Fantasy Camp Wednesday, Friday - Saturday night

Backing up to Wednesday afternoon: Wednesday afternoon is the usual "afternoon off" for the campers. Some guys go to the beach (weather permitting), others just hang out, and some play golf in a scramble organized by one of the pros. Paul and I played golf with former Twins player and manager at AAA Rochester, Phil Roof, who has the biggest hands we have ever seen. I took a picture of Paul's hand next to Phil's, and it was like grandson Zach's in Paul's! We had a good time, shot even par for the 15 holes we were able to get in before dark, and enjoyed the break from baseball.

Friday The Nimrods lost 9 - 3 against the team that beat them 12 - 11 on Thursday. This means that they are out of the competition. We spotted them too many runs in the first couple of innings and couldn't catch up. Paul pitched the last 4 innings and gave up a few runs on some "seeing eye" hits. Unfortunately, the Nimrods were not scoring, so it really didn't factor in the outcome of the game. I guess we were either 3rd or 4th best of 8 teams.

Friday night dinner was preceded by a second Kangaroo Court and MVP awards for the previous 4 games. Paul was again awarded MVP for his 4-hit, 2-run, 9-strikeout complete game performance in the Wednesday morning game.

Saturday The championship games for both the upper and lower division were played today. The team, whose roster included Twins broadcaster, Dick Bremer, won the championship. We did not watch the games, as we took a couple of our Nimrod teammates to the Everglades for an airboat ride. We saw a few alligators, numerous birds, and a lot of dead fish -- a result, they say, of the recent cold snap here in south Florida.

We are now back from tonight's closing banquet. There was a charity auction which netted several thousand dollars for the Lee County Children's Foundation. In addition, team division champion and individual awards were handed out for Over and Under age 50: Cy Young, Gold Glove, Rookie of Year, MVP and Kirby Pucket Award (for hustle/inspiration). Paul was nominated for, AND WON, the Cy Young award (best pitcher) in the Over - 50 age group, and was one of the five nominees for the MVP in the Over 50 age group. Needless to say, he was very happy to have won the Cy Young, and I was very proud of the old guy. But equally rewarding was just being included among the group of other outstanding pitchers who were nominated.

We are now packing up and tomorrow, morning bright and early, we will head north.....just as the temperatures have returned to "normal" for this area! (At least we have not gotten too spoiled, and the re-entry to MN winter will not be so severe!

Fantasy Baseball Camp

Friday, January 15, 2010

The weather finally warmed up. Yesterday was so beautiful, and it's even going to get warmer today, 78 degrees and sunny, the way it's supposed to be in Florida.

Thursday, game 1: For the Nimrods, this had to be their fantasy come true. To set the stage, they were behind 6 - 3 in the bottom of the 7th inning (a game is 7 innings, not 9). Two outs.

One player, a retired military doctor, who has a bad knee and, for insurance reasons is waiting to turn 65 before having it replaced, who has never played an organized game of baseball in his life, who has a designated runner just in case he makes contact, got an infield HIT for his first hit of the game (in his life) and scored a run! Subsequently 3 more runs scored and the Nimrods won 7 - 6!

Thursday, game 2: If the morning game didn't have enough drama, this game went to 8 innings, and the Nimrods lost 12 - 11. Again, as in every previous defeat, they lost by 1 run. Actually, it didn't matter in the standings, as the winning team is undefeated (7 and 0) and is seeded first. The Nimrods are seeded fourth. We will probably play them this morning. If the Nimrods lose, they are done playing for the week.

Paul pitched the last 4 innings and did well. Again, the winning run was unearned.

We are in Ft Myers for Paul's 7th MN Twins Fantasy Baseball Camp. It runs from Jan 9 - 16.

As you have probably heard, FL also has had freezing temps. It's a huge deal to the fruit growers. Way down here in SW Florida, Monday was probably the last night of freezing temperatures. Because of the cold, the directors of the camp delayed the starting time on Sunday morning. The rookies (new-bees) played games, and that's when the coaches/former pros watched them and took notes. In the afternoon the pros went into seclusion and drafted their teams. Those teams were announced that night before dinner. (The pros pretty much know how and which positions the veterans play, so the veterans for the most part didn't play on Sunday afternoon. Besides, it was too COLD!)

Paul's team is called the Nimrods. One of his pro/coaches is Dick Stigman, a native of Nimrod, MN. He pitched for the Twins from 1962-65. I sat next to him and his wife Patti at dinner one night and learned that they are parents to 9 children (5 adopted from foster care) and have 24 grandchildren. Truly nice people.

His other coach is Ron Coomer. Ron played 3rd and 1st bases for the Twins from 1995-2000. "Ron now serves as an analyst for FSN on the Twins television pre-game and post-game broadcasts."*

The other coaches, if you are a baseball fan:

Julio Becquer, Juan Berenguer, Dave Boswell, Tom Brunansky, Bill Campbell, Milt Cuyler, Gene Larkin, Tim Laudner, Rick Miller, Tony Oliva, Frank "Guido" Quilici, Eric Rasmussen, Lee Stange and Frank Viola.

Bert Blyleven, Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Harmon Killebrew and John Gordon have made appearances most of the week, though they are not coaches. They add a lot of camaraderie and fun to the whole group. Bert and Mudcat keep notes of campers' indescretions to present at two kangaroo courts during dinner meetings. Campers are fined for various mistakes, such as forgetting to appear at the plate with a helmet, not wearing shower shoes, forgetting to zip a fly, taking a third called strike, etc.

Bert "works as the game analyst for FSN North for the Minnesota Twins television broadcasts."* He is part of the camp administration.

John Gordon is the radio play-by-play announcer for the Twins.

* Quoted from the playbook issued to each camper

There are 92 campers; about 40 are rookies. Four are "hall of famers," which means they have attended 10 or more camps. Most of the people are from MN, though some hail from Iowa, Florida, Texas, Chicago, New Jersey, North Carolina, California, South Dakota, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Quebec. The only requirements to participate are to pay the fee and be 30 or more years old. Everyone plays the same amount of time. All bat every game. If the 7th batter in the lineup is last up in a game, the 8th batter starts the next game.

Some use this as an opportunity to get together with family members--five sets of 2 brothers, one set of 3 brothers, a father and son-in-law (must have a great relationship!), a brother and sister, and a father and his 3 sons. Some also sign up with a good buddy. These groups are put together on the same team so that they can play together.

Generally, they play 2 games a day. They use the Twins facilities, including the Twins' professional clubhouse manager. The campers leave their dirty uniforms in the clubhouse at the end of the day, and they are all laundered and returned to their lockers by the next morning.

Friday will be the first day of the round-robin playoff tournament and the first game is at 10:15. At 1:15 that day, probably only the rookies (due to numbers) will play the pros in the stadium.

Here are the game results up until this morning:

Monday, game 1: The Nimrods lost 7 - 6. They jumped out in first inning with all their runs. Paul pitched the last half of the game, and unfortunately, allowed an unearned run (winning run) to score. Dick Bremer (Twins play-by-play announcer on TV) pitched the entire game for the opposition.

Monday, game 2: Nimrods won 8 - 5.

Tuesday, game 1: Nimrods lost 2 - 1.

Tuesday, game 2: Nimrods won 10 - 3. Huge highlight: Paul hit an inside the park homerun! I was snapping pictures of Paul and missed seeing the ball fly over the had of the right fielder's head. When it wasl all over, I asked an assistant exactly what happened, and he said, "It went over the head of a gy who is on Medicare!" to which I replied, "Well, the guy who it it is on Medicare too!" As Paul was rounding 3rd base, his coach, Dick Stigman, yelled, "Can you make it? Can you make it?"

At the banquet that night Paul won MVP for this game.

Wednesday, the only game that day: Nimrods won 6 - 3? Don't remember the score. Paul pitched the entire game! He had several strikeouts, which is not his claim to fame. He tries to get the ball over the plate and hope that his fielders will finish the job. He did a great job all by himself.

Thursday, game 1: is being played as I type. Bye!

On Saturday morning, there will be a championship game for the "Red" Division (don't know if that is the best of the best or the worst of the best) and at 12:15 the "Blue" Division championship. Hopefully, our team will be in one of those games.

Cheers,
Joan (and the 65-year-old jock)