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.

June 3- Indianapolis Indians

If there’s one thing I’ve taken comfort in over the years, it’s certainly baseball. Whether it’s at the professional level, collegiate, high school or even the occasional Little League game I can be as happy as a clam in the seats. I’ve learned rather quickly that anything can happen at the most random of times in a baseball game, not necessarily life-altering, but merely something I may never see again within the confines of the diamond. One moment in particular I wrote about on April 22^nd. I was attending the Little League game of a friend of mine’s son Robert in New York City when he had a blooper hit to him just behind the pitchers mound which he caught and then proceeded to tag second and first base to complete and unassisted triple play. That’s right; an eight-year-old pulled that off. Since then, everything has looked rather pedestrian. Kidding of course. But seriously, one should not take the professional game for granted, even just the Major League level, because it’s when you don’t pay attention to the smaller teams and leagues magical things can happened.

A few weeks ago I bought this hat off of the Lids Web site after running across a truly amazing stat within the team’s history… but I’ll get to that later in this piece. This cap was introduced at the start of the 1993 season by the Indianapolis Indians. It's also a little funny that I would be buying this cap considering the fact that Lids is based out of Indianapolis, Indiana. Hmmmm... The Indians are a AAA team in the International League whose Major League affiliate at the time was, you guessed it… the Cincinnati Reds. Wait! Wait a sec… the Reds? Yes, with a name like the Indians one can’t help think of the OTHER Ohio-based MLB franchise. “How did this come to be?” you may be asking your self. Well…

Professional baseball was first played in Indianapolis in 1877. After 15 years of various franchises competing in various leagues (including four years in the National League and one year in the American Association), the current Indianapolis Indians franchise was founded as an original member of the American Association in 1902. That year's team won 95 games, and the first of 21 pennants.

The ballclub played its early seasons at several ballparks, including two on Washington Street, before Norm Perry, who took ownership of the team in 1929, built a new stadium on 16th Street in 1931. He named the park Perry Stadium in honor of his brother James who had been killed in a plane crash. That ballpark, which was renamed Victory Field in 1942 and Bush Stadium in 1967, remained the Tribe's home until July 1996, where they still play today. They are currently on their eighth team of affiliation, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prior to that they were the Boston Braves (1946-1947), Cleveland Indians (1952-1956), Philadelphia Phillies (1960), Chicago White Sox (1957-1959, 1962-1967), Montreal Expos (1984-1992), Reds (1939-1941, 1961, 1968-1983, 1993-1999), Milwaukee Brewers (2000-2004) and now again the Pirates (1948-1951 and 2005 to the present). In their 111-year history the Indians have won seven class titles, 10 League titles and 23 division titles. Their most recent International League title came in 2000 behind the likes of Ben Sheets and Marco Scutaro.

As I was saying above, this hat was first introduced in 1993, an interesting move which has been known be more of a curse to the team than a blessing. In this case, the changes were rather dramatic. In 1992, the final season the Indians had under the Expos, their uniforms looked like this…

They were basically Expos uniforms and Expos hats except with an “I” as opposed to the multi-colored “M.” And yes, I really want that hat. When 1993 rolled around and the Reds become the parent clubs of the Indians, uniform changes were desperately in order as to look more like the Major League club and not of the team who just left town. Thus, these were born…

The Indians have elected to keep the logo and colors going for the last 20 years, which is pretty smart considering how unique the logo is. Although, this logo from 1969 would make for a pretty awesome cap nowadays, even for just a “turn back the clock night.”

Indianapolis is a rather interesting city. I used to go there once or twice the years with my father to watch Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers play back in their heyday. Victory Field sits only a few blocks away from the RCA Dome, where the Indianapolis Colts play, and only a few more blocks away from Bankers Life Fieldhouse (formerly Conseco Fieldhouse) where the Pacers play. My dad and I drove by Victory Field numerous times during our stays, but it was never during baseball season. I hope to get back there again some day soon. I would love to catch a game.

When coming up with a mark for this cap there was only one thing that made sense.

5/20/1998: In my introductory paragraph I talked about magical moments that seldom happen, and if you don’t pay attention, you could miss it. On May 20, 1998, one of those moments occurred, and it’s only happened twice ever during a professional game.

Now, I would love more than anything to stretch this into an amazing story; however, I am unable to. I scoured the internet for hours over the last few days and came up with nothing but cold trails. I even took to the Indianapolis Star’s Web site to go through the archives for the newspaper from May 21, 1998, the one that would have the boxscore from the game as that’s all I really need. Unfortunately, I have to pay $3.95 to be able to look at it. I mean, I’m all for supporting newspapers, but not that much for what I need. So I apologize for being frugal and not being able to give you a more in-depth story, but I’ll give you a story nonetheless.

Based on what I’m seeing the Indians were at home against the Pawtucket Red Sox. It also doesn’t say who the pitcher for the Red Sox was; however, based on the stat sheet on Baseball-Reference.com I can safely assume that it was Jim Farrell, Peter Munro, Brian Barkley or Brian Rose based on their ERAs and home runs allowed. Now, one thing I do know is that all of this takes place during the fifth inning which is how I deduced my conclusion. Indianapolis players hit for a "Homer Cycle". Pete Rose, Jr. opens the inning with a solo home run, Jason Williams connected for a 3–run shot, Glenn Murray slugged a grand slam, and Guillermo Garcia finishes the scoring with a 2–run blast. The Indians won the game 11–4. Like I said, amazing stuff. This was the only time during a professional game that, not only did the team complete the home run cycle in one inning, but they hit for it in general. Only one other time has a home run cycle ever occurred, but that story will have to wait for another night.

One thing that I should point out, which may be a valid reason as the why most people don’t know about this stat, is because of the timing. In 1998 the internet was still in its early going process in the average American home. On top of that, news from a Minor League game was not exactly worthy of national attention, even something like this. In most cases there would be a brief blurb in the local paper; however, that means it would have been printed on May 21, 1998, the day after it occurred. I don’t know how it was how it was where you live, but on that day there was only one headline grabbing national attention, and then took place in Thurston, Oregon, about 10 miles east of Eugene. A boy named Kip Kinkle had been expelled from school the previous day for carrying a gun in his backpack to class. After senselessly murdering his parents he went to Thurston High School and unloaded his carnage up the student body killing two and injuring 20. I was living and going to high school in Bakersfield, California at the time, but it was still chilling to see. Baseball at the time just didn’t matter, and the stat faded into the record books unnoticed by many.

I didn’t move to Oregon until I was 17-years-old in 2000. Between 2005 and 2007 I worked for Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) as a store manager in Woodburn, the same town where Kinkle is serving a 112-year sentence in a youth detention facility. I moved to Eugene in 2007 and worked for a soccer shop in 2008. Around Memorial Day of that year I had to work the sales tent during a soccer tournament at Thurston High School. For the first few hours of the day I didn’t really think much of it. In fact, I didn’t even remember what had taken place. I overheard someone talking about in passing and a chill ran up my spine. Once you know you’re in a place where something tragic happened the feeling never seems to go away.

UPDATE (5/16/14): Today my lovely girlfriend Angie and I decided to venture out near our apartment to try and find a new bar we can call home. Since we moved here at the beginning of February we had hit quite a few places up on the east side of the I-580 freeway in the Lake Merritt area, but tonight we opted to hit up the west side. As luck would have it, we found our new public house. The bar is called Portal, and they offer a great assortment of beer and food during happy hour, not to mention their lunch and dinner menu is out of this world as well. As we sat at the bar, enjoying the assortment of delectables they had to offer, we watched the Oakland Athletics game as they took on the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field in Cleveland. We missed the Athletics' first time at the plate but were soon "treated" to Indians' first baseman Nick Swisher's solo home run off of Athletics' pitcher Sonny Gray to draw first blood. Even though it was only one run, Angie and I both felt that this might be how the night goes for the A's. Needless to say, we were wrong. 

In the bottom of the second inning with the bases full of Athletics, outfielder Josh Reddick teed off on Indians' pitcher Zach McAllister for his second career grand slam. Not too long after that Athletics' third baseman Josh Donaldson took McAllister yard for a three-run home run. That closed the book on McAllister. In the bottom of the third inning Athletics' shortstop Jed Lowrie crushed a solo home run off of Indians' relief pitcher Kyle Crockett (no relation to Don Johnson's character on "Miami Vice") and then finally in the seventh inning Reddick hit his second home run of the night off of Indian's relief pitcher Carlos Carrasco, a two-run shot making the Athletics the first team in Major League history to hit for the home run cycle. As happy as I was and how cool historically as this is, I found myself thinking about one unusual coincidence immediately after Reddick went yard for the second time, the school shooting at Thurston High School. 

The reason why this is so unusual, at least in my mind, is because a few years after the shooting (2004) Oakland Athletics' pitcher Dan Straily's family moved to Springfield during Dan's junior year. And, as fate would have it, Straily attended Thurston High School for the remainder of his high school years. No other player before or after Straily time at Thurston has gone on to play in the Majors. It's also a bit strange that even though both games took place 16 years apart, the game date was a difference of four days. It's a very unusual connection amongst the three points in history, but a connection nonetheless. 

May 24- Cincinnati Reds

As much as people, and history, want to claim that upstate New York is the birthplace of the game of baseball, it’s hard to contest what the Cincinnati Reds have done with the game dating back to Harry Wright and the original professional team of the 1880s. Because of this stage in the evolution of the professional game the Reds have become the beacon, or the epitome, and therefore are celebrated every Opening Day of the season. By this I mean that Opening Day in Cincinnati has become the “official” Opening Day for all of Major League Baseball. Talk about streaks, only three times since 1882 have the Reds not opened the season in Cincinnati. The dates are even more surprising; 1885, 1888, 1966 and 1990. The reason I bring this up is because the Reds are one of the few organizations that rarely sways away from tradition. As the oldest professional team in baseball history that’s really saying a lot.

Baseball, like apple pie or Norman Rockwell, is a deep-rooted staple of American culture. Unfortunately, so has become war. Our forefathers had to fight to establish this country we love so much, and even later they fought against one another. As the years passed by we unified and fought to preserve freedom for ourselves, as well as other countries who didn’t have the power to fight back. It is because of these brave men and women who gave their lives for their country that we celebrate Memorial Day; however, honoring those who served their country shouldn’t be a one day event. The Reds know, and understand this well.

Back in the 1960s current team president and Chief Marketing Officer Bob Castellini graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in economics and enlisted in the Army for two years as an officer. Castellini, as well as a group of investors, bought into the team in 2006. Since then he has done everything he can in his best efforts to honor the men and women who serve. On of the more recent collaborations started in 2011 with the Hometown Hero program which began as a pregame activity on special occasions, but with the overflow requests and suggestions the Reds were getting from military families and friends for first pitch honorees it evolved into the every-day occurrence it now is. The program is filled up for the remainder of the 2013 season and already on a waiting list for 2014.

Even the players have become involved over the years. Reds’ right fielder Jay Bruce hosts “Bruce’s Battalion” which is a free ticket program for service members to Sunday home games. Bruce took over the program that former pitcher Aaron Harang started up. Every Opening Day the Reds and Cincinnati Bell host a group from Impact A Hero, a national foundation that helps wounded military men and women with both emotional and financial support. Founded by Fairfield’s Dick Lynch in 2004, Impact a Hero assists between 400 and 500 service members every year.

Since 1971 the Reds have been one of the more successful teams to play on Memorial Day, going 25-14 with only five of those days off due to travel/off days. Their best run of consecutive Memorial Day wins came from 1972-1979 when the Reds went 9-0, which included a doubleheader against the Montreal Expos in 1976. In 1980 the Reds played a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but lost the first game, killing the streak in spite of winning the nightcap as well as the next season’s game against the San Francisco Giants. Another interesting pattern I found occurred from 1985-1988, the four seasons in which Pete Rose was the full-time manager. In all four years the Reds played the Chicago Cubs, tallying a 1-3 records against the North Siders with their only win coming in 1987.

With a long, history-filled past like the Reds have, it made it a bit difficult to whittle down just a few players to pay tribute to. Most of these guys you’ve never heard of, but that’s kind of half the fun of this.

DA- Douglas Allison played as a catcher for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. Allison was one of the first catchers to stand directly behind the batter, as a means to prevent baserunners from stealing bases. He was considered a specialist, at a time when some of the better batsmen who manned the position normally rested, or substituted at other fielding positions. Most catchers of his era stood twenty to twenty-five feet behind the batter. His technique of moving closer to the batter proved effective in curtailing baserunners from stealing bases. In the 1860s, it was common for teams to score fifty or sixty runs a game. As the technique of moving closer to the batter became more widespread among other catchers, run production began to plummet helping usher in what became known as the Dead-ball era. Allison was the earliest known player to have used a glove, when he donned buckskin mittens to protect his hands in 1870. His brother Art Allison also played in the Major Leagues.

Like so many Philadelphia ballplayers, Doug Allison served a 100-day enlistment in Company L of the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry in 1864. He enlisted as a private on July 12 and was mustered out on November 11 at Philadelphia. Allison later became partially deaf, and researcher David Arcidiacono discovered an article in the Boston Globe on March 24, 1876, in which his deafness was attributed to his Civil War service: “Allison was a gunner in Fort Sumpter [sic] during the late war, and is the only survivor of three batches of gunners of six men in each batch. His service during the war accounts for his impaired hearing.” Since Allison’s regiment saw no combat duty, this account must be taken with a grain of salt, although it’s always possible that he suffered some injuries. David Lambert examined Allison’s military records at the National Archives and found a 1912 disability pension application signed by Allison. – SABR

#18- Eppa Rixey Jr. was a left-handed pitcher who played 21 seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies (eight years) and Cincinnati Reds (13 years) from 1912 to 1933. Rixey was best known as the National League's leader in career victories for a lefty with 266 wins until Warren Spahn surpassed his total in 1959. Rixey’s MLB career started off slow; his best year with the Phillies coming in 1916 when he went 22-10 with a 1.85 ERA and 134 strikeouts, numbers that any current left-handed pitcher would kill for. His next season; however, did not fair well at all… sort of. He went 16-21 (most loses in the Majors for a pitcher), but his ERA still hung around 2.27.

In 1918 Rixey joined the war effort by enlisting in the Army serving with the Chemical Warfare Division in Europe along with Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Rube Marquard and Branch Rickey. His return from the military, marked by rustiness and dissatisfaction with Phillie managers Jack Coombs and Gavy Cravath, led to two abysmal seasons (6-12 and 11-22) with last-place teams. On February 22, 1921, he was happy to be traded to Cincinnati in exchange for Jimmy Ring and Greasy Neale. He was back playing for Pat Moran.

Rixey’s career rebounded exponentially upon his move to Cincinnati. He would go to win 179 games and have three seasons of 20 or more victories, his best year coming in 1922 when he went 25-13 with a 3.53 ERA. His 25 wins were the most in the NL that season. In 1924 he made hi only appearance on a NL MVP ballot when he finished in 22^nd place after posting a seemingly mediocre 15-14 record with a 2.76 ERA. His strikeout total that season was 57. The reality behind this is that Rixey really had no chance of winning the award, but the Baseball Writers Association of America opted to throw a few guys a bone on the ballot. For his career he went 266-251 with a 3.15 ERA.

He was married to Dorothy Meyers of Cincinnati and had two children, Eppa Rixey III and Ann Rixey Sikes and five grandchildren, James Rixey, Eppa Rixey IV, Steve Sikes, Paige Sikes, and David Sikes. After his retirement from baseball, he worked for his father-in-law's successful insurance company in Cincinnati, eventually becoming president of the company. He died of a heart attack on February 28, 1963, one month after his election to the Hall of Fame, becoming the first player to die between election and induction to the Hall of Fame. He is also the only pitcher in the Hall of Fame to be wearing a Reds hat.

When Rixey started playing, he was considered an "anomaly". He came from a well-off family and was college-educated, something that was rare during his era. He wrote poetry, and took graduate school classes in chemistry, mathematics and Latin. During the off-season, he was a Latin teacher at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and was also considered among the best golfers among athletes during the time period.

March 24- Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Originally I was going to do a post on one of my many San Francisco Giants caps, but I decided to wait until tomorrow when I have more time to write it up. Instead, I’m rolling with the 2012 Pensacola Blue Wahoos home cap/batting helmet. I realize this is a bit of jump; however, upon looking over and reorganizing all of my New Era caps on account of the fact that I’m crashing at my parents’ place for a bit, I ran a little short of time. This little cleaning project also gave me time to recount how many caps I actually have.

As of now the number stands at 244. For the last couple of weeks I thought I was hovering around 260, so being so close is a little bit of a mixed blessing. It’s good for the sake that I’m at least close to my estimate, but being 16 hats shorts is basically saying that I will be without two weeks of posts. More importantly, if I’m going to hit my goal of a post-a-day, I really need to get my finances in order to achieve my goal.

For those who are unaware the Blue Wahoos are a AA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds in the Southern League. Last season was their “debut” season as they were formerly the Carolina Mudcats from 1991-2011. In 2010, businessman Quint Studer bought the Mudcats franchise amid a complicated series of purchases and moves in order to bring a Double-A team to Pensacola, Florida. The franchise would become the Blue Wahoos for the 2012 season. In order to settle this purchase, Studer facilitated the relocation of the Kinston Indians Class A team to Zebulon, where they took up the Mudcats name. In total, the arrangements cost Studer around $2 million. As you’ll begin to learn from these posts, the Minor League ownership game is quite a lucrative business. Teams come and go, much like the players that make up their rosters.

This hat, as I mentioned above, was one of two hats used during their home games, and the logo was featured primarily on the front of all of the teams’ batting helmets. It’s definitely one of the cooler ones to be released within the last five years; however, unlike the Eugene Emeralds who released three new hats for this season, there is one player worthy enough to mark up this cap after only one season.

#4-51: Billy Hamilton, at least the modern day version, is being called the next coming of Rickey Henderson. Personally, as an Oakland Athletics fan, I won’t go as far to say that, but the kid is mighty fast. On August 21, 2012 Hamilton broke Vince Coleman’s 30-year-old Minor League stolen base record of 145. Hamilton’s final number on the season stands at 155; however, only 51 of his stolen bases came during his time in Pensacola. Hence the numbers: 4 for his jersey and 51 stolen bases. While this may seem like kind of jerk move on my part, I assure it’s not. I will give commentary on the first 104 stolen bases in July as I have a personal story that pertains to his time with the Bakersfield Blaze prior to his promotion.

I think what’s most amazing about this stat is that it’s taken 30 years to break it. Base stealing, unfortunately, is a dying strategy on baseball today. For example, the last person to register 100 or more stolen bases in a season was in fact Coleman in 1987 with the St. Louis Cardinals. The next highest after that; Henderson with 93 in 1988. 70 pretty much became the benchmark after that, and only guys like Marquis Grissom, Kenny Lofton, Tony Womack, Scott Podsednik, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jose Reyes have hit that.

Hamilton is only 22-years-old, while the list above is filled with guys who didn’t hit their fleet of foot until they were 26 or older, with exception of Reyes who was 23. Hamilton still has a lot of time to make it to the Show, just as long as the Reds can find room for him within the lineup.

March 8- Cincinnati Reds

It’s kind of ridiculous of exhausted I am. Somehow I am continuing to forge ahead, writing this post despite having been awake for the last 40 hours. I assure you I feel like a bucket of yuck at the moment, but it will certainly be interesting to see how well I can string words together when writing tonight’s post.

It still comes at a bit of mystery as to why I purchased this hat on a random day in November of 2011. I was splitting time on my hat orders between Mickey’s Place and Lids when I came to a bit of a crossroad on one specific hat, the 1956 Cincinnati Reds. Now, the really interesting things about both Web sites offering this hat are…

• Each site featured a hat with a different logo
• Neither of them was the correct style.
• Both were interesting, but neither really impressed me.

Yet, for some strange reason I ended up rolling with the one on the Lids site because I thought it was “interesting.” When it arrived in the mail I had roughly the same feeling I do know; the feeling of, “what the hell was I thinking?” Don’t get me wrong, I could have done a lot worse, but it’s still a highly questionable combination of the all red with this particular, crazy-eyed logo.

The logo, while accurate to the era was featured on the sleeves of the jerseys from 1954-1959 and went through slight alterations in 1960 (twice) on through 1967. In 2007 the team brought it, as well as the original Johnny Redlegs, who this logo represents, for their batting practice and spring training collection. In fact, Yahoo!’s Big League Stew writer Dave Brown and I have been jibber-jabbing over which hat is in fact worse looking. This one I’m wearing or the newly released 2013 spring training hat with the black panels.

I think the one part of the story that takes an even more interesting turn is the number selection I opted to roll with: 4256, the number of hits Pete Rose amassed over his 24-year career.

I think at the time I was able to justify it on account of the fact that the Reds had been using this logo during the time when he made his Major League debut on April 8, 1963. Much like the Nolan Ryan career strikeout total on the least significant hat, I decided to roll the dice on one of the most prestigious statistics in MLB history on a hat which most people never knew existed. But, I did. Today is only the third time I’ve ever put it on because, let’s face it; it looks rather goofy on my head. I know I keep blasting this hat, but there are visual traits about it which prove my argument. Most specifically, look at the logo and where it sits on the hat; it’s upright and somewhat misshaped, which makes it appear as if it’s sitting too high in between the front panels. Therefore, for anyone who wears it, the hat is given the appearance that it’s sitting much taller on the person’s head. Second, it’s all red; which in my opinion is a color that has never looked good on me.

One of the most interesting stories about this cap took place about a week before I went to New York for the MLB Fan Cave. The other eight Cave Dwellers and I had all ready been selected, so I was in the process of packing up everything I owned to either move it into storage, or take it to New York with me. Every clothing item I owned which had to do with baseball found their way into my suitcase except for three items. I had developed a hunch one day and decided to email Jeff Heckelman, one of the heads of public relations for MLB, and more specifically one of the guys who was in constant contact with us throughout the application process. I wasn’t really sure how MLB would feel if I ever rolled into the Fan Cave all decked out in Peter Rose Reds gear, so I asked his thoughts on the matter before I made a huge mistake. It only took him about 10 minutes to respond with an ardent “NO!” So, not wanting to be the first on the chopping block (irony) I left my Pete Rose shirt, jersey and of course, this hat behind. It was the only New Era hat not to make the 3000 mile journey with me... and this awesome shirt.

January 30- Cincinnati Reds

Today is actually the first day I’ve worn this hat. Come to think of it, that’s really weird. I love this hat. For those who aren’t too savvy on Cincinnati Reds hats, you should know that this hat has only been around since the start of the 2000 season. Now, I know what you’re thinking; and no, I’m not high right now. The hat you’re thinking of is the classic all red hat featuring the white “C” logo on the front. This is not that hat. This is the all read hat with a white “C” logo… and a black shadow around the “C.” The move was made to make the logo look more three dimensional; however, if you’ve seen a hat up close you’d know that the threading is all ready three dimensional. But, for hat snobs like myself, I applaud the change. The slightest change will make us buy it in order to keep our collections up to date.

This particular hat is one of the many I picked up at the New Era Flagship store across the street from the Fan Cave. In fact, this is one of thirteen I purchased in the first two days I visited the location. The folks across the way were nice enough to give us all a 30% off discount on whatever we wanted, yet I was the only one who ever bought anything from them. I take that back. Kyle Thompson and Ricky Mast each bought one hat, and I think Shaun Kippins got a replacement Braves hat. But that was about it. As for me, I bought somewhere like 35-50 hats from them. I’ll have to go back through and double check. Anyway, like I said, for the past 13 years the Reds have alternated this cap as their alternate and their game style cap. With that it made it a bit difficult to throw a few numbers down that stayed within the realm of the era and style, but luckily I found two that I really wanted to add.

#4- On May 18, 2012 I was lucky enough to still be in the Fan Cave when Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs and Brandon Phillips paid a visit. Phillips was running a little bit late, but rolled in with style, sporting a diamond encrusted watch, black shades and a v-neck sweater and tie combo. Dude pal looked pretty dapper. He was also incredibly friendly, and took the time to talk to everyone before he had to head out to shoot a sketch with Andrew Zimmern from “Bizarre Foods.”

After my exile I was able to catch up with Phillips when the Reds played a road game in San Diego. I had tweeted at him earlier in the day and sent the photo we took in the Fan Cave, but didn’t expect much of a return. Instead, he not only retweeted it, but also said that he was looking forward to seeing me. I was in Anaheim at the time and had to race down to San Diego where I met up with Fan Cave Top 30 finalist Andy Bishop for the game. During batting practice Phillips signed a few autographs for kids and even gave a bunch of wristbands to one lucky little Reds fan and his baby brother.

It was then that Phillips spotted me and asked why I wasn’t in New York anymore. I told him what happened and he just shook his head and said that it was wrong of them to let me go. He didn’t have to say that, but I really appreciated hearing it. Aside from that, Phillips is one hell of a second baseman. He’s been playing the four spot for the Reds since 2006 and has been a recipient of the Gold Glove three times (2008, 2010-11) and made two All-Star teams while hitting .280/142/563. For a second baseman it’s pretty stellar; especially one who has been averaging over 145 games a season. Kudos to you Brandon. You do the baseball world proud. (Also, have to tilt the cap to the side like BP.)

#21- This is another guy I was fortunate enough to meet during my time in the Cave, but on the inside I was slightly angry at him for one year of his career. Sean “The Mayor” Casey is a hell of a guy and a fantastic analyst for MLB Network. Casey played for the Reds from 1998 through the end of the 2005 season, before moving on to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a bit and then onto the Detroit Tigers for the 2006 season. It was his time with the Tigers I hate on account for the four game sweep my Oakland Athletics suffered with Casey’s big grin flashing from the Tiger dugout. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! Back to Cincy… Casey had a great career with the Reds, batting .305 and making three All-Star game appearances. But, like Phillips, he’s just a stand up guy. Amazing stories to tell and always willing to meet and greet everyone who wanted a few moments. I couldn’t think of a better tandem to honor.

 

January 16- Bakersfield Blaze

When I woke up this morning I blindly shuffled through the large sack of hats I had laying at the foot of my bed, half expecting to pull a team’s hat that I’ve already written about. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised to grab a hold of this Bakersfield Blaze hat. For starters, I had never worn this hat. All of the stickers were still stuck to the bill. Nothing personal, I just have a lot of hats that I roll through more often than my Minor League caps. It’s also a very fitting at to choose considering that the Blaze had switched to this logo after the 2000 season; the last year I was bat boy for the team. In fact, the Blaze had used this hat and color scheme from 2001-2011, and had housed three different franchises during that stretch: the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers and the Cincinnati Reds, whom still serves as their affiliate. When doing research for this decade, I came across a bevy of names and numbers that I could have used.

Josh Hamilton was the first. He played in Bakersfield during the 2002 season while they were still linked to the Rays. What’s most interesting about Hamilton and the Blaze is that at he had played for all three franchises at the Major League level. But, I’m not the biggest Hamilton supporter so I nixed that idea. Rocco Baldelli was a possibility, as were CJ Wilson and Edinson Volquez. None of them really made my fancy either. Actually, the one player I really wanted to add was Jonny Gomes, who had played with Hamilton on the 2002 squad. That year he went .278/30/124; amazing stats for high-A ball. However, during my research I couldn’t find his jersey number anywhere. Even on old Blaze baseball cards I happened across didn’t show his number. So, I had to scratch him. Fortunately for me, his older brother Joey played on the team at the same time.

#21- Joey Gomes played for the Blaze from 2002-04 until he was called up to AA Montgomery to play for the Biscuits. Joey never moved higher than AA. Joey’s best year for the Blaze came in the 72 games he played where he went .300/7/45. It really wasn’t much of a surprise when he got called up after finding his swing. Now, not being able to find Jonny’s number isn’t the only reason why I rolled the dice with Joey. Back in 2001 Jonny was drafted by the Rays in the 18^th round of the amateur draft; his brother Joey on the other hand was taken in the 8^th round of the 2002 draft. What I don’t know is how much of an impact Jonny had on Joey getting drafted so much higher the following year. Or perhaps it was because the scouts felt Joey had more potential than Jonny. Either way, I’d love to find out.

#33 is another former Rays star. And by former, I mean as of a little over a month ago. James Shields had one of the longest tenures with the Blaze of any of the players currently playing in the Majors. From 2003-04 Shields served as the ace for then managers Oscar Munoz (2003) and Mako Oliveras (2004). Shields had a decent first year going 10-10 and posting a 4.45 ERA and a team-leading 119 strikeouts. The following year he went 8-5 with a 4.23 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 20 starts. And thank God for me, he’s always kept the same jersey number… so it was a pretty easy find.

It’s kind of a bummer that I left after the 2000 season to move to Vancouver, Washington. It would have been great to see these up-and-comers, but it made our meetings in 2012 all that more interesting. Shields I met on May 8^th in the MLB Fan Cave and the only bit of conversation we had was how we both hated the sun shield in centerfield. Actually, Jonny and I touched on that a bit too, but we went more in depth on a few stories about the history and culture of Bakersfield. For a guy who was only there a year, he really took the time to get to know the town and its inhabitants. Jonny cared, and for that I look forward to seeing him succeed in Boston.