My team won our first game of the week at Los Angeles Dodgers Adult Baseball
Camp.  With visions of a championship floating in our heads we went out and
lost our next six games to finish 1-6.  Not one of the pep talks from
manager Jerry Reuss could inspire that second win.  But I did hit a girl
with a pitch in one of my two innings on the mound.

Dodger camp is the best fantasy camp around.  I met several people who were
not even Dodger fans but chose Dodger camp due to the reputation it has.
Also, most people at camp are returning campers who enjoyed their first one,
two, or twelve camps so much they decided to return.  Everyday consists of
baseball activities during the day followed by dinner and entertainment at
night.  Living on the hollowed grounds of Dodgertown for a week and sharing
the experience with Dodger players dating all the way back to the Brooklyn
days can’t be beat.

Carl Erskine, Duke Snider and Ralph Branca were the three former Dodgers who
played in Brooklyn.  They were all born in 1926 and thus will turn 82 this
year.  Carl Erskine pitched his entire twelve year career with the Dodgers
and his career highlights included two no hitters.  Duke was the Hall Of
Fame center fielder who along with Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle formed the
big 3 of center fielders in New York.  Ralph had numerous career highlights
but is perhaps best known for giving up the shot heard round the world to
the Giant’s Bobby Thompson that won the 1951 pennant for the Giants.  All
three of these former Brooklyn Dodgers are veterans of Dodger fantasy camps,
great friends with each other, and couldn’t be more gracious with the
campers.

Carl Erskine

My locker was next to my father’s on one side and Carl’s on the other.
After seeing him all week in the locker room and having breakfast one
morning with him, his wife and son he was the Brooklyn Dodger who I had the
most interaction with.  Anytime Carl starts talking about the era in which
he played he starts out with the same summary.  In his career he saw
baseball go from day to night, trains to planes, radio to TV, east coast to
west coast, and he saw the integration of black players.  It’s pretty
remarkable to think about how impactful all those changes were.

One of the largest factors in Carl’s life has been that his son Jimmy has
down syndrome.  After he retired from pitching he returned to his small town
in Indiana to be with his family and take care of his son.  All but one of
the adult baseball camps that Carl has attended, and he has been to about
forty, Jimmy has attended with him.  One of the highlights of the week is
after the Big Game (campers vs. counselors) in Holman Stadium on Thursday
afternoon Jimmy gets one at bat.  Carl tosses him the ball underhand until
Jimmy hits one.  Then Jimmy runs around the bases as Carl and all the
campers encourage him until he finishes it off with a belly flop on home
plate.  The crowd goes wild, Jimmy gets high fives all around, and Carl is a
beaming proud father.  My understanding is that this has happened at the
conclusion of the Big Game at every camp for years and years.

On Wednesday night we found out that in addition to baseball talents Carl is
musically gifted.  At the Western BBQ Carl climbed on stage and entertained
us with his harmonica.  He was accompanied by Maury Wills on banjo and
Reggie Smith on drums.  They said they had not rehearsed at all but they
sounded like they had their act down pat.

When we had breakfast with Carl we asked him for Vin Scully stories.  He
said the first time they met was when Red Barber introduced them at Ebbets
Field.  He remembered seeing the elder Red with his red hair and the
youngster Vin with his red hair and thinking Vin was Red’s pup.  All I have
known in my life is the senior Vin Scully so it is funny to think of him
when he was just starting out following the legendary Red Barber around.

At the conclusion of breakfast my father and I mentioned that we were going
to opening day at Dodger Stadium.  Carl said that he had just been invited
as part of the Dodgers 50th anniversary celebration in LA and maybe he would
see us there.  My Dad responded, "Well, we’ll see you but I don’t think
you’ll see us with the 56,000 other fans."  But who knows, maybe we’ll run
into him waiting in line for a Dodger Dog.

On the last day of camp after the last games had been played I was in the
locker room with Carl when Duke walked by.  As Carl was taking off his
uniform he said to Duke, "Well Duke, you think we’ll ever put on these
uniforms again?"  A little bit of the history to this story is that this is
the last year the Dodgers will host their spring training at Dodgertown in
Vero Beach, FL.  Next year they will move to a new facility in Glendale, AZ.
Duke and Ralph had already said they will not attend camps in Arizona and
Carl seems apprehensive as well.  They say they will not have the same since
of belonging that they have in Dodgertown and given their advancing age this
seem like a fitting time to retire from fantasy camps.  So Carl’s comment is
fitting given their opportunities to don the Dodgers uniform may be running
out.  Carl continued to Duke, "They said when I was a player that I would no
when it was time to take off the uniform.  I always thought that I would
never want to take it off and they would have to rip it off me when it was
time to quit.  But when it came time I knew it and it wasn’t really that
hard to take it off.  I just don’t know how many more times we’ll put it
on."

Duke Snider

Duke is the most accomplished of the players at fantasy camp.  At his Hall
Of Fame induction in 1980 Ted Williams said, "Duke Snider?!?! What took so
long?"  These days he is not as fleet footed as he once was.  He walks at a
deliberate pace and uses a fungo bat as a cane to get around the locker
room.  Duke says his body is worn from chasing down all of Carl’s and
Ralph’s mistakes when he was playing center field.  One morning the camp
photographer hosted a photo opportunity where campers could get their
pictures taken with Carl, Duke, and Ralph.  They positioned us in the first
four seats in a row of stadium seats.  Then the photographer said the
background would be centered better if we all slid down one seat.  Duke
said, "I made it all the way over here.  I ain’t moving anywhere."  So that
was that.  The point is Duke doesn’t move as well as he used to.  But it
still turned out to be a great picture.

I got to chatting with Duke one night in the dinner line.  It was after a
game where I had gone 2 for 3.  Duke had stopped by the game and saw my
third at bat, which was unfortunately bad timing because that was the one
where I got out.  As we were going through the dinner line I was telling
Duke not to worry about that at bat because the other two were way better.
I told him I got hits the other two.  Duke gave me the speech every kid who
ever played baseball has heard a thousand times.  He told me the great thing
about baseball is it is the only game where you can fail seven out of ten
times and be considered one of the best.  So he said to not worry about
making out.  I’ve heard that expression so many times but it had extra
weight coming from a guy who rode that theory to the hall of fame.

A former Brooklyn teammate, Johnny Podres, had died about a month before
camp.  One night after dinner his old teammates reflected back on their
experiences with him.  Duke recalled about how Johnny did not get
shortchanged on doing the things he wanted to do.  He liked to drink, smoke,
and gamble and he didn’t let anyone stop him from getting his fill.  A funny
line Duke recalled Johnny said on his way to the horse track was, "I hope I
break even today.  I could sure use the money."  Duke recalled another time
he went to the horse track with Johnny and he won some money.  So on the way
home Johnny told Duke they should take that money he won and bring it to the
dog track.  So on the way home they stopped at the dog track and Duke lost
all the money he had won and then some.  All the players reiterated that
nothing could excite Johnny as mush as gambling did.

Duke recalled one night Johnny Podres and Don Drysdale were really ragging
on him to come out drinking with them.  Duke said he did not go out a lot
but they asked enough times that he decided to go.  They said there was this
girl that he had to see and she was going to meet them at the bar later.  So
Duke said they got to the bar and they’re sitting down and in walks the girl
and Johnny and Don got all excited.  Duke said he took one look at her face
and it looked like she was wearing a Halloween mask.  He told the other two
that he had seen enough and he took off.  Telling us the story at camp Duke
said that’s the kind of guys Johnny and Don were and they always liked to go
out and have a good time.  Then he added that didn’t mean they always found
the best girls.

Ralph Branca

Ralph came into the game as a reliever before giving up the homerun to Bobby
Thompson.  When he was warming up in the bullpen he was throwing next to
Carl.  The manager called down to the bullpen to see how each of them was
feeling.  At that time Carl threw a curveball and bounced it on the plate.
The bullpen coach told the manager they both look alright but Erskine is
bouncing his curveball.  As a result the manager called Ralph into the game
and the rest is history.  Carl said that curveball he bounced was the best
pitch he’s ever thrown.  If he had gone in to the game instead of Ralph it
might be his name who was forever tied to the infamous quote, "The Giants
win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

Perhaps Ralph was always a nut of perhaps he has arrived there in his old
age.  On the first night of camp he belted out "God Bless America" over the
sound system after dinner.  He followed that up with a song called
"Memories," for which he presented an encore performance after the last
dinner of camp.  Two nights during the camp he dressed up as a judge and
went up to the podium and handed out fines to various campers.  If Ralph saw
a bad play on the field or saw someone acting goofy or caught someone
wearing shorts in the dining room he assessed them a fine with the money
going towards charity.  He seems very lighthearted and fun-loving.  It seems
to be that a pitcher who gave up a homerun of the magnitude that he did that
he could dwell on it for the rest of this life.  Ralph seems like it has
never got him down and he’s never stopped having fun.

That’s all the memories I have of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Next up is part two
about the LA guys.

This is the last blog I will write before I go to Dodgers fantasy camp.  Therefore, this is going to be my fantasy camp preview.  The website is http://www.ladabc.com.  Check it out.  Officially it is called Los Angeles Dodgers Adult Baseball camp.  They give it a more mature sounding name so we don’t sound so fruity when we tell our friends where we are going for a week.  But really it’s just a fantasy camp.  Who cares how it sounds, I get to play baseball with Duke Snider!

Here’s a quick rundown.  Fantasy camp is where you go to act like a major league baseball player.  They’ll be about 100 of us in camp.  We’ll meet in Vero Beach, FL, the Dodgers spring training home for the last 50+ years.  For one week we’ll live in the players barracks at Dodgertown and practice and play baseball everyday.  They’ll divide us up into eight teams.  The teams will be coached by past Dodgers including Ralpha Branca, Carl Erskine, Rick Monday, Duke Snider, Dave Wallace and Maury Wills.  Everyone in camp will get both home and road jerseys that we will wear depending on which of the seven fields we are playing on that day.  Standings and stats are kept each day and posted online and awards are given at the end of each day as well as at the end of camp.  It really does simulate the major league spring training experience.  Well, except for the players.  They don’t really simulate the major league experience.  Campers are from 26 to 77 years old, all different skill levels and come from so many different backgrounds that all I can say definitely is we are all there because we like baseball.

Me and Pops are going together.  This is good for two reasons.  First, I get to hang out with Pops for a week.  Second, all the rooms are double occupancy.  If I wasn’t going with Pops I would have been assigned a random roommate.  I had a random roommate my freshman year in college.  His name was Scott from Yonkers, NY.  That worked out fine but I would not want to push my luck with someone like Biff from Riverside.  (Note: I made up Biff.  I don’t actually know if they even let people from the 909 in camp but I was just using it as an extreme example of the type of roommate you could get.)  Oh, and third, Pops is footing the bill.  Scott and I got along but he never did anything like that for me.  So really, three real good solid reasons for me and Pops to go together.

I’m going to camp as a catcher.  I figure with a lot of older guys in camp they won’t be lining up to be squatting all day so catchers will be in demand.  Plus, catchers get a lot of action and now a little more street cred since Rusty made catching fashionable again in LA.

We have been tuning up from camp for about a month.  We didn’t expect to get any better but wanted to at least knock the rust off.  We’ve been playing catch and I went to the batting cages a couple times this week.  So we’ll see how it goes.  I’ll write from camp if I have a good day at the plate.  If I have a Wilson Betemit type day I won’t want to talk about it.

Writing your second blog is like going to the gym on January 2nd.  You’re all amped and excited to write that first one.  There’s a little bit of a let down with the second one.  It’s like when you make a New Year’s resolution to get in shape.  January 1st you’re all excited to be doing something new.  It’s not even hard to work out because you have the adrenaline that comes with the first time.  January 2nd is blah.  Well, to make my second blog as exciting as my first I’m going to spell all the words in my next paragraph phonetically.

Ee-lev-in pee-pul told me they red my furst blog.  To werr gurls.  I wonht more fee-male  reed-ders so I asskt them whut wood make my blog more ah-peel-ling for gurls.  They sed hav pic-hures and rite ah-bout stuff uh-ther than baseball.  So hear we go!

Here are my top five cars that I would like my future girlfriend to drive:

5. Black Volkswagen Jetta
4. Blue BMW Z4
3. Red Pontiac Solstice GXP
2. Green Jaguar XKR
1. Silver Porsche Carrera Turbo

I think girls should be judged on the fundamentals such as looks and personality.  But I find myself thinking far more about arbitrary traits like names, what kind of cars they drive, or what sports teams they root for.  How much do these arbitrary traits play in my overall opinion of a girl?  Well, on the standard 10 point scale:

A 9 who drives a minivan = a 5 who drives a Turbo
An 8 named Francis = a 6 named Beth
A 10 who is a Giants fan = 1 who is a Dodgers fan

So there you go girls!  Commentary on something other than baseball.  And here is a picture to boot:

Now, on to the baseball.  Jones, Kemp, Pierre and Ethier all see themselves as everyday players.  It’s too bad we don’t play rec league softball where we would need four outfielders.  Under Little I think whoever the odd man out was would demand a trade at the end of spring training.  He would want to go to a team where he could start.  However, Torre’s strength is managing personalities.  He will prove his worth if he can keep all four guys happy and productive.  Outfield depth would be a great asset but not at the expense of clubhouse chemistry.  If Torre can keep all four guys thinking team orientated our outfield will be very solid.

That’s all I got on baseball.  But hey, it’s January, what do you expect?  Check out my new links section for links to my friend’s blogs about the Cubs, Yankees, and Mets.  We all graduated from Boston College in 04 so the writing is a little suspect but they have good intentions.  Give them a read.  I’ll be back next week.  See ya dudes.  See ya.

I’ve never blogged but I have written.  Writing is cross training for blogging.  If you have written you are not starting from scratch.  It may take me a while to learn how to blog but it won’t take me as long as it would take me if I had never written.  The first time you do anything you are not that good at it.  Maybe by the time baseball season rolls around I will have a little momentum here.  I don’t want to still be struggling when there are pertinent things to write about.  So for me the winter and early spring are training.  Let’s call it spring training.

My friend said the main reason he wouldn’t blog is he would be embarrassed.  My theory is blogging is like being the singer in Rock Band.  If you do good everybody loves you.  You get a high score, earn fans for your band and earn bragging rights with your friends.  It is only embarrassing if you stink.  That is when you get self conscious, start singing real quietly, and get booed off stage.  So I guess I am willing to endure some embarrassment until I get the hang of this and then I hope to earn some fans for my band, err, blog.

(By the way, the reason I ****** as the singer in Rock Band is because I was sitting down.  Everyone knows you don’t get full range in your voice when you are sitting down.  If I wanted to do good I could have stood up and brought down the house.  I just didn’t feel like it.  I wasn’t in the mood.)

The best part about the Dodgers is their pitching depth.  We are solid one through five.  Penny, Lowe, Bills, the Asian, and (hopefully) Schmidt (see next paragraph) can give us a solid outing every time out.  (I am calling Kuroda “the Asian” until he gets his first major league win.  I don’t want to get too excited about him until we see what he’s made of.  If I call him by a generic name then I won’t get too attached.)  We should always have the pitching match up when it comes to the back of rotations, which is nice.  The flaw in our pitching is that we don’t have a true ace.  Penny is not Peavey or Webb.  I love Penny but he’s not in their class.  Penny, or any of the four other guys, can be an ace on any given day but we lack that true stopper.  No big deal.  I’ll take depth over brilliance from one or two guys and hope slow and steady wins the race.

Now back to Schmidt.  We don’t need him to revert to 2003 form but it would be a huge boost to have him as a reliable starter again.  It’s great that they found so much wrong with his shoulder during last year’s surgery.  If they didn’t find anything wrong there would be nothing to fix.  By diagnosing those ailments doctors determined his ineffectiveness was due to medical issues.  Now that his shoulder is medically sound, he should be good again.  It’s just simple logic.  I’m really trying to convince myself here.  Hopefully it works out.  If not, at least we’re not on the hook for six more years of Barry Zito.

On offense Ned is hoping Matt Kemp is his Andrew Bynum.  (Only if Bynum wasn’t going to be out for eight weeks).  He’s the high ceiling guy everyone asks about that the Dodgers have decided to wait for.  If he pans out Ned looks as smart as Mitch Kupchak does right now.  If he fizzles, well then they probably should have put him in a package for Miguel Cabrera.  With the addition of Andruw Jones plus a Bynum-like breakout from Kemp the Dodgers power numbers could flirt with the league average this year.

I’m going to lunch.  It’s bitter outside.  I don’t think it even hit 70 today.  Baseball is the second best reason to live in Southern California.  Number one is 67 degree January days.  Sorry about that East Coast.  I’m going to try to blog once a week so be back next week.