Precipitation Participation
Thursday, January 24, 2019
The rain threat that I had seen on the Weather Channel website some two weeks ago showed up in earnest today. It was clear when Greg and I arrived at the complex. But by the time we had the morning meeting, which we moved up in order to attempt getting at least one game completed, the front had arrived on the Treasure Coast.
It rained torrentially for about an hour, forcing the postponement of today's pair of games. Those games will be made up tomorrow at 9:30 and 2:00. The pro game will have to be cancelled as there won't be time to play it. We each had the chance to hit off of a pro today in the batting cage and not at batting practice speed. The highlight for many of us today was seeing Nelson Figueroa, Sr. batting against his son in the cage. Junior did not take it easy on his old man and threw some "gas" on a couple of his pitches. "Papi" made contact on a few, but it was a thrill to see this family moment take place right in front of us.
Figgy developed a blister on his finger and needed to depart to tend to it before I got my spot in the cage. I batted against Chad Kreuter, who was a catcher for the Mets at one time. He caught the great Nolan Ryan while with the Rangers and told Coolio, G-Dawg and myself some great stories about Nolan and Bo Jackson and Robin Ventura among other stars of the game at the time he played. He threw me about 10 pitches which made my bat speed resemble Arte Johnson as the little old man on "Laugh-In" who would always get hit with Lily Tomlin's purse. Know what I'm sayin'?
After that we were done for the day. I put together one of the two bags which my friends at Federal Express will send back to my house in frigid Minneapolis.
To backtrack to last night's Kangaroo Court for a moment. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of KC, it goes something like this. We all love a good laugh now and then and when we, as carbon-based life forms make a mistake, it always seems like there's someone there to be eyewitness to something we'd rather forget. That's what Kangaroo Court is all about.
Webster's Dictionary defines Kangaroo Court as "a court characterized by irresponsible, unauthorized or irregular status procedures".The etymology is divided as to authenticity. My favorite theory is that the term comes from courts where the evidence is clearly "jumped over" in an attempt to ignore evidence that would help the defendant in a case. Teams all across baseball, at virtually every professional level have kangaroo courts. They keep the clubhouse loose and are meant to be taken in good fun. But sometimes things go awry.
That aside, the court was presided over by judges Bobby Wine and Todd Pratt. Judge Pratt was a pinch-hitter for Judge Figueroa who was late to the proceedings due to the alarm clock not going off when the afternoon nap went long.But the proceeding went pretty much as they often do. Plenty of fines for things like wearing the wrong jersey top to play a game thus not matching your teammates' attire. One camper not only put on the uniform jersey of the person in the locker next to his, but did the same WITH HIS PANTS!
This year's Court fines were donated to an organization which assists our service men and women. In addition to how much was raised at the Court proceedings one camper gave $2,500 which will definitely go a long way for the charity organization. I came away unscathed as far as fines were concerned, but still donated $30 to the cause, as I appreciate our military personnel just as much as anyone.
So tomorrow we get back on the field to do what we came here to do.
I have TWO great quotes today. The first is from Wednesday morning. During stretching exercises, as we are lying on the ground and stretching one leg over another, my teammate and great guy Frank Sanchez says, "Oh no, I took Advil P.M.!
The second goes to future Hall-of-Famer (not while he's alive, but someday) Pete Rose who said, "I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit just to play baseball."
That's how most of us at camp feel.
The rain threat that I had seen on the Weather Channel website some two weeks ago showed up in earnest today. It was clear when Greg and I arrived at the complex. But by the time we had the morning meeting, which we moved up in order to attempt getting at least one game completed, the front had arrived on the Treasure Coast.
It rained torrentially for about an hour, forcing the postponement of today's pair of games. Those games will be made up tomorrow at 9:30 and 2:00. The pro game will have to be cancelled as there won't be time to play it. We each had the chance to hit off of a pro today in the batting cage and not at batting practice speed. The highlight for many of us today was seeing Nelson Figueroa, Sr. batting against his son in the cage. Junior did not take it easy on his old man and threw some "gas" on a couple of his pitches. "Papi" made contact on a few, but it was a thrill to see this family moment take place right in front of us.
Figgy developed a blister on his finger and needed to depart to tend to it before I got my spot in the cage. I batted against Chad Kreuter, who was a catcher for the Mets at one time. He caught the great Nolan Ryan while with the Rangers and told Coolio, G-Dawg and myself some great stories about Nolan and Bo Jackson and Robin Ventura among other stars of the game at the time he played. He threw me about 10 pitches which made my bat speed resemble Arte Johnson as the little old man on "Laugh-In" who would always get hit with Lily Tomlin's purse. Know what I'm sayin'?
After that we were done for the day. I put together one of the two bags which my friends at Federal Express will send back to my house in frigid Minneapolis.
To backtrack to last night's Kangaroo Court for a moment. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of KC, it goes something like this. We all love a good laugh now and then and when we, as carbon-based life forms make a mistake, it always seems like there's someone there to be eyewitness to something we'd rather forget. That's what Kangaroo Court is all about.
Webster's Dictionary defines Kangaroo Court as "a court characterized by irresponsible, unauthorized or irregular status procedures".The etymology is divided as to authenticity. My favorite theory is that the term comes from courts where the evidence is clearly "jumped over" in an attempt to ignore evidence that would help the defendant in a case. Teams all across baseball, at virtually every professional level have kangaroo courts. They keep the clubhouse loose and are meant to be taken in good fun. But sometimes things go awry.
That aside, the court was presided over by judges Bobby Wine and Todd Pratt. Judge Pratt was a pinch-hitter for Judge Figueroa who was late to the proceedings due to the alarm clock not going off when the afternoon nap went long.But the proceeding went pretty much as they often do. Plenty of fines for things like wearing the wrong jersey top to play a game thus not matching your teammates' attire. One camper not only put on the uniform jersey of the person in the locker next to his, but did the same WITH HIS PANTS!
This year's Court fines were donated to an organization which assists our service men and women. In addition to how much was raised at the Court proceedings one camper gave $2,500 which will definitely go a long way for the charity organization. I came away unscathed as far as fines were concerned, but still donated $30 to the cause, as I appreciate our military personnel just as much as anyone.
So tomorrow we get back on the field to do what we came here to do.
I have TWO great quotes today. The first is from Wednesday morning. During stretching exercises, as we are lying on the ground and stretching one leg over another, my teammate and great guy Frank Sanchez says, "Oh no, I took Advil P.M.!
The second goes to future Hall-of-Famer (not while he's alive, but someday) Pete Rose who said, "I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit just to play baseball."
That's how most of us at camp feel.
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