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
No comments:
Post a Comment