I am sitting in “The Bleacher Bar” at Fenway Park. I walked around the outside of the entire stadium to get a feel for the place. I tried to get a Media Pass but was shot down (they “don’t credential stand alone bloggers”, I was told). I am very excited to go to a game here tonight, more on that later. Yesterday, and last Thursday, I attended my first Cape Cod League games. I had great experiences. The people were wonderful, the atmosphere pure Americana and I just “flat out” felt “wickedly” comfortable. I have been really tired and my concentration has not been as it should be to write anything that would be interesting. Lately, it has been a huge chore, so I apologize in advance.
I talked with Nicole Norkevicius, President of the Bourne Braves, at the game last night. She had a wealth of knowledge of the league, the players, the fans and everyone associated with the Cape Cod League. Nicole introduced me to the Braves General Manager Chuck Sturtevant, who has been around the league in different capacities for over 28 years. I took a lot of notes and hopefully I can cobble together an interesting story in a few weeks. My brother Chad said that I have been stockpiling a lot of stories lately. I admit that I have a lot of great material to write about; however, as the trip is progressing my concentration level has dipped a little bit. This has created huge frustration within me that I can’t keep up with rigorous pace I have set for myself. I admit that I would love a break from writing for a week, some days it is a lot easier than others. But, I need to at least put out something daily. And, I will continue, even if it is just telling you how frustrated I am.
On a more interesting note, I met Peter Gammons from ESPN. I saw him standing talking to the Falmouth coach before the game. I confirmed with a few of the fans if that was him. I have been reading this great book on Dominican baseball. For some reason, I felt I needed to ask Peter if he had read the book. If so, I wanted to know what his opinion was. On the inside I was really excited, my brain kept saying, “that is fricken Peter Gammons.” I wanted his autograph, I wanted to talk to him with all the sophistication I can muster about the Dominicans. My thoughts were on overload, “He will think I am an intelligent baseball person. Wow, Peter Gammons – simmer down, act cool, be a professional Asking for an autograph isn’t cool. I wonder if he will take a selfie with me. Peter Gammons doesn’t take selfies. Why am I so excited? I need to take a picture, Bob and Todd will think this cool. Should I walk over to him when he is done? Screw it, do it, that’s a Richard Branson book. Great he is done talking. Damn, now some players are talking to him, hurry up before I lose my nerve…” That was one of many streams of thought I was having. Why I was so excited I will never know. Peter did read the book, he said he “agreed with the premise.” He also told me he was down in the Dominican Republic many times. I gave him my card, had him autograph another and he did take a selfie with me. I told him I was a writer but wasn’t on his level, he was nice and said, “I won’t say that”. He put my card in his pocket, then went and sat on the wall. I was distracted by Peter for half the game. I wanted to go over and talk to him more about baseball but others had him cornered. I find it funny how I can get so excited about something like that. Maybe some day people will be snapping off pictures of me on their smart phones and posting them to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook…
I have only gotten three autographs on this trip, Ron Gant signed the back of the ticket he purchased for me. Ariel Pena, a top prospect for the Brewers, signed his page in Baseball Americas Top Prospects book. Now, Peter Gammons signed the back of one my business cards. I really don’t get that excited meeting players, I met a bunch so far but haven’t had the desire to ask for an autograph. Could be because most of them are at an age where I could be their father, which is a disturbing thought for me. But Peter Gammons is a baseball writer. He knows the game inside and out and I have a lot of respect for what he does. It is funny what baseball will do to highly functioning adults, it’s a kids game played by adults. It brings us back to that time in our minds, we act out childhood fantasies. That is what happen to me I think, probably the same thing that happens to teenage girls when Justin Bieber shows up some place unexpectedly.
I will keep writing daily, no guarantees on how good it will be, I am slumping, part of the baseball grind….
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