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GREAT AND SCA-A-A-ARY READING!

2008-06-20T00:46:26Z

You would think as a baseball fanatic and a writer (or so-called writer) I would be one of those people whose library is chock full of baseball books. But actually, most of the time when I read for pleasure (and reading is one of my most passionate pleasures), I tend to avoid "baseball books."

Nothing personal, baseball book writers (and frankly, I hope to some day join your ranks). It's just that I want to avoid the potential burnout factor ... plus my tastes run to the gamut of chick lit, humor, history, and pop culture.

But recently I received an e-mail from Dan Gordon, one of the authors of the book "Haunted Baseball" and I was intrigued enough to hop over to Amazon and take advantage of the awesome one-click shopping option.

I am SO glad I did. This book had me riveted from the get-go ... it's a fascinating page-turner that discusses everything from ghost stories to legends to all sorts of unusual supernatural experiences of dozens upon dozens of players. The fact that many of the players interviewed are contemporary guys, both in the Majors and Minors, that I know made it that much more personal for me. But I don't think you need to know the players involved personally to enjoy the book.

A few particularly noteworthy stories to "tease" ... a really cool tale (tail???) involving the Cleveland Indians, especially slugger Jim Thome, and a certain seagull ... a heartwarming story that might make anyone who views Ken Griffey Jr. as one of those selfish me-me-me players in a totally different light ...

... and one story that really hit me personally even though it's not about a superstar like the other two ... if you look a few posts down at that picture of me with MOST of the Buffalo Bisons from 1997, one of the players missing from the shot was infielder Enrique Wilson. He was late getting to the field that day, coming over with his best friend, catcher Einar Diaz (whom we called "Smiling Jack" because of his ever-present dazzling grin).

Enrique was a favorite of mine, a guy who could do a hilarious "Beavis and Butthead" imitation. (That's him on the left at the 1996 Double-A All-Star Game in Trenton when he was with Akron). He eventually moved from the Indians to the Pirates to the Yankees and was with the Bronx Bombers in 2001 when they fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 7 of the World Series.

That loss saved his life. Literally. Read why in the book.

Anyway, right now I am reading "Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis about competitive Scrabble and it's making me want to play Scrabulous with everyone I know on Facebook. Two of my friends were kind of enough to start games with me when I made that comment in my "current status" and they are kicking my scrabula$$ but hopefully I can recoup my current losses. I know tomorrow I am going out and buying a Scrabble dictionary. I LOVE THIS GAME.

Among the OUTSTANDING and AMAZING books I have read in recent months that have nothing to do with baseball:

"Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley, an absolutely riveting book about the six gentlemen who were captured in the legendary photo of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima during World War II. I am not a big "war book" reader but what happened here was we had TiVo'd Clint Eastwood's movie of the book and were watching it and I just couldn't keep up with it. I didn't know who was who, I couldn't figure out what was going on, and I kept dozing off. And yet I felt like this was a story that had tremendous potential and, frankly, I am definitely a member of the school of "I'd rather read the book than watch the movie." So the next day I bought the book and I absolutely could not put it down. I bought two more copies to give to relatives and now I'd actually like to watch the movie again, this time feeling like I "know" the six soldiers as well as the others whose stories are told.

And two of the best books I have EVER read, which fortuitously I read back-to-back on my pre-season vacation:

"Candy Girl" by Diablo Cody, who won the Oscar for original screenplay for the brilliant "Juno." A memoir of her time as a stripper in Minneapolis, it is one of the most hilarious and remarkable books I have ever read. She is amazing and my new idol and I would be struck dumb with awe if I ever met her and, as anyone who knows me can attest, I would not be struck dumb (as in speechless, not stupid) by ANYONE.

And the book that may have had the biggest impact in my household in the last six months ...

"Love Is A Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield. Another memoir by a writer from one of my favorite magazines, "Entertainment Weekly," that chronicles his romance and marriage and, tragically, loss to an untimely death to a clearly amazing woman. And it is chronicled through the mixtapes the couple made for each other. I always considered myself the queen of the mixtape. My daughter Dana, of a later era, is the goddess of the mix CD. I tried to explain to her they are one and the same and that they are ALL mix tapes. It's a term like Kleenex ... and then this book came out and we both read it back-to-back and we both sobbed and wept and sighed.

Two notes worth mentioning about this amazing book. One is that it turned us on to a song neither of us knew and which is now on both of our all-time Top 10: "Thirteen" by Big Star (I have no idea why the YouTube I've linked is a Harry Potter compilation but it was the one clear recording of the original song that I could find). The other is that Sheffield talks at the end about an unnamed singer-songwriter who also lost someone he loved ... and Dana and I both immediately recognized that it was our mutual favorite singer-songwriter, Mike Viola, which we found sort of ironic and bizarre.

ALL-STAR-RY EYED

2008-06-17T01:21:58Z

And so it begins.

The month-long marathon known as the Minor League mid-season All-Star Game stretch ... it started on Saturday in Viera, Florida, when the Advanced A Florida State League All-Stars squared off at Space Coast Stadium.

In my mind, it ends on July 16 when the Triple-A All-Star Game celebrates its 20th anniversary at Louisville Slugger Field. (Technically it doesn't really end until August 19 which is the date of the third annual short-season New York-Penn League All-Star Game but ... well ... my blog, my rules).

In between, we have the South Atlantic League game in Greensboro tomorrow night (I tried to wangle a trip there but we've got a crackerjack associate right there in North Carolina so I can't really argue that one), the Midwest League game the same night in Midland, Michigan (my colleague Jonathan Mayo is there watching the Home Run Derby even as I type this entry), the Carolina-California League game next Tuesday in Myrtle Beach (damn tooting I'll be there, as Cal League notebook scribe AND Carolina League resident, no way I was missing THAT one) ... plus the Double-A Texas League game one night later in Springfield, Mo.

Then after a brief hiatus, we have the All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, July 13 featuring the best of the best, the Double-A Southern League game the next night in Zebulon, North Carolina (have the barbecue!) and both the Double-A Eastern League game in Manchester, NH, and the Triple-A extravaganza on Wednesday, July 16.

That's a lot of travel. A lot of packing and unpacking and packing again. A lot of crossed fingers that my luggage doesn't get lost en route (like my colleague Kevin Czerwinski's did on his way to the College World Series). A lot of trying to remember which city I'm in and which room number I have (I confess I have gone to the wrong room and tried that electronic key in the wrong door more than once. Luckily I have not yet been arrested by hotel security).

And, of course, an awful lot of fun. Watching a lot of baseball and getting to see a lot of guys I feel like I already know.

With the All-Star Games comes the scrambling for rosters, for stats, for tidbits. For the opportunity to try to know more about these guys we'll be seeing than just their names, ranks, and OPS. And trying to keep track of the inevitable roster changes -- promotions, injuries, covert decisions by organizations that certain prospects would be better served by getting those few days off.

And of course the even more inevitable debates about deserving guys who were left off of the rosters. I know you can't bring everyone. And with the Carolina-California League tilt in particular, with one team having to fly everyone across the country, they keep the rosters a little smaller (22 players per team I believe). And it's not even like there is anyone on the team who doesn't deserve to be there. But honestly, how could High Desert (Seattle) outfielder Gregory Halman not make this team? All he was doing was leading the league in homers with 19 and hitting a perfectly respectable .268 wth 53 RBIs and 23 steals. Oh well, the fact that he was just promoted to Double-A West Tenn probably took some of the sting away for the 20-year-old Dutch native.

But what about Lancaster outfielder Josh Reddick? His team, the Red Sox affiliate in the Cal League, was the first in the loop to clinch a playoff spot and he was hitting .332 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs. Or Bakersfield (Texas) outfielder Julio Borbon and his .319 average and 33 steals?

I am sure there are plenty of fans and friends out there who have non-All-Stars they'd like to give some love to ... please feel free to post those paeans here in the comments section!

In the meantime, I'll just wax a little rhapsodic about my trip to Florida this past weekend for the FSL event ...

You could pretty much tell who was going to win the Home Run Derby by the time Vero Beach Devil Rays DH J.T. Hall had taken his second or third swing. This guy didn't just hit home runs. He blasted tape measure shots that you could actually hear across the park. His first home drew a chorus of impressed "oooooooooooohs" from the not-easily-impressed players gathered on the sidelines for the event.

I knew Hall had some family in town from seeing several folks at the previous evening's gala with the name "Hall" on their nametags but thought it was pretty cool to find out he actually had EIGHT relatives who had made the trip to Florida from Mississippi to see him in his first-ever All-Star Game in five pro seasons.

His biggest competition came from the hometown favorite, scrappy Brevard County infielder Taylor Green. The Brewers' 2007 Minor League Player of the Year stands just 5-foot-10 but he was matching Hall homer for homer, and the final tally came down to just a one-bomb advantage for Hall. And although the event was sponsored by a local Toyota truck dealer, Hall sadly did not win a vehicle but rather some nice swag (you know, T-shirts, caps, etc.).

Maybe the best news was that my season-long weather curse has ended, for the time being. No freezing cold, no soaking rain, no Arizona hail. I mean, sure it was hot but it was Florida in June, what do you expect? Luckily there was an endless supply of nice cold water in the dugout to keep Hall cool between rounds.

We had blue skies and a light breeze to keep it comfortable there in Viera. In short, a perfect evening for an All-Star baseball game.

I also got to see one of the most memorable people I have ever met in my years covering this game, legendary Brevard County groundskeeper Ice, who is undoubtedly the best (perhaps the only, but I have no idea) freestyle rapping groundskeeper. He's been breaking out his rhymes since at least the 1996 season at Space Coast Stadium and I swear he does not look a day older than he did when I met him back then. Sadly I don't have a picture of him to include here but somewhere in the archives of the early days of the Fox News Channel is some footage of his rapping taken during spring training of 1997, right before I quit my weekend gig there (don't ask, but Bert Sugar still owes me $100 for my predicting that the Marlins would win the World Series that year).

And of course what All-Star Game -- or any game -- would be complete without some mascots on hand? Hometown fuzzy Manny the Manatee (that's him on the right) welcomed two of his anthromorphosized buddies in Squeeze the Grapefruit from Vero Beach (on the left) and Phinley the Shark (in the middle, duh) who swam across the state from Clearwater, home of the Phillies' Threshers.

Oh, right, the West won, 9-3. But when all is said and done, that's usually the last thing anyone remembers.

But one of my favorite parts of the weekend actually came on the way home when I grabbed a late lunch at a restaurant at Orlando Airport. The waitress there actually carded me. I know that it's probably in her job description "card everyone who looks under the age of 75 in Florida." Either that or she's learned that when you card someone who clearly has not been carded in at least 20 years, odds are you will make her so happy she will give you a 50 percent tip. But it was a great way to leave the Magic Kingdom on a high note.

Next stop, Myrtle Beach ... (note to waitress there: card me and I'll tip well).

ADDRESS: 1997 MEMORY LANE

2008-06-12T17:24:01Z

Now that I have managed to conquer my techno-dinosaurism and not only go high-speed but also learn how to scan pictures (!), I have spent what little free time I've had in the last few days having a scanning party. The first box to get uploaded into my laptop was that of all my old baseball pictures.

So for the next several weeks, we're going to have some occasional fun here (not like my blog isn't ALWAYS fun, right?) and play "Name That Ballplayer."

I'm going to post some old pix of teams or groups of players and let's see who can ID any or all of them. We could call this a game, or we could call it "help Lisa figure out who some of these guys are, please!" Or a little of both.

Actually with this first picture we've managed to identify (we think) all but two players, and even those two I THINK I know who they are but am not 100 percent sure. But I also think it would be neat to see how many people out there can identify the most players in this picture.

The winner will get some sort of prize. I haven't figured out what it will be yet.

This is a picture taken by the amazing Barbara Jean Germano, one of the greatest baseball photographers I've ever met (and one of my favorite people ever ... and I know that this opinion is shared by just about everyone who knows her). It was shot in September 1997, in Buffalo, a few hours before Game 2 of what would be the final Triple-A American Association championship series (the next year the three leagues realigned into two).

Buffalo Bisons (Indians) manager Brian Graham (hint: he is in the picture) gathered several of the players on hand into a group shot with me (the crutches I was getting around on after a severe ankle sprain falling down a few stairs are NOT in the picture). The team would go on to sweep the series in three games from the Iowa Cubs.

This 1997 Buffalo team is one of my all-time favorite teams and this picture is one of my most cherished memories, ankle injury notwithstanding.

How many of the players can you name? HINT: five of them are currently in the Major Leagues as of June 12.

ETA: And along with the five current big league players, one other is a big league coach. BONUS POINTS if you can ID him.

REQUEST: The two players we're not 100 percent sure of (and when I say "we" I've put my head together with BJ Germano and long-time Bisons beat writer Mike Harrington whose awesome Bisons blog you can read here)) are the player two to the right of me in the front (with a black glove) and the player whose head is directly to the right of HIM. I THINK I know who they are but am not positive so if you can ID either one you get additional bonus points.

ETA JUNE 18 (and by the way, happy Paul McCartney's Birthday to you all! Why yes, it IS a national holiday!) ... gotta officially cancel the "contest" aspect of this now since the IDs are up online but it's still fun to take this walk down memory lane, isn't it???)

THE PRINCE AND CINDERELLA

2008-06-02T15:06:30Z

In my last entry, I talked about my awesome daughter, her memorable Prom Night, and how proud I am of her yadda yadda yadda. And in the entry before that, writing about White Sox outfield prospect David Cook, I shared the love for "American Idol" Ruben Studdard (still, in my opinion, the BEST "American Idol" winner to date).

This morning, over my French Market coffee, I read an article in the Washington Post that I had to share here on my blog (you may have to sign in to WaPo to read it but please do ... they won't bite, they won't keep all your personal info, and it is TOTALLY worth reading this article!). And yes, this IS all relevant ...

An awesome woman in Woodbridge, Va., named Helen McCormick and her son Todd have established a "student leadership center" called The House just minutes from where my daughter was born, minutes from where I spent my first three years as a Minor League beat writer, minutes from where I lived for five years as a fledgling reporter and young mother.

The House helps teens from the area find purpose, stay in school, work with role models.

But one of the big events of The House is sponsoring and staging the annual Cinderella Ball which is a prom for kids who are not mainstream, whether physically or developmentally. The organization, through its supporters' donations of money, goods and/or time, creates a night to remember for everyone involved.

This year's event was May 31 at the very snazzy Willard Interncontinental, and The Man, Ruben Studdard, himself provided the live entertainment. You can read more about the event, and the organization, at their blog ...

I don't know if the Carolina League's Potomac Nationals (my old Prince William Cannons) already have an involvement with this group but if they don't, and they plan to perhaps hold a "Cinderella Ball" Night in honor of their PRINCE glory days of yore (can I come up with a great marketing/promotion plan or what???) I hope they'll let me know so I can attend (hint, it's been 20 years since they won the league title in 1989). I'll even help man the boxes for fans to bring their prom finery to donate for the 2009 Ball!!

IS THIS THE LITTLE GIRL I CARRIED?

2008-05-30T03:57:17Z

I promised that when I made the occasional "personal life" blog entry, I would find some sort of warning avatar like a baseball sticking a fork in its eye. I'm afraid the best I could do was this picture of my daughter Dana's first birthday, where her rakish headwear looks pretty hazardous to one's eyesight.

It seems like only yesterday that I was the increasingly unwieldy beat writer for the 1990 Prince William Cannons (Yankees) in the Carolina League, lumbering my way through the hot summer months with a mid-October due date.

Every time the team would come home from a road trip, catcher Brad Ausmus would look at me, apparently 30 pounds heavier than a week before, and say "There is NO WAY you're not having that baby before October."

In the dugout, the talk would often turn to raising children. First baseman J.T. Snow had an open mind about that sort of thing. He said "My kid can play any position he wants to."

And at the occasional reception, "my players" were very protective of me and "Spot" as we called the impending blessed event since we didn't know his/her gender at the time ... they would take sips of whatever was in my cup to make sure it wasn't alcoholic! (It was always club soda).

When she was born a full month early, a lot closer to when Brad Ausmus predicted she'd come than when my own doctor said she'd come, I told him that if ever gave up baseball and decided to pursue obstetrics I would totally come to his practice.

In the nearly 18 years since then, I've run into many of those players over the course of the seasons. Some remember the baby (or even just remember that was I expecting a baby) and ask after her.

Some she's gotten to "know" in the way that a little kid could get to "know" a kind and patient and friendly player. Her FAVORITE player as a little one, outfielder Ronnie Gant, took her onto the field with him at a spring training game when he was playing for the Cardinals, the year when he was coming back from a horrible dirt bike accident. I had written a column at Baseball Weekly where I talked about Dana asking if Ronnie's "boo boo" was better. And he had read it and when he saw us, he lifted her out of the stands and brought her onto the field, something she -- and we -- remember to this day.

The funny thing is that Dana has never really been a huge baseball fan, much to our chagrin.

She thinks it's OK. She basically GETS it. She just has other things she'd rather do than watch a game. Like play music. Or write songs. Or watch reruns of "Gilmore Girls" or "America's Next Top Model" marathons or "Scrubs."

But she did get a kick when she was about 9 when Nickelodeon hired her to follow ME around my Spring Training job that day for a "Take Your Daughter To Work Day" assignment. She dragged the infield, she chatted with the ever-affable Jose Lima and Casey Candaele, she got her Flat Stanley to pose with Candaele and Scipio Spinks, and she interviewed Mike Piazza. AND she got paid for it!

That was about as cool a spring vacation as anyone had. Most of her classmates' Flat Stanleys had gone to their grandma's houses or gone shopping at Giant.

Anyway ... the years have passed. She changed her plans re: taking Derek Jeter to the senior prom. She passed all her classes with flying colors. She's had a great high school career. She got to play "Reno Sweeney" in "Anything Goes." her ex-band has played CBGBs and Washington DC's 9:30 club -- twice. She was accepted to the college of her dreams with a partial scholarship and starts there in the fall, moving eight hours away from me where she can watch Red Sox games from out of her dorm window. It' s all good, all except that empty nest I will fill with ... well, boxscores and road trips.

Today she finished her high school work. She turned in her last Venn Diagram. She received her last rocking A in English that exempted her from her final exam. At about 11:00 a.m. she came home and did a little "Rocky" triumphant dance loop around the kitchen.

My baby has grown up. Here she is day of her senior prom with her date, her boyfriend Zach, who was definitely a preferable prom date (no offense, Derek). I am trying to see the similarities between her and the baby with the birthday hat horns. Ah well. All I know is that I am proud of her and love her very much and hope she and I can spend SOME fun quality time this summer watching some old eps of "Sex in the City" and shopping before she leaves for Boston in August. And and that she gets out there and starts playing her music.

So ... congratulations my wonderful, beautiful Dana. You'll always be my baby.

CANCEL THAT CALL

2008-05-29T03:27:16Z

Wow, is my cyberface red. As pinch-hitter for Jonathan Mayo this week (and for the coming two weeks) on the Futures Exchange beat, I singled out a pair of players who could be getting "the call" in coming weeks, and suggested that the Cleveland Indians might finally be able to bring up much-ballyhooed right-hander Adam Miller who was coming off a start a few days earlier of five-inning two-hit ball and had a pretty nifty 1.88 ERA in six starts. Since he had had a good-year/bad-year tendency (read: healthy year/injured year) it seemed like this might be one of those good (read: healthy) years.

Not so fast there, Johnson.

Turns out that even as that article was going up on the site, Miller was undergoing surgery that might end his 2008 season. Oy.

Hopefully not everything I've written this week on MiLB.com will result in guys on the DL, however.

I was glad to have a chance to give some love to the California League catchers in my current Perspectives column, most notably Pablo "Pablito" Sandoval.This is a guy for whom the words "tearing it up" in the Cal League would be an understatement right now.

Prior to this season, I was assigned the job of writing the weekly Cal League notebook which means I now know more than I ever thought I'd know about a league 2000 miles away (and hey, guys, any time you want to send me out there on a road trip to see these guys up close and personal, I'm there!!!). And I couldn't help but notice that it seemed like every time I singled out a guy who was raking, he turned out to be a catcher ...

But Sandoval has been a favorite of mine for awhile anyway and I'm really looking forward to, I hope, seeing him in Myrtle Beach on June 24 at the Carolina-California League All-Star Game. Back in 2006, my first year with MiLB.com, I was at the All-Star Fanfest in Pittsburgh and doing a show on air with my partner Jonathan Mayo, where we had a few of the Futures prospects on hand to chat with live and in person.

I can't remember who we were supposed to interview, but there was a last-minute change and Sandoval offered to come on with us on very short notice ... such short notice that we didn't know he'd be out guest until he sat down in the seat between us on stage. Luckily I recognized him and knew his story so we kind of winged it.

Just 19 at the time, the Venezuelan-born Sandoval had MLB's Sylvia Lind with him to serve as interpreter but I noticed that he definitely understood everything I was asking him in English, even though he was responding in Spanish, because he was answering immediately without waiting for her to translate my questions INTO Spanish.

He had a great sunny personality and I am definitely looking to following up that interview next month. Maybe this time he'll even answer in English because my Spanish is pretty non-existent (that is the one thing I really want to rectify ... I would LOVE to go to a Spanish immersion program this coming off-season. I've been trying to use the "Spanish for Gringoes" CD in my car but it's not quite enough to enable me to interview baseball players).

Finally, I just want to add in one more plug for a fantastic new blog on our pro side, Behind the Lens which is written by producer/cameraman extraordinaire Joe Cronin (no, not that Joe Cronin). I probably spend more time on the road with him than I do with most members of the family (and the fact that he has yet to kill me without actually being related to me says volumes about what a great mellow guy he is). But aside from his talent as a multi-media god he is also a hilariously funny writer. And maybe if I continue to say enough nice things about his blog he won't post any of my video bloopers.

COOKIE PARTY

2008-05-27T23:26:53Z

With all due credit to Sarah Silverman for the blog entry title (which, I may add, is my text message alert tone on my phone and I never get sick of it) ...

I am down here in Birmingham, Alabama, which is perhaps best known (to me, at least) as the home of my alltime favorite "American Idol" champion, Ruben Studdard.

It's also the summer home of David Cook. No, not THAT David Cook. But rather the David Cook who is tearing it up playing outfield for the Birmingham Barons, the White Sox Double-A affiliate.

I've actually been following THIS David Cook since I met him in the visitors' dugout in Frederick back in 2006. I may be one of the few people not related to Cook that, when I saw there was an American Idol contestant named David Cook, I thought "hey, like the White Sox outfield prospect!"

So though I felt like a dork doing it, I took the opportunity this afternoon to chat a bit with Baseball Cookie about AI, his doppelganger (doppelnamer?) oh, yes, and baseball.

Turns out that Cook stopped watching AI pretty much after Season 2 and, like me, his favorite winner was also Ruben Studdard (Ruben, if you're reading this, I think you should come sing the anthem one evening at Regions Park and meet your fan while you're here!)

And he figured out that he might have a "name twin" one evening when some heckler yelled at him "Go back to American Idol, Cook!"

While it's hard to duplicate the current professional success that Singing Cookie is having right now (even though I think he's kind of yarly), Baseball Cookie is doing pretty well himself.

He was leading the Minors in walks with 46 and fifth in the Minors in on-base average at .466, with a .314 average, 10 homers and 23 RBIs. He was among the Southern League leaders in several key categories and leading the Barons in just about everything.

A product of the midwest, Cook hails from Columbus, Ohio, and came to the White Sox by way of Miami University (an outstanding liberal arts college not to be confused with the more baseball-related University of Miami).

Right now (6:49 p.m. Central Time) I have no idea if I'm going to get to see Cookie rake tonight, or even draw a few walks. Because it's me and I'm on the road, it is, of course, raining in Birmingham (the usual weather forecast for me is 20 percent of rain, 100 percent chance of rain within 100 yards of Lisa).

However, they are even as we speak (in a cyber sort of way) taking the tarp off the field ... let's get ready to crummmmmmmmmmmmbbbbbbbbbbble!!!

FLIPPING OVER STUBBY!

2008-05-23T01:53:39Z

I just want to give huge kudos to the Houston Astros organization for giving the "okay for liftoff," and letting their Minor League hitting coach Stubby Clapp take a month hiatus this summer to play for Team Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

It's awesome enough that an active coach will get a chance to get back on the field ... and let's face it, no one gets on the field the way that Clapp does, via trademark back flip ...

Currently the hitting coach for the Class A Lexington Legends in the South Atlantic League, Clapp has become a Minor League legend for more than just his catchy nickname (for the record, his given name is Richard Keith Clapp III but he was nicknamed "Stubby" like his dad and grandfather before him).

A longtime farmhand with the St. Louis Cardinals, his big league resume consists of a grand total of 23 games in 2001 but the impact he had on fans around the Minors lives on.

He played for four years for the Cards' Triple-A Memphis Redbirds affiliate and in 2007 his No. 10 was the first number retired in that club's history. Also, if you can get it (I am sure it is a collector's item), he was featured -- all 5-foot-8 of him -- on a growth chart for kids during his Redbirds reign. And as if Memphis fans didn't love him enough, he even married a lovely local lady.

But newly-planted Tennessee (and Kentucky) roots aside, the 35-year-old from Windsor, Ontario, has really been the face, the heart, soul and sense of humor, of Baseball Canada for years.

Back in 2004, when Canada made it to the Summer Olympics in Athens (while Team USA stayed home following a 1-0 loss to Mexico in the qualifying semifinals), it was Clapp who was the team leader as well as king of the arts and crafts club -- when slugger Justin Morneau was promoted to the big leagues right before the Olympics, it was Clapp who found a Morneau bobblehead doll given away by the Rochester Red Wings earlier that summer and painted a Team Canada uniform on it. That became the lucky charm for the club, which played its way to the Olympics semifinals and actually led Cuba in that game before allowing the winning runs in the late innings. I know. I followed the game with my heart in my mouth online that day.

I was lucky enough to acquire a Stubby Clapp bobblehead doll which is one of my most prized collectibles (in case you're wondering, left to right, that is the Phillies Phanatic Bobble-Belly doll, Stubby in his Memphis glory, Kevin Millar, Prickle the Dinosaur from Gumby, and, perhaps my most unusual collectible, my Tony Beasley nesting doll from when the current Pittsburgh Pirates third base coach was the manager at Double-A Altoona. Missing from the picture is my Mr. Celery bobble -- um -- stalk?)

Anyway ... Now Stubby is a coach, and may I say an outstanding hire by the Astros organization. I can think of few people who could be more inspiring to young charges. So I do understand why the club was reluctan at first to lose him for a month mid-season.

But I am SO glad the decision was reconsidered and that Stubby will get the chance to be with Team Canada in what may be the final hurrah for baseball at the Olympics ... even though he's been plagued by a bad knee, it's his heart that is so vital to that team.

Way to go, Astros!

SOMETHING IN THE WATER?

2008-05-23T00:42:36Z

While in Syracuse earlier this week, I was able to catch up with an old friend, pitcher Danny Graves who signed with the Minnesota Twins this past off-season and is pitching for the Rochester Red Wings.

The term "old friend," however, is kind of a misnomer when you're talking about "Gravy."

I first met him back in the January 1996 when he was one of a dozen participants in the Cleveland Indians' inaugural Winter Development Program. Just 22 at the time and one of the club's top prospects, his gregarious personality stood out and made him an immediate favorite, kind of like everyone's kid brother.

He went on, as you probably know, to enjoy significant big league success as a closer, primarily after being traded to Cincinnati (where he had four seasons in which he saved 30 or more games, including a 41-save campaign).

He also became the first Major League to have been born in Vietnam, a heritage of which he has always been very proud (his mom is Vietnamese and met his dad when he was stationed there during the war).

Because my job is -- and pretty much always has been -- covering the Minor Leagues, one of the weird downsides is that I tend to lose touch with some of my favorite guys when they become "successful" because I don't get out to many big league games. So it's sort of strange, then, when I DO see them, because on the one hand I am happy to reconnect but on the other hand, I'm sure they don't really want to be in the Minors at this point.

But I have a feeling that Graves won't be in the Minors much longer. After some struggles in 2005-2006 he regrouped in the independent Atlantic League last summer, leading the loop with 33 saves for the Long Island Ducks, and the Twins took notice.

Now, I KNOW that I look pretty much every minute of the 12 years that I've aged since I met Graves. But Gravy? Although the calendar says he'll be 35 this summer, he looks exactly like he did at 22.

Except maybe a few more tattoos.

WE GOT BLUE SKIES ... NO, WAIT ...

2008-05-19T01:23:07Z

So as a newbie blogger I have made a stunning realization. The longer I go between entries, the harder it is to create a new one. You might think it would be easier ... so much more to write ... but instead it's a little overwhelming.

I'd been slow on the uptake partly because I was (and this is really hard to admit) ... *I was on dial-up* ... I know, I know. Dinosaur. But now that I have discovered the joys of high-speed internet (thank you Comcast) I have no excuse.

So here I sit in Syracuse (again!) vowing that this time it will be different. You know, like all 1,876,342 diets I've been on in my (mumble/deleted) years.

I'll take it slow. One blog at a time. Starting ... now.

So, I'm ready to take bids from all of the communities across our great country that have been suffering from drought conditions. That's right, bids for me to come to (YOUR PARCHED TOWN HERE) to cover a Minor League Baseball game. Because apparently all it takes to bring "steady soaking rain" to a town is for my bosses to send me there to cover a game.

I am buying stock in Pep Boys windshield wipers because I am giving mine a serious workout. So far, in the last few days, I have driven 11 hours. And I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it has rained for every single second of those 11 hours on the road.

Maryland to Ithaca (a detour en route to Cooperstown to visit my awesome sister), Ithaca to Cooperstown, Cooperstown to Syracuse. Rain rain rain rain rain.

But even in the rain, can I just say that Cooperstown is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. If you are a baseball fan, it's just nirvana. For those of you who are fans of "Twilight Zone" think of the episode about "Willoughby" (one of my favorites) ... just a throwback in time about 100 years. But with streets lined with dozens of shops filled with everything a true fan could imagine. Not crappy cheap mass-produced souvenirs, but unique ones (for example, when I came here 20 years ago, I got a Seattle Pilots ashtray!) ... and cafes, ice cream parlors, quaint B&Bs and inns all in a gorgeous pastoral lakeside upstate New York setting ...

Oh, and did I mention the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum?

A day trip here is simply inadequate. It would take a few days just to experience the Hall of Fame on its own. To truly soak in the atmosphere, you need a few days. I am really hoping to get back here as a visitor and vacationer soon.

I also had the rare treat of sitting in on a chat with Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, presented by the Hall for its members on Saturday evening. Though of course I knew Fisk's awe-inducing numbers (24 years in the bigs and 2,226 games caught and he still has knees, not to mention at 60 years old an amazing head of hair!!!) I really had no clue to his personality before Saturday. The man is hilarious ... self-deprecating (though not in a fake manner), funny, clever and very very frank. It was one of the most enjoyable Q&A sessions I've had the pleasure of attending in quite awhile.

Unfortunately, his subsequent appearance throwing out the first pitch at the Cooperstown Classic game this afternoon between the Syracuse Chiefs and Rochester Red Wings was not in the cozy confines of the Hall of Fame Grandstand Theater but rather on the cold and wet field at Doubleday Stadium.

The game was, as they say, banged in the second inning to be allegedly picked up Monday as a double dip between these same teams. I say allegedly because I am still here. Which means ... well, you know.

Sorry guys, Enjoy your night off.

And hey, maybe next entry I'll try to graduate to ... graphics. And pictures. Woo hoo!!!

SHE MAY GET WOOL E.

2008-05-01T23:10:43Z

So I had a "mascot epiphany" of sorts last week.

I was at the (amazing, gorgeous, one of the gems of the Minors) DBAP -- the Durham Bulls Athletic Park -- and being a mascot geek, I was especially loving the "antics" (hate that word but can't think of a better one) of the energetic and adorable Wool E. Bull.

Now, I know that Wool E. Bull, who joined the Durham Bulls as their official mascot in 1992, was named after the Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs oldie "Wooly Bully." It's even the song he has on his official MySpace.

But could it be total sheer coincidence that one of the most hilarious and memorable scenes in the movie "Bull Durham" (other than the candlesticks mound conference) occurs during a road trip bus ride when the clueless Nuke LaLoosh strums away on his guitar, butchering the classic "Try A Little Tenderness" by singing "She may be WOOLLY ... young girls they do get woolly ..." (I had hoped there would be a YouTube clip of this scene I could link but sadly, there isn't ... if anyone wants to post one and let me know, I'll edit this entry and give you credit!)

Coincidence? I think not.

I won't go into TOO much detail about my 20 years of memories of Durham Bulls baseball, dating back to my christening as a Minor League beat writer in the Carolina League in 1989, simply because I plan to write an entire column about that this coming week (it hits the MiLB.com site on May 5!).

However, I think the Bulls and the film have so much to do with the incredible surge of popularity that Minor League Baseball as a whole has enjoyed in the last 20 years. And for that I have to give a huge thank you to the film's creator (and former Minor League infielder himself) Ron Shelton.

The team is celebrating that 20th anniversary of the release of Shelton's classic all season long at the DBAP, including one particularly awesome film clip they show on the Jumbotron screen that fast-forwards that bus trip scene several years (maybe decades) into the future, with Bulls "team ambassador" (that's his title!) Bill Law as a "more mature" Nuke, singing about young girls getting woolly, and long-time radio broadcaster Ken Tanner as a slightly older Crash Davis tearing the guitar out of his hands.

Anyway, I'd only been to the DBAP once before, several years ago, with a group of family and friends on a rainy night sitting in the outer reaches of the left field stands, behind the visitors' dugout. So I hadn't really appreciated just how wonderful a stadium it was until this time through town.

It boasts the perfect combination of old-fashioned red brick charm and new-fangled comforts to provide the ideal night at the ballpark for anyone from a diehard baseball fan to someone who just wants to go out and enjoy a night in the warm Carolina evening air.

And when the game is over, the "entertainment district" is just across the street, with free indoor parking and several restaurants and bars scattered up and down "American Tobacco Campus." I went to Tyler's, with its friendly staff and fried pickle chips but there are plenty of other places to choose from, if you still have room after availing yourself of the concession stands at the park.

And with the wealth of talent in the Tampa Bay organization (in my opinion the most loaded organization in baseball right now), you're pretty much guaranteed of getting to see some of the game's top prospects in Durham anytime between tomorrow and, oh, the next several years.

So in case you hadn't figured it out, I'm pretty much of a mind that anyone who calls themselves a baseball fan -- or a film buff -- needs to make a pilgrimage to Durham, NC. Catch a Durham Bulls game at the DBAP, and while you're at it head a few blocks over to the original Durham Athletic Park where the movie was filmed to see what they're doing there.

They just broke ground this week on a $5 million renovation and restoration project to bring the field back to its former glory, as the home of the North Carolina Central University baseball team and the site of a new Minor League Baseball training facility.

Go. Tell them GotMilb sent you. It won't make a difference but it will make me feel good.

NOTHING COULD BE FINER ...

2008-04-23T23:29:05Z

Than to be in Carolina watching baseball.

Coming to you live and in person (okay, in cyberspace) from Durham Bulls Athletic Park (fondly known as the "DBAP" to distinguish it from its predecessor, the "DAP," Durham Athletic Park) as the host Bulls take on the Charlotte Knights in an all-North Carolina International League showdown. Blue skies, sunshine, about 70-something degrees.

A little slice of heaven.

But before I continue, please let me point your attention to the links on the right. They are there courtesy of my new best friend, Firefox. Someday I might learn to actually listen to people who are more knowledgeable than I am when they make technical suggestions. My co-workers and my husband have been trying to convince me to download Firefox for awhile, basically every time I whine about my slow computer and lousy connectivity. Of course, I'm still the dinosaur on dial-up (until Friday when Comcast comes to install high speed internet!).

However, I'd been baffling even our techiest techies with my inability to install/fix links. Until now. Firefox has freed me. I'm gonna be a link-adding fool, I tell you. PLUS it will apparently make it easier for me to watch our own MLB.com/MiLB.com games online. I may NEVER get out of my desk chair now ...

So go check out some of my links! Nothing quite expresses your true identity like the links you post, right? Which makes me ... um ... a hot dog-eating, soy sauce-loving, snarky obscure music fanatic with a slightly necrophiliac tendency. All righty then.

But back to baseball. Drove about 300 miles down I-95/I-85 with the torrential rain following me pretty much every tread-track of the way. Spent the last two afternoons/evenings over at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, home of the Double-A Carolina Mudcats, to work on a feature package on their outstanding center field prospect, Cameron Maybin, which you'll be able to read at The Farms Almanac starting on Friday, April 25.

Five County is definitely one of my favorite stadiums. Sure, it doesn't have quite the same architectural charm of, say, a DBAP. Sure, location-wise it doesn't have quite the downtown appeal of, well, a DBAP. But it has a soft spot in my heart for several reasons.

For one thing, Five County may have the best ballpark food in the Minors. As far as its concession stands go, it has everything from fantastic Carolina barbecue (my weakness) to catfish sandwiches (their logo is a catfish) as well as all of the more traditional favorites. But it also features a gourmet-quality full-service restaurant called Cattails which is open year-round.

For another, you gotta love their mascot Muddy Mudcat. You might think there really isn't anything cute and cuddly about a catfish but they managed to make Muddy adorable. On Tuesday night, as the torrential rains dwindled into scattered showers, he roamed the stands wearing a jaunty yellow poncho and rain cap.

I also got to witness something I have heard about for years but thought was one of those urban legends until Tuesday night: a batboy being sent out in search of the key to the batters' box.

It's one of those rites of passage that I thought might, by this point, be apocryphal. Could anyone still fall for such a ruse in this day and age? Apparently so. For several innings, I watched this kid running back and forth between the dugouts, between the clubhouses (located at the far end of each outfield foul line), up to the radio broadcaster's booth, even to the chef at Cattails, in search of that elusive key. I won't mention his name here and I won't out the player who sent him on his fruitless search (though I will say it WASN'T Maybin, who himself was a batboy for the Asheville Tourists for three years as a teenager).

But at one point, I saw him carrying a small box down the right field line and could not figure out what that was about. Turns out, when he asked the Mudcats clubhouse attendant for the key, the clubbie told him he didn't have it but asked him if he could please find him some left-handed curveballs and handed him the box to collect them in. Double whammy.

I wasn't around when he was finally let in on the joke. But I am told he took it like a good sport. I am hoping the players tipped him well last night, Especially ... well, player that sent him on the search, you know who you are! And so do I.

To save your eyes and sanity, I am going to sign off for now, but will return to blog tomorrow all about Durham, since the parks, old and new, deserve an entry of their own.

But in the meantime, HAPPY BIRTHDAY FERNANDO PEREZ!!!

HI HO, THE GLAMOROUS LIFE!

2008-04-14T05:24:48Z

Just want to get caught up on my first road trip of the season before I've forgotten too many of the details to share (don't laugh, this will happen to you someday as well).

I won the "Opening Day First Game" lottery this year and got to see the first pitch of the 2008 season thrown in Syracuse ... and no, even though it may sound that way, I'm actually not being sarcastic about that.

For one thing, it was a great game, a true pitching duel between a pair of 2004 first-rounders whose names were called just nine picks apart: Louisville Bats ace Homer Bailey, taken with the seventh pick by the Reds, and Syracuse Chiefs southpaw David Purcey, taken with the 16th pick.

Both pitched brilliantly with Purcey getting the win as Syracuse prevailed, 2-0. Coming back from elbow trouble which cut short his 2007 season, Purcey started his comeback in Arizona Fall League last year and was one of the top pitchers in that league, so he was really picking up where he left off in November with his six innings of shutout ball. And though Bailey took the loss, he looked great. He has the most effortless motion and seemed like he could have easily pitched another 10 innings beyond the seven he threw (I kid, they'd call the ASPCP if he did that).

I didn't get to see as much of Syracuse and that "CNY" area as I would have liked, however. We were slated to drive down to Binghamton the next night and catch a game between the B-Mets and Trenton Thunder (the Yankees farm team) but the cold rain washed out both that game and what would have been the second game of the Syracuse-Louisville series as well, leaving us to look out our hotel windows at what I presume was downtown Syracuse.

I was actually rather sentimental about being in Syracuse because my very first Minor League game was a Chiefs game, way back in ... oh, okay, I'll admit it. 1987. I was up there with a few co-workers to cover the annual Empire State Games (think New York State's version of a mini-Olympics) and we decided to sneak out and skip the big opening ceremonies to see the Chiefs play the Maine Guides. (I guess I can admit that now as well, more than 20 years later, right?) The fact that we could walk into a ballpark 15 minutes before a game and get front row seats right behind first base just gobsmacked me.

So I didn't see much of Syracuse (or make my first trip to Binghamton for that matter) this trip but as far as giving my faithful readers a brief travelogue, I DID see a lot of my hotel and can't recommend it highly enough for anyone who might be making a trip up to the city ... the Renaissance Syracuse is awesome. For one thing, it's round and I'm still easily impressed by that sort of thing. The rooms all have huge plasma screens (the better to watch America's! Next! Top! Model! while working) and great showers (though, sadly, no bathtubs). And the hotel bar (The Library) is cozy and friendly and has a wonderful bartender and free wireless internet (hey, I had a late flight out and had several hours to kill and a rotisserie draft the next day to prep for).

I actually have two more swings through upstate New York on the docket in the next month (Rochester and Buffalo at the end of April and then the Cooperstown Classic between Syracuse and Rochester in mid-May) but first I'll be heading down to North Carolina for a few days next week, to see the Carolina Mudcats host the Tennessee Smokies before heading over to Durham for a few days. So if you see the GOTMILB-mobile, be sure to come say hi!

I'll be the one stuffing my face with Carolina barbecue!

CATCHING MY BREATH ...

2008-04-12T03:42:08Z

Just barely, though. Normally that span of a week or two between road trips is a chance to chill a little bit. Sure, I get caught up on a lot of writing, including the written features that will run on the site (this week I had the Louisville dynamic duo of Jay Bruce and Homer Bailey, for example), and try to bring myself up to date on all things baseball but in a less frantic way than when i'm on the road.

This year, the very nice powers that be were kind enough to let me add a new weekly feature into the mix, one I'm REALLY excited about. We're calling it "Movin' On Up" and given all the extra work my friends and colleagues on the copy desk have to do to give it its bells and whistles, I hope you all will take a look at it here!. It will go up on the site every Friday and will feature the Major League debuts that were made in the receding week ... what transaction led to the promotion, what the player did in his very first taste of the bigs and some news and notes about him. PLUS it will link to hs MiLB Player Page which means readers will have pretty much his life story and full stats at the click of a mouse!

Back in the days when I was at USA Today Baseball Weekly I handled the debuts as well and although it was labor intensive, it was in a good way. It made me very aware at all times who was on the 25 and 40-man rosters (there used to be a game they played on this overnight radio sports show locally where they'd try to stump the caller as to whether a player was up or down and I ALWAYS knew the answer!!!) and also more aware of how the newbies would factor into their teams.

AND it was a hugely popular feature. On the weeks when they'd decide there wasn't room for it (because, you know, we'd have to run ads for Russian mail-order brides or something), I'd get a LOT of unhappy phone calls wondering where their debuts were (although I guess it could have been worse -- they could have been calling to find where their Russian mail-order brides were). So when my bosses here agreed to let me give it a shot I was delighted and apparently I am not the only one ...

Many thanks to those of you such as my friend/reader Jimmy in Richmond who wrote in to let me know how happy they were to have the Debuts back!

In the meantime, all hell seems to be breaking loose at home. None of it catastrophic (knock wood) but just enough that I'm like "OK, NOWWWWWWWWWW what?" every time the phone rings. All I want is, like, 24 hours of nothing. Just nothing. Maybe a hot bubble bath and a good book. Tom Perrotta's "Bad Haircut" has been sitting there calling my name since I got home (It's the last of his books that I haven't read. He is just brilliant). Or even some reality TV. I'm sure I could find reruns of "America's! Next! Top! Model!" or even "Rock of Love 2." As long as it keeps me from angsting.

LEADING OFF ...

2008-04-10T18:42:47Z

... with the first "official" entry in my new MLBlog "got milb?" so just wanted to check in briefly (well, briefly for me is probably a novelette for most people) to introduce myself to those of you who may not "know" me yet and establish my little corner of cyberspace!

I am ecstatic to be able to have this opportunity to blog and share my travels, opinions, observations and bits and pieces of my life, at the park and away from it, with everyone (or no one, depending on if anyone reads this!).

For now, though, if you want to know a little more about me, feel free to click on the "read about me" link to the right there. I think I may have set a new MLB.com record for length of profile. This will not come a a shock to anyone who knows me ...