Friday, Day 5 at Red Sox Fantasy Camp is over and it truly was a case of "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" (with apologies to Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood).
The Good--The weather was splendid for baseball. Low 70s, light breeze and blue sky. Yours truly went 5 for 6 and stung the ball with my Louisville Slugger/ Manny Ramirez bat. Had a couple of good shots to the outfield. Where's my contract? Get me Scott Boras. Felt like a million bucks, but it took most of the week to get totally comfortable in this very intense and competitive environment. Ended up hitting .333 going 8 for 24 with a couple of walks. Can I stay another week now that I am totally in a "groove?" And dinner with my team and our skipper (more about that later). Coaches (Treuel and Boyd) who were supportive and encouraging during some ugly games (see below).
The Bad-- We sometimes beat ourselves, making plenty of errors but very few get to play in real BASEBALL games before we get here and the East Coasters this year have been constantly digging out from tons of snow. I am convinced other coaches spend hours figuring out who they are going to draft; who is returning; and wheeling and dealing just a bit. Our coaches were laid back and not as intense about the draft and that is fine. Some coaches are out for blood but these are all former pro ballpayers with a strong competitve fire in them.
The Ugly--We ended up going 1-7, and I think our two opponents scored about 35 runs against us yesterday. We lost count. A lot of big thumpers really crushed the ball against us. We ended up 1-7, but never quit and hung in there. Is this how the '62 Mets felt?
After the end of the last game, Skipper Treuel gave a great speech about how much he enjoyed working with us and how we never gave up and supported each other and got the most out of the week. He mentioned how we would never forget this week and hoped we got a taste of what big league players go through. Coach Oil Can Boyd split, probably for a smoke which he did oftern during the games. The "Can" being the Can."
Treuel did mildly chastise one of our pitchers, who had flipped the ball to him when he came out to make a pitching change. In the tradition-laden world of baseball one of the zillions of rules (written and unwritten) is the "no no" of flipping the ball to the coach when he comes out with "the hook." Once a Detroit Tiger pitcher flipped the ball to Manager "Sparky" Anderson when he came to get him(Ralph Treuel was a coach on that team in the 80s) and after the pitcher raced off the field, ran through the clubhouse and into another part of the stadium, Anderson chased after him and all Raph would say is that while no one knew what Anderson said or did to that player, he never flipped the ball again when he was removed from a game.
And let me add "The Sad." Getting that last trainer adjustment at the end of the day; taking off the uniform at the complex for the last time (we do have a 3 inning game against the coaches and former players this afternoon), and cleaning out my locker. It really was a bit sad to see this part of the camp end with all the great memories, highs and lows of the past week.
Still, unforgettable moments (thank you Gail, love you madly for doing this for me), great friends and the whole locker room thing you hear about in professional sports from pranks to talking baseball with the pros to bonding with team mates and the guys around your locker. I will do a more in depth recap of the week and the memories after this all sinks in.
So we all took our manager out to dinner (Boyd was either off drinking or picking up a girlfriend and did not show up). We hosted the Skipper at a local steak house. For three hours we talked baseball, learned more about Ralph Treuel, took turns wearing his 2007 Red Sox World Series ring, and talked about what each of us do for a living and most importantly the upcoming Sox season. The real players start reporting this week.
Ralph coordinates all the Sox minor league pitching operations and lives in the very pretty New Hampshire town of Wolfesboro which I have been to. It's on picturesque Lake Winnepasaukee.
He has a ten year old, travels all over the Sox minor league system from the Dominican to Venezuela to Florida to the South and the East Coast. It's a twelve month a year job and he's gone about half the year. He loves it and has been doing this kind of stuff for 23 years. I wrote earlier that he has three championship rings to show for all of his efforts. Not bad.
He has seen almost all of the Sox current pitchers and worked with them over the years: Lester, Papelbon, Masterson, Bucholz, Del Carmen, etc. He talked about how great the Sox organization is and how it operated both as a first class organization and a family from the top down. A lot of off color stories and stuff, but he showed a real dedication to his job and the organization and showed no ego or arrogance and seemed to enjoy talking with us.
And who is us? There is Bill Cuff, 54, an insurance and financial guy from Boston who was steady at second base; Randie Robinson in his 40s and an opthamologist in Connecticut in right; John Pirrone, 30s who is deaf and runs those services for Northeastern University in Boston and who handled left and center.; "Gibby" Gibbons in his 30s, a professional signer who came with Pirrone to help him out and the Sox paid for him to be there. He has a reconstructed shoulder, but caught valiantly. Thank goodness there was no stealing or all teams would be in trouble!
It was fantastic learning about the world of signing and the deaf and both "Gibby" and John were quite a team with Gibby signing every meeting, game, social event, etc. Both of Gibby's parents were deaf and he grew up signing and now makes a living doing this for schools, sports teams, rock concerts (yes, deaf people go to concerts and enjoy them on a certain level and Donnie G. signs the lyrics). Both guys are in their late thirties I think and are very cool. John is the nicest guy you'd want to meet and fit in perfectly with us "Bad News Bosox!"
Tony Gonatas from Boston manages properties and wins the award for Boston accent of the group. I needed an interpreter! He played first and gave us one of the guttiest pitching performances of the week. Although he got shelled (most of our pitchers did), he hung in there until Treuel came out with the "hook" (that's baseball talk for taking a pitcher out. Chris Dulmayne, shortstop from Boston is one of our younger guys (early 30s). He buys and sells wine cellars and wine collections all over the U.S. and in some parts of Europe. I told him I want his job. He started out as a clerk in a wine store and studied wine and marketing. Gene Cooper (30s) owns an ad agency in "Joisy" and brought his wife who we kept away from Oil Can Boyd. One of our heroic pitchers who wasn't a pitcher!
Then there is Walt Nadeau from Merrimac, New Hampshire. I think he might be late 30s/early 40s who is an information technology guy for a big biotech firm who travels all over the world making sure the company's computer systems are functioning and interconnected. He was the team's lovable loud moth, cheerleader, over the hill high school ballplayer, main pitcher who also hit our only home run during the week. Name the person you most would like to go drinking with, swap stories, talk loudly and laugh your rocks off and that is Walt Nadeau. All around fun guy who pitched with more real aches and pain than anyone I know. A "game-ah" as we say in New England. "Motormouth" was inspiring!
Chris Dodd a New England transplant to Houston works as a financial advisor for Fidelity and is another guy in his 30s. We traded portfolio stories and I will not share his predictions for the next two years. He was our gutty third baseman. One of our quieter guys and real smart. Todd Cohen of Charlotte, NC by way of Boston got the nickname "Dr. Dick" as he is a urologist who specializes in kidney stones and circumcisions. Business is booming for the Doc. He is the one who cracked my Manny Ramirez bat that was so lucky for me on Friday. Don't tell anyone but I had to switch to my Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez bat but got a hit Friday. In my next post I will reluctantly tell you what happened when I used it in the game against Bill "Spaceman" Lee and the pros on Saturday. "Doc Dick" or "Dick Doc" handled second and outfield. We all switched around.
Ronnie Thompson, 61 year old former pitcher for Seton Hall, lives in Florida and works in the tech business in marketing and sales. He is about 6'4 with no knees, but who still golfs and goes to every major sporting event there is. He caught, played first and even pitched pretty well and played a little first base. A walking sports encyclopedia.
Your humble author played first and outfield. Still, no major dings or injuries only two bad hammies, hit by a pitch in the ribs, cranky right arm (I'm a lefty so who cares?)
WE ALL SURVIVED RED SOX FANTASY CAMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But there is one more game to play--Saturday against the pros at the big ball park. And then of course the banquet, open bar, regular bar, "Oil Can" Boyd and Bill Lee stories, late to bed and the trip home so the place can prepare for the 2009 World Series Champs to arrive and start training.
Later,
#60
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