Baseball is Baseball....

Once again it was a great week of baseball in Florida -- the sixth time in seven years I have attended the Ponce de Leon Spring Training.  This year's Silver Medal for a second place finish comes after being on the winning team the last two years.  (See the valuable hardware in the photo with this year's medal in the middle.)  Following the first three year record of 1 win and 26 losses, the record for the past three years was 23 and 4 - so hopefully I can go back in 2013 to keep climbing above a .500 record. 

I felt good about my play for the week -- I started very poorly at bat - 1 for 9 after four games but had 5 hits in 10 at bats the rest of the week, and swung the bat much better.  My pitching was more consistent than it has been in previous years -- didn't even hit a batter this year!  Physically it is the best I have felt in any of the years I have been there -- Sun Salutations (remembering to breathe Jackie!) and a lot of stretching before and during games kept my legs in good shape.  My throwing arm felt strong all week.  I think the physical results were due in large part to off-season workouts I have been doing at Diamond Sports Training in Sterling VA, organized by my Ponce weeknight teammate Mike Heath (a devotee of St. Yaz.)   Mike rents a cage at DST several times a week and organizes some of his teammates to throw and bat (live pitching off a mound as well as batting off a JUGGS machine.)  I have been there with him a number of times over the last two months and it made a real difference, I think, in my preparation to play this week -- and helped keep me healthy for the duration. 

A couple of baseball items picked up during the week.  The Minnesota Twins had a terrible year last year -- in large part because their two MVP caliber players, Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer, had been hurt.  Steve Liddle said that he believes that Mauer will be fully healthy this year but that Morneau is still recovering from a severe concussion in 2010.  He continues to have after-effects from that concussion that may be exacerbated by hits taken as a young hockey player in his native Canada.....Victor Rodriguez said that Red Sox minor leaguer Ryan Westmoreland, a former top prospect who had brain surgery in 2010 at the age of 19, faced live pitching in a game in the Dominican Instructional League last fall -- and made contact in each of 6 trips to the plate.  He has made a remarkable recovery but still has an extremely long rehabilitation road ahead....Victor's son, Victor, had a successful first year as a Red Sox scout assigned to the Dominican Republic -- signing 10 players.  Bill suggested to Victor that one of those "might be the next Pedro!"....Victor had his Red Sox 2004 World Series ring on for the Awards Dessert on Thursday evening - an eye-popper, with 86 small diamonds, one for each year between World Series victories, Victor's name on one side, and "Greatest Comeback in History" on the other....Former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee was at the camp on Wednesday -- he lives in Vermont but has a place in the Fort Myers area.  Lee plays in numerous senior league tournaments in New England as well as in Florida....Ryan Kalish, a top Red Sox minor league outfielding prospect was out last year with a hurt shoulder and neck.  He had neck surgery in the off-season that was the same as the surgery Peyton Manning had.  Kalish will likely need rehab going into the early part of this season.

One of the great things about the week and Ponce in general is that, by and large, teammates are very supportive of each other.  Particularly for this week (and the weeknight seasons back home) when rosters are a mix of ages from the 30+ league and the 48+ league, literally a generation can separate the players by age.  There is also a great variety in experience and skill levels.  Nonetheless, teammates pull for each other and overlook errors and mistakes so long as players try, and commit to the game.  While there are age jokes made by younger teammates -- I have been asked if I knew Abner Doubleday personally and what was it like to actually live through history like the Red Sox 1967 Impossible Dream year -- people 20 years or more younger than me like Mike, Chris Clark, Izzy, Zark and others treat me first as a ballplayer and a teammate (even if they did give me the Oldest Living Player Award a couple years ago.)  It is appreciated and it makes you want to try hard to keep up (a bit) with them.  There are a few exceptions.  The first year I went to the winter camp I was 59 years old and had my very first experience of anyone, anywhere patronizing me as a "old" person -- by a teammate that year who was about 10 years younger than me.  That player was back this year - and, with the intervening years, fitting in well with the older demographic of the camp.  I wonder if he is more enlightened now about the aging process. 

Finally, a real highlight for me this year was having my brother Bill with me for the week.  He came to the park every day and watched each one of my nine games.  We would talk over the games later and talk baseball (as well as family, politics, etc.) throughout the week.  I have been going to Red Sox and other baseball games with Bill for 60 years -- I have learned more baseball from and with him at ball games than from anyone else.  I have had great times at games with John, George, Flint and many others in years past but Bill is the gold standard for someone to watch a game with.  (I will say, however, that over the last 20 years Elizabeth has hit that standard as we go to Sox games or watch them nightly during the summer.)  My batting average was down this week, but that was only due in part to Bill making me report my performance accurately.  The biggest fib of the week was the one Bill told Ben today, "It was a week to fondly remember, including some great baseball (really.)"  When I asked Bill on Wednesday if the "action" was too boring and would he prefer to go off and do something else in Fort Myers during the day instead, he said, "No, I'm enjoying it.  Baseball is baseball."  That's how we all felt this week.

Chapstick Cosy with Chapstick

Pitchers and catchers report in two weeks.