Call it a dry run for cold weather best practices at Target Field. If you love family time and temperatures for fall playoff baseball, today was the day to be in Fort Myers Florida for some Twins Spring Training.
It was too chilly for the beach, so the wife, and I decided to bundle up the kids and head down to see what Spring Training would be like on a non-game day. We had never just dropped by Hammond Stadium to watch the Twins practice, so the entire morning was completely new to us.
We drove into the Stadium Parking lot at 9:15 a.m. and sensing that I was a kid at Christmas, just waiting to tear into my presents, my wife told me to,
“Get out, and go see what’s going on!”
I thanked her profusely, and literally half-jogged to the practice fields with my camera bag hanging around my neck. Within minutes, I was standing at the top of the bleachers snapping pictures of Orlando Hudson and Jim Thome as they were warming up with a herd of Minnesota Twins in right field.
The first of many real baseball legends I spotted was Tom Kelly, manager of the 87 & 91 World Champion Twins. As he walked to the field, bat in hand, he was whorded by fans with duffle bags full of memorabilia, and huge 3 ring notebooks. He stopped to sign some autographs for the fans.
T.K. was clearly wise to the tactics of “for profit” autograph seekers. He called out these autograph whorders (aka “Ho’s” ) who work all of Spring Training to get free signatures on items that they can potentially sell.
“How many of these have I signed for you now?” He said to one of the many adults with the full arsenal of cards, “I remember you from yesteday, and the day before, and the day before. I won’t see you again after this one now, will I? Will I?”
“No sir.”
“Good, the autographs are for the kids anyway, T.K. commented, tongue in cheek. I was happy to see the best manager in team history busting chops to these “squatters” in the same manner that he treated the media back in the day. Like I said, T.K. is a wise old baseball guru.
A few minutes later, I heard the familiar shout of “DADDY!” coming from my 5-year old boy as he came running to find me.
“Daddy, I am here,” he announced, with a big smile, and eagerness to see what this was all about. His mommy and baby sister were strolling close behind.
We hung out for a few minutes, listening to the players banter about and warm up, while Hall of Fame talent like Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Paul Molitor showed up on the field to join the current Twins coaching staff for pre-season tutoring of the current roster.
I snapped some more pictures. A few moments later, I was summoned by another familiar voice,
“Mookie! What’s up man?”
I turned around to see my old softball teammate Mike “Big Hurt” Eckert, strollin up with his family,
“Go figure, of all the places I would see you, it would have to be at Twins Spring Training!”
We joked around a bit, laughing at the irony as we both work for the same company, back in Eagan, MN, and never knew we would have the same Twins preseason vacation schedules.
“I don’t care how cold it is in Florida, it’s still a great day for baseball!” he commented to his son, as we walked toward the infield drills field.
Twins Announcer, Dick Bremer walked by wearing a Hawaiian shirt and white pants, shivering with a hot coffee in his hand.
“That’s awesome,” I joked to Hurt, “I am sure he is wearing that for the cameras, just in case he is interviewed by one of the Minnesota TV stations, to give the impression that it is warmer here in Florida.”
Awhile later, my kid and I walked down to the far end of the facility to watch the Twins pitchers warm-up. We retrived a wild ball intended for the glove of Jon Rauch, and tossed it back to him,
“Thanks man,” he said
“You bet,” I replied, in my best “How to Speak Minnesotan” accent.
The morning flew by, and after 2 1/2 hours of ground balls, 2 cups of coffee, and watching scrimmages, it was time for my kid to try his hand at getting some autographs as the players finished up there days with more wind sprints.
Of course, my little one was the proud recipient of not one, but two “REAL” baseballs given to him by Twins players during the day. What can I say, he looked cute in his Twins gear, and isn’t shy about asking the players what they are doing as they are practicing. Something about him makes the players give away things at Spring Training. Of course, this is the norm for most players to little kids during this time of year, and I am very pleased that this aspect of baseball stays as “non-corporate” as possible. The bizzare thing to me, as how much this changes, once teams head north. I mean the rites of Spring and baseball are still sacred, and attending these types of events have always been a better way of connnecting fans to players, and players to fans. It really reminds me of post-game activites in little league, you know, the part where the parent brings juice boxes and crispy bars to pass out to the rest of the kids? It’s informal, but pure. It’s the premise of the game itself, and I am a big fan of that.
Well, we took my kid and his baseballs to the walkway where the players were exiting to the clubhouse at Hammond Stadium. The first player to walk through during our 20 minute wait there was Drew Butera. My kid got his autograph, and I told him the story of how Sal Butera, Drew’s dad, was one the first autographs that I ever got at Met Stadium. Talk about a Father’s Day moment.
Later on, Anthony Swarzak was working his way down “autograph ally.” I told my kid to tell him “great game last year against the Cubs” (That was Swarzak’s best professional outing, a 1-0 win at Wrigley Field.) When the Twins pitcher took the Sharpie and ball from my son barely mumbled the words out of his mouth. It was not audible for Swarzak, who smiled and asked,
“What’s that again little buddy?” This time my boy spoke louder,
“My daddy said to say ‘Great Game last year against the Cubs!”
Swarzak smiled big, and said with an authentic tone of genuinity,
“Well Thank you! Thank you very much!”
I think players like to know their work is appreciated by fans when it is genuine feedback.
One by one, more Twins players walked through the line. My kid had an easy time getting autogrpahs from Jesse Crain, Nick Blackburn, Alex Burnett, and Glenn Perkins. Each time, he would say “Thank You” to the players, and each time the player would give him that really cool “atta boy, appreciative smile.”
I think we could have even gotten a Tom Kelly autograph, and rare T.K. smile if we would have stayed long enough.
They play really cool pre-game music at Hammond Stadium for Spring Training. I know, because every game I attend, I am one of the first 20 or so fans that find their way to their seat 2.5 hours before the first pitch.
