Spring Training

Benny and I started our day off early. We got to the field about 730AM and we started at 8. Right away you knew who was gonna be cool and you knew who was gonna be a douche bag. If you don't know who the douche bag is by the end of the first day, then chances are, you're it. 

We had some generic meeting with the whole squad then had to go get physicals which is an absolute joke. 40 of us sit around for 4 hours while we go one at a time to have one doctor test our joints and grab our balls to see if we're healthy ("turn your head and cough"). 

One of the last dudes to walk thru the door is a guy I had met at a Texas Rangers invite workout. He was a first round draft pick in the 90's and threw absolute fuel(gas, cheese, heat, cheddar biscuits. These are all was to say that the guy throws real hard)! Michael Nannini was his name and the guy was awesome.

He had a ton of minor league time but never got the call and decided to get out of baseball for a while. Probably about age 33-34 he decided he wanted to give it another shot and that is when I met him. A year and some change later, he comes walking thru the door and immediately recognizes me. We catch up a little bit about where we've been the last year and I knew that he was a guy I wanted to stick around. He just seemed like the type of guy you can learn from.

The week of spring training flies by. We pretty much knew who was gonna make the squad and who wasn't from the first or second day. It was gonna be difficult to choose some of the pitchers. There were some guys with affiliated time that were definitely gonna make it but there was probably 5-6 guys that looked like a question mark. At one point, the manager and player/pitching coach had all of the pitchers run bases because they said they may need to have some pitcher pinch run at some point in the season. That was an absolute cluster-fuck. I think we had a pitcher mess up his ankle rounding second too. Welcome to indy ball fellas.

I never had a doubt that I wouldn't make it. I had thrown well in the intrasquad games and was throwing hard. Benny was a guy that might have been a question mark. He didn't throw really hard but had good command.

The last day of spring training is when they make cuts to finalize the roster. We knew some of the guys that weren't gonna make it, but there was still some bubble guys. We laid out in the grass in the bullpen waiting for our one on one meeting with the manager. Benny was freaking out. He was so nervous. I kept telling him to relax and he had nothing to worry about but it didn't help. He made me feel like an arrogant prick because I was almost napping in the grass and he couldn't sit still. He was like a high school freshman waiting to see if he had made the JV team. 

My meeting comes and they tell me that instead of starting me, they're gonna piggy back me for the first couple weeks until an older guy or guy with more experience gets moved to a new team. It took me a little by surprise because I thought I had shown that I could start, but I wasn't gonna bitch about it. Although, one of the d-bags tells me after my meeting that he's gonna be the game 3 or 4 starter which made me a little angry because he wasn't as good as I was. 

Benny is one of the last ones to go, and he comes out and he seems pretty pumped up. He tried to keep a straight face but as soon as I nodded at him he cracked a smile. He was now a professional ball player. Nobody can ever take that away from him. Not only that, but he was gonna be our game 5 starting pitcher. Son-of-a-bitch! I was really happy for the guy but damn him for getting a starting slot and I got pushed to long relief.

After that day, we had the final roster.

We were the Oregon City Mud Turtles, and we were a big group of slap dicks. 

The season was knocking on our door. We were ready to go. Time to play some damn baseball.

A couple stories from the first week will come tomorrow.

Cheers

Home Sweet Motel 6

I don't mind long drives by myself. In fact, I kind of like them. I'm the guy you see in the car absolutely annhilating a song on the radio. This drive was no different.
I cut it in half and stayed a night in Sacramento with some family on the first day. Day two I finished the 8 hour drive up through Northern California and all of Oregon with a stop in "The Eug" to check out University of Oregon's campus (s'go ducks).
I was meeting up with my buddy Benny at the hotel that the team recommended. The Motel 6 in Clackamas, Oregon. Benny is the good kind of people. He's a wet-behind-the-ears kid that went to a small christian school in the midwest. Good ball player and really loves the game. This was his first year in pro ball and he was anxious as hell to get started.We were gonna live in this motel 6 for the first week we were up there which was designated for "Spring Training".
I finally pull into this parking lot and the first thing I see rubs me a little wrong. Theres two dudes that are definitely homeless, possibly drug addicts, sitting on the ground in front of my room. One is sleeping and the other has his phone plugged into and outside wall socket playing hip hop music. They don't have a room because all the doors are closed. I dropped everything in the room and Benny calls me as he's pulling up. I walk outside and wave from the third story walk way and invite a couple prospective teammates up for beers if they want. Of course, the homeless dude that was sleeping wakes up and hears me and says, "Hey man, can I have a beer? I'll trade you some weed." I told him I didn't smoke and said thanks anyway and went back inside. Of course, one of the first interactions I have with a person near Portland is some dude trying to trade me weed.
Benny and I ended up hanging out for the night but we were planning on running some errands to get some food in the morning and heading to the field to go throw before we met up as a team the next day.
We got up at probably 8 the next morning and got everything read for the day and stepped out of our hotel room, only to see those two homeless dudes sleeping on the floor outside of you fuckin hotel room! They slept on the outdoor third story walkway of a Motel 6. That was the moment I knew I was in trouble. There were some seedy people walking around this hotel. There was a Clackamas City Parole Officer vehicle parked next to my car in the parking lot. Benny had told me that he thinks he got solicited by a hooker the night before. This was gonna be an interesting week; and we hadn't even started yet!
We ran our errands. Hit the dollar store and bought bowls and basic food items. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches is a pro baseball players best friend and greatest nightmare, but we had to get it so we could eat. As we got to the field, we met a couple people. The manager, a couple pitchers and a couple position players. I had met a couple dudes before at the California Winter League so I knew a few more people than just Benny. The team had all the makings of a solid group from what I could tell; but there was one issue. Our home field was a community college baseball field with no stands. This was professional baseball. People are supposed to come watch yet there were almost no local kids on the team so unless someone's mom or dad was gonna be there, we definitely weren't gonna make any money. This whole deal seemed kinda shady, but they had promised they were gonna get people to the games and sell beer and pay us, who was I to ask questions?
Benny and I finished up our throwing session, went and got a quick lift in at the school gym and headed back to the hotel to cook up some microwaveable Walmart meals and lay low for the night. Our homeless buddies were still there when we got home, but they had migrated to the second floor so we didn't have to step over them to get to our room.
We had our first day of Spring Training the next day. Shit was about to get really fun!

A little long-winded, but the whole idea behind this blog is to give me something to do at nights besides sit on my couch and watch TV or go get hammered with some buddies. I figure this is more productive and a better way to remember my playing days when they're all over.

More to come tomorrow night.
Cheers

Intro

I'm writing this blog as a means to remember some of my greatest professional baseball memories. My goal will be to post a story or two from my 2015 season every night and maintain it thru next season and all my playing days after that.
It all starts in Independent Baseball which is essentially the lowest of the low when it comes to professional baseball. No title of "Minor Leaguer" because were not affiliated. Low pay. No glory. Just baseball for a couple hundred bucks a month.
To start it off, I'll give you a short backstory.
2014 was my first season in professional baseball. I went to the California Winter League in January of 2014. The CWL is a developmental league for kids looking to be seen and sign professional contracts. I had a great showing and signed a contract to a team in the Frontier League. I was a very under-developed pitcher. I had just made the switch over from a position player and was way in over my head in professional baseball.

I lasted about 3 weeks with that team and they released me. Rightfully so. I wasn't very good. I spent the rest of the season trying to get ahold of teams to give me a workout only to be sidelined by a strained oblique that ended my season.
Jump forward to January 2015. I got a phone call from the pitching coach of the team that had released me. He told me that there was a new league opening up for guys like me, looking to gain experience and develop skills and that is what I needed. The manager got ahold of me and within the week I was committed to go play pro ball right outside Portland, Oregon in the Mount Reiner Professional Baseball League for $400/month.
I spent the offseason working hard and when May came around and it was time for me to head out, I was dialed in to be a starter and had developed a 4th pitch. I was confident going into Spring Training. There was no way I wasn't gonna make the squad.
I packed up my car in early May and headed towards Oregon.

I had no idea the kind of shitstorm awaited me...
Story One will come tomorrow night.
Cheers