2006 Minnesota Twins Fantasy Baseball Camp Days 1 - 2

Back on the 19th of January I recounted our trip to Ft Myers. Now I will bring you up to speed on the camp itself.

Interested parties (male or female) over the age of 30 are eligible to participate in the camp. The age limit is to keep the games somewhat competitive. I would say the average age of the camper is mid-forties. AND there are usually two or three ladies who participate.

Players and Pros check in on Saturday night. There is an orientation meeting for the "rookies" and welcome banquet for all. It was at this point I put aside the idea of either skipping the camp next year, or maybe stopping coming altogether. Again meeting up with the group of guys I have known for 4 years now, and meeting a new batch of "rookies", was all it took to convince me I will probably do this until I physically cannot.

Mornings the clubhouse opens at about 8 am. Sunday morning is orientation at the clubhouse for the rookies and instruction from the pros on stretching and calisthenics, and workouts/evaluation in the areas of hitting, pitching and fielding. After lunch the rookies play an evaluation game which is scouted by the pros. Those of the veterans who wish to also play a warmup/practice game. None of the veterans put out too much in this game, preferring rather to save the throws, catches and hits (not to forget the groins, hammys, quads and arms) for when it counts!

After the rookie game the pros retire to the conference room and "draft" their teams. Teams are announced at dinner Sunday night. Below is a shot of our team "Off In The Woods." (The name was selected by the coaches, and - reportedly - there was some phychology involved in this name. Something about not being able to beat our team.)

Because the date of this year's camp was moved up a week, due to a conflict with the Twins Winter Caravan, several campers who had registered for the original date had to drop out. The result was we had only about 55 people who were then divided into 5 teams. The lower number of teams caused a change in game schedule from previous years. This year we played a 4-game round robin to determine seeding, and then had a single elimination tournament to determine the camp champ. (Previous years there were at least six games played and records in those games determined the first and second place team who would then play in the championship game.) We played, and won, two seven-inning games on Monday.

We had our first Kangaroo Court on Monday night. For those not familiar with the "Court", it is an opportunity for any indescetion by the players (or other coaches) spotted by the coaches (or maybe reported to the coaches by the players!) to result in a fine, usually $ 2 or $3 per. I don't know what the major leagues do with this money, but in the case of the camp, it is donated to the Lee County Children's Hospital in Ft Myers. "Mudcat" Grant is the Chief Justice of the Court, assisted by Bert Blyleven at the final court on Saturday night.

I should have said it is not only the players who can be fined. Joan picked up one of the first fines of the night for being in the dugout (women do NOT hang out in dugouts!) taking, or being taken, pictures. Here she is with former Twin third base coach, Al Neuman.

Joan usually comes to the games but sometimes there are other things to do. We met up with friends from Caterpillar, Dick and Phyllis Hermann. Dick's mother lives in Ft Myers and they were down for the week visiting her. Joan went with Dick and Phyl on a boat trip around the development where Ann Hermann lives. There was a bird in a tree!