it in a couple days when the minor leaguers are shipped out to their final destinations and all the locker spaces will open up. The 3rd throwing sessions went great again but I'm still having trouple mentally with trusting my arm...I think things will get better the more I throw.
Friday, April 3
April 3rd, 2009
I had my second throwing session today and everything went fine. I guess during my last session our trainer noticed I wasn't bending my arm when I threw the ball...this time (2nd time) I was bending the elbow. Every pitcher bends the elbow when they throw so I felt like this was a big improvement. Our trainer didn't want to say anything the first time about how straight my arm was and was happy I was able to throw freely again. I think a lot of it has to do with the trust factor. I'm having a heck of a time trusting myself to throw the ball freely and not worry about my arm falling off. I think it's going to take a lot more throwing and days to go by before I lose that awkward feeling.
Tomorrow the guys leave Ft. Myers and head back to Minnesota. It's going to be tough seeing the team leave Boof & I behind. In December the trainers gave me the option of sticking back in MN and doing my rehab up there or coming down for the entire spring. At first I didn't think it really mattered where I did my rehab but over the past couple months I'm very happy I came down for the entire spring. I think not seeing the guys would drive me nuts and really remove me from the game. Seeing everyone again and hanging out on the field and in the clubhouse really helped make me feel like I was still a Twin and gave me a lot of motivation to get back on the field. There will be a little bit of emotion tomorrow saying goodbye to everyone for the year, I've said it a million times already...I can't wait to get on the mound!
Thursday, April 2
Catch Of The Day
Wednesday, April 1
April 1st, 2009
I was thinking about writing something on here April fool's style but the more I thought about it the more I thought to just skip it this year. Today was the day I had circled on the calendar for a couple weeks now; it was my first day of playing catch since I tore my elbow back in November. I wasn't nervous at all...I was basically at the point that if my arm gave out I was going to beat somebody up...I've never been hurt in my entire life and now I get to sit through the longest recovery injury in baseball...nervous was the last thing on my mind. Being reminded of a couple things I talked about with other guys in the clubhouse that had Tommy John I was kind of anxious to see how my arm would hold up. A couple guys told me that when they first threw the ball it immediately went to the ground...that kind of had me spooked. The rest of the guys said they had no problems until the workload increased a little. I'm basically expecting to be sore time and time again and to have a couple setbacks in the process. My main goal is to still take things really slow and follow the plan. So with that I walked out to the field today, stretched and starting my throwing program with bullpen catcher Nate Dammann. Today the program called for 20 throws at 20 ft (stop laughing!), 10 at 30ft and 10 again at 20ft. The distance felt extremely close and everything went as planned. I had zero pain and if I wasn't telling myself to go easy I wouldn't have known anything was wrong. Like I said before I'm taking this throwing VERY slow but I cannot tell you how bad I want to get on that mound already.
Monday, March 30
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Tuesday, March 31
March Madness Update
I thought I would give a quick update on the neshek.com March Madness bracket challenge. The winner of each bracket will get either an AROD signed baseball or a box of Allen & Ginter 2008 cards. After being stranded in 479th place out of 481 people I had a couple of huge calls especially with Villanova and that helped me leap back into the top 200. As it sits right now I am in 177th place. Overall Team awesomeness is in first place by 10 big points. He picked all 4 final four teams. I like his odds of winning but points in the final four are worth a lot more and a miss there would be costly as there are about 20 teams within a 15 pts range. In the sweet sixteen challenge I had a very rough week. I let my dogs pick the teams by holding a treat in both hands and whatever hand they went to was their pick. The left hand meant the higher seed and the right meant the lower seed. Right now the dogs and I are sitting in 102nd place out of 200 brackets. One person picked all 12 games correctly and goes by the name Hespen. Anything can happen like I said before because the points are worth a lot more for these final games...a top 100 finish for me would be a huge accomplishment after seeing my results in the 1st and 2nd rounds. Overall Hespen is tied for #1 in the Yahoo Nation of over 500,000 brackets. In the other bracket Team awesomeness ranks in the top 500 in the nation of nearly 3 million brackets.
Monday, March 30
Mail Day
I did a couple more letters in the mail - Don't worry if you just sent me a letter down here in FL. That is the correct address on this page and I will be down here for the next year so if you need anything signed be sure to send it down here with a SASE. I got a pretty sweet box in the mail the other day. As most of you know if you send me a signed card of anyone in the big leagues or NHL & a return SASE I will sign up one of my cards and throw it in the SASE back to you. The other day I got a pretty cool bunch of cards from one of the best graphers in MN named Jeff. He's been working on the 2008 Allen & Ginter set and finished off a bunch for me through the mail. The picture below is what he sent me...Pretty sweet autographs from some pretty important people that hold many records and are a big part of sports history. In no order the cards pictured are Mark Selby (Pool Champion), Todd Clever (Rugby), Kerri Strug (Gymnastics), The guy who tried to save Pluto as a planet, Bruce Jenner, Jeff Kind (Iditarod), Keith Van Dam (Bass Angler), Bob Motley (umpire), Andrew William Ocean Litz (Air Guitar Champ), Bigfoot the monster truck driver Bob Chandler, Joey Chestnut (hot dog eating champ), The Gateway Arch Architect, Nicky Hayden (Motorcycle), Les Miles (Football Champ), Frank Morris (Rubik's Cube Champ), & Bonnie Blair & Dan Jansen!
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Sunday, March 29
Pretty Good Day At The Park
Today I showed up to the field just like any other day and then the rain came. Most of the guys were expecting a short rain delay and then a cancellation because after all it was a spring training game. For some strange reason, 1pm came and went, 2pm came and went and then we finally started the game at 3. During the time in the clubhouse a lot of the guys got caught up with cleaning out their locker and getting stuff in order for the semi truck that will be heading to MN. I played a 4 hour card game with a bunch of the guys and that really helped kill time. I was doing fine with the game until Boof came over to me and said that he thought it was strange that Pujols made the long trip over from West Palm. I did a double take because Pujols was one of the few remaining guys I need for my signed baseball collection. I jumped up from my chair and ran over to our clubby (Jay) and asked him if he would be able to help me out. He came through with a perfect autograph. After getting the ball I was pretty pumped up and decided to do an M&M (Mauer and Morneau) Dual signed baseball. For a day with the bad weather I thought it turned out pretty good.
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| Pujols, M&M & Killebrew |
Monday, March 30
Another Printing Plate Goes Up On eBay
Last night on eBay the Magenta printing plate from showed up on eBay. I'm working on trying to get my third printing plate from the 2008 Allen & Ginter set. I can't believe that 3 plates from this set have surfaced. Last night I wrote to the seller asking him what I can do to get the plate and we are close to a deal. I'll keep you updated.
Saturday, March 28
March 28th, 2009
I thought I would give an update as to how my arm is doing. Last I wrote we pushed back my throwing for a couple weeks. Right now I am slowly approaching my first day of playing catch. On Wednesday next week I will toss for the first time since hurting my arm. I'm not nervous or even worried...more bored if there has to be an emotion to describe how I am feeling. Today I was given my protocol for the next 6 months...pretty straight to the point and...well really boring. The thing I learned from last year was to take the rehab process slow so I am going to follow this plan very closely. I'll update everyone in a couple days as to how the throwing went and what exactly I did. The last couple days I started doing shoulder manuals...basically I try to move my arm in front of me and the trainer resists my arm...doing this for the first time really made my arm tired. If you ever talked to someone that has had TJ surgery you'll probably hear them say that they rehab the shoulder more than the elbow...very true, you really need to build up the muscles around the elbow to stabilize it and give the elbow support.
Friday, March 27
March 27th, 2009
Things are starting to wrap up a little and you can really tell that spring training is coming to an end. Today there were a couple more cuts in camp and we are starting to get down to the last remaining guys that are fighting for those last couple spots. I know a bunch of people are wondering what goes down from now until we arrive in Minnesota. In about two days the Twins will have a huge Semi that will sit in the player parking lot and anyone that needs stuff shipped to Minnesota will have it on the semi. In years past it was not uncommon to see just about everything on the truck. I've seen kid bikes, mattresses, tv's and one guy....cough Jason Tyner, had about 9 different huge travel bags for himself. Basically a lot of the guys are moving their stuff from their spring training home up to Minnesota and this is the easiest way to get it there. Once the truck arrives in Minnesota the clubbies unload all the stuff in the Vikings locker room at the Metrodome...The day when the players pick this stuff up is pandemonium...Each player has on average 4 bags and they are all trying to get the stuff out of the dome at the same time. On top of that most guys are renting a place in town and have to set up their house as well. Even with having a home in MN that first day is not fun and something I always hated having to go through. To get out of Ft. Myers we all travel on a huge Northwest Airlines plane. All family members are allowed to travel...in years past we were able to get both of our dogs on the flight as well. In 2007 when we broke camp I didn't know Stephanee could travel so I sent her off on a flight to MN with our dog Juicy. Things would've been a lot easier on a plane that didn't care if Juicy was free to roam the aisles of the plane! In 2007 Johan Santana brought his dog with and it wouldn't stop barking...I thought this would be an end to dogs on the plane but I was lucky last year because both of our dogs were really good and slept the entire time. It's going to be tough next week when the team leaves. After that it'll be Boof and me cheering on the team down here in Ft. Myers watching MLB extra innings each night. I'm pretty sure the desire inside of me will be boiling over & I already cannot wait to strike my first hitter out in 2010.
Thursday, March 26
Collector's Corner
As many of you know I am a collector of autographs & baseball cards. With the injury I have had too much time to put towards the hobby & it has been a lot of fun. The main tool I use is eBay. During the past year I’m sure many of you know that card prices & autographs have took a huge hit in terms of price. I thought this would be a cool time to reflect on what I am currently collecting this week and some other stuff. During the past 6 months I have been the victim in buying a couple higher priced fakes off eBay. Estimates that I have heard from different people such as friends in the industry and various people place the fakes on eBay between 70%-85%...don’t quote me though this is all from people that I do not know where they got these figures. Of course you can always buy certified autos and cut autos that were opened from packs of Topps & Upper Deck but if it’s not certified from a place like PSA/DNA I would watch out. From my experiences though just about everything I was buying in December was a fake. I was lucky enough to become friends with a person at PSA/DNA and he has helped me out big time with the things I buy. My biggest advice is to pay for quick authentications from PSA/DNA. You can go to their website and for $10 they will tell you if they think this would pass authentication if it was sent to them. Basically you just forward them the eBay item number and they will tell you what they think.
Speaking of eBay I was really frisky this week in trying to buy a high priced card. I’ve never had a HIGH HIGH end card in my collection and this was my mission this week. To start off the week I had my eyes set on a James Madison (4th President) cut autograph. For those of you that don’t collect card companies like Topps take old papers or letters or anything with an autograph…cut out the autograph and put it into a brand new card and place them in packs for people to find. These cards are pretty rare especially the 1/1’s from various people in history. To make a long story short I was outbid with 2 seconds left for $1010. I really wanted the card but I also had my head set on a Chief Bender cut auto. This didn’t look like a regular cut auto though, the piece was cut from a baseball it looked like. Being that Chief Bender was from Minnesota and the 1st Native American Hall of Famer I thought this would be an excellent piece to add. Figuring the last cut auto of Bender sold for around $675 I thought I would bid $805 in the last 5 seconds to secure this card. Well I did everything I thought I would do and bid but someone outbid me with a second left for $815. Oh well, the thing I always realized with eBay is that if you don’t win something and have the cash you will find something again in a matter of time…in other words it’s hard to keep cash in your Paypal account! The next item I was eyeing was a Carlo Gambino (Mobster) cut auto from Legendary cuts. It was a 1/1 and I would bet they probably wouldn’t make another one. The seller had a best offer with buy it now for $999. I figured offer $650 and see where that would take me. I thought $750 would be my highest offer. The seller countered with $900 and the more I thought about it the less I wanted the card. I backed off and declined the offer. Off to the next item…This one was from National Treasures and was an autograph of Adolph Coors Jr. I really wanted this card since I thought it would go pretty low. There was 5 mins left when I used wikipedia to do some more research. To my surprise this was Adolph Coors Sr. kid…thus not the original founder that died in 1929. I really wanted the father’s autograph and not the sons and was confused…I decided not to bid, the card ended up getting $255…I wondered if the buyer knew what I found out…I’m sure he did. What am I going to bid on next…who the heck knows. I thought this auction http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-08-SP-Legendary-Cuts-Heinie-Manush-Cut-Auto-6_W0QQitemZ220382751846QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_SM_Sports_Cards?hash=item220382751846&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50
for the Heinie Manush card was a steal but I thought it might go for lower. Someone else also listed the 1/6 card of him at the same time auction style…Let’s just say for $100 or less this card is a steal…I’ll be watching, until next week!
Wednesday, March 25
Neshek.com 2nd Chance Brackets
If you were able to get in the first bracket challenge you are now eligible to join the Sweet 16 2nd chance bracket. If you were one of the lucky 500 to get in the first time just log into the same page to check out how your original bracket is doing and fill out your new picks under the new challenge. The prize for winning the 2nd chance bracket is 1 unopened box of 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter. Fill this out quickly, I think the system shuts down once the first game tips off. Good luck
Monday, March 23
March 23rd, 2009
The days are going by pretty quickly right now as we approach the start of the MLB season. There have been a couple more roster moves & cuts the last couple days and the clubhouse is starting to get smaller. Every year the Twins do a great job and invite a couple of the younger guys in the organization to get their feel for the big leagues. The Twins usually select 3-4 guys to come over from the minor league side each day and let them watch the game for a couple innings and if the time is right they get put into the action. Today was the first day for the minor league guys to come over and play. I remember in 2004 they called me over to play against the Pirates in Bradenton. I didn't know what to expect and I threw the day before so I told Rick Anderson my arm was sore and I couldn't pitch. For some strange reason I didn't sit in the bullpen like I should've but I sat in the dugout and watched the entire game. Looking back I don't know what I was thinking, I remember Rick Anderson asking me if I wanted to pitch and I told him my arm was sore from the day before. He told me to hang out and watch the game, knowing I wasn't going to pitch I sat front row in the dugout and watched Johan pitch a gem. The funny part of the story wasn't until after we got back to Ft. Myers. Once back we were inside the dugout and Torii Hunter came over to me and fellow A-Ball teammate Seth Davidson and told us maybe next time we will get into a game. He reached over and asked us how many bats we would like...Seth told him 3 and then Torii looked at me and I said I'll take 3 also. When I left the clubhouse I told Seth that Torii is the nicest guy in the world. Seth looked at me and goes "Dude, Torii thought that you were a hitter" and started laughing for a couple minutes. I finally put it all together and realized that by sitting in the dugout all game and talking with the hitters and Torii that they all must have thought I was a hitter...I felt bad for a couple minutes and then laughed as well...I just made out with 3 Game Used Hunter bats...Being the broke minor leaguer I thought about selling them on eBay but then I thought they would make great trade bat down the road:) About a week later I got the call again and I pitched against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin. At the time I was fresh out of A ball and walking to the mound to face ROY Eric Hinske made me want to throw up...I was the most nervous I ever was. Then I struck him out and was a little more relaxed. For those guys going out to pitch for the first time is a sight to see and that is why I enjoy how the Twins give young guys straight out of the draft a shot to play in Big League spring training games.
Saturday, March 21
March 21st, 2009
I haven't had a post in the past couple days and that is because I am caught up in March Madness. Madness is the correct word for every bracket I filled out this year because last night I was in dead last of 500 people who signed up for the bracket challenge on this site...Pretty embarrassing if you ask me. Today I moved up a bunch and am in 422nd place. Right now there are a ton of people still in good contention for the Arod signed baseball prize. As of right now gotwins47 is in first place by picking 43 of the 48 games, congratz.
Thursday, March 19
March 19th, 2009
Today we had another off-day and it was everything I thought it would be. Well it wasn't too exciting, I laid on the couch all day with my dog Kirby by my side. We watched the NCAA tourney from 12 noon until right now. I picked a ton of upsets and right now I am upset about how my bracket has been. 500 signed up for the neshek.com bracket challenge. Right now I got 7 of the 12 games right to place me in 454th place. The only couple people that are behind me are the ones that forgot to fill out the bracket...there were about 30 of them. The next few missed me by one game & one sorry person must have picked the teams by the color of their uniforms. Without the last 4 games of the night 21 people have 12 of 12 games picked completely right...I have a feeling there will be 0 correct by the end of the night. I can't wait for tomorrow's games already.
Wednesday, March 18
March 18th, 2009
I'm pretty anxious for tomorrow and the start of the tourney. This is the first time in my 7 spring trainings that I will have an off day during the start of the tourney. I wonder what i'll do tomorrow haha.
Contrary to what I said a couple weeks ago about throwing on the 18th of March things have changed. I was informed yesterday by the staff that I would start throwing now on April 1st. The reason given was that I had a lot of time and the doctors wanted me to start a week and a half later. I think the main reason is that the Twins trainers didn't want to play catch with me...by starting on the 1st they would only have to play catch with me 2 times and then they would hand me over to minor league coordinator Lanning Tucker kidding kidding. Seriously though the docs checked out my arm and it is going as planned and they just wanted to start me a week later. Fine with me, I have what...12 months to go:)
Tuesday, March 17
We've reached our limits
Sorry to anyone that wasn't able to get into the NCAA tourney challenge...Yahoo only lets me take 500 User brackets and just now we've reached that mark. Good luck to those who got in and be ready next year for those that couldn't make it in.
Tuesday, March 17
Win An AROD Signed Baseball - Join the Free Neshek.com Basketball Tourney Challenge
I can't believe it but there are 500 brackets already filled out as I write this. You still have a day and a half to join but winning the arod ball is going to be tough...The last day to sign up is early Thursday morning.
Here's the info again
Click Here http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joinprivategroup
Once at the above page - Enter the Group # 73482
Leave the password field blank
Once in fill out your picks and cross your fingers...there will probably be a bunch of trash talk under the message boards...one thing is for sure though, we are going to have a lot of fun. Good luck to everyone.
Monday, March 16
Letters Of The Week
Got a couple of through the mail letters I had to share with everyone. These come via Scott Baker's Mail, I must add he opened these back to back also. The first is someone who confused him with the 1990's Scott Baker. The real Baker laughed a ton about this one and has never heard of the former Scott Baker before. The very next letter came written something like this, sign this card of you Scott & you can keep this girly card. I've never seen this type of bribery but it worked, Scott signed up the card and put it back in the envelope & then traded the Benchwarmer girly card to Boof for a signed hat...just kidding, he gave the card to me to write this story!
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| Another Interesting Mail Day |
Saturday, March 14
Neshek.COM March Madness Yahoo NCAA Tourney Challenge
Alright I just formed the league for the NCAA Basketball tourney. Everyone is invited to join & it's free. All you have to do is sign up at this page
http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joinprivategroup
Once at the above page - Enter the Group # 73482
Leave the password field blank
On Sunday or anytime before the first game of the tourney fill out your picks & see how you do against everyone who signs up. Everyone can fill out a bracket and like I said before the winner will get an Official MLB Baseball signed on the sweetspot by Alex Rodriguez.
Saturday, March 14
March 13th, 2009
Just a quick update, I'm working on putting together a yahoo NCAA tournament bracket where everyone that wants to join can fill out a bracket. The winner will get an AROD signed baseball...I'm hoping we can get over 500 brackets filled out and have some fun with it. I'll have the details in the next update with the link for the league.
Thursday, March 12
March 12th, 2009
The countdown is on, I have 6 days until I throw. Today I met up with one of the team doctors and asked him a bunch of questions about my arm. I told him it feels really good except when I turn it…like when I turn the door to open it. He told me that’s the most common type of soreness and it will go away. I also asked a couple guys that have had TJ and they said they had the same thing and it went away once they started throwing. At the field today there have been a ton of people walking around and watching us practice. It’s really a great time to get autographs if you can tell who’s who. You would think the best time to get autographs is before a game but I disagree…the best time is when the team is out of town, you’ll always find the older guys who pay to get out of a road game and practice at home. I think a lot of people are realizing this because the away game crowds have been really big compared to the past couple years.
Tomorrow minor leaguers report to the other side of the complex for minor league spring training. Minor league spring training is horrible…I won’t lie & I’ll be frank, it was not fun. You show up on the first day and they make you run a 2.5 mile that is being timed & they want you to run under 18 mins or something like that. My first spring training I really didn’t put an emphasis on running and almost blacked out when I ran the 2.5…I admit I threw up a little bit but finished. That next year I ran like crazy in the off-season and was a top 10 finisher. Minor league spring training is also over a lot quicker…I think it last only 3 weeks. Games for them start in 4 days…you better come to camp ready to go.
Wednesday, March 11
March 11th, 2009
We were back in action today. The team went on the road so once again it was stretch, pfp & batting practice. Fake throwing and fielding baseballs got old really quick & I am backing off a little on the practice. I figure every time the team plays at home I will head out to the field if the team is away I will do some more exercises inside the clubhouse. I got to thinking yesterday that I was the only guy in camp that has done fielding practice everyday since we got here...I kind of feel like everyone is sick of watching me fake throw and hold up the line. Things are looking up though, in 7 days I will begin my throwing program. Most guys start throwing at 4 months after surgery and the 18th marks month number four for me. It's going to be slow though, I cheated and looked ahead at my throwing program and my first bullpen sessions starts in SEPTEMBER...you read it correctly, September.
At the field today I spent the majority of the time shagging down the left field line. A bunch of baseballs went over the fence and a few more went foul causing fans to go nuts and run after the baseballs. A couple fans got a little greedy and decided to test their luck and jumped the fence on the field behind us to try and get some more baseballs...that prompted security to run out and chase them away & get the balls back...It's bad when that was the highlight of my day! Other funny things that happened today was seeing Crain & Morneau back in camp already. I think they were a little upset with how many people kept coming up to them and asking them how the WBC went & how they lost to Italy...it got to be the joke of the day and they weren't having it. I'll end the day with this. I was shagging during bp when a ball went down the line...A fan yelled out "let me throw the ball in since it looks like it hurts when you throw with your left hand". I thought why not, a pretty good idea actually. So I threw the guy the ball and he asked where should I throw it. I said throw it near the guys doing the bucket...The guy reared back and threw it as hard as he could on the fly...My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I realized he didn't throw the ball on the ground and that it was headed right on the faces of the guys doing the bucket...Luckily the ball tailed left and missed the bucket...I don't know what I would've done if he would have been dead on...there would be a lot of questions to answer about that one! I think I'll stick to throwing left handed next time.
Tuesday, March 10
March 9th & 10th, 2009
Today we had another off-day. My family is down here & flew into Ft. Myers a couple days ago. Knowing we had the day off today we drove over to Melbourne to check out our house & the beach. It was a very relaxing day and I got to work on my terrible farmer’s tan a little & watch my brother get knocked around by the waves. I almost wished we would’ve been in Ft. Myers today though…Gardy hired an Elvis impersonator from South Dakota and was putting on a huge show with dancers & flashing lights at the team hotel. I can’t wait to hear how it went down when I walk into the clubhouse tomorrow.
Sunday, March 8
March 8th, 2009
It was a pretty easy day for those that stayed back in camp. The rest of the team headed over to Ft. Lauderdale to take on the O's. The atmosphere in the clubhouse is pretty good right now. A lot of the younger guys are getting comfortable right now and pretty much everyone knows each person's name & face now...it's amazing how long it takes to learn 60+ new names. In the next week though the clubhouse will most likely get a lot more on edge. First cuts are coming up in the next week & once that hits a lot of guys get nervous about where they will end up. I've been on both sides of the cuts. In 2006 I was cut the first day...I wasn't happy but understood the process enough to know I would probably be cut no matter how good I did. In 2007 though I made the team & it was cool being there the entire time.
Saturday, March 7
March 7th, 2009
My day was the typical game day routine, show up, rehab, pfp & shagging and then watching the game. I kind of hit the wall today with my enthusiasm. I think you can only do something so many days in a row before it gets old & today I was pretty bored. I think I was just in a hurry to watch some college basketball finals today. I really get into college basketball especially at this time of the year. I love to play www.protrade.com and pick teams that I think are going to win and short the ones I think that are going to lose. The site is really cool though, it's a stock market for sports...play money of course! I've been playing this for a couple years and just crossed the 700k line in play money. I think they need to hire me as a rep since I've been on there forever and made a lot of people fake money when I got hurt last year and people shorted me down to nothing :) If anyone wants to challenge me be sure to let me know on my facebook page or message board.
Friday, March 6
March 6th, 2009 - Bad Letter Of The Week
I think I tried this trick a bunch when I was little & it would never work.
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Thursday, March 5
March 5th, 2009
World Baseball Classic fever hit Ft. Myers again today as Team Netherlands came into town. The lineup was made up with a handful of Holland players and a handful of players from Curacao. I spent the day trying to track down a couple WBC Logo baseballs during their bp session and I was successful. They are pretty neat looking baseballs that contain all gold writing and the WBC logo with the 2009 date. Let me know on the boards if anyone wants to make a trade.
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| The WBC Ball |
Wednesday, March 4
March 4th, 2009
I'm very happy to announce I was able to work out a trade for one of my printing plates that showed up on eBay the other day. Whenever I see one of my tougher cards show up on eBay I get excited just to know someone opened it and actually put it up for sale then I think about how much it's going to cost me. You wouldn't think a middle relief pitcher that just had Tommy John surgery would have any value but a couple of you guy's love to get in a bidding war with me and I usually don't win! So with that said my best bet is to write to the seller & try to work out a trade...I'm still quietly giving it a go to try and get all my cards. This one though was extra special. I didn't know how many people opened 2008 Topps Series 2...I bet not many because I haven't seen anything pop up as far as 1/1's go ever. As of right now This is my 7th 1/1 of me that I know of. I have 2 of the plates from 2007 Topps, 2 of the 08 Ginter Plates, my 2007 Topps Platinum & my 08 ginter wood card. It was a tough trade with me giving up my 4 tickets to the Cubs/Twins game at Wrigley but well worth it to me...I'm happy to add another impossible card to my collection. If you guys know of somebody that has a plate of me or my 2006 Topps Updates & Highlights Refractor #'d to 25 be sure & let me know, I overpay for these things!
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| The Cyan plate has been found |
Tuesday, March 3
March 3rd, 2009
Today we got to help kick off the World Baseball Classic as we faced Team Puerto Rico. It was very weird doing the National Anthem and doing a double take hearing the Puerto Rican anthem, never heard that before a game ever. I snuck out of lunch early & watched a little bit of their batting practice. I noticed they were taking BP with WBC baseballs...they had the WBC logo on the balls. Once bp was over they bagged the balls up & when the game started we were using the same MLB balls as usual. I think when we play against the Netherlands in a couple days I will try to snatch a couple balls down during bp...they are tough to find and I know they would be fun to trade on the message board. Other than that though it was a normal day as usual. I think a lot of the guys really liked having the off day and they looked refreshed. A lot of the pitchers have been sore from throwing a lot more than they have been over the winter...this is totally normal and happens every year. As for me I am still doing the rehab stuff before practice and doing all the drills and getting better at throwing lefthanded. Boof Bonser just had surgery the other day and will also be in Ft. Myers all year...it sucks but I guess the only good thing is that I will have a friend to go through this with.
Monday, March 2
March 2nd, 2009
Today we had an off-day. In the past I think there was only 1 off day the entire spring, this year we get 4...I think the WBC (World Baseball Classic) has a lot to do with this but hopefully it will be a reoccuring thing for years to come. My legs & arm needed the rest and it felt great sitting back. Today I did nothing...well I got my taxes done, it was not fun but needed to be finished. The rest of the night I spent watching YouTube music videos of bands from my Junior High years...Lots of Goldfinger, Bloodhound Gang & tons of rap...oh yes I was a big rap fan back in the day and there was some good stuff I was listening to today, Warren G, Scarface, Gravediggaz, Geto boyz, Crucial Conflict, Brotha Lynch Hung & Celly Cel...I wish they did rap the same way as they did back then, it just isn't the same.
Sunday, March 1
March 1st, 2009
I wanted to write about the surgery and everything about it when I had back in November. The minute I got out of the surgery room I thought twice about the website and wanted to just rest and enjoy the time off with my family. I'd like to make up for a little lost time and update everybody on what I have went through so far on my recovery. My surgery was on November 18th. Like I said yesterday normal recovery time is 9 to 15 months so August 18th would be 9 months and February 18th, 2010 would be 15 months. Right now the entire rehab process is based on taking things slowly. As of right now we are on the 15 month plan more than the 9 month plan. Back to the surgery, the entire surgery took a little over 2 hours. I was put to sleep and woke up feeling refreshed but not knowing what the heck was going on, all I remember is being very tired and when I got into the car I fell asleep without even knowing. I woke up right as we arrived at our house and took a couple pills, one a painkiller and the other was some kind of bacteria killer, I slept the rest of the day. All I can remember that first week was sleeping and how I couldn't use my arm. After the first day I stopped taking the pills except for the bacteria killer one figuring I didn't want my arm to go rotten and green! I felt like I really didn't need a painkiller any longer & wanted my arm to heal naturally, plus every time I took one of the painkillers my stomach turned and turned...luckily the pain wasn't bad & I didn't need the pills. That first week was a ton of sleep, watching movies and wishing I could use my arm again someday. My arm hurt it seemed like more the third and fourth days than the first couple, it hurt exactly like I thought it would...just a constant pain where I was opened up. About two weeks in I got to go to the doctor's office to have my cast removed. I was basically getting rid of the cast which couldn't be removed and having that replaced with a brace that could move around and I could get it off easier. I was happy because the cast really made me itch & since I couldn't move it annoyed me like crazy...that day it was going away. Nobody told me how much it would hurt getting the thing off, ouch. To make a long story short I got the cast off and got a chance to see my scar for the first time...it still wasn't healed up fully and I really didn't like looking at it...plus it hurt still. At about a month and a half in I started light rehab. It basically consisted of exercises that would make my shoulder stronger. One of the exercises was raising my arms with my thump up to my chin and back down...I did this at various angles and it was tough to get through. Over time though I built my arm up a little and could then do more exercises. At that same time about a month and a half I got the brace off...I could finally sleep with nothing on my arm, it felt great. Right now I am still doing the exercises with various weights and following the program. My next big step comes March 18th when I will throw for the first time. This is where a lot of guys say it hurts...I talked to Liriano and he said he hated that part of his rehab, the throwing early on was the toughest part he said...Sean Henn said that it wasn't fun because he couldn't believe how hard it was to throw 30 ft...and how there was nothing behind any of his throws. We will see how it goes, I like hearing how other guy's rehab went and learning about what to expect...I will keep everyone updated.
Saturday, February 28
February 28th, 2009
When the team goes out of town there isn't much news. I figured today would be a great time to show off a couple pics of my scars from my surgery, aka Tommy John surgery aka elbow replacement. It's a pretty big surgery but it has come a long way since Tommy John first had it done. I really hate doctor offices, hospitals and that type of stuff so I will spare the gory details. In simple terms they take a tendon from either your wrist or leg, drill a couple holes in the elbow and tie the tendon through the holes. In a couple months the tendon turns into a ligament. Recovery time varies from about 9 months to 15 months. I had my tendon removed from my left wrist, notice the 3 notches...one on my wrist, another one about 2.5 inches away and the final one 2.5 inches away from the last one.
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| I like how the scar turns sideways, every TJ Surgery is different |
Friday, February 27
February 27th, 2009 - BAD LETTERS
I've been doing a lot of through the mail letters & signing autographs. Every now & then I find letters that are just awful. I found one today. The person who sent this wrote out the entire letter leaving spaces to fill in the player's name & the team name as well as position. If you look closely he uses a darker blue pen to fill in the "Neshek", "Minnesota Twins", "Pitcher" & once again "Neshek". I don't understand why someone would go through this torture of writing out tons of letters like this...a please sign my card note would do just fine. He also said I would lead the team very far...ahhh I guess that beats the letter I also got today from a guy telling me that he has a sure fire feeling that I would make the all-star team this year. I was going to write back & tell him to never gamble again but I didn't.
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| I think I got this same letter last year? |
Thursday, February 26
February 26th, 2009
Today we had a road game meaning that about half of the club stayed in Ft. Myers and worked out while the rest of the guys played against the Reds @ Sarasota. It wasn't much of a practice. We worked on PFP's, ran and shagged for batting practice. Most of the guys hate going on roadtrips & as spring training goes along will pay to pitch at home and never go on the road. I refused to pay last year and it ended up costing me, if I'm correct my first 6 outings were on the road last spring.
I signed my 1st Cert Auto card in the mail the other day. It was weird signing a card that has already been signed but I think it turned out nice. I've seen a bunch of the 09 Upper Deck cards and signed those up as well. I had an interesting autograph request yesterday. Usually if people send me the AROD HR card, I believe #460 (they made a baseball card for each HR arod has hit and he did hit one against me in 06) I write something like "I should not have thrown that pitch". Well yesterday the fan wanted me to write "this one should not have counted". I thought about it really quick, laughed but had to turn down the inscription. I told him I love the idea but I don't want to make anyone mad at me...basically hold that inscription until I'm done playing then we can have some fun with that one!
Wednesday, February 25
February 25th, 2009
As I mentioned yesterday we had our first game today and it was a night game. This meant that we got to sleep in for the first time in awhile. Obviously we cannot pitch every guy in camp in one game so we split these duties up. I think as of right now it takes nearly 4 games to get every pitcher that is in camp into a game. Guys who aren't pitching in the games still go through a normal practice before the game and shag bp on the field next to the stadium. I was in this group today and after we got done I thought I would grab a bite to eat in the clubhouse when Gardy came up behind me and yelled at the crowd "Ladies & gentleman, Pat Neshek is going to take time out and sign for everybody in line!". Gardy loves to joke around and this one mad me laugh. I think I signed for about a half hour and laughed the entire time...I really don't have a way to get back at him, if you can think of something let me know.
Tuesday, February 24
February 24th, 2009
There are tons of fans at the park now that full team workouts are underway. I think a lot of us were glad when today ended because it was the last day of the two hour long batting practice sessions. I've never had so much sun in my life sitting in the outfield shagging balls for a couple hours. The way the batting practice session works is that it starts with a coach going through the normal 20 minute bp sessions that we go through before games during the season. This is when every guy up at the plate is putting baseballs into play and the shaggers are having a heck of a time keeping up. I asked Sean Henn how the Yankees do this and he said that the pitchers don't shag and they have fans come in and catch baseballs...I thought what an idea, you could charge money and there would be a huge demand to be on the field catching a liner off the bat of an MLB hitter, I know I would pay some money to do this if I had the option when I was younger. Once the coach bp session gets over the coach throwing walks off the field and a pitcher comes in to pretend like it's a game and get the batter out. It's pretty much our test before we start games so this is serious for most pitchers. The pitchers want to make sure all their pitches are going good and they have a little control & for the most part aren't getting rocked around all over the field. So far this year there hasn't been many beanballs that I have witnessed. I remember my first spring training the four hitters I had to face were Torii Hunter, Shannon Stewart, Nick Punto & Tommy Watkins. Tommy stepped into the box and I drilled him on the 2nd pitch in his kneecap. Torii & Shannon both walked off the field and said something to the degree of "there's nothing I'm going to gain from going into the box against this guy!". I thought that was the coolest thing in the world as a guy with no MLB experience.
Tomorrow is the 1st game of spring training and it's a night game. I'm pretty excited because we get to show up to the field around 1 and not 7am for a change. Tomorrow is also the MLB Player's Association meeting. Usually this is the time when they hand out checks to guys that had service time last season. Nobody has any clue what the check amount is going to be, with the economy I'm crossing my fingers. The check is basically the players share for letting them use our name and likeness for baseball cards, video games and other things like t-shirts. Also during the meeting they will update the players with any new things that need to be talked about...should be interesting.
Sunday, February 22
February 22nd, 2009
Yesterday we started team workouts and I got my first taste of this today. Basically we go through all the infield drills like 1st & 3rds, bunt plays and pitcher's fielding practice. On Wednesday this week we start games already with the Red Sox coming into play us at our place. A lot of the pitchers are joking around about how bad they are going to do & where the ball is going to go once it releases their hand...like I said the other day there is a lot of built up anxiety which will be relieved once each guy gets their first appearance in. Today at the field we took batting practice as a team...for pitchers these are the worst couple days of the year due to the long amounts of time we spend shagging in the outfield. Once games start the practices tend to get a lot easier & quicker. I think today we got out on the fields at 9am and walked away without a break at 1pm...it gets old really quick plus you get a very bad farmer's tan...My wife is already making fun of me.
Saturday, February 21
February 21st, 2009
Not much of a baseball update today. I flew back to MN last night (Friday) & helped lay to rest my friend today (SAT). I never cried so much in my life but to tell you the truth I really needed closure & to be around friends & family & to tell stories about my friend. As I write this I am about to get off the plane in Ft. Myers…what a crazy 24 hours.
Monday, February 23
February 23rd, 2009
We did a lot of stuff today as a team. Today was the annual physicals...Media day & drug tests. Since I wasn't able to attend Twinsfest this year due to my Grandma passing I missed getting our team physical, usually they are done at this time...So today I had to do all the test to make sure I was healthy. Trying to think of all the test we had to do, eye exams, glaucoma check, eye pressure check, ecg or whatever it is called, blood pressure, weight, taking blood (I always hate this day because of this one) & other things like blowing into a pipe to see how strong our lungs are...I scored a 103% on this one, the lady said it was the best score of the day, I asked her how the heck does someone get over 100%? After all the checkups we were told that everyone on the roster had to do MLB Drug Test. These aren't fun either. Not going into to much detail but enough to make everyone understand what we do since this is a hot topic. First we have to submit our Driver's License & have a Twins person there to verify it's us. Then we wash our hands, grab a cup & fill it up. The only part I don't like about this is that the official doing the checking is watching you like a hawk & makes sure you drop your pants & raise your shirt to make sure you don't have something like a whizzinator in there. It's pretty degrading but if it's to make sure the game is clean then it is fine with me.
After all this stuff the day was hardly over...it was media day also. This is when all the card companies like Upper Deck, Topps, MLB.com & magazines come in to take pictures of us to use throughout the season. After doing all the same old poses such as hold the glove near your chest, pretend to be pitching out of the stretch and look at the sky & the holding the baseball & tossing it up in the air my photo session over. Once I got done I was talking with Kevin Slowey on ways to spice up the photo sessions...after 4 years of doing the same shots & seeing them year after year on baseball cards it gets old...I basically want a cool looking baseball card. Slowey & I talked about ways to make the cards better...we agreed that next year we are going to bring a bat for one of the sessions....pose lefty with it in another & finally wear a lefthanders glove & pose left-handed in a bunch of the shots. I thought to myself about making a 2000's version of the Billy Ripken card but I figured with Photoshop nowadays that it wouldn't get past 1st edit...who knows though, I'm already planning for next year.
Saturday, February 21
February 20th, 2009
Another quiet day at the park. Games are starting soon and a lot of the guys are making sure their stuff is good. I remember my last couple camps I always hated the first games of the year…I just never felt right on the mound for that first appearance. I don’t know what it is, not facing hitters for a year, nerves, excitement…the last couple years that 1st outing felt like I was riding a bike for the first time. After that initial outing though things were back to normal and the adrenaline started flowing. Pitching is a lot about having confidence and knowing what you have to work with. I think doubt is a big part of why this initial outing is tough…will I have the same stuff as last year…will I impress…can I still hit 94mph? Those are the questions I remember worrying about every single year. Once that first outing goes by and you realize you have the same old stuff that doubt clears up and you can focus on how you want to dominate. It’s a pretty exciting time though especially if you are a fan at these games…you never know what is going to happen. You might see a guy strike out the side in his first outing or a guy drill 3 hitters in a row or walk the bases loaded. It’s a scary time for most guys. I think the best thing is seeing how some guys prepared like crazy for the year while others didn’t do much and the fun is in seeing how everybody mixes together…fans can tell right away if the guy is ready or not.
Thursday, February 19
February 19th, 2009
Wow, the crowds have died big time ever since the 1st day. I'm guessing things will pick up on SAT when the entire team is on the field. Today we have a golf event for the team so things at the field were over pretty quickly, I think I left the clubhouse at 11am to head home. I sat around for a little bit after practice and finished a bunch of ttm letters...signing cards and putting them back in the mail. Keep the mail coming if you need anything signed.
Wednesday, February 18
Facebook Page
I need some more friends on Facebook...If you have a page, search my name and my picture is the one with our dogs Juicy & Kirby on Santa's Lap...I know, I know update the picture & Christmas has been over for awhile but I am lazy and will do it some other time:) Please do a friend request & I will accept.
Wednesday, February 18
Day 4 - Feb 18th, 2009
Day four is in the books & time is flying by. I'm still grieving over the loss of my buddy and it's a tough time for me right now. The last couple days the crowds have been down a ton since the 1st day of spring training. I don't know if it was the colder weather or what but you could pretty much count the number of fans running around...I would guess about a little over 100 people were watching us each of the last couple days or at least that's what it looked like. Right now pretty much the entire team has arrived in camp and we will soon begin taking batting practice as a team. Pretty crazy that the games start in about a week, I always hated this part of the year because reporters will analyze the heck out of you outings when in reality all we are trying to do is get ready for the season...spring training games and big league games are two different things, I call it upper deck syndrome...spring training fields don't have upper decks...once the seasons starts we all notice the packed stadiums and I think it amps everyone up a little. It has really been a slow couple of days though, the highlight for a lot of the younger guys was seeing Peter Gammons watching us practice...a bunch of us joked that the Red Sox must have had an off day since ESPN rarely talks about us & every year has us picked in the back of the pack! Hopefully I'll have some fun stuff for you guys tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 17
A Tough Day
Some days you never want to go through with baseball being the last thing on your mind, today was one of those days for me. I lost my best friend throughout our Junior High & High School years, Jason Cierlik & it has been tough on me. I don't know what else to say, we both grew up together, learned about life together and spent many lonely weekend nights at batting cages & half lit gym areas in Minnesota playing catch. While others were out following the typical things kids that age do we had one goal in mind and that was chasing our dreams of playing professional baseball & you know what, we did just that. I think the best day we both had was getting drafted in 2002, I've never been so happy seeing everything we worked for pay off. I lost my one and only offseason catch partner I've ever had (besides when Stephanee has the guts to catch me :)) & one of the few souls I truly connected with. I'm crying here thinking about what we've been through & understand your pain, I miss & love you a ton, this sadness really hurts though.
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| You can't be replaced |
Monday, February 16
Day 2
The first day of the year is over...to keep track of the season and how many days it is though we will consider it day two since we had to show up yesterday. Overall it was a good quick day at the field. I showed up at the field around 7:30am and there were tons of fans already walking around, some waiting near the parking lot for players to show up and others waiting near the batting cage watching guys hit. I usually park in the general parking lot because it is a quicker walk to the locker room than the player lot, I think I'm one of the few that does this. There is also a rule that if you have no big league time you cannot park in there either but that applies once the entire squad is in town...I think that happens next week. As I said above the day went by pretty quickly. It was the first time I put on my glove since I hurt my arm and it felt good to do so. I nearly dropped my first couple catches when we did pitching fielding practice which prompted Gardy to laugh at me, I felt like I never caught a ball in my life. The drills went on and on and it felt good to be on the field again. As of right now it has been about 3 months since my surgery. At the 4 month mark I will begin to throw and play catch so right now I'm doing all the drills with no throwing...it feels weird. The entire recovery time is usually 9-15 months for guys and with how much time I have to recover we are going to take it slow and make sure everything is fine.
On the autograph front there were tons of people out today, probably the most that I could remember being there on for the first workout...I think a lot of people read this website a couple years back when I posted in amazement how very few people came during the first week. It has changed a bunch since that post but this is still a great time to get things signed. I stopped for probably 20 mins today and signed up everything that was offered to me. I want to get everything signed up since I will not be in MN this season and the only way to get me for most people is TTM (through the mail). Today I signed my 1st 2009 Upper Deck card...can you believe it took that long for me to sign that card. Pretty much everytime someone brings me a card I have not signed before I will inscribe it with "The 1st time I signed this card" & also put down the date. I'm wondering if anyone is going to have me ink up the 09 Topps Cert Auto card...that would be weird.
We are still setting up the house and can see a little light at the end of the tunnel. I can't wait to sleep in a real bed...we have been using an aero bed for the past couple days and it's nice but real furniture sounds better right now. It really feels like I am back in New Britain or Rochester (minor leagues) and setting up my apartment there. Happy graphing...I'll have another fresh update tomorrow.
Sunday, February 15
Feb 15th - Reporting Day
Hey everyone, I'm back on and hope to have daily updates the entire season. Today was reporting day for the MN Twins. Basically all the pitchers & catchers show up and unpack their bags and set up the lockers. This is when you get all your clothes such as jerseys, hats, undershirts and jackets. I like getting set up as quickly as possible and showed up at 8am...I was the first one there since I was meeting up at the minor league side to do rehab. When I got done with rehab around 10:30am most of the team was in the clubhouse getting squared away. Today was an excellent time to get autographs since there was probably only a dozen people getting graphs...note to graphers mark this date down for next year if you want some sure-thing autos as well as the days leading up to today since most of the team is in town early.
I'm not really sure what my days of spring training will have in store for me since I'm out for the season but I will keep everyone updated. Since we will be in Ft. Myers until next spring training (or at least the majority of the time) we bought a house in the area...btw check out house prices down here if you are looking for a home...pretty shocking, suprised me. We have a lot of moving in to do still and it might take us a a week or two to feel moved in...At that time I will probably have a ton of time to be on the message board.
I'll have another update tomorrow as well as everyday after...be sure to keep checking out the site.
Tuesday, February 3
2009 Topps Series 1 IS OUT - MY FIRST CERTIFIED AUTOGRAPH IS OUT THERE
Just wanted to give everyone the heads up that my first autograph issue in Topps is out. I noticed this under eBay just a minute ago. I signed 1000 cards for Topps. On 100 of the cards I wrote different inscriptions. I believe I did 10 different inscriptions at 10 cards a piece...so the card on eBay with my debut is really a 1 of 10. I signed this one with my debut #...oh yes # 72. Pretty pumped to see my 1st cert autograph card. I'm hoping my value is down to nothing so I can pick up this card, we'll see:)
From my Nov 25th 2007 Update on signing the cards
"For the first 5 auto I wrote, 1st certified autograph ever with the date and the next one I wrote 2nd cert auto ever with the date. After I did that I wrote 10 that contained www.patneshek.com. You guys get the point. Here's all the inscriptions I wrote. 10 that said www.neshek.com, 10 that said sidearmer, 10 that had 7/7/06 MLB Debut and #72, 10 that had 2007 MLB ALL STAR FINAL VOTE, 10 that said Go Twins, 10 that said STRK 3 and finished up the day signing my last cert entitled "my last cert auto!" Hopefully you guys will get a kick out of finding these and seeing them pop up next year in different Topps products"
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| 1st Certified Autograph in 2009 Topps Series 1 |
Sunday, January 18
Myspace & Facebook
Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know I finally made an official Myspace & Facebook page. I noticed there were a ton of fake ones up and decided to fix the problem by making a name on there. Basically if you search my name on either site my image is the one with the dogs on Santa's lap. I really won't be on the page much unless I get tons of friends, I just thought it would be a cool way to keep track of everyone from my past and all my friends & fans. So please do a friend request & I'll add you!
Friday, January 9
January 9th, 2009
Hey everyone...I'm still alive, sorry for not updating this in a long time. There really hasn't been much to talk about...I'm still in a brace from surgery and barely starting rehab right now. I haven't been doing much just enjoying the holidays and searching for autographs on eBay. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am planning on updating the site daily once I get to spring training whenever that may be. I'll also be on the message board just about EVERY DAY once I get to FL. Stephanee & I are going to be in FL for a long time as I rehab my arm and I'll be on a bunch trading stuff and making this the best blog out there. I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive and gearing up for tons of updates once I get to spring training
Friday, December 5
Update on Pat and Pet Pictures with Santa
Hi everyone,
This is Pat's wife Stephanee. I just wanted to let you all know that his surgery went really well and he is on the long road to recovery. He got out of the plaster cast last week and is now in a brace. He started physical therapy last Monday and he's feeling great. Once things settle down, he will be back updating the site regularly and continue posting on the message board.
On a side note: The animal rescue group I work with, Puppy Porch, will be doing a fundraiser this Saturday, Dec. 6th. We are going to be at the Minnetonka Petco from 11am until 4pm... bring your pets and/or kids to get their picture taken with Santa! The photos will be framed by Petco for only $8.95 and $5 of each pic we take goes directly to PuppyPorch. So you can support a great cause and get a professional quality pic for the holidays
Sunday, November 2
NY Mets Draft Notes
Today I'm Picking up where I left off last offseason with my draft notes from the NY Mets. If you missed this last year I kept all my letters and notes from when I was getting scouted back before the draft...Today is the Mets. This is everything they sent to me when they were scouting me before the 2002 draft. The scout was Rodney Henderson, straight out of playing professional baseball. He seemed like a great guy but was totally new to the scouting thing. I actually had a classic 4 sport card of Rodney in my pocket when we had my first draft interview but I never had the guts to ask him for an auto! My first meeting with Rodney was 11/27/01. Two days later he sent me a Q&A in the mail and I returned it. Around Christmas time I got a Christmas card from him. After that I got a phone call from Rodney around May asking me where he thinks I would go in the draft. As always my response was rounds 1-6. Anyways here's all the notes I got from the Mets, enjoy
Wednesday, October 22
This Weekend
Hi Everyone,
This is Stephanee, Pat's wife... I have never written anything on his homepage before but I have some pretty cool info about a great cause. I am involved in a lot of charity work with the local community as well as the MN Twins Wives Organization. Pat and I are both huge animal lovers and have become part of a great animal rescue group called "Puppy Porch". It is a non-profit, no-kill, foster based rescue... not only do they find loving homes for these amazing dogs, but they also work to help reconstruct the shelters to minimize the number of dogs who are put to sleep. 100% of the money goes to the animals and this is a really great group! We are having a big fundraiser this weekend called "Pups in the Park". Some of the other Twins Wives/Fiancees and I will be there helping out...Pat is rehabbing his arm in Fort Myers until November 14th so he won't be there. The event is Saturday, Oct. 25th from 11-3 at the Minnewashta Dog Park in Chanhassen, MN.
Visit our website at www.PuppyPorch.com for more details:)
Part of the fundraiser is an auction- online and also a silent auction- at the dog park. We will have items from the Saint Paul Saints, Milwaukee Bucks, and Minnesota Twins. There are some really cool things like Twins tickets, signed balls, cards, Bucks bobble heads and photos, and of course Pat Neshek memorabilia. Even if you aren't in the Minneapolis area, you can bid online for a chance to win some great prizes and help support a great cause!
Puppy Porch is also looking for Foster Families to temporarily care for the dogs until they find forever homes. Check out our website for more info: www.puppyporch.com
Hope to meet some of you this weekend:)
Stephanee Neshek
Sunday, October 19
October 19th, 2008
I just wanted to give another quick update on my arm. Everything is still going as planned...About a week from today I will be throwing off the mound and a week after that I will be mixing in my slider. I'm pretty sure things will go well since I haven't had a problem since I hurt my arm back in May. If everything goes well I will be finishing up my throwing/rehab program on Nov 14th. In the meantime I will be here for about another month and if you need anything signed be sure to send it down with a SASE.
This past week down here the instructional league wrapped up. Instuctional league is something the Twins have every year. It is basically spring training for a month with all the new guys to the org. Lots of 1st rounders learning the ropes and getting to know the coaches. This week also marks the start of the organization meetings. Everyone from coaches to front office people to scouts are down here right now making decisions about the future of the Twins. I've seen nearly everyone in the organization so far including a couple teammates!
This morning I had a couple weird things happen. After not doing a media request for about a month I got 4 calls before 11am! So far today I went on XM Radio, the WCCO Sunday Sports show in Minnesota, tonight I have mlb.com with Noah Coslov and on Tuesday I'm doing a podcast with Seth Stohs from sethspeaks.net. I thought it was very strange that I got calls from everyone that I had to quickly google myself to make sure I wasn't in the news for anything!
Tuesday, September 23
September 23rd, 2008
I have not had an update for awhile and that's because there really hasn't been too much talk about. I'm still down here in Ft. Myers...I'm expected to be down here until November rehabbing my arm. So far everything has been going as planned. What suprises me even more is that I have not had a single setback yet...I probably just jinxed myself. I feel good though, I'm letting the ball go with good speed and velocity and it feels like I can play again. Last week I did my last session of 40 throws at 120ft. with 75% effort, it went great. This week I'm going every other day at different lengths...10 throws at 60ft. 10 at 75ft. 10 at 90 ft. ect. If everything goes as planned I will be throwing off the mound in 3-4 weeks. The thing that scares me the most is when I start throwing my slider. They said I can throw my slider again once I get on the mound. When I hurt my arm it was on a slider and since I've been throwing I cannot wait to throw the slider again and test my arm...this will be my biggest test of things I have left. Once I get off the mound I will throw bullpens for about 3 weeks and if everything goes well I will be free to resume my offseason, as if I haven't had the longest offseason of my life so far! Most guys cannot wait for the season to get over right now, for once in my life I cannot wait for the season to start up and I can start striking out guys again...you never know how much you miss something until it is taken away from you.
I'm still signing autorgaphs through the mail and if you need anything signed be sure to send a SASE and I will sign everything you need.
Monday, September 1
September 1st, 2008
Just wanted to let everyone know I will be doing a live chat on my message board on Wednesday from 8pm Eastern to 9pm. Also be sure to check out the great content on the message board as well as the free contest on there. I just gave away Twins tickets to a lucky winner and up right now is a Game Used hat.
My rehab is still going great and I'm really suprised how good my arm feels. I have not had any setbacks and have not had any pain or weakness in my arm...I'm wondering if someone got my mri mixed up because this injury has not hurt one bit even when I partially tore the ligament. Right now here is my schedule for the upcoming week for throwing.
Sept 1st - 1x15 & 1X25 throws at 75ft, 50% intensity
Sept 2nd - 1x15 & 1x25 throws at 75ft, 50% intensity
Sept 3rd - Day off throwing
Sept 4th - 1x15 & 1x25 throws at 90ft, 50% intensity
Sept 5th - 1x15 & 1x25 throws at 90ft, 50% intensity
Sept 6th - Day off throwing
Sept 7th - Day off throwing
Sept 8th - 1x15 & 1x25 throws at 60 ft. 75% intensity
This past week we went back to our house in Melbourne and everything there was fine. It was pretty scary seeing everything on the news...Hopefully this will be the last bad storm.(as I speak there are a couple big storms brewing heading that way!) In the meantime we spent last Monday night at a Brevard County Manatees game. It was pretty sweet checking out a Florida State league baseball game, it gave me a lot of time to think about how far I have come and a lot of time to think about the days when I played in the FSL and all the memories that were made.
Friday, August 22
August 22nd, 2008 - Contest & Live Chat
Just wanted to give a quick update on a few things. First off I'll start with my arm. Things have been going great still and I haven't had any problems but I am on the Really Really Slow plan. As I look ahead at the plan I do not think a return this year is going to happen. I feel like if I needed to pitch I could pull it off but the safe sure route is to take it slow and gradually get better and this is the route that we are taking. I don't mind it but it is extra tough sitting in FL watching the team in a playoff race. I'm jealous and I wish I was with them. So for right now we are going to follow the plan that is laid out and see where I am in the next two months. If things are fine I'm sure I will be playing a little winter ball someplace...if things go bad then I might need surgery. Right now things have been going perfect.
For all the message board members be sure to check out all the free contest in the next couple days, I'll be giving away tickets, cards and whatever else I can find down here.
Live Chat - I will be on the message boards tonight (Friday) under the chat from 8pm-9pm Eastern time so if you have any questions be sure to get on.
Also for anybody wondering, we survived tropical storm Fay here in Ft. Myers but our house in Melbourne had us worried. Our neighbors told us everything is fine but it was pretty scary how close the flooding came to the house. We are heading over there this weekend and I hope there are no suprises.
Sunday, August 10
August 10th, 2008
Well it's almost been a week for us down here in FL for rehab and things have been going pretty good. Right now I'm nowhere close to coming back and facing MLB hitters. I've started throwing from 60 feet and am slowly working my way up...I think the word slowly should be in bold! I would love to return but I think it's more important I don't push things and blow out my arm totally. This is a tough injury and from what I hear I'm expected to have a couple setbacks when I start throwing more and more. I've never had anything like this happen to me before so I think it's best to do what the docs (& Twins rehab coordinator Lanning Tucker) want me to do. We will see how everything goes, right now I'm in the very early stages of throwing and things feel good.
Mail - Yep I'm signing up stuff that comes in the mail...the addy is above just remember to include a sase.
Tuesday, August 5
FL Address
Well I'm in Florida right now and I just got an address (above) for anyone that needs things signed up...just remember to include a SASE. For those of you that sent letters to my MN addresses I will sign those up when I get back whenever that may be. I'm expected to be here at least a month and most likely until the end of the season...it all depends on how my elbow responds and if I have any setbacks and that is very hard to tell. I'll keep everyone updated on here with my progress but I just wanted to make sure everyone has my address to get their cards signed up.
Thursday, July 31
In-Person Graphing
I got my first in-person in a long time tonight. What was even cooler was that I was able to find a card of him on my way to the field without knowing he was going to be there. The guy I got to sign for me is Mark Spitz and he is featured in the new 2008 Allen & Ginter baseball card set. Mark was throwing out the 1st pitch and I didn't even know until I was getting out of my car. I had trouble telling who he was without the facial hair but I ended up getting him to sign the card, not to bad for another day at the park! Not the prettiest graph but I'll take it, the man is a legend
Thursday, July 24
MY 2008 Topps ALLEN & GINTER REVIEW
Well it just arrived around baseball card shops all over the country and it’s shockwaves are being felt by collectors and newcomers to the hobby everywhere, it’s 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter. This is easily the top product of 2008 and is filled with even more stuff than the previous 2 releases. What makes this card brand special? Well there are tons of things and I will go through them because this is my favorite box of cards of the year to collect and I want to get everyone on board and those that are thinking about buying their first pack in years to go out and give them a chance at resurrecting that feeling of collecting again.
To start I better give a quick summary of the cards. Back in the day Allen & Ginter was a real brand of cards…I’m talking early 1900’s. Not only did the cards feature pictures of famous baseball players but they went further and picked out champions in other walks of life and plastered their faces on cards. Flip ahead 100 years and the brand is put back out by Topps with pictures of baseball players as well as tons of other famous people. For example I just noticed that one of the cards inside the packs is of Hotdog eating champion Joey Chestnut, there’s another one of fisherman Kevin Van Dam, one of Harriet Tubman and even the Gateway Arch in St. Louis has a card this year. The coolest part is that Topps put out a card of me in the set…#307 to be exact. I’m very thrilled because this set is my favorite set and I would honestly be content for the rest of my life if I do not get another card…to put it another way this is the set I have wanted to be in for the last 2 years!
Like I said above if you are new to the game this is the brand that got me back into cards a couple years back and renewed my love for collecting. Now I don’t want to scare anyone but these cards sell out quickly. If you are lucky enough to have a baseball card shop in your area they will more than likely have these unless they are sold out. For those that aren’t as fortunate you can run over to Target or Wal-Mart and check out the baseball card section. In Target the card section is usually at one end of the checkout lines on one side of the store entrance, kind of hard to find but if you ask someone they should find it for you. Wal-Mart is kind of the same way and they are usually located by the tobacco counter. I’m telling everyone this because after about a month the only place you can find these things are on eBay and for more than retail price. Now I’m not sure when these are going to arrive in stores, last year it was about a week after release when they showed up in MN and I was only able to find them in one store up here. Also if you are in the Brooklyn Park, MN area do one thing…be sure to leave me a box to buyJ
Okay for all of you collectors there have been a couple changes this year. Those annoying Dick Perez cards have been replaced by something called the US set. It’s a set of all 50 states represented by a player that was either born or lived in by that player. I thought it would be cool if they had a guy born in each state for all 50 cards and I thought that was the set but I noticed the Nick Markakis Georgia card and it said he was born in NY so that throws out that idea. Anyways I made the Wisconsin card and will be signing and inscribing up that bad boy for whoever sends it to me to sign.
Another couple of minor changes, there are things called silk cards #’d to 10, the snake cards have been replaced by sharks, roman emperors with world icons and countries with world leaders. There is also a thing called Crack the code…I’m sure it will take tons of hours to solve this code but what the heck it’s worth a shot and under the message board on the site we will be sharing cards and trying to figure out the code…I guess the winner that cracks the code will get their own A&G card in next year’s set…I could just see it now, one card for our entire message board…cool.
There’s also tons of other stuff that will stay the same, rip cards, short prints, mini cards, wood cards, an Abraham Lincoln hair card and the relics. It’s a fun set…let’s see how I did
1 box of A&G
143 base cards…not sure about short prints right now, there isn’t a list
4 Game Used card…not sure how this happened because I think you are only suppose to get 2
Vlad, Hafner, Ryan Howard, Garrett Anderson
1 Crack the code card
David Wright Box Topper
20 State born/lived in cards
1 Shark card, Mako
1 World Icon Cleopatra
2 World Leaders
12 regular base minis – 4 Ginter Back mini’s – 4 Black Bordered mini’s
Final word
Well I opened a lot of Ginter boxes over the past two years and I think this is going to be the best Ginter release yet. The content inside is overflowing with different sets to go after and lots of nice looking cards that are waiting for ink to get put on in the form of a signature. As you can see above I didn’t have any major hits but for the $ it doesn’t get any better than this. If you are a set collector this set will have you working for days. My final word…this will be the one and might be the only set I will be working hard on for the rest of the summer, if you want to dabble in cards for the first time in years this is the set for you!
Wednesday, July 23
2008 Topps Allen & Ginter Cards Coming Out
Just wanted to warn everyone that 08 Topps Allen & Ginter cards will be arriving in stores shortly. This will be the main set I will collect this year and once again the set I tell new collectors to go after if you are just getting into the hobby. Here's a little note though, these boxes sell out quickly so be sure to start now if you want to have some fun. They are not priced high and are a pretty fun set. In MN the best places to find these would be Target & Wal-Mart and anywhere else you can try eBay and your local card shop. I have a case coming in later next week and should have a box here to review tomorrow sometime. As for now here's a pic of my new card! As always send it over to be signed if you pull one!
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| My 2008 A&G card |
Thursday, July 17
TC Bear
Alright I promised a TC bear story and here it is. For those of you that don't know the Twins Mascot is TC Bear...He also can hit a ball farther than I can...seriously. Well TC bear was involved in the Mascot stuff for the All Star game. He got to go to all the events and entertain the crowd as well as be in the All-Star Mascot HR Derby contest. TC Bear has cleaned up in the event the past couple years and was once again the favorite to win this year. Well his toughest competetion I heard came in the 1st round when he knocked out Bernie Brewer...From there he cruised to the finals and eventually ended up winning the thing. Well he was pretty excited because he got a nice looking trophy to put in his bear house and be proud of from the last couple years. This year though MLB changed sponsors and he got a sweet crystal trophy that said "Mascot HR derby Champ". The trophy was given to him, he took a picture and quickly the sponsor took the trophy back. When asked about it later the sponsor told him it was going into storage for next year and they would use the same trophy. I don't know about you but it seemed pretty unfair that a big time sponsor couldn't swing for a nice little trophy that a bear worked hard to get. What do you think
Thursday, July 17
Mankato Signing
I just got back from my signing in Mankato...man what a long day. At 4pm we left the Metrodome...when I say we I mean Wally The Beerman, Sue the Organist, TC Bear (who is fresh off winning the mascot HR derby in NY) and our drivers! Well we got back around 11pm...what a day. It was pretty neat to head back to Mankato. I played in the Northwoods League 8 years ago and the place really changed. The place was packed, they had a winning team on the field and it was a fun place to be. I remember when I was there they were the Mankato Mashers and they wouldn't stop playing the song "Monster Mash" and it got old quick. Flip through 8 years and they are now the Moon Dogs and they are selling out. I signed autographs for about an hour and met a lot of people from this site. I did a radio interview for a little bit....I threw out the first pitch...with my left hand since I cannot throw still, I hope the video doesn't end up on Youtube...it was ugly and I almost fell because I was wearing dress shoes! It was a fun time and pretty cool to go back to a place that had a lot to do with my success on my way to becoming a Big Leaguer.
Please keep checking out our sponsors below. Also I have a great story on TC Bear that might make you upset. Keep checking out the site for that later in the week.
Monday, July 14
Autograph Signing in Mankato
I just wanted to let everyone know I will be signing autographs in Mankato on Wednesday 7/16 this week. The signing will take place before the Mankato Moondogs baseball game at 7pm. Be sure to stop by and say hi if you are in the area!
Monday, July 7
The Final Vote - Cursed?
I was just thinking that one year ago the madness of the Final Vote for the All-Star was blowing up this site after I got nominated. It got me thinking about a lot of things. Things like why wasn't the final totals ever released. I noticed in an article the other day they finally gave out Okajima's vote total...4.4 million. It would just be nice to have known what type of damage we did on the polls instead of hearing what place we got, maybe someday somebody will come out and give the #'s. It also got me thinking about what if I had made the team. For me it would be cool to sign baseballs with AllStar07 inscribed on them and when I get older I would always be able to attend Tristar events and put that ever needed inscription on the balls! The last thing I thought about was what each guy on the final man vote was doing now a year later...what I found was kind of shocking. I call what I found the curse of the 07 final man vote. Nearly each guy who was on the vote is currently injured or struggling. Don't believe me let's check it out.
Me - Partially Torn Ligament in the elbow,
Kelvim Escobar tear in shoulder hurt and hasn't pitched in the big leagues this season,
Jeremy Bonderman - Out for season with surgery (blood clots)
Hideki Okajima - Not hurt but has struggled a lot according to media
Roy Halladay - Hit in the temple on a line drive - Made the All-Star team
Roy Oswalt - Currently Hurt with a bad hip
Tom Gorzelanny - Sent to AAA after struggling with Pirates
Chris Young - Hit in face by a line drive and has been out for awhile
Carlos Zambrano - Just came off the DL with shoulder problems
Brandon Webb - The only guy that goes against this curse...MLB All Star - Great season
Please support this site by checking out the sponser below this update, thanks!
Saturday, July 5
July 4th - On Top Of The Dome!
I hope everyone had a terrific 4th of July. Last night I probably had the coolest Fourth of July in my life. I spent it on the roof of the Metrodome. I talked to Dan Gladden about a month ago and he said if we were ever in town over the fourth to make sure you check out the fireworks from the top of the dome. Sure enough we are in town right now and I had to see this for myself. I don't know how to describe it but I felt like I was in a dream climbing up the baggy. To get up to the roof you have to go through a series of doors so the pressure doesn't escape to quickly and send you or your things (hat) flying. It's the same feeling as when you walk out the dome after a game and the pressure sucks you out the door. Once on the roof there is a catwalk that goes around the stadium. Then you come to a point where there is a rope system you take to climb up the actual Teflon baggy. I couldn't believe it so I kept climbing up (with my left hand of course). Once up it was like being on the moon or having a giant trampoline. I spent the first couple minutes deciding if I was safe or not and then I started jumping. After about 5 minutes fireworks were going off in all directions and it was one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed. If you guys get some time be sure to click on one of the site's sponsored links!
Wednesday, July 2
July 2nd, 2008
Just a couple quick things I thought I should note. On the message board we are going to start a tough project next week for charity. It involves getting an autographed baseball card of every guy that played in the big leagues during the 2008 season! So far there have been nearly 1100 guys that have been on a big league roster this year. What we are going to do is make a huge checklist and try and go after every guy. Hopefully once it's completed we will auction it off on eBay with 100% of the proceeds going to a charity Stephanee and I will pick out. It's a tough task but I think we can do it...Once again this is going on under the message board next week and we need all the help we can get.
Lastly there is another false article out there saying I'm heading to FL at the end of the month to start a rehab program and I have a strained elbow. As far as I know I will be up here until at least late August at the earliest and my injury was diagnosed as a partially torn ligament in the elbow. Another case of don't always believe what you read!
Tuesday, July 1
Hang with the Majors at Majors
The Minnesota Twins and the Twins Wives Organization, will be hosting a special event this Thursday, July 3rd at Majors Sports Cafe in Bloomington from 5pm-9pm.
"Hang with the Majors at Majors" is an opportunity for fans to interact with their favorite Twins players and support a good cause! There will be a private dinner for 100 lucky fans to dine with the Twins. Tickets for the dinner are $100 each and are limited to the first 100 people, so call and reserve yours ASAP. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Midwest flood relief.
The dinner will be from 5pm-6:30pm. Only 100 tickets will be sold and are on sale now for $100 each. Tickets may be purchased at Majors in Bloomington (8301 Normandale Blvd, Bloomington, MN, 55438) or by calling Major's at 952-835-8308.
During the dinner event, the rest of Majors will remain open to the public from 5 to 9 p.m., with Twins players bar tending. So if you can't make the dinner, you can still stop by and hang out. There also will be a player autograph station (the players will rotate through and autos will be $5 each), a tip jar to collect additional donations, and the wives will be selling Twins tank tops.
Players and wives planning to participate are: Pat & Stephanee Neshek, Joe and Lisa Nathan, Mike Lamb, Matt and Dejie Guerrier, Jesse and Becky Crain, Glen and Alisha Perkins, Kevin Slowey, Brian Bass, Mike and Michelle Redmond, Nick and Natalie Punto, Boof Bonser and Jessica Clark, Delmon Young and Brendan Harris. Participants are subject to change.
Wednesday, June 25
June 25th, 2008 REHAB & BASEBALL CARDS
Hey guys I just wanted to give a quick update on my injury. I just got my hinge brace off on Monday and have started rehab. So far the rehab has been pretty boring, I do things with no weight right now and it's not too much fun. I understand that it's going to take time so I'm going to be patient with it.
What has been up with me lately...not much. I've been spending a lot of time trading stuff on the message board on here. Right now I'm going after baseballs signed by Hall of Famers...It's been a lot of fun and if you are a collector the message board is a must. Also I give stuff away on there and it's a fun little community to chat about anything.
Baseball cards...Well Topps Series 2 and Upper Deck series 2 came out a little bit ago and I'm in both sets. To tell you the truth I'm not too impressed with either card...I find the Topps design boring and they put too much gloss on the cards that they are impossible to sign even after rubbing them down with powder and signing with a Staedtler pen. Upper Deck is Upper Deck, you get a nice looking photo and that's about it. Either way it's another card to add to my list of cards...and as always if you pull one of them out of a pack I always sign for free just make sure you include a SASE. Now for the good stuff and what I'm really excited about...Topps decided to put me into the Allen & Ginter card set. This is my favorite product of the year and comes out in a couple weeks. I always recommend it to people who are looking to get back into cards, it's probably the funnest set out. Anyways I'm in the set, not sure if I'm a Short Print but they also put me in as an insert. They took guys who were born from every state in the US and made a card...I get the Wisconsin card...I can't wait to see it. I'm really happy that Topps has put me in the set and I owe a lot to you guys for writing letters during spring training and letting Topps know that you wanted to see me in a good set. I have a strong feeling this product is going to sell out quickly once again so get ready for it. Once again if you pull my card from this send it over with a SASE and I will sign it up.
Tuesday, June 17
June 17th, 2008
Man I was having too much fun trading on the message board that I totally forgot about updating the homepage! To tell you the truth when I'm not playing baseball and not going to the field when the team is on the road there really isn't much news. Since my injury I have been going to all the home games and watching the games from the clubhouse while lifting and running during the 1st couple innings. It's been a real wake up call for me in how much I have took for granted having an arm in great shape all my career. It also makes me respect injured athletes (or anyone) a lot more because the mental strain is a lot to take on. During this past month all you can do is sit around and watch your team play. You feel like everyone has forgot about you which isn't the case but when you take away the job you love and get to watch from a distance it's tough and has your mind thinking too much. In the past month I haven't been able to do much since my arm is in an arm brace/lock. Slowly I have been able to flip notches on the cast to add another 5 degree angle I can move it and in another week or two I will get this thing off. But like I said I'm not traveling with the team and it's just strange to be home in June...I've never had a June off since high school and it's been kind of nice (in a weird way since I can only enjoy this due to an injury) to enjoy a Minnesota summer for the first time in years. At first you have all the energy in the world to get stuff done since being a ballplayer you only get an off day about twice a month. Right now I feel like I'm in off-season mode. I've been watching lots of movies, going on bike rides, taking our dogs on walks by the Mississippi river, cleaning out the house and trading the stuff I find on my message board. It's been a lot of fun but man the thing I learned the most about this injury was how much I love playing baseball and how much it's a part of my life. Now I know why retired athletes come back to play (or people never retire from their jobs).
Friday, May 30
Signing Tomorrow
I will be doing an Autograph Signing tomorrow Saturday 5/31 at 10am - 11:30 am at Morrie's Nissan in Brooklyn Park. Stop on by and say hi!
Wednesday, May 21
May 21st, 2008
Hi everyone, thanks for being patient with me while I sort out this injury. I also wanted to thank everyone for all the support. It's pretty neat to see and it has helped me feel better about everything that has happened. Right now it looks like I'll be out the rest of the season. They told me it will be 3 months before I will throw then I can start to play catch if everything goes as planned. Right now I'm in a restrictive brace that basically forces me to stay in the same arm position...I even have to wear the thing while I sleep. It's not been fun but it's something that happened and I understand what it will take to get back so all I can do is keep my head up. Right now I will still be going to every home game and hanging out with the guys. I usually watch all the games inside the clubhouse and lift my legs during the first 3 innings of the game.
As of right now I have a lot of time to do things I don't normally get to do. So far I have been on my message board trading items and having a giveaway and auctions. The best item up for auction right now is the 2007-08 Pink my little pony bullpen backpack signed by all the bullpen members...Be sure to check it out.
Tuesday, May 13
Will Be Back Shortly
I just wanted to say thanks for all the support from everyone as I go through this with my arm. I will be back on here with updates shortly I just need some time to let this all sink in.
Friday, May 2
May 2nd, 2008
I'm sitting back here early in the morning after another nice off-day. Someone thought it would be good to give us 3 off-days this week...I'm not complaining but I think I would rather have them spread out more over the month so we could get them when we really need them.
Yesterday was spent hanging out with my family, playing with the dogs, playing some Wii and cleaning the house. I've been doing a bunch of baseball card box breakings lately and the latest ones are chronicled here http://mlbplayers.mlb.com/mlb/events/nbbcd/index.jsp
Right now is when we start getting some major baseball card releases to come out. In the next month we will see Topps Co-signers, Bowman Baseball, Topps Series 2 and Upper Deck SPX. I will be opening up all of these and hopefully I can trade on the message board to finish some of these sets.
I've also got a lot of game used stuff to trade on the site and some giveaways, maybe on the next road trip I will be able to get a bunch of stuff up.
Saturday, April 26
Me Getting Hit In The Face
You guys wanted to see the video of me getting hit in college, here it is - Warning, this video is graphic.
Friday, April 18
2008 Topps Heritage Baseball Card Review
Alright it’s now time to review one of my favorite boxes of the year. Today we have 2008 Topps Heritage. Very quickly I will give a brief overview of the product. The Topps Heritage concept is pretty cool in that they take an old Topps design…this year they are copying the 1959 topps design…They basically go back almost 50 years and use that years card design. So next year we will be seeing the 1960 design with all the players from today. In 2057 they will be using the 2008 Topps design…pretty cool to think about. These are sold at all hobby shops...Wal Marts and Target's.
Now the reason I like this set is that it is nearly impossible to put together. They have these things called short prints which for baseball card illiterate people means some cards are put in packs at a lot less rate than the normal cards. So if card #7 is a short print and numbers 6 and 8 are not short printed card #7 is produced in a lot less quantity making set building fun and irritating! This set also has other weird variations…last year they had cards with the player’s name in Yellow and others of the same guy in White and one of the variations was an extreme short print. This year some card backs have “Black Backs” Here’s the variation/short print list if anyone is starting to build this set, http://www.topps.com/sports/news/toppsNews.aspx?news_id=191
Also Topps uses a lot of players in this set so it’s also a favorite of autograph collectors who collect the set and then try to get it signed! The non-glossy surface is great for getting signed and one of my favs to get my teammates on. Well I guess I’ll say let’s get this fun and emotionally grueling set started…I got two boxes to open so here we go.
Well let’s stop talking and open the cards up.
Specs
24 packs with 8 cards per pack
Relic card or Real One Autograph in Every Box
Here’s how I did
2 Box Toppers Advertising Panel –Maddux, Ruiz, Swisher – Velez, Iwamura, Betancourt
Black Backs – Box #1 = 23
Black Backs – Box #2 = 23
SP’s – Box #1 = 8
SP’s – Box #2 = 8
Chrome #’d to 1959 – 6
Chrome #’d to 559 – Manny, John Maine
Chrome #’d to 59 - Joba
Relic/Auto = John Smoltz, Ivan Rodriguez
Well I got the big hit in the Joba #’d to 59 Chrome Card. I also knocked off a bunch of SP’s. In some odd way in both boxes my Sp’s the exact same…So it looks like I will be trading these on my website to try and put this set together. I also noticed the black backs were in nearly every pack. If you are bored and looking for a fun challenge of putting together a tough baseball set then this is for you…This was my favorite set to collect last year and I think any fan looking to get into baseball cards would like this set.
Monday, April 14
April 14th, 2008 - Touching On The Mail
Just arrived in Detroit last night and it felt just as cold as KC. Today I thought would be a good time to talk about mail! As a lot of you know fan mail is a pretty high priority for me. When sending a letter there are a lot of things that will help you have success. Basically when you send out a letter it arrives at the Metrodome and is sorted out by Ryan, one of our clubhouse guys. Each day a big mail pile arrives and has to be sorted. I wish I could take a picture of our mail boxes but we are on the road right now. Basically it's a big cubby on the wall with little cubby holes with our names over each box. Some guys do their mail, some don't and some pay marketing firms to open their mail and throw in a generic letter with a photo. When sending to players one of the biggest things you have to know is if the guy does his mail or not. I mean it's a waste if you spend a $1 on a couple stamps and lose a baseball card...nobody likes that. So finding out who signs is huge. There are a lot of websites out there that offer a pay service and provide up to date signing habits and which address works to send to guys. Also there are the Jack Smalling address books that list every address of players. Lastly you can check out message boards and try to get some freebie addresses or trade with people. On my message board we have a cool section where people post their recent successes (as of right now though we have restricted access to the message board so if you aren't a lucky member you have to look elsewhere).
Okay so you have the address and the guy signs what else? Well for me my favorite letters are short and to the point. In a perfect world my favorite letter would be "What's up Pat, I know you are busy, just wanted you to sign this card if you have time!" I think most players would like it this way also. There are many times in the clubhouse when guys are opening their mail and they either get a 2 page letter or something so ridiculous they have to show everyone. To be honest probably only a handful of guys read the longer letters...most guys grab the SASE, sign the card, toss the letters without reading them and put the mail in a pile.
Never ever ask another player to get something signed from another player. It happens...every week I get one of these and have to toss it. I guess in Junior High terms it would be like a guy trying to get the hot girl and using her ugly friend to get in with her...it's just not right.
Always include a SASE. What's a SASE some of the younger people might ask. It's short for Self Addressed Stamped Envelope...What's that...it's a return letter that has a stamp and address already on it so the player can throw the card in quickly. When I do my letters if there is no SASE there will be no response. I've collected tons of baseballs, hats, shirts, cards and other things over the past couple years because there was no SASE. I don't want the stuff but I also do not think I should have to go to the post office, buy an envelope, address it up and pay for the postage. This would def make me want to never do fan mail so I try to spread the word and make it clear that a SASE is a must if you want a reply.
What to send? Most TTM (Through The Mail) autograph request are for baseball cards. I don't mind signing a lot of cards at one time. Other guys will only sign one and keep the rest, again you have to do your research. I also sign 8X10's, baseballs, hats, shirts, jerseys you name it if it has a SASE send it over. If you need a birthday inscription that's fine also, I'm easy on that stuff. Other guys have different signing habits and you'll have to look into them.
So in conclusion know the player and how he signs, short letters, SASE, 1 card if you are not sure and you should have a lot of success. Time wise all guys are different. I like to do my mail in the clubhouse once it comes in. Sometimes we are on the road for a long time like right now so it might take 3 weeks to get back from me. Be patient and if you follow the rules above you might have some success.
Also the offer still stands...Send me any signed baseball or hockey card no matter how good the player was or is or at what level and I'll trade you for one of my cards signed!
Saturday, April 12
April 12th, 2008
I totally felt like I was playing MN high school baseball again these past couple games. I say this in that IT HAS BEEN FREEZING outside! I thought those days of going out and playing in snow and sub freezing temps might be done but oh I was wrong. The last two days were games that you don't know how you are going to do because a lot of us haven't played in that type of cold in a long time. Running out to the mound tonight I kept telling myself to make good pitches and work quick. The air was so cold I had a lot of trouble feeling the ball because my hands got really cold and it really showed when I let one get away that nearly hit the batter in the head. People thought I was headhunting and others thought it was a good pitch but honestly the thing got away and had a mind of its own. I guess this whole trip is a tuneup for the new stadium in a couple year!!! The next three days look just a little cooler. I think it's pretty safe to say that I've never wanted to get back to the Metrodome as bad as I do right now!
Kansas City has been doing some offseason work and I think I might have a new favorite ballpark when the construction is done. So far they made an excellent bullpen and are really hammering away the rest of the park. This place has always been one of my favs and I cannot wait to see the finished product.
Usually when we go to Kansas City there are more Twins fans than Royals fans. So when looking at the schedule and seeing an early series in Kansas City and then checking the weather I figured we'd be lucky to draw 10,000. Boy was I wrong, I think a lot of people just wanted to watch ballplayers freeze their butts off! Tonight I believe was close to a sellout (Billy Butler Jersey Night). I've never seen that many fans at a Royals game since I was in high school and drove down to watch Mark Mcgwire pack the place. The fans must have brought some warm clothes because most of them stayed the entire night. We have one more here and then we head to autograph headquarters (Detroit...lots of graphers there)!
Tuesday, April 8
April 8th, 2008
Today we got a rare off day and I basically spent it catching up on everything...emails, other stuff and right now the site. Right now we are in Chicago and it's pretty cold outside. I always hate the first month because it's tough to adjust to cold conditions...tomorrow night might be the coldest game of the season but I'm sure it will be nothing compared to last year when we strolled into Chicago.
The other day I did an opening day rally in MN and a guy came up to me with my 2008 Topps card. I guess they released the card in the Minnesota Twins Team sets. I'm pretty sure it's the same card image they will use for series 2. I also got an update that the signatures I signed for Topps last season will be introduced in a late product this year...Updates & Highlights. I think the stickers got piled up on someone's desk and someone found them during spring cleaning.
I tried a bunch to sign after a couple of our games during the last homestand. It's not my favorite time to sign because we spend all day at the field and I get kind of anxious to get home but in reality signing only takes around 10 mins to do. I usually try to sign after day games that aren't getaway days. Other things about signing, I love signing before the game outside the dome and my favorite place to sign is in the bullpen about 8-20 mins before the game...Just come down to the bullpen and give me a shout. I heard they are selling my t-shirts at the dome, if you pick one up be sure to stop down and have me sign it. It's always tough to sign during BP or coming off the field because we have to eat and get dressed in a short amount of time. As always if I don't sign keep trying, I'm easy.
Tuesday, April 1
April 1st, 2008
Well I haven't been on here in awhile and there's a good reason...I just got worn out and am sick of having to update it all the time...Therefore as of right now I am shutting the site down and erasing all content later in the week...
gotcha...April Fool's! Man this past week has been all about moving and cleaning. I think every guy has been packing up stuff, cleaning up things and trying to set up houses now for the past week and it gets very old...this time of the year is always a mess.
Opening day was pretty special...what a game. It definetly had playoff atmosphere where every pitch was under the microscope. For me it was an intense game...you go through all of spring training with crowds that barely break 9000 people and a couple of loud cheers to a crowd of 50000 that are going nuts for every pitch...gotta love it, it got my adrenaline pumping. After the game last night I was walking up the stairs and a guy from the other team shouted to me "hey Pat, I'm Darren O'day and I just wanted to say it's cool to meet you...I read your website all the time last year." I had to do a double take...just about an hour before that I was sitting inside the clubhouse watching this sidearmer from the Angels make his debut. I kept asking myself who is that side/sub throwing guy was, turns out it was O'day. Not a bad debut either, got out of a jam, pitched right out of the chute on opening day for his debut...I asked him if he was nervous and he said it was pretty intense. It was nice to see another weird throwing guy in the bigs and even cooler that he stopped to say hi and let me know about this site. I ended up snagging a foul ball with the opening day logo on the baseball and had it authenticated because they are very rare to find...after Darren said hi I think I'm going to offer him the ball because stuff from your debut is pretty special and means a lot more!
Saturday, March 22
Congrats
I just wanted to give a big shout out to the 2007/2008 Butler Basketball team. You guys got me watching college hoops this entire past season after many years off. What a team, it's sad to see it over but I think everyone who follows basketball closely knows how special the team was. Can't wait for next year!
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Tuesday, March 18
Off Day
We have a rare off day coming up. I'll try my best to get some new stuff up soon.
Thursday, March 13
March 13th, 2008
Hey guys, lots of cool updates. We just had a winner in the Joe Mauer Figure contest so that is over. I just got a cool package from GAMEWEAR the makers of those sweet baseball bracelets http://www.wearthegame.com/ We had some Neshek 17 bracelets made up and I will talk about them in another update down the road. You will be seeing a lot of their products in stadiums all over the league so I just wanted to let you guys know of the next big thing that will be coming to a stadium near you this season.
How about the new commercial...if you haven't watched it yet be sure to check it out right here! Would you believe that it took me almost 6 hours to make! A lot of the people in the commercial were actually from Park Center with the exception of I think it was 4 people that were actresses and Chad the tour guide. My favorite part of the commercial...the kid that points at the end...it took him about 40 takes to perfect that part.
The arm feels great and I'm pretty excited to have my stuff working...that's all I'm going to say about on-field stuff...I'm ready for the season to start right now. Camp is slowly winding down and we have about 2 weeks left. There are lots of cuts that will be happening soon and that's always the toughest part of camp. So far to date this camp feels like it has went by the quickest...pretty soon we will be standing in 30 degree temps in Chicago...I can't wait.
I got a lot of baseball card products to review and have been falling behind lately with pitching on the road and having other things to do. I've opened a bunch of Topps, Upper Deck, Topps Heritage and Moments & Milestones and will be trying my best to get those reviews up soon.
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| Images Of Me From MLB 08 The Show, I wish I had those muscles in the left pic! |
Thursday, March 13
Side Note
Just wanted to comment real quickly about the Vegan Article that ran in the MN paper yesterday http://www.startribune.com/sports/16582911.html. I really didn't want this to be a big deal and that's why I wrote on here before that I will not talk much about this during the season but I cannot speak for the press and they will write about whatever they want. I wanted to clear some things up that I felt weren't addressed right, otherwise you get stories like this http://www.kfan.com/pages/psn_danbarreiro.html shooting out on the airways that make me look bad and slander my name, "Yes, another Twins pitcher has come forward to say the reason he didn't pitch as well as he should is that he ate too much"? Now I know the S&T article is tough to follow and I can see where Dan made that assumption that I said things but if you read it closely I never stated that in any way or made an excuse or was quoted saying anything close to that. It would be cool to go on his radio show and talk about this and clear things up. I felt the Star Tribune article was good but it sent mixed messages. In the article it stated that last year my diet was poor...this is not correct. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a diehard juicer (Fruits & Vegetables) and have been doing this for the past 6 years. The last time I ate a whopper jr. was in 2004...the article never gave a date but people might have thought I ate those things last year...not the case. I didn't go Vegan to do better on the field or improve my game, the article makes it sound like I was looking for answers and this is what I came up with, not the case. I feel like the article was suppose to be about me getting stronger and how I struggled late last season and in some odd way the vegan thing got tied in. The simple fact was that my arm wasn't ready to pitch everyday and it wore down. I like the stuff about the workout program I'm trying to utilize this year...Strong workout program, strong results. So far in Spring Training the results have been great. The simple fact here is that this is a touchy subject because there are a lot of people that have a special interest (money, job, family) in these industries and they do not like press that might hurt their industries. For me I'm not proclaiming this as the way, I'm not trying to hurt anyone, this is my personal choice and the conclusion I have drawn (I'm doing this for my health and has nothing to do with baseball) and a couple reporters wrote stories about it. It's a mixed subject as I found out, I never had so many people ask me where I get my protein, pretty funny I think they think I just read a book and decided to be a vegan...not the case. If you really care and I'm sure most of you don't, I'm getting tons of good protein in a lot of the things I eat. I'm also getting all my vitamins from various sources...hooray. BTW did you know horses don't eat meat and they have tons of muscle, pretty neat to think about! In all honesty I really never liked meat and only ate it a couple times a week if that in the past. For the most part of the season last year I was vegetarian (didn't tell anyone) if I had the choice and when we were on the road I really didn't have a choice and ate what the clubby had or whatever restaurant was close... This really isn't new to me its just another step that I'm trying out. I'm not telling anyone to go out and go vegan, I'm not here to say this is the best thing in the world, as is everything I do on here I'm telling my story and shedding light into the life of a ballplayer...Good, it's over...You won't hear anything on THIS site until June and like I said before the press will write what they want...I don't really have a choice. Also as a side note the only reason I'm arriving early at the field is to get my mail done and hangout, I'm not that diehard...All my workouts are done after practice...listening to SLAYER on my ipod...no hippie stuff for me!
Thursday, March 6
March 6th, 2008
Well lots of stuff today to talk about. We got stuff about a chiropractor and a vegan meal, a Joe Mauer Autographed Figure, a Good & Bad Letter from the mailbag and also a Japanese Package!
First off things are going really well on the mound and a lot of the credit goes to Dr. Mark Marien (Gold Coast Chiropractic, gotta give a plug) who is a Chiropractor down here in Ft. Myers I have been going to for a couple weeks now. I was having a little bit of problems with my range of motion on my throwing arm and this guy does something called Active Release Technique...I'm not going to bore you on the details about it but the guy is a miracle worker...My velo feels like I am at my prime and I couldn't feel better on the mound. I would recommend it for anyone who has any pain...I still like all you doctors out there but I want results and not just told what is wrong with me!
About 2 months ago my wife turned me onto the books "The China Study", "Slaughterhouse", and one called "Skinny ***" (I think this is the book Prince Fielder was talking about as to why he doesn't like meat). I'm not going to go into the details but if you have time and want a real eye opener that might change your life I would recommend either book. Now most of you that know me know that I'm a big raw food person...I love to juice fruits and vegetables and watch what I eat...You can find the articles out there but a couple years back Stephanee really opened up my eyes with the stuff I was eating and it changed my life. Well to make a long story short for the past 2 months I have been total Vegan and feel better than ever. I'm not going to sit here and preach about why things are bad because it's really a lifelong learning process and takes years to digest the simplest things about food and something that can't be forced upon anyone. I'm pretty proud though that I made the change in my life and can avoid the garbage that is out there. This year will be tough though with our schedule and being on the road but I will be prepared and update you guys as to how I'm doing and what I do so I don't have to eat Burger King or Popeye's chicken ever again...and yes that was the meal after the last two road games I played in...It's hard to believe. I'm sure I will eat meat again because our society is set up to reward convenience rather than our health
Fun stuff now...Up on the message board is a FREE contest for a Signed Joe Mauer Debut McFarlane figure from this year's collection. I need to keep up with Phil Hughes's site...that guy will probably give away a car next! Anyways Joe was cool enough to sign one of these up for me to put on the site...Good luck, I must mention though that on the message board I have suspended registration due to a couple posters that were making threats. I don't know if I will open up registration anytime soon so if you have an account on there it just might be your lucky day to win a Mauer Signed Figure. 
The other day I was doing my mail and got a surprise package waiting near my locker from Japan. Inside was a Sadaharu Oh (Japan All Time HR Leader) shirt as seen in the picture with a box of Japanese chocolates and decorated chopsticks. I thought it was the coolest gesture that a fan has done in a long time and I'm proud to wear the Oh Shirt! I get a lot of mail each day and a few from overseas...got one from Australia, another one from Korea a few from Europe and numerous from Japan. Japan ones are always my favorites because they are written on very thin paper with excellent handwriting and they are fun to read because they are very polite and also because of the translation factor, you see some funny mix ups.
All right time for good letter/bad letter segment. I should do a post about how to write a letter again because it seems like there are a ton of new people sending. Real quickly, if you want a response send a return envelope with postage, I stopped replying to those years ago and you will not get a response. Anyways here's good letter bad letter. The good letter is awesome and one I rarely get. Usually when I open mail you can feel what is inside, ones with cards are heavier and contain a sase...others that want responses also contains sase's...the scary ones are the ones that are light because it is usually someone wanting something...Scott Baker sits next to me and every time I get a light one I look at him and say something like "Oh no, what do we have here" and he just smiles. Most of the time it is something like a charity wanting money (you would think they would add a SASE when they ask for money but they don't) or a kid who says something like send me back cards. These letters usually get tossed, I know some of you are probably saying that I should write back to the kid but you know what...I would love to also but I get over a hundred of those each year and don't have the time to be paying money and using my time to fill out a badly written envelope and also supply a card. Anyways today I got a letter and it was a light one, I opened it up and all it was was a kid giving praise and saying how he liked watching me pitch...I smiled...it was a very rare letter and I didn't know what to do...he didn't want anything and just wanted to say what's up...I thought it was one of my all-time favorite letters.
The bad letter...well...just read and decide!
Saturday, March 1
Notes & More
Pretty much everyone has thrown in the games and our second outings are already coming up. I'm throwing again tomorrow against Boston. The first couple weeks are rough on the pitchers because we are throwing every other day and if a guys arm isn't ready for this test it can be a challenge. Right now most guys are pumped up because we are into games and most guys will get over 2 days rest and not have to throw as much as the first week.
I'm pretty excited about the baseball cards coming out this week. I've always been a big fan of the Topps Heritage set and that is suppose to be out any day now. I will have a full review of this years product sometime next week. I like this set because they include tons of guys in the set (cough...not me...cough). Another thing that's cool about the set is that it is very tough to put together and it's a fun challenge for the year.
If you are registered on my message board I just wanted everyone to know that I'm giving away a 2007 Spring Training Game Used hat for free if you can answer the correct question!
And if you are bored and need a laugh check this out from a couple weeks ago...I know you may have watched this already but some of you may not have seen this and yes I'm copying aarongleeman.com by inserting a youtube video...I love his site!
Friday, February 29
Let The Games Begin
Well it's pretty hard to believe but the games for 2008 are underway! Yesterday I had my first outing of the spring and everything went pretty good. The first outing of the season is by far the toughest. Literally you are thrown out there as a ball of nerves not knowing how you are going to perform. Things fly through your head like what will happen if I have no control...if I can't throw a strike...if my fastball is only 80mph...I'll be the first to say that every pitcher has some degree of doubt in the back of their heads as they have their first outing of the season. Luckily for me everything went well...the ball flew out of my hand nice and my slider is breaking really good...I was very pleased but more so to have the outing over and move on now that I know I still have it haha! To get to Sarasota we took two buses...just your average coach buses nothing special...Guys usually sleep or listen to music. Sometimes there is a movie, sometimes they play cards and nearly every trip there is bad traffic and we get home a lot later than we should. This is one of the reason you see big league teams only bring a handful of veteran players. The older guys have pull and sometimes buy their way out of going! Almost at 1,000,000 hits...I can't believe it
Friday, February 22
February 22nd, 2008
Well a couple days have went by since the start of Spring Training. I had to take a short leave on the site because I had a friend come in town for a few days and we all know how that goes. Let's see what's going on at the field. So far I've thrown 3 bullpen sessions and tomorrow we start throwing against hitters. Everything with my arm fells great especially the slider. My fastball though has been going nuts running in on right-handed hitters! I swear there's a sensor on the right side of the plate because everything I throw goes that way right now...I'm sure now my next time out everything I throw will go to the left side:) Inside the clubhouse the reporters have been having a field day with everyone. For me I get the same questions and I'm sure you guys are just as much sick of reading the stuff as I am answering it. For me it's the closer question...if Joe leaves would you be the closer? I think they ask it hoping for me to say something bad! One media guy wrote a cool story and actually used a quote I liked. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2008-02-21-2852042728_x.htm For the record I really don't care what spot I have on the team and closing is not a goal I have. If I happen to close you know I will be trying my best just like every time I step on the mound. Right now we have the best closer in the league and we can just leave it at that. Every once in awhile you will find a reporter or media person that makes you smile. Today that happened twice. One was Holden Kushner from XM and the other was a person writing for a Palm Beach paper. The XM one was awesome...the first question was what are you collecting right now? Right then and there I could tell he did his homework. The rest of the interview was totally about collecting and not much else. He even let me give my dad a shout out at the end. I'm not sure when it will be on XM175 but MLB Live starts at 7pm. The Palm Beach paper started asking me about short prints and building card sets...I didn't want the interview to end! What else is going on...the days so far have been really short...we start at 9am and get done around noon and head over to the gym to get a workout. My friend Ryan has been in town for the past week and just left last night and we have been playing Super Nintendo games the entire time...Our two favs have been Baseball Simulator 1000 and Super Tecmo Bowl. Signed a lot of in-person autographs at the field. The best time for me to sign is after we get done running or when I'm walking to or from the gym. I got through most of the mail that has came in. I still have to run to the post office to mail a couple of the trades we completed on the message board for some of you. Also I know I need to start mentioning this more because some people don't know where all the action is...Check out the Message Board above and sign up. There are tons of other fans on there chatting it up and I try my best to give stuff away and hold auctions. Please be sure to check out the message board if you have time.
Sunday, February 17
Season Starting Up
I just got back from the field right now. Yesterday, Stephanee and I drove over to Ft. Myers from Indialantic and it took about 3 hours. We figured we are already in Florida and why arrive any earlier than we had to. Today is the official reporting day for us. Basically it's a day to show up and get your locker set up and uniform together. For housing the Twins either give you the option of living out and renting a place or staying at the team hotel. Most guys choose to live out. The place we are at this year is very close to the field...a very big plus considering how terrible the traffic always is in this city. This morning I had a rude awakening at 7am when my dogs Juicy & Kirby woke me up telling me they had to go to the bathroom. The place we are renting here in Ft. Myers doesn't have a fenced in yard so that means that I had to put them on the leash and take them down the steps so they could go to the bathroom! At our other house it's an easy walk to the door and out they go...here you have to wait with them until they do their business and that takes forever...Actually though I'm kind of glad they got me up early, I think they are trying to get me ready for these next 6 weeks of getting up at 7am. Well since I was up early I showed up to the field really early. The only other people in were Carmen Cali, Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan. I wasn't going to throw today but since my throwing partner was there I quickly got all my stuff together and went out to play catch. I stopped off at the equipment room and was greeted by our equipment guy Rod Mccormick. Since I have been here for a couple years this part was a snap since he had all my sizes. We browsed all the gear and I picked out my shirts, hats and other stuff. Nothing was really new for 08 except our pullover jackets (little different looking). Once outside there were a few graphers...note to others for next year...this is a very good day to get graphs! After catch I called it a day and packed up. Media members were already on hand and the big storyline it sounded like was the whole no Santana/Hunter clubhouse. The mailbox was full; I'll start getting to those in a few days once I get our house set up!
Tuesday, February 12
New Hats & Shirts
Just released from www.sidearmstore.com are some pretty sweet items. I don't know how they were designed but the hats have a pretty cool logo of me on them. This is the fourth installment of t-shirts I have put out and the T-shirt's have the MN License plate with something that is very similar to my actual MN license plate...strike 3! As always my portion of the sales all go to charity. Also these have once again been produced in limited quantity so if you like them be sure to order them quick before they are sold out.
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| Click here to go to the site |
Sunday, February 10
Snubbed By Topps & Upper Deck.......Suprised???
Well it looks like I've been shut out by both Topps and Upper Deck for the first installment of the new 2008 products. It kind of suprises me in both ways that no card was produced. In one way I thought I had a great year nearly making the All Star game that I would for sure make some noise to get in a lot of products. But on the other hand I understand how for the last so many years the way they pick the same people and the products become boring. I know how frustrating it is as a collector, I hate seeing the same faces also. This problem is a great example of how big business chases profit and loses vision of it's very core principals and for these guys it should first be making collecting fun. I also find it very strange that everyone knows I sign every card produced through the mail and when I have time in-person (I try my best) and you would think the card makers would eat this up. I forgot the word I learned in business classes in college but there is a word for this and I'm going to just say lack of communication. If there's something so simple that the entire collecting industry notices...you guys, collectors, autograph hounds, BECKETT and me then why can't the place making the cards notice...it will forever be a mystery. Right now we can only hope for a card to be released in a late June or Early July labeled with a Series 2 on it. I thought for sure there would be a Topps Heritage card but we got shut out there also. There was one place I didn't get shut out and it was an AROD HR #460 card. I think it came out of Bowman Sterling but it has my name on it so I will sign the back of it. Other than that I guess just keep opening up old packs if you need my cards or check out eBay and if you have time write to Topps or Upper Deck and let them hear it.
Saturday, February 2
Address Change
I just updated the address with my spring training location above. Please do not send anymore mail to the FL PO Box (Indialantic) as it will be shut down for good and never used again. I'm heading over to Ft. Myers for spring training in about a week and a half so mail sent by today should be fine. I just wanted to give everyone the heads up that the above address is the place to send mail now.
Sunday, February 3
NHL ALL STAR GAME!!!
Well last week my wife, brother Paul, friend Ryan and I got to do something we have always dreamed about doing…we went to the NHL ALL-STAR game! This year the ASG was in Atlanta and we were pumped to be able to go. Like I said in my last post the past weekend was very busy with Twinsfest going on but I was lucky enough to find a way to make it to the game. My brother Paul and my good friend Ryan made it to Atlanta just in time on Saturday to do all the events like the Red Carpet arrival, the evening party and the Skills competition. We arrived later Saturday night carrying 2 large bags on the MARTA (subway) and arriving at our hotel. I really didn’t know where to start for an event like this. I knew it would be tough as heck to get autos (It was back in 03 when it was in MN) so I told myself to just enjoy the experience and if I get an autograph it’ll be by chance. The day of the game we decided to check out the CNN center where they were having a big trading card show. A couple greats of the game and young guys were signing but the lines were literally out the door and I knew from signings that I have done that there was no chance of me getting the autograph…it was basically a Joe Mauer line for you Twins fans! There was also a line to get your picture with the Stanley Cup…that also had a line out the door. We didn’t know where to start so we looked around and decided to tour the CNN studio. About an hour later we got done with the tour and the lines were even more intense. I remember reading online there was an Upper Deck redemption set giving out at this event so I went to check out the details. Sure enough if you opened 6 packs of Upper Deck cards you could turn in the wrappers for a special All-Star game collector set. I opened up 12 packs and walked away with 2 of these rare sets. I felt good with the day and as I was walking out there were graphers there that hit me up for Autos. These guys came prepared…I was at the NHL All Star game and getting hit up for graphs…After seriously signing nearly 50 cards, I walked away…then another person came up with a single card. I thought it was funny that people knew I would be there and brought cards to get signed…you guys are good.
At this point I felt pretty good, I learned that the previous day it was tough as heck to get anything signed and the hotel (four seasons) wasn’t easy because there were tons of dealers working it. It made me happy with my approach of if I get somebody I get them and if I don’t I don’t. We walked back to the hotel to change and get ready for the game. The next thing we got to do was head over to the Pre-Game reception that was being held at the Georgia Aquarium. At first I thought it would be cool, free food and I might be able to see some cool fish. When we got in we were amazed at how big that place was. I’ve never seen an aquarium that big before…it was like an indoor sea world. Once again the events the NHL put on went above and beyond what I thought it would be. We toured the entire aquarium and before I knew it the game was ready to start.
Of course I wanted to be as early as I could for the All Star game because I’ve never experienced anything like this before. Our seats were excellent…about 15 rows up on the blue line. We all sat down and just gazed in amazement that we were able to do this and couldn’t wait for the game to start. Well about a half hour later the players took the ice and I swear I felt like I was 10 again. I don’t know what it is about hockey but it really gets me pumped up. We got to see it all…Ovechkin showing off having fun, Zdeno Charo looking out of place like he should be at a Basketball game and our own Marian Gaborik. Star after star kept flying by…Iginila made everything look so smooth, Jovanovski slapping the puck as hard as he could and Vokuhn stopping every puck from going in. Once the shoot around was over a large stage came down from the top of the arena with a band on it getting ready to play. I’m not the biggest fan of the band but they put on a great pre-game show. It was the Hives playing a couple songs as the players got introduced. During this time I got some great pictures and tried to get the opening puck drop picture but the ref dropped the puck before anyone could snap a picture quick enough. The game went on and you could definitely tell it was an All-Star game. There might have been one check and no penalties during the entire game. But what lacked in hitting was made up for in passing and stick handling. We were lucky enough to see first hand how quick these guys were and it was crazy how good they are. My head felt like a bobblehead watching them pass to each other so quickly. Well to make a long story short this probably goes down as the biggest sports event I got to attend, it was definitely right up there with the boxing match I went to last year. Even Stephanee thought it was an awesome experience although I think she had more fun watching all the mascots run around and her getting pictures with them! As we walked away that night we didn’t even have to look at each other, we were all smiling inside and knew that we just had the time of our life!
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| Getting Ready For The Big Event! |
Saturday, January 26
A Crazy Couple Days
Well these last couple days have been some of the busiest in my life. On Wednesday night my wife Stephanee and I flew into Minnesota for a busy weekend. As soon as we got out of the airport I had to run over to Mall of America to pick up my first suit I have ever owned...seriously last week I bought my first suit for an event on Thursday called the diamond awards. I always told myself that whenever I needed a suit I would go in a week before and get one...that time was this past week. The rest of the night was spent sorting through PM's on my message board (which I have been on A LOT lately) and digging out cards that I traded with to other collectors. Thursday was probably one of the busiest days for me in recent memory. It all started by me showing up to the Metrodome at 9am. I was starting my filming career by filming my first big budget commercial...well I like to think it was big budget...they hired paid actors for some of the parts. The commercial was one of those funny ones that the Twins do every year and I don't really want to ruin the surprise before it comes out but it involves my high school, a lot of students, me and I don't know how it happened but Joe Mauer managed to sneak into it! It was a lot of fun and also grueling. From 9am until 2:30 we had to be on camera saying the same lines and the finished product will be only 30 seconds long. After about 20 minutes you could see some of the faces in the crowd were getting tired and they didn't know how much longer they would have to wait. I think the commercial comes out in late March so be on the lookout. Right from the dome I ran into my car and headed back home to put on my suit and head to the diamond awards. The event is an award show for the Minnesota Twins but mainly a way to help the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center at the University of Minnesota raise money to try and find a cure. This year I won an award for Upper Midwest player of the year and with that I had to go up and accept the award and talk for a little bit. The event started at 5pm and went until 10:30 so it was a long but fun night. I got to meet a lot of my new teammates and it was pretty cool listening to how happy they were to be playing for the Twins. When I got home lets just say I slept very good! On Friday Twinsfest started and that's always a fun event. The Twins brought in a lot of players this year and there were autographs galore. I always love Twins fest for grapher watching. Guys come prepared and have the entire night plotted out where they are going to go. I always laugh at the collectors juggling the big bags that come in filled with memorabilia and stacks of notebooks overflowing with 8X10’s and cards, it's should be a form of art. This year I brought a Lumicolor by Staedtler pen for my signing sessions so I wouldn't have to rub the gloss off my Topps & Upper Deck cards and it was cool hearing praise by the graphers for doing so. Man o man there were tons of people there that check out this site and I couldn't believe the demographics of who reads this little journal I make...I swear I heard people telling me from all walks of life that they read the site, little kids, big kids, adults and even grandmothers! It's pretty neat hearing that and the reason I keep it going. Another thing I did at Twinsfest was take pictures with fans for a half-hour and a kid’s question and answer session. The Q&A with the kids is one of my favorites because you hear some questions that even the best reporters couldn't think of. One little girl asked me if it's tough leaving my 2 doggies home when we have to play road games. I thought that was the coolest question I have ever heard. Keep having fun I have another busy day planned for today. Twinsfest goes all day then Stephanee and I are flying to Atlanta for the NHL All Star game tomorrow. I'm going to try to get some autographs but I don't know how I will do in dealer heaven! We'll be taking pictures though and I'm sure we will never forget the experience.
Sunday, January 20
January 20th, 2008
All right I just got back from the Twins Caravan and it was a blast as usual. I don't think fans understand that we are on a bus for 4 straight days stopping at nearly 20 different places. Honestly, I love the whole caravan concept and wish other teams would do what the Twins do...it's pretty special. Highlights of the trip: Seeing the different cities, chatting with people from this site, and getting cards from fans. I thought it was pretty neat hearing people say how much they like watching me pitch. Last year at this time only a handful of people said that and now I'm known as the "Weird Throwing Pitcher" and you wouldn't believe how many people commented to me on that. The caravan was a lot of fun but it is very grueling and could drive you crazy. The thing that drove me nuts was saying the same thing at nearly every stop...by the end of the trip I thought I became a much better speaker, but I hated hearing my voice (if that's possible). Inside I felt like Gardy and Vavra, as well as TC bear, were going "not again, if I have to hear him explain why he throws like he does another time...ahhhh" from listening to me deliver the same old lines. But as we went along I kind of opened up and touched on a lot of topics, and people had some good questions. Gardy is one of the funniest guys to hear speak. Every stop I kept wondering what he was going to pull out of his hat to make the crowd laugh, and each stop I wasn't disappointed. He was fun to go with. At the end of each night we would hang out, grab a bite to eat, just kick back and talk about anything...I think that's what I enjoyed most about the caravan.
Note sheet: Cool things on the caravan...Visited the Daktronics Plant and got to see how they make MLB Scoreboards, found a long lost neighborhood friend in Sioux City that I played baseball with as a kid, chatted with Gardy, Vavra and others about anything you could think of, received numerous cards as well as Northwood’s leagues sets in Mankato...Got bashed in the Sioux Falls paper for I guess disappointing the sold out crowd...(I thought the crowd loved me and I'm sure people there liked me as well so there). I think the person who wrote the article must like not me...I probably said no to his wife after she demanded I sign more than one card in a "One Auto per person line"... jk, Watched TC bear go nuts after some unappreciative parents made him mad! I'm sure there's lots of other stuff I'm forgetting but overall this was a blast and I was happy to see everyone come out and say hi, even those of you at the Hardee's in the small town of Windom! I always think it's pretty neat that there are fans everywhere.
Thursday, January 10
January 10th, 2008
Well guys just thought I would give an update on what has been going on. On Sunday I'm heading back to MN to go on the Twins Caravan. The week after that is Twinsfest and I will also be back for that. I'm pretty excited for the end of the month as I will be heading to Atlanta to go to the NHL All Star Game. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and let everyone know how that whole experience goes. I'm a big fan of hockey and it will be one of the coolest events I have ever attended so I'm pretty pumped up to go.
Right now the weight lifting is in full swing. I feel very refreshed and very strong where I need to be so it's pretty safe to say I'm ready to start another season. About a week ago I started playing catch. Each week I like to take baby steps and get my arm ready for the grind of an entire season. Right now I'm basically playing normal catch with Stephanee and tomorrow I'm going to start moving back for long toss. Eventually I will be ready to throw bullpens in a couple weeks.
As for what else is going on one of the big things I have been doing down here is bodyboarding. It's one of the toughest workouts you can do in my opinion and is a lot of fun. One of the main reasons we picked this area of FL is for the waves and the ocean and the spot we are at is Surfing central in FL. Today we drove down to the Sebastian Inlet where a big surfing contest called the SI Pro was being put on by O'neill. If you've never been to a surf contest you should try to check one out sometime it's a pretty cool thing to see. There were a lot of highly ranked surfers at this event and graphs were pretty easy to get. We went to the finals and got to see the winner crowned, check out the pics of Patrick Gudauskas being carried off after winning the championship...Maybe next year I will pick up a surf board and drop the bodyboard...we'll see, I love my bodyboarding.
Friday, January 4
Colorado Rockies Draft Q&A From 2002
Here's what I got and filled out for the Rockies in 2002 when I was going through the draft process
Wednesday, December 26
Auctions Are In Full Swing On Message Board - Auction #17 Just Went Up
Just wanted to remind everyone that the auctions have been going strong for a month now under the message board right above this post, check them out if you see something you like. Here's the latest auction.
2 day auction on this next item and this will end Friday Night at 10PM.
Alright this is kind of a unique item, it's my 2007 Luggage Tag with my alias on it. Pretty much everyone on the team has an alias (another name they check in at the hotel under). We do this so idiot financial planners, radio stations and random people can't call us up at 8am. As most of you know if you do in person autographing one way to find the hotel of the team is to call it up and ask for a player. I would always ask for an assistant coach because they usually don't have fake names to find out which hotel teams were at and it works a lot. 2006 I didn't have an alias and I'm not lying I would get appr 4 phone calls a day...it sucked. So this year I went with good ole CY DAHMER as my nickname...If you say it really fast and together it sounds like sidearmer...I like to switch things up and Cy will no longer be needed...I also need to switch because people are pretty scared when they come to my room to deliever me pizza with the name Dahmer haha. Next year I will have a new name so this tag has to go. A pretty cool piece and only with my 1st alias and something that I will never forget!
The tag can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 2 days and will end Friday night at 10pm Eastern.
All you have to do is make an offer, pictures can really sway who I pick also.
I'm not really looking for anything special. I have a want list with cards I need on the footer of this. I also like sets, game used cards, cert auto's, signed balls, game used stuff and anything that might be fun to have. Bascially if it's something cool I'm probably going to like it so make an offer if you want this item. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want and update them as time runs out, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page and the message board for more game used items!
Monday, December 24
Wishing Everyone Out There A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!!!
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| Our Dogs Juicy & Kirby With Presents |
Monday, December 24
Getting Drafted Part 3 - The Q&A's
Now once a scout likes you or knows you have pro ability from going to the tryout camps all you have to do is sit back and wait. The next move is for the scout's team to send you out a Q&A sheet. During my Junior year of college I got my first Q&A in September from the Baltimore Orioles. A little after that more and more came in. Some came in November, more came in December, a ton came in January and a few other teams followed right up until the draft. I kept track of each team by filing it by team name and I tried to write down each time they contacted me, see the pictures below. Once it hit February things started getting out of control with phone calls and meetings and I didn't write down as much as I should. If I remember correctly 28 of the 30 teams contacted me and I will try to scan all the sheets I have from each of the teams. What they send varies by team. Some want Medical Records, some want you to do personality evaluations and others just want to ask random questions Here's my sheets from the Orioles, the first team to contact me in 2002
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Thursday, December 20
Recent Bad Letters
Well I have a little bit more time now so I scanned some odd letters again, I know you guys like these. These came in today and I get about 5 a week that are similar. One included no SASE, no addy, nothing to trade or sign and wanted cards of me signed as well as others out of my collection...I'm shocked he didn't include his address I might have mailed back a team signed ball...kidding. The other included a SASE but wanted free cards. I have to give it up to guy #2 for including a SASE, he's halfway there!
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Wednesday, December 19
Twins Caravan - HEADS UP SOUTHWEST MN, IA & For SOUTH DAKOTA I'm Coming Back
The caravan list just came out and here's where we are going, I expect to see some of you out there!
SOUTHWEST TOUR
Manager Ron Gardenhire, pitching coach Rick Anderson, pitcher Pat Neshek
Monday, Jan. 14: Hutchinson, Mankato
Tuesday, Jan. 15: Windom, Fulda, Worthington
Wednesday, Jan. 16: Spencer, IA, Sioux City, IA, Sioux Falls, SD
Thursday, Jan. 17: Marshall, Montevideo
Tuesday, December 18
Upper Deck Black Card Break & Review
Well I was lucky enough to get my hands on a hobby box of Upper Deck Black. Right now it’s the talk of the industry because the hobby box is selling for $200 and it contains only 2 cards…you heard me right 2 cards. Basically you are getting a big hit and you should for that price. I’ve never opened up a box of cards (or should I say card) that had only one card so this must be pretty special.
Specs
1 hobby box contains two packs. Each pack contains one card. All right opening the box. I will let my wife go first and then it’ll be my turn. First observation, man these things are tough to get into. You open the box, which is sealed. Then you open the pack, which is sealed in heavy foil that says void once opened. Then you finally get to the pack, which is regular foil. Pack is open and she pulls an Adrian Gonzalez??? Ouch, nothing against Gonzalez but we were expecting something to the extent of Babe Ruth. All right, I’m kind of getting suspicious about UD Black right now and it’s my turn to open. Alright, opening my pack that is about as tough to get into as Fort Knox…pack is open…WOW, what a pull…That is a sick card…A Cal Ripken Jr/Derek Jeter #’d to 15 AUTO. Well I guess I see why we got the Gonzalez now, this card is unreal. For some reason Jeter signed the sticker in Silver…never seen that before & Ripken’s sig is awesome as usual. Just when I was going to write this product off it ends up flipping the switch and makes me a believer. Now the only question is whether to sell the card and buy 3 more boxes or keep the card…This is an easy choice, the card is staying with me!
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| UD Black Revealed |
Tuesday, December 18
2007 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Card Review
Just got a couple boxes of Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects. I always love opening these just for the thrill of getting a 1/1 or low numbered refractor of an upcoming prospect. This box as many of you know is just like Bowman Chrome as well as Bowman in that you are buying the box hoping for the prospect cards you get inside will do well making it a worthwhile investment. As in years past these boxes usually get snatched up pretty quickly and hold a lot of value if you don’t open them. Not opening the boxes isn’t fun but if you can hold the temptation you have a product Beckett calls “Best Product to Flip in Three Years”. Well, I’m opening mine and going after the low numbered refractor or autographed card.
Bowman Draft is almost all guys who are prospects or were drafted this year. The hobby box I have contains 24 packs with 7 cards per pack in which 2 are Chromes.
Here’s how it went down. As always the box toppers are 2 A-Rod cards. I got HR’s #436 and #439…man these Arod cards are getting pretty close to whatever number HR I gave up to him last year (and yes for those wondering…I will sign that card when it comes out!)
Big hits for me, Beau Mills Auto – Kyle Lotzkar Redemption Auto
Phil Hughes X-Fractor, Jonathan Lucroy X Fractor, Joba and Carlos Gomez Blue #’d to 399 – Regular Refractors = Sean Doolittle, Maybin, Fruto & Michael Saunders.
I was able to finish the Green Base set and come pretty close to another. The chrome set of the greens was nearly complete as well. I need 26 of the regular white prospects to finish that set and I’m a little over halfway on the chrome prospects set.
If you see anything you like I’m trading it away on the message board above trying to complete a couple of the prospect sets
Overall thoughts, I have and will always like this brand. When you factor in the price (Under $5 a pack) you are probably getting the best bang for your buck in the hobby with this brand. Although I didn’t have the super big hit it’ll still be fun trying to trade and piece together this set.
Friday, December 14
The METAL Is Back - In Limited Supply
Just got word that the new WINTER hats have been posted and are up for sale at www.sidearmstore.com For this hat we brought the Metal back and produced these in small amounts so if your head is cold this would be a great addition. As always my entire portion of the sales go to charity. The hat is the 4th item that has been for sale under the store with all 3 of the t-shirts models sold out. A new t-shirt is in design right now and should be ready in a little bit...stay tune
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| Click Here To Look |
Thursday, December 13
Getting Drafted - Entry #2
All right so I talked a little about going to pro tryout camps as being one of the biggest things you can do. Now here’s some more stuff I went through trying to make it into pro ball. After High School I attended college and the rule there was if you attend a D1 school you had to wait until you were a junior or 21 years old to get drafted again. So during that time I really wanted to learn how to pitch, gain some speed on my fastball and become a better pitcher. It was nice for a couple years that I didn’t have to worry about being drafted. I spent my first year really just trying to become a better pitcher and to throw strikes. That summer I played in the Northwoods League and it was a different world. Half the summer was spent on a bus traveling from city to city and looking back it was the same thing as playing in the minors. That league really woke me up and prepared me for dealing with the struggles of minor league baseball and motivated me to work harder. I did decent in the league but realized I needed a new pitch in order to compete. Following that summer my college coach Steve Farley taught me the slider and the pitching world opened up to me. That next year I still walked a few guys but I was in the top 5 in strikeouts per 9 innings. It still was a struggle to get scouts to come out and watch and Coach Farley made pleas to teams in the Cape Cod League to give me a chance to let me play there that summer. Lucky enough one team took a chance on me, Wareham and I was ecstatic just to get the chance. They invited me to be a temp player for the first 2 weeks and then they would see if they wanted me from there since they lost a couple guys to Team USA. After two weeks I think I was 4-0 in relief and became the closer. They signed me to be a regular player after the first week and I didn’t really have to worry about going home early. The thing that was special about the Cape Cod league is that that is where scouts try to get all the top guys they like into one spot so they can watch the players all summer long. For me it was just what I needed, someone to watch me play. Just the intensity and excitement of being in the Cape League was enough for me to go out there everyday with a nervous rush of competitiveness that made me excel. I went from being a guy that had excellent stuff but was unseen and probably a later round 10+ guy to a Cape Cod All Star while giving up 1 run all summer in front of lots of scouts. I thought for sure that would be enough to catapult me to where I wanted to be drafted. But I knew there would be a lot of stuff that needed to be done in the meantime. The biggest thing that I never was aware of was that nearly half my Cape Cod League team had what they called advisors already. Basically an advisor was an agent but you couldn’t call him an agent due to NCAA rules and you didn’t pay the advisor until you were drafted and signed then you could start calling him your agent. I was shocked that these guys all had advisors and it was all starting to make sense to me. The player would go out and play and the advisor would call around to places and hype the player up. The advisor would call around to scouts telling him to come watch the player play on certain days always keeping the player fresh in the scout’s head. Ever wonder how a lot of the scouting reports make their rankings…Sure some of it is pure statistics and raw skill but a lot of it has to do with advisors calling the scouting place and giving him his list of top clients. People might say I’m nuts but one guy I knew didn’t have an agent and wasn’t listed on any scouting reports. Then he agrees to an advisor/agent that fall and the next week he’s number 15 on a list of top 100 prospects in the country after not doing anything during the fall and having a mediocre summer. When I started seeing this stuff happen it kind of made me mad but I knew I had to start playing the game also. I had an excellent Cape Cod League summer only giving up 1 run, striking out lots of guys, not many hits, low walks and throwing 90-94mph yet not one scouting report fit me into their top 50 Cape Prospects. Luckily I had my dad on my side who would always go out of his way to find the best route I should take. He eventually learned the best thing to do to find an advisor/agent was to contact the MLBPA and they would send out a list of certified advisors/agents. In order to be certified by the MLBPA you have to make a certain criteria and also have a player in the big leagues that the agent represents. If the agent is not on this list he’s probably just starting out, is very inexperienced or something is wrong. I would be worried if an advisor approaches you that is not MLBPA certified. The service the MLBPA does is free and if you feel like you have what it takes to be drafted high I would recommend going out there and getting this list from the PA and it’s free. The next thing I had to do was pick out an advisor and I will talk about this as well as other topics in my next update.
Sunday, December 9
Getting Drafted - 1st Entry
Well I don’t really know where to start with this. I guess this is how I felt when I first started my trail to make it into pro ball. I was kind of clueless. I remember back in high school the big thing was to try and impress a college to get a scholarship and this is pretty much the same process as that. Where to start, where to start…I would first say there are many scams out there that involve things called showcase camps where you show up to a college and they say they will film your tape and grade you and then send it out to 100 different colleges. It’s a great idea but a lot of the times schools charge upwards of hundreds of dollars for this service and most of the time they are sending the tapes to schools you never heard of! Don’t get me wrong this is a good idea for kids that have all the time in the world but I have something better and it’s free and will def be the best thing you can do. I found this out very early on (15 years old) and what it involved was going to tryout camps held by major league teams. In my case every year there were at least a handful of tryout camps nearby that were put on by the area scout for the ball club they worked for. Now most of you are thinking tryout camp am I really trying out to make the team that day…For the most part no unless you are older and are good enough to sign for no money then that’s a perk of the tryout camp. The point of the tryout camp is that you are going to get graded on the scale of a major leaguer by a pro scout. The scout is not going to lie to you and will give you a grade in which he thinks you might grow into. At this point you kind of find out if you have the skills to make it. Even if you are younger these camps are awesome to go, my first camp was when I was 15 and I think most have an age limit. These camps are ideal if you are in your Junior Year of High School or going into your senior year. If you fit the age limit you have to go and test your skills. Now here are the numerous reasons why these camps are important. The biggest reason is to obviously try to impress the scout so he will follow you during your next season in high school ball. Another important reason is to get a grade from the scout and be on file with him. Ask the scout for a business card after the showcase gets over that way you can write to colleges across the country and attach a copy of the scouts business card telling the college coach to contact the scout and he can give the coach a report about how your skills rank. Another reason and is pretty shocking as I will explain is that if the scout likes you he will send you a Q&A that you will return. Now here’s why that is shocking…if you do not fill out a Q&A with any team or do not talk to an MLB scout or fill anything out for an MLB scout you will not receive a draft number meaning you WILL NOT be drafted. One easy way to tell if a kid might get drafted is whether or not he has received a Q&A from a baseball team. If he hasn’t there is pretty much no chance he will be drafted. So right there this is one of the best secrets out there…go to every Pro Tryout camp you can find. Back in high school the internet was not as big as it is now and I had to read the paper to find ads for Pro Tryout camps…if these things are out of your way I still think this is the best thing you can do. One scout with the Reds told us back in the day that we were some smart kids to show up to his tryout camp because this is how he decides what high schools to watch next spring. He also said he doesn’t have too much off time to randomly search high schools for the next big thing, they pretty much have to come to him. To my surprise that spring I had scouts from various teams watching me play and it was pretty excited. I never thought I had what it took to beat out some of the other top high school kids around me but I knew how to go out of my way to prove I had what it takes and that was the difference in me being one of the only Minnesotan high school players taken that year. Please if you think you have what it takes or know someone that might have the skills to get drafted you have to tell them to attend as many Pro Tryout camps as possible…they are free and if nothing else you are evaluated by a professional scout. Also try to avoid colleges or companies that charge for a recruitment service unless you understand what you are paying for and there have been past results. In my next update I will talk about more stories along the way in getting drafted and advisors.
Thursday, December 6
How To Get Drafted - That's A Catchy Headline
Well for the past week my parents have been down to FL visiting us and Stephanee's parents are coming in next. I wanted to get a lot of updates in but have found myself worn out and not being able to get on here. Hang in there with me once again.
For the past couple years there have been many things on this site that I have helped educate you guys on various subjects in baseball. Right now I'm hoping to do something that I have wanted to do for the longest time, talk about getting drafted. I usually get this question a lot from younger players and parents and there is no right or wrong answer. For the most part getting drafted takes having the skills and being lucky but that's not the case all the time. During the year of 2002 I was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round. The entire time leading up to draft day was insane and had me worrying every night before I went to bed about if I was good enough to get drafted high and to make it in pro-ball. I basically came to the conclusion that it was stupid to worry about something like that and to go out there and compete, give it my best and let the ball fly. I also thought it would be cool to chronicle that year in hopes of one day telling my story to others in the form of a book or website. So with that said I think it's time to start the how to get drafted story here on the site. During 2002 I kept nearly every article and Q&A that scouts sent me, I also tried to mark down every phone call I got from a scout and what the meeting was about. It's pretty interesting stuff and I was contacted by nearly everyteam. I will post most of my Q&A's from 28 of the 30 teams that contacted me so you can see what they send to players and I will try to just tell a story with that stuff. Keep checking back this might take awhile!
Sunday, November 25
TOPPS CERTIFIED AUTO CARDS
It's a done deal, two weeks ago I finished my first Certified Autograph signing for Topps and I'm here to fill you in on all the details. This was actually a pretty cool process and it all started by signing a contract with Topps. If some of you have been active readers on here you remember back in July when I said I signed a contract with Topps to sign 500 cards for $5 a card. Well I was really excited just to get a certified card that will be in packs of cards. So two weeks ago I attended a MLBPA retail summit in Denver and was ready to start signing my cards. This is when I found out that Topps upped the # of cards I would sign to 1000...not a problem with me! When any player signs for Topps it needs to be watched by a Topps official or someone that can certify that I actually signed the cards and no one else like my wife or brother jumped in and signed a couple (this has happened in the past with players). In my case the person in charge of watching me was Evan Kaplan, director of trading cards for the MLBPA. Evan had to sign an affidavit swearing that he would watch me sign every card. Most of the times the watcher gets paid for taking time out to watch every card get signed...I think it's around $75 but I'm not sure so don't quote me. It's a really boring job, could you imagine sitting around for 3-4 hours watching a guy sign 1000 cards.... not fun. To start Evan opened up a sealed manila envelope that contains instructions on signing, 3 Blue Staedtler pens and 1025 stickers. I think the extra 25 were there for accidents or screwups...I had a couple and just peeled off the sticker and threw it away. I also got bored with one and put one on my 2007 Topps card making it look like the real deal...this was something I always wanted to do. Well from there it was signing, signing and more signing. It took me around 3 hours to sign 1000 cards and for those of you wondering I did use a different autograph so I could get them done quicker...just kidding, I will never change my auto contrary to some of the veteran graphers out there saying I would change once I got to the bigs. Well signing 1000 cards was pretty boring but I had to make it a little fun and hopefully add some spice to finding one of my cards in future Topps products. On every so many pages (25 stickers per page) I would put different inscriptions on them. For the first 5 auto I wrote, 1st certified autograph ever with the date and the next one I wrote 2nd cert auto ever with the date. After I did that I wrote 10 that contained www.patneshek.com. You guys get the point. Here's all the inscriptions I wrote. 10 that said www.neshek.com, 10 that said sidearmer, 10 that had 7/7/06 MLB Debut and #72, 10 that had 2007 MLB ALL STAR FINAL VOTE, 10 that said Go Twins, 10 that said STRK 3 and finished up the day signing my last cert entitled "my last cert auto!" Hopefully you guys will get a kick out of finding these and seeing them pop up next year in different Topps products. Topps does not tell me where they will appear so be prepared to find these next year! Be sure to check out all the pics here.
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| My Topps Signing Session |
Friday, November 23
Game Used Auction #1 & More
Stephanee and I made it down to FL with the dogs and have set up the house here and are finally getting time to relax. We drove down and it took 26 hours of driving. Right now I am going at the weights, running and everything else really hard. I'm also taking time each day to jump into the waves with my Boogie Board and getting my butt kicked. I set up the PO BOX down here and have already got my first 5 letters. As always if you need anything signed such as cards or baseballs be sure to send them here. Just remember to put a SASE in the letter, for those of you that don't know what that is it's a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope. That way I can seal up the envelope and throw it in the mail. Also I only return envelopes with SASE's in them so basically if you want a response, throw in a letter with a stamp on it.
As promised I am going to be on here a lot more and on the message board as well. This time of the year is when I have my game used auctions and tonight is item number 1 of 2007. So here we go with item #1. THIS IS A THREE DAY AUCTION AND WILL END MONDAY NIGHT AT 10pm. This item is from 2007 Spring Training. It's my Spring Training Game Used Minnesota Twins Short Sleeve Jacket. The jacket was worn by me in 2007 Spring Training and has my number written on the tag as seen in the picture. I also have a long sleeve jacket and that will be item #2 going up once this is over.
The jacket can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 3 days and will end Monday night at 10pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and then to the Game Used Auctions and Contest Section and make an offer. I'm not really looking for anything special. You all know I love signed baseball cards, baseballs, odd ball items, music autographs, baseball card sets, tough sets, SP's, cards of me...bascially if it's something cool I'm probably going to like it so make an offer if you want this item. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want and update them as time runs out, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page and the message board for more game used items!
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| Click Here & Go To The Boards To Bid |
Thursday, November 15
Heading To FL
I will be heading to Florida today and will be changing PO Boxes so please do not send anymore mail to MN. I will post the PO box when I get it, I'm thinking I will have it up on Monday of next week. Also this site should get plenty of updates starting around next week at this time. Look for game used auctions and lots of baseball card trading. I think the 1st set I will be going after is the Allen & Ginter mini set. Thanks for being patient, the wait is almost over!
Sunday, October 28
Update
I just wanted to apologize to everyone waiting for me to get some auctions up on the message board. I've been busy doing things around the house here, painting, cleaning and getting ready to head to Florida for the winter so the auctions haven't happened yet. Everything is sitting here waiting to be put up, be patient with me and I will get them up most likely in a week or two from now or when I'm in FL I don't know yet. Also I'm going to be getting a PO box in Florida so it will make it easier for me to do mail and sign things for everyone. If you need something signed right away or in the next week send it up here and I will sign it up after that I'm going to get a new addy for down there and will do that when we get to FL.
Sunday, October 14
Upcoming Autograph Signing In SOUTH DAKOTA
This is for everyone in the past that has asked me to come to South Dakota to make an autograph apperance...I'm coming. Here are the details.
Next Saturday - 10/20/07 - 11am - 12:45PM - Place: Beresford, SD (close to Sioux Falls) - Address - One Sioux Plaza - Beresford, SD 57004
Autographs are Free, Multiples Autos are Free, so bring lots of stuff, Pictures are Free
There will be 8X10's for purchase and proceeds will be going to charity
For more details and better directions Click Here
Thursday, October 4
Starting Off The Off-Season With Ginter
Update - Wow 12 hours later and through the power of you guys and trading I only need 5 more cards to complete 4 of my ginter sets ...the power of the internet!
Earlier This Morning Update - I've decided my first set I'll be working on this offseason is Allen & Ginter. I think it will be best to go one set at a time and 1 set inside of a set at a time that way it makes it easier for everyone to trade. So far with Ginter I've completed 1 set already and am close on three others. Check out the message board baseball card section if you would like to trade.
Wednesday, October 3
New T-Shirts
The new 3rd Edition t-shirts are in! This is the 3rd t-shirt that I have made (the other 2 models have all sold). I think the quantity is once again limited to around 100 shirts. Be sure to click on the link or check them out here www.sidearmstore.com I'm donating my entire share to charity so it's going to a good cause.
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| Click To Check Out |
Monday, October 1
End Of Season
I just changed the address for the off-season so if you need anything signed send it to the addy above. If you send to the Metrodome I will get the item around April...that's what happened last year to mail that was sent late. What will I be doing during the off-season? Lots of things, relaxing, catching up on things I've wanted to do and didn't have the time, lifting weights and getting ready for next year. Speaking of getting ready for next year for the past week I have been rehabbing my shoulder and making it stronger. It's been going great and I'm no longer worried that something is wrong with it. What happened was that my shoulder got really weak and kind of just ran out of gas. After getting a bunch of rest and doing a lot of shoulder work it's starting to feel back to normal. I'm pretty excited and have learned how to really strengthen my shoulder for the grind of a long season. There should be a bunch more updates coming up, expect to see me on the message board soon trading cards and building sets and also there will be tons of auctions...I've been saving up all season.
Thursday, September 13
Baseball Cards On ESPN
Remember the baseball cards we opened up in Cleveland...If not scroll down and read the article written on August 30th. Well I just found out it is going to be aired on ESPN. Circle the date or TIVO the show it should at the very least be funny to see a bunch of Major Leaguers acting like kids opening cards. The Air Date is Wednesday September 19th at 7PM on ESPN. I'm very interested to see how they went about dissecting 3 hours of footage into a short show.
Thursday, September 13
2007 Fleer Ultra SE
Another new product came to me in the mail the other day and it was ripped open minutes later. The product in review is 2007 Fleer Ultra SE (I’m assuming the SE stands for special edition). The box is small in size and only contains 5 packs. It also says inside is 4 memorabilia cards and an autographed card…nice. Basically every pack has a nice hit in it. This has been my first pack of Fleer opened since last year’s Greats of the game so I didn’t know what to expect. Right off the bat I’m totally mislead. The outside of the pack says 5 cards per pack but once I ripped this pack opened there were 15 cards inside and an insert relic jersey of Anibel Sanchez. Very interesting so I move onto the next pack. Inside is another huge lot of 15 cards with a Sean Henn auto. As of right now I really like these cards, I’ve always been a sucker for jersey relics or autographs and this product is teasing me. Pack three contains another 15 cards and a Jim Thome Phillies jersey swatch. Two more packs to go…Bam, Printing plate of Morgan Ensberg. I have also noticed that one card in each pack looks like it has gold plating around the border and not the regular silver that most cards have…(aha, just checked the latest Beckett and there is a 1 card per pack that is the gold border.) Last pack contains 15 cards with a Cano jersey swatch. I must admit when I first wanted to check this set out I didn’t think much of it. After opening these up I must admit these have probably been one of the funnest boxes to break in the past year. The reason, you know you are going to get something cool inside and for a price that will not kill your wallet. I would think these would be an awesome present to give to a young baseball fan as a birthday present. Even one pack of these would be cool for a kid to open up. The only flaws I can really see is that there are not too many high priced cards you can pull out of this box. Carlos Silva struck gold when we did the box breaking in Cleveland with this box and hit a Cal Ripken auto and looking at the Beckett that is one of the better pulls. Overall though this box was a real hit with the people I opened it with (my wife Stephanee and brother Paul) because they are not serious collectors and it was fun for them to get a jersey or autographed card with each pack they opened. I think I would definitely take a chance on these again if I could find a hobby shop that had them. On eBay these are going for around $50-$70 a box or $10 - $15 per pack.
Box #2 Hits
Kerry Wood Dual Materials #73 of 75
Derek Jeter – Feel the game jersey
Zack Greinke auto #199
Carlos Beltran – Hitting Machine Jersey Swatch
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| 2007 Fleer Ultra SE |
Tuesday, September 11
September 11th, 2007
We are on the road still this time in Kansas City. I have a lot of stuff to talk about since in the last week there hasn't been an update. First off I must get this out of the way to help through the mailers out there. This upcoming home stand is our last of the season so if you need anything signed I would try to send it in the next couple days. I would say that Friday is probably going to be the deadline. If you send after no big deal. I'm sure it will still be placed in our mailbox and we can pick it up when we come back from our last road trip of the season. After that though any mail sent gets stored in the Metrodome until spring training starts...just thought I would give a heads up. I will still be doing the PO box thing for the winter but will have to get that sorted out and find out where we are going to be. Stephanee and I just bought a small house near Melbourne, FL so we will be commuting a lot in the off-season between MN and FL. I will keep everyone updated so we can keep the success rates near 100%.
The other day we had our Rookie Dress up and it was a blast once again. Contrary to a couple writers out there I am NOT a rookie this year, therefore did not have to humiliate myself like I did last year! This year though I think they went a little easier on the guys. The theme was more around food than last year's theme of showing skin. Off the top of my head we had a grape, an apple, a banana, an egg, bacon, an outlet, a socket, a horse, a snake charmer, a Reno 911 cop, a convict and 2 babies. Guerrier and Rincon took the photos so hopefully I can get them to transfer me them for the site. Instead of signing autographs at the Metrodome for fans and going to a Cleveland Indians game we made the rookies walk halfway around US Cellular field, travel on plane to Kansas City and go out on the town for a meal with the costumes on. I think we definitely had it worse last year but anytime you are in the costumes it's not fun. Everyone had a great time and I'm sure all the costumes have been thrown in the trash.
One quick last note on PM's. I have not got to them in about 2 weeks and I'm trying my best but cannot guarantee when I will. I promise to get to them sometime but it might take me a little bit with all the end of the season stuff going on.
Saturday, September 1
2007 Upper Deck Goudey Baseball Card Review
Today I got a box of 2007 Upper Deck Goudey that I will be opening and reviewing. I don’t really know much about the cards other than the fact that they are suppose to resemble the 1933 Original Goudey set. In the past couple years there has been a surge of brands that resemble older brands such as this year’s Topps Heritage (1958 Topps), Turkey Red (original TR), Allen & Ginter and a couple other brands. These look pretty neat to open so I’m going to break it open.
2007 Upper Deck Goudey Specs, there are 24 packs that contain 8 cards per pack. There is one autograph and game used card on average per hobby box. 288 cards in the set with a lot of variation and #’d cards and the chance to pull an original card from the 1933 set. How cool would it be to pull an original Nap Lajoie #106 card! Here we go with the first pack. Box opened and notice a top loader, inside is a card of basketball player Kevin Durant…wish that thing had an autograph on it! All right the first pack is opened and my first impression is that these cards are different than normal cards. I get 8 cards; they are all about half the size of a normal card. I also got two Pujols and Tulowitski cards. After looking closer 4 of the cards have greenish colored backs and the other are red, this is one of the variations I talked about above. Pack two is opened and I get the same results, 4 greenish backs with 4 red colored backs. Skipping ahead I am about halfway through the box and it’s been the same greenish and red cards. I did get a Kei Igawa and Nolan Ryan card that had cartoon bodies on them and the insert set is called “heads up” named after the 1938 Goudey set that was called the same name “heads up”. I’m not sure if this is part of the base set or not because they have numbering in the high 200’s. Also I just checked the Short Print List and it contains most guys that are superstars right now or retired players. After completing the box my only complaint is the red and green backs seemed to really create the doubles. I would get the same guy with just different color on the back.
How I fared
Autograph Card – Kevin Kouzmanoff
Game Used Jersey Card – Richie Sexson
Green Back set complete – 82/200
Green Back Short Prints – 6
Red Back Set Complete – 95/200
Goudey Head’s Up – 3 – With Writing - 3
Here are my final thoughts on 2007 Upper Deck Goudey. I’m a fan and have to say I would honestly considered trying to make this a set I would try to complete. Most Upper Deck brands contain excellent photography, tough SP’s and a wide number of autographs. This set is different and to me really resembles something Topps would produce. Usually when I think of Upper Deck I think of top-notch photography with lots of autographs from young stars. This set is different in that they are taking an older brand and adding a fun feel trying to recreate the excitement that you would get as if you were opening original packs of Goudey from the 30’s. I’m a fan and if you want a unique twist on an old card design you should give these cards a look.
Thursday, August 30
The Box Breaking
Alrighty, we are heading out of Cleveland right now and our plane is being weighed down by all the cards everyone got from going to the baseball card breaking on Tuesday. I don’t even know where to start with this story. This box breaking was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I can’t explain how sweet this was so I am including a bunch of pictures of the damage. On Monday night I got to preview the event and opened up three boxes of Allen & Ginter. To my surprise I pulled 3…yes, 3 rip cards. I thought it was a fluke but the other two people opening the packs with me (Evan from the MLBPA and TwinsBB17) didn’t get one. We’ll I thought Monday night was a blast but didn’t even know what was to come. Early Tuesday I woke up and headed down to the breaking at 10am. I asked anyone on the team to show up and we had a bunch of guys in attendance. Off the top of my head here’s who was there, Guerrier, Cali, Nathan, Rincon, Silva, Garza, Santana, Cuddyer, Mauer, Jones, Watkins, Buscher, Twinsbb17, Gardy and me. A couple more guys would’ve showed up but they had a fantasy football draft at the same time…c’mon reschedule…nobody cared though it just meant more packs for us. 10am came quick and I was surprised that everyone showed…baseball players are not morning people. This event was hosted by the MLBPA and is being made into a short show to be played on ESPN around September 16th. The purpose of the event was to show kids that baseball players get a kick out of opening up packs of cards and to show how we acted like we were 10 again opening the cards. Basically I spent the last week organizing the event trying to get my teammates to go trying to explain to them how baseball cards have changed. Most guys on the team haven’t opened a pack of cards in over 15 years. We started the day sampling cards in this order. Topps Series One, Upper Deck Series 2, Topps Heritage, Bowman Chrome, Allen & Ginter, Fleer Ultra SE, Upper Deck SPX, Topps Chrome, Co-Signers, Artifacts and finally finishing with a bang…Triple Threads. Each guy was given a box or two depending on how quick they opened the cards. At first guys were asking questions about Topps Series One, “I got a Mantle, how much is it worth” and “what is this hobby masters card?” It was really informative for all the guys and they started to really understand what things like short prints are and the different types of variations out there. Quickly after moving from brand to brand and the price points started going up guys were pulling better hits and the room started getting livelier. Lots of the times there were pulls of cards for guys that were in the room and that player would get his card flung at him. Other times we would get a card of a guy we use to play with and laugh and it would make us reminisce about him. Then you could start seeing the anger when guys would pull something good. One guy got a Cal Ripken Jr. signed # to 10 while another guy next to him got a AAA prospect that just got sent down and was on his way out of baseball. The day kept going and we decided to play a game of Pack Wars. Basically you call out a stat before you open a pack and try to find whoever has that call out on the back of one of their cards. For example one pack war game involved most stolen bases in one season…somebody won with Ichiro. Usually you play pack wars for packs of cards…not today, there were 5 PS3’s that were up for grabs. Sadly to say I didn’t win one game and will have to wait for another time to get a PS3. I’m not going to explain anymore of the details as you can truly go nuts just from the pics, well one stat…45 boxes of Ginter were opened! Best hits of the day…there were a couple. Gardenhire had the best one if I was judging. A 1/1 Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Bush card that contained their inauguration seat pieces on the card…unreal, try asking Gardy for a trade on that one, he said that one is staying with him. One guy pulled a Buzz Aldrin signature out of Co-signers. Lots of cool stuff came out of Allen Ginter like a J-Mac auto, I pulled a Mark Zupan auto and thought that was pretty cool. Another cool pull on the day was a triple signed Mattingly, A-rod, C Wang signed card. Who knows what some of the guys got because a few guys didn’t really understand what things were worth and never really got too excited. One guy totally hosed someone with a trade and that’s all I’m going to say…You can really take advantage of someone who doesn’t know baseball cards nowadays…not me, I tried to help everyone and show them what made each card unique. My best on the day, a JFK sweater card that said “Ask Not”. I also had a Griffey Jr. Auto in one pack. My fun was running around trying to finish my Ginter sets. I tried to get a lot of the mini cards especially the flags, roman emperors and snakes set. This is surely going to take me into the off-season trying to sort out what I have and what I need. Just when I think I’m finally caught up and ready to trade with everyone on here more card come in. Sadly I found out at the field today that a couple guys took out their favorite cards in their break and left the rest of the cards in the hotel room because they didn’t want to carry them home. Once I found this out I wanted to run back into the hotel and clean out their room. I wish I could’ve went through some of those cards to make sure there wasn’t a weird card that went unnoticed like a rip card or a low-numbered card that was hard to see. It just hurts thinking that a Ginter Bazooka card #’d to 25 got thrown into the trash!
The main point of the event was that everyone had fun and went home happy. I think everyone learned a lot about the card industry and hopefully this will make us players better at understanding cards and collectors! Be sure to keep an eye out for the show on ESPN around the 16th and also check out the pics below!
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Sunday, August 26
August 26th, 2007
Wow, what a cool day at the park. We show up and find out it was BJ Surhoff's Oriole HOF induction day at the park...pretty cool. Then we find out Cal Ripken Jr. was there helping the induction ceremonies...even cooler. Then we get a drenching thunderstorm...not cool, but I guess it couldn't have come at a better time because we then tried to meet Cal during the rain delay. A couple of guys and I waited around an hour for him to walk by but it didn't happen. Then the game was about to start so we walked away when an usher asked us to leave the balls with him and he would get them signed for us. Sure enough once the game was over I had a couple Ripken signed baseballs in my locker! The win, the Ripken Auto's...it was a great day at the park. If that wasn't enough our team box breaking was rescheduled for Cleveland so in a couple days I will hopefully have more luck opening packs with my teammates. I will be sure to have updates on all the who's, what's and things when they happen. A couple of you have been asking what music I have been listening to this season. To tell you the truth not much mostly a lot of older stuff. I have lately just got into a couple new things and have been listening to a lot of Type O Negative stuff especially their latest release. Big fan of the new CD and as one of the Bob's from the movie Office Space would say, "I celebrate their entire collection".
Saturday, August 25
August 25th, 2007
We are in Baltimore on the first leg of another road trip. Baltimore is probably the easiest place for me to come hang out and walk over to the park and sign autographs. The collectors here all kick butt and understand the hobby and it's always a treat to come here and see them and how they have been doing.
There really hasn't been anything new so that's why I haven't had an update. I thought it would be better to read the message board entries this past week than make up an entry babbling on! It sure beats reading articles about me saying, "Hitters have once again figured me out". I've sat here a long time shaking my head with who writes this. It seems like every time I give up a run something like that gets put out there. It's kind of like the lefty stuff saying I can't get out a lefty, I don't know where it starts but it's funny every time I give up a lefty hit that's what gets published yet I'm having a better year against lefties stat wise. It always amazes me at how much emphasis people place on the media and that's why I think blogs are going to be the place where people start turning for in depth analysis because you can only find (most of the time) sensationalism in print media or one sided views that have players like me shaking their heads unable to defend themselves. For better analysis I recommend turning to blogs like aarongleeman.com, sethspeaks.net, twinkietown, stickballguy, Lavelle's and Joe C's blog or just go to mngameday.com and they have all these blogs in one spot. These guys back up their comments with reasons that make sense and not ridiculous things like (they are figuring him out or lefties own him). For example if Aaron Gleeman would write something with the headline “The League is Figuring Him Out” I know he would have concrete stats detailing things like BA during second time facing player, 3rd time, 6th time, 100th time. I know he would then go out and do some crazy statistic adding up the entire leagues 2nd, 3rd, 4th at bats against me and lay it out and I would read it and go man, this guy is right. Tired...we all are, tired where it is affecting me...heck no, that's about the lamest excuse there is. The skinny, I made a couple bad pitches and got beat, balls got hit and dropped in and runs came in. My slider sucked and hung, when you hang the slider against MLB hitters you get beat. There's the reason and something that you didn't read about because it didn't have the pizzazz and was boring to actually comprehend.
Thursday, August 16
2007 Allen & Ginter
I got the urge today to go on a hunt for some of the Allen & Ginter blaster boxes at Target and Wal-Mart and finally struck gold! The first Target didn't have any but the 2nd Target and Wal-Mart I went to yielded me 5 boxes along with 40 retail packs. I didn't want to get the open retail packs knowing they might have been packed searched but I had to take my chances with how rare finding these things are up here. I just got done opening everything up and man it was WELL worth the trouble of finding these. I opened up all the open retail packs and only got one jersey relic of Marcus Giles...I'm kind of mad I bought those now but at least I know. The blaster boxes were a different story...AWESOME. Out of the five boxes I struck it pretty good in three of the boxes. One contained a Curt Schilling Jersey (odds 1 in 48 packs), the 2nd contained a David Ortiz bat (1 in 766 packs) and the 3rd was unreal...A signed RED INK #7 of 10 of Minnesota Native and Lumberjack World Champion Jaime Fischer! I don't even know the odds of this thing because it is so rare being red ink and #'d to 10. Below is a picture of this from another eBay auction of this card. Even with all that I still nearly got my entire set completed...I only need 12 Sp's and got a bunch of other weird mini's including one of the Roman Emperor's...don't know what these are but they must be tough to get. I'm going to wait until the Baltimore box breaking to upload my need list and then we can get started on trading and trying to complete some of the tougher sets from this thing. Man I can't believe these things are just sitting in Target and Wal-Mart stores all over the country, it's weird to think about!
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Thursday, August 16
August 16th, 2007
I’m on the plane right now heading back to Minnesota. We finally get an off day after playing for a long time without one. It’ll be a nice time to kick back and relax. Speaking of flying some of you are probably wondering how we travel. Nearly all travel up here is done through a charter plane meaning the team rents out a plan and it leaves whenever we show up. We usually just drive our bus right up to the plane and go through a security stand that is waiting for us. The whole process takes about 10 minutes to do the entire team. We usually have two buses leave from the stadium one earlier than the others for press and the early bird players that want to get out of the stadium and on the plane. Once there we just need to wait for the equipment van to show up and load and we are off and flying. It sure beats going through an airport and all that security…it would be a mess having to do that every road trip. The only two cities we have to go through the normal airport is Texas and Toronto and it really takes a little bit longer to do the process.
In Seattle Ramon Ortiz asked me if I wanted to meet up with him to eat dinner at Benihana’s the first night we were in town. I quickly accepted remembering the last time we ate there in Detroit. I think there were about 10 of us and it was quite the sight! Carlos Silva bet me he could eat more than anyone else including me and I was up for the challenge. Word of advice, don’t ever bet Silva when it comes to eating…oh my. Silva and Ortiz let everyone pick what they wanted to eat because they were buying and we spared no mercy. In all my life I have never seen a mountain of rice as big as what was on that Benihana stove. I hung in there long enough but couldn’t make it to the steak after devouring everything thrown at me including shrimp, chicken, scallops, three bowls of rice, a salad, soup and probably a bunch more stuff that I forgot about after I went into a coma from eating so much food. Silva kicked everyone’s butt eating a record 5 orders of rice and everything I ate including the steak and other’s leftovers…I now crown him the eating champ of the team. Anyways Ortiz and I tried to do the same Detroit feast again in Seattle but we didn’t make it too far…2 rice bowls and the normal, shrimp, steak and chicken…I barely made it through!
Speaking of baseball cards listen to what we get to do next week in Baltimore. The MLBPA is sponsoring a box breaking for anyone on our team that wants to go. From what I hear Topps and Upper Deck have donated tons of stuff for us to open…basically a box of every brand for each guy that comes including the insane Topps Triple Threads (nearly a case per guy). I’m pretty excited and will def be bringing my camera to see what kind of crazy stuff I can find. The whole event is going to be broadcast either on MLB.com or ESPN sometime in September so I’ll have to let everyone know more once I find out. I’m guessing about 15-20 guys on the team will participate in it.Friday, August 10
August 10th, 2007
We are heading out of Kansas City right now and I am still sweating from the game. Man, that was probably the hottest game I have played in the last couple years if not the hottest ever! Just sitting in the bullpen I thought I was on a frying pan waiting to be cooked…I actually felt better running out to the mound and pitching than baking for 8 innings in the heat…glad that trip is over, hopefully California will treat us a lot better.
The more and more I play in KC the better I like it. I think that KC might be my 2nd favorite place to play now right behind the Metrodome (I love the dome and it will never change so quit shaking your head in disbelief). I think the neatest thing about KC is that it is so family friendly. They have parking that caters to tailgating. Outside there are mini baseball fields for the youngsters and other things such as a speed pitch and monuments. It just has that relaxing baseball feel where the only thing on people’s minds is baseball. I think the Royals definitely do that the best in the big leagues. I couldn’t imagine that place sold out, it would be a tough place to play.
As I mentioned before we are heading to California right now. My wife and parents made the trip to KC and have been with me for the past three days. I should have a little bit more time now to get on the message board and try to finally complete the 2007 Topps Heritage set. I only need 4 more cards and then I can move onto another set.
Wednesday, August 1
2007 Topps Allen & Ginter
Well my favorite product of the year came in yesterday and this is one box of baseball cards that I’ve been eyeing all year and couldn’t wait to break open. This was my favorite card set from last year and really had a unique flavor about it that made me want to collect. I don’t know what it is about these things, the randomness of who you might get, the mini cards, the odd variations or the challenge of putting together the set…The 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter set has it all and is something that everyone will get into.
You have to trust me on this one, go out and buy this brand…If you haven’t bought a box of cards in 15 years or want to get your son/daughter into card collecting this set is the one that will easily get your collecting juices back in you and let you see where the hobby now stands. I’m telling you to do this now though, last year at this time the product made it’s debut and quickly sold out everywhere. The cool thing was that you could buy the retail boxes at Wal-Mart and Target for $19.99. Of course these are retail boxes (tougher to get inserts) but what is nuts is that last year the same $19.99 boxes were selling for upwards of $50 on eBay about a month after it’s release. This year they are already going for $30 on eBay. If nothing else buy them and resell…that is if you ever see them. I’m guessing these will sell out quick at all Targets and Wal-Marts but who knows. I’ll tell you something though, this is the one set of the year that I have been anticipating for the last 12 months and will probably be opening as much of these as I can find.
So what the heck makes this brand of cards good? Well for me it’s just plain fun to open up a pack of cards and pull out a card of Ken Jennings (jeopardy champ) or Jack The Ripper and go “why is this in a baseball card set”. There are a ton of non-baseball player cards in here, lots of world leaders such as Gandhi, weird things like the Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument and even one for Groundhogs day? If that isn’t enough they also packed in mini cards of each regular card and also a set of Flags from around the world…Nothing like getting a flag of China to help build the set…I was pumped. Top this off with the chance to get the 2007 Westminister Dog Champion’s Paw Print autograph (Might be a tough find, I heard the dog was a tough signer and only did 50 autographs) or a piece of George Washington’s hair ( No Lie, Click Here) and this makes for a fun set that reinvents collecting for the new age of baseball cards.
I was lucky enough to open 2 boxes of these today and here is how I did.
Quickly
Each box contains 24 packs, with 8 cards…6 base cards and one mini insert and one Dick Perez Sketch card. Each box you will get 2 sweet inserts such as autographs, game used bat cards, game used jersey cards or random other things like George Washington’s hair if you are very lucky. Also when opening the box (which is designed like a cigar box) there is a box topper that could contain some valuable stuff. Here’s how I did
Box 1 Box Topper: Westminister Dog Champion N43 card (No autograph, darn)
Box 2 Box Topper: Albert Pujols N43
Total Base Cards in 2 boxes - 286
Base Set 193/350 - 55% Completed
Doubles 93 - 33% Doubles
Dick Perez Inserts – Finished one set of all 30 and had 14 doubles
Mini’s
28 Regular – 11 A & G backs, 3 Black Bordered – 1 Black Bordered no #
4 Flags – 1 Bazooka #’d to 25 (Swisher)
Inserts
M Cabrera Bat – Zito Jersey, Harden Jersey, Beltran Bat
No Auto’s…I got hosed again!
2 A-rod HR History Cards
Overall, probably my favorite set of the year. I did get a TON of doubles for some reason but that will be good for trading.
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| Some Of The Unique Cards I Opened Up |
Tuesday, July 31
July 31st, 2007
I just finished all of my mail that came in over the past week and it was the biggest mail day I have ever received. I don't know what was up but I think I had over 200 pieces of mail. Highlights from the mail, I got a bunch of sweet trades, cert cards, in-person cards...Off the top of my head I received cards of Pat Lafontaine, Gaylord Perry, Hoyt Wilhelm, Donnie Moore, Bob Feller and many many more cool things that I'm forgetting about plus lots of 07 Topps Heritage cards to help complete my set. Lowlights of the mail, still a couple with no SASE, 1 with money telling me to run to the PO and ship the package back. For some reason I received 6 letters with cards of my teammates asking me to get them signed, umm return to sender. Got a couple that included plain baseball cards from 1990...gee nothing like that 1990 Donruss common cards in the mail. One guy sent me 2 1991 Topps cards and asked me to return something fair...I returned 2 1991 Topps cards that I have a million of. I also received a bunch of request without SASE's again asking for teammates on signed baseballs, yuck. Overall very easy to do the mail this week especially with the quantity of letters. I saw a lot of "please sign my card" and that's it letters and loved those a lot, thanks guys.
Sunday, July 29
July 29th, 2007
We are heading out of Cleveland right now (6pm Sunday) and ready to kick off a nice 8 game home series. Pulling out those last two wins really helped everyone confidence these last two days. I tell you there is nothing worse than losing a bunch of games in a row especially when we are in a playoff race. It seemed like nothing was going right for us and doing bad was contagious. I always hate how baseball can break you down with one bad outing and you have to find a way to mentally and physically adjust to the stress it causes. It’s weird how baseball is like that. This game will in one way or another force you to become humble.
Cleveland once again was great. This time instead of seeing a bunch of empty seats The Jake was PACKED. It was such a different type of atmosphere playing in front of a sold out crowd compared to last year when the upper deck didn’t have anybody sitting up there.
Graphers and collectors were once again out in full force at the hotel and before the game. I always find it very easy to sign here because the hotel makes it very easy for us to feel comfortable and safe and I think that is why there are always a lot of people graphing us when we come here. At the hotel they set up a nice barricade for people to stand behind and on today they even had a table for us to sign on if we wanted to stop and sign things up.
For the last week I have been trying to collect the 2007 Topps Heritage Baseball card set and a couple people in Cleveland really helped me darn near finish the thing. If you collect Heritage please check out my message board and the baseball card forum and let me know if you have anything you can trade to help me out. I think I only need 20 more cards. Thanks to everyone who has traded with me so far, I think it’s a pretty neat way to put together a tough set.
Sunday, July 29
Tyner Hits 1st HR - I Snatch It
Had to throw this in especially with the love he gave the site, check it out Here
The ball landed in the Twins dugout and was retrieved by Pat Neshek, who immediately had it authenticated for Tyner.
“My biggest fear was that Neshek would have it up on his website before the game was over,'’ Tyner said.
Saturday, July 28
Refractor Madness!
Last week at this time I noticed something I wanted really bad on eBay. I wanted it so bad I made it a lifetime goal. The goal was to collect my first Topps baseball card...and the cool thing was they are all numbered to 25. Over the past year I've traded a fan in Detroit for one with a signed baseball of somebody he wanted, maneuvered a sweet trade with a seller on eBay for a bat I had in my collection and also bought the other 4 off of eBay for $75, $80, $80 and $85. So the other when I checked eBay to see what all the news was about I noticed another one of my favorite cards was up for bid. I tried hard to contact the seller but the damage was already done...$205 on the first day. I still thought I would have a shot but I vowed to never get in a price war because anything over $125 too me is just too much. So when the dust settled the bad boy went for an unreal $390...yes about $300 more than I was willing to pay. Who knows if my mission to get all 25 is over or if I will someday be able to find a way to trade something reasonable for it? As of right now I am going to sell off the other 6 of these that I have and sell out for top dollar...Just kidding those are staying with me for a long time.Here's the auction for those interested.
Also I just wanted to pass along a note about the T-shirts. Since the t-shirts have begun we have raised $500 (my portion of the sales) for Pets In Distress. I mailed the check the other day and hopefully we will be able to help out a bunch of dogs that need homes. A new t-shirt design is on the way and I think we will be limiting the print so be sure to check out sidearmstore.com when the shirts come out! Thank you to everyone that wears the shirts, I see them a bunch and hand out a lot of free baseballs when I see one!
Friday, July 27
2007 Topps Chrome
I just got a couple boxes of 2007 Topps Chrome which just hit stores not to long ago and thought I’d share my box break with everyone on here. Topps Chrome has always been a pretty cool product to open in the past so we will see if it maintains that rating. These cards are very similar to Topps series one except they are very glossy hence the word Chrome…they have a very metallic look to them and are a little bit more high end then the regular Topps card. The big perk of this box is that it contains two autographed cards per box and the chance to get printing plates that are seeded 1 in 36 packs…So with my 2 boxes and 48 packs I have the odds in my favor. Hobby boxes are going for roughly $50 on ebay without shipping so it breaks down to about a little over $2 a pack…not a bad price for cards these days and a pretty fun product to open up. There are also a lot of other tough pulls inside the box like low numbered refractors and even signed cut outs of Mickey Mantle’s Autograph although the odds are like 1 a million…Let’s get to it and see how I did.
Time to Opened box #1, immediately find 2 box toppers (a box topper is basically an added bonus that sits on top of all the packs, the two I find are a special A-Rod HR card pack and something that says “2007 Topps Chrome Boxloader Card, one sequentially numbered card inside”…I open it and find a Red Refractor of Derek Lowe numbered on the back 58/99. The A-Rod card pack contains HR’s #240 and #230. Basically Topps has decided to make a card of every A-Rod HR and puts out about 20 different A-Rod cards per brand per year for however many HR’s he hits. Pretty neat idea and one heck of a final set that will be to put together when he’s done hitting bombs. Inside each box are two autographs…Here is how I did after opening both boxes,
140 regular cards pulled out of 275 in the set
140/275 = 51% of the set complete
No Doubles
17 regular refractors
1 Mantle HR Ref #’d to 500
1 Napoli Gen Now Ref #’d to 500
7 White Refractors #’d to 660
6 Mantle HR Cards
7 Mantle History Cards
9 Generation Now Cards
4 A-Rod HR History Cards
2 Red Refractors #’d to 99 Derek Lowe & Nick Markakis
Scott Moore Auto Refractor #’d to 500
Mitch Maier Auto
Dennis Sarfate Auto
Shawn Riggans Auto
Overall, not a bad break, didn’t get anything high end but that’s how it goes sometimes. I was expecting a printing plate but the odds were not with me today…I really like these cards how they look and feel. I have always been a fan of the chrome technology.
Anyone want to trade?
Monday, July 23
July 24th, 2007
Just got back from my first game in Toronto and thought I’d share my thoughts. Since we stay so close downtown instead of taking a cab I walked over to the field, took about 10 minutes to get there and only walked into a couple graphers. Once I walked into the clubhouse I was informed that the clubhouse use to be one of the worst in the league…This year they moved clubhouses and had it redone and to tell you the truth it’s one of the better clubhouses in the league now. This place is well stocked with movies, music, food and even ketchup chips…I hate chips but those things are addicting. This is also the one spot in the Majors that has Spitz…a certain brand of sunflower seeds that comes from Alberta and they are pretty darn addicting as well. Walking out to the field my first impression was that it was a pretty sweet place. You can’t beat a place with hotel rooms in center, condos overlooking the field and a giant space needle called the CN Tower about a mile up in the air in right. I really liked the field because it kind of reminded me of the Metrodome, my favorite place to play. The field looked to have very old turf as most of the turf was beaten down probably due to all the football games. The bullpen was pretty sweet and included a ladder you walked up to get to the bullpen seats that overlooked the entire field, one of the best views of the field from a bullpen in the league. The only problem with having a good view was all the hecklers and there were tons…I tried to make friends by tossing up a few bags of Spitz into the crowd but that only lasted about two innings and then the heckling continued. All in all I really liked my first MLB game in Canada. I got to meet some fans on this site that have been on the message board for years and also got to knock off my last AL field. The only thing better would have been to meet NHL goalie Curtis Joseph who was in the crowd watching us play!
Monday, July 23
July 23rd 2007
Hey guys, I just woke up and we are in Toronto opening up a three game series here. This is my first trip to play the Blue Jays so it's going to be pretty sweet seeing another park and my last of the AL fields. This past week has been pretty hectic at home. I did three appearances during the home stand and they kind of wore me out a little. Two signings and one Q&A type thing called Cuddyer Unplugged, which included a signing at the end. All the events were really fun but man they wore me out. It kind of got to the point where it felt like I was always at the park and that’s not a good feeling. Anyways I got a great sleep here in Toronto last night and am refreshed to start this road series and will try to get my thoughts of Toronto up after the games.
Coming into Canada was a little different since we had to go through customs when we got here. Basically everyone on the team needed to bring their passport and fill out a customs declarations paper basically asking basic questions like how long you are going to be here and things like that. When the plane landed a couple customs agents got onto the plane and checked everyone’s stuff and id’s and that was that. It actually went by a lot quicker than last year in AAA when we went to play Ottawa on a bus and the officers had to check all the cargo.
This past week I opened up a bunch of baseball cards. I’ve been trying to collect the 07 Topps Heritage set and the thing is really tough to do. My wife and I opened up a bunch of the Target blaster boxes of these (gotta go with blasters in MN with Shinders closed now) and she unearthed a pretty sweet find, it was a red ink real one signed by Tim Thompson #’d to 58…odds of getting one of those is 1 in 1200 packs…It always amazes me that something like that can be sitting in a random Wal-Mart or Target store. I’ve brought along my want list and if I get some time I’d like to post that up on the message board and try to get some trades going. Also I just picked up a couple 07 Topps Chrome that came out not to long ago. I’ll be getting a review of the box break and my thoughts on the product probably tomorrow.
Monday, July 16
7/16/07
When I returned home the other day I found the mail pile to be the most I have seen in quite some time. I got through all the letters and they are heading back if you sent return postage. Most of the letters were auto request with photos, cards, indexes and other things. If you ever need anything signed, send it over with a SASE. Speaking of the letters I thought this would be a good time to go over some of the basics. The easiest is if you want something back you must include a SASE otherwise known as a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope. If this is missing I'm sorry but you probably aren't going to get anything back. I have a box of stuff that is basically all no SASE items...baseballs, cards, oddball things. I hate not being able to return people's items but I've had over 100 of these and can't sit in PO lines and buy stamps for people I don't know. Two, Don't include money for postage, got a couple that threw in $5 and told me to ship a package back...go to the post office, package up a return envelope and buy stamps, it's easy. Three, don't ask me to get items signed by my teammates...yes I get a couple of these every day. Four, try to keep the letters as short as you can be. If you are reading this right now and are going to send me a letter for something to sign something with just "please sign my card, thanks" is a dream to read. As always you can send me anything you need to get signed and you will most likely get it back quick if you follow the above. I can knock out about 200 letters a day if they are just auto request. It's the problem letters that really slow me down.
I tell you there's nothing like a long home stand. It's so refreshing to come home after a long road trip knowing you are going to see your family and have everything you need around you. The All Star break and this last series vs. the A's really helped me recharge and get ready to play the second half. We are entering the dog days of summer right about now and it can get grueling so it's nice to get as much rest as we can.
Speaking of rest the auctions have kind of been non-existent for the past couple weeks. Things are going to change and may as soon as tomorrow. Be sure to check out the message board and see if anything goes up.
Sunday, July 8
7/8/07
Wow what a week! I’m on the airplane right now heading back to MN to kick back and take some time off for the All Star Break. It’s been one heck of a week and I think this is one of the most needed breaks with all that has happened. Most guys are heading back to their homes wherever that may be. This is probably the least amount of people I have seen on a flight home since this time last year.
Last year at this time I was just making my MLB debut and things were moving a millions miles per hour. Things have slowed down a little…thank god or else I would’ve gone nuts by now. It’s always amazes me how risky of a business the baseball world is. I never knew what I was getting into when I signed after the 2002 draft. You not only have to perform you have to stay healthy, put up numbers, be a great teammate, stay mentally strong, be a great husband (family), deal with adversity, do the same things for 180 days straight, prove yourself and prove yourself again. If any of these things go out of whack it makes the game a lot tougher. This life is a grind but there are many great benefits that make all the pain worth it.
These next couple days I’m planning on sitting around with my family and hanging out. I’m going to try and play catch each day so I don’t come back and have things feel odd on the mound and also hit up the gym and try to get into a routine. I have a couple box breaks that I will be doing sometime later in the week, I have 2007 Moments & Milestones, 2007 Bowman and 2007 Upper Deck 2. I’m also going to try and put up an article on the MLBPA box break that a couple teammates and I had in NYC the other day with pictures. Also there are many more auctions for game used stuff to come so keep checking out the message board. I don’t know when I’ll be getting to the PM’s there are so many since the Final Vote thing that I kind of got bombarded, I’m trying my best and will try to get to everything one of these days.
Friday, July 6
7/6/07
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Final Vote. It was a fun time and great to see everyone getting into it. The only thing I wish MLB would do is release Final Vote #'s...Not one thing I read stated how many votes we made and how many votes each guy got? That really takes the fun out of it and I'm suprised nothing has been said about this. Either way it was still a great time. I'm totally burnt out after just finishing a doubleheader here in Chicago. We have two more day games to go and then it's the All-Star break. Have to catch up on some sleep.
Thursday, July 5
It's Crunch Time... KEEP VOTING!
Two great new Youtube videos to motivate everyone to keep on voting!
Wednesday, July 4
Pulling An All Nighter
Alright everyone as Spokesman Ethan would say, "It's crunch time!" A lot of the competition is out celebrating and it's a perfect time to get a leg up and jump ahead. The most recent update stated that the top candidates were neck and neck…we could very easily jump to #1 because nobody knows the vote totals right now. Tomorrow morning Japan will be getting ready for bed and Detroit and Boston will be taking the day off from work and stepping away from the computer (thinking they don't even need to vote since their candidate is in the lead). I have lots of family, friends, and devoted fans who are staying up all night to vote... Let's keep the voting going all through the night, all day tomorrow and we will rest when they take our voting privileges away. Thanks again everyone!
Vote NESHEK/YOUNG until you see your Zip Code!
Wednesday, July 4
Special Update: Neshek Camp Endorses Chris Young as Running Mate for NL Vote
Through strong communication and input with San Diego Padres Pitcher Kevin Cameron, the Neshek Campaign is urging voters to Vote for Chris Young as NL Running Mate on the MLB.com's 32nd Man Vote when you Pitch In For Pat. When asked about the new alliance Neshek had this to say, "After talking with Cameron I'm convinced that this is a perfect match and will give each of us a lot of new votes!" Cameron, a former teammate of Neshek's for many years thought of the idea after wanting to see both sides win, "It would make my day to see both of these guys win and there's no better way to do this than to bring all the Padres fans, Young fans, Twins fans and Neshek fans together." Get out there and vote the Neshek/Young ticket on MLB.com
Posted By: The Pitch In For Pat Campaign
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| Vote NESHEK & YOUNG |
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Day 3
Hey guys, back at the hotel again checking out everything. We are right where we want to be. This thing looks to be really close with the way they write the updates and the big 4th of July coming up.
It's been an uphill battle, especially without having the luxury of having all home games like some of the competition. Then you get articles saying "the self promoter" when other guys have full blown ad campaigns and computers set up for 40,000 people to vote at during their home games. We are on a 10-day road trip, I don't have the opportunity to do much more than head to the park and come back and chat with you guys like I've been doing since 2004 …gee talk about uphill…long shot…underdog. The worst was one Boston writer saying that I called me fans "creepy" when in reality, I said my fans are "crazy". Hmm does creepy sound like crazy? Can you use creepy in a good way like you can with crazy…don't think so? I suspect a sabotage campaign going on! Who needs the media, who needs talking heads that will talk real loud so you can hear who they want, who needs ad campaigns in which teams are shelling out cold hard cash???
All I need are Ethan and Drosenda…Spokesmen for the 2007 Pitch In For Pat Campaign
It's Crunch time guys. We have a day game tomorrow and after the game I'm heading back to the hotel and jumping on the message board here from 6pm-Midnight…no fireworks for me, I'd rather chat with everyone on here (and visit Deadspin.com BTW: Nice article:) until I fall asleep. Keep the voting up. I have a gut feeling things are going to shift…Vote until the server shuts down!
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Day Two
Hey guys, I just got back to the hotel here in NYC and am surfing around the internet. I just noticed the results and I like where we are at…striking distance. Let's keep this thing close until Wednesday and hold an all day vote-a-thon (if that's a word) on Thursday while some of the competitors sleep! Remember the voting is unlimited so go nuts and don't vote just once!
I need all the help you guys can give me. In the off-season I was a proud advocate of the VOTE FOR RORY NHL campaign (look it up) and although Rory came up short we had a fun time in the process and that's what it's all about. I'm calling on all Myspacers, all Facebook Users and even the most skilled of You Tube Directors to help me out, the funnier the better!
On a couple interviews today people asked me why they should vote for me and I basically told them a couple things. I really don't know how to describe this but I'm the fan/collector/guy that somehow managed to get to the big leagues. I seriously wake up each day and can't believe how I got here and am thankful to even touch the uniform! Basically if I wasn't playing baseball right now I would probably be the guy who was coming home from work and planning a night around baseball…planning what games to go to, which minor league teams to get autographs at, which guy to take on my fantasy team and which guy to trade in MLB The Show…heck this is what I do in the off-season, no lie! Basically I'm a fan of baseball, if your team wasn't represented in this final 5 Vote I would love to represent you and all the fans of the game. I can tell you right now that nobody in the world, no other player would appreciate this more than me. So if you want somebody that is a fan of the game, a guy just like you, a guy that would probably pass out if elected to the ALL STAR game then you can help me out by voting here!
http://www.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2007/fv/ballot.html
Thanks Everyone
Pat
Monday, July 2
I Need Everyone's Help
WOW, how cool is getting nominated. I don't know what to say it's unreal to even think about. But man I need you guys to vote, vote and vote, http://www.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2007/fv/ballot.html it's unlimited voting...tell everyone you know and come together and get creative we have like 5 days or something! We need everyone, all Minnesotan's, all graphers, fans of baseball and yes everyone in Yankee Nation ( and we know why!) I seriously would like to promise everyone All Star balls or jerseys for voting but it might be a stretch...I will promise this, if you guys can get me in I will write about everything that goes on... multiple updates each day letting everyone know what the heck goes on behind closed doors, I will always inscribe anything with All Star 07...dont even have to ask, I will try my best to get lots of giveaways and give them away on here and if I get an extra jersey like they did last year I will give it away in a contest not an auction. I don't know what else to say it would be the greatest feeling in the world to be voted in by you guys. Please tell everyone to vote multiple times:)
Friday, June 22
June 22nd, 2007
I'm in Florida right now and we are getting ready to start a 3-game series with the Marlins. These past couple days we were up in NY playing the Mets. New York is always a crazy place to play because there is so much going on in NYC and for me it tends to be a little too much. For the series we stayed downtown which means you have to find a way to get to the ballpark. A couple of the guys take cabs while the rest of us take the subway mostly due to the price and how much quicker the train gets there. Let me tell you this...everyday riding the subway is a story and this was one of the main reason I loved jumping on the subway. The first day I left with about 7 other guys on the team and we got on the train during peak hours. To get to Shea we had to get off and re-board a different railcar and this is where things got a little crazy...8 guys, packed subway card, angry riders...if you could picture 8 ballplayers pushing like crazy to fit into the railcar then you see the humor of it. I don't know how we all fit in. I think we were all frantic as to where we might end up if we went astray from the herd!
Shea was a pretty cool place to play and it wasn't as bad as I heard about from other people. Yes it was old but it had a lot of unique things you just don't see anymore in Major League Baseball. For instance the outfield has very little seating and is one of the only parks where you can actually see the outside of the stadium behind the outfield. It kind of reminded me of a minor league ballpark. Then you turn around and look at home plate and you are overwhelmed with how high and how many seats this place holds. The bullpen here is probably the biggest bullpen in terms of square footage. If this was a minor league field we probably would have had a nice game of wiffle ball going on during the game. All in all, not a bad field, glad I got to play here and I can't wait to see what the new place is going to look like when it is completed.
Last but certainly not least I got the chance of a lifetime the other day to go on the equivalent of a shopping spree at a mall...drop the mall and fill in blank with baseball card shop and you can see why it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I met up with the Director of Trading Cards for the MLBPA Evan Kaplan and we decided to sample all the newest products that are coming out right now. I opened about 15 packs of the 2007 Triple Threads, 2 boxes of the 2007 Co-Signers, 3 2007 Bowman's, 1 of each Series 1 & 2 Topps, 2 2006 UD Future Stars, 3 2007 Topps Heritage Boxes, 1 2006 1952 Rookies and 1 2007 UD Spectrum. I'm sure there were more boxes also but after my 2nd pack of Triple Threads I kind of forgot about everything that was going on. Highlights...too many to mention...here's a pic to highlight some of the chaos!
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Tuesday, June 19
New Card
Be sure to check out the new 2007 Upper Deck Series 2 when they come out. My newest card is pictured below!
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Tuesday, June 12
Signings & Changes
Couple quick updates
The 6/14 Maple Grove Community Center Signing has been changed to sometime in July
The 6/15 Cub Foods Signing is in Hastings and I think it's around noon
Monday, June 11
Michael Cuddyer 2006 Game Used Glove Auction
It's time for another auction. The latest is from Michael Cuddyer. This item is his 2006 Glove that he used nearly the entire season. He used two gloves last season, both the same model and this one had a lot more use. The other glove will be going up for a charity auction I will have at the end of the season. The picture below is of him using the glove last season.
This auction is 7 days and will end next Monday night at 10pm Central. All you have to do is make an offer on the message board (free to register & look at offers). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items down the road!
As always the winner can have Cuddy sign the glove and add any insriptions they would like. Cuddyer still would like signed baseballs of guys that do not play anymore mostly HOFer's or any Michael Jordan items. Pictures are big and can sway the auction.
Thursday, June 7
June 7th, 2007
Right now we are flying back to Minnesota. This West Coast trip felt like it went on for two weeks but in reality it was only six days. Oakland was just how I remembered it except this time there were a lot more graphers everywhere! Last year when we came I only remember about three different people that were going after us and they were mostly hanging outside the entry to the hotel. This year Stephanee and I went to grab a bite to eat across the street (and of course she had to shop) the first day and on the other side of the street there were about 15-20 graphers. I totally didn’t expect it and it was cool to see. They said that the hotel booted them earlier in the year and will not let them on the property anymore so that is why they had to take refuge on the other side of the road. Once we got done eating and shopping it was time for me to head over to the field. Like I said before in past entries we stay in San Francisco whenever we play Oakland so taking a cab was not really an option ($100+ ride) and nobody takes the bus (except the starting pitcher) or if it’s a day game so we had to use the next best option: The BART…otherwise known as the subway system, I think it stands for Bay Area Rail Transit but I’m not sure. So everyday here we were taking the subway to the game. The ride took about 20-30 mins and was only about $3. Once there we got off the sub and had to walk through what felt like a mile of a chained raised walkway that took us to the field. What caught me off guard was that there were graphers there also…very sneaky, something I would do if I was getting autos. All in all Oakland was a pretty positive experience for me. Not only did I meet a lot of new people but they hooked me up with a lot of stuff. A couple people that I met on the site hooked me up with over 100 signed cards, I also received some pretty sweet signed up 8X10’s, signed baseballs, a cd and I finally got the Mickey Mantle signed baseball that I wanted for a long time, of course this came through trade (one of my 07 jerseys at the end of the season) I also was happy to see a bunch of my t-shirts that I had on here. I forgot to mention before that if you wear one of my shirts and I catch you during bp there’s a pretty good chance I might throw you up a baseball especially if you are at one of our road games!
I know this is really long but I couldn’t forget to mention LA. The field really impressed me. I could tell it had a lot of features from back in the day but what really got me was how many people it holds. I mentioned the graphers above being sneaky but the field here was very sneaky in how it looked like it didn’t hold a lot of people until you really sat there and glanced at all the seats. Quick summary, great atmosphere, great fans, excellent clubhouse, I really liked playing here, got my blood & nerves flowing
Lots of contests on the message board closing soon and I have a lot more getting ready to be added. I have a busy week of appearances during this home stand so if you need to get stuff signed be sure to come out and say hi. I’m not sure about the times or places on most of these and I will try to update these when I find out.
6/7 Alexandria Beetles Before Game Signing.
6/11 NWA Employee Signing (employees only)
6/14 Maple Grove Community Center Signing (just found out today, I think it’s the CC)
6/15 Cub Foods Signing (not sure which one yet)
Monday, June 4
Boof Bonser Game Used Bat Auction
It's time for another great auction. The latest is from Boof Bonser. This item is a 2007 Game Used Bat that Boof used on 5/18 in Milwaukee. The bat is still intact and he used it for all of his at bats against Milwaukee. This is Boof's model bat that he uses each time at the plate, with pine tar and also his name logo on the bat head. He also signed the bat in blue sharpie and inscribed the bat with "5/18/07 GU".
This auction is 4 days and will end Thursday night at 10pm Central. All you have to do is make an offer on the message board (free to register & look at offers). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items down the road!
Boof is like most of the other players in what he collects...Pretty much signed baseballs of guys that do not play anymore. Good luck
Friday, June 1
May 31st, 2007
Hey guys, I’m on the airplane right now traveling to California for a 6 game road trip. Of course I cannot get an internet connection up here so when we land I’ll copy and paste this into a web entry…I wish we could get on the internet while flying (thinking out loud)…it’ll happen someday soon!
This is going to be a pretty cool trip for me because I’ve never been to Anaheim and will only have one AL stadium to go after this (Toronto). It’s also going to be cool because my wife is flying out for the entire series and it’s going to be neat to have her with. A lot of people have asked me from time to time if my wife flies to every away game or if the team will let them fly on the team play. I wish she could go on every trip as well as my parents and brothers but it’s very tough to do. One, they have to buy their own plane ticket and two, they might have to either rent a car, hotel or find their way around town. It can get expensive and that is one of the main negatives that keeps them home. The team lets wives and kids come on one trip a year designated “the family trip.” Our family trip is to NY and Florida…our next road series. During the family trip everyone is allowed on the team plane (we take a bigger plane to accommodate this) and allowed on the team bus before and after games.
During the season every guy gets their own hotel room and for the most part they are pretty nice rooms…In the minors you always had to share a room unless you wanted to pay up and upgrade to an individual room. So with being in the bigs that’s the big perk, if one of my family members can find a cheap flight they can always room with me. For this trip it worked out really good for Stephanee and the airfare was really cheap for some reason. She’s excited like me to cross another field off the list and have some fun.
Be sure to check out the upcoming contest. The next item up is Boof’s 5/18/07 game bat that he used in Milwaukee. I’m hoping to get the contest up either tonight or tomorrow. Also this is going to excite a lot of people but I must remind everyone that this is in the works still. Johan Santana wants to sign up a dozen OMLB (not sure if he’ll do inscriptions or not, I don’t think he’ll have a problem) and have a unique auction on here. The auction will consist of 12 winners he’ll pick. Basically he’s going to take his 12 favorite bids and trade signed baseballs. He’s only interested in signed baseballs or jerseys and they have to be of guys that are not playing anymore. He came to me with the idea and I knew this would be pretty neat and give a lot of people the chance to get a sweet signed up ball from Johan. This is still in the works and I will let everyone know when it’s official and you can begin bidding.
Sunday, May 27
2006 Dennys Reyes - One & Only 2006 Gamer Glove
If you like the auctions on here you are going to have a ball this week...Got some big time stuff coming up, the first is from Dennys Reyes.
Probably one of my favorite items to go up for bid on here, might even throw in a bid myself. This is Dennys Reyes's 2006 Glove that he wore the entire year in every game he pitched and in the WBC for Team Mexico. It has a Mexican Flag sewn on and also his nickname "Big Sweat." He did not wear another glove last year, this was his only gamer and he posted unreal numbers with this glove. Reyes can also sign and inscribed the glove if you are the winning bidder.
Reyes has been collecting signed baseballs for his children and he would like to add more to his collection. He liked Cuddy's winning offer and says that anything like that could win the glove. So with that said this auction will be for signed HOF baseballs or greats. Pictures of items offered are very much appreciated and can sway who he ends up picking.
This auction is 2 days and will end Tuesday night at 10pm Central. All you have to do is make an offer on the message board (free to register & look at offers). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items down the road!
For those of you not familiar with this, it all takes place on the message board (above in black) and if you like the item you bid memorabilia, no money and try to win...very swayed for the collectors out there. It's all in fun and helps players and fans both add to their collections. I hope this makes it a little easier to understand! I know there have been questions about this in the past!
Wednesday, May 23
May 23rd, 2007
Hey guys, I have a lot of updates on here today. I've been meaning to update this the other day but got distracted playing computer games. We are wrapping up a very long road trip in which we went to Cleveland, Milwaukee and Texas. Each stop was pretty cool and I got to see a lot of people from the site...Cuddyer and I were talking after the game tonight about how every day so far people have came up to him and asked him if he picked a winner yet for the bat and how many balls he got...He couldn't believe all the people that have been checking out his bat "at least 5 people a day ask!" BTW he picked jrocker49's offer and received 8 HOF baseballs and 4 HOF cards. He was so impressed he wants to do more auctions down the road and in the off-season when he cleans out his house. It's pretty neat for me to see both fans and players get into this.
This is going to make a couple people out there get VERY INTERESTED...As I said before Cuddy and I were talking after the game about the auction and Mauer was listening in to us talk and couldn't believe that Cuddy was getting stuff for his items. He (Mauer) wanted to know what it would take for a Michael Jordan signed item or Ted Williams signed item. He said he had a lot of stuff that he could auction off for example he could do a game used bat that he will use from a game this year and he also had his catchers gloves from previous years or something else that could get him those graphs:) I told him there would for sure be interest...so let me know on the message board...I know MJ and Williams autos are rare but so is a g/u glove from Mauer...not to many of those out there!
Like I said before we have been to 3 cities so far and are heading home tomorrow. Some quick notes on cool things from the trip so far. In Cleveland they got a new visiting clubhouse guy (Willie Jenks) and he turned the place around. Cleveland now goes from being one of the world clubhouses to probably in the top 3. What makes it different, More TV's, cleaner clubhouse, more video games, better attendants and of course the food was unreal. In Milwaukee I was shocked to understand how big of a series this is! All 3 games felt like the playoffs...very intense and I was on edge nearly all three games. There were about the same number of Twins fans as Brewers fans and the crowd really made it a great series...I'm all for interleague if it's going to be like that! So far in Texas it has only been about 80 degrees each day...sure beats the 110 degrees we played through last year when we came here. Of course Texas is the place where I made my MLB debut and it was unforgettable. Tonight (Tuesday) I got to pitch here again and I noticed there was something different about this mound whether it be too high or too steep...I don't know what it was but I def could tell I had to get on top of my pitches or else they were going to get left up in the zone and crushed...I think I felt the same way last year during my debut but didn't know any better because that was my first big league mound and was just pumped to be out there. Another cool thing to point out. I got to face Sammy Sosa and before I threw my first pitch the umpire made me return the ball I had and he threw me out another ball. Of course I was very intrigued as to what the ball looked like so the first thing I did was look over the ball to see what was going on. The ball had red writing (pen) over the MLB logo that said "60" and underneath the logo it had the letters "SS" I'm not sure if the ball had a micro-chip in it or not but if it didn't the red pen would be how the ball would be recognized if I gave up a bomb. Luckily there was no HR and I would've liked to get that ball but didn't know whether Redmond had to give it back to the ump or if he tossed it into the stands, oh well. Keep checking in and I'll try to get some more stuff up here!
Thursday, May 17
Baseballs From 2007
Of course I get this questions all the time? Do you get players on other teams to sign things for you? Well the answer is really easy...yes but it's kind of a cloudy answer...I personally don't go over to other guys and hand them things to sign. In most clubhouses there are attendents, bat boys and clubhouse workers that will run things over for players to get signed up and of course you have to tip them for doing the dirty work. This is my collection from this year.
Wednesday, May 16
More Auction Stuff
Cuddy is throwing in his pink wristband he wore Sunday night for Mother's day to spice up the pot a little on the previous post and he said he can sign it up for the winner...
Note: This contest is for Cuddyer not me. Cuddy informed me the winner of this contest will be the person who submits the most signed Hall Of Fame baseballs...or the best HOF signed baseballs, I'm not really sure he just told me he collects HOF baseballs and wants to add some guys to his collection...Also the contest can be easily swayed with any baseballs signed by Pete Rose.
For those of you not familiar with this, it all takes place on the message board (above in black) and if you like the item you bid memorabilia, no money and try to win...very swayed for the collectors out there. It's all in fun and helps players and fans both add to their collections. I hope this makes it a little easier to understand! I know there have been questions about this in the past!
Monday, May 14
Michael Cuddyer Auction
As promised here is another auction...A lot of my teammates want to add to their collections so they are parting with items they don't need anymore. The latest is Item #1 from Michael Cuddyer. This item is a 2007 Game Used Broken Bat that Cuddy used and broke last week. This is Cuddyer's model bat that he uses each time at the plate, with his tape and pine tar and also his logo on the bat head. He also signed the bat in Gold pen and insribed the bat with "2007 Game Used!"
This auction is 3 days and will end Thursday night at 10pm Central. All you have to do is make an offer on the message board (free to register & look at offers). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items down the road!
Monday, May 7
More Funny Letters
I've never seen one of these before! This one came to Glen...
I don't even know what to say:)
Friday, May 4
May 4th 2007
We just finished our last game in Tampa Bay and are on our way back to Minnesota. It’s kind of a rough little flight home considering we get in around 2AM and play the Red Sox tomorrow night. Usually there is a scheduled day game on flights that are kind of far away from where we have to be the next day. Tampa was pretty much just how I remembered it from last year. Of course last year I gave up back-to-back bombs to lose the game and then I had to suffer through this same kind of flight beating myself up about the pitch selection. I tell you there is nothing worse in baseball for a relief pitcher than pitching bad on the getaway day (at least that’s my opinion)…First off you have to sit through a long flight thinking about what you did when all you want to do is get away from baseball and do something else. At least when you are at home you can leave and go home for the night. The other thing that sucks is sitting on the plane and no one wants to make eye contact with you and you know everyone on the flight knows what you did in the game. It’s not fun and I’ve been there a lot. Things were a little different this time around, no getting beat up on the mound so I actually liked the place a little bit better!
Tropicana Field where do I start…not a big fan of the place. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great field, great clubhouse and the atmosphere is pretty neat when they get a crowd there. Since last year they upgraded the video board and WOW that thing is almost as big as Cleveland’s and a lot clearer. Next to the board are stat boards as well as many other message boards. I found myself watching the board trying to dissect the stats more so than the game during the series. I also had trouble watching the game because the video board takes up nearly the entire right field and you can’t miss it because it is so bright. Then you look down in the left field bleachers and they have a live scoreboard updating every second of every other game in the league going on. In center there is another board that shoots out “Sting Em Rays” messages and around the home plate seating are more boards that have the count, score and time. Around the 2nd inning of each game my eyes wanted to have seizures kind of like when Bart Simpson watched that Japanese TV show an inch away from the screen and started rolling around on the floor. And if the 1,000,000 color ultra pixel screen wasn’t enough to make you go crazy between each inning they had more promotions than any minor league team could imagine…they did it all, game recaps, contests, guess that player, name that song, find the cow, kiss cam, beverage mascot race, dirtiest car in the parking lot and tons of other stuff I already forgot about. The craziest part of it all was that the MC had a dead on body double appearance for Ryan Seacrest with same mannerisms and gestures. I swear if you’ve been here you might have thought it was Mr. Seacrest, the fans behind me did. So with all that was going on it was really tough as a player to stay focused and not go insane. I guess that is really why I don’t like playing here. Not to mention the catwalks above the plate and balls hitting off speakers for doubles…when that happened it didn’t really feel like baseball…it felt more like I was playing Baseball Simulator 2000 for Super NintendoJ
I’m starting to check out some new music and hopefully within the next month or so I will start updating the music charts a little. It’s been really tough to stay up on all that is coming out but it will be well worth the time that goes in once I start hearing some riffs and drums.
Monday, April 30
T-Shirts
Just wanted to throw this up on here again. I have seen a lot of you guys at different stadiums with these on and around town. Be sure to click on the link or check them out here www.sidearmstore.com I'm donating my entire share to charity so it's going to a good cause.
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| Click Here |
Sunday, April 29
April 29th 2007
On the plane right now and we are heading out to Tampa. Tomorrow is an off day for us and it’ll be nice to unwind and do nothing all day for a change. It’s always weird to have an off day on the road and I’m glad there aren’t too many of them. Hopefully I can get some work done on the site and get some of my cards up under the baseball card section.
Detroit was exactly the same way I remember D-town from last year. Lots of baseball fans and lots of people getting autographs. It’s a pretty tough place to play since they are one of our rivals so taking 2 of 3 was pretty big. Hopefully I signed everything there was to be signed in Detroit…I’m sure you guys will have a bunch more when we come back. I also managed to get another #’d 25 refractor cards of mine from a collector I met last year at Detroit. He brought it to me in the bullpen and I almost fell down the steps in the bullpen when I noticed the shiny rookie card. I always love it when fans hook me up and find my rare cards…6 refractors down, 19 to go! I think this will be a lifetime hobby trying to collect all the refractors.
Tuesday, April 24
April 24th 2007
Yesterday we got back to the field and the first thing I noticed was the mail pile was about double the size for everyone on the team. I spent the entire pre-game knocking out a lot of it and still only got through about half the letters. Be on the lookout if you wrote to me, I'm trying to get everything back. Also if you send the 2007 Topps card you might want to try and rub it down/baby powder or eraser because the card is super glossy and the ink will bubble up when I sign it. I've tried rubbing down most of the cards that come in and they still find a way to bubble up!
Yesterday my wife and I got to shoot a PSA commercial for Mother's Day and Breast Cancer for the Twins. We arrived around 1:30pm and did the commercial on the field and everything went good. When I looked over on the otherside of the field I noticed most of the Indians hitters were there getting ready for early hitting...That seemed pretty early to me then I thought about us in Seattle the other day. Most of us got so bored sitting in the hotel that we would took a cab over a little after 12:30!
Sunday, April 22
April 22nd 2007
We are just getting ready to fly out of Kansas City and head back to MN. This entire series with KC I have been struggling with flu-like symptoms and if I wasn’t at the field I was in bed trying to get a bunch of sleep. The other day I had one of the toughest days of traveling in my life. We finished the last Seattle game and got on a plane for KC. We arrived at 2am and by the time our luggage was in the room it was 3am.
Once again at Kansas City there were a lot of Twins fan and on Friday night Kauffman Stadium was packed with the most fans I have seen there. I haven’t seen a crowd like that here since I came to a game in 1999 and Mark Mcgwire was in town. On Friday night the atmosphere was great and really changed the game a little and got the players a little more amped.
As far as autographs go there wasn’t too much action going on in either place. Seattle had a couple people working the hotels before the game but after that it was kind of tough. Both Seattle and KC have fenced in parking and this is where most guys go when they have the cabs drop them off. The field is always a tough place to get stuff signed because there is a lot of variables such as finding the right spot to sit at and how the players feel that day or if they even have time to sign. With me the worst time to ask on the road is right after BP because on the road and being a young guy the Twins want me out of the clubhouse 20 minutes before the game. Usually BP gets over about 45 mins before the game and that doesn’t give me much time to eat, get dressed and prepare for the game.
I’m looking to try and get some auctions up sometime in the next couple weeks. A couple more players are interested in auctioning their game used stuff on here and I’m kind of surprised at how well this concept has taken off on here. At first I never knew what to expect when I first started trading my own stuff then a couple teammates thought it was a cool idea and threw in some stuff (Venafro, Crain) who knows, this may lead to it’s own website mntwinsgameusedauctions.com or something haha. Cuddyer and Rabe are the latest players that might have some bats and cleats to trade on here. It’s pretty neat to see this work because it brings everyone together and everyone wins…plus the biggest thing is that everyone has fun because that is what it’s all about!
I gotta start to get some of my new cards up under the “baseball cards” section. I have been slacking and don’t even have my AAA cards up there yet. I was also wondering the other day if there is anyway or if anyone knows how to make a website where people can add to say a checklist for all my #599 Topps Chrome Rookie Card. I thought it would be really neat to get a checklist of every number and see where and who has these cards.
Wednesday, April 18
April 18th 2007
Well we are in Seattle and I must say this time change is really throwing me off. Each day so far I have woke up at 7:30am thinking it was almost 10! So far it has thrown me off big time. In the game last night I was yawning around the 5th inning and when I finished pitching it was almost midnight Central time.
This is my first time in Seattle and I have been impressed with nearly everything except the weather. Over the past year when I have talked to other guys on the team or friends that have played big league ball the question sometimes comes up over what my favorite ballpark was. Last year I missed out on 3 AL parks, Toronto, Anaheim and here. When I returned the question and asked them their favorite park it was almost hands down they were going to say Seattle. Honestly after spending one day here I don't blame them, this place is nice. I think it all starts with things that go on before the game that get most players to like this place the best. The hotel here is the nicest I have ever stayed in...one of those places you look for something bad to say but cannot find one thing wrong. The same could be said for Safeco field. The other things at the field really caught my eye such as the visitor clubhouse weight room, the extra space in every room in the clubhouse and how clean everything was. Then you have the field and the amazing roof, what an engineering feat! Our bullpen guys messed around before BP yesterday and mixed in frisbee with our running and got a big time workout. I'm sure the other team was looking at us different when they looked out in the outfield and saw nearly our entire bullpen doing frisbee sprints! After that BP was about to start and the roof opened. It took about 1 minute to open the roof, unreal how quiet it was. Once the game started the roof was open for about 3 innings and the next thing I knew I looked up and the roof was over us before I even had time to notice. Pretty neat field and easily in my top 3...probably #1.
Interesting note
The one thing that was kind of weird was when it started raining outside last night the rain was pouring over our bullpen and a little into left field. At Safeco there is just a roof so the sides of the stadium are still open letting air and rain come in...I thought it would be like Milwaukee but it wasn't even close. So when I warmed up last night it was pouring rain then I walked onto the field and everything was fine and dry.
Thursday, April 12
Signing & The Fan Club
Have a couple quick notes to mention. On Saturday I will be doing a FREE autograph signing at Byerly's in Maple Grove from 12:30-1:30. Here's the addy for mapquest, 12880 Elm Creek Blvd in Maple Grove, MN. It would be awesome to see some of you guys out there and I will try my best to do as many multiples as needed!
Also Fan Club President Gary wanted me to let everyone know the Fan Club is up and running and he's looking for more members. Be sure to check out the fan club by going to www.patneshekfanclub.com
Membership includes:
T-shirt(sizes Small-XXL)
Signed 8x10
Signed welcome letter
2 Wristbands (like livestrongs)
E-mail newsletter.
Tuesday, April 10
April 10th 2007
Man that series in Chicago was freezing. The only other times I have felt that cold playing baseball was March in high school & the early parts of the year in College. The one thing you always have to tell yourself when it is that cold is that everyone else is playing under the same environment so stay tough and not let it get to you. The biggest thing I noticed that it was impossible to 1, get a grip and 2, throw breaking balls. Most of our pitching staff would agree, it was a tough time to pitch and we are pretty glad to be inside for the next couple series.
I have to apologize a little for not updating and being on the message board as often. The computer I'm on right now is on it's last leg and is going to get replaced here sometime this week...In Chicago the thing would start up for 10 minutes and then crash, very annoying.
Yesterday I was signing autographs before the game when a collector said they had one of my #d to 25 chrome rookie cards...At first I did a double take because I'm trying to collect them all and go nuts when I see one on the market. He said he got it off eBay, which I doubted because I check it everyday and have never seen this card go on there. I basically told him to name his price...I'm hoping we can work something out. So far I have 20% of those cards in my hands. If you know anyone out there that has one be sure to let them know I'm willing to work out a trade for them:)
Thursday, April 5
Another Auction
As promised here is another auction...A lot of my teammates want to add to their collections so they are parting with items they don't need anymore. The latest is Item #1 from Jesse Crain. This item is Jesse's 2007 Game Used Spring Training cleats that he used in every appearance in spring training. The shoes are Nike size 11.5 and model Coop IV. They include a pitching toe on the right shoe and also have his #28 in red numbers on the backs of each cleat. Both cleats show good use on the bottoms with dirt still hanging on from his last outing.
The cleats can be inscribed and signed by Jesse with anything you want (just make sure it's nothing offensive!) just let us know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 2 days and will end Saturday night at 8pm Central. All you have to do is make an offer on the message board (free to register). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items down the road!
Wednesday, April 4
4/4/07
There's nothing like opening day at the big league level. This was my 1st opening day and I really didn't know what to expect. I thought it would feel like any other game like last season but that was hardly the case. To be honest it really felt like a playoff game. There was all that added hype surrounding the first game since nearly the first game of spring training but what totally got me was the fans. The dome was sold out and the fans were into every pitch. Sitting in the bullpen I was on edge the entire time waiting for my chance if I got the call. It's amazing the difference the fans play in the game and now I know what to expect from opening nights from now on!
Outside the dome the collectors and fans were busy getting things autographed. I like to try and stop after the games once a home stand. My favorite time to sign is before the game as I'm walking into the dome, I usually sign everyday. This makes it easier for me because I can show up a little earlier and I'm not in a rush for the most part. Last night it was so cold out with the snow that after the game there was only four people waiting outside for autographs...dedication. I'm really in favor of the new open-air stadium up here but I don't think a lot of people understand how vicious April's can be! If it's anything like it was when I played high school baseball we can expect a lot of cold games and a lot of doubleheaders.
Just wanted to put up a quick note that I have a lot of game used auctions coming up. A lot of my teammates have stuff they want to get rid of on here so be sure to keep checking it out. I think the next auction will be for Jesse Crain's spring training cleats. Most players are not like me when it comes to cleats. I wear one pair and only one pair the entire season...Some guys go through over a dozen by the time the season is over!!!
Last but not least I noticed This Article written by Jonah Keri over at ESPN…Be sure to check out story #6. I have to give him a big shout for the research it took him to write this article and it really made me laugh with some comments. I was a little cloudy on one sentence though...a picture card of Homer sleeping on the couch for a 1958 Mickey Mantle? If that is the case this trade can be done Jonah. I returned home from spring training the other day and had to dig through my box of old Simpson trading cards from the early 90's and I do have the homer...let me know, the deal is ready to go:)
Monday, April 2
Opening Day Thoughts & An Auction
A lot of stuff is going on right now for all the ballplayers across the land. The last couple days have been all about packing up and making sure everything gets to where it needs to be and having a place set up when we get into town. This year has been my easiest so far in terms of setting up because I'm coming home. I remember last year at this time it was a mess moving to Rochester, NY. I pretty much didn't even know where I was staying until the day I got there and drove around to a couple apartment complexes. It also sucked because my wife and dad had to drive up our cars from FL with everything packed up in the cars! This year is awesome, we landed from the plane, picked up our bags and were home!
Things are a little different at the big league level in terms of travel. About 4 days before we break camp there is a giant semi that heads out to MN. Inside the semi the players can put whatever they want on it! Some guys brought over 10 bins of personal items. To make it easier for me I packed up 3 huge suitcases and had them shipped away. Yesterday at our workout we picked up all the bags we had shipped and spent the day unpacking. This time of the year is looked at in terms of a player's eye as tough. We arrived in town late Sat night, had an early 9am workout yesterday and barely got a chance to unpack. Not to mention we have to perform starting tonight! It took me over a week last year to finally feel settled in and I'm guessing this is how most of the guys feel!
Now time for another auction. Item #3 from the Mike Venafro Game Worn Collection. The item is his 2007 Minnesota Twins Spring Training hat that he wore during all of spring training. He inscribed it up with his signature & number and also 2007 Game Used Spring Training.
This auction is 2 days and will end Wednesday night at 9pm Central. All you have to do is make an offer on the message board (free to register). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items down the road!
Thursday, March 29
March 29th 2007
Hey everybody, just wanted to let you know that I'm having a tough time with my internet connection here. I have a lot of info to get up and will try to do a little bit tomorrow if I can get connected. This time of the spring is both exciting and frustrating for a lot of guys. You see everything, releases and guys making teams, honestly I hate this time of the year. Probably the most exciting thing for me this spring is seeing how a couple of my teammates are going to be making their MLB debuts in a couple of days. Gotta give a big congrats to what Kevin Cameron and Levale Speigner have accomplished this spring. It makes all those days sitting in New Britain wondering if we had a job the next day worth it! This type of stuff really pumps me up and is what great stories are made of. I'm proud as heck to see a couple guys make it that were written off by "baseball people" years ago!!!
Saturday, March 24
3/24/07
Not a big update today just a bunch of random information. We have about a week left down here then everyone breaks camp and goes off to start the season. I feel ready to start the season and actually wished it started a couple weeks ago when I felt like I was good to go not that I feel any different today. Right now I'm still working on my change-up big time not really caring what the batter does since stats don't really account for too much right now. The pitch has worked out great so far but I find myself changing arm slots a little and walking a couple guys...it's an easy fix and I need to keep refining it a bit. I'm pitching again tomorrow against the Phillies in Clearwater. Some of you may notice this is the 5th time I have had to travel, I'm obviously not paying Gardy and Andy enough money to pitch me at home like some of the guys, kidding, kidding!!!
I'm planning on doing a collector Q&A sometime this week with Rich from New Jersey. Rich is the guy who opened up a pack of 2007 Topps and had my printing plate in it. He was cool enough to work out a trade with me for the card and I'm pumped to be adding this rare card to my collection. I thought it would be a sweet interview so we will see what type of questions I can come up with. So far I have every insert/sp/rare/base card of myself except for the 3 other printing plates and the 1/1 Platinum card.
Funny story of the week. I traveled to play the Devil Rays on Thursday night and my wife and dad were in attendance. After the game they were waiting for me and people kept bugging my dad to sign. One problem though, they thought he was me since he was wearing my 2006 Twins Jersey with Neshek on the back. As he walked away and met up with me at the car he said people looked really funny at him like "why is he not signing!" He was pretty happy about the whole incident getting mistaken for me but the feeling wasn't mutual!
I bought 3 2007 Topps blaster boxes today at Target after our game. Wasn't that great of a break with 1 Jeter card being my best pull. It's always fun going on eBay seeing the price of that card going up and down everyday. I found a box of the 2006 Fleer Greats of The Game also at Target but couldn't pull the trigger. One guy that did pull the trigger was teammate and fellow collector Mike Venafro. He had some pretty sweet stuff in the box and to my amazement he pulled a Steve Carlton Auto (one of the 3 guys he really really wants). He also pulled numerous other numbered cards and almost persuaded me into buying a box...I told him I'm saving my money for the 07 Allen & Ginter's! It's pretty neat though to see another guy in the clubhouse that collects cards. Everyday it seems like one of us has a question about a card we got, today it was all about the 07 Topps Heritage and the SP's. He did his homework and was informing me of the color variations and guys who had them, pretty sweet stuff!
Sunday, March 18
March 18th 2007
Slowly we are inching up to the end of spring training. This year things have really gone by fast but I guess I have been saying that every year as I get older. In camp right now the team is busy figuring out the roster and making cuts...I'm not going to sit on here and bore you guys about that stuff that's the writer's job. You guys want to hear about the fun stuff that's happening in and out of the clubhouse and I have a couple pretty cool stories. Today during the game against the Phillies Joe Nathan was doing a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated roughly titled something like baseball's scariest pitchers to face. After watching him take photos for about 30 minutes I walked over to see what was going on and was stunned to see legendary photographer Walter Iooss Jr. taking the shots. For me it was pretty sweet to see him in action because his baseball card sets for Upper Deck in the early 90's were one of my favorites! Iooss was pretty cool to work with. He kept asking Nathan which photo he liked the best and really sought out the opinions of the other players that were also watching him work...something you never see from photographers and I'm pretty sure this is one of the reasons why he's the leader in sports photography. Before he was packing up the photo equipment I stopped him and ask for his autograph on the sweet spot of a ball. He kindly signed the ball then asked some questions about me and seemed really interested, pretty neat stuff.
That wasn't my only autograph success of the day. To my luck I walked out to the bullpen well ahead of my usual time and quickly sat down only to hear on the loudspeaker that Fergie Jenkins was throwing out the first pitch! I caught up with him outside of our clubhouse a minute later and he was cool enough to sign a ball for me and included his HOF 91 inscription.
Lastly I thought I'd throw this in here because it was something you don't see too much. Over the past couple weeks we have been going on bullpen runs around the stadium down here. The run is 20 minutes long and anything can happen...anything. Rumor has it one of the group runs included going through a Publix grocery store, weaves throughout the entire stadium parking lot an hour before the game and even Gardy's office! You may have even seen one of these runs happening if you have been down here before the game. Today was my second bullpen run and it included a pretty odd story. As we approached our final weave in the parking lot a fan ran up to one of the guys and asked him for his autograph, he was serious...As if that wasn't enough the guy decided to keep running with us asking each guy to sign. A lot of us decided to outrun the crazed fan and after 10 seconds we were in the clear and back into the stadium. In the distance I heard the fan say "You guy's are brutal, just brutal, why can't you sign just one autograph! At first when we were running I thought the guy was joking, you know haha funny signing while running but he was dead serious...ahh spring training you never know what will happen next!
Fergie Jenkins and Walter Ioose Jr.
Friday, March 16
More Packs To Open
Up next on the box breaking is the 2007 Topps Heritage 1958 design edition! There are 24 packs with 8 cards per pack and a stick of gum. When I opened up the box I noticed a 1958 Team Emblems box topper, inside the pack was the LA Dodgers. Let's open up the packs. The first thing I notice is that the gum is shrink wrapped so it doesn't ruin the cards and so it doesn't go bad and dissolve in your mouth!
I have not see the short print list so I'm not sure how many I had in my packs, the odds say 1/2 packs contains a short print. Also I really didn't know what it meant when it said 1/6 packs contains yellow team/name variations. I did get one name in yellow but that was the only one and a handful of yellow team name ones. Other than that I didn't get any autographs or relics...not a fun box break
Stats on my 24 packs opened
138 base cards
1 yellow name card (Zumaya) not sure on team name yellows
17 Rookies
7 All Stars
3 Then & Now
2 Flash Backs
4 Mantle's
3 Chrome Parallel (Feliz, Hensley and Ichiro All Star)
1 A-Rod HR card
Opinion, this is a very nice looking card set and pretty fun to open up and read the backs of the cards (each one has a comic on the back). As far as inserts go they are pretty tough to pull. I found myself wondering when I was going to get something cool in the pack and it never came. I was also confused on the yellow cards with the team name...hopefully this isn't another mess like the 06 Bowman Heritage coloring scheme! Overall a fun set which could have been better if I got my own card. Time for another box to open...and another stick of gum, that first one went bad already!
My best items from the opening
Friday, March 16
Opening Up Some Packs
Got a few boxes of cards to open up and I figured it would make a cool entry.
My first box opened is 2007 Topps Finest. Here's how I did.
When you open the box it comes with a box topper of 2 A-Rod and Ryan Howard cards. Inside the box topper pack I got A-Rod's 42 and 44 HR and for the Ryan Howard pack I got his HR #4 & 21 both numbered to 459!
Lets get to the packs. The odds say there is 3 Autographs per box with 12 Parallel cards. Mini box #1 is open and inside are 6 packs of cards. I really like all the little packaging and things that hold the cards into place so they don't get bent during shipment.
Mini Box #1 yields more than expected. I pulled 5 refractors, 3 regular ref, a green ref# 199 of Trevor Hoffman and a blue ref #399 of Billy Wagner. I also pulled an Auto of Delwyn Young and a #1 2007 Rookie Redemption card (it's going for +$50 on eBay...It must be Matsuzaka) that I have to send in...I'm not to sure what card I'll get so I'll let you know two months from now when Topps sends it back to me or if someone has the list please post on the board.
Mini box #2 yields pretty good. Inside is a Robinson Cano Auto, 6 ref including a Liriano Finest moments, a black #99 Cantu, a blue #399 Soriano and a green #199 Ichiro finest moments.
Mini box #3 contained a Philip Humber Blue #299 Auto, 5 refractors, a blue Glaus and a green Bonderman.
As far as stats go here's how I did on a couple categories.
60/135 or 44% base set completed
4/16 or 25% of rookie set completed
6/50 or 12% Rookies Finest Moment set completed
17 refractors, 3 blue, 3 green, 1 black and 3 rookies finest moments.
Overall I really liked opening these packs. There was a pretty good selection of autos in the set so I was wondering whom I would get and was happy with what I opened. I also liked the amount of refractors and thought it might be fun to try and put together a colored ref set. The Redemption card was also a very nice pull!
Up next is the 07 Topps Heritage
Tuesday, March 13
One BIG Reason Why Players Do Not Sign...This Guy
Well, I showed up to the field...starting knocking out some letters and autographs and sent them back...then noticed this letter. I laughed at first since it was copied and addressed to "Dear Sir" with no SASE included. Then I noticed all the stuff he wanted, another laugh...then, my favorite part of the letter, PS a signed team ball would be great! Yeah sir it would be great, I would like one myself someday! Just to note this letter was sent to all my teammates and I caught their reaction when two of the guys opened the same letter sent to them. One said "this is why I don't write back and open these letters" & the other had a mad look on their face and threw the letter away. It's a shame guys like this have such a big impact on how they can change signing habits in a second...one word of advice, don't be that guy!
Note to guy, send SASE and card...you'll save money on stamps and get actual autographs back instead of nothing!
Saturday, March 10
Item #2
With the excellent chat last night (On the message board) you really impressed Mike and he has decided to part with something big from his personal collection...he knows they will be going to a good home. You guys wanted it and here it is, Item #2 from the Mike Venafro Game Worn Collection. This is probably one of the best items I have ever had on here (I might even throw a bid up myself). The item is his 2002 Oakland A's White Puma Game Used Cleats that he wore during that year. They have all the numbers and markings, the pitching toe and dirt still on the bottom of the spikes from his final out of 02! These are pretty famous cleats considering you don't see other teams wearing white cleats and most players throw them out at the end of the season! These cleats were also the ones he wore when the book moneyball came out and he was mentioned in it numerous times. Last but not least this was the season and cleats that Mike wore when the ESPN reality show about the Oakland A's all living in the same house made it's debut! http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1524983&type=columnist
The cleats can be inscribed and signed just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 4 days and will end Wednesday night at 9pm Eastern. All you have to do is make an offer on the message board (free to register). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items down the road!
Tuesday, March 6
Item #1
You guys wanted it and here it is, Item #1 from the Mike Venafro Game Worn Collection. This auction is made up of 3 pieces called the 2003 Tampa Bay Devil Rays collection. All of these items were used and worn by Mike in the 2003 season. The first part of this auction is the one and only gameworn dry fit shirt that was worn under the sleeveless jersey (green shirt in the pic). The second item is his grey tampa bay workout shirt that was worn under his jersey during games. Last but not least his one and only Batting Practice hat that was worn everyday he was with the D-Rays. Lots of stuff going on with this auction and would be a great addition to any game used collection out there. Please check out the pictures.
These items can be inscribed and signed just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 3 days and will end Friday night at 9pm Eastern. All you have to do is go under the message board (free to register) and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items down the road!
Monday, March 5
Hail To The Chief
One of the coolest baseball card pack openings or as some may call it "pull" happened today and was made by my Fan Club President. Gary M or as we know him on the message boards Gam876 pulled the elusive and extremely rare Derek Jeter #40 Printing Plate 1 of 1 and it was broadcast live as he was doing a case breaking on the message boards. I know some of you are not familiar with the whole baseball card scene but this card has created quite a stir in the past couple weeks. Please check out this story on what makes this card so special After the above article was published the base card price quickly ascended from $2 to $20 to $200 then back down to an average price of around $30-$50 right now. Also it has been noted that Topps will issue a replacement card, "The card will be changed when Topps issues a complete set at midseason." Printing plates are used to make the each of the cards and there are only 1 of each color used...I believe there are only 3 or 4 total printing plates for this card, so in other words this is one of the hottest items to be taken out of a pack in quite some time. Anyways the card is listed on ebay and you can Check It Out Here and have some fun watching the offers come in.
The Card
Saturday, March 3
March 3rd, 2007
Just a couple of quick updates. I've been talking to a bunch of teammates about the possibility of auctioning off their stuff for Autographs and a couple wanted to do it. Right now Boof, Mike Venafro and Josh Rabe all have request...I'll be posting them on the message board to see the interest.
I've been getting a bunch of mail and with it has been a bunch of odd requests and other things that would make any person's head spin. Since it's early on and there are a couple newcomers I just wanted to go over the don'ts of sending letters. Number One, the biggest thing is send a SASE with postage if you want something back. I do not write back if there is no SASE and you're jeopardizing your stuff. Number Two, do not request me to get stuff signed from teammates...it won't happen and is kind of messed up if you think about it! Number Three...do not demand Game Used Items. All my GU items will go up for auction. Number four…baseball cards on the site other than mine are NOT for trade...Got a couple letters that basically said give me these so and so cards!!! And the last rule is make the letter short and sweet, my favorite letters are ones that basically say please sign my card or let's trade cards. This way I can sign everything up and get through the mail quickly and spend my time on other things like the site. That's about it as far as mail goes. 99% of you guys have been awesome and the mail this year has been really smooth but every year I need to remind everyone on here some of the rules.
Thursday, March 1
March 1st, 2007
The games have started and we are getting closer to opening day. I always find this time of the year to be a little crazy. So far most of us pitchers have thrown four bullpen sessions here with two coming during bullpen sessions and the other two coming to hitters in batting practice. I find it crazy because not one of us has faced real batters or game situations and our first outing will come in front of 10,000 people. It can make your head explode thinking about how you will do or if you are prepared or not...believe me my head almost exploded last year in the bullpen before my first outing! This year is a little different. I know what to expect and understand that it's just spring training and everyone else is in the same boat...but I have to admit I'm pretty anxious to get on the mound and have that adrenaline pumping! My first outing will be tomorrow night (Friday) against the Reds. In spring training they tell us when we will pitch.
In other news I have received a couple phone calls from my friends telling me that I am in a couple new video games...MLB 2k7 and MLB The Show. I have heard good things about both games and some bad things. It always interest me to see how good they can make video games so I had to ask some questions to my friends on how I pitched in the game. They quickly pointed out on both games that my socks were not up so minus one point right off the bat. In 2k7 I was told I have a huge leg kick and then have a sub/side delivery. It should also be noted that in 2k7 it says something to the degree of "He throws hard from sidearm" & "Hitters were not able to figure him out in 06." They have me rated at a 67 and it had my real life pitches. In MLB The Show I was told it had my exact delivery and that I throw really hard. The big downfall is that it had my change up rated higher than my slider. Also to note the slider was really hard to throw. Both of my friends said that my player's image looked exactly like me and that it was funny to see! I can't wait to see what I look like on a computer game!
So far down here we have been getting done with practice and lifting around 2pm. Usually when I get done I head home and relax. Lately Stephanee and I have been watching a lot of movies and I have been on eBay buying cards at night. My latest purchases have been certified card autos of Hall of Famers...some of you have probably outbid me:)
Sunday, February 25
February 25th 2007
Just a couple quick notes here. I just found out by doing a search under www.topps.com that I'm in another card set. This time the set is 2007 Topps Heritage and the card number is #222. The only thing that scares me is that it says I'm on the Cleveland Indians...We will have to see if it's an error card or not, that would be pretty funny.
Tomorrow is media day for us. We will be doing a lot of stuff such as taking all the portrait shots for things like the photofile pictures. We will also be taking our baseball card images...this time last year is when Topps took my photo that is used on every card they have put out so far...Hopefully they can get a new image tomorrow. Last but not least we do imaging of our bodies and head for EA sports and all the PS3 baseball games! I'll let you know if anything interesting happens. BTW that auction that just got over on here was intense...I can't believe I turned down a Willie Mays ball!!!
Thursday, February 22
Item #24
As promised here is the big one, Item #24. This auction is for my one and only 2006 Rochester Red Wings Red Jersey. This is the jersey I wore for every pre-game workout, batting practice and for a couple games. I have also inscribed it up with my signature and "2006 worn". The highest bidder can have me write whatever they want on it so let me know when you win. Please check out the pictures below. I'll say it again you guys are the best fans a player can have!
Once again My 2006 Rochester Red Jersey can be inscribed with more stuff just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 3 days and will end Sunday night at 9:15 pm Eastern. All you have to do is go under the message board (free to register) and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items during the season!
Wednesday, February 21
February 21st 2007
A quick note on the Red Wings jersey. I'm going to try and get the auction up tomorrow after practice and it'll end Sunday. I just have to take pictures and upload everything so stay tuned. Right now we are still working out without the position players. The first day of practice was packed with fans and they have died down a lot in the last two days nearly by two thirds. I'm pretty sure once the hitters come out the fans will pack the place once again.
I finally got stopped to sign autographs, it was the first time someone asked since the first day. People keep thinking I'm Mike Venefro and they have been stopping him like crazy asking him to sign my stuff by accident...we both agree it's the high socks and sidearm delivery but he is a lefty and that is pretty noticeable. Today also marked the first day us pitchers jumped into the batting cages to bunt balls. I did a lot better than I thought I would but am in no shape to make contact with pitches in real games...I don't know if I'll ever be.
Monday, February 19
February 19th 2007
Well if you didn't know we started workouts today. I always laugh at this time of the year because every media outlet is blasting out stories and looking for any information to write. There's tons of stories about what type of stuff we do so I won't bore you guys on that stuff...If you want to know check out my archives from the last three spring trainings under the "My site news" section, and scroll down to this date last year! Not much is really new with me just doing the same ole stuff. This time of the year you get to see which guys have prepared and which guys have a ways to go. Of course everybody wants to impress so you'll see guys running faster out on the field, throwing harder in bullpen sessions and of course visiting the weight room...we'll see how many people will be hitting the weight room like they are now in September! As for me I'm keeping things the same, doing the same lifting and running that I've been doing for the last three years. I look at spring training as a way to prepare for the season so I'm taking things nice and easy and making sure my arm is ready to go. A lot of guys don't look at it this way and are trying to win a spot the first day. The only thing I don't like about that is you can really set yourself up for injury. One thing is for sure though, it's fun to be back and seeing everyone and how they have been is awesome. Now we have to live and put up with each other for nearly 8 months.
Yesterday was reporting day. Basically this just means show up, get your uniform situated, locker clean and things in place. I spent mine doing just then I headed home to hang out with Stephanee for one last day before the season starts up.
My locker was filled with mail; I ranked right up there with the most on the team. Mike Venefro's locker is next to mine and he kept giving me crap about how much mail I had...He joked about having to sit somewhere else until I answered my mail because it was overflowing into his locker. He seemed like a pretty cool guy plus he's a sidearmer and wears his socks up! After I sorted out the mail mess I took it home and spent today answering it all and am pretty much done. I just want to mention if you have cards and need them signed please send them. I told a couple guys on here that I don't mind signing a lot TTM, if you have a 50-card lot, send them. I'm sure with the new Topps card there will be a lot of them so don't feel shy. Also I'm still taking trades for my own MILB cards, keep em coming, I have a few left.
I'm planning on getting a couple auctions up when I get some time. I still have my Red Rochester Jersey ready to go up next so be on the look out for that and after that I really have to see what I can find, I didn't bring anything down here. I'm going to try to get on the message board a little bit this week. It's really hard to give a time because this schedule right now is throwing me off a little bit. This time of the year is a cruel joke for ballplayers. We spend all off season sleeping in and going to bed whenever and that's pretty much how the season is as well. During spring training I'm getting up around 6-7am (I know, I know, this is what time 95% of the world also gets up!) and this totally throws me off for a couple weeks. Either way what I'm trying to say is I'll be on sometime.
Very quickly I would also like to give a shout out to La Velle E. Neal III & Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune. They are both writing blogs this year all about the Twins. I think it's pretty neat because these guys follow us everyday and are in the clubhouse nearly every second...They are going to have some inside stuff on there that you probably won't hear from anyone else. Check it out they already have some great first entries!
Saturday, February 17
2007 Topps Card
I just found an image of the new 2007 Topps card. You might notice the image looks mighty familiar, hence the 2006 Topps Update Box Topper card & 1952 rookie style card. Also a game used auction item is in the shot, Item #2 makes it's first big debut as the shoes shine brightly. I really wish they would use a different shot, those 06 spring training images had their time. My recent batches of cards have all been nearly the same image...cough...also all my 2006 Rochester cards!!! Anyways this is a pretty neat card to get & what's the deal with them cutting out my stitches in my graph...not cool! Here's the similarities in the cards.
Monday, February 5
February 5th 2007
All right, it's that time of the year again for spring training. It's kind of an odd time for a player because you are excited to play and you have anxiety to get back on the field. Another big thing that is going on in a player's head is wondering how they will stack up...If they tell you differently I think they might be lying. I feel more prepared than ever this year but still I'm wondering if my fastball will have zing to it, if the slider will move like it did in mid-season form and how good is my changeup going to be...things like that are going on in all the players right now. As far as hitters, I'm not sure. I know a lot of them are going to need a couple weeks to adjust to seeing a ball come in with high speed and also breaking balls. It's always a fun time though. You have guys who have played winter ball the entire off-season without a rest and a few guys that haven't picked up a ball since the final out of the 06 season. We are all going to get together in Florida and Arizona in about a week or two and compete for the roughly 750 opening day roster spots to play in the bigs. It's a fun and scary time of the year for a lot of guys. If you haven't done the work in the off-season it's scary time, for those that prepared it's a lot of fun!
Thursday, February 1
Item #23
As a big thank you to having the best fans in the world I'm putting up a treat for Item #23. This auction is for my one and only 2006 Rochester Red Wings Away Jersey. This is the jersey I wore for every game on the road in AAA this past season. I have also inscribed it up with a lot of things...please check out the pictures. Once again you guys are the best fans a player can have and I'm going to keep pitching my butt off for you!
My 2006 Rochester Away Jersey can be inscribed with more stuff just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 2 days and will end Sat night at 10pm Central. All you have to do is go under the message board (free to register) and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Wednesday, January 31
Item #22
I have a few things I must mention before the next item goes up. Spring Training is coming up pretty quick here and I just wanted to make sure everyone knows that if they need their stuff signed to hurry up and send it here if you want it back before I leave...Otherwise it will be stuck in a PO Box until the season starts...April 1st. I figure everyone has until Feb 4th to safely mail anything they need...trades, signed cards or contest winners to me and it will get here...After that it needs to go to Florida. On the fourth I will switch addy's on the main page and ask that things get sent there. Also since I will be heading to Florida I will not be bringing any game used items for auctions...with that said there will only be two more contest...this one and one tomorrow night, we'll have to go out with a bang...I'll be listing my 2006 Rochester Red Wings Red Jersey after this one tonight. I may bring a couple things down to FL with me but that is yet to be determined. So I ask that if you have won a contest to hurry up and mail that out so I can get your stuff to you.
Time for Item #22. This item is from my days in the Arizona Fall League. It's my Minnesota Twins Issued and Game Worn shirt. This is the shirt I wore everyday and every time I pitched in the 2003 AFL. Back then I showed up to the field and they gave me #49 as my number...As you can see in the pictures it has #49 on the nametag! Also there are a couple pics of me in the AFL...I am wearing this shirt underneath.
This Shirt can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 1 day and will end tomorrow night at 10pm (Thurs). All you have to do is go under the message board (free to register) and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Tuesday, January 30
Item #21
Going way back with Item #21. This item is from my Sophomore Year of college. It's my Butler University white hat. This was one of the hats I wore during my Sophomore year on the baseball diamond for the Bulldogs. As you can see in the pictures it's signed under the brim with my old scribble signature that I would later scrap for my new baseball seam signature! One of my favorite items with a lot of use!
Anyways, the hat can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 1 day and will end tomorrow night at 10pm (Wed). All you have to do is go under the message board (free to register) and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Tuesday, January 30
Item #20
Time for auction #20. This auction is for a 2004 Game Worn hat by player #12 of the Ft. Myers Miracle team that season. Ft. Myers is the Twins high A-ball affiliate. This is the red hat that was worn a lot that year and I'm not sure if they still use this model or not. For some reason I can't find a roster and I don't remember who #12 was. Either way it's a rare game used hat!
This auction is for 1 day and will end tomorrow night at 10:00 pm Central. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer (it's free to register and sign up if you don't have a name!). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items.
Sunday, January 28
Item #19
Time for auction #19. This auction is for my 2005 Spring Training Major League Call Up Hat. Every spring training the Twins call up a couple minor leaguers to fill in and pitch a couple innings and see what they have. In 2005 it was my chance to show everyone what I had. We played against the Yankees and the first batter I faced was Andy Phillips...he took my pitch over the left field wall...HR. I then went on to retire the next three batters on three pitches...You can see my stats for this game on the baseball cube website under spring training http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/N/pat-neshek.shtml But anyways this was the hat I wore in that outing
This hat can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is for 1 day and will end tomorrow night at 10:00 pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer (it's free to register and sign up if you don't have a name!). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items.
Saturday, January 27
Item #18
Time for auction #18. First off let me say this auction is terrible. It makes me ashamed that this is what my signature looked like pre summer of 2001. I really don't know how many of my signatures out there exist that I signed this way...not many but there are a couple I bet. I never really signed any auto's before my 2000 summer when I played for the Wisconsin Woodchucks college summer league team in the Northwoods League. If you happened to get me during that time this is what my auto looked like. The only reason I have two of these balls is that these were gifts that my dad was suppose to give away but forgot them and stashed them in a cupboard for nearly seven years. I'm keeping one of these to laugh at and the other is going up for auction right now. The ball is in perfect shape, clean, brand-new...it should be...it was stolen from the pitcher's ball bag that summer out of the wrapper. Auto is a lot better than it looks in the photo. This is a one-day auction and will end tomorrow night (Sunday).
This auction is for 1 day and will end Sunday night at 10:00 pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer (it's free to register and sign up if you don't have a name!). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items.
Friday, January 26
Twinsfest Day 1
Twinsfest day one is in the books. This year they had me doing a bunch of new things that I have never done at Twinsfest before. The day started off in the clubhouse. The Twins had me signed about 300 calendars and four dozen baseballs on the sweet spot. I'm guessing most will be put in the grab bags. From there they had me going to a couple signings for our sponsors and the first aid groups. Once that was done I did had to rush down and do a kids Q&A session. By far the kids Q&A was my favorite thing to do and there were some pretty good questions. After the Q&A was over they sent me to the signing table. This year I was in the $10 line. The last three years I was in the free line so I guess I'm moving up! The signing went great. It lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes and I saw a lot of people that I met on here and at the field. I signed two Topps 2006 1952 rookies cards, A LOT of 2006 UD Update cards and a bunch of 03 MWL cards. I also signed my new Photofile Action shot for the first time and signed a bunch of them as well as my original photofile. My favorite thing I signed on the night was an unauthorized 16X20 of my new Photofile, had to give the guy props on that one...it looked great. I also signed a couple rookie initiation photos and finally managed to get a Hulk Hogan Allen Ginter Autographed Card from a fan that hooked me up big time!!!
I also wanted to mention on here that I teamed up with the guy who makes the 33 for MVP shirts for Morneau. He designed a pretty sick new shirt for me that combines two of my favorite things, baseball and heavy metal. Be sure to check them out here www.sidearmstore.com I'm donating my entire share to charity so it's going to a good cause.
Also would anyone be interested in my Rochester Red Wings Game Jersey or one of my Minnesota Twins #72 jerseys that I wore during my first week in the bigs?...I guess that was kind of a stupid question...I have them both but wanted to know if anyone would trade a Mantle signed baseball with no fading or blemishes for one. If there is interest please write under the message board (something like "put up the jersey" and I can maybe get a quick auction up and give one out to the highest bidder.
More madness tomorrow, I'll be up bright and early and I'll see a lot of you at the Dome...Be sure to say hi!
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Thursday, January 25
Item #17
Twinsfest time and also time for auction #17. This auction is for my 2006 MLB Twins Issued and Game-Worn Long Sleeve Jacket/Windbreaker. Nearly the entire team wore this type of jacket in 06 especially during games and during BP. I Included a pic of Gardy wearing it just to give you an idea of what it looks like on the field.
The jacket can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is for 2 days and will end Sat night at 10:00 pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer (it's free to register and sign up if you don't have a name!). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items
Tuesday, January 23
Item #16
I got some pretty interesting stuff coming up for auction in the next couple weeks, I'm even parting ways with my 2003 cleats that have been talked about for years by my teammates, my FIRST baseball seams signature of my auto on a Cape Cod ball from 2001, my signature before I picked up the baseball seams graph pre 2001...I found some pretty cool stuff you might be interested in so be sure to check out the page everyday. Here's what's coming up for bidding in the next couple weeks/days in no order.
2003 Arizona Fall League Twins Undershirt
2006 Spring Training Hat Unknown as to who wore it?
2006 Rochester Red Wings Unworn Turtleneck Team Issued w/Tags
2006 Twins Issued Long Sleeve Jacket/Windbreaker
2005 My Spring Training Call Up Hat
2005 My Minor League Spring Training Hat
2004 Number 35 New Britian Rock Cats Game Worn Hat
2005 Entire Season Worn Gamer Cleats (had to finally part with them!)
2004 New Britain Locker Name Plate
2004 New Britain Rock Cats Undershirt/Turtleneck
1st Autograph I ever signed on baseball with baseball seams
Old Auto on Northwoods League Baseballs (My dad stored them and showed me what my old auto looked like...terrible
2006 Twins Issued Long Sleeve Gamer shirt
2006 Red Wings Players Cleats...I think they are Henry Bonilla's
White Butler University Sophomore Year Hat
White Junior Year Butler Univeristy hat
My Appy League Save #5 Ball
Butler University Issued Shorts
2003 Entire Season Worn Gamer Cleats (It's so hard to say goodbye!)
2004 Ft Myers Hat from #40
2004 Red Ft Myers Hat from #12
2003 New Britain Home Hat with my #36
2003 Midwest League All Star Game Name Plate
2003 Arizona Fall League Lineup Card
2000 Wisconsin Woodchucks Shorts
1999 Perfect Game High School Showcase Jersey (Hard to part with but I'm sure it will go to a good home!)
There's a lot more stuff, this is just what is coming up in the weeks ahead!
Now it's time for auction #16. This auction is for my 2006 MLB Batting Practice/Bullpen Session Cleats. The first week I was in the Bigs, Mizuno sent me this pair of cleats. Since I usually don't wear more than one pair of cleats a year I decided to make these my pre game shoes. I wore these in nearly all batting practice sessions and pre game activities. I didn't clean them when the season got over and there is still dirt on them as seen in the pictures.
The cleats can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is for 2 days and will end Thursday night at 10:00 pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer (it's free to register and sign up if you don't have a name!). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items
Sunday, January 21
Item #15
Item #15 is a game used undershirt I wore during the 2006 MLB season. It's made by Nike and is the mesh, under armor like material. It also contains my name on the lower part of the shirt's nameplate and features the Twins logo in the center of the shirt.
The shirt can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is for 2 days and will end Tuesday night at 10:00 pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer (it's free to register and sign up if you don't have a name!). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Friday, January 19
Item #14
I'm hoping to get a recap of the Twins Winter Caravan that I just returned from on here sometime but in the meantime I'll post Item #14.
This is kind of a unique piece, this auction is for my 2004, 2005 and parts of 2006 game used belt. I got this belt in 2004 at New Britain and couldn't switch from it. I used it all the way until the first couple weeks in Rochester of this last season.
The belt can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is for 1 day and will end tomorrow night (SAT)at 10:00 pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer (it's free to register and sign up if you don't have a name!). Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Tuesday, January 16
Item #13
The caravan is really kicking my butt so I'm going to make this quick and head to bed.
THIS IS A TWO DAY AUCTION AND WILL END THURSDAY NIGHT AT 11:59pm. This item is a 2003 Arizona Fall League Lineup card. I played for the Grand Canyon Rafters and got to keep a couple of the lineup cards from that season. There are a lot of big names on this card and this was before most of them became stars.
The card can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is for 2 days and will end Thursday night at 11:59pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Monday, January 15
Item #12
Just got back from the first day of the Twins Caravan and am really tired so I'll keep this short by putting up another auction.
THIS IS A ONE DAY AUCTION AND WILL END TOMORROW NIGHT AT 10:30pm. This item is my 2003 BP hat when I played for the New Britain Rock Cats. This was my main BP hat the one I wore everyday in warmups before the game and batting practice. As seen in the picture it contains the #36 written on the hat by our trainer when I got called up.
The hat can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 1 day and will end Tuesday night at 10:30pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Sunday, January 14
Item #11
We are starting the Twins Winter Caravan today (Monday) and I will try to have updates on what we are doing on the trip, so stay tuned. Now for the fun stuff...Item #11
First though a lot of people have been asking questions about what type of stuff I will be putting up next. Basically it's a very long question to answer. I have stuff here that I have been storing for nearly my entire life...hats, gloves, shoes, basically anything related to baseball I have. So I guess the answer is just stay tuned in and bid on what you want. There's a lot of stuff so remember just to keep checking back.
Now for Item #11. This next item is going to be for ONE DAY ONLY...basically it will end tomorrow night at 10:30pm Central so be sure to get an offer in if you want the item.
Kind of a unique item you don't see too much because they end up getting discarded by clubhouse managers...For some reason I have kept nearly all my nameplates above my locker and this auction is for my 2006 MN Twins Major League Spring Training Name Plate made of some kind of plasic and in blue letters. Pretty unique item, can be signed, inscribe with whatever you want just let me know. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used auction items!
Saturday, January 13
Item #10
Sorry for those of you expecting me to post at 10pm on Friday. I just got back from the boxing fight here in MN...it was a great time. Here's the good stuff
Going way back with this next item. THIS IS A TWO DAY AUCTION AND WILL END SUNDAY NIGHT AT 10pm. This item is from my Junior Year of college. It's my Butler alternate hat. This was one of the hats I wore during the year I was drafted by the Twins out of college. For some reason I didn't sign under the brim...I'm not sure why I didn't?
Anyways, the hat can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 2 days and will end Sunday night at 10pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Thursday, January 11
January 12th 2007
Here's Item #9. THIS IS A ONE DAY AUCTION & WILL END TOMORROW (FRIDAY) NIGHT at 10pm Central. This item is my Cape Cod turtle neck undershirt I wore when I played in the the Cape Cod league in 2001 for the League Champion Wareham Gatemen. I wore this shirt quite a few times that season. This was the league that got me noticed by scouts and when the wheels started turning in my baseball career.
The shirt can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is 1 day and will end Friday night at 10pm. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Tuesday, January 9
January 9th 2007
Hey guys, I'm back and doing better than ever. There's a lot of stuff to talk about so I'll start getting at it. The wedding was awesome and better than I expected. We got married at The Flamingo Hotel and they did an excellent job and I think all twenty people in attendance would say the same. After the wedding Stephanee and I flew down to Cancun, Mexico for our honeymoon and it was awesome getting to relax and think about all we have been through. I'm going to try and get pictures of everything we did up when I get some time. Right now I'm busy getting ready for the season that starts in about a little over a month from now. I just started throwing a couple days ago and will start kicking it into gear in a little bit. I have a couple appearances coming up and will list them on here.
Jan 13th - Hey Coach Event - Chaska Middle School East - 11-12:30p
Jan 15-18 - Twins Caravan
Jan 22nd - Majors Sports Bar in Roseville - Evening
End Of Jan - Twinsfest
Also I wanted to let everyone know there is another card of mine that hit the shelves. It's the Topps Rookies 1952 edition. There's a couple of them on eBay so check it out if you want to see the image...It looks like it's a close up of my chrome rookie!
Here's Item #8. This is kind of a unique item. In 2003 when I was promoted from Ft. Myers to New Britain I arrived in Erie and was late...three innings too late. The trainer was still in the clubhouse waiting for me and handed me my uniform and this hat. The funny thing about the hat is that we were on the road and the trainer ran out of fitted hats so he gave me this hat with an adjustable back. I wore this hat the entire weekend. During the third game in Erie I was put into the game for my AA debut and pitched the final 2 innings to get my first save. I was really nervous pitching for a new team and facing awesome hitters in the August heat and the hat did get a lot of use for that one outing. Once we got back to New Britain I was given another hat and never wore this one again! So with this hat you are getting my AA debut and 1st AA save. This hat is signed liked nearly every one of my hats under the brim with #36, the number I was at the time. The hat can be inscribed and signed with whatever you want just let me know if you are the winning bidder. This auction is going to be 2 days and will end Thursday night. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Tuesday, January 2
January 2nd 2007
We just got back a day ago from Vegas and had one of the best times of our lives. It was an awesome experience and something I will never forget. When we got back my parents suprised us with a honeymoon trip to Cancun which is leaving in about 6 hours. I'm busy packing right now and will be back on here in about a week. As for then I'll be putting up a new auction.
Here's Item #7. This auction is for Minnesota Twins Phenom Pitching Prospect Anthony Swarzak's glove that he used during his 2004 & 2005 seasons. This is the same glove that is pictured in many of his baseball cards such as his rookie Bowman card, just minors cards and lots of others. I got this glove in spring training when I traded a pair of cleats for it. Pretty rare item so I expect to get some good bids for it. With the honeymoon and everything this is going to be a 1 WEEK auction and will end next Tuesday night. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used items!
Tuesday, December 26
Item #6
Hey guys I just wanted to let everyone know that Stephanee and I are getting married Dec 30th in Las Vegas. It's going to be a small wedding with a few close family members & friends. I'll still be checking out the website with offers and putting up stuff if I get time. With that said I'm posting Item #6. This auction is for my 2006 Game Worn Minnesota Twins Winter Jacket/Coat that I had to use a couple times during the end of the 2006 season when it got really cold in Baltimore and Fenway Park. It's a very nice heavy duty coat/jacket(I would say coat because it's really heavy). With the wedding and everything this is going to be a 1 WEEK auction and will end next Tuesday. All you have to do is go under the message board and make an offer. This coat can be signed, inscribe with whatever you want just let me know. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used auction items!
Sunday, December 24
Item #5
This next item is going to be for THREE days...it will end Tuesday night so be sure to get an offer in if you want the item.
This auction is for my 2004 game used, game worn for the entire 2004 spring training hat. It has been sitting in my closet since the end of the 2004 season and is the only hat I wore during that spring training. It is inscribed like all my hats under the brim with my signature and the #49. This hat can be signed, inscribe with whatever you want just let me know. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used auction items!
Thursday, December 21
Item #4
This next item is going to be for two days...it will end Sat night so be sure to get an offer in if you want the item.
This auction is for my 2004 game used undershirt from that season with the New Britain Rock Cats. This can be signed, inscribe with whatever you want just let me know. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Remember you can make as many offers as you want, good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used auction items!
Wednesday, December 20
Item #3
This next item is going to be for ONE DAY ONLY...basically it will end tomorrow night so be sure to get an offer in if you want the item.
Kind of a unique item you don't see too much because they end up getting discarded at the end of the year by clubhouse managers...For some reason I have kept nearly all my nameplates above my locker and this auction is for my 2006 Rochester Red Wings Name Plate made of some kind of metal. Pretty unique item, can be signed, inscribe with whatever you want just let me know. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used auction items!
Tuesday, December 19
Wishing Him The Best
I just got back from Brad Radke's press conference a little bit ago and got to see a lot of great Twins people and wish Brad the best. The press conference was held at the Metrodome and it was awesome to be there and hear everyone speak. Real short and sweet Brad is an excellent teammate and someone I admire and hope to turn into one day. Some guys lead by talking a lot in the clubhouse and others lead by example. Brad lead by example and knows when to talk and when to take care of business. When I first got called up I was in awe just by walking into the clubhouse and seeing faces I grew up watching. Brad was the most notable Twin I remember seeing that first day and his presence in a way not only intimidated me but also scared me. About a week and a half into my call up I remember coming into the Metrodome clubhouse after pitching pretty well and striking out the side. The first person to congratulate me was Brad and he shook my hand and said something to the degree of that was some pretty nasty stuff you have! It was an unreal moment to hear someone you grew up watching say those words to you and I'll never forget.
As a fan & Minnesotan you have to love the guy for his loyalty to the Twins and what he has done for the community. His wife Heather was the leader among wives and really helped show Stephanee around. Finally, last but not least he was great at signing autographs, rarely ever turning someone down and often doing more than one signature at a time. Today is Brad Radke's day and I once again wish him and his family the best.
Tuesday, December 19
Item #2
I'm pumped to see this auction for game used stuff is working out good. I get to clean up my house and get some good stuff and you guys have a shot to get some game used items.
This next item is going to be for ONE DAY ONLY...basically it will end tomorrow night so be sure to get an offer in if you want the item.
This item is for a pair of Spring Training worn turf shoes. Now there are a couple unique things about this pair of shoes. One they are Nike and probably one of the only times I have ever worn Nike in my professional career. I wore these shoes for about two weeks in spring training and then got a shipment of Mizuno shoes. The second unique thing about these shoes is that these are the shoes I was wearing during press day in spring training hence this is what I had on as far as shoes go for my first Topps Baseball card. Don't believe me, check out the press shot I found from the Twins.
Pretty unique item, can be signed, inscribe with whatever you want just let me know. Also remember that I pick up all shipping cost to mail the package to you. Good luck bidding and be sure to keep checking out this page for more game used auction items!
Monday, December 18
DVD: Rochester Red Wings
I just wanted to let you guys know that the Rochester Red Wings made a DVD for the 2006 season. I always loved watching DVD or VHS tapes about minor league baseball when I was growing up. The Visalia Oaks made one way back that I watched all the time and a couple years back I found a DVD on the Indianapolis Indians that was awesome. If you click on the link there are a bunch of free previews and a place to purchase the DVD, so check it out now! Click Here to get a free preview of the DVD starring me.
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| Check It Out Here! |
Sunday, December 17
Game Used Stuff
As promised I will be auctioning off my game used stuff I have accumulated over the years. There's a lot of game used stuff, shoes, shirts, balls, hats and lots of other weird items. Basically I will be posting the items on the home page and the auctioning will done under the message board so you have to get a free registered name if you don't have one already. Make me an offer on what you want to trade...you can make as many offers as you want. When 48 hours goes by I will log in and pick the offer I like the best...There isn't really any criteria to what you can trade, I like everything..NHL, MLB auto's on cards, HOF'ers, celeb autos and autographs of guys I have faced in the big leagues that I don't have cards of already. Also you don't have to worry about the SASE, I will pay for all shipping charges. So let's trade, Item #1 is ready for auction. The first item is a game worn under shirt that I wore a bunch during my rookie year. It's made by Nike who is the main supplier for the Twins apparel. I wore this a lot during BP and around the clubhouse. Happy Bidding and in 48 hours a new item should be posted.
Thursday, December 7
Hey Coach Appearance
I just got my high speed internet so I should be updating a lot more. I wanted to let everyone know that I will be doing a couple appearances this weekend in Minnesota. Be sure to go to www.heycoachinc.com/pnb & see where I'll be at. The first appearance is this Saturday 11am-12:30pm at Plymouth Creek Elementary School and the second appearance is this Sunday 2-330pm at Minnetonka Middle School East. The event is being put on by Hey Coach. Be sure to check out their website by clicking on the image below. It looks like they got a pretty neat product and it should be awesome to see how the kids like it. The event is open to everyone but more suited for 8-16 year old boys and girls and also parents that play golf. It's free admission and there are a lot of giveaways from Easton and Callaway Golf so be sure to come out. Also all the kids can get their skills in baseball and softball assessed for free from the Hey Coach staff. Basically if you are a young baseball/softball player in MN you should stop by. During the times I will be there I will be hanging out with the kids, answering questions, taking photos and trying out the product. I will also be signing autographs for anyone that signs up as a new Hey Coach customer. It's going to be a pretty good time from what I hear so be sure to swing on over if you are in town.
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| Check Out The Appearance |
Friday, November 24
Finally
Topps finally broke down and made me a card. I have only seen this card as a box topper. There are 50 box topper cards of different guys so roughly it's a one in fifty shot at pulling my card. Also it looks like they only made 599 cards. There's also a refractor card numbered to 25. I'm not sure if I'm in the regular set or not but still it's my first major card...Please do not outbid me:)
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| The Card |
Sunday, November 19
November 19th 2006
These last couple weeks I have been lifting everyday and been getting myself ready for the upcoming season. Things aren't really going to change much until January when I start to play catch and throw again. During the last couple weeks I have done some pretty cool things. About a week ago I got the opportunity to sit courtside with my brother at a Minnesota Timberwolves. I got a call from the Timberwolves PR Man Mike Trudell inviting me out and I couldn't turn down an offer for free tix. We had a great time and it was all chronicled if you Click Here.
A couple of my friends also invited me out to a Gophers Hockey game and a Minnesota Wild game. Both games were awesome especially getting to see the difference between the collegiate level and NHL. The NHL was definitely a lot faster and harder hitting but Erik Johnson and Blake Wheeler of the Gophs gave you glimpse of what the NHL is going to look like in a couple years!
Yesterday I did a signing for charity & it was a blast. There was an excellent turn out and there were a lot of fans there. The store the signing was at is called Tom Frantzen Sport Collectibles and I was really impressed with the stuff they had, I will definitely be back there to buy commons! The signing went really well. I signed pretty steadily for about the first hour and fifteen minutes and after that you could pretty much walk right up without waiting. Most of the things I signed were photos and baseballs. There were a couple funny items I signed, 8X10's of me and my former pink dress. All in all it was an awesome turnout and we raised $2000 for charity. I'm expecting to do 1-2 more signings before Christmas and will update it when I find out the dates. I've also been invited to do the Twins Winter caravan as well as Twinsfest and will post the dates when they become available.
I got all my mail done over the weekend and got some pretty sweet stuff once again. I get a lot of great stuff, mostly autographs from trades of my cards of baseball and hockey players but every once in a while I get celebs and oddball signed items and I tend to like them the best. This week I got a Denzel Washington signed item, a Nadia Comaneci signed index, a Gary Busey signed newspaper and a Wally The Beerman signed card. There were also a couple other items but I cannot remember them off the top of my head. Everyone who wrote to me should be expecting a package sometime this week. I also wanted to reiterate that my auto's in the autograph section are not for trade. There has been a couple letters every now and then that people send cards hoping for a trade of some of those cards and I feel bad that I have to send them back wasting the stamp.
Speaking of mail, I did a TTM autograph attempt and it turned out great. I wrote to John Wooden and sent him three Allen Ginter cards hoping to get them signed. About a week later they came back to me signed with two other autographs of Mr. Wooden...What a great guy.
I'm still working on my Game Used items that I will be trading off on the site. I think the best thing to do is make a message board kind of like the contest board and have people make offers. Then I can come in and see what trade I like the best and everyone gets a chance to make an offer. I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, November 9
Upcoming Autograph Appearance
I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be signing autographs for charity, check out the details below.
Date: Sat., Nov. 18
Time: Noon-1:30pm
Where: Moundsview Square Shopping Center, Country Road 10 at Long Lake Road.
Store is located inside the mall next to Cost Cutters
Charity: United Way, $5 donation for every autograph they receive.
Saturday, November 4
November 4th 2006
I got tons of letters this week and will get to all of them in the next couple days. This past week I got back into focusing solely on lifting and running. During the last couple seasons I have lifted all the way up to the final month of the season and took that month and the next off to let my body fully recover from a grueling year. Once November hits I turn the weights and running up to full strength. Stephanee is pretty happy because she once again has someone to lift with and loves putting me through workouts that she makes up for me...they are tough. The gym is pretty much the place where I recharge so my body can withstand everything that comes in my way during the year. As always a big part of being in the best shape you can be is what you eat. This year is no exception. I'm still juicing vegetables such as carrots, kale, celery, broccoli and cucumbers twice a day and can honestly say it's probably the biggest reason for my success. As a side note I wanted to quickly mention that in the Minnesota Twins clubhouse we have a juicer and nearly everyone on the team drinks a cup of carrot juice before every game. This past year I also bought a Vita-Mix (Smoothie Maker/Turns anything into liquid) and am using it each morning to make a huge fruit smoothie. If you want to get rid of that feeling of tiredness and have as much energy as you possibly can I honestly can say that juicing veggies will change your life if you give it a chance.
Now for the autographs. These past couple days I went out to try and get the Canucks and Nashville Predators who were in town. I once again did pretty well. The Canucks were a little bit tougher but every guy did at least one auto. Here's a recap, Nasland 1/2, Linden 1/2, Ohlund 1/2, Morrison 1/2, Fitzpatrick 2/2, Krajicek 1/1, Kesler 1/2, H Sedin 1/2, D Sedin 1/2, Luongo 1/2, Chouinard 1/1.
Everyone on the Predators signed except for Kariya (took cab everywhere he went...heard he signs before game) & most of the guys did multiples. Here's a recap
Arnott - 1/2, Vokoun - 4/4, Upshall- 1/2, Legwand- 2/3, Dumont - 2/2, Sullivan 1/3, Hamhuis- 1/1, Hartnell 2/2, Timonen- 1/3, Vasicek- 3/3, Erat - 3/4, Tootoo - 1/1 stick blade, Radulov- 4/4 stick blade, Suter - 1/1 stick blade, Weber - 1/1 stick blade. Not a bad couple days plus I also got Al Iafrate who was in town on a blade.
Sunday, October 29
October 29th 2006
The Baseball Autograph section is up and complete with pictures of everything that has been sent. I still have to get a couple misc items up such as note cards and 8X10's. Let me emphasize that cards in this section are not for trade as voted on by you guys in June.
Last Friday I went downtown and got some autographs of the Anaheim Ducks. I did pretty good (considering I only went for about an hour) and pretty much got everything I needed with the help from other collectors on recognizing faces. Here's how I did. Ilya Bryzgalov 2/3, Stanislav Chistov 1/1, Todd Fedoruk 1/1, Ryan Getzlaf 2/2, Jean-Sebastien Giguere 1/2, Travis Green 4/4, Chris Kunitz 2/2, Andy McDonald 2/2, Ian Moran 1/1, Rob Niedermayer 2/2, Scott Niedermayer 2/2, Corey Perry 1/1, Chris Pronger 2/2! and Teemu Selanne 3/3.
And last but not least A Story that will bring joy to TTM'ers everywhere!
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| Friday's Catch |
Thursday, October 26
October 26th 2006
I got just about every baseball card I have got in trades from you guys up and in order under the "Baseball Autographs" section. This is everything I have ever received in trades and out of generosity. It's a pretty sweet collection. I will try to get pictures/scans up sometime this weekend. After that it will be the hockey autograph section getting updated. I'm also debating whether or not to keep the letters in the mail section going. I have a stack of god knows how many letters and it would take a solid week to get them in order. As of right now I'm going to put that section on hold and focus on other things like getting autographs...that's right. Yesterday I went on my first hounding in a long time and went for the LA Kings. My skills were pretty rusty and I had a tough time with faces but the other collectors hooked me up. How did I fare?...Actually really well. The Kings are an excellent signing team. There wasn't one guy that said no and just about every guy did whatever I had for them. Here's how I did.
Derek Armstrong 1/1, Rob Blake 1/1, Dustin Brown 2/4, Cammalleri 3/3, Dan Cloutier 4/4, Craig Conroy 2/2, Frolov 2/3, Garon 5/5, Anze Kopitar 4/4, Aaron Miller 1/1, M Norstrum 2/2, Brent Sopul 2/2, Scott Thornton 2/2, Tverdovsky 1/3, Vishnovsky 2/2, Nelson Emerson 2/2 and Brian Willsie 1/1.
Tuesday, October 24
Game Used Hazing Outfit
Help support charity and try to win this item. The auction is up on eBay.
Click Here To View Auction
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| Click On Picture To View Auction |
Sunday, October 22
2006 Topps Turkey Red Box Breaking
In the past week I have bought 5 Blaster boxes of the 2006 Turkey Red cards @ Target. Here's how I did and my opinion on the cards
Base set = 314 cards
Total Cards Opened In 5 Blaster Boxes = 320
Packs opened = 40 - 8 Cards per pack - 64 in a box
Set Completed 194/314 = 62%
Doubles = 67
Triples = 2 Jaime Moyer, Victor Martinez
Chance of getting a Double/Triple = 69/320 = 22%
Chance of getting a Double/Triple in base set of cards 69/263 = 26%
Short Print Base Cards = 3 Preston Wilson, Richie Sexson and Tim Hudson
Short Print Cards Red = 1 Alex Rodriguez Seattle
Short Print Cards White = Xavier Nady San Diego
Red Parallel Cards = 39
White Parallel Cards = 9
Black Parallel Cards = 2 Jose Guillen & Ryan Howard
Gold Parallel Card = 1 Jason Kubel
Game Used Cards = 1 Roy Halladay Jersey
Overall I like the card design a lot and the brand has a lot of fun inserts to try and complete sets with. It's also kind of neat that they continued the numbers on the back from last years set. I would buy this box again.
Sunday, October 22
October 22nd 2006
I just got a couple sections updated in my Baseball Autographs section...letters A-C. I think I'm going to update this entire section and then will get some scans up. Once this is done I am going to go after the hockey section and from there either start up a trading section or a want list.
I got a couple letters in the mail yesterday and will do a short recap of them right here.
Letter Amount - 6 letters
Letter #1 From Aaron Roth - Minnesota
Sent 5 Index cards and wanted them signed for him and his friends - Signed up the indexes and sent the letter out
Letter #2 From Sara Rogge - Minnesota
Does TTM's a lot and Sent a 01 Upper Deck Doug Mientkiewicz signed card for one of my cards - Great Trade, thanks Sara
Letter #3 From Peter Altamore - New Jersey
Sent a Jose Cruz Jr., Billy Hatcher, Lance Carter, Leyritz, Brent Abernathy, Rick Dempsey, Richard Hidalgo and Toby Hall signed cards and told me to send him my Stephen Drew, Jon Papelbon, Anibal Sanchez, Ryan Zimmerman and Joel Zumaya signed cards from the Baseball Graphs section. I don't think Peter knows that those cards are off limits for trading. Sent the letter back with his cards and signed up a Twins team card he had in his letter
Letter #4 From Lianna Holub - Ohio
Sent a couple trades a 1995 Classic Hockey Jason Doit and a Michael Spidale signed picture. Also sent a picture of me to get signed.
Letter #5 From Dave Hasely - NY
Sent 14 cards for trade, pretty good stuff Greg Madduz, Leiter, Hillenbrand, Kotsay, Kent GU Jersey, George Scott, Steve Garvey, Mackowiak, Salmon, Dubois, Brayan Pena, Wily Mo Pena and Felix Escalona.
Letter # 6 From Grady Carlson - North Dakota
Sent a very nice and straight to the point letter. Sent 29 mostly 2001 In The Game Certified Hockey Auto's for trade.
That's it for letters. On the baseball card side of things I bought a couple more boxes of Turkey Red cards and didn't do that well. I think I just had good luck with my first box because everything has been terrible since. I also cannot find one box of 2006 Allen Ginter's anywhere. I have been to 4 shinders stores up here (card shop in MN) and nearly every Target and Wal Mart, looks like eBay is my only choice.
I bought a bunch of Hockey Common lots on eBay last week and am waiting for them to arrive. I might try to get out to St. Paul once the cards come to do some in person auto's. I'll keep you updated.
Sunday, October 15
October 15th 2006
It feels kind of weird not running to the field everyday now that the season is over. It's such a fun but stressful job and can get very repetitive/routine in a lot of the things we do. So far each morning I wake up thinking I got a game to go to then I realize that I don't have to be anywhere. What have I been up to a lot of you might be asking? Well a lot of things that mostly have to do with moving stuff in and trying to get everything settled. This past week we did a lot of things for the house and for getting things organized. Sometimes I feel that I'm overwhelmed with things to do and I'll never finish them all. For instance the fan mail was out of control. I think I had nearly 200 letters to get back to and they were just sitting in a bunch of bags in the house. The autographs everyone has sent me for trades were sitting around unsorted. The website wasn't getting updated...lets just say there was too many things to do that I didn't know where to start. I eventually started with the mail, I finished nearly everything and the last bits will be going out tomorrow. The last two days I put every Baseball/Hockey signed card into alphabetical order...it took forever. I got a little strayed away from doing everything when I went to the local Target and bought a couple 2006 Turkey Red Blaster Boxes and ripped them open. I'm really starting to get hooked on some of the new cards that have been coming out especially the Allen & Ginter set...Anyone want to trade me a Hulk Hogan signed card? haha but seriously I would love to trade for one. Also the past couple weeks have given me a lot of time to think about ways to add things to the site and I got some pretty good ideas. Since I'm getting into cards again I want to make a trading section somehow. I also have a lot of game used items all the way back in high school that I really have no use for and anymore and thought I can trade them on here. Anyways there's going to be some cool stuff on here and these feature will be added gradually. I think in the next couple days I will share what I pulled opening the Turkey Red Packs. I will also try to get on the message boards and chat with everyone. Please be patient with me and I will promise to make this a fun site, you guys are awesome!
Saturday, October 14
October 14th 2006
Hey guys, just wanted to let everyone know that I will be doing a bunch of updates pretty soon. I'm taking a little break from the season and sorting everything out. I'll be back on with an update tomorrow!
Sunday, October 1
October 1st 2006
Wow, what a day. I don't really know where to start...too much happened. After our disappointing loss yesterday most of us figured we were on our way to NY for the playoffs. I spent last night going out to eat with Stephanee and both our families at a local restaurant. When we were leaving we happened to see the Royals/Tigers game score and laughed saying that we might have a chance to win the division tomorrow. Our magic number at the time was 3 meaning the Tigers would have to lose both games and we would have to win. Earlier in the day I bought plane tickets for Stephanee and my brother to fly into NYC. Flights were priced pretty low so I figured why not and booked them to leave at 3:10 pm on Sunday. After the Royals game got over last night my mom called and was wondering what to do if we won and the Tigers lost? I told her that if that happened it would be the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen. Little did I know what was to come in the next 24 hours!!!
After I got home I packed up my suitcase for NY since we would be flying out of Minneapolis immediately after the game and arrive there around 9pm. I arrived at the ballpark around 10am just as my brother Paul was coming home from the dome. For those of you who don't already know, Paul works on the grounds crew at the Metrodome and took part in the 18 hour switch the Metrodome from a baseball field to a football field and then back to a baseball field. He had a long day and got some sleep for a couple hours before he headed off to the airport. Our game started and at the same time the Tigers had a 6-0 lead over the Royals. Stephanee and Paul got to the airport about 2pm and asked the lady at the check in if they could wait until the final possible minute to check in because they might not have to go. Time ticks by, the Royals score a couple runs and the score is 7-4 when they finally agree to jump on the plane that has to stop in Chicago first before heading to NY. As they are about to take off they find out the Royals put up a couple more runs to make the score 7-6. That's the last update they get before they landed in Chicago. As they arrive my mom calls them and tells them what is going on. At that time the score is 7-7 in extra innings and they have a layover for about a half hour.
Meanwhile our game ended and we all headed into the clubhouse. Things don't look good, the Tigers have bases loaded and one out. Our entire team surrounded the TV in the clubhouse as we screamed for Joe Nelson to strike out Inge...He did. Then there was a pitching change and more time to try and think about what was going on. The most overheard comment inside that room was something on the lines of "is this really happening & where the heck are we going?" Jimmy Gobble came in and there was dead silence as he threw his first pitch...strike, the clubhouse erupted. Pitch two, strike...same reaction. In what seemed like forever pitch four came across the plate for strike three, the clubhouse went crazy. We were out of control, I heard one teammate say he was buying Gobble a watch and sending it to him for that huge strikeout. Just then Mike Redman and Michael Cuddyer ran in and told us that they had the game on the big screen and 40,000 people were still inside the dome. We all ran out of the clubhouse and into the dugout to hopefully watch something special. The fans were going nuts, we were going nuts and the Royals bats came alive. With each pitch you could hear the tension. If something good happened there were cheers and lots of them. If something bad happened there would be deep sighs and groans. It was one of the weirdest feelings to be watching a game on the big screen with a packed stadium and no one on the field. When the final out was recorded we went crazy. Basically everyone followed the leader and we met up in CF and congratulated everyone. From there we ran around the stadium slapping five with all the fans and into the clubhouse for another Champaign soaking. The only word that came to mind after thinking about everything that happened is UNBELIEVABLE.
When Stephanee and Paul heard what happened they had to jump off their plane in Chicago and try to decide what to do. They weren't upset about what happened they were happy and couldn't believe what had happened. The decided to rent a car and drive it back to Minnesota. As I am writing this they are thirty minutes from Minneapolis. Tomorrow we will have to return the car and file a claim to get their luggage back from the NY airport.
Oh what a day and I almost forgot to mention that another member of the family had a pretty good day as well. My dad finished his 11th Twin Cities marathon!
Tomorrow we have a media day @ 9:30am. Please help cheer us on, you guys have been awesome!
Wednesday, September 27
September 27th 2006
Well a lot of things have happened in the last couple days. After our trip to Boston we headed out to Baltimore for a three game series. Baltimore is a great place to play at because of how great of condition that Camden Yards is in. As everyone knows it has the excellent view of the warehouse in right and the playing surface is in top shape. Nearly everyday in Baltimore I walked to the field since our hotel was only about a half mile away from the field. This place easily makes a run for the most autographers before a game. Each day I would walk over I witnessed numerous graphers at different entrances of the stadium. Some would wait outside the warehouse entrance while others would wait outside the front of the stadium...some would go for us and others would wait near the fence where the Orioles park their cards. I would say on an average day there were close to 40 people trying to get things signed. The fans once again were generous. During this 10-day road trip I came home with a suitcase that was overflowing with items. Off the top of my head some of the more notably stuff I received on the trip was an Aerosmith signed drumhead, 1 Jake Lamotta signed boxing glove, a Milt Schmidt signed puck, a Norm Ullman signed puck, a Dan Jansen signed puck, 1 Bret The Hitman Hart signed hockey puck from the team he owned in Canada, a dual Phil Esposito/Bobby Orr signed card, a Jagr signed card, a trio signed 8X10 of Bill Guerin, Steve Thomas and Petr Sykora, a Rick Barry signed card and about 50 signed cards of various hockey and baseball players and about 20 8X10's of me. It's going to take a lot of time this offseason to sort everything out in order and I promise I will get scans and a list of everything I have. I'm also going to try to get a want list up of things I need plus a trade list of items that I am willing to trade but again this is going to be an offseason project.
In Baltimore I had the pleasure to talk to HOFer Jim Palmer for a couple seconds. I initially went up to him because I needed to get him to sign a couple balls. When I approached him I told him my name and he said "yes, the hometown boy who went to 400 Twins games as a kid!" I was kind of caught off guard that he knew who I was and didn't really know what to say. We talked for about 5 minutes about baseball and it was awesome hearing some of the stories he had.
On another note I have heard a couple rumors that I might have been included in a 2006 set. The set is 2006 Topps Rookies - 1952 edition. Right now it is just a rumor but it would be pretty neat to get a true rookie card.
Right now we are back in MN and just clinched a playoff spot. It was an awesome moment to see all our hard work payoff after where we were a couple months ago. The champaign soaking was a memory I'll never forget and we had a lot of fun for a couple hours inside that clubhouse. Hopefully there will be a lot more of those celebrations in the next couple weeks!
Thursday, September 21
September 21st 2006
We've played two games at Fenway and wrap up the series tonight. Fenway Park is probably the most unique park in the majors. There are a lot of things you see here that you don't at most parks. The last two days have begun with cab rides over to the park. The funny thing about here is that the graphers will wait for you outside the hotel and if you don't sign they will get in their cars and race the cabbie over to Fenway and give it another shot. Once inside Fenway the first thing I noticed was the smell. In most of the older stadiums the underground smell is not that pleasant and really takes a lot to walk through. I've also noticed this smell at Yankee Stadium. To get to the clubhouse in Fenway you have to walk through the concourse. It struck me again right there at how old this place was seeing the small concourse and different things like the seating entrances and bathrooms as I walked through. When I was walking to the clubhouse I noticed that two guys were fixing up the roof of the concourse. It appeared that a giant piece of concrete gave out and fell to the ground. I walked under the guys and they told me to hurry up and go by because they didn't trust this spot. I found myself wondering if this place was safe or not. As I got nearer to the clubhouse I had to ask direction in order to find the clubhouse door because it was very confusing. Eventually I found a small white fenced in cage that was the entrance to the clubhouse. Inside was the smallest clubhouse in the league...smaller than most minor league clubhouses. The lockers were straight out of the old days, about a foot and a half wide, 6 feet tall with no space in between teammates. With all the September call ups, the clubhouse staff ran out of lockers and had to pair up a couple guys in one locker. I also heard stories that on the other side in the home clubhouse they had to buy wooden stroll out lockers and place them in the center of the clubhouse for all the new guys that came up in September.
I have been to Fenway a couple times before when I played in the Cape Cod League in 2001. Back then I was really in amazement at how cool the place was with all the neat little things going on such as the green monster, pesky's pole and the bullpens. I always thought this place wouldn’t be fun to play at though because it looked like the players were cramped for space and the field didn’t look in the best condition. I was wrong, this place is a blast to play at and the field has had a lot of improvements since. This time I was in shock at how little seating Fenway had. I don't know why I noticed this right away this time maybe it's because I have seen a lot of MLB parks lately. During that time since I have last visited Fenway in 01 a lot of things have been added and renovated like the green monster seating. Basically this place has a lot of history and a lot of things going on. I actually came out early yesterday and checked out a lot of things but realized that I really need more time to really take in all that Fenway has to offer. There wasn't too much going on here that I didn't like. I really think that the one thing missing from Fenway is the bigger clubhouses. Once they can fix that this place would have it all.
Some interesting stuff
Before the game I talked to Peter Gammons for a quick minute and got him to sign a couple baseballs for me. It’s really great to have him back and I don't think anyone else out there can do the job that he does. We shared a couple stories about the Cape Cod League and I was surprised at how much he remembered from my year.
Tuesday, September 19
September 19th 2006
Right now we are in Boston getting ready to head over to the field. Yesterday we had a much needed off day and most of us rested up for this final stretch. I really didn't do much yesterday. I sat around for the most part and watched TV. I went out to get some food later in the day and ran into a bunch of autographers from Boston. Most of these guys I have met before including members of the Boston Fury. For those of you who are wondering who the Boston Fury are, they are elite graphers who have been getting stuff signed for the past thirty years. Over the last couple years they have been really cool with me and we have traded autographs every now and then plus they have some of the best stories. Like I said above I am heading over to the field right now and will be back on here later to share my thoughts on playing at Fenway.
Friday, September 15
September 15th 2006
Not sure if you guys heard what the older guys on the team did to us rookies the other day but I thought I would do a quick update on it. Every year around this time there is a thing called Rookie Initiation the rookies have to go through. This process involves the older guys going out and buying each of the rookies costumes they will have to wear around for the entire night. Well the other day I completed my first rookie hazing event and it was...well...weird. I came back to my locker after the game and noticed a girly skirt hanging in my locker complete with fish net stockings and a witches hat. The other guys got some crazy outfits as seen in the pic below. Well we had to dress in front of the media and of course they were pretty pumped to get an easy story. Then the older guys made us all walk together to the outside of the dome where we were greeted by fans and autographers. The older guys forced us to sign auto's and do interviews with the media. From there we traveled to the airport and got onto the plane. Once in Cleveland we had to check in and immediately meet in the lobby to go out for our next challenge. Our first stop was a restaurant next to Jacobs Field and wouldn't you know there was a game going on...the Indians vs. the Royals. One of the older guys thought it would be funny to parade us around the stadium. So sure enough we grabbed our stuff and headed to the game. The usher at the stadium was not going to let us in until he finally recognized Santana and became friendly and let us walk through the gates. Sure enough a couple minutes in, word spread quick that we were the Twins and the cameras were focused on us. We got on the big screen, harassed Indians outfielder Jason Michaels a couple innings and finally got on the TV station that was covering the game. Gardy was watching the game in his hotel room and said he had to do a double take when he saw us then laughed the rest of the night. The night was nearly complete after we left the Jake. We headed over to get some food and from there it was back to the hotel so I could finally take off that terrible costume. I'm not really sure what to do with my costume now, it's sitting in my hotel room and I really don't want to ever see the thing again. That would make an excellent eBay for charity item complete with signed picture below...would anyone be interested?
At the Cleveland Indians game in the Left Field Standing Room Section! BTW, Check out the evil hand-chin action Matt Guerrier has going on in the far left as he thinks about what he's going to make us do next!
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| Not Fun! |
Monday, September 11
September 11th 2006
I just opened two boxes of the 2006 Allen & Ginter by Topps. The A&G set is pretty neat and mimics the old 1887 cards. The box is pretty neat. It looks like an old cigar box and even has a sticker you need to remove to open up the box. Once inside the first thing you will see is a giant insert which in my case turned out to be a postcard from Ted Williams and it was not an original. The funny thing was the 2nd box I opened I got the exact same postcard...anybody want to trade? The big thing about this set is that it has the theme of "World Champions." Inside you find cards of not only baseball players but of oddball people like the spelling bee champion or Mike Tyson. Also scattered in the mix is war heroes and a card of the Statue of Liberty. The big thing you are trying to find in this box is something called a rip card and let me tell you that these are really tough to find, one in every case...1 in 12 boxes. Also inserted into every box is any two of the following, autographs, game used jersey cards, printing plates and even 1887 original A&G cards. So how did I do after opening all 48 packs?
Of my four insert cards they were all game used jerseys. I was hoping for one auto but I didn't have any luck. Here's what I got
1 David Wright GU Jersey Card
1 Johan Santana GU Jersey Card
1 Andy Petitte GU Jersey Card
1 Jake Peavy GU Jersey Card
20/30 complete of the Dick Perez Insert Collection
5 Doubles for a 25% Rate of getting the same card
212/350 Base Set complete or 61% complete
74 cards were doubles or a 35% doubles rate...anybody want to trade?
Tuesday, September 5
September 5th 2006
Right now we are in Tampa Bay and in the middle of a road trip. We just came from New York and there were a lot of cool stories about that place. The trip started off by flying into LaGuardia airport around 9pm. From there we bused into downtown NYC and to our hotel. As it always is in big cities like LA, Chicago and NY there were graphers outside waiting for us. The graphers here don’t sleep; there is always somebody in town or other options they can turn to if an autograph hunt goes sour. Once they were done trying to get us to sign things they had the MTV VMA’s going on down the street, not to mention the numerous Broadway shows and tennis stars that were in town. Basically this is a good town if you are looking for celebrities. One of my collector friends told me that the big time collectors in New York have their cars filled with thousands of 8X10’s of nearly every celebrity out there. Once one is spotted they can run to the car, grab the photo and try to get it signed. You never know who is going to show up in NYC.
NYC was a pretty cool experience. I have been there a couple times before so I kind of knew what to expect. Since traveling was kind of tough the best way for me to get to the field was to take the subway, which was pretty close to the hotel. The subway was about a 15-minute ride and dropped me off right in front of Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium looked the same as it always has been. It was kind of weird walking to the clubhouse in that I haven’t seen too many fields up here that are this old. The walkways to the clubhouse were very dark and felt like you were walking through a dungeon. The clubhouse was very small in comparison to all the other fields except the dome’s. The clubhouse staff did an excellent job with the small space they had to work with. Outside, the field was in great shape and there were numerous fans yelling at us. The one thing that really disappointed me was the bullpen. The view was terrible and during the entire series. I found myself moving around trying to get a better view until I finally gave up and sat in one spot and tried to make out what was happening. In left field they have a net protecting the fans that come through to view the monuments before the game. During the game they leave the net up and it is impossible to see through. Overall Yankee Stadium was a really neat place to play especially when you think about all the history that has happened in this one spot.
I also wanted to mention quickly that I finished nearly all my mail and it should be coming back to you guys sometime this week. The final total was over 100 pieces of mail and I got some pretty sweet trades from you guys. It is definitely going to take the off-season to update my autograph sections because time is very limited up here.
Also in New York I got the chance to visit and take a tour of the MLBPA offices. This is not open to the public and came courtesy of Evan Kaplan who is the director of trading cards and collectibles for the MLBPA. Evan came across this site and offered me the chance to stop by and open up some boxes of cards and talk about the hobby. It was an awesome experience and I walked away with a bunch of cool stuff. I just broke a couple of the boxes and will open the rest when we get back into town. Oh yeah here’s what I got to open. 2 06 Allen & Ginter boxes, 3 06 Bowman Chromes, 1 06 Topps Chrome, 1 06 Flair, and 1 06 Sweet Spot. What I’ll try to do is post what I opened up in the box and write some comments about each card set when I open them. I hope everyone had a safe and fun labor day!
Tuesday, August 29
August 29th 2006
Thanks for hanging in there with me over these last couple days. I find it tougher to update the site when I'm at home as opposed to on the road. There has been a lot of stuff going on around here. We just finished up an awesome series in Chicago and got an off day yesterday. I spent yesterday unpacking and trying to relax as much as I could. Baseball really takes it out of you physically but more so mentally and off days really help you get your head off baseball. Over the weekend Stephanee, my dad and my neighbor Dave helped me out big time and drove to Rochester, NY to pack up our apartment that we had there. This is the stuff you don't read about but really stresses you out until it is fully cleaned out and the lease is up. The Twins cover all the expenses on the lease and gas to get the car home. In the mail I got about another 100 letters that I will get at during the next road trip. Also there is some pretty neat discussion of a fan club going on under the message board, be sure to check it out.
Thursday, August 24
Question For Everyone?
Tuesday, August 22
August 23rd 2006
Just to give you guys the heads up on what I'll be discussing on here next. This was a question asked to me under the message board.
Hey Pat,
Just wondering do many major leaguers collect autographs for themselves? When your playing other clubs do you ask the other guys to sign for you? Just curious as I think if I was in the majors I would probably have a sweet spot ball from every player on everyteam or at least the big names. Keep up the great work.
Brian
Well this is a pretty simple answer. So far since 2002 I haven't seen any players who collect cards out in the open. I'm sure there are some that keep it quiet. In the past I have noticed a couple teammates who do the team sets and get them signed by everyone on the team. But as far as getting teammates and other players on baseball cards I've rarely seen it happen. One thing that does happen pretty often in AAA and up here is seeing guys send items like baseballs or jerseys to the other clubhouse to get signed up by guys. In this case the player gives their item to one of the batboys and they run the item over. In most cases guys will only go after the big star, future hall of famer or sensational rookie. When the batboy brings the item back you tip the batboy for hooking you up. So far this year I have not took advantage of this but will down the road.
Tuesday, August 22
August 23nd 2006
Hey guys I just got back from the ballpark. I always hate coming to new places up here for the first time because I have no clue where I am going. Usually I try to hop in a cab with someone who has played here before and they can show me where to go. I have to apologize to the fans today for stiffing you guys before the game. I think you guys can understand where I'm coming from though and see that I needed to find where to go. I told most of the collectors there that I would come down early tomorrow and sign for everybody that I missed today.
On a different note there have been many new records made for items of mine on eBay lately. I'll have to update the record section after this update to reflect some of the new highs. The all time high price paid was shattered this past weekend when blinker010 paid $53.55 for a signed photo. I've also noticed there have been new records for signed baseballs and I need to make a section for my new photofile 8X10. Just a note to everyone, I always have been and will be Pro-Ebay. If you have something of mine signed and want to sell it, go for it. Likewise if you think something is cool and want to collect it then go ahead and bid on it. People seem to always think that eBay sellers are bad, which in some cases they can be but you have to remember that there are a lot of people, including me that collect hard to find and signed items and are willing to spend money and purchase these items.
Speaking of photofile from above I don't think I've mentioned I have finally have been included in the photofile series. I'll have to get a picture up and file it under the "Baseball cards" section. It's basically a shot from spring training during our media day and I'm wearing #72 the number I wore during my debut and changed later that week.
I've also got a bunch of new baseball cards that are out there. It's funny because I was never aware they made a card of me for the International League All Star game until someone came up to me with my card. There's also a new card of mine from the Rochester Red Wings team set this year. I also just found out a couple days ago that there's a 2006 International League Prospects set and they included me in it. My only complaint is that I wish they could've used a different picture on the cards. For all three cards it's the same image just resized. 3 new cards...not a bad month. I'm hoping to be included in an Upper Deck or Topps update set but I'm not holding my breath.
Tuesday, August 22
August 22nd 2006
I just got on the internet here in Baltimore but have to leave for the park in a couple minutes. I will be on here tonight adding a new update.
Wednesday, August 16
Stuff In The Mail
I finished opening the rest of the letters and there was a lot of excellent trades and cards. Some of the signed card highlights were a 2006 Modesto Nuts team set, a Willie O'Ree, Mark Fidrych, Tony Gwynn, Andre Dawson, Dwight Gooden, Jeff Reardon, Nolan Ryan, Stan Musial, Pete Rose and even a Juan Agosto card. Not to mention about 75 other signed various baseball and hockey cards. It's been a good week, thanks to everyone who traded with me this week!
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| It Was A Good Day With Mail! |
Tuesday, August 15
August 16th 2006
I went to my locker today and noticed another huge pile of letters…this coming after last week’s pile of mail. I thought it would be cool to do an entry and maybe make this a reoccurring theme for the site. Some letters contained nothing more than a congrats, others contained a bunch of cards. Hopefully this can give you a little insight in what we see each day with the mail. Some letters are weird and make you wonder what the person was thinking and others are pretty cool. So lets open the mail and see what came in today.
Letter #1 from Bob Butler – Sent me a Zach Duke signed card to trade – Said congrats and how he loves small market teams like the Twins & Pirates. I sent him back a 2003 MWL signed card of myself. So far so good!
Letter #2 from Rich Mies – Sent me a letter saying thanks for the website and how it’s cool to be playing for the Twins. Sent me three tickets from my first win and wanted them signed. I signed them and sent the SASE back.
Letter #3 from Darlinda Alexander – Sent me a letter with questions but no SASE. Asked a bunch of questions and told me I’m her favorite boy on the team. Wanted to know why I don’t pitch more innings. Wanted to know how to correctly say my name. Also wanted to know if I had the desire to become a starter and told me not to give the bs answer of “I’m just happy to be here.” Well to answer those questions, 1…I pitch a lot of games and can’t continually pitch every night. I like to say you can pronounce my name Knee Shack or Knee Sheck whichever you prefer. I like what I’m doing a lot and have no desire to be a starter.
Letter #4 from Larry Hatfield – This letter basically said thanks for the website and good luck. Included an unsigned Steve Garvey and Pedro Martinez card? Also sent 2 homemade cards. Signed the cards and sent them back.
Letter #5 from Cindy Oliver – Short & Sweet, please sign my two index cards! EZ & to the point, I like.
Letter #6 from Terry Luddy – Wrote to me before and wanted to know what I wanted for my collection. Sent me a list and I picked out Steve Balboni. Included the Balboni in this letter. Thanks Terry
Letter #7 from Nick Lindquist – This is one of my old friends from Junior High and High School. I haven’t talked to him that much since and he wrote a cool letter saying what’s up. Hopefully I can catch up with him in the off-season.
Letter #8 from Ryan Fay – Short & Sweet, please sign index card and thanks for the website. I like these type of letters the most, sent back the signed index card.
Letter #9 from Aaron Graham – Sweet a trade, 1 Doug Glanville for one of mine…done
I have about 25 more letters but will open these tomorrow. That’s enough for me tonight, check out the letters in the mail section for more mail that comes in!
Tuesday, August 15
August 15th 2006
The other day I did a signing in Apple Valley at the Twins Pro Shop. It was a fun time and I got to meet a lot of fans. I was very surprised at how many people turned out for the signing. When I got there I noticed there was a long line stretching around the outside of the store down the road. I signed from 11am-12:30 and I heard there was still a line and they had to turn people away at the end. I felt bad that I couldn't get to everyone and hope I can do another signing down the road. There were a lot of interesting people I met at the signing. It was cool to hear a lot of fans say they have been to this website before! A couple people gave me some signed cards for my collection...thanks guys. There were a couple fans that went to my high school before I did and some that were going there now. One guy had me sign a Park Center HS sock? A couple people came up to me and asked if I remember people I went to school with. One woman demanded I become a starter, I told her that I'm a reliever and I don't think it will ever change. She got mad and walked away. The one thing I noticed about this signing was that people seemed a lot more happy & talkative than other signings I have done and it was really cool to interact and sign everything for them. After the signing I got a quick bite to eat and headed to the field. As I walked to the stadium entrance I noticed there were a lot of fans that were waiting for me that already got me earlier in the day at the signing...now that's dedication!
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| Outside The Apple Valley Twins Pro Shop |
Friday, August 11
August 11th 2006
I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be doing a signing tomorrow (8/12/06) in Apple Valley @ the Twins Pro Shop. It's from 11am-12:30 and I hope to see some of you out there.
Wednesday, August 9
August 9th 2006
One more game here in Detroit then we head back to MN for a long home stand. Back in college I came out to a game at Comerica and proclaimed it my favorite ballpark as a fan behind Wrigley Field. It's really a beautiful park that has a lot of detail and cool things for the fans to check out such as the statues in center and the standing room sections in the outfield. Back then when I came out to the game there wasn't too many people in the seats. This time around Comerica was packed and had the same type of atmosphere that I felt in Chicago. Some cool things I noticed so far...perhaps the neatest is the bullpens in left center. We have the choice of watching the game from the bench in the bullpen or the air-conditioned bullpen dugout. The dugout has sliding glass windows, a fridge with drinks, a bathroom and an up close view of the field. The only downfall that I have noticed so far in Detroit is the hotel's location. We stay a good distance away from the field and is kind of a pain taking a taxi there each day.
One thing I did notice about Detroit so far was the number of collectors and autographers before and after each game. The hotel here is off limits so the next best way to get things signed is to wait outside the door of the stadium. My first day here the taxi driver dropped me off and I was greeted by the Detroit crew. I signed a lot of photofile shots, a couple All Star cards, notecards and many photos of the shot that was posted on yahoo including a 16x20 of that shot from some weird Canadian guy! The graphers here really hooked me up with some fine cards and photos. Since I didn't have too many photofile shots of myself I asked one of the guys if I could get some extras and he hooked me up with a bunch of shots. Other things I received were a bunch (15) of heroes & prospects signed hockey cards, a Brent Gretzky signed card and one grapher even brought me a stack of cards and said take anything you need. I picked out a lot of the guys I have faced so far in my MLB career that I didn't have.
Monday, August 7
August 7th 2006
I'm going to go ahead and try to get a quick update in before I head to the field. I was checking out the message board and saw a post by joeltwin that had some neat questions that everyone might be interested in so I'm going to answer them really quick.
So, what is it like being on the road with Big League Ball. Was just thinking of Kansas City and the hothouse the town was.
It's excellent, I mean it's everything I always wanted to do and now after being up here for a month I have really started to relax a lot and feel like I belong. I really couldn't think of anything in the world I would rather be doing.
You had like 3-4 days there. Do players tend to go out after games to eat/relax? Do you drift out to some sites (like the fantastic Negro League Museum). After a hot Saturday night game, is there a swimming pool the players can jell at after hours at the hotel?
It comes down to each individual player. We really don't get as much time as you think we do. We usually get back to the hotel around midnight. For me I try to get on the internet and check scores and news out. I usually turn on the TV and fall asleep. So by going to bed around 1-2am every night it takes any normal person around 8-10 hours of sleep to feel good. I wake up around 10-11am and only have a couple hours to hang out. I almost always leave for the field for a 7pm game around 2:30pm. We play nearly everyday (with an off day averaging about 1 every 2 weeks) for 6 months so it's really a grind. There are usually swimming pools at the hotels but in my 5 years of playing I never remember using one. Basically it's the same routine above for me everyday.
Do fans frequent hotels for autographs? Do they wait for the cabs over the bus?
It really depends on the city you are in and the hotel. There are always a couple hotel visitors who are staying there that say hi or good luck. Most places they have an area at the hotel that is roped off for fans to try and get autographs.
Can't wait to hear about Sunday at KC. Nice that the visitors have a shaded bullpen for the evening games. But wonder if you all get out of the clubhouse within an hour or so to hop that plane to Detroit so you can settle in there and get rid of the 105-degree sweat from the game, rather than hang around the clubhouse.
Yeah Sunday was a hot hot hot game. We did just like you said and were out of KC in about an hour and a half after the game. I crashed and fell asleep for the entire trip. When we got into Detroit it was about 20 degrees cooler so we were all happy.
Silly question: who gets to do the laundry when you quickly pack up and leave from one town to the next?
The clubby puts all the personals and uniforms in a bag and packs them for the next team's clubby. When we get into town the equipment travels over to the stadium and the clubby unpacks it all and cleans everything up.
And is major league food better than minor league food?
Of course, but there's a catch...the dues EACH DAY are $40. It doesn't hurt too much though because we get about double that each day from the club for meal money. It's rougher in the minors getting only $20 a day and having to pay the clubby $12 of that for each day we are there. You cannot live on that and needs to be updated.
Good job! I was one of the many Minnesotans clapping away Saturday night when you struck out three.
Thanks, I love the support!
Saturday, August 5
August 6th 2006
We just got back from the game an hour ago. The hotel is about a 20-minute drive and most guys take the bus back to the hotel. Tonight's game was kind of unique in that we wore camouflage hats in honor of the military. We showed up to the park and James our equipment guy started asking us our hat sizes then gave us hats. Pretty much everyone on the team thought the hats were awesome & I heard a number of teammates say that they were keeping their hats to wear during the off-season. The hats are made by New Era and I'm not sure if they sell them? We have one more game here in KC. It's going to be a hot one so if you're coming to the game tomorrow be prepared!
Saturday, August 5
August 5th 2006
Well we have been in KC for a couple days now and I'm really impressed with everything here. For some reason there seems to be more Twins fans at games than Royals fans. It's been awesome having a big fan base on the road. Kauffman Stadium looks as good as ever. I came out to a couple games here my summer before I started college. The one difference was the attendance. Back then the place was packed and my seats were near the top of the upper deck. During the last couple games only the first couple rows were filled in the upper deck. Like I said before this place is in awesome shape. The grass is in excellent shape as well as the entire playing surface. I tend to find myself checking out the waterfalls every now and then, I mean how could you not. It's kind of hard to believe it was built in 1973 because it still has that new feeling to it. As far as autographs go it's kind of a tough place to get stuff signed. When you pull up to the stadium in a cab you have the choice to go through the front or to the tunnel. Most players pick the tunnel because it's quicker to get inside. The tunnel is fenced off but you can still try to call the players over. After games there is a small waiting area about 50 feet from the bus but it's pretty unusual for guys to come over and sign (at least that's how it has been during the past couple days.) The hotel has lots of security so your best bet is to go try to get guys at the stadium during bp or before the game.
Thursday, August 3
August 3rd 2006
I just got through most of my mail and got some pretty sweet trades. I'm kind of surprised but the trades have been down a bit lately. Remember if you ever need a signed card of mine send a signed card of any baseball or hockey player with a SASE and we have a trade. Right now I'm working on getting all the cards in order and will take pictures of them and get the baseball autographs section updated sometime soon. A couple notes on the letters that most of you already know. Whenever writing if you want a response be sure to include a self addressed stamped envelope. There was about 5 letters that didn't include a SASE and I do not have time to run to the post office and fill out an envelope. Also like in the past I cannot get my teammates to sign you stuff. Do the dirty work yourself or write to them. There were about another half dozen of these letters asking for me to get Johan, Torii and Liriano on stuff...not going to happen. I got some pretty sweet stuff and the top couple things I received were from Al Clemente of NY and Juan in San Antonio. The two of them combined to hook me up with 100-signed cards. The collection has really been growing and I can't wait to get scans up when I find sometime. Right now we are in KC and I will try to get some updates in soon!
Wednesday, August 2
August 2nd 2006
Hey guys I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here and plan on updating this site a lot in the next couple days...that is if I can get on the internet in Kansas City. I've received a lot of mail at the dome (about 10 letters a day) and plan on getting to that on the road trip and letting everyone know what I got in the mail. Also I've received a pretty sweet camera from Red Wings fan Jeff Valone in Rochester and plan on bringing the camera along to see what kind of shots I can get. Hang in there with me another day and I think this site will start getting more frequent updates!
Friday, July 28
July 28th 2006
Hey guys, I just closed and moved into my first house yesterday. My updates might be a little erratic for a couple days but I promise I will try my best to get some updates in.
Wednesday, July 26
July 26th 2006
I'm getting ready to head out to the ballpark. This series in Chicago went by pretty quick and had playoff atmosphere written all over it. It seemed to me that both games so far have been sold out. It was also weird to me to see this placed with a packed house. In college I went to a game and they couldn't even fill the lower level. Anyways it has been a great roadtrip and is going to be nice to have a much needed off day tomorrow.
Monday, July 24
July 24th 2006
Well, another day another city. It's amazing how fast travel is up here. About an hour and a half after our game today we were on a plane heading to Chicago & a little after that we were in our hotels. You always know you are in a big town when there are graphers waiting outside the hotel at odds times of the day with stuff for anyone that might just happen to walk by.
I needed to clear something up really quick that I just found in a paper saying that I am single. In Sid Hartman's column today it read this "Being single and only 25 and a baseball star in his hometown, you would think he would hear from some of the young ladies. But he said he hasn't received any proposals."
I don't know why it was printed saying I was. I am NOT SINGLE, sorry ladies! I'm very much in love with Stephanee and we have been together nearly three years (for those who are new to the site.) Sid's question to me was about mail and if I have received any marriage proposals. I laughed at his question and said no! I guess I'll have to start making it clear that I am taken!
A cool thing I found out in Cleveland. I found out there's another card of me out there. During the 2006 AAA All Star game they made a set of all the all-stars. I was included in the set but do not have a card to show off yet. I was surprised that yesterday was the first time someone showed me the card and nobody on here mentioned it. The card is an image of me pitching and has a lot of black in it making it tough for me to sign. I'll try to get a scan up when someone sends one to me in the mail.
The graphers in Cleveland were really cool to me. Most of the things I signed were sweet spots on baseballs and team items. A couple guys had 8X10's and a couple of my cards. One grapher was awesome and hooked me up with a signed Rob Zombie album cover, I was pumped to get a metal autograph so I hooked him up with a couple MLB balls during BP.
Be sure to check out this funny link on my pitching mechanics
when you get a chance
A little off topic but I'm sitting in my hotel room right now thinking about all the things that have happened in the past couple weeks. It's crazy how fast life can change. One minute I'm getting ready to go to a AAA game in Scranton and the next night I'm pitching in front of 30,000 people. Days after that I bought my first house, then days later I'm pitching at the dome for the first time. If you would have told me all this stuff would've happened the minute before I got called up I would laughed and said something like wouldn't that be nice. What a year, I think the best thing about it all is looking back and knowing that all the hard work that I put in for all those years finally means something. Moving to Florida all those off-seasons, not seeing my family for months at a time and sacrificing everything for one chance. Having Stephanee by my side was the best thing that could've happened to me. I'll be the first to say that it has been tough. I was talking to my brother Paul in the off-season about the last season and he was like a lot of fans saying it must be the best to be a minor league ballplayer. I told him it has its moments and then I brought in the analogy of baseball being just like war. You basically live with a bunch of guys for six months. You never know if you'll have a job the next day. You don't get to see any of your family unless they come out to see you. You have to put up numbers against excellent competition. But the toughest thing that will drive a lot of people crazy is the stress. Like war you are constantly worried about what lies ahead. What happens when you have a bad outing, how are you going to respond...What are you going to do after baseball is over. There have been times when I was so worried about how bad I did in a game that it would even wake me up at night in my dreams. But you know what, I can sit here right now after all these years and say that all the pain, suffering and things that needed to get done to get here have been worth it...It's a pretty sweet feeling!
Friday, July 21
Wayne "Big Fella" Hattaway
Wayne Hattaway otherwise known around baseball as "Big Fella" is a legend of baseball. If you watch Twins games you might have seen Wayne before and wondered who he is and what he does. For the past...lets say hundred years Wayne has been a staple in the Twins organization. He has been with the Twins longer than any player and is recognized by most of the biggest players in the game. Fans on the other hand may not have a clue who Wayne is. The other day I was sitting in the bullpen with most of the guys and bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek and thought it would be a fun idea to make a webpage about Wayne and everything he did. Wayne also has some of the coolest shirts that he gives out every spring training to the guys and we thought Wayne could make some extra money and sell them on his site. One problem though, we didn't know if you guys "the fans" would be interested in "Big Fella." That's where this poll question comes in. Please help us out and let us know if you would be interested or not in a Wayne Hattaway website!
FYI, I've included an article about Wayne if you click on the link above or on the picture below.
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| "Big Fella" |
Friday, July 21
July 21st 2006
Yesterday was a pretty long day of traveling and baseball. I woke up around 8am and started packing for our trip to Cleveland and Chicago. I left around 9:15 and got to the park a little after that. When I got to the Dome I walked over to our team van to drop off my luggage and from there I went inside to get ready for the game. After the game we had about and hour and a half to get over to the airport. All of our flights are chartered so most of the time we don't go inside to the airport. Usually there are smaller side terminals that we fly out of. It's really nice because we don't have to deal with waiting around and long lines. The flights have been pretty nice so far. This is a family trip in that players can bring along their families. They only have one of these a year so it's a pretty big deal. Our last plane was pretty nice. It contained a lot of tables, a couple reclining chairs and every seat was pretty much first class. This plane was a lot like any other plane I have ever been on due to all the families traveling with. When we got into the hotel there was a couple autographers waiting and I signed up a couple things. Most big league hotels are really tough to get autographs at. This place has an area that is roped off for fans outside the front doors. I'm getting ready to go to the field in a little bit and will be back with a report about Jacobs field. Our college team played here back in 2002 so it'll be neat to see "the Jake" again.
Tuesday, July 18
July 18th 2006
On Saturday I switched my jersey from #72 to #17. Our clubby James asked me in Texas if this was the number I wanted and I told him I really didn't care what number I had but if I could switch I would go with #17. He told me that it wouldn't be a problem, it would take a couple days to get the new number on. When the number got switched a lot of the guys on the team were giving me crap about being a rookie and switching numbers so quick. I knew they were joking and it was pretty funny trying to explain to them that James gave me the choice and asked me if I wanted to change my number.
Last night I got into my first game at the Metrodome. I was pretty pumped to get the call in a close 4-3 game. My arm felt excellent and I knew if I had my location on I would be fine. When I got to the mound for the first time I really wasn't nervous and was focused more on getting the guys out and preserving the lead. The dome mound was in excellent shape and just like in Texas the plate felt really close. The one thing I noticed just a little bit was the crowd right above the plate. There aren't too many ballparks that have a solid background right behind the plate. A lot of places have seating right behind home and this can act as camouflage when trying to find the catcher. Not here though, all I could see was the dark blue background and first couple rows of seats.
Sunday, July 16
July 16th 2006 - Free Tickets???
Over the past week I have had a lot of people ask about the ticket situation. Some were curious if I could get them tickets for cards and others just wanted free tickets. This is where the situation gets a little sticky. You see in the minors stadiums will usually let each player get a couple tickets free if not three or four tickets. A lot of times you can also get more tickets if you find a player who isn't using their tickets. This year in Indianapolis I gave out 25 tickets at one of the games. Most games in Rochester I gave out one to two tickets in exchange for people completing the free ticket challenge in which I would trade tickets for signed cards. Players are not charged anything for leaving tickets in the minors, they are free.
Things are a lot different in the Big Leagues mostly due to an organization called the IRS. Last year the IRS began taxing tickets left by players. Up here we cannot leave tickets for our parents, wives, friends or family without having to pay tax on the tickets. The tax rate is around 40% and the tickets they let us pick from are not cheap considering they only give us one section to choose from...right behind the plate. At the Metrodome the price of these tickets are $44, in Texas they were $50. So doing the math real quickly an average price for each ticket we can leave ends up costing us around $20. Now when things tend to get a little ugly is when you have to leave a lot of tickets to give out. In my case that was last Thursday in my first game at the dome. I left 20 tickets and after tax it cost me $352. After that game I told most of my friends that I cannot give out tickets anymore:) I was also talking to a teammate and they said last year was pretty costly to them on the ticket side of things because he got taxed an extra $8000 and that was pretty average amongst guys on the team. If you do the math on that situation he spent $20,000 pre-tax, cost of tickets before tax are around $50. $20,000/$50 = 400 tickets left and there are 162 games in a season I think. 400/162 = 2.5 tickets per game. That's a lot of cash for leaving only 2.5 tickets to every game of the year. So basically up here in the big leagues there is no such thing as "free tickets." I heard rumors that this was implemented because a lot of players (Pre-2005) were selling their tickets for cash and making out pretty good. All in all I agree for the most part on having our tickets taxed but I still feel no matter what the situation is that parents, brother, sisters and wives should get in free of charge no matter what the situation.
Also I thought it was pretty interesting how we leave tickets to games. In each clubhouse there is a computer that's set up and designated only for leaving tickets. Each player gets a user name and sets their password. When the player logs in they are immediately directed to a schedule for whatever team they are on. Basically you click on the date of whatever game you need to leave tickets for and another page opens up where you fill out whom you are leaving the tickets for. Once you are done you can make more reservations or log out.
Saturday, July 15
June 15th 2006
The other day I went into the Twins clubhouse for the first time. It was a pretty neat experience since the only other time I have been in there was for a tour back around 4th grade. My first impression was that it was a pretty small clubhouse. It has everything you could want but just a little tight for space. I got squared away with my uniform and hats, my number is going to get changed on Saturday to #17, it had to be shipped or something. When I went to my locker I noticed it was already packed with about 40 pieces of mail so I'll get to that as soon as I can. I walked out to the field and played catch and shagged some BP. I'm a bigger fan of this turf than what they had here a couple years back because it plays a lot more like real grass and doesn't bounce ten feet when a ball hits it. Before and after games fans can try to get autographs outside the stadium. The first day I got here I walked over to sign outside and the person looked at me funny then turned away so I continued to the door and then a couple graphers stopped me and I signed for a little bit. If anyone wants me to stop outside just shout out my name and I will come over, that way I don't look funny or that I'm stiffing anyone.
Tuesday, July 11
July 11th 2006
All I can say is thank God for the All Star break. I think I would be going insane right now with all the emotions and things I've done in the past couple days if I didn't have a break to slow myself down. Wow, what a week. One day I'm sitting in Rochester, NY and the next I'm pitching against the Texas Rangers in Texas. Life has been pretty good and it's awesome to get to share this with my family, friends and anyone who knows me or checks out this site. Like I said before life is moving quickly and this break is so nice to get and slow myself down and get some rest. These next couple days I will be resting up and getting things in order so I can focus entirely on baseball. I still have yet to unpack my bags. Well I'll leave with this, life in the Big Leagues is well...Big League. Everything that goes on is top notch, elite and the finest around. I'm speaking of the travel, the games and everything else. I'm very happy to be up here and am going to work my butt off to stay up here. But right now I'm going to take a much needed break for a couple days and then will get back with some more updates in the future. Thanks everyone!
Saturday, July 8
July 8th - Part II - The Craziest Day Of My Life & All-Time Favorite!
July 7th, 2006 started off like every other day, I woke up. Two seconds later I was asking myself where I was and two second after that I realized I really wasn't dreaming and that I was in Texas ready to play in the big leagues! I laid there for a couple seconds and tried to think of what was going on around me. It was too much for me to take, my head was running a millions miles a second. I got up and opened the window shade and stared at what I was seeing in front of me...Ameriquest Field. I really didn't know what to do all day before I went to the field. All I was told was to catch up with another teammate because I was yet to get my MLB player pass to get into the stadium. Stephanee and I sat around for a little bit watching TV. She could tell I was anxious, nervous and a little out of my element and I was. Thoughts kept running through my head like how am I going to get to the field, am I wearing the right type of clothes and what should I be doing right now. I would compare it to going to a new school or being in a new setting such as a job for the first time. You know everything will be fine but you are built up with a lot of nerves and anxiousness. In a way I wanted what I had to do yesterday to be written out on a list so I could follow it closely and not screw anything up. Well as time couldn't have went by quicker on the 6th, time seemed to not move on the 7th. Waiting to go to the field felt like forever. Around 2:45pm I went down to the lobby and met up with a couple guys on the team and we got into a van and headed to the field.
I walked into the locker room and was greeted by a lot of my teammates, coaches and staff of the Twins. I went to Gardenhire's office and told him I was ready for battle and he told me to be ready to pitch. From there I went to the equipment room and was given my uniform. I was given my spring training number 72 and didn't get a chance to pick my number, it didn't matter to me one bit. They told me I could switch my number once we get back to Minnesota. If that's the case I think I'm going to go with #17, it's always been my favorite number. From there I did a couple interviews for the Twins pre-game show with Dick Bremer. I also met Jack Morris and WCCO's John Gordon. It was kind of crazy for me because these are the guys I listened to and watched when I was growing up.
Around 5pm we finally went out to the field to stretch, play catch and hit BP. It felt pretty good running out for the first time and I was greeted by a couple cool people from this website that had my name on posters. I was a little out of my element and I think a couple of the fans could tell how excited I was. We stretched in front of the dugout then played catch and hit BP. After BP was over I was informed that I inherited the Orange Spongebob Squarepants backpack/rollaway bag from Willie Eyre. From this day on I have to fill up the bag with beverages and goodies and wheel the bag out to the bullpen. The only time I will be fulfilled of this duty is if another bullpen member with no MLB experience comes up.
Well from there the game started and I was finally starting to feel the effects of traveling all day and all the excitement that came along with getting called up...I was a little tired but the adrenaline easily fixed everything. The game went along and in the bottom of the 5th the bullpen phone rang and they got me. I felt a little awkward as I started throwing. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be just awkward being in a different setting with new faces and a different uniform. The inning ended and they sat me down. The 6th inning came along and once again they got me up. I continued to throw and felt a lot better using the MLB baseballs. The one difference with the balls from AAA balls is the leather. MLB balls are a lot finer quality leather and a little tougher to get a good grip on. The inning ended and there was another call on the bullpen phone. "Neshek, you got it,” said bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek. I didn't get as nervous as I thought I would once again and this was a good thing. I kept telling myself to keep the ball low and knew it was going to be tough. The inning ended and I was off to the mound. My first couple warm-up pitches felt great. I really didn't notice the fans like I thought I would. My hat pretty much covered up the entire upper deck and I had tunnel vision. The plate felt really close and with that I threw my final warm-up pitch and was ready to go. Well I don't want to go into too much detail with each hitter. If you want to see pitch-by-pitch analysis, Seth Stohs of www.sethspeaks.net did an excellent job of this and I recommend everyone check out his site. My first MLB pitch was to Kevin Mench and it was a fastball for a strike. I was glad to get ahead and glad to finally get that first pitch over with!!! All in all I was very pleased with my first big league outing. I left a couple pitches up but was lucky enough to get out of the two innings I threw especially with all the nerves and trying to do too much with some of my pitches. Some things I remember most about being on the mound. Well I was really mad I didn't get my slider to run a little bit more. I think I could've had a couple more k's if I had that working. Between innings in the 8th as I was warming up and threw my 4th warm-up pitch when Home plate Umpire Doug Eddings came up to me and asked if I was ready yet. I told him I needed two more pitches, then caught myself and said "opps, yes I'm ready" and had Mauer fire it down to 2nd. One thing you don't want to do being a rookie is piss off the umpire and I'm glad I caught myself. By the way Eddings has a very good cut fastball. Every time he threw a ball back to me it moved a good foot on me with velo and I had a tough time catching it. After the 8th inning got over I was handed my first strikeout ball and put it in my glove. After the game got over umpire Doug Eddings came into our dugout and handed me both of his lineup cards and wished me luck on my career. Right then and there an MLB authenticator came up to me and put MLB stamps on each of my items I was given, the ball, the lineup cards and authenticated everything. I couldn't have had a better day I was on cloud 9.
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| Awesome |
Saturday, July 8
July 8th 2006 - Getting The Call
Well where do I start, I guess right at the beginning. On Thursday around 11 am, Stephanee and I were sitting around eating breakfast and getting ready to take our dog to the park when I got a phone call from Stan Cliburn. I cannot describe the conversation word for word but it went something like this..."Pat, you just got called up to Minnesota. I wanted to do this in-person but I think your flight is leaving pretty soon and we need to get you going. Hurry up and get to the field and pack up your locker your flight is in four hours!" As soon as I got off the phone with Stan I looked at Stephanee and told her the good news and then told her to start packing up. I was pretty excited trying to contemplate what just happened and was trying to think about what I should do. I told her I was off to the field to pack up my locker but was cut off, as she said, "Aren’t you going to call your parents!" Right that second I called my dad first, followed by my mom and brothers. Then I jumped in the car and continued to call a lot of my friends and let them know the good news. I got to the field and was greeted by our Trainer Tony Leo. He gave me my flight info and helped me track down all my items in the clubhouse. My flight was at 5pm and I felt like time was moving so quickly. I got back to the apartment a little bit after and Stephanee and I had to decide what to do. Should she drive back to MN and catch a flight the next day or catch a flight out of Rochester. Right then and there my mom called and asked what she should do about a flight. I had no idea; you always see parents at the game when a guy makes his debut so I figured the teams just hooked the player’s families up. I called up my agent Barry Meister to see what to do. He told me that the team doesn't get flights and they should try to find one and if they needed help he would help me out. About an hour later my parents and brothers had their flights to Dallas. The next question was what should Stephanee do? After careful consideration we thought it would be best to get her a flight around the same time as mine but would there be flights available? Sure enough there was and we got her on the next plane out of Rochester. The last thing we had to do was pack up and clean up the apartment a little. The next couple hours took about 5 minutes in my mind and soon enough Stephanee, our dog and I were at the airport and on the plane going to the big leagues.
Later that night we arrived in Dallas. I turned my cell phone on and noticed I had about 20 new messages. I listened to a couple then the phone went dead, the battery died on me. We took a cab over to the hotel and finally got in around 11pm. In the big leagues every player gets their own room. It was a long day and all we wanted to do was fall asleep. What a day, but in my mind I knew that tomorrow was going to be even crazier!
Saturday, July 8
Contest Clue
I'm shocked to see this contest is still stumping everyone. Here's another clue, The Florida State League Stadium is Vero Beach's Holman Stadium. The Eastern League Stadium is Altoona. Good luck with the Midwest and Appy leagues!
Saturday, July 8
July 7th 2006 - The Debut
Hey guys, WOW what a day. I have not been able to get onto the internet until just now 2am. I left the ballpark with my family at 11pm and went out to eat and just got back a little bit ago. I'm planning on waking up around 9-10am tomorrow and writing my thoughts on this crazy day. Thanks to everyone for being patient with me.
Thursday, July 6
July 6th 2006 - Part 2
Guys I just got a call from Stan Cliburn and was informed I was going up to the Big Leagues! I'll have more tonight, right now I have to pack, my flight is in 2 hours.
Thursday, July 6
July 6th 2006
The other day I had a little craving for getting some stuff signed. A fellow grapher in Rochester named Allan tipped me off that one of my favorite bands Lamb Of God was coming into town and were doing a signing in Rochester. I had to go and later that day was off getting them to sign a couple items for me. It turned out that only half the band showed up for the signing and Allan told me he was going back into battle after the show to get the cd completely signed by everyone in the band. He did awesome and finished 3 items signed to me by the entire band. I want to get scans up but my camera broke on me and I need to get on eBay to buy another one.
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| RRRRRRRRR Lamb Of God!!! |
Tuesday, July 4
July 4th 2006
I was hoping to get a bunch of updates in while we were in Buffalo but the internet wasn't working for me. Last night we got back from Buffalo and I woke up this morning and decided to get to all the letters that have came in. I still have yet to get to five letters from these guys, David Tucker, KJ Mathis, John Bradley, Jeff Fedorko and Jon D'amico + anything that has been sent in the last couple days. Please be patient if your name is above and for the others your letters are getting placed in the mail today.
Contest Update - Contest Clue
So far there have only been 31 responses so I think it's time for a clue
Listed below is how many times out of 31 guesses that the correct answer has been guessed for each league.
Appy - 3
Midwest - 2
Florida - 10
Eastern - 7
Good Luck
Thursday, June 29
June 29th 2006
The next 24 hours is going to be pretty rough for our team probably the roughest I have seen in the minors since I have been playing. We will be wrapping up our final game of the road trip here in Indy and then head back to Rochester. The trip is around 9 hours long but the worst part about it is that somehow the game got scheduled at 7pm thus meaning we will probably be getting back into Rochester around 8am at the earliest and then having to play a game later that evening. These are the days in the minors that really are rough.
Like I said above the Indianapolis/Louisville trip is wrapping up tonight. Indianapolis has been an awesome experience for me because it has kind of been a homecoming of sort since I went to college here. Each night lots of ex-teammates and friends came out to the games and it was a great feeling getting to pitch in front of them. I think I had my best day of the year the other day when I got the win in front of everybody. It was awesome because before the game I did a bunch of interviews for the local news and Indians broadcast dealing with my time at Butler and what is was like to be back at Victory Field. That day I was informed it was Butler day at the park and there were tons of Alum in the stands. The seventh inning came along and I went into the game. I got out of a couple jams and our team ended up pulling out the victory. After the game I got player of the game and got interviewed on the field. It was awesome especially after being on the other side of the fence and watching dozens of games here when I was in college. It really made me look back at how far my career has come and realize what I have done. I've had this same experience at Beloit and Vero Beach a couple years back because both of these places were fields I frequented when I was younger and never thought I would have the opportunity to pitch at. This time was different though because I got to do it in front of a lot of friends!
I'm hoping to get an update on Victory Field and the autograph scene here in Indianapolis when we get back sometime on the weekend. Also I just found out yesterday that you guys & the coaches/media voted me into the 2006 AAA All Star game. How awesome is that! I can't wait for the game to come around and will try to get some great stories on that weekend! Thanks to everyone who voted for my teammates and me!
Monday, June 26
Win Boof Bonser's Hat
Be sure to check out the newest contest and take a guess to win a Game-Used hat from the newest Twins Rookie Boof Bonser!
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| Win This Hat! |
Sunday, June 25
June 25th 2006
Right now we are getting ready to head out of Louisville. We have played three games so far and after tonight’s game we head out to Indianapolis, which is a little under two hours away. I’ve been pretty impressed with Louisville in general. It’s a downtown type stadium, which generally means a nice hotel and big crowds. The hotel is one of those flaky hotels that wants $10 a day for internet access, luckily I have been able to jump onto a network nearby from my room that goes out every couple minutes…still its free! The other day we surpassed the halfway point of the season in terms of games played and we are just about into the dog days of summer referring to the month of July in which games and days seem to never go by quick enough. I was talking to a bunch of guys on the team and it really feels like we just started the season and we concluded that winning makes everything better and the seasons seems to go by quicker. Whatever it is I like it a lot and hope everything stays like it has been going.
Louisville, well what can I say. I always wondered what it would be like to play at this stadium. If you ever drive through Louisville you cannot miss the stadium. It’s in view the entire way as you drive down the highway and looks great from there. On the field it’s no different, the place is in great shape and really fun to play at. Now I have played at the old stadium in college with the old turf, short fences down the line and the eight million seats and I’m glad we don’t have to play at that place. This park is one of the newer ones in the league and they really get a lot of fans every night. The first things I noticed about this park is that it is deceivingly long. I walked into the stadium and shook my head because it looked tiny down the lines and to center. Minutes later we were taking BP on the field and not many balls were leaving the park. The stadium is pretty well designed with a HR terrace area in left center and seating/bleachers in the outfield. Like I said before they really pack the place and are currently leading the IL in attendance. But as great as this place is they did forget to do one major thing that Toledo also messed up on…they forgot to build a bullpen! I don’t know who is designing these places nowadays but you JUST CANNOT forget to build a place for the bullpen to sit. During this series the bullpen takes refuge along a ramp at the end of the dugout. The major highlight of this place for me is found in the spacious clubhouse, which includes everything from big screen TV’s, couches everywhere, food and drinks galore and yes…an original RBI Baseball arcade game. Lets just say I’ve been arriving to the clubhouse early and going home late each game.
The autograph scene is pretty good here. It’s kind of like most places in that you can get the players outside the stadium before the entrance. They shuttle us on a hotel van before and after each game and the van waits right outside the gates. Players generally wait inside until they find out the shuttle is waiting and then make their way outside. I met a couple collectors waiting outside but didn’t see too many inside during the game. One collector, Jon W hooked me up with a stack of 30 pretty sweet-signed cards. He asked me what I collected and I told him anything but said it would be cool to get some cards of guys in the IL and on the Louisville. Sure enough he hooked it up and also said to let him know if I need anything because his collection surpasses 100,000 signed items!!!
After the game we are off to Indy for a four game set.
Tuesday, June 20
June 20th 2006
We are heading to Louisville on our off day tomorrow. We are still yet to have an actual "off day" at home this season and I don't know if we will. It's a long season as it is and to spend it non-stop on the road never getting one day off is tough. Tomorrow we are leaving at 9am and busing to Louisville. I was kind of surprised to be busing to a place that far away from us but that's how it is. I always remember talking to Jesse Crain a couple years back when he got up to AAA and it always sounded like they were flying on planes and never going on long buses. Something sure changed because we only have two trips the entire season that we fly. Hopefully the hotels during this trip will have internet. I'm bringing a lot of my signed cards that you guys traded with or gave to me and hopefully I can update my signed card collection and put them all in order if the internet is not available. I've been given a lot of awesome stuff this season and thank everyone who has contributed! Also I have received a lot of letters and will try to get to some of them on the trip. Some date back a month so hang in there with me and I will do my best to get back to you guys.
Also, voting for the All Star game is wrapping up on the 23rd so keep getting those votes in! I also wanted to mention that someone has finally answered contest #15 correctly and that a new contest may be up shortly so keep checking back.
Monday, June 19
Final Clue
Please, you guys have to get this...I don't have many more clues. Both are best known for playing on Californian teams!
Saturday, June 17
June 17th 2006
Here's another clue for contest #15. They were both All Stars at some point in their careers. Also one name has been mentioned and the other hasn't been mentioned at all!
The Indianapolis series wrapped up last night. My parents have been in town the past couple days and got to see me pitch last night. They are heading out today. Last night the crowd in Rochester was the biggest of the season and it really added a lot of excitement to the game. Before the game I was interviewed on Indy Indians radio by the great Howard Kellman, otherwise known as the "Voice of the Indians." It was a really cool interview and he asked me a lot of questions about Butler University, which is in Indianapolis. The best comment came when he asked me about getting autographs with teammate Paul Beck after Indians games and I told him heck Howard I've even got you signed on cards! I could tell he was kind of shocked but then I describe the card I got him on and he smiled.
We are heading to Indianapolis next week and it's going to be pretty neat to play at Victory field. The last time I played there was with Butler and the field was in pristine condition, hopefully nothing has changed.
I guess the other day they did a voting update and they said I had the most votes in the league. From the articles and radio shows I looked at it sounded like people were shocked I had so many votes. I think it's awesome that you guys are taking time out of your day to give me a shout. Your work is really opening up a lot of people's eyes and it makes me very proud to get respect from you guys. I think the voting wraps up sometime next week so keep the votes coming and lets try to get some more Red Wings in that game! Here's some links to items I have found relating to the vote. This one is an audio update on the voting. Click here and hit on the June 16th Around The Minors with Jonathan Mayo show
Also here is the article with voting updates.
Wednesday, June 14
June 14th 2006
First off we have another clue for contest #15. Both players have NEVER played for the Twins. With that said good luck to everyone and hopefully we can get a winner soon.
I also wanted to note that if anyone is going to the game tomorrow they are having Red Wings Poster Giveaway (1st 1,000 fans) featuring outfielder Josh Rabe & me! I just found this out about 5 minutes ago as I was strolling through the promotions page of the Red Wings site. Pretty neat stuff, by the way when do the team set cards come out? Last year in New Britain they came out right around now!
I also got to most of my mail with the exception of about 5 envelopes. There was some pretty sweet stuff and I would've liked to get pictures up but my camera broke on me. I want to stress once again that I DO NOT do request to get stuff of my teammates signed. If it is sent to me I will return it. This happens very rarely but it upsets me a lot when it does.
Monday, June 12
June 12th 2006
We are in Scranton right now wrapping up the last game tonight and heading back to Rochester with an arrival time of about 2-3am. Scranton is a very "unique" place. It must have been a big time coal-mining town because there is some old architecture here that you really don't see in too many spots around the country. I'm sure most would agree if they have ever been to downtown Scranton. The craziest place is the hotel we are staying at. Over the past couple years I've heard a lot about the Radisson Hotel in Scranton from other players saying that it is downright creepy and haunted. What really got me is that every player I talked to about it said the same thing about it being haunted. I also did a web search and found a quote from Radio Star Don Imus saying that this place was "The Stephen King Hotel." So on Friday when we got into this place I was interested to see what it was all about. My conclusion today is that I have not seen anything abnormal but this place is scary as hell. It's an old railroad station and doesn't really fit the hotel mold at all and quite frankly I'm pretty happy that we are out of here today. With that said you could check this out by doing a google search and see some pictures of this place.
The field is about 10 minutes away from the hotel. We shuttle over with the hotel's van. The field is pretty unique like everything in Scranton. It's a turf field that was built in 1989 and sits in a valley that overlooks Montage Mountain. It's a pretty cool view especially from the upper deck seats. I actually got a chance to run up to the upper deck yesterday after our 15 innings game to check out the stadium. The field is a replica of the old Phillies stadium without the outfield seating. It's a pretty neat looking place and a little overwhelming with the size of its upper deck. A lot of the older guys told me that the park plays pretty big meaning that it's a pitcher's park and not too many homers are hit. Down the line is also another unique feature that I haven't seen in my playing days, a covered bullpen with seating above us. Overall I really like the park. If they could get rid of the turf and put some grass in I would be a lot bigger fan.
So far I have met up with some pretty cool people/collectors at the stadium. I also got the chance to finally met the one and only baseballaddict2000...holder of three different records on this site. He sent me an excellent letter and wrote about each player on our teams signing habits. He also hooked me up with about 30 sweet cards including Zito, Buehrle and Burnett to name a few. Kevin also pulled a five count on me with five of my Midwest League cards. He also took some proof shots of me and I will post these under that section once I finish this entry...It's about time we get some new proof shots on here! I also got the chance to meet Tim V for the first time. He's a big fan of the site dating back to it's beginning in 2004. Tim hooked me up with 8 Denis Potvin signed hockey cards, a Cole Hamels 8x10, a Joe Torre signed card as well as my first Stan "The Man" Musial signed card. Last but not least I ran into my fan club again. The last time I ran into them was last year in Reading when they had the Pat Neshek shirts on. This time around they had the shirts on again as well as one of the coolest designs on a hat I have seen. The leader of the club Joe S designed the hats and I am hoping to get a picture of them up when I get back to Rochester and have a camera, I told him we have to make shirts and hats with that design for the site. All in all this place has been very good to me and I really enjoyed playing here and hanging out with some of the fans.
I figured I better put up a contest clue to help everyone out because there have been some really bad answers. Like I said before it's not Puckett. The second clue is they are both hitters. Good luck to all.
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| A Proof Shot From Scranton |
Friday, June 9
Win Kyle Lohse's Hat
Hey guys, I thought I'd get a quick late night update in. We are leaving for Scranton @ 8am and I'm not sure if they have internet there or not. A couple quick things, tonight when I pitched my song was played so I'm not sure if it is still going to played in the future or if it will be silenced. Hopefully it will because it gets me pumped up. I like the other suggestions for bands like Himsa and As I Lay Dying, I could go that route also.
I didn't know if you guys have seen this article or not but it made me very happy to have the best fans in the world. Everyone who has voted for me is a part of this article and I couldn't be happier. It's probably the coolest article I have ever read, thanks guys. Also if you haven't voted or have more email addresses be sure to keep on voting for me!
And last but not least there is a new contest up. Kyle Lohse just got called up to the Twins tonight and he gave me his hat to contest off. This is his game hat that he pitched all of his starts in. If you want a chance to win it, click under the contest board tab on the left hand side.
Good luck to everyone and thanks again for making me proud.
"Still, he must have legions of internet-savvy fans in order to have accumulated his staggering vote total" - minor league baseball.com
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| Win This Hat!!! |
Thursday, June 8
June 8th 2006
Not much has happened the last couple days. We are winning a lot of games and playing really good as we approach the halfway point in about 10 more games. Durham has been in town the past couple days with Columbus coming in before that. Columbus always draws a good autograph crowd and Durham has a lot of guys that collectors want so the last couple days there has been a lot of people waiting after games. Tomorrow we head out to Scranton for a four game set. It will be our first time there this season. I don't know if I mentioned this before or not but I was able to get Goose Gossage after he threw out the first pitch at our game the other day. I put up a scan of the excellent photo he signed for me. He was really nice and took his time as he signed my photo asking me about my career and where I got the photos that I had him sign.
A little off topic but I felt very discouraged and didn't know if they were serious or not with this but the Red Wings management wants me to change my warm up song. I thought they were kidding but they said my song "sounded scary?" I was puzzled for a couple seconds then remembered that the song I have is an instrumental...basically guitars and drums by a band called Lamb of God, song: Ruin. But the part that really got me was when they said "You know Trevor Hoffman, he comes out to "Hells Bells" by ACDC, we think that would be great for you." Well that song was probably cool to Hoffman when he was growing up in the early 80's. They also commented and said that I needed to pick something mainstream. There's a lot of kids today that come to the games that reconize this music, a lot more than they would ever believe. So now that my song is too scary my choice will be no music and instead I will be drawn in and pumped up by the sounds of superfan wingnut with his cowbell and screaming!
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| A HOF Graph |
Saturday, June 3
June 3rd 2006
Toledo was a pretty interesting field to play at. We arrived in Toledo late at night and the first thing I did after getting into the room was look outside my window. Directly across my view was the Mud Hens ballpark, a pretty neat sight to see. Being that the field was so close to the hotel we walked to the park everyday & the collectors all knew this. Each day we went to the park the graphers weren't waiting by the front door of the stadium...oh no they were getting us at about the halfway point of our walk & they said that they did pretty well with our team. There was a good number of collectors each day as well as after each game. It's tough to get stuff signed inside the park, not impossible...just tough. The easiest way to get autographs here is to get us after the game when we come out or walk back to the hotel. The park in general is pretty sweet to play at. It's a pretty new stadium and probably the nicest I have been to so far in the IL. They have two jumbo video boards and do an excellent job with fan promotions and surfing the crowd between innings. They also broadcast every game on TV and I caught myself running inside the clubhouse a lot to check out the game on the TV. Also my parents were able to watch each game on MILB.com for a small fee and they said it was awesome and wished every team could do something like Toledo does. The thing I liked the most was they had a video board that was specifically designated for stats and each teams line-up. When a guy got a hit or out it would update their stats immediately. It also kept a pitch count as well as a balls and strikes total for the game. I really felt like this place knew how to put on a game for the fans and they really treated the players with class. My only regret was they forgot to build the simplest of things...a bullpen. That's right during the entire series we had to sit in the dugout and when we were called upon to pitch we would have to run down the line and warm-up. The last time I have seen this was in Cedar Rapids in the Midwest League. Overall an awesome place to play at, great fans and great graphers, I just wish the league would've scheduled the game during the day on our getaway day. It wasn't too much fun arriving into Rochester at 6am.
Friday, June 2
Vote For Me!!!
Hey guys, I guess this year they are letting the vote go on the internet as to who makes the AAA All-Star game in Toledo and you guys decide who makes it. I've never really seen anything like this in that they have voting for the pitchers and I'm on the ballot for relievers. They also let each email addy vote 25 times...per email & I know you guys have tons of email names!!! It would mean a lot to me to make the team and I need all the help I can get especially after getting shafted last season. So if you want to help me out click on the link below and go to town as many times as you can. They are updating the vote every Wednesday so lets get voting & sway this thing in the Red Wings direction!
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/events/asg/y2006/ballot.jsp
Thursday, June 1
June 1st 2006
June is already here, it's amazing how fast this season is going. I just got back from a luncheon where I won the co player of the month award for the Red Wings with Jason Tyner. Yesterday they told me I won the award and I had to show up at noon today to accept the plaque. It was a pretty sweet award to win and it feels good being honored. I was kind of in a bind because I didn't bring any slacks or dress pants so this morning I went out and bought some. I figure if I ever get called up I would need them. In the big leagues it's frowned upon to wear t-shirts and jeans and for me that is pretty much my entire wardrobe.
Speaking of the big leagues there has been a lot of speculation that I was going to get the call. This is the third time in the last month that my name has been brought up in the newspapers as the guy who is going up. I always know when they are ready to make a move because there are a couple newspaper guys that call my parents and ask them if I called them and told them I was going up...three times this month so far that they have called! It's a lot to think about because that has been my dream since day one. The key is to not get too excited about any of that talk or read into anything. I've seen it with a lot of guys who got so hyped up that they were going to the next level only to be let down and it really affected their game. I'm going to keep working my ass off like I have been for the past three years with one thing on my mind, get to MN. It will happen; my arm feels the best it ever has.
Well a quick autograph update. If you are going to our game tonight be sure to bring some Goose Gossage items. He's signing at the stadium for a couple hours. I don't have any 8X10's or cards of him with me so I will see if I can get him on a ball. My guess is that he will be in the HOF in the next year or so!
Today is a really busy day for me so I'm kind of short on time. Be back tomorrow with more updates and a recap of the Columbus/Toledo trip.
Wednesday, May 31
May 31st 2006
We just got back in town at 6am this morning. I didn't really get too much sleep and finally got up around 3pm this afternoon. I just wanted to get this quick update in and let everyone know that I am still alive. I'm leaving for the field right now and have a lot of news to share in the next couple days. The Toledo/Columbus trip was awesome and I met a lot of cool people. I also wanted to let everyone know that there is a winner on the Boof hat. Someone actually got it on the 2nd day and quite frankly I am shocked someone would have guessed this! So stop guessing on that contest and I will try to get another contest up shortly!
Thursday, May 25
Win Boof Bonser's Minor League Hat Contest
That's right guys, contest #14 is posted under the "Contest Board" tab. Like I said before Boof gave me his hats to give away when he got called up to the Bigs & now they can be yours if you correctly answer the questions!
My $9.99 one day internet is about to boot me off in five minutes. Tomorrow I will be going to Panera Bread to get free internet and get an update in. Hopefully Toledo will be more accomadating and have free Wi-Fi.
Wednesday, May 24
May 24th 2006
Right now we are in Columbus, Ohio and I have finally found a way to get on the net. This is the first hotel that has totally shut me out for free internet this season. I thought I could hang for a couple days and not be on the internet but it has gone on too long and I decided to pay the ridiculous $9.99 a day Sheraton Hotel internet fee so I can update you guys on everything that is going on.
Like I said above we are in Columbus. I really like the town a lot and everyone loves the OSU Buckeyes here. If you want to make friends just say you are a fan of OSU. Well where do I start, lets start with the stadium. We are staying at the Sheraton Suites and it takes a good 20-minute drive to get to the field. Instead of buses we use the hotel shuttle and have been arriving at the field around 3 & 4pm. The stadium is pretty unique for the IL in that it's an older stadium. Supposedly they are building a new stadium closer to downtown that will be finished in 08! I really like the bullpen a lot, probably the best in the IL. It's off the field; it has a nice secluded area to do whatever you want and a cement wall you can throw balls at to get some nervous tension out of your system. It is also connected to the clubhouse so you can go in between innings and catch up on some MLB scores. The downside to our bullpen is that collectors will have trouble getting to us because we never really get the chance to walk by them. The park is a little bit older and really reminded me of a field you would find in the Midwest League. Another thing that really surprised me was how little fans came out to the games. I think a lot of it has to do with it being so early in the season still mixed in with the stadium being so old. Nonetheless I liked the park a lot but liked the collectors even more. During the last couple days I have noticed a lot of familiar faces. I never ran into him but someone told me HOF Columbus grapher Jeff Augenstein was in attendance the first day. I also ran into the Autographer Of The Year Bruce. Bruce was there after the game the first night and at the entire game the second night. He was hitting up everyone on our team in quantity. One of the collectors got a picture of Bruce and I so I had to get it up on the site! I got into the game tonight and got my 9th save. As I was walking off the field I saw Bruce and tossed him up the ball I struck out the last guy with. All in all the graphers here are all really cool and I hope to get a chance these next couple days to chat with them and hear some stories.
BTW, I just checked out the net and finally got a chance to read the excellent Baseball America article by Matt Eddy. Wow, it's pretty cool to be on the home page of BA. I really enjoyed the article and thought he pretty much summed up most of my life so far. If you guys get a chance be sure to let BA know that he did an excellent job by emailing them!
I also noticed that Aaron Gleeman of AaronGleeman.com wrote an excellent article on his site about me. Aaron's site is one that I check every morning (if I have internet of course) and I think it's a must if you are a Twins fan. So yeah, I step away from the computer for a couple days and there are some pretty sweet stories out there!
Hopefully I will be able to get on here again tomorrow and get a quick update in. If not I will make it a priority to make the trek down the street with my computer on me to the Panera Bread on Friday! I'm pretty sure the hotel in Toledo with be wired up! Hang in there with me guys
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| My All Time Favorite Grapher & Columbus Legend, Bruce |
Sunday, May 21
May 21st 2006
I've managed to find a remote connection here in Ottawa and am able to get on the internet for a little bit. As I have mentioned before the last two days we have been in Ottawa playing a three game set. So far this place hasn't been too fun to play at. Just like the last time we were here it was raining and miserable outside. Yesterday was probably the coldest most uncomfortable games of the year. I felt like I was back @ Butler playing February games again or starting the high school season in Minnesota...COLD. I don't know what it is about Ottawa but it just isn't fun to play at. They have an excellent stadium but they average about 50 fans a game...seriously. I noticed in the boxscore it said there was something like 700 people for gate...I counted 40 including the suites. Also I have not seen one person going for autographs in our two visits. I guess we will have to see if that changes today or in our next couple visits.
On the funny side I was talking to one of the umps yesterday about how they liked the season so far. They said it was going good and pretty cool umping games at this level. They said they drove up from Boston and have been here for the last two weeks. I asked them how they were choosen to come up to Ottawa & he said he got a call from the league the first day in because they needed to get a crew up here quick. I guess they started using Ottawa High School umps and that lasted about 4 innings into the first game of the season before the two teams went nuts!
Friday, May 19
May 19th 2006
We are heading out to Ottawa after the game. If it's like the past in Ottawa we will not be able to get on the internet and I will be watching a lot of hockey. Boof Bonser got the call the other day up to Minnesota. It was pretty cool seeing him walk through the hallway with a big smile after he was told he was going up. Be sure to check out the contest page later in the week, Boof gave me both of his game used hats from this season & I will be putting them up for grabs under that section sometime soon.
Wednesday, May 17
May 17th 2006
Today I once again finished all the letters that have came in since the last road trip and this week. There was a lot of sweet stuff and lots of trades. Included in the mail this week was a Gordie Howe signed hockey flyer inscribed to me! Two Partridge Family signed cards from Danny Bonaduce and Shirley Jones. An excellent signed card by submariner Cla Meredith and ex-teammate Manny Delcarmen. A card signed by Vernon Wells who is probably the best superstar signer, thanks Mark! Stanley Cup hopefull & Rochester native Brian Gionta was also in the mail as well as old timer Billy Pierce on an index card. A pretty sweet week for me in the mail. I can't wait to see what comes in next week when we get back from our two week road trip!
Also just to note, something happened last night that I could not believe. As I was walking out after the game there was not one autographer! I don't know what the deal was because I came out pretty quick with about 5 of the Scranton guys & Beau Kemp. We both thought it was pretty rare for something like that to happen, it must have been an off night for everyone!
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| Wow!!! A Couple Challengers To The Odd Ball Tom Selleck Card? I Love It! |
Tuesday, May 16
May 16th 2006
We got back from Syracuse last night around 9pm after getting rained out. So far the only image I can think of when I hear the word Syracuse is rainy and gray. We have been there for about 5 days this season so far and each day was filled with rain and cold temperatures.
The last couple days I have been working on a story with Baseball America. Matt Eddy from BA is the writer and so far we have shot back and forth a bunch of emails. I can't wait to see what the finished product is going to look like. I think this will be the second time since I have been a pro that they mentioned my name in a story so it's pretty cool when they come calling.
Autographs were tough to come by the last couple days. It was one of those days where the rain was coming down just enough to ruin your cards and smear the sig. The greatest success for autographers came after the games in the stairwell where we come out...that was about the only spot that was dry.
We are back in town for a couple days then begin another big time road trip. I got some sweet letters in the mail once again and will be sharing those when I get some time in the next week as well as the message board. It looks like the poll question I posted is too close to call. I thought the votes would be in favor for trading but it looks like as of right now it's going to be a no go. So right now whatever is in the collection stays in the collection for good.
Once again thanks for being patient with me, updates will come and I will be on the message board a lot once we hit the road!
Friday, May 12
May 12th 2006
Right now we are in Buffalo and are leaving for Rochester after the game. I was kind of suprised we stayed over night here since we are only about an hour away from Rochester. One of the cool things about this trip is that it intertwined perfectly with the Buffalo Sabres Round 2 playoff game last night. All week I have been trying to get tickets to the game and finally found someone who could help. The day before we came here they wrote back and told me they couldn't come through. I was pretty bummed then at the game our trainer told me he had an extra ticket and if I wanted to pay face value I could jump in. Of course I couldn't turn it down and got to go to my first NHL Playoff game (& the face value was only $50, kind of suprising to me). It was an awesome game, I just wish they could've clinched last night and got to see that place explode. I'm pretty shocked that Ottawa was down 3-0, they were my preseason pick to win it all.
It looks like Brian is going to get his trade, right now the voting is swayed about 4 of 5 towards trading the 1988 topps cards to him for the excellent oldies (153 to 41). This whole thing has given me an idea that I would like to have you guys vote on. Should I open up my online collections to trading amongst everyone out there. The person would have to submit a SASE and their trade and from there I would have everyone vote on it? If everyone thinks I'm getting screwed they would vote no and if it's an excellent trade swayed my way you vote yes!
Let the voting get underway!
Tuesday, May 9
I Need Everyone's Help
I got a letter in the mail today and it had a unique request. It was from a man named Brian in Kenosha, WI. The letter contained 8 cards as seen below in the picture. It stated that he collected 1988 Topps cards and that he watned to know if I wanted to trade these 8 cards for three of mine...three of my 1988 cards that fans have given to me to add to the collection. The 1988 cards in question are my Darrel Evans, John Morris and Kent Tekulve. I thought about this scenario for a second then thought I better let the fans vote to see what I should do...so below you will see a poll question. Please choose what you think I should do. Remember Brian did send some pretty sweet cards including an Ernie Harwell and the trade is favored towards me @ 8-3. Please let me know so I can fill Brian's request and get his letter back to him!
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| What Would You Do? |
Tuesday, May 9
May 9th 2006
We are still in Rochester wrapping up a long homestand. From here we go to Buffalo and Syracuse. The fans have been really cool to me in Rochester and I have once again heard some great autograph stories and been given some pretty cool stuff. The latest addition to my collection is a Don Baylor signed bat that I got yesterday from a grapher after the game. Baylor inscribed it "1979 AL MVP". I got a lot of the baseball stuff in the mail added to the "Baseball graphs" section and have to get the hockey stuff up when I get some time. How about those NHL playoffs!!! I almost wish we had a four game series in Ottawa right now because they are hockey CRAZY up there and broadcast every game.
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| A Pretty Sweet Bat |
Sunday, May 7
May 7th 2006
I spent the better part of the night finishing up the letters that have been sent my way. I got a lot of great stuff and will try to get that update tomorrow when I get some more time. I opened one letter and had to share it with everyone. It's from the record holders for selling & buying one of my cards on eBay. They hooked me up with a commemrative signed index of the two...pretty sweet stuff. I'm pretty sure that record will be in cement for a long time.
At the field I've been getting hooked up pretty good by the Rochester collectors. The last two days I've gotten about 50 signed hockey cards and a bunch of cool baseball cards. Once again I'll try to get up what I got tomorrow! The fans here are great!
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| The Record Holders |
Friday, May 5
May 5th 2006
The other night when we got back in town I went to my locker and noticed the most letters I have received in a week ever. There was about 20 or more letters and I started cracking into them yesterday. So far there has been a lot of trades and stuff for me to sign. I'll let everyone know what was in there when I finish opening everything.
I just noticed an interesting thing and thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone might be able to help. On Thursday May 11th we will be playing in Buffalo and staying the night. We have a day game and later that night the Sabres play Ottawa in Game 4 of the NHL Playoffs. I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me get tickets or trade for some baseball stuff, I have a lot of broken bats and a game used glove used by Anthony Swarzak from his first two years in pro ball! Please let me know on the message board.
Tuesday, May 2
May 2nd 2006
I’ve had a lot of trouble getting on the internet for the last three days. Right now (6PM) I am at the Norfolk Airport getting ready to fly back into Rochester…well not exactly into Rochester, we are going to Buffalo and taking a bus to R-Town…It must have been a lot cheaper. Anyways we should get into town around 2am if we are lucky. The series in Norfolk went by a lot quicker than the Richmond trip and we all did pretty good winning 3 out of 4. I met a lot of cool graphers in Norfolk and even walked away with some pretty sweet cards that one guy hooked me up with including some signatures of Mike Edwards and John Tomargo from the 1997 Maryland Fall Baseball League that only lasted that year and was cancelled due to cold. Norfolk was a little different place for autos because they didn’t let fans in during BP. The bullpens were in the center field so it was tough for collectors to get close to us. Probably the easiest way here to get some stuff signed was to wait by the door as we walked out of the stadium after the game. All in all though it was a pretty sweet place to play despite the 30 mph winds each day.
I almost forgot to mention that a new record for most cards signed in one setting has been made. The other day in Richmond I signed 11 cards of mine including one of every card I had. The new record holder is Brian Korb and he is from North Carolina. He’s a pretty cool guy and does a lot of graphing at Carolina Hurricanes games. He brought a box of about 400 signed hockey cards from the season and told me to take whatever I wanted. I was pumped that someone brought a box of cards for me to look at into a stadium! It was cool going through all the cards and I ended up getting some sweet Cole, Cullen, Brind’amour and Stahl cards. Hopefully we can arrive safe back into Rochester and I will once again get onto the site a bunch!
Saturday, April 29
April 29th 2006
Right now we are in Norfolk, Va ready to start a four game series. We got in here last night around 12:30pm. It was only about an 1.5 drive from Richmond. Right now we do not have internet in the hotel but a deli down the street has it and the signal is working pretty decent. I'll let you know how the field and auto scene is!
Friday, April 28
April 28th 2006
Man this city is treating me in the same mean way as Akron did in the Eastern League. It's been a tough last couple days here for me. This is always the worst part of the game and it really sucks when things don't go well for you on the mound. Last night our team fought back and forth all night with us scoring 5 in the 9th. Before the game I was told I had a day off due to the high amount of pitches I threw on Tuesday. When we scored those five runs I was asked if I had anything left in the tank. It's hard to say no when the game is on the line and I said if you need me I'm available. Well I ended up giving up a three run walk off and it didn't feel to good. I have been sitting around for the last 12 hours thinking about what happened and have been doing a lot of what if situations. If you're ever wondering what pitchers think when they give up runs it is exactly that. You do a lot of questioning about what happened and it's really hard to get out of your mind. I have been really mad at myself for not being mentally in the game and thinking I had the night off. Oh well, you learn. Today is another day at the field and another opportunity to shine. That's how you have to look at it, forget what happened and keep pitching the way that got you here!
Wednesday, April 26
April 26th 2006
Yes, this hotel has hi-speed...about time. Well yesterday was one of the longer days of my recent memory. In real quick order it went something like this. Get up at 4am and go to field, bus leaves stadium at 5am, plane leaves Rochester at 6am, bus leaves Washington DC at 8am, bus arrives at hotel in Richmond at 10am, sleep until 3pm, game starts at 7pm, rain starts at 9pm, I pitch at 9:05pm, I give up HR at 9:30pm, rain stops at 9:35pm, we win at 10pm. A lot of us were pretty tired after that day and are pretty well rested up right now.
My thoughts so far on Richmond, not bad. The first thing that struck me about the stadium was WOW, those bleachers are HUGE. It reminded me of Kauffmann Stadium in KC with the big overlooking roof and 45 degree vert between seats in the upper deck. Richmond's stadium as I said before is an older stadium but had a pretty good atmosphere to it. The bullpen was straight out of the Appy League and probably hasn't changed much in 20 years. The clubhouse was the smallest and probably the worst so far that we have been to but what it lacked in size was made up by the awesome clubhouse manager. I don't know his name but he probably is the best I have encountered in the minors. Basically he did everything that you could ask a clubby to do and you didn't have to ask him. He had snacks upon snacks, fresh fruits, sandwiches and much more, easily the best I have seen. Autographs were kind of tough. In order to get to the field we didn't take our bus but vans that the hotel supplied. When we pulled up to the stadium they ushered us through the gates and drove us to the clubhouse. Kind of like underground parking that a lot of Big League teams have. So right there pre-game autos were shut out. I was informed though by a couple Richmond graphers that the team was cool about letting collectors in early to get stuffed signed. So during our stretch and BP the graphers were free to run around the stadium and get there stuff done. I thought that was pretty cool because most stadiums the higher you go don't open the gates. I remember one time I went for Deion Sanders (save those comments, I know he's a terrible signer) when he was with Louisville in Indianapolis and snuck into the stadium during stretch. I was kicked out 5 minutes later just as the team was coming out. I'm in favor of the pre gate opening and am glad that the R-Braves admin helped out the good guys!
Monday, April 24
April 24th 2006
Today was our first off day of the season and it was spent cleaning and getting a bunch of stuff up on this site. ATTENTION ALL GRAPHERS, be sure to check out the Baseball Graphs Section as well as the Hockey Graphs Section by clicking on this link or on the left side panel. These are all the cards that you the fans have sent to me or traded with me. I spent all day taking pictures of every autographed card that fans have traded with me since last August. It's a pretty sweet collection and is growing every day. If you ever want to add to the collection or trade a signed card for one of mine just send me a letter and SASE!
I also finished every letter that has been sent to me since last Wednesday and the return letters are on their way. If you haven't received a response from me or didn't see your name on the "Letters in the mail" section be sure to let me know on the message board.
Tomorrow...well at 4:15am I will be heading out to the airport. We start an 8-game road trip in Richmond, VA and will be flying in before we play. Hopefully this joint will have wireless internet. I'm hoping to get to the message board whenever I get some more down time and also get a contest or two up sometime in the next week! I also have a bunch more pictures that people have sent to me as well as a lot of proof shots that need to get up!
Sunday, April 23
April 23rd 2006
What a crazy last couple of days for me. We played our game on Friday and right after the game we were off for Ottawa, Canada. We ended up leaving Frontier Field at midnight and started our 5-hour trip. I have been to Canada many times but never to play baseball. To get to Ottawa we had to get through customs. Each player on the bus had to bring either a passport or a birth certificate. If we forgot to bring one of these we couldn't get through. According to some of the guys on the team, the time to get through customs can vary and is very much up to the officer that is doing the check. There was a rumor going around that another team in the league last year made the customs officer mad and he made them sit at the border for five hours while he searched the bus. Whether it's true or not it sure got our attention not to make the officer mad. Everything at the border went smooth and we were out of the checkpoint in about 10 minutes. We ended up getting to the hotel at 5am. Later that morning I got up around noon and decided to check to see if we had wireless internet in the hotel since nearly every hotel has moved to free internet now. I searched and searched and didn't get one signal. Plus, since we were in Canada my AT&T mobile card wouldn't work. I was out of luck and was internet-less, a first in many years. I didn't know what to do; this wasn't going to be a fun trip. To make things worse my cell-phone wasn't working, I didn't have any Canadian currency and it was raining non-stop. So I went out and got a phone card, charged everything on my credit card (easy way to convert money) and decided to bust out the new Civilization 4 computer game to combat my internet withdrawal. Well as some of you may know both of our games ended up getting rained out and just like that we were on our way back to Rochester. I'm pretty pumped to be back at home now and tomorrow we have our first official off day. From there we go on an 8-day road trip to Richmond and Norfolk. Since we are so far away we will be flying to Richmond early on Tuesday (5am).
Thursday, April 20
April 20th 2006
I've been spending a lot of time sorting out the signed cards I've gotten from everyone and am starting work on the "Baseball Graphs" section. Right now I've gotten the A, B and C sections done. Hopefully I will get a bunch of time tonight and tomorrow to get the section and the hockey section finished, when that is complete I will get some scans up. I've also finished every letter I have received so be sure to be on the lookout if you sent me a letter. At the field there has been a lot of excitement amongst collectors with the arrival of Kaz Matsui on a rehab assignment. As I walked out I noticed about 30 people waiting for him. Yesterday he got recalled and left during the 1st inning of the game.
Monday, April 17
Vote Now
Sunday, April 16
April 16th 2006
Pretty good day at the park today. We won again and are on a roll, 7-3 to start the season. I think this may be the most talented team I have ever played on! Today went by pretty easy. During BP today the bullpen guys got bored in the outfield and started finding ways that you could rob a ball if it was close to going out. The walls in Rochester have a padded ledge that's about waist high and if jump up you can stand on the ledge and run along the fence. Today Garrett Jones hit a HR in the game that IF the rightfielder would've been hanging out with us in BP might have caught since it was within arm length of the ledge. Ahh the things you think of in the bullpen.
Moves today
Ruben Sierra to MN
Jason Kubel to Rochester AAA
Saturday, April 15
April 15th 2006
We are back in home territory for about a week and it feels really good to come home. We have already played two games of our 8-day home stand and things have been going pretty good. So far I really like everything about Rochester especially Frontier Field. It's easily the nicest stadium within the Twins organization and it really feels like a higher level of baseball. The staff also are top notch so far and they really make you feel like a ballplayer and not a tool to make money off of. Probably one of the coolest things about this city though is how many autograph collectors there are. Everyday so far I have met at least a couple collectors that I never met before...I thought that I met everyone last week, think again, they keep on coming...Pretty neat stuff.
Today after the game we had a special treat for the fans as the entire team stepped on the field after the game and signed for about 20 minutes. I was having a tough time signing and it wasn't because I was trying to stiff anyone. You see during the game today I got hit on the arm by a ground ball and my arm was starting to swell up a little. Everything is fine right now and I should be good to go tomorrow but right after the game I was having a really hard time just signing my name!
Tonight I started to dig into the letters and get some of those sent back to you guys. I got a lot of stuff but I think I will be able to get everything done by tomorrow night after the game. There was one letter that must have been misplaced by me and it was written by Nick from around Portland, Maine. If this is you Nick be sure to give me you addy under the message board since I cannot find the rest of the SASE!
I added to the letters in the mail section and it should be up to date. Some of the stuff I have received in the mail the last couple weeks and at games is pretty amazing. Keep sticking with me during this busy time, I've been neglecting the message board and it really needs to quit. I also just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reads this site, it makes me very happy to know that I have such excellent fans who have been with me through think and thin and are cheering me on all the way to the bigs! Thanks everyone.
Thursday, April 13
April 13th 2006
We just made it back in town about an hour ago (11pm). The trip on the way back took about 7 hours and we watched three movies during that time. I really enjoyed the Pawtucket trip with all the collectors and graphers I met. I also ran into one of my old autograph trading partners Randy Richard that I met in the Cape Cod league. He introduced me to most of the Pawtucket graphers and they were really cool. I was going to help them out with players faces but they had everything working and didn't need my help. They also hooked me up with a bunch of cards for the collection and cards of my teammates! Tomorrow we have another day game. I'm hoping one of these days we will have a home night game so I can relax and get some pictures up!
Tuesday, April 11
April 10th 2006
After the game yesterday we traveled 6 and a half hours to Pawtucket, RI to start a four game series versus the Paw Sox. We left the stadium at 5:30 and got into town at about 1am. So far every day for me has went by extremely fast and it will be nice to finally get to sleep in a couple days during the series here in Pawtucket. I’m hoping that things will slow down a little so I can update the site a bunch and reply to the message board. I’ve gotten a lot of awesome cards from you guys and need to get those sections up. I’ve also been checking out the board and need to get on there. The internet here is pretty hit or miss. I’m actually writing this in Microsoft word so when I get connected for that 30 secs, I can hit update and get this up!
Speaking of cards, I’m pretty pumped at how many new people I have met that check out this site. It’s nice to know that there are lots of collectors out there who love the hobby! Rochester has been awesome so far with the fans and I already had a couple people take me up on the free ticket challenge. Pawtucket is also an awesome city for autographs in a number of ways. Today when our bus pulled up I noticed about 5 people going for us. I was given some nice stuff to add to the collection. A Paul Kariya 8X10, a Bobby Bonilla 4X6, Pat Hentgen 4X6, Carlos Delgado 4X6, 5 signed hockey cards including a Patrick Marleau and Shane Doan!!! The collection of items I have received is really starting to get big. The other day I got a letter in the mail (sorry, don’t have the envelope with me…road trip!) and it contained about 100-signed cards of some pretty sweet players. Today the Boston Fury was in Pawtucket and they were going for us after the game. He hooked me up with some pretty sweet stuff. A hockey stick signed by the Hanson brothers from the movie slapshot and a signed Wilbur Wood card for my dad. Like I said before I cannot wait to update my “Baseball card” section with all the new stuff I have received from you guys.
Speaking of autographs let’s talk a little about that. Pawtucket is a pretty neat place to get stuff signed. I had the pleasure of visiting a Paw Sox game to get stuff signed back in 2001 when I was playing in the Cape Cod league. I fared pretty good back then but I had to wait until after the game to get stuff signed and I also had to chase down a couple Sox guys who tried to escape out the side door with an usher (Morgan Burkhart)!
It’s not too fan friendly inside the stadium so graphers have to use special tricks to get their stuff signed. The dugouts are about 10 feet below the concourse. One thing they do is hang their card books on strings and bait them down to the dugouts, kind of like fishing. Players then have the choice to open the book and sign their cards or to walk away. Pretty cool stuff, I signed up everything that was there for me, a couple cards and a couple home made indexes.
As far as the stadium goes it’s a lot different on the playing field than in the stands. When you get on the field the stands are right on top of you and you feel like you are in the movie Gladiator. The ball moves very fast in the outfield grass and the ball flies down the line. I’m pretty sure this is a HR park once things heat up a little. The bullpens here are awesome. So far of the three fields I would rank the bullpens as follows, Rochester, Pawtucket, Syracuse. Pawtucket had a great shelter in the bullpen as well as a lot of space. The only negative comment I heard was that if they get a big crowd there are a lot of people that sit near the bullpen and heckle us. There also isn’t a bathroom in the bullpen so that’s another negative.
Saturday, April 8
April 8th 2006
Well I'm finally starting to get settled in here. For the last couple days I have been unpacking and running around to different stores making sure my place had everything it needed. I'm pretty much done doing the dirty work and now I can finally start relaxing just a little bit. So yeah it's been a little stressful these last couple days. I really didn't have time to think, the next thing I know I'm on the mound pitching in the game. Yesterday we got rained out. It's kind of a good/bad thing because I had more time to get some much-needed stuff done but sometime down the road we'll have to play a doubleheader.
Like I said above we played our first game the other day. We traveled to Syracuse to take on the Blue Jays AAA team. The drive to their place took about 90 miles and went by fairly quick. First impressions on the stadium? Didn't like the turf, the fences looked really short down the lines and the bullpens were huge. In a way it kind of reminded me of the field they had in Manchester, NH during the 2004 season. It was pretty cold outside and that is always a thought in most player’s minds right now. You have to stay pretty strong and be tough in your head and try hard not to let the cold bother you because it can change how you perform out there.
Right now we are home for a couple games. I apologize for the lack of updates this last week, I'm just a little worn out and will hopefully be back in force sometime this week!
Wednesday, April 5
April 5th 2006
Well we are finally in Rochester and things couldn't be any busier than they are right now. Yesterday we boarded our plane out of Ft. Myers at 4pm and arrived in Rochester, NY at 10pm with a short layover in Philadelphia. The news crew was waiting for us at the airport and got a lot of great footage and interviews. From there we went to the stadium and finally got into the hotel around midnight.
Today I woke up around 9 and went to check into my apartment an hour later. After I got that done I had to hurry up and get over to the field for our first workout at Frontier Field. It was also media day and that kicked off as soon as we got off the field. BTW it is snowing here right now??? Media day was very similar to the Big League Media day in spring training. We took pictures and did action shots for the Jumbo Scoreboard. After the media day we had to hurry up once again and get over to the "Welcome Home" dinner at the downtown Clarion Hotel. At the dinner we signed for about an hour and then sat down and ate dinner. I got to meet a lot of awesome fans and talked a little baseball.
Right now I am pretty tired and we have a 2pm game tomorrow at Syracuse. We leave Rochester at 9am. Stephanee and my dad should be arriving here in the next hour (midnight) after two long days of driving up from Ft. Myers. We are all tired and need to get a bunch of rest. There are a lot of things that have happened in the past couple days and I am trying to do the best to quickly summerize everything and still stay sane. Hopefully everything with the apartment and unpacking will go by quickly and we can get things back to normal. It's always the toughest time of the year right now and it seems to be going a lot better than previous years.
Saturday, April 1
April 1st 2006
I was going to do a big April Fools thing on the site today setting up something funny but I thought it might make a lot of people mad at me so I backed away...maybe next year. Right now in camp things are starting to become finalized with the exception of a move or two. I'll try to get a roster up in the next day or two. Lots of suprises are happening right now and things can get shifted at any second.
Tomorrow we take on the big league club in their last game of spring training. It should be a fun game for everyone and I'm pretty excited to pitch and go against the big boys. Also you may have noticed I posted an addy for Rochester on top. I'm pretty sure this is the addy for the mail but if anyone else has one that works be sure to put it down on the board. I also brought back the free ticket challenge section so that might be of interest to some of you. I had to take it away during MLB spring training because they were taxing us 40% of the ticket price on every ticket we left.
Wednesday, March 29
March 29th 2006
A couple more days go by and the rosters are once again getting shuffled around. There have been numerous releases the last couple days with more coming in the next couple days before we break camp. Some great guys and teammates I have played with for many years were let go including James Tomlin, Matt Yeatman, Josh Gray, Jan Granada and Daylan Childress. I'm pretty confident most of the guys will get picked up by other teams and continue on their careers. As far as the rest of the organization goes there are a lot of moves that still need to be made. With the Big League pitching staff set, the AAA pitching staff is pretty much set with a move or two yet to be made. Once we move guys around it affects the rest of the levels. As far as the hitters go there still has to be a lot of moves made. This is mostly due to the guys still up in big league camp.
Like I said before this is my least favorite time of the year. I did one thing different than years before and actually got a place to live at aleady squared away in Rochester. This sure beats last year when I finally settled into my place about 10 games into the season. Other stuff we have to do, most guys will ship their cars up to Rochester through a trucking company and this cost around $600 a car. The Twins make every player fly with the team and cannot drive to their team. Stephanee and my dad will be driving up the cars from FL and it's a pretty long drive. All the teams are breaking camp on April 4th. I think we get into Rochester around 4pm on the 4th and will have that night and the next day to get the living situation under control. The Twins pay for the first two nights in a hotel and after that every guy is on their own. Mix all the stress and lack of time to set up shop with a fan friendly dinner and practice and you kind of get what is going on with us players. Like I said before it's not the funnest couple days of the year but that's how it always goes.
Sunday, March 26
March 26th 2006
Keep up the great work on the excellent questions for my agent under the message board section. I thought it was pretty cool when he volunteered to answer your questions. If there was ever a time you were wondering something that dealt with sports agents now is the perfect time to ask that question.
At the field today we got to show up a little later due to it being Sunday. When we arrived we were notified that we had a meeting about sports gambling. Every player was in attendance and the meeting started. What happened next was pretty sweet. The speaker said that former Colombo crime family mob boss Michael Franzese was here to speak to us on the ills of gambling. In walks the mafia prince and the players/coaches faces all stood at attention. Franzese spoke for a good 20 minutes on his life, the things he's seen and on sports gambling. It was pretty eye opening and probably the coolest speech I have attended in a long long time. At the end of the meeting I ran into the clubhouse, grabbed a ball (wish I could've found a pearl but it didn't really matter to me) and a pen and went back to get Mr. Franzese to sign a ball for me. He gladly signed for me and said thank you. He inscribed 2006 on the ball and it's another great graph for my collection! This is my 2nd non-baseball player on a ball I have ever gotten with Allen Iverson being the first (I spotted Iverson and all I had on me was a baseball!)
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| Just Your Average Mob Boss Signature On A Ball !!! |
Thursday, March 23
Interview With My Agent
Hey guys, I got a call from my agent Barry Meister yesterday. We talked for a little bit about how the season looked for me and then we talked about this website. We thought it would be pretty neat if I could get some questions from you guys and from there do a(n) Interview/Q&A for the site with my agent. Just a little background on Meister. He's one of the top agents in the game. He represents a guy on nearly every team and some pretty big stars including Troy Farnsworth, Craig Counsell, Edgar Rentaria, Tim Wakefield, Randy Johnson ect ect ect and little guys like me. I know a lot of you are wondering what it takes to get started being an agent, what the typical day is like or what the heck an agent actually does. Barry is willing to answers all of your questions so lets get something brewing. There aren't to many big time agents out there that are willing to do something like this so I think it's pretty special. I'm posting an entry entitled "Interview with my agent" under the message board section on the top of the page so be sure to contribute and ask Barry anything that is on your mind.
Thursday, March 23
March 23rd 2006
Another day and we get some more moves. The trickle effect is starting to take place. Yesterday was the first moves made in camp and consisted of pretty much pitchers moving down a level. It was also first cuts and a couple moves were made including a couple releases of some former teammates of mine (Kaulana Kuhaulua & Bud Smith). Also one of my favorite guys to throw to announced his retirement today...Brian Kennedy. This time of the year really sucks for most players because they have to deal with making a team or getting sent down a level or repeating a level or seeing a good buddy go home. You also have to start thinking about where you are going to live in the city you will be playing and who you might want to room with if you want to save some money. So as you can see this time of the year is very puzzling for nearly every player.
Hey congrats to twinkies14 on winning the Matienzo hat. The contest went forever and it made me happy to finally kind of stump you guys. Eddie Matthews was one of my dads fav's because he lead the Milwaukee Braves in hitting and was a fan favorite when he was growing up. The other guy was Wilbur Wood and he liked him a lot because he was a lefty knuckleballer that put up excellent numbers every year. A lot of people guessed Hoyt Wilhelm...good guess but not the knuckleballer my dad liked. I think Hoyt taught Wood how to throw the knuckleball early in his career and it ended up working out pretty good for Wilbur. BTW does anyone have any Wood signed items?
I'll be looking around the clubhouse for some game used stuff during the next couple weeks. Every spring training I have been collecting bats broken by players and give them to my brother. He has a pretty sweet collection going right now. This year has been well below average so far with broken bats. I have only walked away with three bats. Near the end of spring training a lot of guys throw their hats and other stuff away. I'll see what kind of stuff I can get. I know I owe four of you guys out there some game used things due to the excellent letters and signed cards you sent me. One of the letters was from Jeff Fedorko and he will be getting my first spring training game used hat whenever I find time to run over to the post office. He sent about 50 signed cards to me and there were some good ones. Hopefully the letters will keep coming. Spring training is getting close to wrapping up and I will put up the Rochester address one of these days.
PS. I thought I would throw this out there to see if anyone knew the Rochester, NY area well and knew of any good rental deals out there from April 4th - early Sept. Any info would help me out a lot!
Tuesday, March 21
March 21st 2006
Wow, a couple of you guys are dead on but are missing this 500 HR hitter. You have every possible combination except this one hitter. It has been driving me crazy how close a couple of you have been. I really feel this is going to be over shortly.
Yesterday I got to pitch in another game at the Red Sox minor league fields. The highlight of the day for our game was playing against David Ortiz. I was surprised he was playing, he must of needed extra work. Anyways he was 1-4 on the day. It was a pretty good day for me. In the crowd I spotted Carl Yastrzemski walking around and had to get him to sign a ball for me. I went over to him and he was very nice and signed my ball. He took his time signing out each letter and even inscribed HOF 1989 & TC 1967. It's amazing how many Hall of Famers have been walking around the minor league complexes. So far I counted 4, Yaz, Molitor, Killebrew and Carew. I'm sure there are others at different places but this is what I have seen walking around.
Yesterday a couple more roster moves took shape. Boof Bonser, Chris Heintz and Garrett Jones were sent down from big league camp. Each move has a domino effect on the minor league side forcing guys from each level to get sent down. So far on the minor league side there have been no cuts. If history holds true the next couple days there will be a couple moves.
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| A Good Day At The Park |
Saturday, March 18
March 18th 2006
I have been really busy this past week with everything and a lot of family in town. In a couple days everyone will be gone and I can get back full time and get to the letters I have been receiving in the mail. The other day when I got sent down I got the next day off. Teams usually give guys the next day off to kick back and relax. I took the day off and spent it with my family. I reported the next day to the minor league side and have been here for the past three days. There are a lot of pitchers in camp fighting it out for the few open spots and competition is fierce. We already played two games and for a lot of guys it has been the first batters they faced in 6 months. If you come over to this side there are a lot of cool things to see as well as a couple HOF'ers walking around (Killebrew & Molitor) so be prepared.
...BTW, How is this contest still going on??? I thought for sure someone would knock this out by now. Stay tuned for a clue coming up in a day or two!!!
Thursday, March 16
Clue #3 For Contest #12
One was known for hitting bombs while the other was known for his knuckleball.
Tuesday, March 14
March 14th 2006: Not A Fun Day
An early entry today, I just got back from the field with some bad news. I walked into the clubhouse this morning and found out I was getting sent down or optioned to Rochester, thus kicking me out of big league camp. The news caught me off guard especially with how I have been pitching and how I have been able to build off my weakness from last year on getting lefties out (1-7 in spring training). I was also surprised because there have been a couple bullpen spots open up recently and I felt I might have an outside shot to get looked at. When they send a guy down in big league camp they don't place a tag in your locker like the movie Major League. Today the pitching coach came up to me and told me to come into Gardy's office. Inside the office was Gardy, Rick Anderson and Terry Ryan. They basically told me that I impressed them and they liked how I approached the game. They told me I was dominating on righty hitters and I needed to get more lefties out. They also told me that they wanted me to get more work in and they felt I would get in more games on the minor league side. I think the main reason was that there's a rule that after first cuts if a player on the 40-man gets injured and has to go on the DL that they get Major League pay for as long as they are on the DL. Whatever the reason, today wasn't a fun day at the park. Minor league games start in about a week so I will get a chance to rest up during the next couple days and get ready to get back in action for that.
Monday, March 13
March 13th 2006
Right now I am on the bus heading back to Ft. Myers. We just got done playing the Reds and have an hour and a half ride back so I figured I would get a quick update in. Today we had our second and final night game of spring training. I was pretty pumped to see my name on the list for the game because I'm use to coming in late in games when it is dark outside and this fit in perfect. I pitched the 5th and 6th innings and felt pretty good on the mound. It was also pretty cool because my mom and brother were at the game as well as Stephanee's mom and sister. I think the game was also on TV in Minnesota as well as Cincy and I had a lot of my friends call me to let me know they saw me on TV.
During spring training games they usually have a list of pitchers that will dress for the games. The number varies but is normally around seven guys including the starter. When we first started games the starters would only go 3 innings and add an inning each time they had another start. Right now the starters are up to four innings. The thing that might surprise a lot of people is that the 6 other relievers have no clue if they are going to pitch in the game until the game is about to start. Unlike the season where they can bring anyone in, spring training is different because the list of relievers that will get in the game is already put together before the game starts. Once the game is about to start the bullpen coach will announce the order. The last couple days I was the odd man out or JIC (Just In Case Pitcher...Kevin Cameron deserves to get credit with creating the word JIC, it's pretty popular vocabulary amongst the bullpen now). The JIC is a backup pitcher that is there just in case the game goes extra innings or one of the pitchers gets injured. Some other ways the order might get shifted is if a pitcher has a quick inning the pitching coach can alter the lineup a little and throw a guy out there for another inning. All in all I don't really like knowing when I am going to pitch, there's just something about knowing you are going to pitch for sure that makes me anxious.
As far as autographs go the setup was a little different. When our bus showed up they had us park behind left field in a gated section. There was about twelve graphers waiting but nobody was asking for anything. I was seated in the back of the bus and was watching people's faces as different guys came out. The funniest one I saw was when Molitor walked out and it caught one grapher by surprse. You could see it in his face he wanted to ask him but he couldn't pull the trigger in time. As Molly walked away the grapher just sat there with a total look of loss on his face. From the bus area we had to walk into the stadium with our bags, through the Reds BP and into the clubhouse...kind of a weird way to enter the stadium. After the game we left the same way and there was a lot of people getting stuff signed. If I was going to get stuff signed from the opposing team I would def not want to miss out at this time because all the players have to walk by.
Overall today was a pretty good day at the park. We won the game and I got to meet a handful of people that have checked out this website in the crowd. Thanks guys!
Saturday, March 11
Clue #2 For Contest #12
One is a hitter with over 500 homeruns. The other is a pitcher who didn't get much pub.
Saturday, March 11
March 11th 2006
It's been a good number of days since my last update and a lot of things have happened. On Thursday I went on the trip to play the Baltimore Orioles in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. For the trip we took two buses and it was about a 3-hour ride. When we got to the field there was a good number of fans trying to get stuff signed and a good number that called me out which was pretty cool. I also heard from a lot of people who checked out the website and I was pumped I had fans in the crowd. That was probably the biggest autograph signing day for me so far this spring training. From what I heard that day it was tough getting things signed at the O's spring training park. Their biggest complaint was that it was very hard to get to the players because every section was roped off. The best spots I noticed were after the game they had a hole in the fence were you could pass cards and items through to the players. This spot was facing the visiting clubhouse door. The other spot that was pretty good were the bullpens. We drove home after the game through the middle of Florida on alligator alley and they named that road correctly because I have never seen so many gators before.
Today the first couple cuts were made in big league camp. Every couple days there will be more guys sent down to minor league camp. So far things have been going really well for me and I hope I can keep pitching up at the big league level. Things are so much nicer in the big leagues. You get great food, crowds, excellent baseball and make money. On the minor league side you get excellent baseball, a Chick Fillet sandwich for lunch, a couple family members in the crowd and no money.
Tomorrow we play the Boston Red Sox at their place and I'm scheduled to go on the trip. Also if you are in Minnesota be sure to get to the metrodome for the Kirby Puckett Tribute. I wish I could be there, it's going to be something special.
Monday, March 6
A Sad Day
I don't know what to write about right now. I pitched 2 innings and did really good on the mound against the Pirates today. Still with all the bliss that comes in pitching well in a Major League game this outing has been totally overshadowed with the death of one of my (& any Minnesotan my age's) all time heroes!
I can't really express in words how I feel right now and it hurts really bad like I lost someone close to me. I think that's how anyone who grew up in the 80's and 90's is feeling right now. To me Kirby WAS and IS the greatest athlete to ever play for the Twins or in the state of Minnesota. Today my brothers have been in tears all day, Stephanee is really down because Kirby is her all time favorite player and the more I think about it the more it hurts and tears are starting to come up. I guess in times like right now it is best to look back at how Kirby has affected my life.
Growing up in Brooklyn Park basically says it all. I say this because this is where Kirby lived during his golden years in baseball and where I grew up. Every kid in Brooklyn Park knew this and there was always stories (rumors) floating around about them seeing Kirby outside either gardening or BBQ'ing or whatever a little kid could think of. We had a neighborhood crew very similar to the movie sandlot and we got intrigued and made weekly visits snooping around to see if we could catch Kirby outside and maybe get a game of baseball going:)! I have pictures of his house still fresh in my head, what it looked like, the placemat at the door, and the little white gazebo in the back yard that was on a small pond. You see that was the dream of any kid in that city, that state or as Stephanee tells me the country because she grew up in Reno and the kids loved him there as well. Us kids felt like we lived in the best city in the world just because Kirby lived there. But one of the best things about living in BP was being there for Halloween. I was talking to one of my good friends Shane Stegeman tonight and we both started laughing when we both learned that each of us remember going to Kirby's house on Halloween because he would give out the big 50 cent candy bars and not the little bite size ones!
My dad has always been a big runner and has finished 10 marathons. He always wanted us to bike with him but we were never interested. That all changed when my dad got the neighborhood gang hook, line and sinker by telling us we might catch Kirby outside because he would be running right by Kirby's house.
Perhaps the best story I have is when I was ten and was invited into Kirby's house by his wife Tonya. No I am not making this up like most kids stories back then, I really got to live every kids dream. How did I do it, I begged my dad to drive me to Kirby's house because I wanted to see if he would buy some of my Hockey Fundraiser candy bars. I knocked on the door expecting no answer but THE DOOR OPENED. It was Tonya Puckett and she said hello. I had a blank stare and the first thing that popped into my mind was where is Kirby so I asked "Is Kirby Home?" Tonya said no and asked what I was selling. I said "candy bars, they are 50 cents each." Tonya said "Oh sure, come inside...Kirby is in spring training but he loves his candy bars." She had me pick out a box of candy bars and I couldn't believe I was selling Kirby candy bars. She invited me inside the house and I kept asking her about questions about Kirby. She showed me all her wedding pictures that were on the wall and came back with money for the candy. I remember vividly how everything in the house looked, how everything in the house was brand new and white and how nice looking the furniture was. I left by telling Tonya to tell Kirby hi and that I live down the street. I ran outside to my dad waiting in the car and had a smile on me bigger than the world.
I was lucky enough to get Kirby to sign a couple items for me. One time my dad had my brothers and me go with him to Shinders (the local card shop) so we could buy an 8X10 and some baseballs to get signed. This was back in 1985 & Kirby was signing at a car dealership in BP and we sat in line and got Kirby to sign the balls. It is my all time favorite autograph and will stay with me until I can give it to my kids. I still have it displayed front & center in my room and have included a picture of it on the site.
Basically every kid wanted to be Kirby. At the Brooklyn Center little league fields Kirby inspired every kid who played. We would always go up to the plate and say it just like Bob Casey would when he came up to the plate "Now batting.....KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBYYYYYYYYYYY Puckett. If we would hit one good we would come around third and say in John Gordon's voice "Touch Em All Kirby Puckett!!!" If it was the best hitter on the team up to bat we would say "that's kids on fire, it's like your facing Kirby at the plate right now." When my brothers Little League team went to the 1994 Little League World Series in Williamsport and the game was on ESPN every kid would come up to the plate and listed as their favorite player was none other than Kirby.
You know I never really thought too much about it until today but Kirby basically made me love baseball with what he brought to the field, how he played and how the fans loved him. He really inspired me more than any other athlete in my time and after thinking about it I really wonder if I would be the same baseball player. Seriously, I really wonder if us Minnesotan baseball players coming up would be the same because I think it was Kirby that gave me the desire to want to be a big leaguer.
I'll close with this. I went to a game back in the late 90's, I don't know what the day was actually called but they were honoring Puckett by unveiling his retired jersey. They invited Puckett on the field and the eruption from the crowd didn't stop for 10 minutes. They tried to calm the crowd down but they kept cheering and cheering. It made me want to cry because it was such an awesome moment but somehow I kept it in. Later that night while I was laying in bed that cheering came back in my head...I cried for a good ten minutes and that is pretty much the moment when I knew how badly I wanted to be a baseball player. Thanks for everything Kirby, you inspired me & a million others!
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| A Few Things That Have Been In My Room Since 1985 |
Sunday, March 5
Clue #1 For Contest #12
One of these players was already mentioned twice under the board and was a pretty big star. The other was never mentioned and wasn't even close to the first player in terms of star status!
Saturday, March 4
March 4th 2006
Lots of updates today on a number of topics. I wanted to start out first with the game. I pitched the final two out of the game versus Cleveland today. I came in in the 9th with one out and two guys on. Kind of a tough situation for a guy like me to come into for my first outing in 6 months and 7000 people watching. I was more concerned about being able to throw strikes than where or if the guy would hit it. Everything went fine on the mound, I gave up a lead off hit to Pat Osborn, then faced big prospect Brad Snyder and got him to fly out and got the last guy to ground out. My nervous anxiety leading up to my first outing was very overrated and I felt excellent once I hit the mound. But all in all the nerves were really getting to me the last couple days mostly due to the fact that I haven't seen a live hitter in so long and kept wondering how I would fair in the game. I keep finding humor in the fact that most of the fans don't really understand that this is our first outing and they are expecting us to go out there and do awesome. It's kind of a lot of pressure but when you actually get on the mound in front of everyone the thoughts fly right out the window and you go back to competing.
The last couple weeks I have got a lot of letters with a lot of trades and other things. I spent today writing back to most of the letters (about 15) and finished all of them except three (Jeff F, Daubert and Sasnowski will be written to at a later time because I am looking for cool stuff to send back to them for the excellent signed cards they sent me:) So be on the look out if you sent me a letter and be sure to check out the letters in the mail section.
I got a lot of cool pictures that Stephanee has taken for me and will try to get them up sometime this week. My dad has also been in town and he has been running around trying to get his entire media guide signed by everyone in the organization. He has done well so far but will never completely fill out his media guide because Gabe White retired yesterday. Just a quick word on White, what a great guy. For the short time I got to play with him he really went about his business well and was a class act. It was great to learn from a guy with that much experience who didn't care if you were a rookie or a twenty-year vet he treated you with the same respect.
As far as graphs go it's been a lot tougher than last week. This has mostly been due to the fact that games have started and players are a little tougher to get at. Last week you could catch us anywhere outside the stadium and most of the guys took time out to sign if you asked them. I would recommend to anyone in the future to come out during the first week because you can really get an up close feel and get a lot of stuff signed.
That's about it for right now, I have a lot more stuff to talk about but we rented Saw and SawII so I need to go. I'm hoping tomorrow or sometime during the week I can get to the message board, it looks like there is a lot great discussions going on about graphing and spring training so thank you to everyone!
Wednesday, March 1
March 1st 2006
It was a pretty quick day at the park. The last couple days we have been getting ready for opening day spring training by throwing live BP to hitters. During this time the pitchers tell the hitters what is coming while the pitchers work on their pitches and their control.
Tomorrow is opening day against the Boston Red Sox. My name is penciled in the lineup so I could get an inning tomorrow night. The game is at our place and starts at 7PM. I'm not sure if it's on NESN for all you New Englanders but I bet there is a good chance it is. In Minnesota the game is on Fox (FSN). I'm pretty excited to get out on the mound with hitters. This time of the year most hitters are not in mid season stride yet and the pitching pretty much controls the game. Most pitchers on the other hand don't have their mid season control or velocity yet so this kind of evens out the game. Whatever the outcome one thing is for sure, baseball is back and it's going to be a great season.
Tuesday, February 28
February 28th 2006
Be sure to check out the newest contest for a game worn hat under the contest page section! It's a pretty hard question but the prize is pretty sweet. If anyone pulls the answer in the next week I will fall over in amazement that someone could pull this off. If nobody gets it I will give more clues to make it a little easier.
Tomorrow we play our first exhibition game and on Thursday we play the Red Sox. I'm not sure when I'm pitching because Gardy has yet to make out a lineup for those games. I'll keep you updated.
Monday, February 27
February 27th 2006
Today was a long day at the park. When we arrived we were informed it was picture day (media day). When they said picture day I expected one to two pictures maximum. I took my headshot photos for the Twins and walked back to my locker. Kyle Lohse came up to me and asked me what I was doing taking off my uniform. I told him I was done taking my headshot photos and ready to put my practice uni on. He laughed and told me I had about 100 more shots to take. Sure enough I did and it took about 2 hours to finish through the lines. The photos were being taking by every company. I noticed every baseball card company was there getting shots; photo file and other media outlets like MLB.com were also there. Everyone in camp got to go through the lines and pose. Hopefully one of the shots of me might end up on a card this year. The poses were pretty normal like you would see on a card. I didn’t get to select what I did or how I held the ball. Basically you walked up to the photographer and he snapped a shot of us while we held up a piece of paper with our names on it. From there they told us the poses they wanted us to do. For pitchers it was the basic images you see on cards…Holding the ball straight in front of the camera, out of the stretch and looking into the sky. After all the baseball card photos were snapped we went into a dark hallway where they were doing 3D imaging for a video game. For the imaging we sat down on a chair while it rotated around and took photographs of our heads. The light from the flash on the camera was very bright and it took me about 2-3 minutes for me to see again once we finished with the imaging. After that was all done I went over to another station and got fitted for my uniform. I think the guys were from Majestic doing the sizing, basically you put on the uniform and the guy sized us up. Also during this whole time it was physicals for anyone that didn’t get one done during Twinsfest. I got to skip that part but they did have me and anyone else on the 40-man do mandatory drug tests for the league. It was a long day but it was just starting. From there we went out to the fields and proceeded to have a full practice. We went out at 10:20 and were off the fields by 1:30. I threw off the mound again to hitters in a BP session that lasted 12 minutes. After that was over we had a MLBPA meeting that went about an hour and a half and the day was done. Highlight of the day…Seeing Joe Mauer get kissed on the check by an 80 year old Grandma after she asked him politely if she could give him a kiss. Mauer didn’t have enough time to respond because the granny was quick on the trigger and snapped one off.
I’m really tired right now and heading off to bed, sorry for being so vague with some of my last sentences…Wow I’m tired!
Sunday, February 26
February 26th 2006
Not really much to report on. Us pitchers have had a couple easy days with the rain and were off the field by 10:30 a couple days. Hitters were in camp yesterday for their first workouts. We had a bunch of team meetings with Terry Ryan going over rules and conduct type material. Yesterday I threw another bullpen session against hitters in BP. I threw for about 10 minutes to the hitters (Kubel, Bartlett & Geiger) and at the end I felt like I ran a four minute mile because I was going full speed. Off the field we got to do a couple cool things. If anyone has ever been to a game at the Metrodome you will notice the big screens they have in the upper deck levels showing replays or who's up to bat. We got to do our player profile for when we come into the game. I had 4 takes to get my 20 seconds big screen profile. The guy in charge told me to throw the ball up in the air and after a while look in the camera. The second take was with me looking in the camera. The third was a still of me holding the ball out in from of me and the last was another stare into the camera with a smile. The did it all in a little room with a bright green background. In the clubhouse a lot of equipment reps have been walking around trying to get guys to use their products. For the most part the reps have been targeting the big guys on the team or guys that have been labeled prospects. In other news we were informed today that there are too many invitees to spring training and parking spaces are limited. So in order to solve the problem they decided that any player without MLB service time has to park in the main parking lot outside the stadium. It looks like my days of doing in car signings are over for a little bit. Or if you want to make me feel special you can come hit me up for some auto's, I'm driving a white firebird with MN plates! Other than that a lot of cool mail has been coming in with a lot of sweet trades. Keep the letters coming guys. I have a backlog of about 10 letters and will be getting at them shortly.
Also if you are bored be sure to check out this unreal video!!!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/23/earlyshow/main1339324.shtml
Thursday, February 23
February 23rd 2006
Be sure to check out redwingsbaseball.com and the new interview they did with me during Twinsfest. It's an excellent interview with lots of random questions.
Check it out by clicking here.
At the park I felt great during my bullpen session but I really sucked it up taking hacks in BP. We are hitting again tomorrow so we'll see if I can make better contact!
Wednesday, February 22
February 22nd 2006
I got a question on the message board asking if I get any stuff signed in the clubhouse. That's a pretty common question a lot of my friends ask so I will address that right now. As far as autographs go in the clubhouse I don't get guys unless I am pretty good friends with them. You also have to kind of understand the situation I'm currently in. Basically I'm a rookie and it's not too cool to go running around the clubhouse getting stuff signed. If I get to know the guys or I have played with them before they are always cool and will sign whatever and I don't feel awkward like I would getting a vet. Once the games start (March 2nd) and we play other teams there's a chance they let you send stuff over to the other clubhouse with the clubby and get items signed. I have to ask around and see if they do that in spring training because this is pretty common in the big leagues during the season or so I've heard!
Another day, another workout... Today we kept the same workout plan as the past two days with the exception of a new station, BUNTING. It was pretty crazy to get in the cage and have jugs balls coming at you around 85 (or at least that's what it looked like to me). I think it was the first time I had a machine throwing me balls since high school and it was a little awkward but I did ok for the first time in seven years. Tomorrow is hitting (not kidding) in the cages, I'm hoping to get back my old swing!
Like I said before we break up into three groups to do each station. The group I work out with consists of Joe Nathan, Jesse Crain, Johan Santana, Errol Simonitsch, Darrell May, Gabe White and JD Durbin. The funniest moment in camp (or at least to me) occurred today. We do this drill where Gardenhire stands behind the mound and we throw off the mound to a catcher. When our back is turned to the plate Gardy flips a ball off our back and we have to find the ball and throw it to first. Well today Gardy said he is done being the tosser and said the guy behind us gets to flip the ball off the pitchers back. Crain went first and Nathan was the flipper, well he didn't exactly flip the ball...more like wound up and threw a full pitch off Crain's back. Crain wasn't too happy and took the spot as the flipper when Nathan got on the mound (he didn't know Crain jumped ahead in line). Nathan threw the pitch and Crain let the ball go right between his legs hitting an unmentionable spot. Everyone laughed for a while and we broke into our running routine!
Tuesday, February 21
February 21st 2006
Not much of a big write up today. 36 on the message board aka The Neal wanted to know about what we eat in the clubhouse? It's actually a pretty good question and no there is no Sierra Mist in "this" clubhouse:) When we show up there is cereal on hand for breakfast as well as bananas. The fridge is full of fruit, bottled water, orange juice and other all breakfast type items. Today's lunch was Tuna Sandwiches and deli meat sandwiches, which were gone when I got back from the weight room after practice. Yesterday there was egg sandwiches or choice of meat (bologna, salami or roast beef) sandwiches with all toppings on the side. I picked the tuna/egg combinations for the two days so far. Also for those interested the clubhouse dues are the cheapest around and also very resonable. For one week the dues are $50, that comes out to a little over $7 a day.
As far as the day went it was pretty much the same as yesterday with the only difference being I threw a bullpen. I felt really good letting it go on the mound. During my first couple spring trainings I never really felt as strong during my first couple bullpens but this year I felt game ready so I am really happy with that. The slider is breaking hard and wow there is a major difference on my fastball with those Major League balls. If anyone ever tells you there is no difference between baseballs they are wrong. There's something about MLB balls either they are lower seams or smoother seems. I don't know what it is but whatever it is makes the ball really run, dip, dive and do weird things.
Monday, February 20
February 20th 2006
Hey everyone, I'm finally in Ft. Myers and already have a day under my belt. The last week has been really busy especially the last couple days moving into Ft. Myers. Well where do I start it's been a heck of a first day. I guess I'll start with what happens going into camp. For some reason every year I get confused as to what the reporting date means. I get all freaked out and think it's the first practice but then realize it just means get into town and show up at the field to drop your stuff off at your locker. So yesterday I reported to the field and unpacked my equipment. Just before I got to the field I got an excellent call from teammate Kevin Cameron who informed me that he got a late invite to Big League spring training. He said he came down to Ft. Myers from Illinois early to get some work in before big league camp and was throwing on the field when Terry Ryan came up to him and gave him the good news. So now he can scrap his plans on throwing on the minor league side and pitch a bunch of games in the Big Leagues and make a little money. I'm pumped about the news. After getting the call from Cameron I walked into the clubhouse and started unloading my bags. I then was informed to go in the back to get some shirts and other items. I walked in the back and was bombarded with free stuff. I got 8 different Nike dry fit shirts, sliding shorts, MLB sandals, a jacket and a bunch of other stuff I'm probably forgetting. So not bad, already in one day I received more free stuff in my entire career. I walked over to my locker (in between Lohse and Baker's locker) and noticed my jersey...#72. Just like that my new number is 72, no choice just here's your number. I like it a lot, you can really tell who the new guys are by how high their numbers are! That pretty much sums up yesterday.
Today was the first day of workouts for all pitchers and catchers, a lot of hitters are already here but they don't have to be here until later in the week. I walked into the clubhouse today and noticed that every locker in the locker room was in use and it isn't a small locker room. There were tons of reporters walking around trying to get stories going for their columns in the newspaper. Most reporters went after the same players and it was funny to see how they went after the guys, very similar to graphers when they can't tell for sure if it's the guy they need or not. Out of all the reporters there only one came up to me to introduce himself and that was Star Tribune writer La Velle E. Neal III. From there we had staff introductions and then broke out onto the fields to workout. The workout was pretty laid back compared to the minor league workouts of past. Today we all stretched, threw for about 10 minutes to get loose, broke into groups and did PFP work, worked on signs and threw bullpens. After we finished everything we ran 12(foul pole to foul pole) poles and called it a day.
A lot of you are wondering about the autograph scene so I will comment on that. There were a lot of people here today running around watching the players. It's free to come to practice and pretty neat because you can get close and check out a Major League practice. Autographs were tough to get during our workouts because we run to each station and don't have time to sign in between. I would say the best times to get guys are when we come out or when we get done. As I was leaving I was proud to see one of my earlier autographing tricks being put to good use. The old get em in the car tactic was in full effect. I thought it was really funny that people are now getting me to sign in my car. It looked like they did pretty well the items I signed were mostly team things like helmets and they were pretty full!
Right now the sun pretty much has kicked my butt and I'm getting tired so I better call it a night. There's a lot of stuff to talk about so if you have questions be sure to write them on the message board and I can address them there or on the site. See ya tomorrow!
Address Change
I just updated my address for spring training. This is the address that worked last year at this time. Don't worry if you sent something the other day. I will be here until Sat's mail. Spring training starts in a week and I cannot wait to get going. It's been a long off season and I'm ready to be at the field for another six months.
February 6th 2006
I just updated the record book section with a bunch of new records that shattered previous highs. That baseballaddict2000 pretty much cleaned house. I decided to add a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place for that catagory since there are some pretty outstanding numbers being put up.
As for me I have been busy getting my arm ready for the reporting date of spring training. It is coming up pretty quick. Right now I am still in Florida but not in Ft. Myers yet. I'm still living on the other side of FL waiting for the 18th so we can move into our rental. It would've been nice to be in Ft. M right now but prices there for a 2 month stay at this time of the year are out of control!
If anyone is planning on writing to me or sending a trade be sure to do it by the end of the week. We are leaving here the 18th so I don't want anyone to lose any cards in the mail. I will update the stadium address around Friday this week.
A Look Back @ Twinsfest
I just got back to Florida a little bit ago and am finally getting some time to get on the internet and check out what's new. Last week was a very busy one and I finally am getting a little time to relax. But right now I want to reflect on the week that was Twinsfest.
The week started off on Wednesday with a flight from Orlando into Minneapolis. Stephanee, our dog Juicy and I all made the trip for the weekend. Wednesday went by pretty quick and featured a seafood buffet @ some gambling @ Mystic Lake Casino that night. Thursday was a taking care of business day and I got a lot of things done that I needed to do in MN. Friday was the first day of Twinsfest and I couldn't wait. This has been my third Twinsfest out of the past four years. Since I live (my parents) pretty close to the Metrodome I stayed with them instead of taking the complimentary hotel the Twins give all the players. I left the house around 6 for my 7:15pm signing. I kind of ran into some problems with the parking guards every day trying to explain to them that I was a player who was signing. I wish they would've given me a parking pass to avoid the short delays. You see everyone else signing took the hotel bus and had no problems. Once in I went down to the Gopher Football locker room where everyone met before they signed. Since I have been around a couple years I knew most of the guys. What really sucks is if you are a new guy and don't know anyone. My first year I walked into the room and wanted to run away. On one side of me was Molitor and the other side is Killebrew and Torii. Talk about intimidating. That first year I was pretty shy and stayed to myself hoping that I could get on the field quick, sign and go home. This year was a lot different and really fun seeing all the guys and finding out how there off seasons have been. The first signing started off with Jake Mauer, David Winfree, Justin Arneson and I signing at the "rookie" table. I sat next to Mauer and the signing got underway. After the first ten minuted I noticed a lot of people had my cards and a lot of people were asking the same questions to Jake..."How's your brother doing?" Thirty minutes in, there were more Mauer questions and a lot of people saying what's up to me and giving the web site praise. It was pretty cool meeting all the people that said they checked out my site, quite amazing. Even Winfree said "Man, this must be some web site because everyone is talking about it." That first night ended on a good note with lots of autographs and many proof shots taken! Later that night we had a dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery. Most the signers were there and the Twins picked up the tabbed. I took my brother Paul along with me and he had a pretty good time hanging out with the guys. The next day I asked him if he had fun and he said it was awesome and that he couldn't believe how down to earth the guys were off the field. The highlight of the night was Corey Koskie coming in dressed in a disguise (beard, shades and fake hair with a hat). Paul met most of the Twins and said the three coolest Twins were Willie Eyre, Jason Kubel and Jake Mauer.
Day two started off pretty early for me with a 8am Physical. The physical involved an eye checkup, urine sample, blood sample, EKG test and a bunch of other weird movement test. After that I went home for a couple hours before I had to return to sign. Day two of signing was easily the biggest and my favorite. Once again I met a lot of cool people from them checking out my website, they even gave me some sweet gifts. One gift that was pretty sweet was a Shadows Fall T-shirt. I couldn't believe someone would bring me a shirt like that...Awesome. I also got the opportunity to meet the one and only Seth from Sethspeaks.net. He had a bunch of stuff to get signed and had a sweet gift for me, a Sethspeaks.net T-shirt, it will be worn during the season. Seth and I didn't have much time to talk because the line was getting restless and I could see Seth was in heaven with all the possible info he could get for his website with the Twins Executives being easily accessible. Day Two wrapped up shortly after and I couldn't wait to get home and lay down.
Day three was more of the same but the crowds were definitely lower. One guy came up to me and said I just bought this card from a guy over there please sign it for me. I asked him how much he paid for the unsigned card of me and he said $4. He sounded like he got ripped off and I told him here, now put this thing on ebay I heard they are going for $20 right now. He laughed at me thinking I was nuts then reassured me that "I would never do something like that and put something on ebay." I told him I would love it if he would sell an item of mine on there and he walked away with a weird look on his face. Hopefully he changed his ways because baseballaddict2000 is on a buying spree and that guy could get a hefty premium on his investment.
Overall on the weekend I signed for four and one half hours. I figured I signed 6 cards a minute each night (90 minutes) = 540 times three nights = over 1600 autographs. Out of those autographs I figure I signed about 50-60 cards. The majority of the cards being 2004 and 2005 New Britain cards. There was 1 E-Town card signed, 5 Quad City cards, 2 Upper Decks, NO MWL All Star Cards and lots of baseballs signed.
Some random thoughts.
Weirdest autograph signed, one crazed fan haha wanted the card signed and dated in military time. He got it and it's my first military dated autograph out there. Biggest Criticism on this website over the weekend: More pictures of Stephanee on the site. Most interesting moment: A guy claiming to know a lot of funny stories about a coach I had back in the day...Guy, if this is you I cannot wait until you email the details you talked about, sure is a small world. Strangest moment of the weekend: Lady from plane flight came up to my booth and asked if I remembered sitting next to her four years ago!!! Funniest moment: Hearing stories from my brother about players asking how the heck he got there broken bats (I get them for him every year in the clubhouse if players don't want the bats anymore and give them to Paul to get signed.) Weirdest Feeling Moment: Seeing people trying to avoid you because they don't know who you are or don't want your autograph or don't have anything they need signed, then accidentally making eye contact with you, then realizing that you noticed them and seeing what they did. Most just kept looking ahead trying not to make even more eye contact while others turned and said "I don't have anything for you" and got the hell out of there as fast as they could.
Well there you have it Twinsfest 2006. If you have any other questions be sure to write them under the message board. I have been swamped with stuff lately and haven't been able to get to the site as much as I should. I need to answer all the message boards still and had 10 letters that came in while I was away. I figure I will get to the letters this week so if you sent something be patient and I will have them out to you soon. Also I didn't really want to say anything but there is a contest that has been going on and nobody has answered it correctly in about 2 weeks. So there, the cat is out and hopefully someone can get it right!
HOLY CRAP: More Ebay Records
All hail King Baseballaddict2000, well at least for the next couple days. Baseballaddict2000 recently protected his crown and set a new record for one of my signed cards on ebay. The winning bid came in at $16.66 There is another batch of cards coming to a close in the next week and I'm sure with Twinsfest there will be a lot more items coming to auction soon. Baseballaddict2000's record isn't safe right now Be sure to watch and see if a new record will be set by mvlaxgoalie12, jiml23 or someone else!
Twinsfest Signing Times
I just got my Twinsfest signing times for those that are interested.
Friday 7-8:15PM
Saturday 2:30-4PM
Sunday 9:15-10:45AM
January 15th 2006
Just browsing through stuff and needed to comment on the awesome ebay auctions of late. Seller jmoak posted one of my 2003 Midwest League cards that I signed for him TTM in 2004 on eBay The bidding was fast and furious with 4 different buyers all trying to win the card and set a record price for one of my cards on eBay. Captian23 came in first followed by berras15, everlovin and baseballaddict2000. In the end Baseballaddict2000 took the record with a final bid and record price $10.03 edging out MN's own everlovin!
Baseballaddict2000's record was put to the test three days later when it was challenged by seller Twinformation and his listing of the same 2003 Midwest League signed card. This auction was a little different with a couple new players. Instead of Captian23 there was Kjamidon and Enviro22. Once again there was quick bidding and before you could bid the price was nearing record highs. Baseballaddict2000 decided to protect his neck and put in a record tying bid of $10.03 but it wasn't enough as newcomer enviro22 takes the honor of highest price for one of my cards on eBay with a record price of $10.53.
Two days later Twinformation decided to see if he could once again challenge the record but was put to shame with two bids on two different items for .99cents. Will there be a new record sometime soon??? Keep checking eBay to see what's happening!
January 13th 2006
Just when I think I am done with the letters I get an assault of 100 new cards in the mail. I'm giving a big shout out to Terry Flanigan who sent in a mixture of 57 hockey/baseball signed cards. Not to be outdone was Mike C, C for Canada who sent in some of the finest cards I have got all year...Dany Heatley, HOFers galore and two auto's that made me proud...A Don Cherry signed Molson card and hahahahah a 1982 Magnum P.I. card signed by TOM SELLECK. The Selleck goes down as the card that made me laugh the most so far this year. Don Cherry was actually one of the guys I secretly wanted to have but didn't think anyone out there would be able to track him down and get him on a card. I will try to update the baseball card/hockey card section tonight. I would like to get scans of everything up in the next week.
As I mentioned before Twinsfest is coming up really quick. If you are in the Minneapolis area it's not a bad shot for autographs. Most Twins will be in town as well as a lot of former Twins. I think Twinsfest is $8 to get in. Once in there will be a free autograph booth for young twins like myself that haven't made it up to the show. From there you have to pay for Twins players and ex Twins. If you don't want to pay you might get lucky running around the field trying to spot faces or trying to locate the hotel where the guys will be staying. As for me I will be flying in on the 25th just in time to hit up the Nashville Predators before they play the Wild. It's always nice to be able to come home and get some hockey stuff signed up in the process.
Speaking of auto's I did hit up the Colorado Avalanche once during my stay for the holidays. Only two teams came in during the entire time I was there:) and I was pretty disappointed. Right when I leave 5 teams come into town during a week and a half period. My brother will be working it so I'll see how he does. As for me Colorado was pretty good. Mark of the Boston Fury hooked me up with some info about them before and noted that Michel Goulet might be traveling with the team! Sure enough he was and I was able to get him on 2/2 as well as my brother. He was really cool and joked with us while talking on his cell phone that "even people in the U.S. know who I am!" As always everyone was really cool when we asked them, we pulled Aebischer, Brisebois, Brunett, Budaj, Clark, Hejduk, Hinote, Laaksonen, Liles, Mclean, Richardson, Sauer, Skrastins and Tanguay. For some reason we showed up late and must have missed Sakic and the other big guys...Blake, Turgeon and Svatos or the could've took the underground walkway believe me they were playing David Copperfield and were no where to be found...Out of all the guys Brunette was the most personal on the team!
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| Today Was A Good Day! |
January 12th 2006
I got through most of the letters and have updated that section as well as the "Baseball Cards" and "Hockey Cards" sections. Now the letters are mostly done I can concentrate on the site!
January 10th 2006
Well I got over 20 letters in the mail upon my return. I wanted to get them up today with everything that came in the letters but just did not have the time. I will try again tomorrow or just start chipping into them one by one. Just looking at all the stuff that came in I have to give a shout out to Derick Kelly of Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin for the stuff he sent, wow so many signed cards...Derick be sure to be on the look out for a game hat worn by JR Taylor this year coming at ya in the mail! I can't believe all the cards that have been coming in. I went out and bought some more sleeves and a folder so I can better organize them all. I'm going to redo all the scans sometime soon.
Back In FL
Well I'm back in Florida after 3 days and 30 hours of driving. I'm heading to the Post Office tomorrow to check on the mail, I can't wait to see what came in. I'll be sure to post everything that has came in. Also, before I left I did some graphing and hit up the Colorado Avalanche in St. Paul and they signed really good, I'll let you know how that went tomorrow. Right now I'm going to bed!
January 4th 2006
Hey what's up everybody! I have been in Minnesota the past couple weeks with my family doing the holiday thing. Tomorrow Stephanee and I will be heading back to Florida after the long break. Just to let everyone know there will be a lot of updates starting around Sunday. We drove up here (30 hours straight!!!) & it was too much so we will be taking it slow on the way back. I put the mail on hold in Florida so I cannot wait to see the trades coming in! Also did anybody see the excellent eBay auction!!! That was awesome, I hope it can be broken once again! Like I said before I will be in full force starting around Sunday so be sure to start checking out the site, I probably will start doing daily updates at that time for the entire season!
In The Mail
Got some SWEET hockey cards in the mail today from Ken Hastins of New Hampshire.
Included in the mail were signed cards of
Garry Unger, Rogatien Vachon, Jon Morris, Doug Wilson, Brian Lawton and Paul Fenton.
Also I have been invited to attend and sign autographs for Twinsfest 2006. Twinsfest is always a great event and a very easy way to get autographs if you have a good eye for players in street clothes. For more info as it becomes available be sure to check out http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/min/fan_forum/twinsfest.jsp
December 10th 2005
This last week was a pretty good one for me in the mail with request. I got a bunch more cards added to the site under the collections. Next week Stephanee and I will be driving back to MN for the holidays to visit our families. If time permits we also might hit up the old stomping ground and get some NHL stuff signed in St. Paul (If anyone has went for Dallas or Colorado be sure to let me know how they are?) I ask mostly about Colorado to see if they changed a little because they use to be worthless to go after!
Not much else is really going on, just lifting and running non-stop. I was bored and decided to check out the chat rooms and found a funny post the other day. People were debating whether or not I would change if I got a card. One said something to the degree of "wait until he gets a card...he'll stop signing". I also laughed because one of the posts said that if I do get a card it would be tough to get because everyone would be bidding on the lots on eBay because they know they can get them signed easily. I know for a fact I will never stop signing, the only time I would probably have a limit (limit meaning 25 or more) would be before the game as I'm walking to the bullpen. There is also one other time that might be tough to do a bunch and that would be after a game at home because I usually have friends or family waiting for me to get home. Remember I'm not talking about 0-25 cards those can get knocked out anytime, this is for 25+ card or more lots. What I would prefer to do is take them home, sign them up and return them the next day. Other than that I'll hit up your 200-card lot that you just got off eBay anytime. Just remember if I do get a card and brentscard on eBay is breaking boxes of whatever and selling off 100-200 card lots of me PLEASE DO NOT OUTBID ME. Topps doesn't supply players with cards and I'm going to have to scrap for these things:) kidding, kidding. Also if I do get a card be sure to have me sign it and then list one on eBay. I love seeing stuff of mine (As rare as it is right now) up for auction and knowing there are people out there that will spend money for one of my cards. A lot of people/players think selling autographs is bad. What they are forgetting is that lots of people are out there paying top dollar for a signed item and they can't get these any other way. Some will say that people selling autographs are ruining the hobby. I disagree, I think a lot of the anger stems from other graphers getting mad that you don't use good...lets say autograph etiquette. If you have a stack of cards, let the other guys with one or two cards go first, then go in for the kill. If a player doesn't want to sign anymore he will let you know. Some will say that it has made players hate signing so much that they just stopped signing for everyone. Well they could be right but if a guy can't stop to sign one card they have a problem. I guess my best advice on this is that you have to test the water and know the player. Some players don't sign, that's how they deal with people selling their stuff, others have limits. After hitting up a certain team for a series you can really feel out individual players. If that doesn't work jump on a chat room and see how others have fared. That way you can come prepared and avoid getting mad when Johnny Stud refuses to sign one card and now your left with 50 worthless cards of him. I'm not just writing this from a players standpoint, I have been there burning midnight oil many nights getting minor league guys. I was and still can be the guy who bids on huge lots on eBay and makes it my goal to get them all signed. Some might say why do you need 50 cards of one guy signed. I say why not, who knows how good the player might become and how valuable they might be worth. Man, some of my best stories are about getting huge stars before they were big in quantity. One of my favorite stories in collecting dates back to 2000 in Indianapolis when Columbus was in town. I bought a 100-card lot of a guy named Alphonso Soriano on eBay. I figured he might sign a couple but I brought all 100 cards just in case. Well it turns out the bus broke down and all the players had to sit around outside. He came over to me and asked if I had anymore of him since he signed 5 the first time I asked him and noticed all the others I had. Yes, I did feel a little guilty showing him what I had of him, but to my amazement he signed every card. Do I feel bad for doing this, No. Will Soriano sign 100 cards for a fan after a game nowadays, heck no. That's the thrill about the minors, you don't know what you will get or what to expect. One thing is for sure, you'll always be able to see an autograph and remember the place it was signed and the time of your life...at least that's how it is with me. Every autograph attempt you go after, no matter how little or how large always has a story and that's why I love the hobby!
More Stuff
I've spent all day uploading and marking down all my hockey graphs I received throughout the year and posted them on the left side bar under "Hockey Graphs." Be sure to check it out and contribute if you would like;)
During the past couple days I received some awesome letters from fans. Be sure to check out the section "Letters In Mail" and see what has been coming into my mailbox. Yesterday I received letters from Jamie Mckinley who sent a Doug Gilmore card also Eric Mace sent a Rick Reuschell, Don August & a Fernando Valenzuela signed cards. Today was a nice day for the mailbox, probably the best so far in the offseason. John Price of ND sent me a grand package including the following players signed cards - Miguel Olivo, Tim Stauffer, Adam Jones, Jeff Mathis, Guilermo Quiroz, Josh Willingham, Jamie Romak, Macay Mcbride, Anthony Lerew, Stephen Drew, Huston Street, Clint King, Tyler Greene, Sean Rodriguez, Zach Duke, David Wright, Edwin Jackson and Shane Costa. Hockey Players, Anton Babchuk, Anton Babchuk, Lauru Tukonen, Willie Mitchell, Dustin Brown, Petr Sykora, David Tanabe and Ivan Novoseltsev. As if that weren't enough Julie Fielding of OH sent me another stack including Joel Zumaya, Adam Everett, Andrew Brown, J.D. Martin, Pat Osborn, Jason Cooper and Bear Bay. Wow what a day!!!
I also just noticed the big Twins trade today. Travis Bowyer and Scott Tyler for Luis Castillo. It's going to be weird this year with no Bowyer or Tyler in the clubhouse, they are really cool guys who always make the locker room laugh!
Check It Out
On the left side frame be sure to check out "Autograph Collection." It's most of the cards I have recieved this year from fans either through trades or for them being awesome and hooking me up! I'm hoping to get a hockey page up sometime soon and also add more of the baseball cards I have in Minnesota. I would also like to someday get my personal collection of autographs up from when I hounded players. They are all in Minnesota so it might not happen anytime soon.
Also be sure to check out sethspeaks.net. If you are a Twinsfan you should make it a mandatory stop each day. Seth's site is basically a collection of what's happening in the world of the Twins updated every weekday. He also does first hand interviews that are pretty in-depth. Last week Seth did a Q&A with me and it can be found by going here http://www.sethspeaks.net/112305.htm
Getting The Call!!!
Well what can I say I'm pretty pumped up right now! I got a call on Wednesday @ 3:51 in the afternoon from Jim Rantz (The Twins director of minor leagues). I was in the other room so there was a message on my phone. The message basically said Pat, this is Jim Rantz give me a call back when you get this! At first I was wondering what the heck is going on...was I the PTBNL in the Boone trade? I called back and was informed that the Twins were putting me on the 40-man roster. My first words were "Hell yeah, that's awesome!" My heart began beating really fast and I ran in the house to tell Stephanee the good news. Right after that I had to call my parents and let them know. I wanted to put something on the site that night but had to wait just to make sure the news did come out and I was on the roster! This news ranked right up there with getting drafted, probably even better because I worked a heck of a lot harder these last couple years. I just wanted to thank everybody on the site for the little things you have done for me these past couple years whether it be posting comments, talking to me after games, hyping me up on a message board haha, signing or trading cards with me or just being a fan. It means a lot to me and I thank every person for that!
I'm still coming down from the news a little as I write. It's a good feeling not having to worry anymore about getting on the roster. Now the next goal is to stay on it! I'm working my butt off down here in Florida, pretty much doing twice as much as I did last year at this time. I'll be ready for spring training and the season and look forward to getting back out on the mound with the game on the line!
The Topps Contract
I thought it would be pretty cool to talk about the Topps contract since there is not really much information about this stuff. To start Topps tries to sign every minor league player to a contract. This is usually done in spring training or right after the draft in short season baseball. Topps sends authorized Topps agents out to do the work and get the contracts signed. Who are they going after? Every minor leaguer. Their motivation for us to sign the contract is a $5 check. A lot of guys are pumped up that they can sign a Topps contract and get paid, heck I wanted to sign just to frame the check! Other guys are cautious about signing a contract and need to talk to their agents. Over the past couple years you hear different stories from players about their views on this contract. Some stories I've heard say never to sign the contract because if you blow up and go big they will have to pay you more than $5 to sign that contract. One player that sticks out is Mark Prior, he never signed a Topps contract and did an exclusive deal with Upper Deck and made bank on the deal (I think it was UD). Another story I heard was about some player who never signed the contract yet Topps made a card of him. He supposedly ended up settling the case for a lot of money. If Topps does not get you on the contract they cannot produce a card of you. Another word about the contract deals with actually getting a card. Once you get a card, Topps pays you $1500 (I'm pretty sure that is what the amount was last year) to use your image and name on it's cards for that year. You can have a Topps card, a Bowman card and other sets in the Topps catalog if they want to put you in and you get that set amount of $1500. That brings up another point of not signing the $5 contract; you get to negotiate the price if Topps wants to use your image. That is pretty much the reason why Topps goes after the younger players. Once you sign them on the contract you have them for 4 years (according to the contract) and can produce as many of their cards for the set price of $1500 a year! Just a word of note, I have signed this Topps contract twice in my playing days yet do not have a card...Please Topps you can have my rights for free (Plus the $10 you gave me in checks!) all I ask is one little card. One last word, the signature on the Topps contract is what goes on the actual card if they put a signature (Bowman does it all the time).
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| Getting Paid The Big Bucks? |
Back & Ready To Go!
I got my much-deserved break from everything (even the website) & I'm ready to kick it into gear. I'm going to make it my goal to answer the message board as best as I can until the season starts up again. If you have any questions just put it down on the message board.
As for me the past couple months have been spent doing a lot of things. I went home to Minnesota for a month and a half. The theme of going home could've been called "Cleaning out the house." In that time I cleaned, painted and fixed up my old room, our family had a garage sale and after that it was time to clean the garage. It felt good getting rid of a lot of junk.
During that time I also went up to Canada to visit my brother Jake who is going to school @ the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. We enjoyed the shrinking exchange rate and went shopping a bunch.
When we came home my other brother Paul had a surprise for me. For my birthday he got me the MN Twins home plate used during the first half of the season. Now you might wonder how the heck did he pull that or WHERE did he pull that...The answer is pretty simple, nobody at his work wanted it so he took it home. Paul's job is Grounds Crew for the MN Twins and Vikings. While I was home he called me up one night and asked me if I wanted to run around the Metrodome and see what he does. I wish I would've had a camera because that was awesome. We spent the time meeting all the grounds crew guys and checking out how they get the field ready each day for whoever is playing there. I'll tell you what those guys do a lot of work with that field and need a shout out for that!
Another cool thing happened on October 2nd. That was the day my dad finished his 10th or so Twin Cities marathon. Not bad for the old man! He did it without stopping & sprinted his butt off @ the finish (something I criticized him about when I was 9...I watched in horror as an old lady beat him in the home stretch". His first words after the race was I wasn't going to let that old lady beat me this year!!!
After my time home I traveled down to Florida where I currently am. Along the way to Florida Stephanee and I stopped in Indianapolis where Butler had it's annual Alumni game. We had an awesome turnout of former Bulldogs and actually beat the current Butler team...If you don't believe we won check out the press from the game! http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/stories/101805aac.html
As I said above I am currently in Florida. My day basically consist of running, lifting and going to the beach. I have been concentrating a lot on what I put in my body and juicing fruits and vegetables everyday. I also subscribed to the NHL Center Ice package and have been watching hockey like crazy. Stephanee and I are thinking about checking out a Panthers or Lighting game down here, if anyone has been down here at all or has done autographs here be sure to let me know!
As far as baseball goes, the Arizona Fall League just finished. Usually the week after the Fall League is when teams announce their 40-Man rosters. Basically if you are not added to the 40-man you are going to have a hell of a time making it up to the bigs that year. Likewise if you do get added you have a pretty fair shot at making it up. For guys like me this time of the year will be followed closely.
I want to get some trading going on again. I was thinking about making a database of all the signed cards I have gotten this year from the fans. There are a lot of cards so I don't know if I will be able to add pictures. Anyways NHL is something I am really into. If anyone wants a signed card of me just send any signed NHL card (AHL, OHL whatever) and we can trade.
September 16th 2005
Hey everybody I'm finally starting to get settled in a little. The last week I have done a lot of things and am finally able to relax a little. Last week I drove to Jacksonville as soon as the season ended to help Stephanee move her stuff. We will be living on the Middle East coast of Florida just below Melbourne during the off-season. As soon as we moved in we flew out to Minnesota to hang out with the family for a couple weeks. Right now I am in Minnesota hanging out.
As I mentioned above we will be living in Florida during the off-season. I have done this the past couple years and it really seemed to work out awesome. I am able to throw everyday, run without freezing and do other things you cannot do in the winter up here. The last off-season worked out really good and I know it was the reason for my success.
So far I have gotten a couple letters up here at the house for autographs. Remember if anyone needs one of my cards signed I would love to make a trade with you! Just send a signed card of any baseball/hockey player!
Speaking of hockey, the NHL has started their pre-season games. I'm really mad because I will be heading out camping in Wisconsin for the next couple days while Gretzky is coming into town. I can't wait to do some autographing in the next couple weeks and I can be on the other side (getting items signed).
The other night I got a call from WCCO radio wanting me to do an interview with them to be played during the Twins pre-game. It was a unique experience. They told me to be ready at 10:30pm and I would go on live. Sure enough 10:30 rolls around and I picked up the phone. No BS or anything I was on the air! I answered a bunch of questions and it was all over in about 10 minutes. The played the interview that night (Wednesday) and said something about before Saturday's Twins game so be on the look out for that if you are in the MN area!
I have a bunch more interviews to get up so continue to stop by and post!
This Is Awesome
I was browsing through the box scores the other day and
Check out former Butler University Bulldog Eddie Olszta's day & see what positions he played during their AAA Indianapolis/Toledo game! I would've paid to see that WOW!
September 7th: End Of Season
The last couple days have been crazy. We finished our final game of the year in Binghamton and got on the bus heading back to New Britain. We got back around 9pm. From there everyone pretty much scattered. There were a couple things we had to do. Some of those things had to deal with paperwork, turning in our equipment and paying the fine to the Eastern League for that little incident where Tomlin pushed their catcher. I'm still surprised they fined us, they must be low on money!
After that I got in my car and drove 17 hours straight to Florida. It was a long drive and I can't believe I made it so quick. The Twins either give you money to drive or buy you a plane ticket. Since I had my car I had to drive back. They gave me $250 to pay for the gas. Usually guys can make money by driving because it usually cost around $100 in gas...Not this year.
In the off-season Stephanee and I are planning on living near the beach by Vero Beach, FL. This worked out pretty good last year while we were in Jacksonville because it lets us get outside all the time. Right now I'm getting some much needed rest after the long season. In a week we are flying up to Minnesota for a little bit before we start getting it ready for next season.
In the end the Twins decided to pass on the Rock Cats at the end of the season & didn't promote anybody. It wasn't much of a surprise because not one guy on our team is on the 40-man roster. There were rumors that Romero might be going up but that never happened. Everyone knows that the big club is stacked above us and it is very hard for anyone to move. It gets very frustrating for a lot of guys that understand what kind of situation they are really in. It also get frustrating for guys that have an excellent season wondering what could've been if they were in a different org. Lots of teams are calling up AA guys and purchasing contracts right now. Hell, the Eastern League has fared pretty well this year with MLB call-ups. The Rock Cats...Not one guy.
I do have a lot of Game Used stuff I got on the last couple days, mostly hats. I will be contesting them off but don't expect anything up for at least a couple weeks with all the traveling & moving I will be doing.
I also should be getting up a bunch more interiews/Q&A's. I did 6 of them on the bus, I just have to upload them sometime this week.
September 1st 2005
Right now we are on the bus heading to our next and final stop in Binghamton, NY. It's about a 6 hour trip and it's already 11:30pm...should be fun:) Akron didn't have as many autographers as last time maybe it was because of it being a weekday series.
For some reason this trip to Akron didn't treat me good. Back to back nights I gave up runs and it really pissed me off. When baseball is against it's not fun and these last two days it's really sucked for me. We have four games to go and we are out of Akron so I'm pretty pumped. I'm ready to finish strong. We are still in the playoff hunt with four games to go and two back. It will take a miracle but crazier things have happened.
As I mentioned before The Twins want me to play in Venezuela which would start around October. I really leaning towards staying home and resting my arm. I might think different about the situation if I had a lot less innings. So far I have 80 innings with 55 app's & I think it would be better to take a break, work-out and come into spring training refreshed and ready to strike out the side.
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| So Long Akron... |
August 30th 2005
Hey everyone, we made it to Akron and the rain is here. Mean Gene is our bus driver for this trip and had one of his best outings of the year making it here in 9 hours. The last couple days were out of control. I packed up all my stuff @ the Super 8 (My home in New Britain for the season) & moved out. I also packed up my locker at the field so when we return from this road trip I will be able to get on the road right away.
I hope everyone likes the first Q&A with JT, I will be trying to get a bunch more up in the next week or two.
In the mail today my parents received a copy of the October issue of "At The Yard". They did a big article about the website and me. It had a lot of good pictures and the article was great. I will try to get scans up of it in the next week.
Today we got rained out and tomorrow looks like we will be getting a little more rain as the remnants of Katrina pass by. They scheduled a doubleheader for tomorrow starting at 6pm. Relievers Arthur Rhodes and Matt Miller will be making rehab starts for Akron in Game 1 so be on the look out for that if you are coming out to the park!
August 25th 2005
Hey everybody, things are getting a little busy around here. We have three home games left and then we finish the season with a 7-game road trip. I will be packing up in the next couple days and leaving my stuff in the clubhouse during the roadtrip to save money on rent.
I have talked to a bunch of guys on the team and they thought it would be cool to do a Q&A with questions from you guys. On Monday we have an off-day which will be a travel day for us heading to Akron, Ohio. The trip will take 11-13 hours and we need to kill some time. I have a voice recorder and will be conducting interviews with a bunch of guys on the team with questions you submit. Matt Moses actually came up with the idea so he will be the first to get Q&A during the trip. Kevin Cameron, Kyle Phillips, Jim Abbott, Denard Span, John Thomas, Justin Olson, Doug Deeds, Tommy Watkins, Matt Yeatman, Nick Blackburn & more are willing to do the Q&A.
What I need is for everyone to come up with questions for everyone...They can be individual or asked in general for all the guys. I would like to keep it to about 10 questions per guy and more focused towards autographs and anything weird they might want answered.
Please, please, please post some questions up the message board and on Monday I can start to add some cool Q&A's for everyone! Either post under player's name or start a new thread with a player that you want to know more about.
August 23rd 2005
Well we are back in New Britain and in the midst of a playoff race. Kruker got us back at 3:45am the other night blowing away estimates of a 5:30am return! I slept til 1pm yesterday and then showed up to the park at 4 for stretch. Right now we are playing the Reading Phillies. They just got their star player Randy Ruiz back from his second steroid suspension of the year...He's hitting something like .700 against us and dominating the league with a .360 average. I was reading something yesterday that they already voted on an EL MVP and voters refused to vote for Ruiz because of the roids. The MVP pick is Binghamton's Mike Jacobs who got called up to the bigs last week and hit a bomb in his first AB.
August 21st 2005
Right now we are on the bus heading back from Bowie. For some reason the EL screwed us on this road trip. Instead of scheduling a noon-1pm game they stuck us with a 6pm start. This isn't good because the ride home takes 7 hours. We just left and it's 10pm right now. I figure we will be back in our rooms in New Britain around 5:30am.
One good thing about the trip is we have Kruker the bus driver back. He's a lot better than our last bus driver Mean Gene and always ends up in the right places for the most part. He thinks he can make the trip in six hours so I hope he does but does it carefully!
Today we lost but the team we are chasing (New Hampshire) also lost. With fourteen games to go we are three games back. Tomorrow we have a big series against Reading followed by an even bigger three game set versus Norwich. Also Nick Blackburn is rejoining the team after being sent down from Rochester. Matt Yeatman will start the game tomorrow versus Reading.
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| A Shot Of The Bullpen - Kruker Breaking All The Rules! |
August 20th 2005
Yesterday was one of the worst days of the year in my mind and it didn't have to do with anything on the field. It was the bus ride that had me in a terrible mood. We left at 8am and arrived in Bowie around 3:30pm. For some reason I just couldn't wake up all day and felt drousy even into the late innings of the game. Thankfully I didn't have to pitch and got a good night sleep and feel a lot better today.
At the field yesterday there were a bunch of autographers. Guys were putting their final touches on our team, wrapping up team set cards and getting anyone they didn't get last time we were here. One guy in the crowd handed me 6 pretty sweet home made cards he made for me using the old cracker jack baseball card logo. He printed the design off on high gloss sitcky paper and then stuck the sticker on a baseball card sized sheet of cardboard. They look awesome and you'd think they came right out of a Topps pack!
We have two more games in Bowie then we head home for our last homestand of the season. Right now we have 16 games to go and are 4 out of a playoff spot.
August 18th 2005
A lot of people wanted to know what I do on an average day (I don't know why, it's terribly boring). With that said, today looks like a good time to explore my daily routine. There are basically two different types days I have. Days I lift and days I don't. Today was a day I didn't lift which meant sleep in until I wake up. Usually I get up around 10-11 and roll over and grab the computer. I check out a lot of stuff. Email, this site, tons of baseball sites, the weather, news and stock market. This usually takes around 30-45 minutes. Once this is done I eat some cereal and make some juice using my Juiceman (this past month I've been on a carrot juice streak!). I usually wait for Stephanee to call me because I usually get up before her. I also call my parents and see what's up. Me and my dad usually talk a couple times during the morning and yell at how bad the stock market is that day! Around 12-2 I take care of whatever needs to be done or turn the tv on. 2:30 I'll grab a bite to eat and get ready to go to the field. 3pm I leave for the field and arrive at the stadium 10 minutes later. On a lift day it is usually the same thing except I get up around 9:30 and lift at 10:30am. So basically you can times this whole routine by 142 days and get a little sense of the baseball life. Other players do different things just as people do different things.
Tonight at the ballpark is turn back the clock day. Instead of wearing those uncomfortable Hartford Chiefs uni's we will be wearing 1983 baby blue Twins tops. They look pretty sweet but I'm wondering how they will look with our black pinstripe white pants? Should be interesting.
August 17th 2005
Nineteen games to go and things are getting pretty interesting. With our win yesterday we are only 3.5 games back of a playoff spot. Us, New Hampshire, Trenton and Norwich are all in the thick of it with 2.5 weeks left to go and it's pretty exciting. Pretty Much all the Twins teams are in playoff hunts right now. Rochester and Ft. Myers are one game back, Beloit is four games back, GCL is two and E-town is winning the Appy League...A pretty good year for the Twins organization.
We have two games left in this homestand then we head to Bowie, MD for a three game series. Bowie is one of my least favorite bus rides because it takes about 6-7 hours to get there. Once there though it's not that bad and the clubhouse guy does a great job plus there is a foosball table in the locker room.
August 15th 2005
Today we had our last full off day of the year and it comes at just the right time. I spent the day at the gym, buying groceries and updating the site. I also finally finished all my mail and it took me about 2 hours to do. I got some awesome cards in the mail from a lot of people. I also got some sweet homemade cards from Brace in MN. I'm hoping he will let me share them with everyone on the site so everyone can print the cards off & get them signed if they want. Brace basically used Kevin Pataky's photos and put some upper deck/bowman looks to the cards, very impressive!
I thought everyone might like to know of a new website that is up. Tommy Watkins has made www.mrtommywatkins.com. I'm not sure when he'll be updating it or what will be on it but the site is complete and open to everyone so email him and tell him what you think.
I have also gotten lots of interest from other players thinking about starting a website which is pretty neat. A lot of guys ask how much it cost or is it hard to do. I tell them it's whatever you want to make of it. One of the leading candidates toying with the idea of a site is Hitting Coach Floyd Rayford, we'll see if anything happens in the off-season.
Speaking of the off-season a lot of plans are already being made for the winter. Arizona Fall League rosters should come out on Thursday. Three Rock Cats have already been picked. The Twins asked me if I would like to play winter ball in Venezuela and I told them I would love to do it so we'll see what happens with that. The Venezuelan season starts in October and runs up to late December.
There is a little less than 3 weeks left in the season and nobody has assured themselves of a playoff spot yet...anything can happen and we are playing some good baseball as of late.
Also Congrats to all the contest winners as of late, Ribhu, Robin, James & Kevin...You never know when another contest may pop up!
BTW a couple things to note. GM Terry Ryan & Paul Molitor left our team yesterday to visit other teams. Pitching Coordinator Rick Knapp is still in town through the Erie series. Also Gil Velazquez has been promoted to AAA.
August 12th 2005
Well we are two days into our Harrisburg trip and it has been a wild one. Both days the temperature has been at a season high during the day. As far as the games go something crazy happened at our game yesterday. In the top of the 9th we had a bench clearing after Harrisburg's catcher pushed James Tomlin. Tomlin shoved the catcher back and both benches cleared. No other punches or fights broke out and everyone returned to the benches safely. Today I walked into the clubhouse and found that everyone on the team(s) has been fined $100 dollars for the brawl and Tomlin was fined $300...$5600 going right into the EL's hands. I'm not too pleased with this decision by the commissioner. This is totally ridiculous & if he was at the game he would've realized what happened was not that big of a deal. Also mix that in with the fact that we are basically paying money out of our pockets to play this game (I need to do a story on the money we make sometime!) & you can see why I am angry. If anyone out there has the EL President's phone number or email I would be very interested in it. Please post it under the message board if it exists.
Paul Molitor, Terry Ryan and Pitching Coordinator Rick Knapp are still in town for a couple more days. They are putting us under the microscope and seeing what we have. As far as autographs go there have been a lot of graphers in Harrisburg. I signed a few cards and posed for a couple pictures. Most people were going after Romero, Perkins, Span and Moses. There wasn't much of a crowd before the game getting Harrisburg. Zimmerman looks to be the fan favorite for the Senators. Reports by other graphers tell me he is awesome about signing and hasn't stiffed anyone so far. I witnessed it also before the game today as he went up and down the crowd in pre-game signing everything.
August 10th 2005
I want to write a lot more but time has been a little bit of an issue. The last couple days my Mom and Brother came into town and we have been running around everywhere. In Harrisburg I should get a lot more time to get to the site and post more updates!
Real quick, Molitor came into town today (Wednesday) & should be traveling with us to Harrisburg so be on the look out Senator graphers. Tonight after the game we had a record crowd of people waiting for Molitor to come out. At first I thought they were all waiting to get their team set cards signed but then I thought about it for a second and said ohhh I know why everyone is here! From what I heard Molitor has been really good about signing especially for a HOFer.
August 7th 2005
For the last couple days some big time Twins members have been in town scouting us and there are rumors that later this week Twins GM Terry Ryan will be in town. Jim Rantz is here along with Assistant GM Wayne Krivsky and HOFer Paul Molitor. During this time they will scout us and write up reports on what they think about us and if we can make an impact at the next level. It's a pretty big deal for us players because they have a lot of say about our futures. Everyone wants to do good at this time and sometimes guys can think about them being here too much and let it affect how they play.
Yesterday I had my "At The Yard" photo shoot. It was pretty cool I took a bunch of pictures in our dugout with all the autos I got. I also did a couple shots with me behind the computer and a couple in the bullpen.
August 6th 2005
Lots of info to get to on this update. The last couple days I have been bombarded with letters in the mail. I have got through about 20 letters so far with about 6 more to go so be patient with me...your letters will be in the mail shortly.
Yesterday I did a TV interview about the website for Fox Hartford. I'm not sure when it will be on so if anyone sees it be sure to let me know. It was actually a really funny interview. The actual interview took about 5 minutes and contained the same old questions like why did you start the site and things of that nature. The other 20 minutes of the interview involved getting shots of me on the computer. I had to fake type and log into my site. It was very hard work but the finished product should be pretty good. The worst thing about the interview was the fact I was doing it in our dugout...I was praying the entire time that my teammates wouldn't come out and give me hell for doing it!
Another awesome thing happened the other day. I was informed I would be in an upcoming magazine article for "At The Yard". I did an interview for it a couple days ago and today they want to get some pictures for the article. For the shot I will be taking all the signed cards that you guys sent me or gave me in the last couple months and having the photographer get all the cards, me and my computer in one picture...So be on the look out for your cards down the road some time!
As far as the team goes we are making the playoff race pretty exciting. Right now we are 3 games back from a spot facing the team we need to beat. This is probably the closest playoff race that I have ever been apart of. Nearly every team in the division has a shot to make the playoffs!
We made a couple moves for our team.
Nick Blackburn to AAA
Jannio Gutierrez to AA
AAA is really in a need of a starter especially with a doubleheader coming up and 2 of their starters out with arm soreness. Before AAA was sitting with only 10 pitchers that could pitch. Gassner and Durbin still need about another week before they come back. Adding Blackburn is going to help big time for them. I'm not sure if Blackburn will be back with us or not, hopefully he stays up there and does awesome.
Jannio Gutierrez is a great addition for our team. Last year he was up here for a little bit but never got used in a role he was use to. Jannio has always been great in closer/set up type roles especially this year in Ft. Myers.
Not really much new at the ballpark. The bullpen has had an unintentional feud with the grounds crew for the past week. It all started a week ago when our pitching coach accidentally put too much water on our bullpen and by game time the mounds were pure mud. During the game me and a couple other guys scrapped off all the mud and made the mounds in pretty good shape. For some reason the next day the grounds crew thought we intentionally made mud and scrapped off the mounds. The did a real classy move by spray painting "Grow Up" in white spray paint on our mounds...We returned home from our trip yesterday and found our rakes were taken away from us with a couple not so nice messages written on our bullpen bench. I guess for some reason they don't like us...Just another day at the park!
August 2nd 2005
Not much of a newsworthy day. We arrived in Portland, Maine around 1pm yesterday and had stretch at 4:30pm. This is a four game series and the last time we come here. At the game yesterday the Sea Dog fans once again packed the place. The Portland management has to love having the Red Sox as their affiliate here because it is Red Sox mania in New England. In other news the Twins are expected to sign OF Brian Buchanan and will send him to AAA.
July 31st 2005
All week I sat around watching the trade chatter along with many other Twins nation fans on message boards and google news searches trying to find out the latest. Each day was a new story on who was going to be dealt and who we were going to get. I woke up this morning and read all the articles, watched all the TV stations and checked out the Twins game in between innings during our game. The trading deadline came and with a whisper went by. The first word that came into my head was "shocked".
After sitting around all day after our game I once again did my searches on different boards and found that there were a lot of angry Twins fans...pretty much everything I read was of disappointment. I even found one post with a concession speech. I don't know if a concession speech is appropriate because we still have a good shot to get to the playoffs.
All in all I was very surprised a move wasn't made. We are loading with pitching. Loaded to the point where a lot of guys are pitching at levels they should already be out of. A trade would've not only addressed the hitting in the bigs but also gave a bunch of younger guys the opportunity to advance up a level.
I'd like to hear some of your thoughts on the Twins decision not to make any moves. I started a category called "Twins trading deadline" and am very interested to hear some thoughts.
July 25th 2005
Sorry for the lack of updates during the past few days. My girlfriend Stephanee is in town, along with one of my good friends Shane Stegeman & his dad, and Butler Bulldog and co-creator of this website (& hot dog eating champion) Paul Beck. I'm pretty busy running around town and showing them the great city of Hartford along with three commuter trips to Norwich doesn't leave much time for anything.
Norwich was a great trip for the Cats as we won all three games. I saw a lot of graphers from the past including Bob P who hooked me up with a lot of cards of my teammates and the Norwich guys.
Speaking of cards I have gotten A LOT of cards in trades and after game escapades from you guys. It's awesome and I have quite a collection going. I would like to post everything on the site but there are sooo many things, it would take up a lot of space. I may make a section and post what I have gotten...It's some really awesome stuff and I thank everyone who has "hooked me up"!
Tonight we won our 8th game in a row against a tough Portland team. Before the game Josh Gracin sang the national anthem. I was able to hit him up for a 3 count on a cd and the booklets inside. He was a really cool guy and signed for everyone that asked.
In the crowd was a bunch of recognizable graphers...David, Mike R, David C and I believe after the game it was Ronner18 yelling words of encouragement and a "Butler Baseball in 05"! It got me pumped up to see everyone at the game. I hope to see some more of you @ the games in the next couple days.
Also after the game I did an interview on the Rock Cats radio post game show. I was informed that a Hartford News TV station wanted to "Follow me around for a day". I think they want to see how I update the site, what I do on an average day and where I get what I write about. They might need some autograph footage so I will keep everyone updated on where and when this will happen and then if anyone is interested they can come & get on TV...& get some graphs!
July 21st 2005
Today was a rare off-day for the Eastern League. It wasn't really all that much of an off-day since I slept in and woke up at 1pm. We left Binghamton around midnight and got into New Britain at 4:30am. We swept our series versus Binghamton and are playing some really good baseball right now. Up next is our last trip to Norwich and it's a three game series.
Binghamton was a fun & quick series. Before the game we (bullpen guys) constructed a mini bullpen just under the left field scoreboard in our bullpen. If anyone was at the game you may have seen us up there. The new bullpen had an awesome view overlooking the entire field. I'm hoping other teams will sit there when they play the B-Mets. I was going to get some pictures of it but when I went back after the game there was a group of skunks running around and I didn't want to go anywhere near them...We go back there at the end of the season and I'm hoping the bullpen is still there!
Lots of rumors are circling around the organization. Some say that we (New Britain) might be getting a couple position players, other rumors deal with the big club and who's going down. Is Morneau coming down? Ryan, L-Rod...Is Bowyer going up! & how about those trade rumors, Mays and Romero for Millar and Mueller of the Red Sox. I guess we will see in the next week what goes down.
July 18th 2005
Today we arrived in Binghamton around 1pm. Most of the team was a little tired after playing 5 games in 4 days including a day night doubleheader and a day game the next day. The last couple days went by pretty quick and it seemed like we were at the field non-stop. On Friday night Paul (my roommate from Butler) flew in for a couple games and I picked him up. He left Sunday without seeing me pitch.
The starting pitching is now set. Matt Yeatman is moving to the bullpen. I read an article that said Scott Baker is going to get called up to the Twins in a day or so and they will option a position player to AAA. I don't know if this will affect us or not. It will probably depend on how long Baker stays up there.
Trade time is also taking place and this could shake up the AA-AAA rosters a little. The deadline is fast approaching and a move or two might take place.
July 14th 2005
A couple moves have taken place in the last hour.
Jason Miller to AAA Rochester
Levale Speigner to AA New Britain
Miller has been pitching awesome all year and has a great BA against with a lot of strike outs. He throws the ball around 86-90 & hides the ball better than anyone I have ever seen. With this move it looks like Rochester will be using Ricky Barrett as a starter now and Miller will be replacing Barrett's old role. I don't know what we are going to do now with our starting 5 because we have 6 starters...Perkins, Yeatman, Abbott, Speigner, Blackburn and Simonitsch. We have 5 games in 4 days so I'm sure nothing is going to be in stone for a week.
July 13th 2005
Well it's the All-Star break and we have played 90 games of the 142 game schedule (64% of the season done). We got back into town from Bowie, Maryland around 10pm on Monday night. A lot of guys don't really have big time plans with what they are going to do. A couple flew home and some traveled to see Boston and New York City. As for me I sat around and didn't really do much. I hit up the gym, fixed this site, got an oil change and other little things.
It's hard to believe that we have already played 90 games. Last year at this time I was sitting around doing the same thing...updating the site and doing nothing during the break. The next day I walked into the clubhouse and they told me I was going back to Ft. Myers to get innings. I cannot believe that was a year ago already, these days are really flying by.
Well I woke up today and noticed we are getting a couple new players. Nick Blackburn and Matt Moses are the two newest members of the Cats. We were already two roster spots short so this puts us back to full strength. Speigner was going to make 1 or 2 spots starts in AAA due to Baker getting called up. They thought he would then rejoin us but that has been changed with JD Durbin going on the DL. It looks like the Twins are starting to pump our team up a lot and trying to get us to make a late season run. We are only 7 games back of a playoff spot right now so it could very easily happen. I'm pretty sure they are not going to promote to many Cats in the next couple weeks. What they will do is watch and see which team (AAA, AA) has a better shot at making the playoffs. When a clear indication is known, moves will be made. A lot of guys here can dominate at the next level but it will be delayed in trying to make the playoffs in AA.
I'm not really surprised with the moves today. Nick Blackburn worked out with AAA the entire time in spring training and did pretty well. He was hampered with an ankle problem at that time and looks to be back to full strength. Moses is on the fast track. Just last year he was playing in Quad City and got hurt which forced him to rehab in Ft. Myers. He has swung the bat well in Ft. Myers and should contribute for us.
I did a lot of updating today on the site...adding pictures, fixing links, and lots of things. I made some sweet videos under the PICS section of me pitching in a couple games this year. I'm thinking about doing a couple interviews with players on our team about autographs. If anyone would like me to do someone on our team give me a shout out on the message board and I will try to get it done. Also be sure to put some questions you would like me to ask them. Once I get a lot of responses I will decide whom to interview.
Keep checking out the site & writing on the message board, I love reading it! I should have a lot of stuff to contest away in the next week or so. Be sure to keep coming back!
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| The Fan Club w/Me After A Game In Reading |
July 10th 2005
Day 2 in Bowie and not much has really happened. There were a lot more autographers today than yesterday. This stadium has had fireworks both nights so far and I think they are having them again tonight. I'm not sure what the occasion is maybe they do them every night. We have two games left before the break then a 7-hour bus ride back to New Britain.
July 9th 2005
Today we are in Bowie, Maryland with three games left before the All-Star Break. This is my first trip to the AA Orioles place and I must admit I am a fan of the park. The field features a nice high mound with a sweet bullpen in left field.
This past week we have been doing commuter trips to Norwich. On the last day the bus driver (not Kruk) thought it would be cool to take a detour due to a wreck on our normal road we take. Well the driver got lost and we showed up to the field at 6:15, 45 minutes before the game.
In Norwich I met a lot of great people. One grapher was named David and he hooked me up with about 15 different hockey graphs...It was also Alphonso Soriano bobble night and he gave me his in return for some tickets to next weeks games in New Britain, I love it. Also in attendence was the Boston Fury back for the first time since the start of the season. They mowed through are roster getting everyone in quantity.
So far this season I have been asking graphers what different guys on our teams signing habits have been like. The most common response is something to do with Alex Romero. I hear stuff like "why does he only do one" "he always ignores me" or something like "that guy is tough to get". I've also heard some things like Glen Perkins only does 1 card and more if you have different cards. But other than that every grapher seemed to be pleased. A couple words to note. Jose Morales is not with us right now along with Colby Miller. Mail has been piling up in the clubhouse and I'm just trying to save you the potential loss.
As I mentioned earlier the All Star break is coming up. I will be updating this site a lot during this time along with doing some things I've been meaning to do for awhile like getting an oil change & stuff like that. There will be lots of updates. BTW can someone please answer the Contest question it's been up for nearly two weeks with no correct answer!
July 2nd 2005
July is here and that means hot weather and more people coming out to the park. For some reason the autographers have been out a lot more as of recent. In Binghamton there was a steady flow of graphers before and after the game. I had some funny short conversations with the graphers in Binghamton asking about why I have my jacket on in the heat! I told them that I wanted to see how good they can read faces...& yes they could read faces very easy I was called out the minute I walked up the steps.
New Britain has also had a lot more autographers. I think a lot has to do with the new card set coming out a couple weeks ago. I haven't really been seeing too many older cards but I have of the new ones!
The mail has also picked up big time. When I got back from Binghamton I had 9 letters waiting for me. Some contained the new card but what surprised me was all the signed cards I got for trades! I was pumped and am hoping to write back to everyone in the next day or so! If anyone is still interested, send me any signed card w/SASE & I will send you a signed card of mine!
July 1st 2005
Well we are into July already. The season still feels fresh to me so that's a big plus. Last year at this time I started to become drained along with most of my teammates at this time. July is a big month for players because it's the point where guys either give up or get at it. We are just a little over halfway and it's a mental mind game going out in the heat and sitting around all day. A lot of guys are at different points in their careers. Some are doing awesome right now while others wish the year was over. For the guys who want the season over they are thinking a lot about the off-season...what they will be doing, working and how they will be getting better. The guys that are doing good usually are still pumped to be going out to the field and are thinking about tomorrow not 2 months from now.
Last night we got back into New Britain around 2:45am. It was a very unpleasent bus ride, one that felt like it was never going to end. Maybe it was the fact that I had a terrible outing a couple hours before and I just wanted to put it away. For some reason though I just couldn't wait to jump into bed and fall asleep and get ready for a new game today!
June 30th 2005
Today is our last day for this road trip and I can't wait to get out of here. It feels like I have been here forever maybe because our air condition is blowing sweating 80 degree air!
The Eastern League picked there All-Star team today and there were many surprises. I thought I had a pretty good shot at making the team but for some reason I was left off. The roster looked to be starter dominated. You would think the would've made the roster based on stats but obviosly this was not the case! One example is the closer Almonte from Erie. He made the so called All-Star team with 23 saves & a 4.7 ERA through only 32 innings. Just by the fact his team was winning made him an All-Star...Gimme a break. I'm really not sure who made the teams, I heard it was based on fans, stats, coaches & the media. I noticed the Portland guys are coaching the team so they might have had the most pull and I had a bad outing against them. Otherwise I'm not sure how they came to their choices.
All in all you just have to keep pitching good. Baseball is a game of up and downs with more a lot more downs. Basically in the end it's pretty much not based on talent it's who can be the smartest, stay healthy and handle the million let downs the best. Yes you have to have some skills to play but from what I have exeperienced in baseball is that everyone is pretty much equal. Everyone has experienced it at some level of playing baseball whether it is in T-Ball with the coaches kid getting special playing time or in high school with some kids being the coaches favorite and what he says to college recruiters. This whole process also kind of reminds me of the draft. You put in everything you got and some guys behind a desk decide where to draft you and your whole future is based off that. For the most part if you go in the late rounds it's like climbing up Everest with a fork...If you are a first rounder you get a police escort to the bigs in a fat escalade. The All-Star picks is just another example of a let down that I will put in the past and use to make me push harder & fuel myself when I pitch.
June 28th 2005
Yesterday we had an off day on the road. Since there is nothing to do in Binghamton, the team decided to drive to Cooperstown, NY to check out the Baseball Hall Of Fame. The coaches and about 10 players made the trip that left at 9:30am. Last year when we were in Binghamton we also took a trip to the Hall and only 4 players including myself went. This year we planned on eating at Yankee's great Clete Boyer's Cafe right outside Cooperstown like we did last year only this year we strolled in and noticed the Cafe had a new name...Red Neck Cafe, we had a nice laugh and realized we needed to find a new place to eat.
Since we are minor league ballplayers we got free admissions into the Hall. They had each player sign a book of every player that walked into the hall. As I signed the book I looked at some other names right above mine and Howard Johnson was one of them. Cooperstown didn't really change too much from last year. The renovations of the Hall were finally completed and it's exhibits flowed nicely. I was really interested to see if there was anything from last year's HOF Game that I played in but only 1 picture of Matt Lecroy hitting was found. Our coaching staff got to do a Q&A sessions with people that were visiting the hall. It was pretty cool to hear some of the stories they had to tell the audience. At the end of the day we made it back to Binghamton and sat around waiting for today's game.
In other news I noticed that a couple former Rock Cats transactions took place over the weekend.
Matt Scanlon Signed with the Independent St. Paul Saints
Rick Bell Signed with the Cinncinati Reds & sent to AAA Louisville
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| Rock Cats Coaching Staff & The Hall During Q&A |
June 26th 2005
We are still in Altoona with one more game left tonight then we have an off day tomorrow followed by a 3-gamer in Binghamton. So far we have been on a roll and have a season best 3-game win streak right now. The other night I came in when we were losing 3-2 and we walked away winning 4-3. In my first inning of work I came in and threw my warmup pitches as normal. I walked back behind the mound and grabbed some rosin when they announced now hitting 1b Tom Evans and his song came on "Deftones: My Own Summer". I went nuts in my head and got really pumped up because it's not everyday you hear good metal at the ballpark plus it is one of my favs. His pump up music made me feel like I was in a mosh pit and I let it out k'ing all three guys...when I get back to NB I think I'm going to have a song to come out to!
Man the moves and promotions for teams has been out of control lately. Each day I check out boxscores and see new faces on EL teams. I guess it's that time of the year again!
Altoona's field kind of disappointed me this year. Not to take anything away from it it's still my favorite place to play in the EL but it looked like they are starting to let it go a little. That brand new feel I saw last year just wasn't the same. The grass was dying not only on the field but on the hill in left and center. It looked like it hadn't been cut all year because weeds and knee high grass was everywhere. The shrubs that spelled ALTOONA CURVE hadn't been trimmed in a long long time. I hope it turns around and doesn't become one of those nice parks that they build and once it's been completed let it go downhill. Basically I hope this place stays pristine because it looks to be on a downward sloop.
Tonight after the game we are traveling to Binghamton which is about a 4-5 hour trip from here. Like I said before we have an off day tomorrow. Our bus is going to go to Cooperstown on the off day for players that want to go. I will be on that bus.
June 24th 2005
These last two days have seemed like forever. Yesterday we had a day game that got over around 3pm. We were all told before the game the bus would be leaving for Altoona, PA at 7pm. The bus ride to Altoona isn't very fun...we found that out last night. We left around 7pm and immediately someone threw in some red neck comedy tour VHS and turned the volume up as high as it would go. Three hours later it finally gets done and someone decides to throw in some git r done VHS...basically a squeal to what we just watched...I tried putting my headphones on but it didn't help, the ringing in my head wouldn't go away. Around midnight we stop at a subway and are able to get some food. We asked the lady working at Subway how much longer it was to Altoona and she said, "Where's that". Another lady chirped in and said, "Why in the world would you ever want to go there, that's in the middle of nowhere"! When we return to the bus someone throws in our game versus Altoona from last week that Comcast broadcast. We got our butts kicked so it wasn't too fun to watch that either. I finally fell asleep around 1am and woke up when we got to the Ramada Inn in Altoona at 3am.
I'm not really sure that anyone wants to be my roommate on the road anymore since everyone I had this season has been released. Yesterday Rick Bell got released from the Twins. Bell is a great player who just didn't get enough time to show what he can do. What hurts even more is the loss of his clubhouse presence. His release also kind of surprised me because we do not have any infielding depth here. In return for sending Gil Velasquez to AAA and with Bell's release we receive Denard Span who is an outfielder. I really need to make up my own organizational big board so I can better understand what is going. Right now it seems to me we are really short on infielders...I can only count three guys who can play those three positions...Molina, Pattee & Watkins.
As I mentioned before there has been a house cleaning with our team. Yesterday the Ft. Myers guys arrived and they had one heck of a day. They left Florida at 11:00am and got into New Britain at 4pm. They had to wait until 7 at the field and then the bus arrived. They had to find their own seats on the bus and take their entire luggage with them. Once they got on the bus they had to go on the second worst road trip of the season. I'm pretty sure they were pumped when they finally got to sleep last night.
With Bell's departure my new roommate is Glen Perkins. He's been on a tear this season and is starting the game tonight after sitting around all day on buses and airplanes. Altoona is a great place to play and draws really good. The game is at 7 and I'm sure they will pack the place to capacity all weekend.
June 20th 2005
Well in two more games we will be at the seasons half way point...It stills feels like we just started. Today Binghamton strolls into town for our first meeting of the season. We just got done playing Altoona who could really smack the ball around the field. We have been on a downslide over the past ten games and it has been really depressing for the team. As far as pitching goes I have felt great on the mound but have not had any save opportunities for nearly two weeks. It gets frustrating because I have been pitching in many games where we are behind lately.
I have gotten a couple letters in the mail asking about trading and if I would trade one of my signed cards for one of theirs. If anyone would like to trade a signed card of mine for one of yours I would love to do it. It doesn't matter who the card is, a washed up super prospect or the top player in the game...I love them all. Throw them in the mail to me at the stadium and I will get a card of mine out to you!
June 17th 2005
Right now it is 1:15am and our bus is traveling over the George Washington Bridge in NYC. We have about 2.5 hours left and should be arriving at 3. This bus ride has been pretty boring especially since we lost 3 of our last 4 to a last place team.
Before my computer dies I need to update everyone on some roster moves
SP Francisco Liriano promoted to AAA Rochester
Inf Felix Molina Promoted to AA New Britain
Luis Rivas was going to rehab with us but it has been called off now that Juan Castro has gotten hurt and Rivas will just stay in MN.
Obviously losing our best starting pitcher is going to hurt and I'm not sure if we will be getting another SP. The Florida State League and Midwest League All Star Games are going on right now and tomorrow. If the past holds true there will be a couple more moves happening in the next week!
June 16th 2005
Right now we are still in Reading with one final game to go. Over the last couple games it has been an absolute slugfest for both teams. I will probably pitch tonight for sure since I have had three days off...tying a season high for me.
I said it before and I'll say it again Reading is a great place to watch a game and if you are into autographs it's probably the best place in the league for that. If you are planning on going out to some minor league games this year you have to be sure to stop in Reading it really has an atmosphere here & great promotions.
It's really hard for me to believe that it is mid-June already, it still feels like March to me. Hopefully i'll be saying this in the dog days of July!
Yesterday the Cubs promoted K King Rich Hill. I was shocked by the move because I did not know he was on the Cubs 40 man. Hill has been on a pacman like quest for k's this season. I always remember seeing his name and his strikeouts as far back as our Sophomore year in college, I'm glad the Cubs gave him a shot.
Twins Moves:
Yesterday I was reading the Rochester paper and saw this. "Jimmy Anderson told Miller between games that he was exercising an "out" clause in his contract and leaving the team, presumably to sign elsewhere. He was 4-4 with a 2.94 ERA in 12 appearances".
I remember last year the same thing happened @ Rochester with Pete Munro and he left to sign with the Astros and pitch in the NLCS later in the season.
So I guess now there is a starting spot opened in AAA, nothing has been said yet of a replacement.
Also be sure to check out SethSpeaks.net, he rated the Twins top 30 and he even put me on the list!!!
June 14th 2005
We arrived in Reading yesterday around 1pm after leaving New Britain at 8am. It was a long bus ride and it didn't help that someone on the team wanted to watch the movie Seabiscuit at 8am on the bus video system with the volume cranked up.
It is starting to get really hot & humid outside and for the most part isn't too fun to play in. Yesterday we lost to Reading 7-5...it seems every game we have played here has been a slugfest.
Last night I was watching sport center and they had a AAA brawl on showcasing David Bush & Esix Snead,
click here for a great inside scoop of the fight.
I thought it was pretty low of Snead to do something like that especially on a 3-2 walk. I'm wondering if Bush is going to file criminal charges after getting hit in the head with a helmet?More & more guys are getting called up to the big leagues each day, yesterday was Prince Fielder, the other day was former Norwich pitcher Jack Tsachner and today was Bowie's closer Chris Ray. Last week Skip Schumaker teammate of mine in the fall league got the call with the Cardinals. Who knows what is going to happen next especially with trade season coming upon us.
I'm hoping to get front and back scans of my new card up in the next couple days...I've been very busy this past week playing games and also Stephanee has been in town and left yesterday.
Tonight in Reading it is Flag day, all the fans get a R-Phils flag. Tomorrow is Gavin Floyd bobblehead day. If anyone is at the game and doesn't want the bobble, I'd love to make a trade!
2004 ENTIRE SEASON ARCHIVE
To check out entire 2004 season write ups click here and scroll down!!!
There's a lot of info so be patient
2005 Older Stories
Archieve of stories from 2005 season.
This looks just like my home page but continue to go down and you'll see everything that was ever written on this site.
June 12th 2005
The team sets came out the other day, June 10th to be exact. I was very happy with my card this year even though I got to see it for about 10 seconds before I signed it for a fan. So far the Rock Cats have yet to give them out to the players. Last year the Rock Cats gave each player 10 cards, usually teams give out around 50 to the players so I was kind of surprised about the quantity but oh well at least it's something. I will try to get a scan up in the next couple days. From what I seen it was a much better shot than last years card & it will be very easy to sign. In the shot I am throwing a warm up pitch in the game and I am just about to drop down and throw.
Right now we are heading into the long summer months...I can't believe two months of baseball has already gone by. The temperature is finally starting to heat up and the crowds are really coming out. It's such a difference to play in front of a packed house than 500 people.
Tom Kelly is in town with us for one last day today. It's amazing seeing TK on the same field as me after watching him all the time growing up.
Tomorrow we head back to Reading for the second time this season. I don't know if there was a mix up or what with the schedule but for some reason we only had one series at Trenton's place who is in our division and two series at Reading's place who is not in our division...Seems kind of strange to me.
June 7th 2005
First off I would like to give a shout out to Jon Mueller who was drafted today by the Cubs in the 16th round. Jon went to Butler for a season before leaving to go to Minnesota. Since I'm mentioning Butler players, former Bulldog Dan Johnson made it up with the A's about two weeks ago and has gotten a lot of AB's. I'm hoping tomorrow Jon's brother Dale will get drafted...he set Butler's all time career batting average record and deserves to play at the next level.
Second, sorry for the short delay in updates. In Portland I once again broke my wireless card and wasn't able to get back online until today. Portland wasn't too fun of a series for the pitchers. Nearly everyone who pitched gave up at least a run. I don't know what it is about that place but our team just doesn't good at Hadlock especially me. I got roughed up and was pretty mad up until tonight when I pitched again. Anytime you give up some runs you want to get back on the mound ASAP and prove yourself again.
Tonight's game had a little better ending for me. I gave up a lead off double and was pretty pissed off and keep going "what did I do to deserve this". I dug deep and slowed myself down and started trusting my stuff. Things worked out great from that point on. After the game I got to do an on field interview. I was asked what I was thinking out there and I thought about it and said you have to just go hard every pitch and take it one pitch at a time...I guess I'll have to remember this everytime I pitch because it was a great outing for me. I got $25 for doing the interview to Rookies Bar & Grill, I was pretty pumped!
How about the Twins call ups lately. Glenn Williams is up in the bigs making his debut with the Twins. As far as our team goes we lost Bobby Korecky for the season as his elbow just isn't back and he will need to have Tommy John surgery. Jose Morales was sent down to Fort Myers Extended Spring Training to try and get better, I think his back has been bothering him a lot.
June 2nd 2005 (2nd Update)
Right now I am on the bus again heading to Norwich. I just got a sweet picture of our bus driver Kruker (see below). He has had us on nearly every trip this year and is a big part of our team.
A couple of moves have taken place on our team. We arrived at the field and noticed there were two new Rock Cats
Bobby Korecky to AA New Britain
Ben Pattee to AA New Britain
Pattee was hitting the ball well in Florida and will take Maza's place.
Korecky has thrown 1 inning in Extended Spring Training after having surgery
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| New Britain Rock Cats Bus Driver - AKA John Kruk AKA Kruker |
June 2nd 2005
Last night we lost to Norwich. Norwich pitched Merkin Valdez who was throwing the ball 100mph at times. He's the second guy this year that hit 100 against us the other being Joel Zumaya of Erie. Last year I don't think we saw 100mph too much. The only guy I could remember doing it was Brandon League of New Hampshire. Travis Bowyer & JD Durbin each hit 99 for us last year and Francisco Liriano has been right up in that range also.
After the game the Twins made a couple moves
Luis Maza to AAA
Colby Miller to DL
I'm not sure who we are going to get, right now we are running out of arms so I would guess it would be a starter. We also need an infielder to make up for Maza. It hurts to lose Maza, he has the best glove in the EL. John Thomas and Justin Olson are going to spot start until Speigner and Miller are back or until someone gets sent here.
June 1st 2005
Right now we are on our way to Norwich (Check out the pic of the inside of our bus). Since New Britain is only 45 minutes from Norwich we commute each day. It's kind of a pain but from a financial standpoint it makes sense to drive back and not book a hotel. Other teams must love coming to Norwich because of how close they are to the world's 2 biggest casinos. Yesterday we played against Norwich and won. I was surprised at how bad Norwich's attendence has gotten. I thought last years attendence was terrible but so far this year has easily got it beat. We'll see if that changes tonight. If anybody is at the game tonight or tomorrow be sure to check out our bullpen after the top half of the inning. Once again we will be soaking the intern who has to drive the mascot around the field. I know it's mean but it's just a little water. During the last week we have had a couple shake ups in the pitching staff. Justin Olson is moving to the bullpen, Daylan Chilldress is in the rotation, Levale Speigner is on the DL, Colby Miller's arm is a little sore and needs a week or two off. These moves have really affected our bullpen. John Thomas is moving back in the rotation until someone comes back. JT has really been a warrior this season raking up 20 apps and already has 44 innings...he's almost passing up a couple starters in innings pitched.
Twins Moves:
Terry Tiffee to AAA
Luis Rivas to DL
Mike Ryan to MN
Brent Abernathy contract purchased & sent to MN
I don't know how these moves or if they will affect us.
I also noticed that a couple former Twins guys have been signed by a couple teams
Brian Wolfe: Milwaukee Brewers: High A Brevard County
Jeff Randazzo: St. Louis Cardinals: Low A Quad City
Jesus Merchan: Phillies: AA Reading
Our pitching coordinator Rick Knapp has left town after being here for 9 days. Field Coordinator Joe Vavra is still in town along with a couple other high ranking Twins officials.
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| A View From Inside Our Team Bus |
May 27th 2005
Today was one of the worst days at the park in a long time. Everything was going fine especially in BP with temperatures in the 80's. The game started and we went two innings and the rain came down. They took us off the field around 7:15. Now this wasn't like a normal rain storm...this was a total monsoon. But for some reason somebody above thought we would be able to play the game. So there we sat...and sat...and sat. By the time someone realized we couldn't play the game it was 9:45pm and the game was cancelled. It wasn't too fun sitting around but we were able to watch the entire Twins Vs. Blue Jays game on TV so it wasn't too bad...I was pretty pumped to see one of my old teammates from the Cape Cod league playing for the Jays, Aaron Hill. He's going to be an All Star for them someday. Tomorrow we have a kids clinic at 2, a 5pm continuation game followed by another game. It should be a long day at the park tomorrow.
I'm also very happy to announce that I had my first promotion of my life the other day. If anyone showed up to the game on Wednesday they might have gotten a Pat Neshek magnet. I was pretty surprised when I showed up to the clubhouse and saw me on a magnet because I had no knowledge of this promotion. I'm still trying to track down some more of these, the Rock Cats only gave me 10!
Right now we have our Field Coordinator and Pitching Coordinator in town checking out how we play. They usually travel to all the teams in the organization to evaluate players and turn in reports on us. These guys have a lot of say in who gets promoted and who stays or gets released. It's kind of like being at work and getting evaluated by your boss or teacher. Some guys get scared and nervous while others are pumped they are in town so they can show off their skills.
May 25th 2005
This week doesn't look too good for baseball. The forecast until Monday is rain, rain and more rain. We might be able to get the game in tonight because there is suppose to only be light rain. The rain is good and bad for a lot of guys. Some guys are hitting the ball well right now and want to play as many games as they can. Pitchers on the other hand aren't too sad about the rain outs because it gives them a chance to rest their arms.
Minnesota has shook up our roster a little bit yesterday.
Here are some moves that affected New Britain
Selwyn Langaigne was released
Daylon Childress was sent to us from AAA
Jan Granado on DL
Kevin Cameron activated from the DL
The draft and A-Ball All Star games are quickly approaching which means there might be a lot of moves taking place in the next month.
Back From Erie
Man, it felt like we were in Erie for a couple weeks not just a couple days. During the series we had some amazing comeback games. On Saturday we rallied in the 8th and scored three times to get the win & yesterday (Maybe one the craziest games of swings I have ever seen) we gave up 6 runs only to score 7 the next inning and hold on for an 11-9 win. Things haven't really been going to great for us so far this season. We just haven't been able to score runs and that's been our biggest problem. Losing is not fun at all (gee why would it be) & makes the season VERY long. It probably can best be describe by this example. In school you probably remember classes you loved and classes you hated. Well losing is basically the classes you hated while winning is the ones you liked. Both classes are the same length of time yet the ones you like seem to be over really quick while the ones you hate drag on & on. I'm hoping we can get on a win streak and make things a lot more fun. We have the guys who can do it and we need to put everything together.
Last night we left Erie @ 5:30pm and arrived in New Britain @ 2:45am. It was a long day and I am very happy we don't have to make that trip home again this year.
May 20th 2005
Right now I am in Erie and sitting in my hotel room. Note to whoever makes the schedule for next season...Never give a team an off day on the road, I'm (& the guys on the team) about to go insane with how boring it is. Most guys spent their off day yesterday sleeping and watching TV. Some went to the mall and others went out on the town. As for me it was pretty low key. I mostly spent it sitting around resting my arm & getting a good lift in at the hotel (The Avalon) gym. This morning we had a team lift at 10am and we have to be at the field at 3 today. Most guys have never been to this field and I think they are going to flip when they see how short the LF wall is, don't believe me...Erie's pitching staff once again leds the EL in HR's giving up...Hmmm I wonder why
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| Check Out More UHT Stadium Shots! |
Funny Items In Harrisburg
I was really bored sitting in the bullpen in Harrisburg and found an interesting item that I had to get a picture of. Yes that is correct & this wasn't the only sign that was spelled wrong, every couple rows this sign was plastered throughout the stadium. So if you ever get to Harrisburg this season be sure to have a quick laugh!
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| How Drunk Was The Worker Who Made This Sign!!! |
May 17th 2005
Not a big news day in Harrisburg, we lost a close battle. Justin Olson started the game for us and ran into a little trouble in the first. From that point on he pretty much dominated. Olson is a converted reliever to starter and throws VERY VERY VERY hard, I don't understand how guys hit him. Be sure to get his autograph if you get us because he'll probably be in the bigs in the next couple years.
We have one more game here tomorrow at noon then we head immediatly to Erie, PA with an off day on Thursday.
Kevin Cameron will be back in action Friday as he will come off the DL. Jake Mauer was also activated today and had a nice 9th inning base hit tonight.
In BP the relievers have been playing Team 500. Two groups of two square off against each other during each round. Scores are kept and the action has been pretty intense so far...we'll see how long this game last.
May 16th 2005
I'm having some problems with my hard drive on my computer, I have a new hard drive coming in the mail so hopefully this one will hold on until it arrives. As for baseball we left today from New Britain at 8am in route to Harrisburg, PA. It took about 5-6 hours and was a long terrible trip with lots of construction. I have never been to Harrisburg and was quickly informed that we would be staying at a different hotel (Crowne Plaza) than last year. The downtown of Harrisburg reminded me of another EL city, Erie. Both places you have to walk to the field. The only day there is a bus is when we leave on Wednesday. The walk is pretty cool. You head out from downtown and walk towards the Susquehanna River, which is a short distance away. Then the quickest way to go is to take one of the many bridges over to the field (BTW I don't know why they built so many bridges so close to each other). Rumor has it that the field is on an island. The whole area has an awesome atmosphere...on an island, have to take a bridge to get there, batting cages, video games and a railroad that goes around the stadium. The only thing that stuck out to me was how old the stadium looked. It gave me the impression of an old 1970's minor league park in which nothing has really changed. The locker rooms were old and had some crazy things in it I have never seen before like rotating mirrors in each locker. The stadium seating was scattered everywhere...Basically everything had that old time fell and it isn't that great of a feeling, I felt like I was in the Appalachian League again. The stadium needs some much-needed repair/upgrading.
As for the game I had the night off because I threw a lot of pitches yesterday. The Harrisburg team looked like a whole different team...maybe it was. Out of the nine starters only four played against us last time a month ago. I'm not really sure where their whole team went. We won the game 5-4 in the late innings. Matienzo is on fire right now and his average is climbing. I'm calling it right now he's going to have a 20+ HR year.
Once again be sure to check out sethspeaks.net. Seth has done a couple cool articles on the Twins minors; one predicting the 2009 Twins lineup and the other is a minor league recap of the season so far.
I also got to do a Q&A with the Rock Cats. It was mostly about autographs, this site and the fans. Check it out here http://rockcats.com/Fanzone/qaneshek/
May 13th 2005
Troop Movements
Rincon is back from suspension
Scott Baker to AAA
Ricky Barrett to AA
Also Kevin Cameron will be coming off the DL sometime in the next couple days.
May 12th 2005
There hasn't been a whole heck of a lot to talk about in the last six games. We drove up to New Hamshire in the previous series. The stadium was a little more complete but still far from finished. During the home opener to start the series (First game of the year) they didn't even have approval to play the game until the building inspector gave the ok. An hour before the game he did just that and we were playing on time! The stadium had a couple additions since last time. Instead of walking through mud when we got off the bus they had a nice little walk way for us and the makings of a gated fence and a rock based soil, I don't know if they are going to be planting grass or what but it sure beat the mud.
Today is our off day and tomorrow we take on Akron. If you get a chance be sure to check out SethSpeaks website, he did a great article on the Twins Minors so far this season. http://www.sethspeaks.net/051105.htm
May 6th 2005
Right now we are on the bus already and traveling to Manchester, New Hampshire to take on the Fisher Cats. Last night we finished up playing the Portland Sea Dogs...which is one of the most stacked hitting teams I have ever seen in the minors. I'd imagine this is the team to go after for autographs. Heck I even sent over a ball to their clubhouse to get a signed by a certain player. Out of their starting nine I could easily see 7 of them in the bigs sometime soon & Sandberg has already been up there for a good number of years. Yes, for those wondering I have gotten Sandberg (& stiffed) many times when he played for Durham back in the day. It's pretty funny now pitching against guys I have gotten autographs from when I was in college...there have been quite a few lately.
Rumors were circling after the game that Hanley Ramirez would get the call up to the bigs after Rentaria hurt his wrist...I have yet to find any info on this.
Roster Moves: Rock Cats Signed
son of Buddy Bell & brother of Mike Bell. This is a great addition for us and will spark a lot of offense
went back on the DL & IS traveling with the team.
For those interested Twins GM Terry Ryan is going to be in the stands for the three game series in New Hampshire tonight through Sunday.
May 5th 2005
I just woke up and noticed a couple transactions this morning that kind of shocked me. It seemed this whole week there have been shocking moves especially in the big leagues...Mets calling up Ring, Giants calling up Accardo and Munter, Yankees calling up Cano, Bean, Henn plus a lot of other guys I'm forgetting. It's really neat seeing guys make their MLB debuts.
Today I found out that Matt Scanlon is no longer a member of the Twins. I don't know if he asked for his release or what happened, it kind of shocked me because I just read it in the paper. Scanlon only had 18 AB's and should've been in AAA but the Twins have a log jam of outfielders above and he was the odd man out.
A pretty cool promotion happened today, my pitching body double (or at least that's who people say I kind of look like when I pitch ) got promoted today. Cla Meredith of the AA Portland Red Sox moved up to AAA Pawtucket. This guy has been filthy for them and his ball sinks like a rock in water. Cla was drafted last year and is already in AAA, I expect he will be in the bigs sometime this season if he keeps throwing the way he's throwing.
May 2nd 2005
I just got back from the field a little bit ago we got cancelled due to rain. One funny (well not to me) story on the night. Earlier in the game around the fifth inning we started to get a down pour of rain. For some reason our bullpen all ran in forgetting to cover the bullpen mound. We come back out after the rain stopped and noticed our mound was complete mud. Five minutes later I get a call to start warming up...great. I threw like 10 pitches and looked at my shoes which were complete mud. The inning gets over and I run out to the field and the rain starts coming down again harder. I start warming up and the mound is perfect. The umpire comes up to me and says how the mound, it looks pretty wet. I looked at him and said this mound is perfect you should've seen the bullpen mound. He looked at me like I was nuts. Well the inning takes like 5 minutes and during that time the rain keeps getting harder and harder. We finish the inning and right when it gets done they call everyone off the field and put the tarp on. I guess the next time it rains I should warm up in mud again and the real mound might not look so bad.
So far this season has been going pretty good for me. I'm most happy at how healthy my arm has been, no injuries. I'm also happy with the work I have put in off the field and I'm finally starting to see some results. Tonight I looked at my velocity chart and I was amazed. The other night I hit 94 two times (the hardest speed in my life) 93 a bunch of times and it looked like I was sitting at 92. Last year my hardest was 93 like 5 times and a couple 92's. It's fun to play baseball when you have that to play with. I just need to stay healthy, keep lifting & eating right and everything else should take care of itself.
ROSTER MOVE:
Today a couple transactions took place on every level, domino effect of Rincon.
Juan Rincon got suspended
Scott Baker Big Leagues
Ricky Barrett Up To AAA Rochester
Jan Granado Up To AA New Britain
New Pictures
Be sure to check out my new picture section "The Kevin Pataky Gallery". Kevin was awesome enough to let me use these pictures on the site. The shots are remarkable and I love the work he does. Click to see some great pics.
May 1st 2005
Today's game was rained out. We showed up to the field and sat around. Stan talked to the team and addressed some issues about how we have been playing during the first month. We then got to do a little bit of running underneath the stadium and were free to leave after that.
TRANSACTION MOVE: Jim Abbott got sent down from AAA & will be joining us tomorrow. Bud Smith is going to AAA Rochester and will be in uniform in the next day or so there.
April 30th 2005
Today the New Hampshire Fisher Cats came to town. We had a pretty good sized crowd on hand to check out the game. It kind of surprised me because this early in the year it's not too fun to sit in the cold and watch a game.
I saw in the newspaper today that New Britain finally got a verdict in the fireworks case. A bunch of neighbors complained that the fireworks were too loud and wanted them banned. The final judgement was that New Britain could only do the fireworks once a month and will have to pay the neighbors $100 every time they do the fireworks. It really sucks for the Rock Cats because on a fireworks night they always sell out...I think it's every Friday night that they were doing this so we'll see if this changes the attendence.
At the game today I met up with expert Sports Photographer Kevin Pataky. His pictures are featured regularly in Baseball America. Kevin pulled out a disc with a zillion pictures of me on it and told me I can use them on this site. In the next day or so I will be adding a bunch of high quality pics of me.
Today I finally got the chance to sit down and write back to most of my letters in the mail, if you wrote expect a letter sometime next week. I got a lot of cool letters & will talk about them sometime in the next week.
In player news Kevin Cameron went on the DL. He got used A LOT so far this season and is just a little sore. Rumor has it we are getting a AAA pitcher tomorrow. I'll keep you updated.
We take on NH again tomorrow at 5:30
April 29th 2005
I got a lot of new info on the site, pics, info, messages & fixed a bunch of dead links. More updates will come, I also got a box load of mail I need to open and put up on the site.
April 28th, 2005
We got back into New Britain around 8pm yesterday after having a road trip that pretty much all of us would like to forget. After getting swept in Trenton we traveled to Reading and didn't fare much better winning one game of a three game series...1-7 on the road trip. When you go on losing streaks like that it isn't much fun. After every game the entire locker room is quiet, no tv on, no one laughing or messing around just a dismal place to be. Also when you lose on a getaway dayt is the worst because you have a long bus ride home usually without a movie and anyone talking. Out of all the losses there were still many cool things that happened on the trip. Of course there were a lot of autographers, Reading is pretty much like Trenton and full of people hitting us up even this early in the season. But the best thing about Reading is the fans and the city. They really get into the games and come out in crowds and the R-Phils organization does a great job with promotions. I can see why they call it Baseballtown, USA. The second day in Reading the voice of the R-Phils Noah Coslov came up to me and asked if I would do an interview. I agreed not knowing what to expect. Coslov did his homework and asked some crazy questions about baseball, the website, autographs, fans and even juicing fruits and vegetables. It was an awesome interview and I wish everyone could've heard it. He finished by saying "Butler Baseball in 05" and I laughed pretty good. Later on that same day I was signing some autographs before the game and happened to look up and notice three people wearing home made New Britain Rock Cat Neshek jerseys. I was pumped up and thought it was one of the coolest things a fan has done. I kept having teammates come up to me during the game and ask "Dude, am I seeing things right...a Neshek jersey" or "Is your family in town, why do they have Neshek jerseys on". I told them I have some awesome fans and they thought it was neat someone would put that much time and effort and do something like that. So all in all it was a fun trip for me.
Today of course is an off day for me. Most guys are laying low for the day resting their arms and sleeping. As for me I had a lot of unfinished business to take care of. One of the things I did today was check out an awesome local Baseball Glove makers shop in Meriden, CT which is home of Katz Gloves. I have been using a Katz baseball glove for nearly two years now and I think they are the best gloves in the world. Please check out his site and look at the gloves. They are already broken in and ready to use, well worth the price. His site is at http://www.katzgloves.com/.
Tomorrow the New Hampshire Fisher Cats come into town. We have a 7 game homestand and need to get some wins.
April 23rd 2005
Nearly everyone expected the game today to get rained out including the players. We went out for stretch and there was no rain, out for the game there was nothing and after the game nothing...so much for weather forecasts. We lost another close one at 2-1. Francisco Liriano pitched a great game and it sucks he got the loss for his excellent outing. Liriano has really impressed me this year and has lighting stuff...I expect him to be up in Minnesota sometime soon he's pretty darn good and one of the nastiest lefties I have seen. If he was in any other org he probably would have already made his MLB debut. We have one more game here and then we are off to Reading for a three game series.
April 22nd 2005
With Randazzo getting released there is a spot open for a bullpen guy to fill. To fill Jeff's spot Brian Wolfe joined us after playing a couple weeks in AAA. Wolfe got done pitching in AAA Buffalo and drove back to Rochester on the team bus then that night had to pack up everything and depart on an early morning flight. Just like that he was in Trenton and warming up with us on the field. Wolfe is in a couple big card sets and also has an error card in which Grant Balfour is shown in the picture with the name Brian Wolfe (see picture).
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| Check Out Ben's Twins Auto Page |
April 21st 2005
Today we arrived in Trenton, New Jersey around 2pm after a long day of sitting in traffic trying to get through NYC. Before we left we were informed by Stan that he got a call from above and they had to release Jeff Randazzo...a numbers thing he stated was the reason for the release. It was the strangest way I have seen for a player to get released. He already had his items packed for the trip and on the bus watching his DVD. He got called off the bus and was told the news. It's really sad whenever someone is let go but Jeff's was really tough on the team. Jeff is a great pitcher & guy and I'm sure he will be picked up in the next couple days.
As far as the game went, Trenton was once again the hot spot in the Eastern League for autograph collectors. Just like last year there were numerous collectors and fans getting stuff signed before and after the game. We play again tomorrow at 7.
April 20th 2005
Today we wrapped up our series against the Reading Phillies at home. The last couple days in New Britain have been really nice out...80 degrees for the most part before the sun goes down. Once the sun goes down it is down right nasty. So far this season we are 7-6...not to bad considering we started out something like 2-6. Our pitching to start the season has been phenomenal especially Colby Miller...20 innings 0 ERs!!! This season has a different type of feel to it or at least to me. For some reason it's a lot funner and the team chemistry rates pretty high in my mind...It should be fun to see how we play in the next couple months. As for me it seems like everything is going in warp speed right now. We start the year on the road for 7 days then come home at 2 in the morning with no place to live and a 10am game. After the game we all heading out and looked for places to live. That same day my dad strolled into town with my grandma to watch a couple games. Two days later Stephanee flew in for the week plus we had a week of baseball to play. I thought I would go nuts for sure sometime during this past week but it was a great time for everyone and we all had a blast. Right now we are leaving at 10am tomorrow for Trenton, New Jersey. If I remember correctly it's a three to four hour trip right through the heart of NYC. It should be fun and things should finally start to slow down a little. Again I apologize for the site being down and one of these days I will get a new message board up and running.
April 17th 2005
Yes I'm still alive and doing fine! After opening night in New Hampshire I returned to the hotel and logged onto the internet. After a couple failed attempts to log in I checked out my wireless card and noticed it was broken. I finally got the replacement today and everything is a go. Lots of updates will follow, I am sorry for LONG delay and continue to plan on having numerous updates throughout each week of the season. Thanks for being patient.
April 6th 2005
One interesting note real quick before the update. I arrived in the locker room yesterday and in my new locker were 5 letters post dated july 2004 addressed to me. When I got sent down last year the Rock Cats decided not to forward my mail and to keep it. Luckily I am back and get a chance to send these letters and cards back to their owners. What a mess I can't believe this happened...This makes me look like a terrible signer:)
We arrived in Hartford around 3:30 pm yesterday and were immediatly shuttled to the stadium to pick out uniforms and get our baseball stuff set up in the locker room. From there we drove to our hotel (Holiday Inn Southington...visiting team hotel also). The Twins pay for two nights in a hotel, this is our second night and from here on out we are on our own. The last couple days guys spent most of their time looking for a place to live during the season. Housing here is at a premium and sold out everywhere. Guys keep getting shut out everywhere they looked or if they found a place people wanted more money than we make. That's the thing...a lot of people have our profession misunderstood when it comes to money. For nearly everyone of us we make around 900-1100 a month (The big money is in the draft and the Big Leagues that's when you get paid). Most guys are giving in to a place that is 1700 for a two bedroom that is furnished but have to pay one months rent in deposit...That's the only complaint I have about the Rock Cat organization is that they don't do anything for the players as far as housing goes. I'm probably going to be living at a hotel during my stay with the Rock Cats because there is no lease and you can leave whenever. Not the best hospitality in the world but sometimes you have to work with what you have. I wish somebody here had a house with a lot of bedrooms, the guys on the team are willing to spend some serious money.
Tonight we also had a meet and greet with the team in downtown New Britain. It went well and I got to meet a lot of new faces and fans of the Rock Cats. Tomorrow is our first game and we will be heading to New Hampshire at 9am. The weather is really nice right now but there is a shot at rain tomorrow. I'll keep you updated.
April 2nd 2005
The site looks to be having a bunch of problems with message board. I will give it about another week then I will start looking for a new host. I don't know what is going on.
Camp is winding down. The Big League club played their last game of the spring and will fly up to Minnesota tomorrow. The final roster moves were made yesterday with a couple guys coming down. Willie Eyre, Chris Heintz, Augie Ojeda and Terry Tiffee were the final send downs of camp. All the guys were in the minor league clubhouse today with the exception of Ojeda who was the only guy to use his 3 day get out of camp pass (MLB send downs have 3 days off before they have to report to the minor league side). Most guys take one day off while some don't even skip a day.
Teams have been set for the most part with the exception of maybe 1-2 guys per team. A couple more players were released most notable is Seth Davidson whom I played with for the past three years. As I was telling my roommate Ricky Prady who asked me "Do they release this many guys every year?" this time of the year is tough if you have never experienced minor league baseball before...especially being a new draft pick as Ricky is. You make a lot of friends and guys become pretty close to you. So when spring comes around you pretty much expect to lose a bunch of good friends. Seth was one of those guys to me and I will miss not being on the same team as him.
Surprises/Odd guys out
This is a list of a couple surprise moves I wouldn't have predicted for the New Britain Rock Cats
1. Luis Maza...Just too many infielders in AAA
2. Gabby Torres...Caught me off guard a little
3. Selwyn Langaine...28 year old vet
Graphers get your cards ready
So far the roster looks to be something like this, (A couple changes may take effect tomorrow)
As for me it looks like I will have to keep pitching good like I always have and earn my way out of here. I'm a little disappointed with where I ended up in ST considering someone's word to me last season didn't follow through when they said "Go back to Ft. Myers & next year we will skip AA all together"...it's a dirty game sometimes:) Oh well I feel better than ever, I got a new pitch and my fastball is coming in at my all time highest speeds.
Catchers
1. Gabby Torres
2. Bryan Kennedy
3. Jose Morales
1B
4. Danny Matienzo
5. Luis Jiminez
2B.
6. Luis Maza
SS
7. Jake Mauer
8. Gil Velazquez
3B
9. Tommy Watkins
Outfield
10. Doug Deeds
11. Alex Romero
12. Matt Scanlon
13. Selwyn Langaine
14. James Tomlin
Pitchers
Starting
1. Francisco Liriano
2. Matt Yeatman
3. Colby Miller
4. Levale Speigner
5. Justin Olson
Relief
6. Jannio Gutierrez
7. JT Thomas
8. Jason Miller
9. Jeff Randazzo
10. Kevin Cameron
11. Pat Neshek
12. Ricky Barrett
March 30th 2005
Man-o-man has the time past quickly. Next Tuesday we will be out of here and flying to wherever we may end up. This past week has been pretty cool for me. On Saturday I went across the street and got to suit up for the Twins versus Yankees game. The day was pretty crazy. It all started out around 11:45 after sitting around on the minor league side for a couple hours when the coordinator came up to me and Justin Olson and told us to get a pair of white pants on quickly. We changed and the coordinator drove us over to Hammond Stadium. Both teams were already done with BP and nearly finished with infield/outfield. The first thing they did with us was drop us off in Gardenhire's office. Gardy asked us if we were ready to pitch, we said yes and he said go dig into the spread. After Gardy's office visit we had to get our uni tops and game hats. The thing that is always cool about going to play in a big league spring training game is you always at least walk away with a free hat...not much but still something. If you are a hitter it's not uncommon for the big league guys to hook the younger guys up with bats. We then sat around in the clubhouse for about 20 minutes. Most of the pitchers were playing card games, Mulholland was ready a book, Rios was doing interviews, a couple guys were lifting weights and getting treatment and the rest were eating the pre game meal (spread). I walked out to the field going under the stadium seating and into the bullpen and nearly walked into a Johan Santana change-up. I waited for his next pitch and sat down on the bench. I looked out onto the field and saw some crazy stuff, A-Rod doing some sprints, Jeter playing catch with Damian Rolls and Matsui swinging a bat. I then looked on their bullpen mound and saw Mussina warming up...bending way down and back up a couple times out of the stretch. This first thing I thought was "wow you don't see this type of stuff everyday". The match up on the day was Santana versus Mussina...Not to bad of a game to watch. The game went on and on and on and the seventh inning rolled around and pitching coach Rick Anderson came up to me and said "Neshek you got the ninth okay?". I said sounds good to me. I started stretching around the 8th and in the half inning I started throwing. The inning was over and the next thing I knew I was on the mound. One thing that was really neat was when I was walking to the mound getting ready to pitch. A fan in the crowd kept yelling c'mon Neshek...Park Center High baby, Park Center High"...Most people probably didn't know what he was talking about but it meant something to me and in a way pumped me up when I was running to the mound. A couple warm up pitches later and the inning was on. First batter Andy Phillips, dominated the IL last year. I threw the pitch and it looked really good...Ball...Huh ball "man the strike zone is tiny". Pitch two, right on the corner...Ball "This ump is starting to piss me off...he's making me look bad". Pitch three up in Phillips face...he swings, strike one. Next pitch is one I want back...the pitch, right down the middle belt high...HR to left, crushed. Okay I looked at Redman and said can you switch the pitch selection up a little 1-1-1-1 isn't gonna cut it today. Next batter Damian Rolls, Slider...Strike. Redman gets pumped, puts it down again, Rolls swings and misses. Redman is smiling and taps his glove a couple more times and throws down another slider, I throw it and again Rolls swings and misses...one out. Next up Colin Porter, first pitch fastball, fouled off. Second pitch slider is popped up to 2nd...two outs. Next batter is Robinson Cano, first pitch sinker grounder to second. I walked off the mound and was wishing I would've mixed up the pitches to Phillips. When I got into the dugout Gardy came over and said "nice job" & do you always get so pissed off when a guy hits a HR off you...I smiled and said yeah that really pissed me off.
After that inning the game was over, I walked into the clubhouse said goodbye to the guys and picked up my stuff. I walked out of the stadium trying to get to the other side of the complex...Fans were leaving and getting into there cars. I took off my hat and jersey and tried to look less obvious that I was a ball player in the crowd of people. It was a good day and like I say a lot I'll never forget it. It was also cool hearing people call out my name when I had no reconizible number on or name plate, you guys are awesome. I also forgot that the game was televised all over the state of Minnesota and friends and family would be watching it. One of my buddies called me and told me he saw 93mph a couple times...I called my dad to verify it and he said I did...Those MLB balls must go faster with those smaller seams haha!
Not to top this off but on Sunday I got a message to suit up for the Big League game versus the Cincinnati Reds on Monday. I never got into the game but the thrill of being there was the same and I got another hat haha. I got to see some awesome baseball getting played and Ken Griffey Jr. take a couple hacks.
Some of you may be wondering what the pay is like for minor league guys that go over and play...It's $65 a day for a road game and $25 for a home game...It's not that great but still better than nothing.
In camp, roster moves and cuts are a common occurance it seems. Yesterday they got rid of 10 players. Most were guys I have played with in the last year or two. Rosters are starting to take shape and form with the exception of maybe one or two guys at every level. It looked like for awhile there was maybe an opening for me in AAA but it depends on which guys they are keeping and releasing. It's not set in stone but it looks like I will be starting in New Britain. I will have a roster up when one comes availiable on Tuesday.
March 24th 2005
Every day now ML Twins guys have been coming down and playing in minor league games. Joe Nathan, Carlos Silva, JC Romero just about every twin has been down for a game or two. Games are starting to heat up a little more. Pitchers are starting to bring out their arsenal or pitches and hitters are starting to see the ball a lot better than they were a week ago. Yesterday to more cuts were made on the MLB side. Dave Gassner and Scott Baker both came down to join the AAA team. When MLB guys come down it shifts up the minor league side a little. It has a domino effect on nearly every level. Today was the first release day of the spring. Usually the cuts and releases happen very slowly at first and about a week from now it should really be heating up. To note we lost one member of the AAA work group who has been released by the Twins, Pat Strange.
I got an awesome announcement I have to share with everyone. Today I found out I will be going up Saturday to the Bigs for a game. I was pretty pumped when I got the news. I called my dad and Stephanee to see who we were playing and they told me it was against the NY Yankees AND the game is being televised throughout the entire state of Minnesota. So if you're in MN or surrounding area like South Dakota & Iowa be sure to check out the game. Last year I went up to two games and got to pitch in one versus the Toronto Blue Jays. It's not guranteed that I will pitch but the odds are pretty good. None the less it should be an awesome day for me just to be putting on the uni and walking on the field. Not to mention my mom, grandma & brother Paul just left Florida after visiting me...They thought about driving back for the game(they are in Memphis right now) but they are sick of driving. My dad is busy trying to find a flight and Stephanee already has a tank of gas and a hotel room. I'll keep everyone updated.
March 21st 2005
Fans that checked out the minor league side were in for an unexpected treat. None other than Johan Santana shows up and throws five innings against the AAA squad along with Mike Redmand, Luis Rivas and Eric Munson. There were about 20 people on hand to watch him pitch up close and it was a sight to see. His change up is the real deal, it would go left, right, sideways, drop and anything else you could think of. He had our guys guessing and for the most part we guessed wrong. After 5 innings Johan walked around the dugout, got some water, shook a bunch of players hands and journeyed into the crowd. He got hounded pretty good but there were only 20 people so it wasn't a mobscene like it was during Twinsfest this year. Santana stayed around for about 5 minutes and signed for everyone that asked, people were double dipping and Johan continued to sign.
Everyday about this time there are more and more surprises. You never know who is going to come down next and work out with the minor league side. Last year nearly the entire team was down at some point. I was talking to JD Durbin for a couple seconds and he said if the big leaguers didn't want to go on an away trip like the one today to Clearwater, they could pay a fine of $100 bucks and get to stay in Ft. Myers and play in a minor league game.
As far as camp goes we have started games last Friday and stuff is starting to take shape. Pitchers are all throwing 2 innings including the relief guys. I got kind of nervous before my outing the other day because it was the first time I got to face batters in a year. The nervousness went out the door as soon as the batter stepped into the box.
Yesterday the Twins had their 2nd big league cuts of spring training. Boof Bonsor, Trey Hodges and JD Durbin are now offically on the minor league side. The day they find out they are being shipped out they pack their bags and bring their stuff to their new locker on the minor league side. They unpack and take the rest of the day off.
Rosters on the minor league side are starting to get a little crowded and that means cuts and releases will start to take place. It's the worst part of the season because you end up losing friends and teammates that you have been with for years.
Ill keep you posted
March 18th 2005
Today we started games. It's crazy to think that just last week we weren't even in camp yet and now we are all fighting for a job and under the careful watch of the entire Twins management. Today the Twins organization took on the Red Sox org. We looked really rusty compared to them...not to mention they have been in camp 2 weeks longer than us!
The Twins Management told the AAA pitchers to be prepared to be called up for a game or two sometime this week to play in a MLB spring training game. I'll keep you updated if anything happens.
Recent Interview
The other day I did an interview for www.sethspeaks.net which can be found below or by looking here, http://www.sethspeaks.net/022805.htm
Be sure to check out Seth's site, it is updated everyday with a lot of info on the Twins and other MN Sports!
SethSpeaks: First, thank you again, very much, for taking the time to answer these questions. I'm sure you're plenty busy getting ready for spring training. Thanks!
SethSpeaks: You grew up in Minnesota, which in itself causes a few questions. First, who were your favorite players growing up? Did you go to many Twins games at the Dome?
Neshek: First off, thanks for having me on SethSpeaks, I love the site.
Yep I grew up in Brooklyn Park and attended Park Center. My house is about 10-15 minutes from the Dome so it was a short drive away. We went to many games growing up. My dad would always come home with the $1 Upper Deck GA tickets and tell us to invite as many neighborhood friends as we could and go to the game. We probably went to a game every two weeks with about 8-10 neighbor kids packed into an ugly Mitsubishi Van/Bus. As we got older and in High school the Twins had the $60 season tickets so we had to get two sets of those and had those until I went away to school. I loved going to the games because that is the time when the Twins were in last place, and you could walk down and sit in the lower level and have about ten rows to yourself...You would get a foul ball almost every night haha. But it was great seeing the other teams come in and watching how the players went about their business. Some of my favorite players back then were Kirby because he lived in Brooklyn Park, guys like (Tim McIntosh, Tim Laudner all BP natives) and the entire Oakland A's team, they were stacked (every baseball kid between the ages of 7-11 during the late 80's had a favorite A's player, I guarantee it!).
SethSpeaks: Second, I remember playing high school ball in the spring in Minnesota. For those that don't know what that means, it means, practicing inside for a month before your first scheduled game, which, of course, gets postponed because of snow. What were your memories of high school baseball in Minnesota? Were you able to do anything throughout the winter to stay sharp?
Neshek: Yeah, you got that exactly right. I played Hockey/Basketball until my sophomore year and then went with baseball full time. Every second of that year baseball was on my mind. Yep, a month before the first game would be the first indoor practice. We practiced on the basketball court in PC and the balls would fly 120mph at you when taking infield. You could only long toss about 90 feet and the lighting was terrible. Jeff Stoll is the PC head coach and coached me at PC, I remember one time during my senior year in in-door practice he wanted us to throw live to batters in the in-door cage that had the worst lighting ever. The first pitcher Brandon Broxey got on the mound and threw a pitch that almost hit one of the hitters in the face. The hitter didn't ever see the ball and refused to get back into the box. Stoll then told the pitchers to slow it down and work on mechanics when we threw. That's how winter ball was you worked out to try and get in some kind of playing form even though it wasn't that good. In BP they have a place called Line Drive and they had a deal something like $100 bucks for unlimited hitting from October to March, this definitely beat live pitching inside PC.
SethSpeaks: I understand you played in some winter league games as well?
Neshek: Yep you are right I did play in a winter league in St. Paul. Back in 1996 Dave Winfield's brother Steve opened up an indoor doom called the Rice/Arlington Sports dome. It was perfect for baseball and other sports like soccer and football. I have so many funny memories of that place. The field was about 250 down the lines and 310 to center, the mound was a plastic roll out mound, the league was wood bat only and the balls were made of about 50% rubber, the dugouts were about 10 feet away from the plate with a little plastic fence to protect guys from fall balls and the ceiling could easily be hit if you threw a ball into the air as far as you could. It didn't matter to me...It was baseball. In 1997 my dad asked me if I would like to get a bunch of BP guys together to form a team at the sports dome because they were trying to get a winter league team together. It was great, the games were all scheduled to start between 10-1 at night...I'm not lying. It was so cool to come in at 1 in the morning with a snowstorm outside and play a game. After about the first months kids started to not show up and we would have to play with 5 guys on each team, if less than that would show up we would have a home run derby and the paid umpire on hand would have to stay and judge the game. It was a blast and I did that from my freshman year to my senior year. So that's where most of my high school weekends were spent! Sadly enough I heard that the dome was taken down a couple years ago due to money issues.
SethSpeaks: The Twins drafted you out of high school, yet you chose to go to Butler. First, how hard was it to turn down the chance to play in the Twins Organization? Second, what was that process like after the draft? What were the factors you used to decide to go to college? Third, was that in any way different (aside from the obvious monetary differences) than the recruitment process? What made you decide to go to Butler?
Neshek: Well it was really unexpected for me to get taken by the Twins because I never talked to them I just filled out a Questionnaire and never heard back from them. I talked to a couple other teams during the summer before my senior year...Reds, Pirate and White Sox and they said high things about me. I was picked in the 45th round so it wasn't that hard to turn down. Yeah it was the hometown team but I knew in college I would turn into a better pitcher + I could get my degree. The recruiting process was a different story. My whole objective was to find a school where I could walk in and be a starter my freshman year. I basically thought to myself I have three years to get ready for the draft why would I want to waste it at a big school and be a reliever or worst be red-shirted. I probably would've pitched a bunch at other schools but I couldn't take the chance on being left in the dust. I got letters from all the top schools but two stuck out to me in my head, Butler and Creighton. They were both perfect matches for me Div 1 schools, I had a heck of a time picking out the right school. But in the end it came down to who I trusted the most and that was Steve Farley @ Butler, I wouldn't have changed a thing.
SethSpeaks: You had a successful career at Butler. You got to play in the Cape Cod League one summer. What was that experience like? Is the movie Summer Catch at all accurate? Who did you get to pitch with and against? Any PG-level stories of the Cape life?
Neshek: I couldn't have done it without the guys on the team @ Butler, they were the best, in fact we have page dedicated to those years, www.eteamz.com/butlerbaseball
The thing about Cape Cod that was crazy is that it almost never happened. Coach Farley at Butler begged the Gateman GM John Wylde to put me on the team. After about 2 months Mr. Wylde agreed to make me a temp player for the first two weeks. During those two weeks I was 3-0 with 2 saves...I got a full contract after the two weeks were up! It was probably the best experience of my life. You always hear about the Cape League when you grow up or if you know anything about baseball. You always hear stories like 1 in 4 guys makes it to the big leagues. Going into it I knew this was the place to either make or break what I wanted. They put me in the closer role and I ran with it, I gave up only 1 run the entire summer. The best memory I have was all the guys on the team and how well we got together. If I were a GM I would've drafted that entire team and kept us all together. We ended up winning the league championship and everyone but 1 guy on the team was drafted. Stories, there were a lot of them...the mom in the movie wasn't something that was made up according to guys I know that played in Chatham, there weren't any parties or at least anything I was aware of. Summer Catch portrayed it okay, that movie came out the same time I was there and we got to go to a private screening. Everyone liked the movie until the end, guys were booing the movie and some even left 5 mins before the thing ended.
SethSpeaks: In 2002, the Twins took you with their 6th round pick. Was the process to sign you any different at that point?
Neshek: Very different. Like I said before going to Butler I had three years to prepare for the draft. During that time most of my life was focused on getting better. I would sit in class and think about what I need to do to get better, write goals down stuff like that. After my summer in the Cape League I talked to all but two teams for the draft. Every day a new questionnaire would arrive or a scout would be in town and want to have a meeting. It was crazy but I liked the attention and it made me more focused on baseball. I told every scout I talked to that I was signing that year (junior year) and I was ready to begin playing professionally.
SethSpeaks: After signing, you pretty much dominated the Rookie League. 2003 was an excellent year for you, pitching well at three minor league levels. Describe yourself as a pitcher. I know you're a side-winder (and you've explained why very well on your site), but what pitches do you throw? What would you consider your out pitch?
Neshek: Yeah that year was crazy; I was moving up every month and never really got a chance to breathe. After the season I got invited to play in the Arizona Fall League and lived in AZ for two months. At the end of the season I took a week off and slept, the time off was priceless. I guess if I were to describe myself I would say that I'm a guy looking to come at you, compete, throw in the zone and not let up looking to strike the batter out. Yeah it's a different arm angle from most guys. I throw a four seam/two seem fastball, slider, change up from a little above sidearm and a sinker that I throw submarine. My fastball is usually my out pitch but if my slider is on I go with that.
SethSpeaks: John Manuel of Baseball America was asked in a chat session this winter about who he would consider some 'sleeper prospects' in the Twins organization. In his response, he wrote, "Pat Neshek struggled this year, but he's funky enough to be an effective middle reliever down the line."
I look at your 2004 numbers and they are solid, but how would you describe your 2004 season?
Neshek: The weirdest season of my life. I never really understood what happened. On my website I updated it every day of the season until August, you can kind of get a sense of what happened. But even I am kind of puzzled. I thought I would be closing to start the season because of my success in my previous 2 years, but the first game I was setting up. It didn't bother me that much but it had me a little puzzled. The season went along and slowly by slowly I was pitching in different situations, tie games, down by a run. I would sit in the bullpen for weeks at a time before I would pitch again then I would get hot for three straight days and pitch 3 straight days, it never made that much sense to me but that's how baseball is sometimes...A lot of inconsistencies. It got to the point where Twins officials saw I wasn't being used that much (35ings in July) and they sent me back to Ft Myers to pitch everyday. I wasn't happy about my era but it was still a point under the Eastern League average. I was really mad about going back to Ft Myers but I knew I would pitch more. In about a month in Ft Myers I had 2o innings pitched in one month, then the hurricanes and rain came, that was a crazy time.
SethSpeaks: As a middle reliever in the Twins organization and looking up at the likes of Joe Nathan, Juan Rincon, Grant Balfour and Jesse Crain, what do you think? Is it exciting to be a key cog in a very deep and strong minor league system, knowing that when you reach The Show, it will be earned? Is it frustrating?
Neshek: Yeah it's pretty exciting especially playing in the Twins org and being from Brooklyn Park. The guys the Twins have turned out over the years is impressive they have to lead the Bigs in major leaguers produced. Oh yeah if you make it up with the Twins it is well earned. Sometimes it can be frustrating seeing other guys that I have played with make it to the bigs and knowing that if they played for a different team they would probably be at a lower level. In the end though if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. Things work in weird ways.
SethSpeaks: The minor league season ended in September. What is your off-season schedule and routine? I know you moved down to Florida to be able to work out more. What types of things do you do to get ready for the next season?
Neshek: September I took off and relaxed in Minnesota. I started weight lifting and running back in October. I started throwing in January, with bullpens starting in February.
SethSpeaks: When does minor league camp start?
Neshek: March 10th we report.
SethSpeaks: Do you have any set goals for the 2005 campaign? Where do you see yourself pitching this year? What does the organization tell you at the end of a season, or before spring camp to let you know what you need to do?
Neshek: Goals are to compete and dominate and to stick to my lifting routine. If this can be done I will have a successful year. I'll most likely start the season New Britain. I am not on the 40 man roster so there's a little roadblock in getting to Minnesota but I'll be giving it my all and not let up. They don't tell you much at the end of the season; they give you your ticket or driving money to get home and that is that. Around December they send you a packet with a questionnaire asking question like who do you want your roommate to be and if you'll be driving or flying. In February you get a letter that states the reporting times and where to show up. That's about it, you decide if you want to get better or not.
SethSpeaks: You also have your own website www.patneshek.com Obviously, as a baseball fan, I enjoy reading your thoughts on the games throughout the season, and including your opinions. There are a lot of us that can only wish to be in that situation, so it's fun to read.
Neshek: Thanks a lot, that's the whole point of me running the site.
SethSpeaks: How long have you been running the site?
Neshek: I started it the first week of March 2004.
SethSpeaks: What made you decide to start it?
Neshek: My roommate sy Butler Paul Beck & I thought it would be awesome if I would make a site about only autographs and tell stories of what I encountered, we both read the CJ Nitkowski site back in the day and were kind of inspired by that and I signed up for wireless internet and would have the ability to be on the internet while on the bus after a game. We figured no player has ever done that before and we ran with the idea.
SethSpeaks: Your site is a little different in that you also write a lot about autographs. From reading it, obviously you are an autograph collector yourself. Who are some of your prized autographs?
Neshek: Yeah I love the autograph scene. During my freshman year Paul got me to go graphing with him. After about two trips I was hooked. Instead of partying on the weekends during college we would go after autographs, NBA teams, NFL, NHL and NCAA College & Football and Musicians. At first I didn't care about autographs and sold a lot of what I got on eBay to have money for pizza every weekend and to buy minor league cards. When the minor league season came around we hit up Indy in force and had some great times. It's not so much the autograph that I like but more so every autograph trip has a story, something you'll never forgot. That's what I love about auto's. There are a lot of favorites; I love the NHL the most followed by minor league baseball & heavy metal bands.
SethSpeaks: What does it feel now when you have someone come up to you and ask for your autograph?
Neshek: I love it but more so I like hearing from the people getting the autographs and the stories they have, they have the best information in the world.
SethSpeaks: Do you have any advice or tips for autograph collectors that you could share?
Neshek: Get guys to sign when they are young because they can get impossible the closer they are to the big leagues.
Tips from me, don't ask me to get other guys to sign your items, getting guys before/after the game in the parking lot is the best place to get players.
SethSpeaks: As a card collector myself, what is it like to have real baseball cards of yourself?
Neshek: Again I love and truly appreciate having cards, it's something you dream about when you are a kid. I just wish I could get in a set like Bowman, Topps or even a Just Minors set:) It seems they make cards for the same 100 prospects; graphers want to see different names and would pay good money if they would bring in other players to the set.
SethSpeaks: And finally, just a rapid-fire, word association about some of your current or former teammates (10 words or less - if possible, of course):
Neshek:
Scott Baker - Quiet, Top Five Hardest Workers In System
Boof Bonser - Determined, Competes
Rob Bowen - Reminds me of a Big League Vet with 20yrs of MLB Service
Travis Bowyer - Machine, Horse, Crazy Stength, Same as G Jones but a pitcher
Jesse Crain - Nice Guy, Focused, Good Friend
JD Durbin - Cocky, Loud, Funny, Hard To Not Like
Garrett Jones - Mirror Image Of Bowyer But A Hitter
Beau Kemp - Warrior, You can tell he'll get to the bigs in some way, I love how he goes about things, work ethic
Bobby Korecky - Sly, Funny, Smart, Cleaver, Uses head to outsmart hitters
Jason Kubel - Shy, Quiet, Driven, 10 years ahead of players his age
Francisco Liriano - Fastest Lefty I have seen in awhile, throws gas, nice guy
Kevin Cameron - Throws Gas, Funny, Vital To The Bullpen
Jake Mauer - Funny, Friendly, Business Smarts, Smart, Excellent Work Ethic
Joe Mauer - Loves Baseball, Nice, Hard Worker
Luis Maza - Underrated, Could play in the bigs right now and do well, Big League Fielder
Trent Oeltjen - Always Makes Contact, Plays the game hard
Alex Romero - Underrated, Great Hitter, Great Outfielder, Nice Guy
Scott Tyler - Big Ox, Funny, Crazy, Young
Kevin West - Determined, Clutch, Big Game Player, Team Player, The Man
SethSpeaks: And one last two-part question, what are the best and worst parts of minor league life?
Neshek: Worst is being away from family, moving and being subject to what the Twins want to do with you, best is the ability to play baseball everyday.
SethSpeaks: And on that note, thank you very much again for taking some of your valuable time to answer a bunch of questions! I certainly wish you an excellent spring and a great 2005 season!
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March 15th 2005
Well we are already up to day four and a lot has went on. In the previous to updates I forgot to mention the Twins got a new minor league weight facility. It's not quite done yet but is a huge addition for the Twins. If anyone has been to the minor league complex the new building is where the picnic benches use to be. This makes it a little tougher for autographs because the area will be fenced in unlike the past where you could sit outside the area and call guys over. The only problem with the new weight room is that it isn't done yet and has no weights in it. Plus the Twins dropped their Gold's Gym membership and players cannot lift which is kind of hard to believe being a MLB Franchise dedicated to making guys better. So there are a couple options. One, wait for the equipment to come in and do nothing til then or suck it up and get a 3 week membership somewhere.
Right now the pitchers have thrown two bullpen sessions each lasting 5-7 minutes. Today we switched things up and threw live BP to hitters and will do this again tomorrow for pitchers that didn't throw today. Our first games start Friday already.
Yesterday the Twins sent down a bunch of guys from major league camp. When you get sent down from MLB camp you get a day off and then have to report so today was the first day for a couple guys.
As far as camp goes they have been running the %$&@ out of us. Day one 2.5 miles timed, day two shuttle run timed, day three 9 inning runs (9 quick poles with sprints to center after each pole) and today we had a thing called the circuit (divide the field up into 4 sections along the outer limits and 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 or 1 run to center walk to right, run to home then left walk to center so on so on). The running has been fine with me but doesn't make much sense from a health standpoint. I wish we could run at the beginning of the day when we aren't on empty stomachs and in 95 degree heat and get one off day from running at least once a week. I think we do it like this for the coordinator to make sure we are in decent shape.
Today at the field before we went out we all had press photos taken. This suprised me because this is the first time they made everyone get a new shot. In the past they took most guys photos when they first signed and used that shot for the rest of there careers or until they got up to the bigs. I'm pumped because I'm sick of looking at my rookie ball photo from three years ago.
Other than that it's been a good spring training so far. There are a lot of people watching us practice and the weather has been perfect.
March 12th 2005
Today was the first day of spring training for the Twins minor league pitchers. Here's how the day went down in a quick overview. I arrived at the field at 7:15 am to unpack my bags and try on uniforms. Around 7:30 nearly all the pitchers had arrived and everyone was running around asking questions like "how was your offseason" & "what have you been up to". 9:00am we had a couple speeches from Twins Staff going over rules and what to expect in the next couple weeks. From there we jumped into stretching and a couple quick short sprints. After that we played catch along the outfield foul lines. Just like last year we were broke down into groups and then got into short stations like PFP, covering first, pick offs and mound work. At the end of the day we had a quick meeting where we were informed that we would be running the 2.5 mile run in 10 mins. Guys were upset and a lot of people got nervous real quick. The run went really good for me and a couple others and not so well for other guys that took the off season off. You can kind of get a sense of what players have been doing stuff and what players haven't just by the run.
If anyone has some extra time be sure to check out Dianna's Blog called "Mostly Minors". She has been posting pictures and following the minor league side pretty close. She really knows her stuff.
http://www.twinsterritory.com/Members/Dianna
March 11th 2005
Looks like the gears are ready to start turning again. Today was the reporting day for all Twins minor league catchers and pitchers. To make it real easy for everyone the reporting day is the day you either check into the hotel in Ft Myers or place you are staying at. It is not the first day of practice, that happens tomorrow. So right now I am sitting in the Radisson in Ft. M waiting for tomorrow to come. I spent today packing up the place and driving about 5-6 hours from Jacksonville. So far this has been my best off season and I have accomplished most of the goals I had for myself and I feel in the best shape of my life. I can't wait to get out to the field tomorrow and see how I compare to the rest of the guys. If tomorrow is like the last couple years first day we will show up and unpack our bags, try on different uniforms, listen to a couple of the front office guys talk, head out to the field for a throw and some pfp's and finish it off with two sets of 6 reps 75 yard shuttle runs. There will definitely be a couple guys puking and out of shape. Hope to see some of you out there and if you are in town be sure to say hi. Check back tomorrow, the updates should be flowing in everyday starting now!
Twinsfest 2005
I had the opportunity to participate in Twinsfest about a month ago at the Metrodome. For those of you that don't know, Twinsfest is put on to raise money for charity and for fans to get autographs. It was a great experience and I had the opportunity to sign auto's and meet a lot of people that have checked out my site during the past year.
Here's how my Twinsfest weekend went down. About a week before the event I got an email from Twins PR man Mike Hermann containing my itinerary. On Friday it said I was signing at 5:45 to 7:15 with Glen Perkins and Joe Abellara. I had a short drive from my home to the dome and was there in no time. I did Twinsfest 2003 and it was a pretty sweet experience. One of the things I thought was the coolest was being able to say I was a player and park in the players parking. I could remember numerous times as a kid (& in college) waiting for the players to come out to sign graphs after games. I parked my car and in we (Stephanee & I) went. We had a brief stop through security and in no time we were in the locker room waiting to be whisked away onto the Metrodome floor to sign for fans. The cool thing about signing at Twinsfest is seeing all the Twins, current and former guys...guys you would pretend you were when you were a kid. My first Twinsfest I did was after rookie ball and I wasn't very familiar/knew personally any of the Twins players. I walked in and Torii Hunter & Jacque Jones were the only ones in the room. Mike Hermann introduced me and I about passed out, I couldn't believe it was happening. Jacque asked me where I played the previous season at & I told him Elizabethton, he said cool and I just sat there with a glazed look on my face not knowing what to say next. Then Harmon Killebrew walks in followed by Kent Hrbek and Terry Steinbach...Its such an awesome experience everytime at Twinsfest. What was cool about this TF was I was more familiar with most of the guys and there were only a couple faces I never met before...It was good seeing all the guys and finding out what they have been up to over the offseason.
The autographs were crazy, they had four different tables at a time set up with different price levels. Current Twins were $5, Current Star Twins were $10, HOF Twins were $20 and Minor League Twins were FREE. Talk about a good deal...Free. That first night we signed non-stop for an hour and a half. I would say a graph every 5 seconds, 12 every min, 720 in an hour and a little over 1000 during that first night...maybe more. This time around a lot of people had cards of me to sign and there were tons of proof shots! I was also amazed at how many people complimented me on the site, it's stuff like that that keeps me writing. As the time wound down we got to leave and the next group of guys were up. I walked around and checked out the different things going on with Steff's family and mine and we left about an hour later. Easily the best attraction of the weekend was the Wheel of Fortune. $1 got you a spin on the wheel with some good Stadium Giveaways like Carew jerseys, Bobbleheads and the famous Twins GI Joe. My dad spent about $30 going for the Carew jersey and walked away with a couple and about 5 oversized red foam spider hands.
The next two days were very similar, sign for an hour and a half and walk around after. During Sunday my brother Paul came back from college to get some graphs so I tried to help him out. One of the secrets of Twinsfest is to get the players as they walk to or from the locker room. They usually go unspotted until they get to the place they have to be and are escorted by a security guard. Paul watched a couple times and was sick of waiting in line for hours at a time so he started to keep an eye on the crowd. Sure enough nearly every player came out at some point in the day. He got everything he needed signed.
Again Twinsfest was a great experience and we raised a lot of money for charity, Thanks to everyone who came out and said hi!
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| A Few Pics From The Weekend |
Super Bowl Sunday
Because of all the parties in Jacksonville the night before, Sunday was a pretty slow day. It finally gave me a chance to relax and reflect on the week. The game, as all of you know, was pretty good too. There wasn't much happening graph wise because the teams were off limits on gameday and most of the celebs were fleeing town from a private airport right after. All in all, it was a fun week and all of you Detroit graphers will have a blast next year!
Saturday
The morning started off by making our way about 5 minutes from my house to Raines High School where Snooperbowl 1 was just kicking off. The stadium was packed to capacity (8,500) and another 2,000 people were climbing trees and peeking through the fence (that was us) to catch a glimpse of the Snoop Dogg. At halftime, the teams ran off the field and made their way to the locker room. Snoop got mobbed and I overheard one of his bodygaurds talking about how they were going to get him back out on the field. I waited right by the back door and sure enough, after about 10 minutes, I found myself face to face with the Doggfather. I asked him to sign and his body gaurds tried to push me out of the way. I ended up getting some pretty good pics of Snoop as he walked around the outside of the stadium and in through the back gate. Snoop is a lot taller that you would think. Most musicians you see are shorter than you would expect because they make them look big on tv, but Snoop was the other way around. Also in attendance at the Snooperbowl was Warren G (Nate Dogg was not seen however) and of course Tom Arnold because he was following me around all weekend.
Saturday night brought the biggest round of parties with Playboy,Maxim and Sports Illustrated all scheduled to have huge guest lists. We checked out Maxim first because that is usually the biggest party of the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, it was totally shut down and you couldn't get anywhere near the red carpet. Then we headed over to the Sports Illustrated party. After avoiding an overzealous preacher on the boardwalk, we made it to the front of the Sports Illustrated fence. The first person we saw, of course, was Tom Arnold and Michael Strahan. There were some rumors flying that Dan Marino was there but we never saw him. Just about the time we thought nothing was going to happen, someone left the party and flung their VIP pass to one of the spectators. The lucky fan that caught the pass instantly ran into the party as the crowd roared. It was even better because this kid looked like the little guy that pranks people on Punk'd. For the record, we saw him stumbling out of the party a few hours later.
About the time the kid went inside, we saw a few SUV's pull up at the front and then drive around to the side. Because we had been seeing so many limos and pimped out hummers all week, no one really thought anything of it. Then we saw a small guy with a sweater get out and realized it was none other than Kanye West! No one else in the crowd seemed to notice so we staked the back out waiting for the star rapper to leave the party. Little did we know that Kayne was performing at the party and we ended up getting a free concert out of the deal. Sure enough, after about 3 hours of waiting, he came out and signed for the few of us waiting and actually seemed surprised to see us. I'm sure it helped out that two knock-out blondes were waiting and we just threw our items in behind them.
Getting Kanye was great because it meant we avoided a shut-out graph wise for the day, which is never good. After checking out the Maxim party again and seeing that it was pretty much over, we headed downtown to see if we could catch anyone stumbling back to their hotel rooms. The downtown area was a little shady at 4 am and we figured it was probably about time to call it a day.
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| Trying To Get Into The Maxim Party + Snoop Dogg W Body Guards @ The SnooperBowl! |
Friday
Friday brought in a tidal wave of celebrities and big name football players into the Jacksonville area. Because Thursday had been such a late night, we headed out in the afternoon to check out another taping of the "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." Unlike our previous visit when it was 40 degrees on Wednesday, the entire Landing area was packed and you couldn't get anywhere near the stage. The large crowd could probably be blamed on the guest list that included Jerry Rice,TO,Adam Sandler,Burt Reynolds and Chris Rock (and of course the returning Hooters girl who seemed to be a little more interested in Adam Sandler than she was in Jim Kelly.)The only person to sign was Sandler as he left the show for a few lucky fans that got on the right side of his body gaurds. Some of the stars were seen later that afternoon, however, playing with the Lobster Claw game inside the landing. For those of you who haven't seen one of these, let me explain. It looks just like one of those claw games you see at Chucky Cheese, except this one dispenses live Lobsters that are then cooked at a nearby restaurant. If that isn't disturbing enough, there appeared to be one veteran amoung the group that was about 3 times bigger than the others and just begging for some John Candy "Old 96er" wannabe to try to capture him.
After "The Best Damn Sports Show", we hung out at the Adam's Mark hotel looking for some more famous people. Once again, we saw Jim Kelly. I think this guy was following us around. Everywhere we went throughout the week, we saw Jim Kelly,Champ Bailey or Tom Arnold. If they wanted to get on my site that bad, they could have just asked...
Friday night we returned to Plush for what we were hoping would be a huge, celebrity heavy "Welcome to Jacksonville" party thrown by Puff Daddy. The only thing P-Diddy threw us was a screwball as vitrually no one showed up. The stretch limos and hummers that were everywhere the night before gave way to Geo Metros and mopeds as J-Ville's finest rolled up to this $450 a ticket bash. I think most of the party goers spent their last dime on the ticket and didn't have anything left for any new threads. Numerous patrons were sure that this party was the spot, including a batchorlette party that was turned away at the door. "Otis", a native Jacksonville playboy and huge Yankee fan, promised us that P-Diddy was already inside and playing a show. Unfortunately, P-Diddy didn't show up with his police escourt and body gaurds until 3:45 am. He stayed for a whopping 5 minutes and made sure that everyone got their money's worth. Rob Schneider was rumored to be at the party, but it couldn't have been that great if Deuece Bigalow is the biggest star in attendance.
Saturday was the innaugural Snooperbowl and needless to say, we were pumped to see the Doggfather in person.
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| Chris Rock Isn't Too Funny Off Stage & The Lobster Claw |
Big Thursday
Thursday turned out to be the best day of Super Bowl week. The day started for in Gainesville, FL as we hit up the Tennessee Women's team at the hotel before the game. Everyone was very nice, and after a little sweet talking to one of the assistant coaches, we were allowed to get the entire team and Coach Summitt.
Then we headed to one of the first big Super Bowl parties. For those of you who have not been to Jacksonville, Plush is the premier club for high rollers in the city. You can't come to Jacksonville without hearing an advertisement for Plush, or Eddie Farrah the super-lawyer for that matter. Plush was going off on Thursday night. As we arrived, rumors were flying that MC Hammer and even McGiver had already entered in addition to numerous NFL stars. John Elway, Thurman Thomas, Hershell Walker, Eddie George, Daunte Culpepper, Jerome Bettis, Champ Bailey, Michael Bennett, Sebastien Janakowski, Mike Vanderjagt, Robert Mathis and numerous other NFL players were spotted. Most were good about signing, except Elway who had some choice words for those gathered around his get-away car. Musical acts Blues Traveler and Hootie and the Blowfish also showed up and were cordial with the fans. Some of the other sightings included John Rocker, Joey Fatone from N'Sync, Chris Berman, Chris Myers (who reportedly did refrain from urinating off his balcony during the week) and Michael Strahan, Tom Arnold and Champ Bailey who were seen at every function I attended this weekend. One of the best parts of the night was seeing all the people who thought they were VIP and worthy of the red carpet roll up and get shot down. One group pulled in behind the stretch limos and Hummers in a taxi and were laughed out of the parking lot. The escort alarm was also going off quite often as middle aged men showed up with some of Jacksonville's finest working girls. Jamal Anderson, the infamous dirty bird, rolled into the party in one phat Ford Explorer. The ride was rumored to have both am/fm radio and some sweet upgrades like power locks, his/her seat covers and dual climate control. To top it all off, Anderson's posse was a force to be reckoned with. The four thugs escorting Anderson in must have missed their casting call for "Malibu's Most Wanted" and looked a little out of place with their fubu hoodies and wrangler jeans on.
On a down note, one of the other graphers vowed to obtain McGiver on his way back out, but never saw him again. Maybe McGiver made a car out of a light bulb and a peanut shell and went out the back?? Either way, Thursday was a huge success....
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| Elway Leaves With A Young Starlet, Rocker W/Hot Chicks, Me & Coach Summit+ Blues |
Wednesday Super Bowl Report
Wednesday started with another trip to the airport. The best part about the airport is that you never know who you might see there, including everyone from NFL Hall of Famers like Lynn Swann, Mean Joe Greene and Roger Staubach to musical acts like Ryan Cabrera or Alicia Keys. Paul McCartney supposedly walked through the airport one week earlier before any of the graphers were. Not much happened in the morning, Jerome Bettis and Ben Roethlisberger were seen. Jim Kelly reportedly signed for the two pros waiting by the baggage claim and no one that was upstairs saw him come in (they might have lost his bag like Romanowski?) He hassled the two graphers with a "So guys, when did your flight come in? Is that all you brought in your bags?" Kelly was in a hurry as he had to get to the filming of the Best Damn Sports Show in the afternoon and possibly mix in a trip to the strip club?
Speaking of The Best Damn Sports Show, I was lucky enough to take in the filming that day. I sat front and center as some of the producers (and on-air talent) took quite a liking to my girlfriend and her sister. You might have seen me on the taping, struggling to hide some white panel footballs under my coat and trying to deal with some annoying chick wearing an Eagles jersey complete with a beak. The show was pretty cool as Jim Kelly and Mike Ditka were guests and Tom Arnold, John "Spider" Salley and Michael Strahan hosted. Jim Kelley was the first guest and was escorted by two Hooters girls representing the greater Jacksonville area. Rumor has it that one was featured in a national Hooters commercial and thought she was a little out of Jim's league has he spit out his best game and got shot down. It only got worse for big Jim as he tried to hit Tom Arnold with passes in the river just outside the Landing and was matched toss by toss by a navy sailor. Mike Ditka was the final guest and got quite the ovation, until he turned someone in the front row down for an autograph. The music stopped and there was a long, awkward moment. It is kind of like when that one kid shows up at a party that no one likes and someone turns the power off. One of the producers tried to salvage the situation by saying "When Ditka's Right, Ditka's Right" A couple of drunks in the background still kept shouting but they were still able to finish the set. Strahan, Arnold and Salley all signed autographs throughout the taping but Kelly and Ditka rushed off-stage and tried to get out of the 40 degree rain. One of the biggest highlights for me was scoring a Johnsonville Brat's tee-shirt. They are one of the most respected names in sausage products and I can't imagine what a shirt like that would be worth on eBay (Not mine, another lucky fans)
....
After the show, we headed back to the airport. Then the real fun started. The Jacksonville police didn't like the way autograph seekers were saying, "Welcome to Jacksonville" with sharpies and footballs as some of the NFL's finest got off their planes. After Troy Walters, Patrick Surtain and Champ Bailey got down to the baggage claim, the cops started kicking people out. After a little arguing, it became clear that the airport was going to be shut down for autograph seekers. With Wednesday in the books, we started planning for Big Thursday...
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| Ditka Snarls @ Fans Requesting A Graph! While John Salley Pops A Zit In His Ear! |
Jacksonville Super Bowl Weekend: An Autograph Paradise?
A paradise, not exactly. I really didn't have any big expectations going into Super Bowl week on getting much signed mostly due to the way the autograph scene has been lately...(people not signing, security, eBay and more graphers). Some days I wish the date was 19-8-something. I couldn't imagine how easy graphs were back in the day. Even in the last five years the scene has changed a bunch. Still I will never give up trying to something signed and thus I present my week at the super bowl.
Going into the week I prepared by buying a couple dozen white panel footballs and two dozen drumheads figuring I probably wouldn't get half the things signed but who knows something might happen.
Tuesday February 1st 2005. The day starts later in the evening with a quick scope through the airport for anything happening, after an hour of nothing we leave and decide to head downtown to check out the hotel scene. After arriving downtown we walk towards the Jacksonville landing (the focal point for all super bowl fans and locals). We head towards the Omni hotel again nothing brewing. We decide lastly to check out the Adam's Mark because the media crews would be housed here. A couple people were spotted mostly ESPN reporters, Michael Wilbon, Emmitt Smith, Sal Paolantonio, Mike Golic, Rod Woodson, Rich Eisen, “The Weasel” John Clayton, Tony Siragusa, David Aldridge and Ron Jaworski not much but a good way to start the night. We ran into an acquaintance grapher from Michigan and he hooked us up with some info on what he has been up to and who arrived from the airport, which turned out to be a couple NFL players. We decided to skip the Adam's Mark and head back to the Airport. About an hour of waiting in baggage and still nothing. Finally we get a good sign...NFL legend Jerry Rice just happens to walk down to the baggage claim. He gets hounded by about 5 graphers and says no to all request, oh well what else do we have to lose than to sit and see if he'll sign anything. Again more people try and get shot down. After about 30 minutes his baggage finally arrives and he heads to the door and starts signing. Chaos breaks out and he signs for nearly everybody waiting, I pulled two footballs. As soon as we look back inside we notice a flurry of NFL'ers...Bill Romanowski, Shaun Alexander, Shannon Sharpe, Rodney Peete, Tony Dorsett, John Lynch and a couple other guys. Everyone was cool about signing; Rice & Alexander personalized their first two graphs then got tired and dropped that. Romanowski’s bags got lost and he looked pretty pissed. 11:30 rolled around and we headed out to plan for the next day.
Be sure to check back in to see what happened on Wednesday February 2nd 2005.
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| John "The Weasel" Clayton with Butler Standout & Hot Dog Eating Champ Paul Beck |
Twinsfest Times & Players
A list has just been released with the times of when players will be signing. Hope to see you there.
http://twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/min/fan_forum/twinsfest_player_schedules.jsp
January 26th 2005
Happy late New Year, I hope everyone is doing well. My holidays were spent in Phoenix, Arizona and Minneapolis, Minnesota. For the first half of the holidays Stephanee & I went to Arizona and met up with her folks for a week. It was a great week of sun & hiking. The second half of the holidays we traveled to my parents house in Minneapolis. A lot of hockey was played but for the first time in many years there was no snow on the ground. Tomorrow I am heading back to Minnesota to get ready for Twins fest, which will be going from Friday-Sunday. This will be my 2nd Twins fest I have done as a player. The first was the season after Elizabethton and it was a blast. Things have changed a little since then. Instead of signing with Old Twins, Current Twins and other Stars they decided to break it up into groups such as Future Twins, Current Twins and Legends. The idea of the format doesn't sound as fun as before but we will see how it goes. Anyone who goes be sure to stop by and say you checked out this site, I can't wait to do some much needed signing to cure my winter drought.
Speaking of signing the Super Bowl is coming to Jacksonville in a couple weeks. Anyone coming down to get some graphs? Please let me know if you are on the message board. This is the holy grail of autographs because all the celebs and athletes will be in town for week. I'm planning on running around the city for the next week and a half as soon as I get back from Twins fest. So far Philly is suppose to be coming into town on Saturday night with the Pats coming in on Sunday (They are a tough team to pull anything from). Anyone with any info on where people are staying or news on hotels be sure to let me know.
As far as everything else goes I started throwing about a week and a half ago. Right now I'm taking it slow and mostly working on long toss to build up a little arm strength. Around the first/second week of February is when I'll probably start throwing off the mound.
Weight training has taking a sign for the better. One of my major goals for this off-season was to take lifting more serious than I ever have and right now I can say I'm very proud of how I have got after it. My weight last year at this time was 225...mostly flab not really toned at all. Last year I started running all the time with a little more emphasis on weights and I started watching what I was eating (though my idea of eating good wasn't that great that I look back at it). My body did a 360 by the end of the summer and I didn't feel that healthy...my weight was around 195...mostly due to terrible eating habits. Right now I am at a solid 210 and feel healthier than ever, the biggest reason...solid weight training, running and above all the food I put into my body. For those of you trying to lose weight you have to do a check of what you put in your body. I'm not going to preach anything here but it's amazing how brainwashed companies that work in food market stuff towards us. My success this off season breaks down like this, 25% attitude, 25%weights & running, 50% nutrition especially with my juice man juicer, the best investment of all time.
Thanks guys for checking out the site, it's almost that time of the year again.
Sorting It All Out
The offseason is a time to revamp rosters, sign free agents and get ready for the offseason. After looking over various news articles and chat rooms I have found many transactions taking place. If you look into the signings and moves you can kind of get a picture of where guys might end up next year. One conclusion I have made after looking over everything is that we have a talented organization and we are going to be stacked at every level this year.
Movement in the offseason: So far this is what I have compiled, I really don't know how accurate it is.
AA or higher New Guys: Gil Velaquez, Glenn Williams, Corky Miller, Jason Tyner, Bud Smith, Juan Castro, Mike Redman.
Other notes: Travis Bowyer starting games in Venezuela?
Players To Appear At Twinsfest
Current Players & Coaches
Joe Aballera, Rick Anderson, Justin Arneson, Grant Balfour, Jason Bartlett, Boof Bonser, Rob Bowen, Jesse Crain, Michael Cuddyer, J.D. Durbin, Lew Ford, Ron Gardenhire, Torii Hunter, Garrett Jones, Jacque Jones, Matthew LeCroy, Kyle Lohse, Billy Mauer, Jake Mauer, Joe Mauer, Joe Mays, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, Pat Neshek, Al Newman, Glen Perkins, Nick Punto, Brad Radke, Mike Redmond, Juan Rincon, J.C. Romero, Carlos Silva, Terry Tiffee, Scott Tyler
Former Players: Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew, Mudcat Grant, Lenny Green, Harmon Killebrew, Julio Becquer, John Castino, Dan Gladden, Kent Hrbek, Craig Kusick, Gene Larkin, Tony Oliva, Greg Olson, Frank Quilici, Brian Raabe, Dick Stegman.
MN Twins Playing In Winter Ball Right Now
Many guys in the org are playing winter ball right now, click on their name to see how they are doing.
Beau Kemp & Alex Prieto, Jesus Merchan, Luis Rodriguez, Alex Romero, Gabby Torres, Terry Tiffee, JC Contreras, Willie Eyre & Jannio Gutierrez, Luis Maza, Juan Rincon & Travis Bowyer, Luis Rivas, Henry Bonilla, JC Romero, Jose Morales, Felix Molina
December 2nd 2004
I hope everyone is doing awesome & getting ready for the holidays! This time of the baseball season is when things start to heat up a little bit. The Arizona Fall League just finished up, the winter leagues have been going strong for a month now and signings and trades are starting to happen. One big event is the rule 5 draft coming up on December 13th. This draft is for players not on the 40-man roster that have 3 full seasons under their belts. Clubs must protect their players under three different levels, Major League, AAA and AA. If another club thinks a player can help them at the MLB level they can draft them. It's a pretty confusing to understand but I just wanted everyone to know what was happening in the world of baseball. As for me everything is continuing to go well. The Florida weather has allowed me to be more active outside...running, biking, tennis, boogie boarding...ect. Today also marks two months since I started weight lifting for this upcoming season. I have not thrown a ball yet and will start around the first/second week of January...This is done to give my arm more rest. I can't wait to throw and see how much the weights and running has helped me out, it's going to be a great year.
Lots of transactions have been going down lately, if you get bored you can check out a great site that has some legit Twins talk...fans that know what they are talking about...fmmiraclegal...
http://p216.ezboard.com/fdtfcdtfcminnesotatwinsforum
BTW - Anyone have any good graph stories?
Twinsfest 2005
I got a call today being invited to Twinsfest this year. If anyone is in Minnesota on the 28th - 31st of January be sure to stop by the Metrodome for Twinsfest 2005. Nearly all current Twins will be in attendence as well as former Twins and minor leaguers. It's an awesome experience and an easy way to get some graphs!
October 17th 2004
After taking a month off from everything I'm starting to get back in the swing of things and starting to get on the computer a little bit more. During the past couple weeks a lot of things have happened. Right now I am in Jacksonville, Florida already two weeks into my off-season weight/conditioning program. Now a lot of you might be saying "What are you doing in Florida...I thought you were from Minnesota?" One answer...the weather. During my first year in pro ball I stayed in MN and worked out...it was hell. Running outside was a pain, long toss throwing was almost impossible and finding gym space was ridiculously hard. Florida provides an excellent location for me to get better and always be outside. Last year I came down to FL in January...this year I'm starting a lot earlier. My main goals down here are to become quicker, bigger and healthier. If everything goes like it should it WILL pay huge dividends during the season. This upcoming year for me is a big year and I'm working hard to get to the show. You never know what kind of year it's going to be but you have to prepare and outdo the guy next to you fighting for your job. Most of us minor leaguers can smell the big leagues but we still never know how close we really are. It's kind of like a saying I heard from an old boss during a college internship in Minnesota. It went something like this, you keep chopping the tree putting chop after chop into the tree. After 100 chops the tree is still standing and you question yourself and wonder if the tree will ever fall...You can give up and go home or keep chopping never knowing if the tree will ever fall. You decide to keep chopping and finally on the next swing the tree falls. I guess that's how I look at baseball. You have to keep giving it everything seeing very little in return until one day it all becomes worth it!
Thanks to everyone that has wrote letters, they have all been sent back as of 10/18. I have not gotten around to emails yet and will hopefully get to these in the next week. More updates will be coming soon.
September 16th 2004
Hold your horses everyone I am back no need to panic. The season kind of ended with a giant thud after a game in Dunedin, I'll talk more about this later. I have a mess load of updating to do and just wanted to let everyone know that I am back. I kind of went on a two week vacation. Hurricane Francis kind of messed up the plans a little bit but everything worked out awesome in the end. When the season got over Stephanee & I flew up to Hartford to pick up my car, we then took a vacation to NYC, Niagara Falls and visited a couple friends along the way. It was an awesome trip and really felt good after a long year playing ball. Be sure to continue to check out the site. I will have a lot of updating coming up! Also what was up with the free hat giveaway yesterday that I had up...15 hours for a response...wow, congrats Tim V who takes home my Red BP Hat.
Update
During the last home stand the Miracle finally decided to give us our mail and locker belongings back that were thrown into garbage bags to make room for the National Guard during the Hurricanes. In the next couple days I will be opening the letters and mailing back responses and signing the items and cards. I will also throw in a couple cards as a way of repayment for me not getting them back to you when I received them 9/03/04. It's was a totally odd way to end a season but everything worked out fine and no one was injured by the canes.
You Choose
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| Can I Enter Also? |
September 1st 2004
With the hurricane on its way the league has decided to cancel the remaining games for the eastern division. Yesterday the teams that didn't make the playoffs were free to leave and get out of Florida. As for our division it looks like they are going to cancel the season after tonight's game in Dunedin. It would be very logical for them to do this ASAP so we can also take precaution and get out of the storm's path. Last time they dicked around and didn't even cancel the games the day of the hurricane and it was a bad experience for all of us. We never had time to get out of Ft. Myers and had to stay and experience its wrath and no power for 1 week. The hurricane is supposed to be four times the size of Hurricane Charley. Right now we are on the bus heading to Dunedin!?!
August 31st 2004
The season is wrapping up and we have 5 days to go. Not really anything new down in Florida. We got rained out again yesterday and had our last off day on Sunday. Another Hurricane is heading our way so we will have to see if they are gonna play the rest of the season. The Twins have called up a lot of my former teammates today and yesterday, it's great to see them get up to the bigs. On September 1st every year the rosters expand and this is when most players on the 40 man rosters get their callups if they have had decent seasons.
August 27th 2004
With a little over one week to go things are starting to wind down. The other day the trainer handed out plane tickets and driving money for players. Guys who have their cars here will drive home and the Twins give players money for gas & a hotel room. The money depends on a milage chart, the further away the more money you will get. As for me I'm planning on flying into Hartford and picking up my car and driving home. The last game for us is Sunday September, 5th and my flight is the next day.
August 25th 2004
The site is back up and ready for updates. The long delay was due to my wireless card going bad and waiting for a new one to come through the mail. The last week has been filled with many rainouts, lots of losses and only one autographer waiting after a game in Lakeland. Today's game went 5 innings and the rain came...this also happened yesterday in the first inning. The rain is really starting to become a problem, it's really hard to get pumped up to play when there's a 50/50 chance of the game getting cancelled...Last week when we came back to Hammond Stadium we were greeted to our lockers being totally cleaned out with all our stuff locked away in a room in a garbage bag. Without anyone telling us the national guard bagged all our personals and locker room contents and threw them into a bag, it really didn't make me too happy...Also if you have sent me a letter in the past 2-3 weeks it hasn't been delivered yet and may be in the bag squashed up...again you can thank the NG for their careless efforts. But something is up, throughout the last two weeks with the hurricane and long road trip I have received no mail, I'm thinking someone up top isn't delivering the mail so be patient.
Right about now everyone on the team is getting antsy to get the season over, I think there are 10 games left. We are officially out of the playoffs due to a current 8 game skid. New Britain and Rochester are also out of playoff contention. I am still in Ft. Myers and am betting that I will finish up here there's really no point to move me with a week and a half left. It's really a shame nothing has been done, I feel like my development has been halted/stalled in a way. In the meantime the last three weeks I have developed a new sinker thrown submarine style. It basically works off of my fastballs and is about 10 miles an hour slower. So far it has gotten lots of groundballs and lots of strikes...It has also given up a couple hits/high choppers through the infield but that's what happens when you learn a new pitch. I'm very pleased at getting some time down here to work on this new pitch. Other than that the season is slowly winding down. Right now I have heard of no plans for the off-season. They usually tell players around August 10th if they have off-season plans such as the Arizona Fall League, Winter Ball in the Caribbean or Instructional League. Last year I played in the Arizona Fall League and it was an awesome experience. So far they have already named five of the six players for this years squad with one pitching spot left. It would be nice to play some more baseball but it wouldn't break my heart...getting time off is good sometimes.
August 17th 2004
Today we finished up yesterday's postponed game. We sat around waiting for game 2 and the rain came. Tonight's second game was RAINED OUT & we will make it up tomorrow with two 7 inning games.
Before the game we arrived at the field to see MLB officials in our clubhouse. They were sent here to do a random drug test, which can be conducted on minor league players no more than four times a year. Everyone on the team had to give urine samples. The test started out with the player showing a photo id and signing paperwork. You would then get a cup to fill up. The thing I didn't like about the test was the guy conducting the drug test had to watch each person and make sure they urinated in the cup, it was weird having someone looking at you while you did your business. After this was done they had more paperwork to fill out and the whole process took about 10 minutes per person. Last year I was only tested once and so far this year I have not been tested. If someone test positive for a recreational drug nothing really happens, the second offense is a 15-day suspension. If a player test positive for steroids the first time it is a 15-day suspension and if they test positive the second time they receive a 30-day suspension. Three doubleheaders coming up in four days, I will keep you posted.
August 16th 2004
Today we traveled out of devastation and into Lakeland, Florida. At 2AM last night the power in Ft. Myers went back on where I was staying...We should all be grateful for electricity haha. Parts of Fort Myers are still without power as I write. On the trip to Lakeland this morning we drove through the hurricane's path, places Like Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte were totally in ruins...It was very sad to see.
Today we were back in action. Most guys...well pretty much every guy on the team has not picked up a ball in five days. We all started throwing before the game today and each person felt like they were just learning how to throw again, it felt very weird and rusty. The game started but just like every game this month we got RAINED OUT in the fourth inning. Tomorrow we will make up this game and the regularly scheduled game.
August 14th & 15th: Back To The Primative!
Well these last two days have been pretty chaotic! The storms deadly trail hit us but we escaped the most destructive part of it. Around where I am staying trees were everywhere in the streets and garbage everywhere. We are still without power...it has been 3 full days! Right now I am getting power through a generator. Hopefully tomorrow we can get to Lakeland and start playing ball again...who knows, I'll try and keep everyone updated!
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| Nature's Fury |
August 12th & 13th
Today was the hurricane...It was pretty cool but it took out all the power so I'm pretty mad right now. I'll write more when it gets turned back on, I'm trying to consume what little battery life I have.
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August 11th 2004
Today we traveled to Sarasota to play the Red Sox. This was my first trip ever to the Sarasota complex. In spring training this place is the Cincinnati Reds headquarters. It kind of surprised me because the stadium is really old and I couldn't picture a big league team training here. My first thought on the stadium; I felt like I was back in the 60's playing with the Big Red Machine...I really did. The place has some history and you can really feel it, it had the old school bullpens, the clubhouse facilities had a crazy feel to them, heck even the press box looked old. We took BP and you could really tell this place needed some work on the outfield. Balls would be hit and they wouldn't roll they would either stick or hit and slowly die down after a hop or two. Outfielders feet would sink each time they ran for a ball. Overall a very unique place to play, I still can't believe this is the Reds spring training home. Today we play the Tampa Yankees in a doubleheader. We are suppose to have a hurricane hitting here sometime in the next day so I'm sure we will start seeing some effects of it tonight, 40mph winds, rain...I'm almost pretty sure we aren't playing tomorrow and Saturday but who knows
August 10th 2004
Today wasn't the most exciting day of the year but something did happen...It was the first day since I have been down here that it didn't rain one drop! We got everything in, catch, bp, infield/outfield and even the game rain-free. It was our last time we play in Clearwater, I'm going to miss the place because it's a very nice field. I will not be missing the hotel though, an old dirty Econo Lodge down the street from the field! We got on the bus after the game and rode back to Ft Myers arriving at 1:30am. Tomorrow we play at Sarasota. It's a commuter trip which means we will not be staying over there. We will drive there and head back after the game.
August 9th 2004
Today I got up around 8am, made a quick stop at Subway and heading to the field to catch the 9:45am bus to Clearwater. The trip to Clearwater from Ft. Myers took around two hours. Someone asked in a board question how is AA different from High A ball with travel. There's really not much difference on travel. We drive the same buses, get the same meal money and stay in the same type hotels. Some major differences are the clubby's aren't really a factor here maybe one in three places has a clubby for the away team and the spread consist of bread and peanut butter + jelly...Nothing to glamorous like AA with pre and post game spreads of excellent food. Another difference is in AA the trainer and clubbys carry your bags off the bus and unpack them in your locker...not bad. In high A five different people are assigned duties for each trip such as carrying the laundry off the bus when we get back on our getaway day, carrying the medical trunks, carrying the baseball bags...stuff like that. In AA the trainers have to do all this.
Today we played a doubleheader and actually got both games in. Yes it did downpour but only for 15 minutes and we were able to continue and finish game #2. I got in and picked up my 6th save for the Miracle striking out both batters I faced. Tomorrow we play our final game here and it begins at 7:05pm. I also finally got my first shot of me in a Miracle uniform from this year, it comes courtesy of my girlfriend Stephanee!
August 7th & 8th
Yesterday we got on the bus and traveled to Tampa to take on the Yankees. As soon as we arrived we were hit with a sudden downpour and had to hang out in the clubhouse for a couple hours. The rain stopped for a few minutes and we got to go out onto the field and get a little toss and running in. As soon as we were finishing up the rain started coming down again. And just like most games this week we had to cancel the game. Right now all FSL players have an off day. We resume play tomorrow with a doubleheader at Clearwater.
August Grapher Of The Month - Bruce From Columbus, OH
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| The Master Waiting For His Prey |
Name: Bruce
Hometown: Columbus, OH
Homepark: Cooper Stadium
Nickname: Wolfman
Best Autograph Moment: When Kelly Wunsch told him that he smelled like SHI*! Kelly came in on rehab earlier this year and Bruce gave him an autographed photo of himself.
Runner up: Stopping his car in the middle of an intersection during a green light and rolling down his window to get Bryan Berard of the
Blackhawks. Berard signed and then Bruce kept on going as cars were
beeping at him.
Worst autograph moment: When his basment flooded and he had Montana rookies floating in his basement.
Other Reasons For Being Grapher of the Month: His house has cards stacked from the floor to the ceiling and there are only
small paths to walk. Rumor has it that there are dead bodies there also.
Athlete that hates him the most: Hop Cassidy. He runs from him everyday.
Misc Info: Has trash in his car up to the windows in the front
and back so he doesn't have to give people a ride,
He has more signed pieces than everyone I know combined!
If you know someone who should be the grapher of the month, please email me @ pbeck@butler.edu. Bruce is a tough act to follow, but we will see what we can do!
August 6th 2004
Today was rain free, well during the games it was. We arrived at the field today and headed out for BP. As soon as we started stretching we were drenched by a sudden downpour. We kept thinking here we go again but when game time came around it was nice and sunny. Not much was going on with the autograph scene. Mike Schmidt was here again and there was a giant crowd going after Mike. I finally got into a game after a weeks worth of rain and rain outs. Tomorrow we travel to Tampa to visit Legends Field and to take on the Tampa Yankees. It's a one game series and we will travel back to Ft. Myers after the game followed by an off day on Sunday.
August 5th 2004
I guess I'm starting to sound like a broken record. Today's game was rained out in the 6th inning. We are going to try to finish up that game followed by a 7 inning game. Will we play or will we fall victim to the rain?
August 4th 2004
Another day in August another rain out. We finished up yesterday's rainout and in the fifth inning of game two the rain came and wouldn't stop. Tomorrow we are making up a game from late July that got rained out. Hopefully we can get both games in.
August 3rd 2004
Today's game was another victim of the Florida rain season. We started playing and got through four innings, then the rain came. Tomorrow is a doubleheader but the forecast is again calling for T-Storms. Our roster made a couple transactions today and yesterday. As already reported on the message board Francisco Liriano is heading up to AA and Marcus Moseley was released. I wish both of them the best and was glad to meet them in the past two weeks.
August 1st 2004
Today we got more rain, what a way to start August. We got through four innings and the rain wouldn't quit. Tomorrow we will make up the first game starting in the fifth followed by a seven inning game. With the recent roster stir ups in the bigs and AAA there should be a couple roster moves made in the next couple days. New Britain is slowly fading out of playoff contention while Ft. Myers is in the hunt. It should be interesting to see what moves are made.
July 31st 2004
Today was a crazy day with the trade deadline wrapping up. At around 3:45 our coach came in and told everyone that the Twins traded Mientkiewicz to the Sox for Justin Jones of the MWL Lansing Lugnuts. This time of the year is always crazy and players move all over the place. One of my former teammates in the Cape, Matt Murton was traded to the Cubs, it's weird to think about it because we just got done facing each other a couple days ago. In other news Jesse Crain finally got the long awaited call to the Bigs. Jesse is one of my closer friends in the org and actually roomed together our rookie year and in spring training. I'm pumped to see him up in the show and he should become a dominant closer once he gets comfortable with the majors. I don't know what type of domino effect the moves will have and I will keep everyone updated when the moves are made! One move I just found out about was JD Durbin got the call to AAA! Durbin should get a shot to make it up to the Twins in a couple weeks if he does well in Rochester.
July 30th 2004
Today we sat through an hour-long rain delay, it seems like everyday I have been here so far it has rained for at least 5 minutes. I remember last year in August is when we got hit very hard with rain and it started flooding throughout Ft. Myers. If you are coming to FL in August be prepared to get rained on! Today we started a four game series versus the Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins affiliate. I got into the game and got my fifth save in the FSL, three more and I’m already on the leader board. I cannot believe how many save opps I have already gotten. Tomorrow we play at 7:00. How about the trades going down today, geez the Mets cleared house on their minor league system, Kazmir, Diaz, Peterson, Huber. Blockbuster deals are still waiting to happen, it should be interesting!
July 29th 2004
Today was the last game of the series versus Clearwater. Not the most exciting game of the year. There was an hour rain delay. Right now we are on the bus heading back to Ft. Myers. The clubby didn't do the greatest job after the game as he made enough spaghetti for about 5 guys on the team. So to make up for 30 hungry guys we stopped at a gas station and ate there. We should be getting into town around 2am. After the game tonight there was one grapher getting Floyd Rayford stuff signed, that's about the only graphs I saw getting signed today. Tomorrow we start a four game series versus Jupiter.
July 28th 2004
Today we traveled to Clearwater, Florida to take on the Clearwater Threshers in a two game series. This year the Clearwater Phils moved down the road a little into a brand new stadium. This is also the same stadium where they have big league spring training. At first glance I loved the stadium. It was a nice comfortable place to watch a game and had a lively atmosphere especially the bar in left field looking over the bullpens. The clubhouse was huge and clean unlike a lot of FSL stadiums. The playing surface was also in top shape challenging Ft. Myers for the best surface in Florida. Last year the C-Phils played down the road in an old worn out stadium. The dugouts were tiny, the locker rooms weren't up to par and it wasn't a great place to play at. Clearwater did a great job with their franchise in the past year! Tomorrow I will start to take a crack at some emails I got and also try to get back to the message board. Congrats to Tim V who was the winner of contest #2!
July 27th 2004
Today we started the game and went one half inning then the rain came. In the mail I got a bunch of letters and have written back to each one so be on the look out if you wrote to me. Tomorrow we are heading up to Clearwater. They have a brand new stadium so I'll write my thoughts on it tomorrow.
July 26th 2004
We played the Clearwater Threshers at our place yesterday. I guess the highlight of the day was Mike Schmidt was their head coach. Before the game I kept looking over at their bench and was wondering why there was such a crowd, then I remembered they had a HOF manager. There were about 25 people waiting on him before the game. I watched and wondered how much he would sign! At first he walked around and didn't sign anything. Then he started signing everything people put in front of him. He didn't go into the crowd at all, people passed their stuff down the line and into the dugout where he signed for about 5 minutes. We play another game today against Clearwater I'll let everyone know what happens!
July 24th 2004
Today we had our first graphers of the season before the game. Two guys were doing their thing in batting practice hitting up every guy in quantity. The game went by pretty fast and we won 6-4, I pitched 2 innings and got my 3rd save for the Miracle. Tomorrow is an off day. Most guys are relaxing at home and others went on short vacations to various spots in Florida. After the game tonight we had the pleasure of having Chubby Checker live in concert at Hammond Stadium.
July 23rd 2004
Today was a pretty boring day at the park. The game took forever, we lost and nobody was getting autos. Congrats to MT22 with winning the first contest for Erik Lohse's signed cleat, the correct answer was Pete Lacock. Be sure to check in to see if a contest is on, you never know when it will be posted!
July 22nd 2004
After one week I am finally started to feel like I am all moved in. We have played three games so far versus the St. Lucie Mets in Ft. Myers. The crowds have been a little bigger than last year yet not much autographing is going on. Ft. Myers is a lot different than AA. The biggest difference is in the clubhouse. In AA we pay $7-8 a day and here it is $25 every two weeks. We get a lot of things for that fee in AA. Some of those are a pregame meal...the food is a lot better there also, post game meal, shoes shined, bags carried onto the bus, bags unpacked on all road trips into visiting locker room, no carrying buckets, medical trunks or anything like that. The last couple games I keep expecting an after game meal and have to settle on going out and finding a store that is open. Things are a little different but it's still the same game. The visiting players have impressed me a lot so far down here. Over the past couple season I have played against the majority of the guys we have faced so far and it's crazy to see how much they have developed since.
New Contest Board
It's alive and hot. Be sure to check out the left hand tool bar for Contest Board. Click on it and try to answer the question first to win. I will try to get up a contest once a week for the remainder of the season.
July 20th 2004
Today's game got rained out. We play a doubleheader tomorrow. We had one promotion today, Erik Lohse is heading to AA New Britain. I was able to get a pair of signed game used spikes from Erik as he was leaving. These will be given away on the contest board when it starts up which will be sometime in the next 10 days.
July 19th 2004
Right now we are in the middle of Florida on a bus heading back to Ft. Myers. Since I flew into Melbourne I am still carrying all my baggage and will need to look for a place to live. The Twins pay for two nights in a hotel room so I think I'm gonna take them up on that for a few days. Tomorrow we play St. Lucie.
July 17th & 18th
Today was a pretty awesome day for me at the ballpark. Nothing really special happened until I was leaving the ballpark. As I was getting on the bus one of my teammates told me that someone wanted to talk to me. I walked off the bus and waiting for me was a young guy who was the batboy for our game. The first thing he said was I can't believe you are here, I have been checking your web page for the last couple months and I love it and I almost died when I saw you were playing here! He then gave me a Mike Schmidt signed baseball! How cool is that! I cannot believe that someone in Melbourne, Florida would call out the site like that, it's an awesome feeling, I cannot believe how much the site has took off since the spring training.
I also want to say thanks again to the many emails I have just recently gotten. I plan on responding to them even if it takes me a week or two. I still have to find a place to live in Ft. Myers and take care of a lot of other business.
As far as the games go there's a little bit of a difference. Just like last year there are not many fans, a great crowd is anything over 1000 people. There are a few collectors/autographers, at today’s game there were two people working our side.
I will have the contest board coming up soon, I planned on starting it already but things kind of got out of whack in the past couple days. I also lost a lot of the items I planned on giving away because I simply didn't have room to take the items with me. I still have a lot of hats and a few other items. I think I will also be able to pull some stuff that might be of interest. I need about a week or two until this gets started. Thanks again for working with me and understanding what I am going through. The updates will keep coming, continue to check in!
July 16th 2004
Hey everyone I just checked the site, message board and email for the first time in a couple days and was in disbelief by all the emails and support from everyone...you don't know how much it meant to me, very awesome!
The last two days have been unreal. I had to pack up my stuff in Hartford and leave the majority of everything I had in my car, right now my car is sitting in Hartford and I don't know when I will get to pick it up. My flight was at 6am so I left my house at 4am...I stayed up all night packing up and trying to take care of everything I could in that time frame. During the flights I stopped in Atlanta and eventually flew into Melbourne, FL. I tried to get as much sleep as possible but I never really could fall into a deep sleep. I got a cab to the hotel in Melbourne and had to wait for the team to arrive. When they got there I had one hour to relax so I spent that laying in bed. We went to the field and eventually played the game. At the end of the night I really wasn't thinking much because I was so beat. I got up today at 1:30 & am ready to play.
Yeah it's hard to believe that I'm back in Ft Myers playing for the Miracle. I talked to my agent today and he spoke with Twins management about the situation. They told him that they wanted me to get more innings and if the situation presented itself they wouldn't hesitate on calling me up to Rochester AAA. I guess that's a little motivation to go to town down here!!! Anyways I will continue to keep everyone updated on what is going on down here. Definitely not as many fans here and for sure not as many graphers. Thanks again for all the kind words from everyone it feels so good to have supporters/fans like you guys!
July 15th 2004
Hey guys, I'm not really sure the reason but I got sent down to Ft. Myers today. A couple reason were floating around, one they want to prep me to be a closer again...I don't know why, it's def not my major league role I would be in. The other reason is they want me to get more innings and if I would have stayed in NB Stu would've had me on pace to get 55 innings. My numbers were not bad at all, it looks to me like the org wants me to get a lot more innings and this would def not happen with the situation I was in. Hope all is well guys, I would love to write more but I just don't have it in me tonight, sorry guys.
In Mail Success For Me
The other day in the mail I got one of the best letters I have ever gotten. The letter/package came from Clint Hedges of Kentucky. In it Clint not only included his Top 40 Metal songs of all time but also did a couple incredibly 8x12 drawings of me on art paper. I was amazed at how good they were...Clint's number one pick of all time is Slayer's Raining Blood followed by Sepultura's Rise, rock on!
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| Click For Full Images Of Each |
July 13th & 14th
Right now it is the All Star break. During this time a lot of my teammates are up to different things. Some drove directly to the airport to go home for a couple days. Others went to visit New York City to do some sightseeing. The majority of the guys are sitting home relaxing watching the All Star festivities. This has been the first off day in a month and a half for the majority of the team...45 days of work! As far as me I'm going to be relaxing and kicking back.
Other News: Yesterday I got an awesome email from Kevin Pataky. Kevin has helped me out a bunch this year especially with the numerous photos he has provided the site. In the latest issue of Baseball America Kevin got a picture he took of David Wright published...and it was a proof shot! So if you go to page 14 in the newest (August) BA you'll see his work!
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Contests
It looks like the best way for me to give things away fairly would be to create a contest board (message board). I'll post something under a heading with a quiz or first person to respond and whoever does it/answer correctly will be the winner. This makes it fair and I can contact the winners by their emails. Continue to check in, I will try to get this started in the next week.
July 12th 2004
Today we got rained out and we are now officially at the All Star Break. I will be adding a bunch of things to the site during this time and doing a lot of emails.
July 11th 2004
Today was an early 1:05 game and it was hot out. I ran for about 20 minutes before the game & didn't stop sweating until the third inning...smoking. As always there was a strong showing for autographs, probably the best of the three days we have been here. A couple people mentioned that they checked out the site and then told a bunch of other people about it, thanks for spreading the word! So far here I have signed a lot of stuff, many MWL All Star cards, a few team set cards and a bunch of baseballs on the sweet spots. Tomorrow we have a 7:05 start. Right now it looks like we may get a lot of rain. After tomorrow is the All Star break, 2 days off. I have a lot of letters, emails to get sent out and some things to update on the site so I'm hoping to get that done at that time.
July 10th 2004
Tonight was another packed house in Reading. The game was televised throughout the East Coast on the CN8 channel. There were a lot of autographers in the crowd and even a couple hitting us up at the hotel before the game. Tomorrow is an early 1:05 game.
July 9th 2004
Well we made it through the first day in Reading and it was everything I expected and more. The thing about Reading is that the stadium is very old and has an awesome atmosphere to it. Reading also knows how to put people into the stands...Tonight there were 8,000 people (& this is below their average). This place is the perfect place to watch a game. The marketing people here should be rewarded with a huge bonus because they know how to entertain fans. Every inning they had a promotion going on and the crowd on their feet...other GM's in the league should take notice and copy everything they do here. As I walked onto the field the first thing I noticed was the brand new video screen in left field...holy cow, talk about huge crystal clear picture, easily the best video screen in all of minor league baseball if not all of baseball. The autographers were also out in quantity! If you get stuff signed you gotta love this place...we come right to you! I would say I counted around 10-12 collectors working it. After the game there was only two people getting cards and photos signed up. Ok, Ok I have gotten about five emails asking about Ryan Howard so I'll say a couple words on him...This guy is legit, 33 HR's. The crazy thing about his stats is that if he makes contact with the ball he's hitting something around .500. Career and this year he strikes out about a third of the time. His power is pretty insane, I did notice he changed his stance a little bit, a little more bat wiggling and crouching. I faced him twice in my career, one strike out and a double off the wall:) Tonight he didn't do that well, Durbin got him to ground out a couple times and Bowyer struck him out. In the crowd they had a section of people wearing t-shirts that said "Thome Who?" & on the back it had a #9 with Howard. Pretty neat stuff, he's having a heck of a year.
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| Click For More Photos |
July 8th 2004
Today was our last game in Norwich for the year. I'm pretty happy we don't come back to Norwich...we haven't won too many games there. Tomorrow we head to Reading, PA for the first and last time this year. Reading is a crazy stadium and perfect for getting autos. Every player has to walk through the stadium & through the crowds of people in order to get to the field...Last year Joe Mauer created a mob scene when he walked by...easily one of the most memorable times I have seen with people going crazy for one signature. He signed for about 20 minutes and still didn't move 5 feet closer to the locker room...eventually police had to escort him into the locker room. It should be a great weekend series...crowds over 10,000 and the swimming pool/Jacuzzi in right field should be packed!
July 7th 2004
Today we were back at it in Norwich, CT. The bus trip takes about an hour from Hartford. Today it was normal Norwich, not a lot of people in the crowd and the usual five autographers. The game tonight featured Scott Baker versus Matt Cain. Cain only went 2 innings due to an upcoming Futures Game appearance. About this time in the year is when the scouts start coming out in quantity to grade players. Tonight was no exception...behind the plate was filled with about 20 scouts. Most of the scouting is used to help in trades. They come out later in the year rather than earlier because they like seeing guys who have some innings and AB's. Tomorrow is our last game of the year in Norwich, 7:05 start.
July 6th 2004
Today we traveled to Norwich. Since Norwich is only an hour away we drive there and back each time, this is the only team we don't stay over for. It kind of is a pain because it's a long bus trip back but you do get to sleep in your own bed so there's pluses and minuses. At the game tonight we lost another close game. It seems like we don't have much luck there as we have lost about 4 games in the final 2 innings there this year. Today was a pretty weak showing for autographs. Usually in Norwich there are at least 5 guys handing cards...today 1! We'll see if tomorrow is any different.
July 5th 2004
Not much was going on with autographs today. It seems like New Britain isn't really a hot bed for dealers/collectors. Every now and then you'll see a few new faces but for the majority of this year so far it has been just a couple people after games. Tomorrow we go to Norwich for a three game set. Norwich always has a lot of people getting stuff signed so we'll see how that goes. At the game today it was the turn back the clock game. The moment we arrived at the park everyone thought the game was canceled because they forgot to tarp the field and it rained pretty good. After an hour and a half delay the game started and it was hot in those wool uni's. I pitched four innings and it got so hot that after my 2nd inning of work I took off my under shirt and went with just my jersey. By the end of the game even the jersey top was dripping with sweat. It was a cool game to play and I'm glad we never have to wear those uniforms again. 3pm bus to Norwich.
July 4th 2004
July 4th, time to watch some fireworks! Today our game was at 1:35 and the heat was intense. Unfortunately the game went nearly three hours but we ended up winning the game. Before the game I was greeted by the Boston Fury again. They were back at it getting everyone that they needed, natural pros. They also gave me some more secrets into the types of pens to use for other types of autographs like hockey pucks or drumheads (music). Instead of using Silver Sharpees that can run and bleed they showed me the Deco Color Silver Pens. I tried them out and I must say I was very impressed and am switching over. The Deco Color pens come in different styles such as Fine, Broad and Thin Line depending on the size of the autograph you want. For instance if you are getting autographed jerseys you would use the Broad Line, a baseball bat...a fine line. Thanks again to the Boston Fury for showing me another trick of the trade. Tomorrow is the throw back the clock game. We will be wearing retro Hartford Chiefs jersey...100% wool jerseys in 95-degree heat!!!
July 3rd 2004
Today was red, white and blue jersey day in honor of the July 4th holidays. The jerseys will be auctioned off after the game on August 5th. Today's game was Joe Mauer bobblehead night and also televised by Comcast TV. For some reason odd reason the stadium was only about half full very odd for a Saturday night bobblehead game! I don't know if anyone watched the game or not but I heard from a couple people the announcers kept screwing up information. In the Trenton bullpen a guy with #17 was warming up and the announcers kept saying my name thinking that was me...We'll that pitcher got into the game and they finally realized they were messing up...I guess they were flashing my stats up on the screen never realizing what was going on. Tomorrow is a 1:35 game.
July 2nd 2004
Back home for a new series Vs. Trenton. Tonight was fireworks night and there were 6,000 people at the game. I had an off day because I pitched in the last three games, a Twins rule.
During the next three games we will be wearing different uniforms in commemoration of the holidays. Tomorrow and Sunday will be Red, White and Blue uniforms and on Monday it is a throw back the clock game. I'm not sure if they are auctioning off the jerseys after the game or online...I will post some info if I find any.
July 1st 2004
We are back up and running, new computer means new updates. Sorry for the short delay. I guess you can say we officially entered July and with it the "dog days of summer". We had a great way to celebrate the start of dog days as we played a 14 extra inning game. The game would not end, it started at 12:05 and ended sometime around 4:30. Every bullpen guy was used including me and I got my 2nd win of the season. I figured today I would get an off day because I pitched in the last two games but when the game started going longer I knew I would get the call. If I had to choose a song to describe the day it would be Crowbar's "All I Had I Gave". I had nothing in the tank and was giving it everything I had to survive. After the game not much signing was going on as everyone underestimated how long they would have to wait after the game to get graphs. Before the game there was a little frenzy going on, a good number of graphers including Manchester's very own autograph King Matt Toolin was on hand to get us. Matt was working the team sets and also numerous Bowman & Topps cards, he looked like he was doing pretty well. We are back in New Britain and take on Trenton tomorrow. I have also received a handful of letters in the mail and will get to them tomorrow.
June 30th, 2004
Today was a good and bad day. I closed out the game and got my 2nd save of the year, but my computer crashed for the 2nd time in the last 2 months. Tomorrow I will be buying a new computer and getting rid of my old computer. Right now I'm using a teammates computer. Sorry, but hopefully I will be adding stuff in the next day or two.
June 29th 2004
Today's game was a roller coaster swinging back and forth all night with us losing it in the 8th. During the past couple nights in the bullpen we have been playing name games to kill the time. Tonight's game was pretty easy, first you pick the topic such as Hollywood Stars or TV Characters then you would name the person and the next person would have to say somebody's name that had the first letter of the previous person last name. For example if someone would say Kelly Kapowski, someone would have to say a name with a K such as Kevin Arnold from The Wonder Years and the next person would find someone with an A. Some great names that were used tonight were Stephanie Tanner from Full House, Gaylord Faucker from Meet The Parents and Bud Bundy from Married With Children. We have done many categories for the past few days, former and current baseball players, NFL guys and actresses, you name it we do it. The good ole bullpen, such an awesome place. Tonight I finally got into the game after sitting around for five days, it wasn't much of an appearance...one batter in a clean up role. The good thing about the outing is that every pitch I threw was 93MPH, a personal best for me on the year.
Manchester is really starting to come around with autographs as of lately. Before the game today there were about four different guys getting cards signed. This place is very autograph friendly, to get to the field we have to walk through the crowd and you could hit us up every time. After the game I was greeted by a couple veteran autographers from Boston, they asked to remain nameless so I'll refer to them as the Boston Fury. The Fury were definite pros, knocking off every card they had and knew every person by face. The fury were real cool and gave me a thumbs up on the website. They also showed me one of the coolest auto tricks I have ever seen that involves removing ink from cards and photos. For those that don't know why you would use this, one example...if you ever needed to take off personalizations such as To Rob, Best Wishes Mark Chmura because you found out you didn't like Chmura anymore and wanted to sell the photo. All the trick involved was taking a card with an auto on it and using a Dry Erase Miracle Marker, works every time...no more erasers also, very impressive stuff from the Fury. 7:05 start tomorrow!
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| The Goods |
June 28th 2004
We got on the bus at 9am and drove to good ole New Hampshire for a five game series. Today was not the most newsworthy day of the year...well I take that back, In the 2nd game of today's doubleheader their pitcher Jaime Vermilyea threw a perfect game! This might be the first perfect game I have ever seen in person...yes it was 7 innings but it was still a sight to see. Autographs: Not much was happening, one guy with cards and lots of kids getting random stuff signed.
June 27th 2004
There's something about Sunday games that make them feel unlike any other game during the week. They always feel laid back and tend to go quick. Maybe it's the sunshine and hot temperatures or the waking up early and having so much time after the game. Whatever it is makes Sunday one of the best days of the week.
After the game today I was in shock as there were tons of New Britain fans and autographers looking to get stuff signed up. Over the past two months there have been about 2-10 people at most after games, today and yesterday there were about 25 people waiting. I came out about forty-five minutes after the game (a rarity for me) mostly due to helping Victor Moreno clean out his locker as he is going up to AAA. I signed for a little bit and met some more people who have been to this site...awesome! Well, right now I'm helping Victor pack his stuff and get everything taken care of. This will be his second trip to Rochester. Someone will most likely move in during the next week but right now we have a road trip to go and this will get figured out during that time. New Hampshire here we come, 4:05 doubleheader tomorrow.
June 26th 2004
Today we had to report early to the field to run a kid's baseball clinic. To run this they usually ask half the team to come in. We then split up to groups, outfielders, hitters, infielders and pitchers. Most of the time we usually talk a couple minutes to the kids and then let them do something competitive. The last clinic we had there were about 25 kids, today there was close to 200 kids. The last time we did the camp it ran smooth mostly due to the low amount of kids there. Today was chaos! Trying to talk to a group of five year olds is impossible...My goal was to get the kids in a line and have them throw a ball to me while I was the catcher and at the end we would have a contest to see who could throw the most strikes. Well after about 2 minutes one kid was stealing balls and throwing them at me while I was looking the other way, yeah it hurt. Another kid was pulling one of the girl's hair and another kid ran up and down the line yelling words to the kid who was throwing trying to make them screw up. That group went by and we switched to older kids, a little better but still crazy. We decided to scrap the throwing to the catcher stuff and had the kids throw balls to a certain spot on the outfield wall. They loved it because they felt like they were breaking the wall and we loved it because we didn't have to catch them and also because we found something that made them interested. All in all it was a fun clinic. I guess the biggest thing I got out of it was just seeing the kids have so much fun and remembering what that was like.
June 25th 2004
Tonight was a packed house like every Friday night game here. I didn't think we were going to get the game in today because of the heavy rain in the forecast but it must have just missed us, we played and after the game fans were treated to some fireworks...A good night for baseball. One transaction was made today, we got back Luis Maza from AAA...a nice little shot in the arm for the offense. Before the game today a couple autographs were signed, one guy did a major no-no in collecting and I laughed because guys on the team got so mad. He would ask a player if they had time to sign a couple cards and when the player came over he would say "who are you now". Most guys would be cool about it and sign but a few looked at him and walked away. Tomorrow is a 6:35pm game.
My Newest Card
Click the card and scroll down to read some interesting stuff about the card!
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| Click The Popping Arm Vein To See More |
June 24th 2004
Well let's see it's 2 in the morning and we are currently on the bus that's on the Washinton Bridge overlooking New York City, we still got an hour or two until we get home. Today the fans in Trenton didn't let me down again, they were out in force taking no prisoners. It was also an awesome game for us as we came back in the 8th on a two run homer by Rob Bowen. Great win and a pretty good series for us. We now come home to play Norwich in a three game series.
June 23rd 2004
After today's game I think I can officially claim Trenton as the autograph capitol of the Eastern League. I don't know what is was about today but I felt like I was back in the Arizona Fall League because there were graphers everywhere. I signed about 20 of my cards ( & not one new card from this years set) and numerous team balls, easily the best day of the year. I asked a couple people getting stuff signed and they said they did quite well will us. The biggest complaint was Boof Bonser not signing more than three cards. Other than that it looked like everything got signed. It was also bobblehead day. They were giving out Bernie Williams bobbles, I'm still trying to get my hands on one hoping the clubbie can hook me up! Tomorrow is our getaway day, we play Trenton again at 7:00 and then head back to New Britain.
Tonight I also found out that Jason Richardson has been picked up by the Atlanta Braves and will be playing for the AA Greenville club. I'm really pumped for him and the Braves are very smart with this addition. Just a note, Richardson has a few different Topps and Bowman cards so be sure to send anything you got to Greenville and make him feel welcome!
June 22nd 2004
Today's game was delayed about an hour due to rain. To kill the time we got a ten man poker game going in the clubhouse until the rain stopped. About an hour later the game started up with a soaked field. Before and after the game I met three different people who said they have checked out the website. I can't believe it everytime someone comes up to me and tells me they check out the site it's such a cool feeling.
Check This Out
I got an awesome letter in the mail the other day from Paul Buxton who also runs a number of awesome autograph sites, click to check out his baseball site. In the letter it contained a couple cards he made for me using the 1991 classic card design (photos by Kevin Pataky). Wow!!! I was amazed how cool they looked and had to put them up on the site for everyone to check out.
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Best Eastern League City To Get Stuff Signed?
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| Police Hold The Crowd Back As JD Durbin Walks Into The Stadium! |
Hall Of Fame Game Pics
Here are a couple shots from the HOF Game
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June 21st 2004
Today we left New Britain at 9:30am towards Trenton, NJ. For some reason we decided to drive through New York City. Once there we sat in traffic for about an hour before we finally started moving. We got into the Macintosh Inn outside of Trenton at 1:30pm and had just enough time to find some food and get a quick nap in. Right next to the hotel is a big mall, very clutch. Today's bus to the field was at 4:00pm. Upon arriving we sat in traffic for a good bit of time and got through about 30 minutes of the movie Gladiator. The field in Trenton is called Waterfront Park and is a pretty new stadium. The clubhouse is really clean and there is a lot of room for everyone to spread out. The one thing that is odd about this place is that both locker rooms share the same walkway into the clubhouse. After the game tonight both teams had to walk through each other's entrance to get into their clubhouse...It made me wonder if there has ever been a couple skirmishes or fights sometime in the history of the park. The field itself was in great shape ranking right up there with Altoona's field. I wasn't a big fan of the left field wall and how close it looked. In BP balls were flying over the 60 foot wall, a HR is over the first fence which is about 7 feet tall. I was also a big fan of the bullpens, they offered a great view and a nice space for us relief guys to move around. Overall a great field and it seems like a great place to check out a game. I would like to get a chance to sit in the stands, I think it is the Delaware River right behind right field and I'm wondering if you can see it from the seats.
Autographs: There was a very strong showing of autographers in the stands tonight. Before the game there were a couple younger guys getting graphs. They had an awesome strategy as they would sit outside the park and look over the fence and as we would come by they would shout our names and get the cards signed. They did real well as far as the pitchers went. Other than that I saw the Yankee faithful getting their team in quantity. After the game there were a few people getting us with the majority waiting on the Thunder players. Tomorrow is a 7pm game we will arrive around 4:30pm.
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| Click For An Awesome Website On The Stadium |
June 20th 2004
Not much was happening tonight at the park. We lost again to Norwich making it five straight. Tomorrow we leave for Trenton, New Jersey at 9:30am. I have never been to Trenton so I'll be sure to give a write up when I see the field.
June 19th 2004
Today we arrived at the park around 3pm with a couple people getting pre-game autographs. Every Friday and Saturday game in New Britain is usually a sellout of around 7,000 people in the stands. The last two games were no exception. The main factor in the game tonight was heavy wind blowing in. The wind basically lost the game for us because it kept about 3 balls from going out. 1pm game tomorrow, 12 stretch.
June 18th 2004
Well today the Twins decided to shuffle a bunch of guys and made some changes to our roster. It wasn't exactly a great day for me and to be honest I was pretty upset about the release of Jason Richardson. I have played with Richie for the past year and he's an excellent person and a heck of a ballplayer. The move kind of shocked me because he never really got a shot to pitch consistently and show what he has. I know he will get picked up soon by another club...his last outing he was hitting 94mph a bunch of times. The other moves made were that we sent down Elvis Corporan to Ft. Myers and released Ron Corona. Colby Miller, Kevin Cameron and Kalauna Kuhaulua all came up today and were in uniform for today's game. Just to note, out of the three Colby Miller is the only one with Bowman cards. Tonight's game was over pretty fast as Matt Cain of Norwich dominated in his EL Debut. It's pretty uncommon to see a guy get called up and pitch well on the road in their debut but he did.
June 17th 2004
Today turned into one crazy day. At first it was a nice day at the park, we played catch, did BP, played a little 500 and shagged some balls in the outfield. The forecast said it was suppose to rain all day but there was no sign of rain. The game started and still a great day out. Our starter got in a bunch of trouble and I went into the game. The moment I step on the mound it starts to rain. For the first inning the rain was no factor. My second inning of work it was coming down hard, so hard I couldn't believe they didn't call the game. I would grip the ball and it would slip, I would throw and my feet would slip. It was so bad out I had my first career wild pitch, it slipped and went two feet behind the batter. I finally figured out in you keep rubbing the ball with your fingers you can get a little better grip on the ball. Well, I got through the inning and eventually went back out for another rain soaked inning and somehow managed to throw the ball over the plate again. After my third inning of work they ended up calling the game, no surprise. This was probably one of the toughest things I have done as a pitcher. I can't wait to pitch on a dry mound! As far as autographs go not much stuff is being signed. In New Britain not as many people are getting stuff as other Eastern League cities. I don't know what it is but I never see more than two people ever going after players. I thought we might get a little more action with the set being out but it really hasn't played much of a factor so far. Tomorrow we take on the Norwich Navigators, 6:35 start.
June 16th 2004
Not the biggest news day of the year. Today before the game there were a couple people getting cards signed during BP. I'm not sure if they keep the gate open or closed for BP, I have noticed people getting stuff signed at NB during BP many times this season so it must be open. In other news First Baseman Billy Munoz retired. Billy is a great guy to play with and I wish him the best. Tomorrow we have a lift at 10am and a 6:35 game versus Trenton.
Media Day In The Bigs
I got this picture from the Rochester Red Wings Website. I'm also working on pictures/video of Bobby Cox hooping it up and me pitching in the game.
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| Torii Drives The Lane |
June 15th 2004
After an exiting day at the park yesterday we were back at it in a series versus the Trenton Thunder. After only playing one extra inning game going into last Sunday we have now played three in a row. Today's doubleheader both featured extra innings games. Usually I get home from the park around 9:45-10:30 tonight I got back at 11:30. Today we split the series and I had a day off from pitching since I have thrown four out of the last five days. My arm actually didn't feel that bad today I figured it was going to be pretty sore but it was fine. Throwing back-to-back days is one of the harder things you have to do when you are a reliever. Usually always there is a little soreness and each season it seems to get easier to pitch back-to-back days. I remember in college I always wondered how big leaguers could throw everyday with their best stuff. I think a lot of it comes from playing catch everyday for six months, your arm basically becomes accustom to it.
In other news, Luis Maza was promoted today to AAA. Maza is having one heck of a year and has not made an error in 65+ games. Be sure to watch Maza and Kubel in AAA they are on a TEAR!
June 13th & 14th
Where do I start? Well first off this was one of the best times I have ever had. Yesterday we drove back from Maine and immediately got into a van to drive to Binghamton, NY. We got into B-town at 2:30am. Wake up time was set for 8am. The drive to Cooperstown was about 2 hours. When we first came into town the first thing anyone noticed was the crowds of people in thousands. If anyone has been to Cooperstown you know that it isn't a big city, today there were estimates of 25,000 outside the stadium...the city was packed. Right away we heading to the Clarke Sports Center right outside the stadium. This is where we would change clothes because Doubleday field didn't have the facilities such as a locker room or showers. Of course some graphers had the inside scoop on where we would be arriving and leaving before and after the game. Inside info always helps when you need to get that tough autograph and today it paid off for a few lucky fans. Right after we changed we had a media day in a gymnasium involving all players from both teams. This is where one of the craziest moments of the day happened. As I walked into the gym most of the players were playing pick up games of basketball...Andruw Jones, Furcal, Torii Hunter...you name em they were most likely shooting hoops, even Bobby Cox got into the mix. Talk about random stuff happening that amazed me seeing those guys playing b-ball, I kept seeing blurs of Aaron Boone, luckily no one got hurt. Do believe me? Teammate Bobby Korecky got a couple pictures and I will see if I can get some from him. After the media day/basketball games we all got into trolleys and were off to Doubleday field and also part of parade. As we turned the corner right before the field there were tens of thousands of people in the street and grass going nuts, cheering and waving. Collectors were pulling out every trick in the book running up to the trolley only to be denied by a cop. A few guys got through and got a couple items signed, I sat next to Shannon Stewart and he was really good about signing for people. As we went into the stadium parking it turned into a mob scene, I will never forget how many people were there it was insane. They let us off and had it barricaded so we could get into the field. Once inside the place was already full and people were going nuts. I just glanced at the box score and it said the game was a sell out of 10,000 people. Well to get things started they had a home run derby. Doubleday Field stands no match for big leaguers. Some balls that were hit would have went out two of these fields combined it was that crazy. The dimensions were somewhere around 290 down the lines, 330 to the gaps and 380 to center...hang with em pitchers. The HR Derby got out of control slap opposite field hits were flying out of the park. When someone like Chipper Jones hit a ball it was over the tree line and off a house far away from home plate. Matt Lecroy ended up winning it in a playoff versus Johnny Estrada. Not that it wasn't cool enough seeing every Twins and Braves players playing but there was Hall of Famers also in attendance, Harmen Killebrew, Brooks Robinson, Phil Niekro and Fergie Jenkins. My family made the trip and my brother was cleaning house on everyone, 2 Brooks Robinson's HOF Cards, 1 Phil Niekro, 2 Fergie Jenkins and nearly everyone on the Twins and Braves...Smoltz, Jones, Furcal, Franco, Hunter, Stewert, Ford on balls. My brother said it was tough to pull inside the stadium the trick was to get the players when they left or when they went to the bathroom because everyone was watching the game and no one was waiting in the front of the stadium. As far as the Twins went a lot of the bigger names played until the 5th and then packed up to head back to shower up, this is when a lot of the guys were cool about signing. As far as the game went I sat in the bullpen for seven innings and got in in the 8th. After sitting in the bullpen I had the chance to see 7 home runs and knew I needed to keep the ball low and hard. I didn't know how my arm would feel because today was the fourth day I have thrown in five days. Adrenaline must have pumped in because I felt great and I was throwing harder than usual at least that's how I felt. I got the first guy to pop up to left, the next guy Jon Schierholtz slapped a change to left followed by a double in the gap. With runners on 2nd and 3rd I K'ed Dewayne Wise and got Charles Thomas to pop up...I was pumped that I didn't give up a 300 ft HR! After the game we had about 2 minutes to get onto the bus before we headed back to get showered up. I felt bad for a lot of the fans because we were in such a rush, it wouldn't have hurt to stay another 20 minutes and sign stuff for the crowds of people. We were in such a rush that I didn't even have a chance to meet up with my family for more than a minute. You know it, as we got back to the Clarke Sports Center there were tons of graphers and I'm sure they did pretty well. We showered up and ate then got back into the vans and headed back to Connecticut. Not a bad day I would have to say!
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| A Packed House, Click For The Boxscore |
June 12th 2004
Tonight was baseball giveaway night in Portland so every little kid at the game was trying to get some autographs on their ball. The game went by pretty quickly and we ended up winning 6-2. Every relief pitcher appreciates a quick game every so often and that is what we got tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for me. After the game we drive back to CT, then the players playing in the Cooperstowns game will hop into a van and travel to Binghamton four hours away...not fun!
June 11th 2004
Another great night to play some baseball in Portland. Before the game Luis Tiant threw out the first pitch. He still threw the ball the same way even though he's a couple years older, it was awesome to see. The game was an up and down battle. We ended up winning the game in the 11th on a BOMB by Matt Scanlon, probably one of the longest balls I've seen hit all season. I pitched and had an up and down outing. I came in with two outs and bases loaded in the 6th and got the K. My next inning I got a quick out and then gave up an infield single to George Lombard...that guy is quick. He hit a bouncer to third and beat it out. Then I gave up back to back doubles and ended up getting the next two guys out. In the 8th I pitched a 123 inning. It always sucks giving up runs but the main thing is we won the game. As far as the autograph update there still hasn't been to many people getting stuff signed here...One guy had cards and that has been it, we'll have to see what tomorrow brings.
www.patneshek.com
June 10th 2004
Thanks to Kevin Pataky you now only need to type in patneshek.com to get to this site. When you type it in it basically reroutes you to this site. This was made because it is much easier to tell people about rather than saying eteamz.com/patneshek. Now all I have to do is say my name and add a .com. It also sounds a lot cooler. Today we were back at it in Portland watching balls fly off of the green monster in batting practice. For some reason at this place I can only pitch 1/3 of an inning each outing. Tonight I faced one batter and got the K. Last time here I face Kenny Perez and got him to ground out for the save and the time before I faced Perez and got a K. Not many people were getting autographs at the game tonight. I did get a chance to talk with Twins superfan Chris Parsons for a couple minutes. Everytime we come to Portland Chris has been at the game. This time he was hitting us up with a brand new 2004 New Britain team set. He also was cool enough to give me a brand new Quad City Swing Alternate hat, you're the man Chris. If anyone is going to the game tomorrow be sure to bring LUIS TIANT items. He will be signing at the game. http://www.portlandseadogs.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=2
I have also noticed that many autographers have been puzzled with a few roster spots that the team website has. So for everyone I will try to help out the confusion. Unless noted below the player is with the team.
Horacio Estrada - Not with us, broke his leg and is on the DL,
Pete Fisher - Rehab in Florida,
Brent Hoard - Rehab in Florida,
Colby Miller - Rehab in Florida,
Brian Wolfe - Out for the season with Tommy John,
Gabby Torres - Rehab in Florida,
Rob Bowen IS with Us
Hope this helps!
June 9th 2004
We got rained out and will make the game up in a doubleheader down the road. New Hampshire packed the place also, it's too bad we didn't play. After the game the bus heading two hours east to Portland, Maine and tomorrow we will open up a four game series. It's a weekend series so I'm sure there will be sold out crowds and some great games.
June 8th 2004
Not much new today. One of the bigger events of the year has wrapped up today, the MLB draft. Day one was yesterday and featured the first 20 rounds and today was rounds 20 and higher. The job for the organization now is to sign their picks. Once signed most draft picks will be sent to different levels. The younger guys most likely will start off in the Gulf Coast League, this is called rookie ball. If a player is older and drafted closer to the start they most likely will start off in the Appalachian League in Elizabethton, TN (advanced rookie ball). It is very unusual for the Twins to start a draft pick in a higher level such as Quad City. Last year only one player started there and my year (2002) there was nobody. Of course negotiations will take place and players will arrive at different times of the season when they sign. The Gulf Coast League and the Appalachian League should be getting ready to start pretty soon. These leagues only go two months hence the nickname "short season". These teams are made up of players that are still in extended spring training and from the draft. I could talk all day on this stuff, if anyone has any questions about the draft or how the minor league system works be sure to let me know under the boardroom.
June 7th 2004
Well we are back in New Hampshire for a three game series. The bus ride up took three hours. Tonight's game kind of caught me by surprise. I figured that a Monday night crowd in NH would be about 100 people but I was wrong. This was easily the biggest crowd since we started playing here. Even the graphers were out in force before the game. I finally found a website that shows this field and how crazy it is.
On the website created by Kevin Pataky there are numerous pictures and you can really see how unique this field is with awesome details on every page. Tomorrow the game is at 7PM, we leave the Comfort Inn at 4.
June 6th 2004
Well, I still have a little work to get done on the site hopefully I can get some more time in the next couple days during the upcoming road trip. We are going on another week long road trip to Manchester, New Hampshire and Portland, Maine. Tomorrow the bus is leaving at 10am.
Today was kind of a tough day for me as I got the loss in the game. I felt really good and even after the game I never really got too mad at how I threw. In my second inning of relief I threw a great pitch and it was slapped on the line for a triple followed by single with the infield in. It hurts but oh well, everything feels great and I'm ready to go again tomorrow.
June 5th 2004
These last couple days have been very crazy and I apologize for not getting around to emails and the message board. After tomorrow's game I will be working hard to answer every email and update the website with new pictures and other items. Today Jason Miller arrived from Ft. Myers taking Beau Kemp's spot in the bullpen. Last season we lived together in Ft. Myers during the season. Today after the game I helped him out moving all of his things and getting him settled.
Team card sets are out. I will try to get a picture up as soon as the team gives us a couple sets. I have a different type card this year, usually cards are upright with the picture. My card is a left to right card which is tougher to sign because they don't fit great in autograph books. Also the card is very dark and is hard to see a sig if signed in blue or black, silver would probably work the best. We have an earlier 1:00pm game tomorrow, thanks for being patient!
June 4th 2004
Today another move was made by our team, Beau Kemp was promoted to AAA. Right now he is going through a lot of the things I talked about yesterday when a person is moved up. He was told at 5pm today and his plane leaves at 7am. We got home from the field tonight at 10 and he packed up his stuff which took about 2 hours. Just like that you can be sitting around in the morning and get a call telling you to pack up your items, it's crazy.
I also got some great news today. I was informed I was one of seven Twins Minor Leaguers that will be called up to play in the Cooperstown Hall Of Fame game on June 14th in Cooperstown, New York with the Minnesota Twins.The game features the Twins vs. the Atlanta Braves in an exhibition game at Doubleday field. I was pretty pumped up when I got the news and cannot wait to go back to the HOF. It's also going to be awesome because I will get to play with and against big league names like Torii Hunter and Chipper Jones. It's going to be a great day and I will have many stories and pictures to share.
June 3rd 2004
We just (3:00am) arrived back in New Britain after a three hour bus ride from New Hampshire. The game itself was delayed an hour because of rain. Once it started it went by pretty quick because Scott Baker threw a complete game 102 pitches, three hitter. There was only one person getting cards signed after the game, mostly of Boof Bonser.
In other news the team made a bunch of roster changes during this road trip. Henry Bonilla is moving up to AAA, Jannio Gutierrez is heading to High A and Travis Bowyer and Ron Corona are with us. Whenever moves are made a lot of things happen. First off, the Twins can move anyone at anytime so you always have to be ready to have your things packed up in a matter of hours...geez, what other jobs can do that! Last year when I got promoted to Ft. Myers I had about 12 hours to get everything taken care of such as getting out of my apartment lease, disconnecting my gas/energy/cable and making sure I can get everything I need into 3 bags because all travel with the Twins is done through the airport...no cars allowed. That was another problem, my car. Thank god my brother Paul and my dad were cool enough to spend 24 hours driving to Florida from Minnesota so I could have a car. My second promotion last year was a little different and I kind of knew what to expect since I went through moving up two months before. I was told at midnight that I needed to get to the airport by 8am. I packed everything I didn't need into my car and left the car sit at the stadium until I could pick it up sometime after the season was over (I eventually picked up my car 2 months later and luckily everything was still there). The other problem with moving up during the season is that you have to find a place to live quickly. You have all your luggage and its a pain to haul around. The quicker you move in and get settled the better. What you hope for is that someone else gets a promotion at the same time that way you can get a place together and things are a lot easier because you have someone else that's going through the same thing. Other items you deal with when you get promoted are meeting new people, learning your way around town, finding a seat on the bus, higher clubhouse dues and playing with a different team not to mention you still have to play baseball and do it at a higher level...it can become stressful. I'll be the first to say moving around is not easy and isn't all that fun. But it's all worth it when you realize that you're moving up in the organization and are one shot closer to the show.
June 2nd 2004
Tonight was a much different atmosphere than yesterday. The temperature must have had a lot to do with it. I noticed yesterday they posted the official attendence at 1500 people and tonight's game was 2000, they must have been counted season ticket holders because I could've counted the number of people at the game yesterday on my hand. Tonight it was awesome to see a big time crowd at the stadium, it actually felt like a minor league game. As far as the game went our bats were on fire and it showed as we scored double digit runs. A lot of the bullpen hasn't been used in the last couple days so tonight a couple of us got an inning to get some rust off. I pitched and had a pretty decent outing striking out the side and walking one batter. Overall I loved the pitching mound. When you look into the batter's box from the mound you feel like the crowd is really close and surrounding you. Another thing I noticed when I was one the mound and I don't know why I remember it was the brightness of the turf. The last time I played on turf was winter baseball at the St. Paul Sportsdome in high school. Overall I'm actually starting to like this place more and more. There are only two places I can really compare it to, one is New Haven's park. They both have an old time feel and the long curvey stadium seating. The other stadium is in Minot, North Dakota. I played there in college when I was in the Northwoods League. This stadium had the odd seating and also the same type of dugouts that are going at a 45 degree angle from homeplate.
As far as graphs go there have not been too many dealers/collectors getting stuff signed. Yesterday there were a couple and today there was only one and he didn't wait around after the game. We'll see if that changes tomorrow and in the week to come (we come back here Sunday).
June 1st 2004
We arrived in Machester, NH around 8am. The bus was really tough to sleep on and I figure the majority of the team got about 4-6 hours of sleep before we got to the hotel. The bus left for the field at 5pm for a 7pm start.
If anyone has seen New Hampshire's field I would love to hear your opionions. My first thought once arriving at the field was something to the extent of "are you kidding me". The field had plastic white waist high fences going around the entire field. I couldn't believe they wouldn't put in a nice barrier to seperate the stadium and the field. The actual seating behind homeplate reminded me a lot of a football field, I'm not sure but they had to have played football here at some point in history. The field surface was also very unusual as it was a turf field with the little black rubber pellets. The atmosphere at the park was also lagging in comparison to other EL teams. The promotions were almost non-existent and it really didn't feel like a AA game. Tonight was very cold and I could understand why less than 1000 people came to the park. I also should note that this is just a temporary field until they are finished building the new stadium set to open next year. Tomorrow is another 7:05 start, hopefully the rain goes away for a couple hours.
May 31st 2004
Today was not one of the better days of the season. We arrived to a rained soaked field and played catch for five minutes before it started to downpour. We ended up sitting at the field until 7:30pm and then it was decided to cancel the game. Home teams hate cancelling games because it means one less outing on the season to make some money. It has to be raining pretty hard to get a rain out on a getaway day. Right now the bus is currently traveling to New Hampshire. We are about 6 hours in with 6 hours still to go. Tomorrow I'm sure the team will be pretty tired from traveling, I know I will. I'm pretty anxious to see New Hampshire's park and meet some new fans.
May 30th 2004
Today it happened...we got hit up for graphs at the hotel before the game. The collector was Andy Przybylek and he also is known to check out this website. He had his game face on and cleaned house, every card got signed (not just a few but many) and he also pulled a team ball. I had a chance to speak with him for a little bit and we exchanged autograph stories. I love talking about autographs so if you ever get out to one of our games be sure to hunt me down. Today's game was a sellout, I think it came out to 8,500 fans. Packed houses definitely make the game a lot funner and spice things up. I remember last year on a couple occasions in the Midwest League coming in to close out the game with a full stadium of 10,000 people on their feet screaming and booing for me to blow the game. There's no better feeling in the world to me. The adrenaline starts pumping, you get a little nervousness going on, then you look into the mitt for the sign and let the pitch go. Ahhh those moments are what I play for. I guess I love the challenge. You either walk away a winner or go home in agony and think about what went wrong until your next outing. 6:00pm game tomorrow, we leave the hotel at 3:30pm. After the game we will be heading straight to Manchester, New Hamshire. It looks to be a 12 hour trip.
May 29th 2004
Tonight the rollar coaster was alive and running during the game. There also was an apperance by the traveling act Myron Noodleman. Today there were a lot more autograph seekers than yesterday. Altoona is a little bit tougher than most stadiums to get graphs. They have a caged area for player parking and this is where they park the bus before and after the game. I noticed one guy after the game getting some stuff signed up and a security guard wouldn't let him past the fence so he had to yell at each player from the fence. Your best shot here is before the game after bp and before the game. Tomorrow the game is at 6, we will arrive around 4:15.
May 28th 2004
Altoona is one of the coolest parks I have been to during my pro career. They have awesome promotions during the game, great bullpen seating and a roller coaster in right field! The clubhouse also rocked and I heard from a couple opposing players that all the home games are broadcast on TV...not a bad place to play at. Downfalls of this place? Well I can think of only one, it's high in the Allegheny Mountains so balls tend to stay in flight more. During the game they don't run the coaster, I'm sure they don't want somebody to get plunked in the head. I guess in the past year they added left field bleacher seating and also had the visitor bullpen redone. As far as the playing surface goes it was probably the best I have seen so far this season. It also makes a big difference in games. Tonight there was a play where BJ Garbe threw a ball to second from left field. The throw hit the grass and bounced perfectly to second to get the runner at second. If it was at another stadium who knows where the ball would've skipped to. As far as the game went we lost with two outs in the ninth. It was a tough game to lose because we had the momentum going in our direction. I pitched 2 innings and felt really good. I retired the first five guys I faced and then gave up a hit every pitcher hates to give up, a short pop up behind first base...I HATE those type of hits. Anyways we got out of the inning and couldn't put on another run. We have a 10am lift and then a 6:35 game tomorrow
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| Click to check out more pictures of the park |
May 27th 2004
Right now it is 10pm and the bus is about 3 hours from Altoona. When I was in college I always pictured minor league baseball teams riding old buses that resemble something like a school bus. It's not really the case. Since I started playing every bus has been a coach bus. The buses on each side have two chairs and go back about 15-18 rows. A bathroom is in the back and there are TV's about every 5 seats back so we can watch movies. I guess the biggest negatives are that you sometimes have to share a seat which is the worst if it's a long trip. Another neg is the movie volume can be loud, players can get loud and frequent stops take away from sleep. So far this year our longest trip was to Akron and we don't have to go back, it was about an 11 hour trip. Right now most of the guys on the team are sleeping mostly due to the 10am game this morning. In other news there were a couple roster changes. Rick Helling is no longer with the Rock Cats. In his place we got Elvis Corporan.
May 26th 2004
Tonight was one of those games that goes on forever and is really boring to watch. The time of the game had to be around 3 hours and had light sprinkling rain and a 50 degree temp...it wasn't the type of game I like to watch. I think the fans also got that impression because there were probably a couple hundred fans at the end of the game still watching. Tomorrow is going to be a marathon day for the team. First we have a 10:35am game, at 4pm we leave for Altoona, PA and will get into A-town around midnight. I'm pretty pumped to go on the road to Altoona. I also want to see the roller coaster they have in right field. During the bus trip I will have my computer up and running. I'm thinking about opening up a chat room for a couple hours or going on Instant Messanger if anyone wants to chat or ask questions. Either way I will post the details on the website around 5:30pm tomorrow.
May 25th 2004
Today was not the greatest day for new updates. At 10am this morning we lifted weights at the gym then reported to the field at 2:30. Rick Helling pitch for us tonight and didn't have one of his best outings. In other news JD Durbin is back in town and will be rehabing for about 6-8 weeks and then he should be ready to go. After the game tonight I got home just in time to see the end of the T-Wolves game, it wasn't pretty. I was happy to see the Flames win game one of the Stanley Cup though, Iginla is on fire. Also, what is going on with the quiz scores, I knew it was tough when my mom took it and got 4 of ten right haha. 3:30 stretch tomorrow, we should arrive at the field around 2-3.
May 24th 2004
A lot of things have happened in the past week and I will do my best to note them. As far as the team goes many changes have happened. JD Durbin had surgery and is expected to be out for a couple months. To replace Durbin is last years 2nd round pick Scott Baker. Baker has been dealing in his first two starts. Rick Helling is still with the team he also did pretty good in his last start. After hitting close to .400 Jason Kubel was promoted to AAA. Still no update on Joe Mauer rehabbing with us. I have heard a couple people say that he will rehab in Rochester when he is ready. Graphers are starting to pick up the pace a little. I don't know if it's the weather or what but before and after games there have been a lot more people waiting for some sigs. Still no word as to when the team set cards will be made, I know last year at this time the cards we out and already being signed. As far as a Bowman card goes it looks like I was shut out, the set came out last week. James Tomlin is the only Rock Cat to get a Bowman this year. I was happy to see a couple new faces in the set especially Luke Anderson (a teammate in the AFL) who is currently with Norwich. New Britain has some excellent photographers hard at work during games. I'd again like to thank Kevin & Sean for some great shots. Also there have been a number of new proof shots that have been sent to me, be sure to check them out. I'd also like to thank Evan Focht who wrote an excellent article on the website in his latest column of the SF news. As far as my pitching goes things have been going great, I got my first win the other day and I feel great on the mound. This week we play Bowie for 3 games and then become road warriors going to Altoona for a series and then to New Hampshire.
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Update
May 23rd 2004:
The computer is back and running, thanks to everyone who has been patient. Today we have a 1:00pm game and tomorrow is another rare off day. I have tons of things to upload, update and add to the website and will use the off day to catch up. Again, thanks for hanging in there.
May 23rd 2004
Today's game was the last in a series vs Norwich. The game today was a hot one with the temp getting up to 92 degrees. As far as the field goes it plays as a pitcher's park. It is easily one of the deepest parks in the EL. Once again Norwich had numerous graphers doing their thang before and after the game. Tomorrow I will be spending a lot of time making up for lost time to the site. On Tuesday we begin a three game series vs. the Baltimore Orioles AA club Bowie.
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May 12th 2004
I hate having to do this but I will be sending my computer back on Friday to have it fixed. I have been having numerous problems with it such as a broken speaker jack, power cord broke and other problems with the mouse pad and these items need to be fixed. I should have it back sometime mid-week next week. Right now I am running on batteries so I'm trying to consume as much power as I can. I am also looking to find a library nearby and will update as often as I can.
As far as baseball goes I got my second outing in as many nights and got my first save. It was another game of a lot of runs scored for both teams, the wall here is so close. In other news Portland has been giving out bobbleheads as a promotion for each game this week and people have been lining up in bunches before the gaame.
May 11th 2004
Portland's stadium (Hadlock Field) looks very similar to Fenway Park mainly due to the large green monster in left field. I was told by a couple players that Fenway’s monster is fifteen feet closer to home plate than Portland's, either way both places are launching pads. During today's game I seen 6 balls get hit off the wall and 3 homers to right field. The hitters love this place. In BP today every batter had a smile on their face when they got into the box. Three years ago Brandon Leese, a Butler Alum pitched for Portland and led the Eastern League in ERA. There should be an asterisk by his name saying that he pitched at this place because it has to add a couple points to the ERA. Overall I love the place, it has a great atmosphere and I can see why they pack the place and have been successful for the past couple years. The only thing I saw wrong was the playing surface, it was terrible. If anyone checks out a game here be sure to watch the ball roll when it goes into the outfield, it takes some crazy hops. The autograph scene was pretty good also. Outside of the locker room you have to walk through a little part of the stadium to get onto the field. They have a little barricade where players can stop and sign. In other news Rick Helling flew to Minnesota to work out with the Twins and will come back to CT to make another start when we get back from this trip. Also, Rob Bowen is now with us after spending the last month in the Bigs.
Before the game today a couple weird things happened. First off our bus broke down and we all had to walk to the game, it wasn't a bad walk about 10 minutes away. But the craziest thing was that our trainer, Tony Leo forgot to put our hats on the bus when we left Connecticut in the morning. If anyone was at the game you may have noticed we were wearing all black hats during the game. Tony ran to a sporting goods store and bought 30 black umpire hats. They are terrible looking but they'll have to do until we get our hats. Rumor has it we will be wearing them the entire series.
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| Check Out How The Wall Was Built |
May 10th 2004
Today was our first official day off since spring training and it was much needed for a lot of guys on the team including me. A lot of people don't understand how much time a ballplayer spends "at work". We usually are at the field around 2 with most games ending around 10pm. Off days in the Eastern League are scarce...about 1.5 a month. We also lift weights twice a week during the morning. Factor in many bus trips, away hotels and fast food and the season starts to become long. Right now I have yet to feel worn out. Last year was my first full season and I remember numerous times this early in the season feeling tired. Tomorrow we travel to Maine for a three game series Vs. the Red Sox AA club. Below I added the proof shot of Roenick signing, I think everyone and their mom knew it was him signing, check out the pic below.
In the mail I got an email from Jeff who's a coach and wanted some advice on how to pump his team up for a tourney game. My advice didn't work but the email made me laugh, check it out.
Thanks from myself and my team for the words of advice. We played a strong game, yet a few errors cost us, and it doesn't help when we were making great contact at the plate yet they were hit right at the defense. All we could do was tip our hat and now just finish out the rest of the season and try to build something for next year. Oh, and i tried the Slayer too.. but only went over well with one of the players who was suprised i knew of Slayer in the first place. Well good luck and i hope things continue to look up for you! Thanks again for everything!
Jeff
May 9th 2004
During this roadtrip we have been staying at the Holiday Inn. It is about a 10-15 minute walk to the field if you don't take the bus. Downtown Binghamton has an old time feel to it and as I walked to the field I noticed that a lot of building were built in the 1870's. Today there weren't many people getting graphs, they must have been worn out from the past 3 days. A couple guys on the team pulled Gary Carter & Howard Johnson signed balls. Instead of getting the balls in-person they had the visiting clubby get it for them...This is what is done in the majors when anybody needs something signed from the other team. After today's game Rick Helling bought everyone's after game meal. The dinner included ribs, chicken, beans, corn bread and peach cobbler. Easily the finest meal we have had all season. One of the strangest moments in autograph history happened today. A college grapher hopped on our bus and walked all the way to the back looking for BJ Garbe. He got the graph but also got owned by all the players and scolded by the coaches...I've never seen anything like that before. The bus ride home today took 3.5 hours. We have an off day tomorrow and travel to Portland, Maine on Tuesday.
May 8th 2004
Today not many fans were at the game due to the on and off rain throughout the day. Rainy days are the worst for getting auto's unless you have an umbrella. After the game no one was waiting for graphs. Rick Helling is pitching tomorrow and it may be his last day in a Rock Cats uniform if all goes well. I also found out today that Hall of Famer Gary Carter is in town with the B-Mets as a catching instructor. The Mets have a great coaching staff that includes Howard Johnson, Jerry Reuss and Ken Oberkfell.
May 7th 2004
It was a fireworks night at the ballpark tonight and they packed the place. There was a nice showing of collectors and dealers before the game next to our dugout on the 3rd base side. For those that might care before the game during BP they let fans in for the home team's BP and up until the visiting team goes out to stretch. At that time they have an usher come around and make everyone leave. I have never seen anything like this before. I remember numerous times back in the day I would sneak into games to watch BP and get some autographs and I would always get kicked out within a 5 minutes timeframe.
Before the game today our bus made a trip to Cooperstown, NY for those that wanted to go to see the Baseball Hall Of Fame. I have been there before but still went today to see a couple new items on display. It was awesome especially the Kirby Puckett HOF plaque. Growing up, Kirby Puckett was everyone’s hero in Minnesota. He also lived in Brooklyn Park, my hometown. I always remember as a kid riding our bikes around and always riding by Puckett's house hoping to see him outside, which we did a couple times. The best story I have of Puckett was when I was 8 and I was selling candy bars for the hockey team I was on. My dad drove me to Kirby's house to see if he was home. I knocked on the door and to my amazement someone answered, Tonya Puckett. She told she wanted to buy a bunch because Kirby loved his candy bars!!! She ended up buying 1 box and also gave me a brief tour around their house. It was such a thrill as a kid and today seeing that plaque brought back a bunch of memories.
May 6th 2004
Today we left New Britain at 9:30 am, arrived in Binghamton, NY at 1:30 and left the hotel for the game at 3:30. This is the first time I have been to Binghamton. My first thought on the stadium was that it reminded me of the Princeton Devil Rays field in the Appalachian league because of the blue seats and similiarities in the way they have things set up such as the press box, dugouts and seating. The playing surface was in great shape especially the grass and bullpens. The best thing about the field is the home bullpen, it in the right field wall with plexiglass for the players to watch the game and also has walls and a tarp roof. It is easily one of the top bullpens in minor league baseball. Today's game went by slow and there wasn't that great of a crowd. Rick Helling did travel with us for those that are wondering. After the game there was a nice group of people getting graphs. For some reason this year more graphers are pulling the ultimate sin in autographs by asking "who are you". First off let me explain a little. I have been collecting sigs my entire life. In the last five years I have been heavily into in-person graphs in nearly every sport (NBA, NHL, NCAA, NFL and bands during the offseason. The one thing I learned was never ask "who are you" because it's one of the golden rules of graphing...an unspoken rule. Now being a player I can see why, the guys can't stand it when someone asks it. In the fall league I remember walking out to the bus with teammates and they would get asked that question. Most guys would give different names, not respond or give them their name and stiff the person and sign one card. Me? I don't mind and I don't care but as for the majority of players it really pisses them off. My best advice, do some homework & find out who the players are. Guys are more likely to sign 10 cards if you call them out and ask questions when they are signing. If this can't be done do the notecard trick. Be sure to have a roster handy and have every person that comes through sign an index card, most guys put a number with their name, look up the number on the roster and go back for more if it's someone you need. In the end you have a team set of signed indexes. If you're not a fan of indexes be sure to put the set up on eBay, you might be surprised at how much indexes are getting nowadays.
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| Click for an interesting Binghamton article! |
May 5th 2004
The 10:35am start today was a very early wake up call. I left the apartment today at 8:15am. Usually on early days or days we get back from a road trip we skip BP and that is what we did today. In the game today I got an inning and felt really good, it's always nice when you see the era go down a full point. Rick Helling was still getting hounded after the game, get him while you can he'll be up soon. Tomorrow we are leaving for Binghamton, NY for a four game series. Someone on the message board asked about Joe Mauer doing rehab with us. I heard rumors of this happening, no official word yet. I talked to Jake Mauer and he said there's a good chance of this happening.
May 4th 2004
Rick Helling dealt tonight, 2 hit in 7 innings. What I thought was most impressive about his outing was that no pitch was faster than 86 mph. I noticed after the game a lot more graphers and media waiting around, I wonder why? Heads up auto seekers, former big leaguer Andy Stankiewicz is in town. He was my coach in the Arizona Fall League and is currently a roving instructor for the Yankees. Very early game tomorrow, 10:35am start.
Rained Out
May 3rd 2004
I arrived at the field today only to see a note on the board saying the game had been rained out. Not a big surprise, it has been raining non-stop for the past two days throughout the East Coast. I spent the rest of the day playing playstation, listening to music and watching the Flames Vs. Red Wings game.
May 2nd 2004
After a two hour rain delay we finally started the game. During the wait we sat around in the clubhouse and watched TV. Our clubhouse is shaped in a long rectangle with lockers on both sides of a walkway. It's kind of small in comparison to other places but is really clean and our clubby does a great job. This year management put in a 33 inch TV with Direct TV, it sure helped kill some time today. For those that don't know Rick Helling has been sent to our team and is suppose to start tomorrow's game. He has pitched in the big leagues for 10 years and logged nearly 1500 major league innings. Rick arrived today and unpacked his bags. I'm not sure if he'll be on a pitch count or not. I also noticed another big leaguer may be at the field tomorrow. That player is Kenny Lofton. Kenny has been playing in games for Trenton for the past week in a rehab assignment. 6:35 start tomorrow, 3:30 team stretch.
May 1st 2004
Today's game was a sellout with standing room only seats left. It was also broadcast on TV throughout the New England area. We won the game in the bottom of the ninth and had many twists and turns throughout the game. I got in the game in the 7th with 2 outs and the score Reading 6 us 2. The first batter I faced was Ryan Howard. I got him 1-2 and hung a slider and he hit a double in the gap. Kevin Barker was up next and I got him looking on a 1-2 fastball. The eighth went by pretty quick. In the bottom half of the inning we scored five runs and took the lead 7-6. I remained in the game and quickly got two outs, then the game got crazy. With a 0-0 count I threw a fastball outside to Kurt Keene and he hit it to center. Centerfielder James Tomlin reached out and the ball went in his glove and quickly out as he hit the wall. The ball rolled towards right along the wall and Keene came all the way around the bases for an inside the park HR. I came out of the game and Beau Kemp got the final out after a hit to Ryan Howard. We ended up winning the game in the bottom half inning. I was happy about my performence. My speed was above average and I was locating pretty good. It would have been great to get that final out but we still ended up winning the game.
April 30th 2004
Today was fireworks night at the field and they packed the place. We also won the game and are at .500 on the season. In other news Pitching Coordinator Rick Knapp is in town until our next road trip along with strength coach Perry Castellano. Tomorrow the game is at 5:35.
April 29th 2004
We are officially back home arriving at 6:30am. It was very uncomfortable and I'm pumped we don't have to go to Erie again and endure a terrible bus ride. Today a gentleman named Ed Lane won the Free Ticket Challenge, he drove down from NY city. Ed tries to get out to a bunch of Eastern League games whenever he has spare time and also get some graphing done before games. In the mail the Weimer family struck again for round #2 through the mail. Check out letters in the mail to see what they got this time. I'm guessing this won't be the last time I hear from them, they spend some serious coin on postage. Also, be sure to check out Proof Shots, I got a couple new ones from the Akron trip.
Right now we (The Team) are winning and on a roll. As far as pitching goes I've kind of hit a drought for getting into games sort of speak. I've racked up only 6 innings on the year and the era isn't hot. Right now I'm finding out that it's really tough waiting 4-5 days in between outings after closing games out for the last three years and throwing every other day. The coaches here like to go with whoever is hot at the moment and I totally understand this. Hopefully I can get some innings in during the next couple days and get back to where people know and expect me to pitch.
April 28th 2004
Right now it is 10:45ET and we are headed back to Connecticut. We played a great game tonight and the weather wasn't too bad. The bus trip back takes about 8 hours and we should arrive around 6am. I'm hoping to get a some sleep on the bus but it might be hard to do with movies playing and the cramped seat space. 6:35pm game tomorrow vs. the Reading Phillies.
Erie, PA
April 26th 2004
Erie fans packed the place tonight, I think $1 beer had a little to do with it. Last year when I got called up to AA late in the season the city I flew into was Erie and it is also where I got my first AA save so I have some good memories here. As a minor league fan I love the stadium, as a pitcher I don't really like it. The fences seem so close, click on the picture below to see more of the ballpark. I do like how the stadium is designed, the walkway in leftfield and the doubledecker on the first base line is very unique. In BP balls were flying out left and right. In left field is the UHL Erie Otters Hockey rink and it looks very close. Last year teammate Kevin West hit a ball on top of the roof in BP. As far as autographs go not too many people were out. The clubhouses are in centerfield and players have a couple options of where to leave after the game. There is a parking lot in center where the clubhouse is and this is the best spot if you are looking to get some players. I think anybody can get graphs outside the clubhouse but don't take my word. Since the hotel is within walking distance all players walk to the field before and after games. Another 6:35 start tomorrow, stretch at 4.
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| Very Short Porch In Left |
You Choose
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| Who Do You Want? |
April 27th 2004
Today's game goes down as the coldest game of my professional career. The temp was around 32 degrees with on and off snow and 20 mph wind. In the bullpen we got creative and made a shelter out of an L-Screen and the BP pitching mound to block the wind. I don't know what they were thinking but there were about 500 people in the stands. The last time I remember being this cold at a game was at Butler during the early March games and in Minnesota during High School games with snow still on the field. Tomorrow is another 6:35 start. After the game tomorrow we will head directly back to Connecticut arriving around 8AM.
April 25th 2004
The theme at Akron's field today was take your dog to the ballpark. It was pretty weird seeing hundreds of dogs in the stands barking and fighting each other every now and then. The weather was on and off rain all day. I'm glad we played the game because we pitched a shutout and scored 19 runs. It got so out of control that Akron brought in the catcher to pitch the 9th. I also pitched 1 inning and had a quick 1-2-3 inning, Nate Grindell lined out to right on a 1-2 count, former big leaguer Oscar Salazar popped out to 2nd on the first pitch and Victor Valencia struck out on a 0-2 slider. After the game we drove to Erie, PA. It took about 3 hours and we only got in one movie (We Three Kings.)
Another Day In Akron
April 24th 2004
Dealers were out in force before, during and after the game today. I got hit up harder here than any place so far this season...Rumor has it the graphers are out of Columbus, Ohio and like to be called the Kings of Columbus...that's what a neutral grapher in the stands told me. Free tickets were issued under the free ticket challenged congrats, the phrase will still be the same. If anyone has sent me an email before the 23rd and have not got a response be sure to let me know or send another email. My hotmail account has been very shady saying that it has sent the email when it never did. In the next week I'm thinking about getting a more reliable email maybe AOL, I'll let everyone know. As for the game, we lost...Not a fun game. Akron packed the place again 7,500 in the crowd. Tomorrow we stretch on the field at 12:30. Players should start getting to the field around 10:30am up to noon. Also be sure to look for a new section that should be up in the near future, Collector/Dealer of the Month.
April 23rd 2004
Today was a great day in Akron just for the fact that it didn't rain. Last year when we came here it rained non-stop for four days and last night it was pouring. Akron once again packed the house and had a long fireworks show after the game. I didn't see any graphers before the game but after the game I noticed a few at the front office stairwell. I quietly walked out the front doors unnoticed and back to the hotel escaping their wrath. If you have ever been to Akron's field you'll probably like it and it's pretty new. As a player, the visiting clubhouse is one of the best in the EL, very big, very clean...big league. For those of you who care and have seen Akron's field you may notice a big white building in centerfield...You may wonder if a ball can be thrown on top of it? Oh yes it has been done!!!
Off Day
April 22nd 2004
Today was a travel/off day. We left Connecticut at 2 and got in at 12. We traveled on a bus and watched five movies in the process. All travel in the Eastern league is by bus. AAA uses airplanes on long trips and buses for places nearby. Right now we are in Akron and stretch on the field at 4:30 tomorrow.
April 21st 2004
Tonight I pitched one inning against the Binghamton Mets. It's amazing how things happen in baseball. Warming up in the bullpen I felt a little awkward after not pitching in a game for a couple days. The first batter I faced was David Bacani and I walked him on pitches I thought could have been called strikes. As if my luck couldn't get worse the next batter took an outside fastball and slapped it over the 3rd basemen's head HITTING the line for a double. I thought to myself for that brief period why is all of this happening to me, 2 bad outings and now this? Runners at second and third no outs and I get a groundout with the infield pulled in, one out. Next up is David Wright and we decide to intentionally walk him setting up bases loaded one out. The next batter Prentice Redman hit a fly ball to Jason Kubel in right field and made a great throw to home holding the runner at third. The last batter Chase Lambin struck out looking with a 2-2 count. At the end of the game I sat on the bench looking at the field for a couple minutes. I mostly thought about the outing I just had and how I will build off of it the next time I pitch. My conclusion, baseball's a crazy game and the season is very long...I can't wait to get on the mound again.
As for the webpage, I just put up another hockey poll question this one may be too easy. The hockey player in the last poll is Mike Modano good job to those who answered correctly, be sure to check it out below. We have an off/travel day tomorrow to Akron, Ohio. It's about a nine hour bus trip.
April 20th 2004
Did it really happen again? We won another come from behind victory today with two outs in the ninth inning. It was really weird because you normally only see that happen a couple times in a season and for it to happen two nights in a row is pretty crazy.
Before every game in New Britain they have an autograph booth and 2 players sign autographs for 15 minutes. Today was my day and I signed around 25 items mostly programs and baseballs. After the game we had another meet and greet the fans dinner. I liked this one a lot better than the first one we had mostly due to the food that was served. 24 team signed balls were auctioned off with raffle tickets. Tomorrow is the last game of the series here then we head to Akron, Ohio and Erie, PA. This will be the only time we go to Akron and Erie so be sure to get out to a game and say hi if you are in the area.
Another Hockey Poll
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| It's Roenick |
April 19th 2004
Fans on hand tonight in New Britain were treated to a classic come from behind victory. This game had some great excitement and goes down as the sweetest victory of the year so far. I think this game has given us a spark to build on and man you should have seen the chemistry in the clubhouse after the game, it was fun. 10:30am game tomorrow, gotta get back to watching the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks game.
April 18th 2004
It was another day of awesome weather in Norwich and a big crowd was on hand to enjoy it. Unfortunately we lost the game. After the game the visiting clubby served us pizza from a local pizzaria. In AA the clubby comes into play unlike at levels below. The job of a clubby is to feed the team, wash their clothes, little stuff such as shining shoes and bringing out water coolers and to keep the clubhouse clean. Clubby's charge different amounts depending on the type of meals you get after the game. During home games the rate is always $6 which is the cheapest you will find in the league. At Norwich we paid $24 for the 4 games which is again pretty cheap compared to some stadiums. As far as meal money goes, on a commuter road trip like the one we just got done with in Norwich we get $10 a day and $20 for an overnight trip where we stay in a hotel. It's really not much money for food and goes by pretty quick depending on where you eat. Last year a lot of the times on road trips I went to the grocery store and packed a cooler and saved some coin.
April 17th 2004
Today was the nicest day of the year so far, 75 degrees with sunshine. The fans took advantage of the weather and many came out to watch the game. As for my pitching I had one of the worst outings of my career. What's worse is that it is my second bad outing in a row. Right now I'm hoping i can get back on the mound asap and turn things around.
April 16th 2004
Nothing made me happier today than to see some diehard autographers in the stands on a cold day. Today was easily the most people getting autographs before the game and they did pretty well. I also had a chance to meet and talk with a couple fans before the game. Two of the graphers were really cool, Bob Purcell and Kevin Pataky. I was pumped up when I walked out of the dugout today to hear someone shout out my name and that is what Mr. Purcell did. He came prepared, camera and all and took my first proof shot of the season (under Submit A Proof Shot Section), for that he gets 3 signed cards. I also met Kevin Pataky who is a photographer and has been featured in Baseball America and other publications. He's just getting started on the career and I would say has a very bright future. I have had shots taken of me before but the shots he got were some of the best I have ever seen. With his permission I will post them under my Photo section. Thanks Bob and Kevin for the shots, as for the game it was pretty cold but not too bad because the wind wasn't much of a factor. Tomorrow the bus gets into Norwich at 11:45am.
April 15th 2004
We arrived in Norwich around 4 and got on the field for BP at 4:30. I have never been to Norwich before. The temperature during the first inning was cold but tolerable. Once the sun went down it got cold quick. For those of you that haven't been to the stadium in Norwich it is located on top of a hill/mountain and the wind blows pretty good at that height. The stadium is a graveyard meaning it takes a good shot to hit a ball out of the park. As for the clubhouse I was pleased with how it was set up, a lot of chairs and sofas to sit on with cable TV. I was also happy with the food the Navigators clubbie fed us. Tomorrow our bus should be getting into Norwich around 4:30. I would also note that anyone going to the game should dress warm, it's gonna be freezing there.
Surprise Surprise
April 14th 2004
What do you know, another rain out. In the mail today I got a letter from Paul Weimer of Wisconsin, I'll talk about him in a minute. Anyways he sent me 2 cards, one a MWL All Star card and another was an Elizabehton Team Logo Card from Upper Deck. I was bored and started reading the back of the card when I saw my name on the bottom...What the heck, I never knew that existed, check out the card section to the left. I checked the card about 5 times to see if Paul made the card himself, then checked to see if he glued on some paper with my name. Nope, it was real. It was a total surprise and I have never seen one before. If anyone out there has any extra's I'd love to get one or two or some big quantity. The card is a 2002 Upper Deck #389. That was a real shocker though. As for Paul & Sue Weimer I remember last year I got about 4 different letters from them. Everytime I get a letter from them I look around to the other lockers and notice that Paul has hit them up too. This guy must go through some serious postage, he does a great job. Tomorrow our bus leaves NB at 3:00 for Norwich. Whenever we go to Norwich it is a commuter which means we come back to NB after the game and don't stay in a hotel.
Contest #1 Winner
Congrats to Shawn Walsh of Manchester, CT who won a 2003 MWL Signed Card. Shawn checked out the site at the right time and won. It is also his B-Day tomorrow, happy b-day Shawn. Keep checking out the site for future contests.
Rained Out
April 13th 2004
Not much to say, it still hasn't stopped raining. Doubleheader tomorrow starting at 10:30AM ouch...
April 12th 2004
Today was a pretty nasty day at the ballpark. As if 40 degree temperature with heavy wind wasn't bad enough, heavy rain also decided to come down. I looked at boxscores from tonight of games in the International League and the Eastern League and found that not many games were played. The crowd on hand tonight was outnumbered by the staff members in the press box. I got in tonight and didn't have a great outing. It's crazy how pitching usually comes down to one pitch that determines how you will feel until your next outing. Tonight that one pitch came in my last inning of work with 2 outs and an 2-2 count...slider up, hit, and just out of reach of the centerfielder's glove. It's a crazy game, I told myself to make sure the slider ran away for an easy K but it didn't. I guess that's what makes baseball such an interesting sport, anything can happen. The rain is still coming down and should be here until Wednesday, the games will go on.
April 11 2004
Today was a much better day than yesterday without question. There's nothing worse than not being able to get out of bed and knowing that the team is out there trying to win a game, it totally sucks. I woke up today feeling 360 degrees better than yesterday. Nobody was waiting on autographs before the game. The crowd was pretty weak I would say there was probably about 500-1000 people at most. I'm sure the box score will say 2,500 though:) The game went by pretty quick and we won 4-1. After the game there was a man with a son doing team set cards, they made out pretty good because nobody else was there. 6:35 Night game tomorrow. Check the Free Ticket Challenge link, I'll be posting the first one of the season tonight!!! Also congrats to those who picked Quinn Snyder in the poll question, it was a proof I took when they played Indiana earlier in the year. Don't believe me, check it out below. Good Luck on this weeks poll Q!
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| It's Mike |
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April 9th & 10th 2004
Today was not a great day for me as I had flu-lke symptoms all day. I am taking tomorrow (4/10) off and resting up hoping that is goes away asap.
Season Opener
April 8th 2004
I got up at about 7:30 today ate some breakfast and got to the field around 8:30AM only two people were getting graphs before the game. Pitchers threw at 9:15-9:45 and sat in the clubhouse until about 10:15. The temperature at game time was 42 degrees and rose a little throughout the game. Rock Cats fans came out in full force and set a new attendence record, it was fun to play with a packed house. The picture below is me pitching during today's game, it was cold out. I finally am all moved in and will be updating a bunch more and doing emails in the next day or so. Thanks everybody for being patient.
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| A View From Above |
April 7th 2004
Today was another day of setting things up and getting things organized at the apartment. I really didn't have that much time to do anything though because we had a media day followed by practice and BP followed by a meet the team dinner. All said and done I was at the field at 12:45 and got home at 10PM. The media day consisted of taking a few pictures and the media doing interviews. The meet the team dinner was a lot better than I expected. It was planned pretty well and the food was decent. I met a lot of fans and signed a lot of baseballs. It was a long day and I wish I could get one more day to get some stuff done before the season begins. For some reason tomorrow's game is at 10:30AM, I think they want to have bragging rights for the first minor league game of the season in minor league baseball? My dad just got into town and will be here until Sunday. Free Ticket Contests will begin shortly after that!
Back In Connecticut
April 6th 2004
Today we left the hotel at 8am to the airport and the flight went out at 11. The plane trip was a lot better than I expected because the airplane we were on had our own tv on the headrests with access to cable TV channels, I don't know how it works but was one of the best trips I have been on. The rest of the day went like this, get on team bus, drop off equipment at the field, go to apartment or hotel and you are on your own from there. One of the things I hate most about pro ball is finding a place to live. Teammate Jon Pridie already set up a bunch of apartment places prior to arriving in Hartford which made it real easy for us to sign a couple papers and move in. My roommates are Beau Kemp and Jim Abbott. It was a very very long day and I'm pumped to finally get some sleep. Tomorrow is media day at 2 and we have a short bp and practice after, I think we will be getting out around 4:30. At night there is a meet the players dinner. Right now I'm a little short on time, I'm hoping to get a new poll q out asap, answer all emails and message board questions and add a bunch of new content sometime in the next couple days, sorry for the short delay
Spring Training Is Complete
April 5th 2004
Today was the last day of camp. The day featured a game between the AAA and AA teams. Buses depart the hotel tomorrow at 8AM for the airport, the flight departs at 10:00am into Hartford. Tomorrow will be a long day with some players looking for a place to live and others getting everything in order before the season starts. I was very busy last year on this day and I'm sure not much will be different. Goodbye nice weather, hello cold.
April 4th 2004
Games started today at 10 and were done at 1:00PM. Most rosters have been finalized and the players will be in camp one last time tomorrow before breaking on Tuesday. I will be with the AA New Britain Rock Cats (Connecticut) of the Eastern League. The season starts on March 8th.
April 3rd 2004
Changing things up a little, all games will now be starting at 10:00AM. Today the Twins teams took on the Pirates and tomorrow the AAA will play AA with the low and high A teams squaring off. The Big League team broke camp today after losing to the Pirates in Bradenton. Only 2 more days left for us. On another topic, my team in the NCAA tourney Oklahoma State got knocked off. My entire bracket is done and my roommate Kevin Cameron has beat me pretty easily in the game by game picking. Last year my roommate at the time Jesse Crain also beat me pretty badly.
April 2nd 2004
Another quick day today. More cuts were made and roster changes took place. Not much on the autograph scene. I was told there was one guy who hit up the Fort Myers players with badly damaged BP balls and was taking proof shots as the players were getting onto the bus.
Poll: Basketball Time/ The Winning Answer Is Quinn
Who's Signing In The Picture?
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| The Winner Is... |
April 1st 2004
Well it's April fools day and I have no plans to do any funny tricks to the site. After practice my car thought it would be funny to pull a joke on me by not starting...thanks car, you're lucky I'm fixing you. Not much happened today, a pretty normal ST day. Fundamentals in the morning and a game Vs. the BoSox teams in the afternoon. Autographers have been pretty rare in the past couple days, I guess everyone is heading back North already to get the Minnesota womens basketball team on white panels now that they made it to the Final 4. Figures, I would be doing the same thing if I wasn't playing. Someone was asking for a new poll question so I decided to use the autograph theme in it. Let me know if you like the poll question.
Just in from the email box:
Pat,
Hi, I was wondering what you would do if someone sent
you a pack of 100 index cards to sign in the mail.
Just A Quick Note
Brad Radke, catcher Joe Mauer and Corey Koskie will be playing on the minor league side today during games today (Wednesday)
March 31st 2004
Today went by pretty quick due to the on and off rain in the morning. Throwing was about all the players got in before the rain came. At noon the AAA and AA traveled to the Reds facility to play games and the Reds A ball teams came to our place. Brad Radke, Joe Mauer and Corey Koskie played for the Ft Myers team.
It was another tough day for pretty much all of the players as more cuts and roster moves were made. The teams are starting to become finalized and will be final on Tuesday.
March 30th 2004
Today was a normal spring training day. Drills during the morning session and games in the afternoon. In the AAA, AA game Joe Nathan started for the AA squad and was followed by big leaguer Aaron Fultz. At this point in spring training rosters are starting to become finalized. There are six workouts left and teams will break camp on April 6th. In the mail I got one letter today from Jeff Sullivan of Massachusetts. Also, thanks for all the emails in the last couple days.
March 29th 2004
It happened, I pitched in a big league spring training game! Today the big league bus left at 8am for Dunedin to play the Toronto Blue Jays. We arrived late and had to hurry up and get into uniform for BP. Batting practice was unreal, Heavy Winds Blowing to Center + Big League Hitters = HR's every 10 seconds. Before the two games I have been at we got subs and items such as chips, PBJ's, candy and other snacks to eat. I sat in the bullpen waiting nervously for the call to pitch. In the 7th inning it came. I got out of my seat to stretch and throw in the bullpen. As I got to the game mound I felt fine but my head was running at the rate of 1000 mph. My warmup pitches were all up in the zone and I kept telling myself to keep it low, it wasn't happening. The first hitter was Eric Hinske, former AL Rookie of the year. I'm not gonna lie, I was so Nervous/Excited that I had trouble thinking about where the ball was going. I think the first two pitches to Hinske were at his eyes. I really did not slow down until the fourth batter I faced. The inning went like this, Eric Hinske 3-2 Strike Out, Orlando Hudson 2-0 Hit, Chris Woodward 3-2 Walk, Kevin Cash 0-2 Fly Out, Reed Johnson 0-1 Ground Out. After getting off the mound Ron Gardenhire asked me if I remembered to breathe when I was out there. I signed a couple autographs and hit the showers, I felt pretty good about my outing. It was a great day except for the 4 hour drive back to Ft. Myers.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/scores/20040329/mintor
Going Back
March 28th 2004
At around 8PM tonight I was informed that I would be going back up to the Big League game tomorrow against the Toronto Blue Jays and I was going to pitch. I am not sure if the game is televised but it is on the radio. The game is in Dunedin and the bus is leaving at 8AM.
Today was a relaxed day for players not pitching. On Sundays we get to sleep in with stretching starting at 11. Today all I did was play catch and run, that was it. I'm sure I will have a lot of stories when tomorrow is done, keep checking in.
The Big Leagues
March 27th 2004 -
What a day, what a day, what a day. Everything I did today felt like a dream. As I walked into the big league clubhouse I didn't know what to expect. I was thrown a jersey and a hat. Right away Matt Lecroy and Mike Cuddyer came up to me and introduced themselves. In about the first ten minutes I think almost every Twins player said hi to me and made me feel welcome. Since the game was at Pittsburgh's place we got on a bus and made it to Bradenton in about an hour and a half. Not much was said on the bus, Gardenhire as most know is really funny and was dropping one liners left and right. No movies were playing but many newspapers were read and numerous players slept. When we got to the field we went to the clubhouse, changed into our uniforms and went out for BP. One of the cooler things of the day was I got to play catch with Joe Mays and Juan Rincon in pregame throwing. BP was unreal, balls were flying out left and right even with the wind blowing in. When the game started I couldn't believe I was sitting in the dugout. I guess that's the feeling you get when you go up for the first time. I kept thinking I was watching a different game with guys in A and AA ball, then I looked again and it was Torii Hunter up to the plate or Johan Santana striking someone out, pretty awesome stuff. Before the game, pitching coach Rick Anderson came up to me and asked me when I pitched last and I told him yesterday. Because I just pitched, he told me to enjoy the game and have some fun. The game was awesome seeing how the players operate in the dugout, how they joke around and because we won 3-0. I guess if someone were to ask me what was the best thing I got out of it, I would say getting to know the guys on the team.
Autograph scene: As one may have guessed the graph seekers were out in full force chasing down everyone. I saw some funny stuff, dads taking proof shots when players signed stuff for their kid trying to act secretly, dad's trying to sneak into the bus area after the game and dad's asking for anything they could get their hands on for their kid's collection. I signed a few items but nothing major, balls, jerseys and hats. At the end of the day Torii Hunter & Jacque Jones came up to me and Bryan Kennedy and gave us three game bats. The guys were nicer than I could've ever imagined and made me feel welcomed. I couldn't have asked for a better first day in a Big League game.
March 26th 2004
Today was a mixed day of emotions. I arrived at the ballpark and was told I was going up to the Big League game against the Pittsburgh Pirates tomorrow and may pitch. I am pretty sure I will have some great stories about tomorrow and my first experience with the "Big Leagues" and will be sure to let everyone know how it goes. There also was a lot of cuts and some of my close friends were released. I guess every year the same things happen, new faces come in while others go. It's really sad when someone is released because most of the time you spend playing, you really get to know teammates and they become something like family. This was the first day of cuts and more are expected until we break camp.
March 25th 2004
After stretching as a team we played catch and got right into pitchers fielding practice. During the last week we have been doing a drill called the umbrealla. It works by having one pitcher on the mound and by having all the other pitchers form an umbrella shape around the cut of the infield. The coaches will hit a ball in any direction and we are expected to make the play, sometimes the balls are smoked and can be scary to get in front of. Today the AAA and AA clubs got to stay at the complex today while the Low and High A squads traveled to the Bo Sox complex. The AA game featured Pitchers Micheal Nakamura & Jesse Crain striking out numerous sox batters. Corey Koskie was on hand to get some extra hitting. I'm not really sure that anybody got his autograph though. It's really funny to me that most people that watch the games don't know who they are watching sometimes. I remember last year when LaTroy Hawkins pitched in a game for us and somebody in the stands said something to the degree of "Who is this guy, he sure looks like he has a shot at making it to the big leagues someday" Crazy, Crazy stuff. I also got a bunch of emails, thanks everyone for writing. Emails came from all parts of the country and even one from a soldier named Mike in Baghdad. I love hearing from everyone. A couple quick notes. I will sign anything you send me. Also, I am done sending out cards unless it is for a contest that I will be having on the site every now and then. Thanks again everyone, 1000 hits in one week is unreal.
March 24th 2004
Today was another one of those very quick days because I wasn't scheduled to pitch. It consisted of the usual, pitchers fielding practice, bunt plays, pick offs and we even got to play a little pepper. The guys who did play traveled to the Red Sox camp for the game. I also wanted to say thank you for all the emails and will be responding to them in the next couple days.
March 23rd 2004
Once we got to the field today we got a little surprise that most of us weren't to happy about. We were told that we would be running the two and a half mile run at 9AM. We stretched out, ran and that was that, the winner Julio DePaula in 14:32 smoking the rest of us by a few minutes. After the run we had a short discussion about pitching and broke into PFP (pitching fielding practice) for about an hour. The games today were intersquad, New Britain Vs Rochester and Ft Myers Vs Quad City. I noticed a couple guys getting autographs. So far this week has been far better than last week for the number of graph seekers. The big league squad had the day off and play again tomorrow. Today I got two letters in the mail. One was sent by Aaron Duffy from Woodbury, Minnesota. He sent 5 items total to be signed (1 notecard and 4 of my Twins press photos on photo paper) thanks for writing Aaron. I also got a letter from Stu Clark who runs a great website www.stu-man.com that is updated frequently. He sent an awesome letter that had me laughing pretty hard. In it he included a card of himself that he signed but for some reason he must have forgot to rub up the glossy part of the card with an eraser first because the ink bubbled up a little haha (See Pic Below). He also mentioned that he better not see the card up on eBay...What do you think guys, should I list it? It's not too often you get autographs of fans and it was pretty cool to get one. I appreciate the letters and hope to hear from more people in the future.
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| Rule #1 Always Rub Up Glossy Cards With An Eraser Or Good Ole Hand Grease |
March 22nd 2004
Today was another one of those quick days because I didn't pitch. The way they have spring training set up is that pitchers have to watch their team pitch if they are at home and get to leave early if they are away. For the last two days the team has been away. The guys that are playing at home and not pitching still have to watch the entire game before leaving. If you are an autographer you can really clean house because all the non-pitchers for that game are in the stands usually under the big platform in the center of the four fields. Fans at the High A game today got the pleasure of watching Kyle Lohse and Aaron Fultz pitch against the High A Red Sox club. A couple fans were on hand to get their graphs. For the last couple days a lot of big league guys have been coming down and pitching in minor league games and I'm sure there will be more in the days to come. And again I stress if you want big league autographs go to the field next to the stadium around 9:30-11:30, I have heard from two different people that numerous players have been signing at that time and were not in a rush to go anywhere.
Who Do You Want In Quantity?
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| Pick Me |
March 21st 2004
Today was a short day for pitchers that pitched yesterday against the Orioles. On Sunday's we start around 9:15 instead of the normal 8:30 start. This was probably the quickest workout of the year. We started off the day with light throwing and from there we did fielding practice. At the end we broke into conditioning which consisted of running 10 foul poles. The lady for Topps was back again taking pictures of guys she needed more pics of. I think she got a couple of me playing catch in the outfield. Not really much to write about today, it went by pretty quick. How about UAB beating Kentucky in the tourney...crazy
March 20th 2004
Today the Baltimore Orioles came to Ft. Myers to scrimmage the Triple and Double A teams. In the AA game JC Romero started the game and dominated for two innings. There were a couple autographers on hand to get a couple easy graphs when JC was finished. JC went 2 innings, striking out 4 and giving up no hits. JD Durbin also pitched after getting sent down from big league camp. I got in one inning to close the game and stuck out two while giving up one hit. I was pretty unsure about how I would do because it was my first outing of the year against an opponent. I think whenever you start a new season you always have a sense of do I have it still in the back of your head and that's what motivates you in the offseason to work harder.
I also wanted all fans to know that if you come around 10-11:30 on Big League game days you can watch the Minnesota Twins take BP on field 5. It's free admission and I'm sure you can get autographs before and after they start BP.
Let The Games Begin
March 19th 2004
Today the first spring training games of the season got underway. The High and Low A teams traveled to the Red Sox minor league facility while the Double and Triple A teams stayed and played at the Twins complex. Fans and Autographers were greeted with a nice surprise as Joe Nathan started for the Triple A club and Henry Blanco caught. Nearly everyday big league guys have been coming over to pitch an inning or two or to get some extra hitting. My advise is to bring every Twins card you own, you'll never know who you'll see. If you have been to the Twins minor league side already you know that Tony Oliva and Tom Kelly are always walking around and pretty easy to get at. I forgot to mention yesterday that JC Romero and Juan Rincon pitched for the GCL team when they scrimmaged college team Edgewood Madison. Ron Gardenhire was on hand to check out how they looked. Tomorrow the Baltimore Orioles are coming in. The Double and Triple A teams are home while the low and high A teams are at Sarasota. I also overheard that JD Durbin and Jesse Crain have been sent down from big league camp, I'm not sure if this is correct but that is the word going around.
Another Day At The Park
March 18th 2004
On any normal day in Spring Training the day starts at 8:30am with a group discussion and breaks into stretching. I've always wondered why we play in the morning when all our games are under the lights during the season. For the last week we have been done with practice around 2pm. At night most guys usually sit around in their hotels rooms with a visit to the gym to lift every now and then. One of my good buddies from the Orioles system Jason Cierlik told me how a lot of the O's guys have been playing monopoly on PS2 to kill time. I took his advice and for the last week we have been playing nonstop after dinner each night...Yes it gets that boring sometimes. It's also tourney time and everyone is filling out their brackets. It's too bad though that Butler couldn't make the tourney, they had a great run last season. As far as autographs go I signed my first card in-person of the season. It was a Midwest League card and I'm hoping to see more in the future.
March 17th 2004
Today Terry Ryan the Twins GM spoke to the entire minor league organization. Awards were presented to the top minor league player and pitcher from last year. Ron Gardenhire also spoke and as always made everyone laugh. On the field pitchers got to throw BP to hitters. For most it was the first time facing a hitter since last year. The GCL team faced University of Minnesota Duluth with a Twins pitcher throwing for Duluth. It looks like games will start up on Friday against the Bo-Sox. Autograph seekers were at their strongest numbers yet and from my observation looked to do nicely. I got my first letter in the mail and it came from Joel Thingvall of St Paul, Minnesota. It was a pretty funny letter because it came to me as Pat Neshek "Minor League Outfielder". It's pretty neat getting letters in the mail and I think a lot of players would rather sign a card in the mail than in-person. Personally I like the fan interaction more. Another thing about letters is that most players don't read the letters that come with the cards to get signed. A lot of guys rip open the envelope, take out the other envelope, sign the card and discard the written letter without reading it. I read all the letters I get and have seen a lot of crazy stuff in letters. Most are addressed to minor league ballplayer or dear ballplayer.
Day 4
March 16th 2004
Today was a quick day as most players were done with workouts around noon. The main reason for this was that all players had to go through a bunch of test, blood, urine, eyes, body fat, bp and weight. It's a day most players dread because we cannot eat any food from 7PM until the test are over. Once the test got done we went through a short work out. Today pitchers pitched to batters in a short BP session gearing up for games likely to start on Friday for the higher up teams. It looks like tomorrow a couple games are already starting up, I think the GCL team takes on the University Of North Dakota State.
The Autograph Scene:
Not much was cracking with autographs today, this was due to the fact it was raining for the majority of the day. I also wanted to let everybody know that I was asked to have my picture taken for Topps. The photos the lady took were pretty cheesey, for one shot I had one l leg on a chair with my elbow on my knee, one was out of my stretch looking in on a batter and the final one was me out of the windup looking into the catcher. I also noticed the Topps lady was taking shots during practice. I would love to get a Topps card so we will see what happens. Be sure to write to Topps requesting my card being made...I will sign everyone of them in quantity!!! Also many of the players invited to spring training were sent to minor league camp today...so if you got cards of any of these guys be sure to bring them.
Position Players Report
3/15/04
Everybody that plays in the organization has reported today. Things changed around a little. Instead of leaving around noon, we stay for about an extra hour and a half and shag for the hitters. In about 4 days games will begin. Pitchers had another offseason test to complete today, the one mile run. Right about now is when most pitchers start feeling soreness in their legs from running around a lot in the past days.
The Autograph Scene:
There was a little more action around the park than yesterday. I noticed a couple pros going after guys early in the morning. One guy was doing a twins banner in silver sharpie. I don't know who he was going after it may have been anybody he could get. In a morning presentation, players were told to sign all autographs legible. There was also mentioning of players to not sign stacks of cards and if someone comes up to with a stack sign 2-3 and say that's all I have time for. Hell I'll sign any stacks that come my way...When I got graphs in college, quantity was what I strived for.
Day Two
3/14/2004
Day two is in the books. Not much was different from yesterday with the only exception being a 2/1/4 mile run at the end of practice. In other news, position players will be in uniform tomorrow for their first practice. Also, Tony Oliva arrived and joked around with the players.
The Autograph Scene:
Today was a sad day in the autograph world, not one person was going after graphs...Clean it up
Site Being Constructed
March 9th 2004: The groundwork has been laid...not really much yet...This site should start popping in the next couple weeks. During spring training there is a lot of downtime after 4PM. In the meantime Ill be thinking of ideas for content.
The Season Begins
March 13th 2004
What's up everybody. We just started the 2004 season with the first workout of spring training. Yesterday all the pitchers and catchers reported to camp. For the most part yesterday was a time to see everyone and ask each other how our offseason went. A lot of guys looked in better shape than previous years. Today started out with everyone meeting at the minor league facility and finding out what team you were working out with and if the uniforms fit, this all happened around 7:30-8:30. At 8:30 a couple of presentations were made by our minor league coordinators about the upcoming season. Around 9:30 we finally got onto the field and did some stretching and after that some throwing for about 30 minutes. Spring Training goes pretty slow and consist of the same routines until we break camp in early April. There are six stations we rotate through, conditioning, throwing a bullpen, talking about pitching, covering first, bunt plays and pickoffs. The stations last about 20 mins and are done everyday at the same times...Once the hitters arrive we will shag after the station work is done. Today we had one of our conditioning test which was a shuttle run (kind of like running lines at a basketball practice. The cones were marked 75 feet away and we had to run down and back six times under 63 seconds. Today was short and we got out around 1.
Autograph Update:
Not much was happening on the autograph scene. I really only noticed two guys getting graphs so you pretty much could've cleaned house if you knew what you were doing and needed some Twins cards signed. Probably the best time to get graphs here is around lunch time, I think it is 12:30 but I'm not sure until the games start up...Any time before that might be a waste because we are doing drills nonstop unless you get us when we come out for the first time in the morning. I also don't think it would be a bad idea to wait for the players to arrive at the field or to leave at the end of the day but then you'll have to be decent at reading faces, but hell if you're a decent grapher you should be able to do this. Remember I'm just saying that those are the best times, you will pull a bunch of graphs during practice but most of the guys are in a hurry and might stiff you and sign 1 card because they are in a rush. Like last year we don't have our names on the back of the jersey. You may be able to ask someone for a roster and this will help clear up awkward moments.Monday, July 2
I Need Everyone's Help
WOW, how cool is getting nominated. I don't know what to say it's unreal to even think about. But man I need you guys to vote, vote and vote, www.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2007/fv/ballot.html it's unlimited voting...tell everyone you know and come together and get creative we have like 5 days or something! We need everyone, all Minnesotan's, all graphers, fans of baseball and yes everyone in Yankee Nation ( and we know why!) I seriously would like to promise everyone All Star balls or jerseys for voting but it might be a stretch...I will promise this, if you guys can get me in I will write about everything that goes on... multiple updates each day letting everyone know what the heck goes on behind closed doors, I will always inscribe anything with All Star 07...dont even have to ask, I will try my best to get lots of giveaways and give them away on here and if I get an extra jersey like they did last year I will give it away in a contest not an auction. I don't know what else to say it would be the greatest feeling in the world to be voted in by you guys. Please tell everyone to vote multiple times:)
Wednesday, July 4
Pulling An All Nighter
Alright everyone as Spokesman Ethan would say, "It's crunch time!" A lot of the competition is out celebrating and it's a perfect time to get a leg up and jump ahead. The most recent update stated that 1 & 2 were neck and neck…we could very easily jump to #1 because nobody knows the vote totals right now. Tomorrow morning Japan will be getting ready for bed and Detroit and Boston will be taking the day off from work and stepping away from the computer. Let's keep the voting going all through the night, all day tomorrow and we will rest when they take our voting privileges away. Thanks again everyone!
Vote until you see your Zip Code!
Thursday, July 5
It's Crunch Time!
