Fantasy Camp Day 1 a real treat
01/16/2006
TUCSON -- Just about everyone arrived here last night by bus from Phoenix and we spent time getting to know each other at a mixer in the hotel ballroom.
It's a really diverse group. Young and old. Tall and short. In shape and well, not so much. But it was clear from listening to each person say why he decided to attend the camp that there was one thing they had in common, and that's a love for baseball.
I hope over the next few days that I'll be able to share some of their stories -- because some of them are really amazing -- and give those of you who are not here a sense of what it's like.
I had dinner with a bunch of the coaches after the mixer and it's interesting to see how happy they are to be here. I mean, when you think about it, these guys are at or near the top of their profession. Most have some big league playing experience and they all have coached players with far more talent than us campers.
"This is fun," D-Backs third base coach Carlos Tosca said. "You hear some of those stories earlier? These people love baseball. They want to be around it. They want to learn about it. You can't beat that."
You really can't and I think the campers really got to see at the mixer a side of players, like Matt Williams and Mark Grace, that they hadn't before. More so with Williams since he is usually a lot more reserved in public.
We had an early morning wakeup call today with a 7:45 bus to the ballpark. Of course most didn't need actual wakeup calls because they had trouble sleeping they were so excited for the first day.
It was neat to watch the faces of the guys as they walked into the clubhouse at the Kino Sports Complex and saw their name above a wood locker with two personalized jerseys -- a home white and black batting practice one -- hanging inside.
The guys took pictures of their lockers and uniforms before putting them on for even more pictures. The expressions they had as they looked at themselves in the mirror for the first time wearing a big league uniform was really something.
It reminded me a lot of photo day during Major League Spring Training. That's where card companies and the media are set up in stations and players rotate through the stations in their white home uniforms for pictures. Those are the ones you'll see on baseball cards and the scoreboard at Chase Field. For the veterans, photo day is more of an inconvenience than anything, but for rookies in camp who have never put on the D-Backs uniform it's a special moment.
There's always a few of them and you can catch them subtly trying to sneak a glance at themselves in the mirror to see what it looks like. It's refreshing to see.
Speaking of refreshing, anyone who wasn't awake when we went out on the field woke up pretty quick when the chilly morning wind hit him. Truly though, it wasn't bad and once we got moving you forgot all about the weather.
And there was a lot of moving on the first day. Everyone got a chance to get some outfield instruction from Gold Glover Brett Butler, and infield instruction from Chip Hale and Jack Howell.
On the offensive side of things, Williams, D-Backs hitting coach Mike Aldrete, Tosca and Grace took turns giving pointers and throwing short toss to us in the batting cages.
"I was impressed with the overall level of talent," Grace said. "But look, the bottom line is we've got a great bunch of guys at the camp that want to have fun and learn. We're going to make sure they have lots of fun, I can guarantee you that."
Most everyone seemed to make it through the morning session unscathed, but when we hit the field for batting practice after lunch, well that's when guys began to get a bit nicked up.
First of all, we're using wood bats here this week, and if you're used to swinging and aluminum stick the difference is striking. Combine that with the fact that some of us haven't swung any bat in years and the crispness of the day, and you had a lot of guys jumping out of the box shaking their hands. A few guys fouled some pitches off their shins and feet, which left them hopping about.
Speaking of which, the most popular place in camp at the end of the day was the training room. Greg Latta and his staff should have been handing out numbers like they do at the post office with the line they had waiting for ice or heat or a combination of both.
Of course the aches and pains will probably hit us all tomorrow morning. On the bright side, though, we'll certainly have no trouble sleeping. Getting up? Well, that'll be another story.
Source: http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/
TUCSON -- Just about everyone arrived here last night by bus from Phoenix and we spent time getting to know each other at a mixer in the hotel ballroom.
It's a really diverse group. Young and old. Tall and short. In shape and well, not so much. But it was clear from listening to each person say why he decided to attend the camp that there was one thing they had in common, and that's a love for baseball.
I hope over the next few days that I'll be able to share some of their stories -- because some of them are really amazing -- and give those of you who are not here a sense of what it's like.
I had dinner with a bunch of the coaches after the mixer and it's interesting to see how happy they are to be here. I mean, when you think about it, these guys are at or near the top of their profession. Most have some big league playing experience and they all have coached players with far more talent than us campers.
"This is fun," D-Backs third base coach Carlos Tosca said. "You hear some of those stories earlier? These people love baseball. They want to be around it. They want to learn about it. You can't beat that."
You really can't and I think the campers really got to see at the mixer a side of players, like Matt Williams and Mark Grace, that they hadn't before. More so with Williams since he is usually a lot more reserved in public.
We had an early morning wakeup call today with a 7:45 bus to the ballpark. Of course most didn't need actual wakeup calls because they had trouble sleeping they were so excited for the first day.
It was neat to watch the faces of the guys as they walked into the clubhouse at the Kino Sports Complex and saw their name above a wood locker with two personalized jerseys -- a home white and black batting practice one -- hanging inside.
The guys took pictures of their lockers and uniforms before putting them on for even more pictures. The expressions they had as they looked at themselves in the mirror for the first time wearing a big league uniform was really something.
It reminded me a lot of photo day during Major League Spring Training. That's where card companies and the media are set up in stations and players rotate through the stations in their white home uniforms for pictures. Those are the ones you'll see on baseball cards and the scoreboard at Chase Field. For the veterans, photo day is more of an inconvenience than anything, but for rookies in camp who have never put on the D-Backs uniform it's a special moment.
There's always a few of them and you can catch them subtly trying to sneak a glance at themselves in the mirror to see what it looks like. It's refreshing to see.
Speaking of refreshing, anyone who wasn't awake when we went out on the field woke up pretty quick when the chilly morning wind hit him. Truly though, it wasn't bad and once we got moving you forgot all about the weather.
And there was a lot of moving on the first day. Everyone got a chance to get some outfield instruction from Gold Glover Brett Butler, and infield instruction from Chip Hale and Jack Howell.
On the offensive side of things, Williams, D-Backs hitting coach Mike Aldrete, Tosca and Grace took turns giving pointers and throwing short toss to us in the batting cages.
"I was impressed with the overall level of talent," Grace said. "But look, the bottom line is we've got a great bunch of guys at the camp that want to have fun and learn. We're going to make sure they have lots of fun, I can guarantee you that."
Most everyone seemed to make it through the morning session unscathed, but when we hit the field for batting practice after lunch, well that's when guys began to get a bit nicked up.
First of all, we're using wood bats here this week, and if you're used to swinging and aluminum stick the difference is striking. Combine that with the fact that some of us haven't swung any bat in years and the crispness of the day, and you had a lot of guys jumping out of the box shaking their hands. A few guys fouled some pitches off their shins and feet, which left them hopping about.
Speaking of which, the most popular place in camp at the end of the day was the training room. Greg Latta and his staff should have been handing out numbers like they do at the post office with the line they had waiting for ice or heat or a combination of both.
Of course the aches and pains will probably hit us all tomorrow morning. On the bright side, though, we'll certainly have no trouble sleeping. Getting up? Well, that'll be another story.
Source: http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/
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