August 2- Montreal Expos

It’s been a while since I’ve done a post on the Montreal Expos. Unfortunately, there is a good reason for that. In the 35-year history of Expos baseball the team only wore four caps: two of them served as the team’s every day game caps, one was their batting practice cap and the other is one they wore for a short period of time when they played their home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico when they were looking to relocate in 2003. The latter cap is one that I have been trying to track down for quite some time.

The funny thing about this photo is that my friend John Beare (@Interstate19) is the only person I know of to own this cap. Not to mention this photo (his) is the only one I have been able to find on the internet.

The reason I bring all of this up is because there are too many great stories about the Expos organization that really need to be told, even ones that may seem insignificant to the most casual of baseball fans. So, I decided to stray wayward from one of my rules, I decided to buy an Expos Cooperstown Collection cap from Lids that truly defies the concept of being a Cooperstown Collection cap. Back on February 16^th I wrote about the true Cooperstown Expos cap, the one they wore from 1969-1991 which looks almost identical to this with the exception that blue panels stretching around on either side of the front white panels are red.

With this cap I had debated on writing about Dennis “El Presidente” Martinez, most of which revolved around to 100 wins he had as an Expo which put him in the rare club of one of nine players in Major League Baseball history to win at least 100 games in both the American League and the National League. The other hot topic of course is the fact he is the only person in Expos history to throw a perfect game. Yah, you could debate that the Washington Nationals are still technically the Expos, at which I would retort with, “Go to Montreal and state your case with any still-heartbroken fan and see where that gets you.” On a personal note, the crazy thing about the perfect game, which I recently found out about, is that my childhood friend Bryan Gildner’s brother Joel was at that game with his father at Dodger Stadium on July 28, 1991. Since Joel now lives in Austin, Texas and because I had already marked up this cap, I decided to postpone that story for a while, at least until another awesome custom Expos cap comes into my possession. Hopefully soon.

6/5/86: I came across this date accidentally and am forever grateful that I did. Like with a lot of my other posts which rely heavily upon a specific date in a team’s history I found this on one of the random “This Date in Baseball” Web sites that I sift through regularly. The story really starts back in the 1940s at the time when The United States of America and Canada had entered into World War II. Major League Baseball players were lining up at the local enlistment offices in droves, ready to do what they could to help out with the war effort. With most of the notable names overseas the owners did their best to capitalize on making money by still promoting baseball by any means necessary. By any means necessary this of course also meant that they didn’t hesitate to organize an all-female baseball league. It was called the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and it lasted 12 years from 1943-1954. For five seasons one of the best players in the league’s history was a woman named Helen Callaghan Candaele St. Aubin from Vancouver, British Columbia who went by the shortened name Helen Callaghan.  

As a rookie with the Minneapolis Millerettes Callaghan hit .287 in 111 games, for second in the league. She also finished third in total bases, hits, runs and stolen bases (112), while tying for third in home runs. The Millerettes could not compete attendance-wise with the Minneapolis Millers, so the team moved in 1945, becoming the Fort Wayne Daisies. That year Callaghan had her best season, batting .299 to lead the AAGPBL. (The league average was .198 that year.) She tied for the league lead in homers (three), led in total bases (156), was second in steals (92), first in hits (122), second in runs (77) and first in doubles (17). Callaghan was often called the "Ted Williams of women's baseball". The league was not yet giving out Player of the Year or All-Star honors, but it is clear she was a candidate for both. Ft. Wayne finished second and advanced to the championship, but fell four games to one despite a .400 mark from the younger Callaghan. Callaghan slipped drastically in 1946, hitting just .213, even though league averages rose about 10 points. She still tied for third in steals with 114. After missing the 1947 season due to illness, she returned for part of 1948 after getting married and having her first child. However, that year she hit just .191 as a bench player. She finished her career with Kenosha in 1949 as Helen Candaele, bouncing back to a .251 mark, tied for seventh in the league. She was ninth in total bases (113), eighth in steals (65), sixth in doubles and tied for eighth in triples. In a five season career, Callaghan was a .257 hitter (355-for-1382) with seven home runs and 85 run batted in 388 games, including 354 stolen bases, 249 runs, 35 doubles, 15 triples and 221 walks while striking out 161 times. Her on-base percentage was approximately .359, while she slugged .319.

The now Candaele gave birth to five sons. Her son Kelly produced a short documentary back in 1987 for PBS entitled A League of Their Own, which covered the history of the AAGPBL. The documentary inspired director Penny Marshal to make a film with the same name in 1992. One of Candaele’s other sons, Casey, decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps and make it big in professional baseball. 

Casey was born on January 12, 1951 and was raised in Lompoc, California which is northeast of Santa Barbara. He attended the University of Arizona and was even a part of the 1980 College World Series team which also featured Craig Lefferts, Dwight Taylor and the tournaments Most Outstanding Player Terry Francona. Candaele went undrafted but the Expos offered to sign him as a free agent in August of 1982 which he happily signed. From 1983 through 1985 Candaele worked his way up the minor league chain starting with the Class-A West Palm Beach Expos to the AA Memphis Chicks in his first season, the AA Jacksonville Suns in 1984 until finally landing with the AAA Indianapolis in 1985. Candaele’s numbers were pretty decent during his ascent; however, due to the fact that he was a second baseman, shortstop and outfielder, the Expos didn’t have room for him on the roster as the likes of Vance Law, Hubie Brooks, Tim Raines and future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson stood in his path. The only way that Candaele was going to make it to the Majors was if someone got hurt or he had the best season of his career to motivate general management to call him up. Well…

When 1986 rolled around Candaele got off to a blazing start at the plate. He was hitting over .300 and showing strong discipline at the plate with very few strikeouts and a decent amount of walks. When June rolled around the front office couldn’t ignore his progress and made the call for him to pack up and head to the show. On June 5, 1986 Candaele was put in to pinch hit for Dan Schatzeder, thus making him the first and only mother/son combination to play at the top level professionally. Candaele promptly struck out to Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Charles Hudson, but it was still a pivotal moment in baseball history.

Candaele spent 30 games with the Expos that year before getting sent back down. He resurfaced the following season hitting .272 with 122 hits and 23 RBI while only striking out 28 times in 138 games. He finished in fourth place for the Rookie of the Year Award that season. Candaele played for seven more years at the Major League level; one more season with the Expos, five with Houston Astros and two with the Cleveland Indians despite his final season coming in 1997. He spent quite a bit of time in the minors. Nonetheless, Candaele will forever be etched into the baseball history books.

#44- Carl Morton was born in Kansas City, Missouri on January 18, 1944 and grew up in West Tulsa, where he played baseball on the same Webster High School team as future major-leaguer Rich Calmus. He went to college at the University of Tulsa before moving on to the University of Oklahoma where he continued his baseball dreams as an outfielder for the Sooners under head coach Jack Baer. In 1964 Morton was signed as a free agent by the Atlanta Braves who wanted to convert the outfielder into a pitcher. From 1965-1968 the Braves kept him in their minor league system where he showed signs of promise. His best season came in 1968 as a member of the AA Shreveport Braves where he went 13-5 with a 2.72 ERA and 130 strikeouts; however, the Braves didn’t have enough faith to hang onto him as the first leg of the 1968 Expansion Draft on October 14^th. See, back in 1968 the Expansion Draft was broken up into two legs; the first was for the Expos and the San Diego Padres in which they could only pilfer through National League roster to build their teams. The second leg was held on October 15^th between the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots in which the two could only raid American League teams. Fun fact about that draft is that only one future Hall of Famer was in the mix, Hoyt Wilhelm. Anyway, Morton was selected by the Expos with the 45^th overall pick.

Without much of a farm system established, the Expos threw Morton out to the wolves on April 11, 1969 where he only lasted eight games before getting hurt. That year he went 0-3 with a 4.60 ERA and 16 strikeouts in five starts. With a taste of the Major Leagues out of the way, Morton was determined to do better the next season when he got back to 100%. Not only did he do that, Morton was phenomenal in 1970. In 37 stars, 43 games overall, Morton went 18-11 with a 3.60 ERA and 154 strikeouts. He unfortunately walked a league-high 154 batters, but it didn’t matter. Morton was voted as the NL Rookie of the Year and even finished ninth for the NL Cy Young and 27^th for the NL MVP. While the rest of his career never quite matched the gusto of his 1970 season, Morton went on to play two more seasons for the Expos before getting traded to the Braves for Pat Jarvis before the 1973 season.

Morton played four decent years with the Braves, finishing with 15 or more wins in his first three years, but he only won four games in 1976. As a result of his falloff year the Braves traded him to the Texas Rangers along with Roger Moret for former-AL MVP Jeff Burroughs. Morton, sadly, never pitched in the Majors again, and only spent one last season in the minors before hanging it up for good at the age of 33.

With his playing career over Morton moved back to Tulsa. On the morning of April 12, 1983 Morton went out for a jog and when he arrived at the home of his parents he suffered a heart attack in their driveway and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. He was 39-years-old. One of the more tragic realities that came from Morton’s death involved another death less than a year before his passing. On August 2, 1979 New York Yankees former AL MVP and beloved catcher Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash. Back in 1970 Munson had also won the Rookie of the Year honors in the AL. It is the only time in baseball history that two Rookie of the Year winners from the same year would come to premature endings.

July 23- Eugene Emeralds

If you’ve been keeping up with these blog posts I merely need to refer you to my Eugene Emeralds post from March 7^th to have an understand of how this story began. Due to the fact that I was living and working in Portland, Oregon from October through the first week of January I had missed the Emeralds’ new logo/merchandise release party in Eugene on account of me having to work. I remember making some comment about “how I wish I was there” when the next thing I know I had a DM from whomever was running the Twitter account that day; I’m pretty positive it was General Manager Allan Benavides. Anyway, it was a reply to my comment which basically said that they wanted to know my hat size so that they could put aside and hook me up with one of their new caps. I wasn’t really sure to what I owed the pleasure, but I’ve also never turned down a free New Era Cap so I made sure to note when I would be back in Eugene for winter term.

When I finally had a free moment to get down to the office of the Emeralds I made sure to give plenty of notice, not to mention I made sure to get directions because I had no idea where I was going. Everyone in the office was especially friendly and excited to meet me, which I totally wasn’t expecting, and everyone had questions about my season-long Major League Baseball stadium tour and my time in the MLB Fan Cave. All of them had been supporters of my time which is what had started the vested interest in getting out to the games upon my expulsion. Besides the alternate Emeralds cap, Allan also hooked me up with an Emeralds pint glass which I ended up leaving in Eugene with my roommate Reed. Totally unintentional. One-by-one I shook hands and thanked everyone for their kindness for not only the hat and glass, but for taking good care of me when I was able to get out for Emeralds games at the start of the 2012 season. Near the end of my visit the subject of my tattoos was finally brought up and, like always, I showed no hesitation in showing them off. This was the lead-in Director of Corporate Events Tyler Tostenson needed to ask, “Have you thought about getting Sluggo tattooed on you?” For those who don’t know, Sluggo is the big neon green bear mascot for the Emeralds. In fact, the person who had been inside the outfit, who was also the man in the suit for Puddles, the University of Oregon Duck mascot, happened to be standing next to me as I answered Tyler question. My response, “To be honest, I have been mulling it over. The only problem is that it doesn’t fit with the theme of MLB logos and mascots so I would have to think of a location of where to place it.” But in short, yes, I was deeply considering it. I said my goodbyes and thank yous once again and headed back to campus to get some writing done. What I wasn’t expecting was to get a call from my tattoo artist a little less than a week later.

Flashback

Felix “The Tat” Epperson and I have known each other since April of 2011, but the first time we met was on September 6, 2008. I wasn’t at all surprised that he didn’t remember me as the situation that put in the same room together involved my girlfriend at the time getting her first tattoo done by him at Black Lotus Tattoo in Eugene, the same shop where he works today. The only reason why I remember the date so well is because I was originally going to go to the Oregon versus Utah State football game that morning, but put it off to be there while the work was getting done. Also, I had to work at the Hilton that morning from 5 AM to 10:30 AM, which led to me falling asleep in the waiting chair while she was getting tattooed which then led to one of our first arguments in our relationship. I should also point out that I paid the $250 for the tattoo as a birthday present for her. God, I’m such an asshole! Moving on; when the time came for me to finally commit to getting my two-sided MLB showcase tattoo he was the first person who came into my head. Actually, that’s not entirely true. My good friend Nick Porter, who did both of the tattoos on the outsides of my forearms (the quote and the lumberjack/shark) had recommended Reed, my future roommate, to do it as he was a big baseball fan and would probably better understand a lot of the concepts I was throwing out. Not having a problem with that bit of honesty, I hit Reed up and emailed him everything I wanted to do. Originally I wanted only a few of the mascots and I wanted to put it on my left arm as a half-sleeve, something that he quickly shot down because I didn’t have enough canvass to work with. During the time when I mulled over what he his comments I came down with a near fatal case of “what the f--- is wrong with me?” I phrase it like that because I had strep throat, my kidneys were shutting down, I was dehydrated and a staph infection had broken out underneath my belly button which then spread to my neck and both of the tattoos I mentioned above as I had just gotten them done about two weeks prior. In short, I looked like hell. I wrote a much longer piece about this in my other blog, so I’m trying to keep this short. Here’s the link to it if you ever want to read the full detailed account of what went down. What I will tell you is that when I was lying on the hospital bed all I could think about was baseball and how happy it made me. It in these fleeting moments that I came up with the placement and design concept for what I eventually got tattooed on me.

Once I recovered I emailed Reed with a new plan and ideas which was eventually shot down a few weeks later for two reasons: 1. Reed was pretty booked up. 2. A lot of what I was asking for was a bit too confusing. The latter part made a lot of sense because trying to relay what I wanted via email was not an easy concept for anyone to understand. Had I gone in person to discuss it with him, things might have been different, but because I was itching to get this started, I moved on. It’s something I still feel bad about because there were a few other artists in the shop who would have loved to do an extravagant piece like this, but I didn’t think about that. For some reason the first thing that popped into my head was to go to another shop; which is how I ended up at Black Lotus on a Sunday evening about five minutes before they closed.

Felix happened to be the only person left in the shop when I cracked open the door and walked inside. Hey greeted me and politely told me that they were just closing up. I told him I didn’t have a problem with that and that I was merely there to get a recommendation on an artist. He told me he might be able to help, so I asked him if he was a baseball fan. He quickly responded with, “totally.” It’s kind of a useless question for an artist, I suppose, but my focus was on making sure that he or someone else would have an understanding of what I was after. I then rattled off the concept I was going for and that I would be coming back with a ton of notes, etc., etc. Felix was hardly miffed by what I was saying and told me to come back with photos, notes and anything else he needed to get a sketch up.

For a week I toiled. Searching everywhere for pictures of mascots dating back to the 1960s, collecting important historical stories that could be told through cartoonish shapes that wouldn’t mind carving into my body for the rest of my life. At the end of my research campaign I had about 15 total pages worth of material to hand over. All of which he assembled perfectly in two pieces on the first take. To make a long story short it took roughly six sessions of four to four-and-a-half hours per session to get the first wave done.

 

Since then we’ve spent another four sessions of four hours each adding more including additional mascots, my Major League Baseball heart piece and the totally badass bowtie right below my neck. 52 hours worth of bloodless, sweat, a few tears and hard earned dollars later my canvas has become a remarkable tribute to the game I love… and we still have a lot more work to go.

Over time Felix and my friendship built and I even went out to take a few photos of him carving pools during the mornings when the weather was fair in Eugene before he had to go to work and I had to go to class.

Without him I wouldn’t be where I am today. It’s kind of crazy to think that tattoos helped me achieve some sort of position of providence, and for that, I will always be in his debt.

Back to reality

I was working in the library on the campus of the University of Oregon when I got a message over Facebook from Felix. Apparently Tyler had hit him up and presented a promotional idea that the Emeralds were curious if he wanted to take part of called “Bats and Tats” Night (clever). The promotion in a nutshell was discounted tickets for anyone who came with a tattoo as well as a tattoo competition for local artists on who could come up with the best Emeralds-themed tattoo. Based on everything we had collaborated on together it was a no-brainer for Felix. I of course said yes as well. Felix and I had all ready had an appointment set up near the end of January (the bowtie tattoo) and we decided to mull over some ideas when I dropped by.

The only problem that arose with this promotion, in my head at least, was trying to figure out a way to add original elements to an incredibly clever, but brand new logo. When Felix and I talked it over during my ink session I still couldn’t come up with anything. Of the three logos that the team had affixed to their hats, two of them were ones that I wasn’t considering. This one. And this one. Nothing personal against them, I just felt like we could do more with a different design. After the session wrapped up I told him I would do some research and try to find something that we would both like, because; after all, the other part of this assignment was to get Felix as much business as possible, something I have been very dedicated to since I was first getting interviewed for the MLB Fan Cave.

The promotion wasn’t slated until July 23^rd so I had a bit of time to finish up my last term of school, fly out to Florida to visit Angie as well as have some time with her in Portland as well. Before I graduated for the U of O I had pieced together a design concept based on two photos I had come across on the internet. The first part was the alternate logo which, at the time, was not featured on any of the team’s hats.

This, of all of them, is hands down my favorite based on the historical context behind it. The Emeralds are a short season-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres and the company that designed their new logos, Brandiose, took a classic Padres concept and perfected it.

The second part was that I wanted to somehow incorporate Sluggo into the design as well. So, I did the best, funniest thing possible and made Sluggo the tree in which Sasquatch is swinging.

In all of my hat-related exploits I came across a cap on the Hat Club Web site which happened to feature the Swingin’ Sasquatch logo with an original color scheme to back it up, this one. With little hesitation I scooped up and kept it away from being worn until the big day. Meanwhile, Angie ended up paying me a visit in the middle of June before she headed to Wisconsin to see her family. Angie had never seen me get a tattoo so I made sure to hold out on the piece until she arrived to sit next me. Tyler dropped by Black lotus to get some video and some photos together for the event and was blown away by what we had come up with. He had also mentioned that he saw the logo on the hat on the Hat Club Web site, but I made no mention as to whether or not I had seen it, even though it was kicking it on a shelf in my closet. It didn’t take us too long to get it done (roughly two hours), but it was finished, and set to be fully-healed by the time July 23^rd came rolling around.

7/23/13: Due to the fact that I didn’t have a car I ended up footing the bill for gas to get my friend Sean Davis to roll down to Eugene from Portland with me for the game. Felix had an extra ticket for me to use and couldn’t think of anyone better to spend the game with than one of my really good friends. Felix greeted us near the first plate entrance and we hugged it out. The tattoo had healed perfectly, I made sure to give it a good shave and the weather was spectacular. Felix had ended up snagging a suite, as did the other tattoo parlors involved in the contest. All that was really left to do was see how many people would come out for the event.

Tyler greeted a little ways up the stairs and noticed that I was rocking the Emeralds hat he had talked about back at Black Lotus. He also asked for a peek at the finished product which I had no problems with. “That’s sick!” he exclaimed, a pretty common response I’ve gotten from everybody. Tyler had to bounce, as he was still coordinating a few things, but Felix, Sean and I headed up to the suite to meet up with Felix’s friends and family.

One of the really cool perks of the night was that all of the artists were called down to the field to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Felix got the honor of going first and lobbed one up and across the plate.

Contrary to the arch of the ball in the photo, he was the only one to find the strike zone. Another thing to point out with this is that, like myself, Felix plays baseball/softball regularly. Throwing out a first pitch without warming up is not a picnic in the park. Trust me; check this out if you don’t believe me.

With food and beers in hand we all settled out on the patio to watch the game. The Emeralds were hosting the Boise Hawks which was cool because the Chicago Cubs’ 2013 first round pick (second overall) Kris Bryant had just signed his contract and was making his professional debut for that game.

On the other side of the plate, the Padres’ first round pick (13^th overall) Hunter Renfroe had already been digging it out for the Emeralds in the outfield, so it all made for a rather compelling game.

As the game went on the Emeralds showed the photos and videos for all the artists, tattoos and canvases who were in the running for the Best Emeralds Tattoo. Of all the ones shown Felix and I had the only one that looked spot on to what the actual logo looks like, while the other artists took to their own creative devices. Fans voted on Facebook for the winner, in which we finished in second place by the time everything sorted out at the end of the week. Winning wasn’t really the objective as much as it was about more business for Felix.

One thing that I definitely have to tip my cap to is the Emeralds’ front office for putting this night together. PK Park was borderline sold out, and the crowd was definitely into the game. Sluggo came up and paid us a visit

And Felix and I toasted our accomplishments.

Sadly the Emeralds lost 0-6, but the loss certainly didn’t spoil an amazing night.

July 21- Portland Rockies

It’s time to get a little bit old school on y’all. Follow me as we whisk away back to the year 2000. Ok, so it’s not that far back, but it was certainly a life-changing time for me as I had just moved to the Pacific Northwest which I captured so beautifully in my first Portland Beavers post back on March 6^th. It was a harsh reality coming face-to-face with the fact that the only professional baseball team within my proximity happened to be a short season-A club named the Portland Rockies. Portland’s population back in those days hovered in around 530,000 people; however, with Vancouver, Washington to the north (where I lived) there was an added 147,000 people, and another 137,000 people to the south in Oregon’s capital city, Salem. Mix that with all the surrounding towns within a 75-mile circumference and you could probably have over 1 million people. My point with this is that Portland was just too big of a city to be stuck with only a short season-A club, and they did it from 1995-2000.

Now, if you read my previous Beavers post you’d know that the former AAA Beavers were packed up and relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah by then-owner Joe Buzas at the end of the 1993 season. Luckily for Portland there was another team within the state that was having a difficult time drawing crowds and wins who was in the market for relocating themselves. So, at the end of the 1994 season the Bend Rockies, who had only been in existence since the 1992 season, made their way north and set up shop in the desperately-in-need-of-renovation Civic Stadium for the start of the 1995 season.

Had I moved up there prior to their final season I probably would have given a bit more care to the team; however, even in that final year I still made it to 10 games in which they went 4-6 and finished the year with a 32-44 record. For a city of over 500,000 people they were lucky to pull in 1,000 people per game. It was pathetic, especially considering the fact that the stadium is in downtown Portland and pretty easy to get to. Either way, I was one of the few to see the up and coming careers of the likes of Brad Hawpe, Garrett Atkins, Clint Barmes and Cory Vance before they all moved up and on to bigger and brighter futures. But this post isn’t really about them; it’s about the one year in which a team full of nobodies led by then-manager Jim Eppard did the unthinkable in 1997.

In the team’s third year in Portland, Eppard’s first, the Rockies had two players that would touch the Major Leagues even for just a few games, pitcher Justin Miller and first baseman Todd Sears. Sears’s Major League career would last only 40 games in two years with the Minnesota Twins and the San Diego Padres while Miller’s went seven years with Toronto Blue Jays, Florida Marlins San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and a brief stint in Japan. Both of their minor league careers stretch for more than 11 years each and neither were that big of a factor for the Rockies in 1997; however, both were a part of the team that went 44-32 which was good enough for their first division title as they then went on to win their only Northwest League title. After that, the only bit of success the Rockies found was in their second division title in 1999 under then-manager Alan Cockrell.

This cap, which lasted all six years, is one of the last relics from a team that only exists through records and memorabilia. Like a lot of teams whose name is derived from their Major League affiliation, the Portland Rockies logo was designed in the same styling as the Colorado Rockies, but with a few personal touches. Obviously the “PR” is the same as the “CR,” but the added rose is a tribute to the city which is known as the City of Roses which got its name from the perfect climate to grow roses as displayed in the International Rose Test Garden, one of the city’s most famous attractions. The other added feature is the mountain backdrop which could be said is Mount Hood, which can easily be seen from Civic Stadium; however, it is the same pattern which has been featured in the Rockies logo since their inaugural season in 1993. The thing that is most interesting about the use of the mountain is that the Colorado Rockies have only used this graphic on their twice in the team’s history. The first came in 1999 on their Turn Ahead the Clock jerseys, which were used for one game on August 18^th, which the second came this season with the team’s Diamond Era batting practice cap. The only time any team used the graphic before this came before the Colorado Rockies took the field for their first official game. That’s right, the 1992 Bend Rockies. 

Due to the fact that most of the people I listed above had mediocre careers with the Portland Rockies I decided to roll with two guys who actually had profound careers whose talents then translated to the Major League level. The only problem is that I can’t find any record of what jersey number they wore. And while I could assume that the first number they wore in the Majors was in fact their number in the minors, in this case that assumption doesn’t fly as they both played in Portland in 1998.

???- A fourth round draft pick by the Rockies out of Brandon High School in Brandon, Florida in 1997, Chone Figgins had the makings of being a superstar in the Major Leagues. Figgins only played one season in Portland and had a pretty successful season. In 69 games Figgins hit .283 with nine doubles, three triples, one home run, 26 RBI and 25 stolen bases. His three triples led the team and his 25 stolen bases were the second best. Figgins was traded to the Anaheim Angels in 2000 and made his Major League debut on August 25, 2002.

Contrary to popular belief Figgins is not a bust. While his time with the Seattle Mariners (three years) was rather lackluster, the eight years he spent with the Angels were incredibly productive. He made one All-Star Game appearance in his final season in Anaheim in 2009 when he led the league with 101 walks along with his .298 average, 30 doubles and 42 stolen bases. Figgins led the American League in stolen bases in 2005 with 62 and cracked the top-25 in AL MVP voting four times (2004-2005, 2007 and 2009). When Figgins made his debut he wore the #6 all the way through the end of the 2003 season.

???- The other mystery guest was drafted three times, twice by the Mariners in 1995 and 1996 in the lower rounds and then a third time by the Rockies in the 13^th round in 1998 out of the University of South Alabama. 

Juan "Pornstache" Pierre’s first year as a professional came that season in Portland with Figgins, with Pierre having a borderline Hall of Fame first season… for the minors. In 64 games Pierre hit .352 with 93 hits, nine doubles, two triples, 30 RBI, 55 runs scored and a team-leading 38 stolen bases. How the Rockies didn’t win a NWL title that season as well is beyond me.

Pierre only spent two more successful seasons in the minors before getting called up on August 7, 2000 where he finished in sixth place for the National League Rookie of the Year Award batting .310. The following season Pierre would swipe a NL-leading 46 bases and hit .327 in 156 games, but get no love outside of that. Just wrong. Pierre’s Rockies career would only last until the end of the 2002 season as he and pitcher Mike Hampton were traded to the Florida Marlins right before the Winter Meetings. Pierre would end up leading the NL in stolen bases again with 65 while leading the Marlins to their second World Series victory in their 11-year history.

Pierre, somehow, has never made an All-Star team. His two best season came with the Marlins in 2003 and 2004 as he finished in the top-16 in NL MVP voting both of those years behind batting averages of .305 and .326 respectively, a lot of stolen bases and a ton of runs scored. Basically he was the prototypical leadoff hitter of the 2000s.

What’s really interesting about Pierre and Figgins is that they both elected to go with the #6 in their first year(s) in the Majors and then they both changed it to the #9 right afterward. I’d like to think that there is some kind of connection between the two of them to make them do that, but wouldn’t know unless I asked them. Until I get that opportunity, or until a reader has photos of either of them playing in Portland, I’ll have to keep this cap blank and update it accordingly.

July 9- Bakersfield Blaze

A full year has come and gone since I last set foot inside of Sam Lynn Ballpark in Bakersfield, California, where I attended my first Bakersfield Blaze game as a spectator since 2008 along with my friend, and fellow Oakland Athletics fan Toni Taylor (@Condorsfan06). Prior to the Blaze’s final game of the series against the Lake Elsinore Storm it dawned on me that it was slowly approaching 12 years since I had left my post as bat boy some time near the end of July in 2000. 12 years. Wow! Where does the time go? I know I’ve gone on about my bat boy days in a few posts all ready, but I don’t plan on doing much of that with this post. My fourth, and final Blaze post I have set for August will fill in a lot of the gaps I’ve left, as well as rekindle a few of the connections I had with players who have since faded into the record books and moved on to bigger and sometimes better things. But for this post, it’s all about the game which took place on July 9, 2012.

Toni and I had been talking since my campaign for the MLB Fan Cave kicked off in February of 2012. What started it was when the Bakersfield newspaper, The Bakersfield Californian, ran a reworded story about me and my time in Bakersfield based around the reel I had down for KEZI in Eugene, Oregon. Since the two of us were both A’s fans it became sort of a natural grown for conversation through Twitter and Facebook. When I made it to New York City Toni hooked me up with a Rollie Fingers bobblehead which she had gotten from her trip to the Coliseum early into the 2012 campaign. 

What’s funny about this is that until I received that Rollie bobblehead I never owned, nor had any desire to own a bobblehead. To me they always seemed like a very fragile space waster, but I have since changed my tune about that after other A’s loyalists joined in on the fun and hooked me up with their spare bobbleheads as well. I just can’t complain against that. Toni and I had chatted about catching a Blaze or an A’s game some times during the 2013 season as neither of us expected that I would ever be sent home from the Fan Cave to be able to make either teams’ games during the 2012 season. Well, as lady luck would have it, I was suddenly given a plethora of time around Memorial Day and I made sure to stick to my word once I figured out when I would be headed down to Southern California.

Toward the end of June I had started my Major League Baseball road trip, but also made to sure to include as many minor league games as I possibly could, which, at the time, meant a lot of Eugene Emeralds games. My original ballpark tour plans were only supposed to be relegated to the West Coast. It wasn’t until partway into July that I decided to expanded into Canada and the East Coast. Nevertheless, all of the stops on my West Coast tour were plotted out perfectly. After I made my run in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Anaheim and then San Diego I would have a week off in Bakersfield to relax before I made my way back to Oregon through a couple day stop in San Francisco and Oakland.

Originally I was supposed to make it from San Diego to Bakersfield on Sunday, July 8^th in time for the Blaze game that evening; however, I ended up going back to Anaheim for the final game of the Los Angeles Angels/Baltimore Orioles series with my friend Matthew James (@MattyJay27) which I’ll go into more detail in a not-too-distant post. But alas, I finally made it back home to Buck Owens country and made it to the game with Toni.

Now, I had at least two opportunities to catch the Blaze at home had I left Eugene like two or three days in advance. One of the biggest draws for me to get back to Bakersfield in good time was to be able to see their star player Billy Hamilton tear up the base paths as he was well on his way for setting the Minor League single-season stolen base record held by New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals great Vince Coleman. Before I had left Oregon Hamilton was still on the brink of triple digits and the Major League All-Star break was rapidly approaching. But since the MLB All-Star break didn’t affect the MiLB schedule I figured I was in the clear. Nope! What I forgot to take into consideration was that Hamilton might get called up for the MLB Futures Game, which takes place the day before the All-Star game and right before the Home Run Derby. Guess where Hamilton was when I pulled my car into the parking lot of Sam Lynn. Yah, Kansas City. Needless to say, I was in a pretty sour mood with myself once I became privy to that information. I mean, it was all ready bad enough that I wasn’t at the All-Star Game with the Fan Cave, a decision I’m still beyond confused about.

When I met up with Toni I did my best to keep all of my frustration from the day’s events inside; however, I was still pretty heated about being kicked out of the Fan Cave in the first place so I was a bit crabby for bits and pieces of the game. Some of it was brought up in casual conversation about my experience in New York; other bits came as a result of seeing fellow Cave Dweller Ricardo Marquez’s face on the top of the home run slide during Angels’ 3B/OF Mark Trumbo’s turn at the plate for the Home Run Derby.

The Blaze had gotten off to a hot start by building a 3-1 lead over the Storm which started with a RBI-double from current Cincinnati Red Donald Lutz who I wrote about back on May 6^th. But alas, the Blaze squandered the lead in the fourth, but got it right back in the fifth. It was around this time that Toni and I made our way to the team store to pick up some caps. I only had two of their caps at the time, one from my bat boy days and the other that I wrote about on January 16^th. Most New Era Caps start at about $34.99 no matter if they’re MLB or MiLB; however, in some rare cases quite a few MiLB teams will sell their caps for less than that. In the case of the Blaze caps they had their 2011-present home and 2011-present alternate cap (this one) for $25 each. Sold!!! They also had their Stars & Stripes cap available for the same price, but I said no to that one for some dumb reason. AAAAARRRR!!! 

After snapping a quick shark photo we watched the rest of the game from the comforts of right behind home plate. I’ve always been more of a right field bleacher kind of guy in Oakland, but at other parks I’ve always fancied sitting on either sides of the dugouts; rarely do I ever sit behind home plate. The Storm tied the game up in the top of the sixth inning, but the Blaze countered again by notching one of their own off of a Theo Bowe single. From the seventh inning on the game turned into a pitchers duel as the Blaze were able to maintain their 6-5 lead until the Storm succumbed to their final out.

After the game Toni and I shot the breeze for a bit while I walked over to the clubhouse entrance to snap a photo of Blaze manager Ken Griffey signing autographs for kids. Yes, that Ken Griffey.  

 What I wouldn’t find out until the middle of November of 2012 is that the red-headed kid on the left is the nephew of a regular customer of mine from when I worked at Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) over the holidays. It was one of those “small world” moments for sure. Toni and I made our way back to my car where I had quite a few A’s hats for her to choose from as payback for the Rollie bobblehead she had hooked me up with. I definitely felt like the right thing to since she had been so generous to me.  And especially for spending time with me as I made the trip back to one of my favorite and most cherished places in the entire world, Sam Lynn Ballpark. 

#12/4-104: Back on March 24^th I wrote the what is technically part two of this story, but every now-and-then I like to get all Quentin Tarantino on y’all and write my stories out of sequence. Some of you might cite the film “Memento” as well, but this isn’t exactly backwards storytelling as it is foreshadowing. You know what, I’ve gotten way too technical with this, so let me steer this back on course…

Hamilton was drafted by the Reds in the second round of the 2009 amateur Baseball Draft out of Taylorsville High School in Taylorsville, Mississippi. With such a high draft position under his belt he went straight to the Rookie Leagues for two seasons: 2009 with the Gulf Coast League Reds and then in 2010 with the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League in Montana. In 2011 Hamilton found himself with the Class-A Dayton Dragons betting leadoff to the tune of a .278 average and .340 on-base percentage. Oh, and 103 stolen bases to boot while only getting caught 20 times. Hamilton also managed to muscle three home runs over the wall and leg out 18 doubles and nine triples that season. With such impressive numbers he was a guaranteed promotion to advanced-A Bakersfield in 2012.

Hamilton started out the year wearing #12, but switched it to #4 throughout the season, hence the 12/4. The Reds wanted Hamilton to lower his strikeout numbers from 133 the previous year with the Dragons, as well as raise his batting average a bit. Hamilton did both with ease. In 82 games with the Blaze Hamilton hit .323 and raised his on-base percentage to .413. Hamilton also managed to match his total number of doubles and triples as he did in 2011, but the one thing to look at is the fact that Hamilton played in 135 games (53 less) than what he was at in Bakersfield. Oh, and just because he could, Hamilton swiped 104 bags, one more than he did in Dayton. You want to talk about the next great base stealer? Talk about the next great leadoff man. And to reiterate what I had said earlier, I missed seeing this kid play live by about two days. If this post has a lesson to be taught, it’s definitely that you should support your local Minor League Baseball team. You never know when you might be able to say, “Wow! I remember when I saw him before the Majors.”

The rest of Hamilton’s 2012 season is featured in the Pensacola Blue Wahoos post linked here or above.

July 7- Midland RockHounds

Looking back on my blog posts, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve written anything Oakland Athletics-related. I suppose I’ll have to make up for that over the next few days. This cap plays a particular importance in my life despite the fact that I’ve actually never seen the team play live, but I’ll get into that in a moment. First, a little bit of history… before some more history. I really need to stop saying that, it’s all relatively redundant.

For those of you who have become avid fans of my blog here is one thing that I should probably share with all of you that a few people have brought up in passing. All of my research is conducted independently, only in a few cases have I needed to rely upon outside sources to help me out; however, I suppose I could still say it’s part of an independent investigation because no one is necessarily volunteering any of this information for me. One thing that I have been incredibly skeptical about since February is whether or not I should use any information I come across in Wikipedia. In some cases I have found a few snippets which have helped aid a direction I may want to take with my posts, but in every case I still need to dig a bit further as opposed to just taking what’s written as gospel. I’d say roughly 85% of the time that I have used Wikipedia I’ve gone through and changed anything that I know is wrong. And no, I’m not just talking about for 85% of my posts; I’m talking anytime I’ve used it over the last decade or so. In most cases we’re talking about minor issues, but every now-and-then I find something egregious. Take today for example. Click on the Midland RockHounds link and you’ll find a mistake within the first paragraph, “The RockHounds are the current champions of the Texas League South Division.” This is not the case. The RockHounds were last division champions in 2010. Like I said, small stuff in most cases, but rather bothersome to keep noticing and changing. Obviously I elected to leave this one be to prove a point. All right, enough of this tomfoolery…

The AA RockHounds have been affiliated with the Texas League and Midland since they first played ball back in 1972 as the Midland Cubs until the end of the 1984 season. After that they became the Angels from 1985-1998 when they changed parent clubs until making their final name change when the Athletics took over in 1999. One thing to be noted from this time period is that the Athletics were clearly a bit cleverer in the name-changing category. The RockHounds played most of the history in Christensen Stadium (awesome name, no relation) as the park had been erected 22 years before the organization was founded until the end of the 2001 season. From 2002 through the present the RockHounds have been calling Citibank Ballpark (formerly First American Bank Ballpark until 2005) their home. This cap was introduced in 2003 and has been used for home games since. In their history the RockHounds have won four division titles (1975, 2005, 2009 and 2010) and three Texas League titles: 1975 (which they split with former Lafayette Drillers, 2005 and 2009.One of the interesting tidbits about this cap is that it took me going to New Era's headquarters in Buffalo, New York to track it down in their flagship location. Weird.

Other awards have followed the RockHounds throughout their history. The Midland franchise under the Angels won the Texas League Organization of the year in 1990 and 1994 and as the RockHounds in 2002. In 1995 Midland won AA's highest award, the Bob Frietas Award. General Manager Monty Hoppel has been named Executive of the Year with the franchise three times: in 1991, 1995, and 2002. In 2007, the RockHounds won the John H. Johnson President's Award, Minor League baseball highest award for a franchise, making them the third Texas League franchise to do so after the El Paso Diablos and the Tulsa Drillers.

I’ve only know, personally, two players who have spent time with the RockHounds and both came at interesting point in my life.

#25- Unless you really followed the Athletics at the end of the 1990s/early 2000s you probably have never heard of Jacques Landry. Landry grew up in Bryan, Texas which is about six hour east of Midland. He attended San Jacinto College, a community college in Pasadena, Texas, which is a suburb of sorts in the Houston area. Other notable players to play ball at SJC include San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt, 11-year pitching veteran Mike Gonzalez, Seattle Mariners pitcher Lucas Luetge and some borderline Hall of Famer named Roger Clemens. During Landry’s tenure with SJC he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 36^th round of the 1993 amateur draft. Landry declined and later transferred to Rice University where he played under current coach Wayne Graham during the first years of Rice’s dominant presence within college baseball. After making the tournament in back-to-back seasons Landry was taken in the 12^th round of the 1996 draft by the Detroit Tigers and ended up playing in Fayetteville with the Class-A Generals and later the advanced-A Lakeland Tigers. From 1996 until today the Rice Owls have since won the regular season or tournament title every single year in three different conferences, including the 2003 National Championship.

At the end of the 1998 season Landry was signed to a minor league deal by the Athletics and played all of 1999 in Modesto with the then-Modesto Athletics. This is the point in time where I step in. 1999 was my first year as the bat boy for the Bakersfield Blaze and at that time I was only 16-years-old, Landry was the second-oldest player on the team at 25. Now, due to the fact that there are so few teams (10) and it’s broken up into two divisions with a first-half and second-half champions, the Athletics made a few visits to Bakersfield which gave Landry and his accomplice, Eric Byrnes, more than enough opportunities to play practical jokes on me and get me into as much trouble as they possibly could. Some of the highlights included black widow spider scares and the thievery of a teammate’s Little Caesars pizza. But, no matter what happened it was all for jokes, and when the games started we were all in the zone.

Toward the end of the season Landry and I swapped email addresses and kept in contact as best as we could. Every so often I’d here from him, but most of his emails were usually just part of a mass send which was comprised of funny video. When the 2000 season rolled around and the Athletics came to town Landry wasn’t there. Landry had been promoted to Midland where he spent 2000-2003, batting .251 during his time as an outfielder, as opposed to the third or first base he had been playing in Modesto. Of the three seasons his best came in 2001 when he went .241/36/95, which ended up being the second-best year of his career behind his 1999 campaign which got him promoted (.311/27/111). In 2002 Landry was promoted again to AAA Sacramento to play for the River Cats for a total of 57 games. At the end of the season Landry was no longer on the Athletics.

Landry was picked up originally by the Seattle Mariners and played with the AAA Tacoma Rainiers for a brief stint before getting released and then picked up by the Houston Astros where he played the rest of the season with the Round Rock Express while they were still affiliated with the Texas League. After the 2003 season, Landry was out of baseball. I never heard from him after his second year in Midland, which was right around the time I had graduated from high school in Vancouver, Washington. If anyone knows him or knows where he might be at, tell him I said hi.

#29- Another three-year veteran (2 ¼) of the RockHounds is someone I wrote about back on April 15^th during my Jackie Robinson post. Jeremy (@Baseclogger) Barfield and I became acquainted and then friends within the two hours that we met. For the more risqué bit of the conversation that kicked it off I suggest clicking the Robinson link above. As for everything that I didn’t all ready mention, Barfield and I mostly hit it off so well because we’re both pretty much the same type of person intellectually. We don’t take things at face value and we always do what we can to better ourselves and our education. Like Landry and so many others above, Barfield played his little bit of college ball at San Jacinto College, but after he played high school ball at Klein High School in Klein, Texas where he was originally drafted by the New York Mets in the ninth round of the 2006 amateur draft. I was the only one at the pool at the hotel in Phoenix for the final audition of the MLB Fan Cave who knew this off the top of their head. This particular bit of knowledge was not known by then-reject and current Mets Fan Cave representative Travis Miller, which ultimately demoted him to Barfield’s shit list. Actually, thinking about it now, almost anyone who knows of Barfield should know that bit about him, especially if you’ve seen the infamous bat flip video that has become a hit on YouTube. But alas, Barfield went one to SJC for two years where he was then drafted by the Athletics in the eighth round of the 2008 amateur draft. The move then and especially last year was an odd choice for the Athletics due to the fact that the A’s have been outfielder heavy since 2005 and Barfield would have been better suited, if not moved up the rankings a little bit quicker. This of course is the way that I see it, and I’m sure others might feel the same way. In any case, Barfield’s first three seasons took him from the short season-A Vancouver Canadians to the Class-A Kane County Cougars to the advanced-A Stockton Ports before starting the 2011 season in Midland.

Barfield’s first year in Midland was pretty solid. He hit .257 with 11 home runs and 72 RBI as he shared the field with the likes of Grant Green, Sonny Grey and AJ Griffin (who ruins the color scheme). When we met near the end of February it was right at the beginning of Spring Training. Players were just arriving to Arizona just as we were and Barfield paid us a visit at the end of the second and final night. Most of our conversation didn’t actually revolve around baseball. In fact, most conversations I’ve ever had with professional athletes don’t, unless I’m on the job. The Fan Cave hopefuls, Barfield and I sitting around the pool didn’t qualify as work. So, anytime baseball was mentioned it was always after he initiated it. For the entire duration of the night I was wearing my Fan Cave campaign shirt that I had made for a few people in Eugene, Oregon to help spread the word. As the night came to a close Jeremy had grown a fondness for it and asked if he could have it. Knowing that I could easily make more back home, I gave it to him right then and there. It was a very humbling and prideful feeling. I’ve always been creative and put together very solid ideas; however, very few people ever took notice prior to the first shirts I made for the University of Oregon versus Auburn University National Championship in NCAA football. These…

But when anyone, pro athlete or not, says, “I want that thing you created because I like it,” it makes for a great feeling.

To add to that, Jeremy did an interview with Baseball Prospectus not too long after our meeting and had some additional nice words to say about our encounter and me. Here’s the link. Jeremy kicks on around the 1 hour and 13 minute mark.

2012 went on to be an even better season for Jeremy. He hit .272 with 13 home runs and 64 RBI, but he remained with the Midland for the rest of the season, making sweet catch-and-throw plays like this.

Jeremy had a pretty decent Spring Training this year, and it was all capped off by this photo taken after he crushed a dinger during one of their games against the Colorado Rockies. In fact, it was the earliest known photo of the new home run celebration the Athletics players orchestrated.

One of the more positive things that came from this time is that Jeremy decided to finish up his degree which we talked not too long after I finished up my school in the middle of March. No matter the age, current job, etc. I will always be supportive of anyone who decides to continue their education. I think it’s pretty awesome that at his age and what he does for a living he sees the importance of it. As Spring Training came and went Jeremy was headed back to Midland, but fortunately his time didn’t last very long as he was promoted to the River Cats after his game on May 7^th against the Frisco RoughRiders.

Remember what I said about the Athletics having too many outfielders? Well, they felt the same way, on today’s post date, and gave Jeremy the option to convert to become a pitcher; which would make him a very valuable commodity if it’s successful. As for now, the conversion seems to be going well according to his updates on Twitter. Until the first moment in the spotlight comes and every day after, I wish you luck dude. I hope it works out.

July 6- Eugene Emeralds

March 7^th was a pretty spectacular day. It was the day when the Eugene Emeralds were selling all of their brand new 2013 caps for $20 outside of the bar (@TheWebfootBar) my friend Justin owns. Having all ready scored the alternate cap back in January, and seeing how $20 is too good of a price to pass up, I bought the remaining two I needed to round out my collection. It’s days like this that cap collectors like myself love and hate as we all love to get new caps, but hate how quickly the money evaporates from our pockets. No matter. Down the road we are all happy for our purchase when we don our newly purchased caps and hear the ever-familiar, “Hey! Where did you get that cap? It’s awesome!” In the case of this cap, the fine folks at Brandiose in San Diego deserve the most credit.

For those of you who don’t know, Brandiose, or Plan B. Branding as they were formerly known, have been at the forefront of team logo design for the better part of the last decade based out of San Diego, California. The founders, Jason & Casey, started out in their college dorm room designing logos for high school teams and eventually were given their big break by the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx as they were the only team to respond to the 150 letters they sent out to every minor league team. After their first success, many more followed. They are responsible for many of the logos I have all ready written about for teams such as the: Everett AquaSox, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Stockton Ports, Lakeland Flying Tigers, Casper Ghosts and even revision for the oldest team in Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds. In 2012 Jason & Casey were tapped by Emeralds General Manager Allan Benavides.

"When we started this process, we wanted to end up with something fun that fans could really associate with," said Ems General Manager Allan Benavides. "Sasquatch gives the Emeralds a face for the first time in our long history." Sasquatch biting the tree will be the emblem on the home hat while the foot-shaped "E" will serve as an alternate. The road uniforms will feature the "Eugene" script with feet on each end. Home, away and alternate uniforms will be released in the spring.

The new identity pays tribute to America's greatest urban legend, the legend of Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest. The primary logo features a Sasquatch unearthing trees behind "Emeralds" lettering. Fans will also enjoy the iconic "E" Sasquatch foot logo, and several other Sasquatch and foot related marks. A number of different options were considered including themes that involved forests, trees and various woodland creatures. "Ultimately, we felt that sasquatch was the best fit to represent the mystique of the Northwest woodlands," said Benavides.

The development process began last June when Jason and Casey met in Eugene with fans, staff and community members to learn about the stories, history, and personality of the Emeralds and Eugene. Brandiose developed the logos, uniforms and is dreaming up enhancements for the 2013 fan experience. "Eugene is a hotbed of countercultural ideas," said Brandiose's Jason Klein. "From Sasquatch sightings to hippy culture, the Ems are honoring Eugene's eccentricities with a few of their own." – MiLB.com

Back in November of 2012 when the Ems unveiled their new logos I was stuck in Portland for the holidays and working as was unable to attend the event. But that didn’t stop Benavides from hitting me up asking me if I wanted any of the new caps later that night. I of course said yes and they made sure to hold the alternate cap aside for me until I moved back to Eugene to finish up school this last winter. As I’ve mentioned in my previous Ems articles, they run a pretty solid program and I’m always happy to share the love in my blog posts. Kudos!

Now, as I’ve mentioned in a lot of my other “new to 2013” posts it’s hard to tell a story about a hat or player who wore that if it hasn’t been used on the field. In this case I figured it would be a cool time to share a random, but true story about Eugene that only a few people know about in keeping with the theme of Eugene’s oddball history. Since this cap is the team’s road cap, it kind of makes for an appropriate discussion piece as most of my 2012 was spent on the road; only a few weeks were actually spent in or around Eugene.

So… it was July, only a few days after I had returned to Oregon after the West Coast leg of my MLB road trip. I still had until the end of the month until my roommate and my lease expired on our apartment in Eugene so I made as much use of that as I possibly could on any random nights when I felt like going back home to visit and catch up with friends. Since my apartment was only about five blocks from the campus of the University of Oregon and about a 9-iron shot away from the bar I worked at (Max’s Tavern), I rarely ever strayed far from that area. It was some time around 9:30 PM when a few of my friends who worked at the tattoo parlor across the street rolled in and saw me drinking a few beers and enjoying whatever game was on MLB Network that night. None of them knew I was in town so they were all especially excited to see me, as I was excited to see them. Everyone had questions about my experience in New York and why I was home so early, all of which eventually was made worse by the fact that the MLB tickets commercial I was featured in was blaring on the television in the background. Most of the people I knew from the tattoo parlor weren’t fans of baseball, but all of them had grown a particular interest on account of me. At the same time, most of them didn’t have MLB Network so seeing me on TV as I sat in front of them blew most of their minds. To me, it was really uncomfortable as more people around the bar started taking notice to the fact that “the guy from the commercial” was sitting in their midst. Luckily my friends quickly realized how embarrassed I was to be “that guy from the MLB Fan Cave” and they all suggested that we head somewhere else for a few drinks and to catch up. This was something I was more than happy to oblige.

The bar they chose was a bit of a metal/punk rock/anything goes type bar called John Henry’s, which also serves as the 80s night hotspot for all of Eugene on Thursdays and a burlesque house on Sundays. In other words, the place is pretty rad. The only problem that I ever had with it is that it sits in the “Barmuda Triangle,” an area in downtown Eugene where to larger hub of popular bars reside. I’ve never been a huge fan of going to ridiculously jammed up bars, so this was definitely a pole vault out of my comfort zone. My friend Brendan got me a 32 ounce bottle of Miller High Life; yes, they serve those there, and it’s awesome. The group of five us shot the breeze, talked about what we had all been up to and I made sure not to be the centerpiece of the conversation. I just wanted to have a normal night back in the reality I was used to before I left for New York. As my MHL emptied I headed back to the bar for a refill, but ended up staying for a little bit longer than expected due to a conversation I got myself into with someone who seemed really out of place.

When I got to the bar I could see the bartender was busy so I took a seat on the only open stool and waited until I could flag them down. Just as I sat down I felt a hand upon my right shoulder and a voice ring out, “Excuse me, but you’re in my seat.” Not being the jerk who takes seemingly open seats, I got up and said I was sorry. I then followed it up with the routine, “I didn’t know it was taken, I’m just waiting to get a drink.” In all of this time I still didn’t look over my shoulder to really see who I was talking to, a constant theme in my life as I’ve always been the kind of person who does reasonable things on command like duck when someone shouts it, as opposed to looking to see what’s about to blast me in the face right before it happens. Just as I finished my comment the stranger replied, “No worries young man… what are you having? It’s on me.” At this point I chuckled and was about to say, “No worries, I got it,” but all that came out was “Nnnnn…” as I finally looked to see who I was talking to.

Dave Chappelle.

At this point I just froze and laughed some more, but then muttered out what I was originally trying to say. He then said, “No really, I’m buying.” I half-expected him to follow that up with yelling, “It’s a celebration!” in his Rick James voice, but he didn’t. Not wanting to be rude I told him what I was drinking and sure enough he put it on his tab… after he made fun of me for drinking a “32 ounce bottle of urine.” To which I replied, “You know, kids are going hard these days. And when I drink piss, I make sure it’s the finest the great city of Milwaukee has to offer.” He laughed and said, “I’ll have to remember to think of that if I find myself passed out in a bathroom stall in Milwaukee.” We then shook hands, said goodbye and I walked back over to my friends. I never bothered to find out why he was in town, but for that moment, it made me feel better about everything. I figured that at the end of the day, if I can make one of the best comedians in the game laugh, life isn’t so bad.

#50- When I marked this cap up I did under the guise that I was writing down the number on the roster for the 2013 season. Nope! It ended up being someone from 2012; however, the name alone is well worth the acknowledgement.

Goose Kallunki was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 27^th round of the 2012 amateur draft out of Utah Valley State University in Orem, Utah. The son of collegiate athletes, Goose prepped at Orem High School and helped the team make it to the Region Championship in 2006 and a fifth place finish at State Championship in 2008 as a four-year starter for the Tigers. He was also a three-time All-Region and two-time All-State selection. He also played basketball and golf at Orem, earning All-Valley, All-Region and All-State honors in basketball.

At UVSU he played first and third base, becoming the first player from the school to receive All-America honors during his senior year by Louisville Slugger, National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and CollegeBaseballInsider.com. He was also named third-team All-America by Baseball America and Perfect Game, was one of three finalists for 2012 Dick Howser Trophy, honor nation's top collegiate player, a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, which goes to top amateur baseball player, District VIII Player of the Year (NCBWA), ABCA First-Team All-Region selection, Great West Conference Player of the Year and First-Team All-Great West Conference Selection. He was quite the busy boy.

Goose’s time with the Emeralds only lasted one season for 53 games. He hit .254 with two home runs and 13 RBI in which 51/53 of those games came as the team’s first baseman. This year Goose has been moving around to various Independent League teams such as the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings, the Joliet Slammers and the Roswell Invaders (minor league teams always have the best names). Between all three teams he is batting .286 with two home runs and 32 RBI.