August 3- Washington Nationals

When it comes to being a collector nothing really beats the feeling of a good score. The definition of “score” is not just any object; rather, it’s something that tugs at the heartstrings a bit. It’s something that will always display more value emotionally than monetarily. In my years of collecting New Era Caps I’ve had many scores. A few of them I’ve already written about (Tucson Padres, Jacksonville Expos and the Oakland Athletics) and quite a few of them I have been saving for special occasions. When it comes down to it, I could realistically argue that every single one of my caps has been a wonderful score. I think I’ve proved that over the last seven months with all of these posts, but the ones that have been discontinued, the ones that I’ve had to search high and low for and the ones that makes other collectors or even just fans of the team swoon are hands down my favorite of them all. As crazy as it may sound, especially for as new as the Washington Nationals are, this is one of those caps.

It hasn’t even been 10 years since the Montreal Expos packed up shop and relocated to Washington, D.C., but the Nationals have gone through six on-field caps and they are currently on their fourth batting practice cap. This really wouldn't be that big of a deal had it not been for the fact that the Expos only had two on-field caps in their 35-year existence, one of which I’ve already written about, and yet somehow I’ve already knocked out four of the Nationals caps (February 8, March 13th, April 17th and June 27th). Well, here’s number five. This is one that I had completely forgotten about until I randomly came across it on Ebay back in December of 2012. Like most days when I get bored I combed through every inch of Ebay using the most random of search criteria in the hopes that a lister would misspell a word or put in a lack of a description so that other hat enthusiasts would pass over rare gems and not drive the bidding price up. Not only did the lister of this “DC” cap spell Nationals “Natonals,” but they also started the bid at $4.99 with a $6.00 shipping cost. I threw in a bid of $11.27 a week before it expired and waited. When you wait for something special like this it feels like a month, especially when it comes down to the final minute of bidding. For all of you who are not savvy on Ebay, the last minute of an auction is a cyber-death match as all the other collectors come out of the woodwork and throw down bids at the only time that really matters. Somehow I escaped this process and made off with the cap for $10.99 including shipping. Hazah!!!

I know it doesn’t seem like much, but this cap has been extinct since the end of the 2008 season. It made its debut in 2006 and was paired with the alternate red “DC” jerseys the Nationals typically wore on Sundays. The cap itself was retired but the “DC” was tweaked with an added stars and stripes motif from 2009-2010. After that, the “DC” was fazed out of the Nationals uniform sets altogether. Pretty depressing when you think about it.

It bums me out way more than it should when hats vanish into legend like this cap. I realize that I sound a little overdramatic when I say that, but if you sincerely feel that way you have clearly missed the point of all of these posts. Every one of these caps tells a story about the players, the team and especially the fans who wear them. These aren’t just clothing accessories or sun shields; they’re relics of baseball history that can evoke a sense of camaraderie or rivalry in the minds of those who pass by. As much as much collecting New Era caps may seem like a “gotta catch ‘em all” game of Pokémon, the reality is that I care about preserving history in my own way. It’s nothing different than someone who collects coins, stamps or even vintage porn magazines; there’s a bond that forged ethereally and the thrill of the hunt or the telling of the stories will always keep us going… well, except for the porn magazine collection. I don’t know of many people who would have crowd pleasing stories about that. So with that I of course dropped some pretty recognizable numbers on this cap, both of which played key roles in the history/time frame of this cap. Enjoy!

#12- Soriano began his professional baseball career in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, training at their Carp Academy for Dominican players. In 1997, he was promoted to the varsity team, and, wearing number 74, he appeared in nine games, batting .118 (2 for 17) with two walks. Soriano disliked the intense Japanese practice schedule (shocker), and the Carp denied him a salary increase from $45,000 to $180,000 per year. Like Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu, who had previously left Japan to play in the United States, Soriano hired Don Nomura to help his situation. After first attempting to void Soriano's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) contract by unsuccessfully arguing that the player was legally a minor when he signed it, Nomura advised him, like Nomo, to retire from NPB and pursue a career in Major League Baseball. This prompted Carp executives to file an injunction against Soriano, and to send letters to MLB teams demanding that they cease all negotiations with him. After the Nomo case, NPB officials had amended the Working Agreement without consulting any MLB officials in an attempt to prevent the situation from recurring. Since MLB had not agreed to any changes to the agreement, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declared that MLB would recognize Soriano as a free agent on July 13, 1998, and the Carp backed down.

I’m going to skip Soriano’s first run with the New York Yankees and time with the Texas Rangers and move right into the Nationals. On December 7, 2005, Soriano was traded to the Nationals in exchange for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge, and minor league pitcher Armando Galarraga. On February 10, 2006, Soriano set a record for the highest salary ever awarded in arbitration, receiving $10 million, even though he lost his request of $12 million. The previous high had been set in 2001 by Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves when he earned $8.2 million. The Nationals offered Soriano a five-year, $50-million extension, but Soriano rejected the offer. Soriano and his agent Diego Bentz instead opted to open contract negotiations during the off-season, so that he would become a free agent.

On March 20, 2006, Nationals manager Frank Robinson inserted Soriano in the lineup as the left fielder. Soriano, who since 2001 had played exclusively at second base, refused to take the field, and the Nationals organization threatened him with disqualification, which would have meant forfeiture of his salary, and he would not have received credit for service time in fulfillment of the obligations of his contract. With his contract's service terms officially still unfulfilled, he would then have been ineligible for free agency at season's end. Two days later, Soriano relented and played in left field for the Nationals in their exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Robinson indicated that he considered Soriano's move to left field to be permanent and would not consider moving Soriano back to second base at any point during the season. In his comments following that game, Soriano indicated that he would accept his new position without further argument. As the season got underway, however, Soriano began to enjoy his new position, and by the All-Star break, he led the league in outfield assists and became one of the few players ever to start the All-Star game at two different positions. Soriano set a new career high in walks with 67 (previously 38). He also reached a career high in home runs with 46 (previously 39). On August 25, a week after reaching 30–30, he became the fastest man in baseball history to reach 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases, reaching the mark in 929 games (breaking the previous record of 1,053 games held by Eric Davis).

In September, he completed his 20th outfield assist, becoming the only player in baseball history with 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases, and 20 assists. On September 16, 2006, Soriano stole second base in the first inning to become the fourth player to join the 40–40 club, after José Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez. Six days later he became the first player to reach 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases and 40 doubles in one season.

Soriano only played one season with the Nationals, his best on a whole scale throughout his time playing in the National League. Soriano is a seven-time All-Star, all of which came consecutively from 2002-2008. He is also a four-time Silver Slugger winner and a two-time World Series Champion (1999 and 2000). Five times in his career Soriano has finished in the top-20 for the MVP award for either league with his best finish coming in third place in 2002 with the Yankees.

#11- If there was ever a face of the franchise for the Nationals; it’s hard to look beyond third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman grew up in Washington, North Carolina and played his college ball at the University of Virginia where he was an All-American and made First Team All-Athletic Cost Conference. He also started at third base for the 2004 USA Baseball National Team that won the gold medal in the FISU II World University Baseball Championship where he was also named the 2004 Dick Case (real name) Athlete of the Year by USA Baseball.

Zimmerman was drafted in the first round as the fourth overall pick by the Nationals in the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft. After being signed on the day he was drafted, he was sent to the Savannah Sand Gnats, the Nationals' minor league A-level affiliate and then quickly moved up to the Harrisburg Senators, the AA affiliate. Zimmerman was called up to the majors when rosters expanded in September 2005, and shared third base duties with Vinny Castilla, taking over the position on a more permanent basis between the time the Nationals were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and the end of the season. In his first major league at bat at RFK Stadium he muscled a double to right center. Over the course of 20 games, he posted a .397 batting average, 10 doubles, and six RBI in 58 at-bats. He was the only member of the 2005 team to hit over .300 in at least 50 at-bats all while wearing #25. He remained with the Major League club to start the 2006 campaign, taking over third base duties from Castilla, who was traded to the San Diego Padres. Prior to 2006 Spring Training, Zimmerman changed his jersey number from #25 (2005) to #11, his former college number.

Zimmerman started his first full-season with a bang in 2006, hitting .287 with 20 home runs and 110 RBI. He probably would have won the Rookie of the Year Award that year had Hanley Ramirez not stolen 51 bases and scored 119 runs for the Florida Marlins. Nonetheless, Zimmerman pressed on with his career and has only taken a brief injury timeout in 2008 and 2011 where he still played in at least 101 games in each of those seasons and at least 142 games in the other six.

Zimmerman has only made one All-Star Game appearance (2009) in his nine-year career, the same year that he won his only Gold Glove Award thus far and his first of two Silver Slugger Awards. He’s a fan-favorite, a walk-off artist and a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award winner (2012). The man is Nationals baseball.

July 27- Oakland Athletics

Unlike a lot of my other posts, this one I have to jump forward to the date that I’m actually posting the story as opposed to when the story takes place. It sounds confusing, but you’ll get where I’m going as you read on. I promise.

This story starts back in Buffalo, New York back on June 24^th on Day 2 of the #CrewEra13’s trip to New Era headquarters. On of the highlights of our trip came during one of the focus group sessions when we were given a sneak peak on some of the Turn Back the Clock caps they were introducing for the 2013 season. One or two of the ones they had shown had already been worn; however, there were still about 10 more that hadn’t. The feeling that we all shared was the closest to getting presents from Santa Claus on Christmas. I could see one cap of a Kelley green variety deep inside the box and my mouth began to salivate more and more as one of the members of the marketing team drew closer to it. In a heartbeat, the moment this cap hit the table shifted my attitude shifted from curiosity to lust. 

I know I’m talking about a hat, but this is a thing of beauty. The design team at New Era did a fantastic job bringing this baby back to life, but with a modern touch. From 1968-1969 the newly located Oakland Athletics wore this cap for all of their home and away games. The only difference between then and now is that the logo on the cap back then was a bit skinnier…

Another cool thing about this time period is that the players and managers wore different colored hats, one of the only times in Major League history in which such a uniform difference occurred in the modern era.

But getting back to Buffalo, I didn’t care how much it was going to cost, I wanted this hat. The unfortunate part is that they didn’t have it for sale down in the Flagship Store; otherwise I would have made it my first purchase. Instead, I just took pictures with my new friend and reluctantly slid it down the table for the other guys to take a peek at. 

At the time I didn’t know what we were allowed to post on social media so I kept most of these photos a secret until after the game in which the A’s wore these caps were played (July 27th). Well, not too long after we got back from Buffalo one of the premier New Era Cap selling Web sites, Hat Club, posted them up. I was broke at the time with a paycheck coming in three short days. I also owed fellow #CrewEra13 member Chris Cornolo (@ccornolo) the cap after he had purchased and shipped out a Milwaukee Brewers cap I had been trying to track down. So, when the time came and I got the money into my bank account I went straight to the Hat Club site to make my purchase, or so I thought. Turns out this cap was a little bit more popular than anyone expected as EVERY 1969 A’s on the site had been sold. I was befuddled. I searched around on other sites keeping up the hope that I would be able to find it somewhere, if not just for Chris since he wears a size 8. No dice.

Weeks would go by before the caps appeared on another site, Lids and New Era. But like the previous time I didn’t have any money to purchase Chris’s size 8. And once again, as soon as I got the money into my account, they were gone. My frustration was near a boiling point if for no reason other than I just hate being in debt to people. Money-related matters is a much easier thing to be in debt to a person about as money is everywhere, but a specialty item? Good luck. I was fortunate to come across one on the MLB.com/Shop site in Chris’s size, but it’s on a 2-4 week backorder. Well, getting it order is better than anything I suppose. As for myself, I didn’t really matter as much. I held faith that more would be released down the road, but I also knew that I could pick an original one up off of one of my favorite Web sites if I wanted to. It was in this moment of acceptance that I got an email from Erin, our New Era host, saying that she had a gift for me and needed to know where to send it. This was in the middle of August, right around the time that I was packing up my stuff to move to Florida to be with Angie, so I gave her the address there. Erin said no problem and sent it out. She never told me what it was, just that it was a sample cap that happened to be lying around and she thought I might like it.

The day after I arrived in Florida there was a knock at the door in the early hours (11 AM). Angie had already gone to her rotation at the hospital so I was left to myself to look presentable and see what the commotion was about. As I opened the door a man in FedEx uniform asked if I was Benjamin and handed a small box over. All the sleepiness was washed out of my body by the surge of adrenaline that now coursed through my veins as I feverishly signed for the package, closed the door and sought out a knife to open it. As soon as I removed the tape and pulled back the flaps I achieved the biggest “hat boner” (yup, just made that up) of my life.

Not only was it the 1969 A’s cap, but it was the same one that I had fallen in love with back in Buffalo. You know that old expression “If you love something, let it go; if it comes back to you, it was mean to be?” Well… :)

When coming up with marks for this cap I decided to stick within the parameters of when it was used. Since this cap was specifically made for the “Turn Back the Clock Night” on July 27^th I made sure to highlight those who truly shined, as opposed to going back in time an writing about the older generation who wore the original cap. Those guys/moments I intend to write about when I get the original cap.

#36- Some people are meant to have mediocre careers, others become superstars, some fade into obscurity and then there are some who come through in the clutch. Derek Norris’s career has been too short to really establish which type he will become; however, one thing that has been a constant is that the man knows how to play in front of a nationally televised audience.

Norris was originally drafted by the Washington Nationals in the fourth round of the 2007 amateur draft out of Goddard High School in Goddard, Kansas. From 2007-2011 Norris climbed through the ranks of the Nationals minor league system, playing his best ball with the Class-A Hagerstown Suns of the South Atlantic League. A catcher, Norris had a hit of a challenge in front of him with the likes of Ivan Rodriguez and Wilson Ramos ahead of him in The Show, but his fortune changed two days before Christmas in 2011 as he, AJ Cole, Brad Peacock and Tommy Milone were dealt to the A’s for Gio Gonzalez and Robert Gilliam. Norris started out in AAA with the Sacramento River Cats, but impressed everyone enough to get called up to the Majors as veteran catcher Kurt Suzuki wasn’t displaying the hitter power he had in previous seasons. When Suzuki was finally dealt to the Nationals on August 3^rd, Norris became the team’s full-time catcher.

There are times when Norris really shines offensively, while in other moments it’s his ability to gun would be base-stealing jabronies out with ease that show off his talent. Either way, he has become a pivotal member of the American League West Champion A’s system. But hey, I was talking about being clutch a little bit ago, so let’s just stick to that. Someone I regularly talk to on Twitter, a San Francisco Giants fan named Joseph Canino (@CiNDER_JOE), had asked me after the “Turn Back the Clock” game about Norris’s numbers during nationally televised games. So, as soon as I got home and onto my computer I took to the stat sheets. The numbers were surprising to say the least: in six regular season nationally televised games in which he has played in he is batting .352 with three home runs, a double and six RBI. That’s pretty damn impressive, especially since on July 27^th his one an only at-bat was a pinch hit home run which ended up being the difference maker in the game. Clutch!!!

57: The man to get the start for the A’s on July 27^th just so happened to be the man who traveled to the West Cost with Norris in the Nationals trade, Tommy “Machine Gun” Milone. Milone was drafted by the Nationals in the 10^th round of the 2008 amateur draft out of USC. He made five starts for the Nationals in 2011, going 1-0 with a 3.81 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 26 inning of work. But, as business goes, Milone and the gang were sent to Oakland with little-to-no expectations on the season other than to be an arm. Not being one to lay by the roadside, Milone displayed a strong presence on the mound in 2012, going 13-10 with a 3.74 ERA and 137 strikeouts. He also had one of the strongest outings of the American League Division Series in Game 2 against the Detroit Tigers. He pitched six solid innings, only allowing one earned run off of five hits while still striking out six.

Milone has been up-and-down in 2013, but he will still remain as a key component to success if the A’s wish to finally get that World Series trophy that has eluded them since the start of the 1990 season. Milone’s strongest start of the 2013 season did in fact come on July 27^th against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as Milone tossed seven innings of four hit, one earned run ball, while still striking out six. The Athletics won 3-1 and the day ended with the A’s maintaining a five-game lead in the AL West.

Oh! And these were the uniforms they wore in the game. F---ing Amazin' A's!!!

 

June 27- Washington Nationals

Originally I was going to hold off a bit on writing about this cap, until I double-checked my archives. In the whole mix of trying my best not stumble over repeating the same teams’ caps within a month-long time frame, I’ve somehow managed to neglect writing about certain teams for longer than that stretch. I must also take into account how much I’ve fallen behind in my quest to write about a new cap every day this year and how I’m trying to catch up at a somewhat miserable rate. Nonetheless, when looking at the grand scheme of things and which day I’m on in my posts, this particular Washington Nationals cap actually falls within a perfect time frame. If you haven’t noticed by now, even though I’ve fallen almost a month behind, I’ve done my best to keep my posts in REAL TIME, in that I try to give you the story as it happened up until that day as to not confuse anyone with stories that may have taken place after afterward. This piece will dabble a little bit into the “future,” but not too much.

I picked this Nationals cap up on June 24^th during my shopping spree at New Era’s headquarters in Buffalo, New York along with about 20 other caps during my trip for the Fan Appreciation even they held for nine other collects and myself. Of all the hats I picked up, this was one of the newest to this season that I scored which was also kind of a weird move on my part when considering that fact that I could have had any other hard to find hat than this one. By that I mean I could have easily scored this cap off of the Lids Web site at any point in time, but there was just something about that was telling me to add this to my cart. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that up until the moment I saw it on the wall I had only come across it in photos as the store I work at, Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) and the Lids at the mall I work don’t have it in stock. Either way, I was going to purchase at one point or another, so I figured in this case, “why not now?”

As I just mentioned, the Nationals introduced it this season as their “alternate two” cap, which I found to be an unusual title considering that the Nationals are down to three caps, including this one, which they wear on a regular basis on the field. One of which, their road cap, I wrote about on April 17^th. The road cap features the exact opposite color scheme as the alternate cap and is also the last Nationals cap I've written about. Clearly I’m slacking. Anyway, the Nationals have only used one other “alternate” cap, excluding holiday caps, during the franchise’s time in our nation’s capital (the red cap with a white “DC” logo), but I’ll touch on that in a later post. The thing about that cp is that it hasn’t been seen or heard from since the end of the 2008 season. Therefore, there really wasn’t any need to give this cap the “alternate 2” title when they could have just stuck with alternate.

As far as when they’ve used the cap, they’ve only worn it during home games which take place on back-to-back Saturday and Sunday games. Having only caught a speckle of Nationals games this season, it was hard for me to recall whether or not any of the games I had watched lived featured any of the players wearing it; however, thanks to Chris Creamer and the fine folks at Sportslogos.net, they’ve been cataloging every team’s record during the 2013 campaign and how the perform under every uniform combination for the season. In essence, with four new game style caps introduced/re-introduced this season, I at least have a bit of a direction as far as where to start in some these stories. At the same time, since two of the four caps brought out are alternate throwback styles, I pretty much have this Nationals cap and the New York Mets alternate as the only ones to really worry about. The other two; a 1983 homage Chicago White Sox which I’ll get to later in the year and the 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates throwback I wrote about on June 12^th.

With only a few months to work with on this cap the one thing that was discovered about this cap is that it riddled with bad luck. From their first official game of wearing it on April 13^th against the Atlanta Braves through today, the Nationals have only fared a record of 2-9. For having only worn this cap at home that’s a rather disturbing trend. Even worse is that the team continues to use it. Now, I’ve always know baseball to be a game of superstitions. Players will do weird things like wear their teammate’s pants (Jose Bautista), some will go without washing their socks (Jason Vargas) and other will eat fried chicken before every game (Wade Boggs); however, once a losing trend starts to form, players usually figure out what the common problem is and rid of it as fast as they can. Somehow this cap has been overlooked in that discussion. Whoops!

When trying to come up with any kind of marks for this cap I scoured the stats to try and find something interesting. At first I was going to roll with #8 for Danny Espinosa as he had reached based at least once, in some form or another, in the first four games of the hat’s use, BUT… it sadly went awry by game five. The same could have been said about #25 Adam LaRoche as I was tallying the game boxscores backwards; however, once I got to the first few games of the season I noticed a consistent slew of borderline golden sombreros. So, I took the easy route and went with the two guys who were able to muster wins in the two of 11 games played prior to today.

#27- Jordan Zimmermann is off to the best start of his career this season, all ready going 11-3 with a 2.28 ERA and gaining a lot of respect amongst critics for a potential National League Cy Young award at the end of the year. Zimmermann’s game under this cap took place on June 9^th for Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins in which he performed masterfully by going a solid seven innings with eight strikeouts in the Nationals’ 7-0 win. However, Zimmermann’s tale to this point is just as interesting.

Zimmermann was born and raised in Auburndale, Wisconsin, which is about 90 minutes west of Eau Claire where my girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) grew up. If you can’t tell by both of their last names, Wisconsin has a strong German heritage running through the state. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and was drafted by the Nationals in the second round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. In 2008, Zimmermann had a combined 10–3 record with a 2.89 ERA at intermediate-A Potomac and AAA Harrisburg, and in July was named to the Eastern League (AA) All-Star team. He finished the season leading the organization in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average, and was the MiLB.com Nationals pitcher of the year.

In 2009, Zimmermann made the Nationals' roster as the fifth starter; however, the Nationals did not need him in the rotation until mid-April, so Zimmermann opened the season with the AAA Syracuse Chiefs. Zimmermann's contract was purchased on April 20, 2009, and he made his major league debut that night, after a two-plus hour rain delay, against the Atlanta Braves. He pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits, with three strikeouts and a walk, earning the victory. Zimmermann won his second game in as many starts against the Mets, becoming the first Nationals/Expos pitcher to win his first two starts of his career since Randy Johnson did so in 1988. Coincidentally, Zimmermann was the losing pitcher in Johnson's historic 300th win on June 4, 2009.

Not too long afterward Zimmermann began experiencing elbow pain, and in July landed on the disabled list. In August 2009 Zimmermann was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament and underwent Tommy John surgery, expecting to miss 18 months. In 2010 he made quick progress. Over four minor league levels, he started 10 games in limited play, racking up just 39.2 innings, but compiling a solid record: 1.59 ERA, 27 hits allowed, 31 strikeouts, and just six walks. On August 26 he was recalled to make his 2010 debut back in the big leagues, where Zimmermann got a no-decision in an eventual win by the Nationals over the Cardinals. On this same day, the Nationals learned that their other young pitching phenom, Stephen Strasburg, would need Tommy John surgery and would be out for 12–18 months. In Zimmermann's second return start, however, five days later, he pitched six shutout innings, allowing only one hit, no walks, and striking out nine, a personal best. He also became the first National to get through six innings facing only 18 batters.

2012 marked a career year for Zimmerman as he went 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA as a member of, not only a stacked rotation, but as a member of the first Nationals/Expos’ team to win the NL Eastern Division title in the franchise’s history.

Zimmermann also got married during the offseason to his longtime girlfriend, and fellow Wisconsinite Mandy Jellish. The only reason I bring this up is because they got married over New Year’s in Wisconsin the same time I was visiting Angie for the first time since we had met in September for the Miami Marlins game I wrote about on February 23^rd. How do I know this? Collin Balester, the man who is pretty much responsible for convincing me to get out to Florida for my Major League Baseball stadium road trip. The man is a hell of a good luck charm.

#37- On the other side of the tape is Mr. Franchise himself, Steven Strasburg. Strasburg was actually on the losing end of two of the game the Nationals played under this cap on April 13^th and May 11^th; however, he locked up the win in the contest played on May 26^th against the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 6-1 in his nine strikeout performance. Strasburg is currently 4-6 with a 2.41 ERA as of today as he had a no decision against the Arizona Diamondbacks in their 2-3 loss.

 Strasburg attended West Hills High School in Santee, California. At first, he struggled on the school's baseball team, posting a 1–10 win–loss record in his junior year. A 12-strikeout game against El Capitan High School in his senior year, in which Strasburg allowed one hit, drew attention from scouts. He finished his senior year with a 1.68 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 62 ⅓ innings pitched, with seven complete games. He finished with three varsity letters, set school records in ERA and shutouts, and was named his school's 2006 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was also named second-team all-league and his team's MVP. Despite these achievements, he was not selected in that year's Major League Baseball Draft.

Strasburg had hoped to attend Stanford University but was not accepted there. Although recruited by a number of schools across the country, he enrolled at San Diego State University, where both of his parents attended school. He played college baseball for the San Diego State Aztecs, coached by Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Tony Gwynn. When he first arrived, he was an unlikely candidate to pitch collegiate baseball at all; he was so overweight and out of shape that his conditioning coach nicknamed him "Slothburg" and encouraged him to quit baseball. He also had a difficult time adjusting to college life, moving out of his dormitory and in with his mother after five days. He acknowledged, "I wasn't the most mature guy out of high school. ... The dorm was an overload, too much, too soon." Strasburg responded with an intense workout regimen, losing 30 pounds (14 kg) in the process. He also worked to improve his mental toughness. Coaches tested him by placing him in high-pressure situations and telling him he needed to get strikeouts.

San Diego State used Strasburg as a relief pitcher in his freshman year; he began the season pitching in middle relief, before becoming the Aztecs' closer. He held opponents to a .141 batting average against and was named Co-Freshman of the Year for the Mountain West Conference. In the summer of 2007, Strasburg also played for the Torrington Twisters of the collegiate summer baseball New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). He was named to the NECBL First Team as a closer, and was also chosen as the Top Pro Prospect and Top Relief Pitcher in the NECBL.

In 2008, as a sophomore, Strasburg was converted to a full-time starting pitcher. He went 8–3 with a 1.58 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 98⅓ innings. Four of his thirteen starts in 2008 were complete games, two of which were shutouts. On April 11th of that year, he struck out a Mountain West Conference record 23 batters in a game versus the University of Utah. He also gained eight miles per hour on his fastball, regularly working in the upper 90s and touching 100 mph.

Strasburg finished his junior year, the 2009 season, 13–1 with a 1.32 ERA, 59 hits allowed, 16 earned runs, 19 walks, and 195 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched. In his final home start on May 8, 2009, Strasburg threw his first career no-hitter while striking out 17 Air Force Falcons batters. His lone loss came against the Virginia Cavaliers in the NCAA Regionals as Virginia advanced toward the College World Series, but he still struck out 15 in seven innings during the loss.

On June 9, 2009, Strasburg was drafted number one overall in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft by the Nationals. On August 17, 2009, he signed a record-breaking four-year, $15.1 million contract with the Nationals, just 77 seconds before the deadline, shattering a dollar-amount record previously held by Mark Prior, who signed for $10.5 million in 2001. Strasburg made his professional debut on October 16, 2009, starting for the Phoenix Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. He was selected to play in the league's Rising Stars Showcase, but was unable to participate due to a minor neck injury. He also won Pitcher of the Week honors for the week of November 2, 2009 and led the AFL with four wins. Before the 2010 season started, Baseball America named Strasburg as the top pitching prospect, and the second-best overall prospect behind Jason Heyward.

Strasburg was assigned to the Harrisburg Senators of the Class AA Eastern League for the start of the 2010 season. There was so much anticipation and hype surrounding Strasburg that there were about 70 credentialed media members in attendance at his April 11, 2010 debut, and ESPN nationally broadcast portions of the game. He won his Senators debut against the Altoona Curve, allowing four hits and four runs (one earned), while striking out eight batters in five innings. During his first home start on April 16, he yielded two hits and an unearned run with three strikeouts in 2⅓ innings in a loss to the New Britain Rock Cats, one where his innings were limited due to a rain delay. Harrisburg set an attendance record in Strasburg's home debut with 7,895 fans. He completed his Class AA stint with a 1.64 ERA while striking out 27 and walking six in 22 innings.

On May 4, 2010, he was promoted to the AAA Chiefs. In his first game with the Chiefs, he pitched six scoreless innings, striking out six batters while allowing one hit and one walk. That game drew 13,766 fans—the highest attendance in the 135-year history of baseball in Syracuse. In his second start, Strasburg was removed after pitching six no-hit innings. He finished his minor league stint with an overall record of 7–2, an ERA of 1.30, 65 strikeouts and 13 walks in 55⅓ innings, and a WHIP ratio of 0.80.

Strasburg made his major-league debut on June 8, 2010, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. A Sports Illustrated columnist termed it "the most hyped pitching debut the game has ever seen." Strasburg picked up the win in his debut, pitching seven innings, allowing two earned runs and no walks and 14 strikeouts, setting a new team strikeout record. Also, he was the first pitcher in history to strike out at least eleven batters without issuing any walks in his pro debut, while falling just one strikeout short of the all-time record for a pitcher's debut—Karl Spooner (1954) and J.R. Richard (1971) both struck out 15, but each took nine innings to do it, and each walked three. (Bob Feller also struck out 15 in his first start, although it wasn't his big league debut). He struck out every batter in the Pirates' lineup at least once and struck out the last seven batters he faced—also a Nationals record. He threw 34 of his 94 pitches at 98 miles per hour (158 km/h) or faster, including two that reached 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

In Strasburg's second and third major league starts he struck out another eight and ten batters, respectively, setting a major league record for the most strikeouts in a pitcher's first three starts with 32. The previous record holder had been Richard, who struck out 29 in his first three starts in 1971.

Strasburg was also featured in the cover story of Sports Illustrated following his second start. His #37 jersey was the top-selling jersey in all of baseball for the month of June and became the best-selling Nationals jersey of all time in that span.

Strasburg was placed on the disabled list with an inflamed right shoulder in July 2010. He returned to action on August 10, but in his third game back, on August 21, he was removed with an apparent injury. On August 27, the Nationals announced that Strasburg had a torn ulnar collateral ligament (like Zimmermann), requiring Tommy John surgery, and about 12 to 18 months of rehabilitation. In the 2010 season Strasburg pitched in 12 games, all starts, throwing 68 innings, 92 strikeouts and compiling a 2.91 ERA. He was named a pitcher on the 2010 Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team. Strasburg made his first rehab start on August 7, 2011 for the Hagerstown Suns. Strasburg made six rehab starts during the 2011 minor league season throwing a total of 20⅓ innings, with 29 strikeouts, compiling a 3.49 ERA and a 1–1 record. He then made 5 starts during the 2011 major league season, his first coming against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 6. That year he threw for 24 innings, struck out 24, compiled a 1.50 ERA and a 1–1 record.

In April 2012, Strasburg accumulated an NL-best 34 strikeouts and second-best 1.13 ERA. He totaled 6 walks and did not give up a home run. Consequently he was named NL Pitcher of the Month. On May 20, Strasburg went 2-for-2 as a hitter in a game against the Baltimore Orioles and hit his first career home run, a solo shot off of Wei-Yin Chen.

In his June 13 start against the Toronto Blue Jays, Strasburg became the first pitcher of the year to strike out 100 batters.  On July 1, Strasburg was elected to his first All-Star Game, alongside teammates Gio Gonzalez, Ian Desmond, and Bryce Harper. Strasburg ended the season 15–6 with a 3.16 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 197 strikeouts in 159⅓ innings pitched. Strasburg hit .277 with a home run, 7 RBI, and three walks, earning him a Silver Slugger Award.

As part of Strasburg's rehabilitation from his Tommy John surgery, and as a precaution due to his low innings total in 2011, the Nationals decided to limit the number of innings Strasburg would throw in the 2012 season. Although the number was never official, rumors started that Strasburg's limit would be between 160 and 180 innings. It was also decided that Strasburg's shutdown would be final; he would not pitch in the playoffs. Dr. Lewis Yocum, the surgeon who operated on Strasburg's elbow, agreed in 2011 that Strasburg's 2012 innings total should be limited, although he did not consult with Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo or Strasburg during the season. Teammate Zimmermann underwent a similar process the year before.

Strasburg's high profile and the success of the Nationals in the 2012 season made the innings limit a topic of national conversation. In addition to baseball writers, a number of other figures made their views on the topic known, including football broadcasters Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw, basketball reporter Stephen A. Smith, and even prominent politicians such as Rudy Giuliani and Mitch McConnell. Rizzo defended the decision to shut down Strasburg and criticized the buzz surrounding it: "It's a good conversational piece; it's a good debatable subject. But most of the people that have weighed in on this know probably 10 percent of the information that we know, and that we've made our opinion based upon." The Nationals announced that Strasburg would be scheduled to make his final start on September 12 and would be replaced by John Lannan in the Nationals' starting rotation. However, after a rough outing on September 8, Davey Johnson announced that Strasburg was finished for the 2012 season. Strasburg spent the postseason on the physically unable to perform list as the Nationals lost the 2012 NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals.

April 26- Chicago Cubs

It had been a little over a year since I last saw Edwin Jackson; April 10, 2012 to be exact. We had met during his visit to the MLB Fan Cave along with Ross Detwiler and Gio Gonzalez as a member of the Washington Nationals. For a full recap on that day’s events I highly suggest reading my posts from April 17 and March 13. From first introduction I learned quickly that Edwin and I are a lot alike; big kids in grown-up bodies. I had the privilege of giving the three a grand tour of the Fan Cave as I was all decked out in Nationals gear. The first stop we made was the RC-car track which Gio and Edwin tore up for a solid five minutes. We then moved on to the skee-ball machine and pool table before ending the tour in front of the stage which had guitars and a drum set affixed. I could see in Edwin’s eyes that he wanted to jump up on stage and knock some beats out as the production guys tried to go over the script with him and Gio. After the two shot their introduction scenes Edwin broke loose and jumped up on stage with sticks in hand.

He crushed it. Honestly, I never wanted anything more in that moment than to know how to play the guitar so I could jam on stage with him; however, Ricardo Marquez did know how. I walked over to him and casually asked him if he was going to play. He told me he wanted to, but was too afraid to. At which I then told him, “If I could play, I would. Now get your fucking ass up on the stage.” This was a common occurrence between the two of us in that I had to motivate him to do certain things from time-to-time. What can I say? I know when people have potential and don’t like to see them piss it away due to fear. Fear gets you nowhere in life. Anyway, Ricardo finally got up on stage, picked up a guitar and rocked out with Edwin. There was another little thing that Ricardo had set up for fellow Cave Dweller, and Atlanta Braves fan, Shaun Kippins (@Skippins) in which anytime anyone said “Skips on the dance floor” he would have to do the robot dance like the random character did on “The Chappelle Show.” This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oXgjQnPfec

So, sure enough, Skips got involved as well and I just sat back and took photos. It was random, off the cuff stuff like this that I felt made the Fan Cave an enjoyable place, but not everyone shared my vision.

I knew Edwin had a Twitter account and have been following him since that day, but I hardly ever saw him on. I wouldn’t be until the end of December that we would talk to one another again, and I have Gio Gonzalez’s Instagram account to thank for that. Gio had started his Instagram account somewhere between October and November and so I figured why not follow him. What I wasn’t expecting was a follow immediately back. I posted a few photos that I took of him from my time on the road and one of him and Edwin playing with the RC-car track. Not too long after that Edwin’s user name popped up and he started following me as well. The only just thing to do after that was follow him back and post the photo I had of him on the drums. Our dialogue rekindled from that moment.

It was the offseason , and the last thing I wanted to talk about was baseball. We caught up as best we could, mostly through the photos we were taking and posting. When Edwin got signed to a multi-year contract with the Chicago Cubs over the winter I congratulated him, but nothing really more than that. Most compliments I prefer to give in person so they mean more, but sometimes you have to make due with what you have in front of you.

My girlfriend, Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) and I had been for me to get back see her in Florida since February, the time when she came to visit me in Eugene, Oregon. One of the things we wanted to do together was catch as many baseball games as possible. We all ready had our trip to Tampa set up to watch my Oakland Athletics play, but we didn’t have anything in Miami ready to go. I checked out the schedules and saw that the Nationals were playing the final game of their series with the Miami Marlins on the day that I was flying in. After looking a bit closer I then noticed that the Cubs were playing two games against the Marlins on the nights leading up to my original departure date back to Oregon. At the time I didn’t know who would be pitching, but I figured that if we got to any of the games early enough we could catch Edwin during batting practice. What I wasn’t expecting was that Edwin was slated to start on the night that Angie and I had tickets for the Florida Panthers final home game of the NHL season against my favorite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. I had never been to a NHL game in my life so we opted for that. Edwin went on to have a decent outing in which the Cubs won 4-3. I felt a little bad for not being there, but at the same time I have seen Edwin pitch in the past. Angie and I, along with 10 of her friends, had tickets to last night’s game, so the two of us went to Marlins Park early to try and spot Edwin during BP as originally planned. It too a little while for him to come out, but I spotted him going out to left field during the last 15 minutes of their session. Angie suggested that we go over to the section of the park to try and see him, so we did. I made sure to wait until everything was done, but within five minutes I broke two cardinal sins in my own personal ballpark etiquette.

1. I never yell at players.

I’ve touched on this issue a few times in past posts, but I’m one of those few people that goes to games to watch the game. I’ll take a few pictures of the action and my friends, but I rarely ever engage with the players unless they initiate it. A few days prior I had hit Edwin up and let him know I was going to be there, but I still felt incredibly weird when I shouted his name as things were wrapping up. But sure enough, he spotted me and came jogging over for a handshake and a hug. Not to be a complete jerk I made sure to introduce him to Angie before we caught up. We mostly talked about beard growth and how the last year has treated us, but he was all smiles, as was I.

2. I never ask players for photos.

What’s most interesting about meeting in the Fan Cave is that we never took a group shot when the Nationals came to visit. I always thought this was weird and asked him if he wouldn’t mind a photo. As the words left my mouth I was cursing myself on the inside for breaking this rule; even more so when I popped “The Shark,” with the wrong hand and failed to turn my cap around so that you can clearly see that I’m wearing a Cubs hat. I suppose I’m being too hard on myself, and he would tell me to not worry about it. I think that is one of the biggest things I respect about the guy; he gets it. When we met in the Fan Cave, he had fun. When we saw each other on the field, he had fun. And anytime we’ve chatted he genuinely means what he says; something I truly respect, as do a lot of other fans and players throughout the league.

I bought this hat a few days before I left Oregon for Florida and had it delivered to Angie’s house so I would have it for the game. It’s one that I’ve been holding off on buying for the last year or so as it is one of the few Cubs hats I didn’t all ready won. In fact, very few people outside of the Cubs fan base know it exists. The Cubbies only wore it for one season in 1957. There isn’t much of a difference between it and the classic Cubs hat the team has worn for decades, except of course for the white piping going up-and-down the panel seams. The fact that the team only used it for the one season kept things a bit limited as far as what I could write about, but I’m pretty sure you’ll all agree with where I went with it.

#14-’57: Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks signed with Chicago as a free agent back in 1953 and made his Major League debut that same season on September 10 for the last 10 games of the regular season. For 19 years Banks donned the Cubbie pinstripes and went down in history as one of the greatest-hitting shortstops in MLB history hitting .274.512/1636 for his career. What very few people remember is that he only played shortstop from 1953-1961 and played first base predominantly throughout the rest of his career which ended at the end of the 1971 season. 1954 was his first full season which saw the budding prospect finishing the season number two on the National League Rookie of the Year campaign after going .275/19/79 on the year. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Wally Moon took home the award that season; a season which also found Hank Aaron finishing in fourth place on the list. In ’54 Banks also finished in 16^th place for the NL MVP award, the first four consecutive years in which he would be a nominee: third in 1955, 28^th in 1956 and sixth in 1957. It’s kind of funny when you look at Banks’ numbers in comparison to his finish for the NL MVP as he more-than-likely should have won in 1955 after hitting 44 home runs and 114 RBI on the year; however, Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famers Roy Campanella and Duke Snyder felt the exact opposite as they finished one-two respectively.

1957 was an especially bad year for the Cubs as the team went 62-92 on the year under then skipper Bob Scheffing, a reign of losing seasons the team would see under the manager from 1956-1959. The only other notable player on the team that season was first baseman Dale Long, whose only claim to fame was during his years with the Pittsburgh Pirates when he became the first player in MLB history to hit a home run in eight consecutive games in 1956. For Banks, even though he had four solid full seasons under his belt, including ’57, this would be his final season finishing as a runner-up.

In 1958 and 1959 Banks became the first ever shortstop to win the NL MVP in back-to-back seasons, let alone the fifth person in MLB history (first in the NL), to pull of the feat. In ’58 he went .313/47/129 and in ’59 he went .304/45/143; he led the league in games played and RBI those two seasons. In 1960 Banks would win his one, and only Gold Glove award for his career and be named to 11 All-Star games throughout his career. Like any player who got played with the Cubs after 1908, he never won a World Series ring, as he stayed loyal to Chicago was never moved, nor did he sign with anyone else. He was elected to the National Baseball in 1977 and is one of six players to have their jersey retired by the Cubs.

April 17- Washington Nationals

I’m finally back in Florida!!! After two months of being away from my girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) I was finally able to complete my education at the University of Oregon, get down to the Bay Area for Opening Day with the Oakland Athletics and be stably unemployed for the last month. All of those things were definite motivators for me to get out to be with the one lady in my life who I love more than baseball. Hard to believe, right? Thanks to a generous gift from my friend Anthony Curtis (@AnthonyCurtis68) I was able to take a red eye flight on Tuesday night at which I got in around 7 AM. Being in a long distance relationship kind of sucks, but if both parties are happy enough with the other and willing to make it work, then there nothing will stand in your way of making it last until you can be together for the rest of your lives. This, in a nut shell, is how I feel about Angie.

I’ve never much cared for airplanes. In fact, they terrify me. While I totally understand that it is statistically a much safer means of travel, I still hate the idea of being trapped in a compartment 30,000 feet above the ground. I’m not much of a drinker, but in this case I felt it was a necessary tool in helping me fall asleep. I decided to roll the dice with a bottle of Jack Daniels, at which I was hooked up with an extra one because it took the flight attendant a while to be able to get one to me. I did not complain one bit.

I crushed the first one fairly quickly with a Coke Zero on the side as I am a proponent on never mixing anything with whiskey or bourbon. Unfortunately, every time I tried to nod off to sleep the woman next to me rolled over and smacked me with her elbow. I could have said something, but I decided to watch TV shows on my Ipod instead.

The six-and-a-half hour flight went by pretty quick with my TV aid as well touched down in Fort Lauderdale. Now, the one thing I hate more than being stuck in an airplane up in the air is being stuck in an airplane while it’s on the ground. I always have my stuff together and try not to be “that guy” who holds everybody up. The 30-40 old people sitting in the seats ahead of me felt the exact opposite of me however. After about a 15 minute wait I rushed out the door and down to baggage claim where my sweetie was waiting for me. One of the greatest feelings in the world is that first hug and kiss we share whenever we see one another after a long wait. It’s a reassurance that all of the patience and sacrifice the two of you make all becomes worth in that tender moment.

Angie had to be at work at 9:00 AM unfortunately, so we didn’t have that much time to spend together before she changed into her operating room scrubs and headed out the door to the hospital she’s working at as a part of her rotation as she finishes up her education at Nova Southeastern University. We had one last long kiss goodbye before she walked out and I went right to sleep. Angie and I had tickets for tonight’s Miami Marlins game against the Washington Nationals and I had plenty of time to catch a snooze before she got home from work to change and head out. Since I knew in advance we were going to the game I made sure to plan ahead in the apparel department and was ready to roll with my Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) player-T and a brand new Nationals road cap.

The Nationals started using this cap at the start of the 2011 season as a replacement for the all navy blue road cap they wore from their inaugural season in 2005 through the end of the 2010 season. I wrote about that cap on February 8 and it is still hands down one of my favorite caps to wear. It was also one of the best selling caps between 2005 and 2008, and I’ll never understand why they decided to get rid of it. Either way, with a new cap on the shelf, I was quick to scoop it up during the fall of 2011 from the Lids in Eugene, Oregon. Because let’s face it; the more hats a team brings out, the more hats I’ll be adding to my collection.

Since I was wearing it for the first time I hadn’t had a chance to mark it up yet. Some time last week I had an idea of two players I was originally going to add to it, but that was all before I won a rare red “DC” logo cap on Ebay. Not only is that post in the not-too-distant future, I also felt the two guys I had in mind were a better fit for that era. So, I rolled the dice with these knuckleheads.

#20- Ian Desmond was a third round draft pick by the Montreal Expos back in 2004 out of Sarasota High School in Florida. What’s most interesting about this pick is that it was the final year in which the franchise drafted as the Expos. Even more interesting than that, Desmond is one of only two guys drafted by the Expos that year who are currently playing in the Majors. Collin Balester is the other guy. From 2004-2008 Desmond had some mediocre years in the Minors. He hit .26y with the Potomac Nationals in 2007 and never had more than 13 home runs in any of the years he played in the Minors. The 13 home runs also occurred in 2007. In 2009 Desmond hovered between the AA Harrisburg Senators and AAA Syracuse Chiefs, a season in which everything came together for him as a hitter. That season he hit .330 with seven home runs, 32 RBI and 21 stolen bases. With the September call-ups just around the corner, Desmond got the nod.

On September 10, 2009 Desmond made his long-awaited MLB debut against Joe Blanton and the rival Philadelphia Phillies. Every day shortstop Christian Guzman had gotten the day off. Desmond did not let his opportunity go to waste. In the fifth inning, during his second at-bat, Desmond tagged Blanton for his first career home run with two on and two out. Before the day was over Desmond would add a double to his achievements. Desmond also found himself in the driver’s seat as the every day shortstop from that day forward. Guzman converted to a second base role; however, he was traded to Texas Rangers in July of 2010. He has been a free agent ever since. Desmond had decent seasons in 2010 and 2011, but it was in 2012 where Desmond proved his worth.

I had been an avid follower of Desmond’s since his days in the Minors and I always made sure to pick him up for my fantasy baseball teams in 2010 and 2011, knowing that he would be a reliable substitute for my regular starters. It was only a matter of time before Desmond’s potential showed. In the MLB Fan Cave we had our own fantasy league going and Kyle Thompson was the lucky recipient of Mr. Desmond somewhere in the middle of the draft. I was not cool with this; however, I had drafted David Freese, a move he was not cool with as St. Louis Cardinals fan.

By the end of April Freese was one of the best hitter in the game, proving his numbers in the 2011 postseason weren’t a fluke. This made Kyle unhappy. On numerous occasions he asked me if I would be willing to trade him. Every time I responded I reminded him that in the eight previous years I had never made a trade. I had picked up Rafael Furcal off the free agency wire in the second week of May, a move that proved to be very valuable for me. Furcal had gone on a tear and I continually punished my opponents on a daily basis. Because I had another Cardinal on my team, Kyle of course became incredibly jealous. He one again offered a trade, this time for Freese and Furcal. I looked over his roster and told him two players I felt would make for a fair exchange: Desmond and Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre. He immediately declined. Two weeks would go by as Freese and Furcal would continue to light it up offensively. Desmond and Beltre were putting up decent numbers at the time, but not enough that would motivate anyone to make the deal that I was asking, but I knew from past experiences and research on each player that they were due for a power surge. Kyle did not know this. Kyle was thinking more with his heart than with his brain, a surefire mistake when it come to fantasy baseball. On May 14^th Kyle sent me a trade request: Beltre and Desmond for Furcal and Freese. I happily accepted his deal. What’s funny about this move is that I wrote a sketch for the Fan Cave about it. The scenario would have been the two of us in a fancy restaurant at which he would slide me over a card with his offer. I would proceed to yell at him and storm out of the restaurant for such a horrible deal. The screen would go black, a message of “30 seconds later” would pop up, come back to scene of me walking back in and accepting his deal. That’s just the Cliff’s Notes version. With Desmond, his season was just about to take off.

Almost immediately after the deal was made Desmond took off offensively. Desmond hit four home runs in the first week-and-a-half. He would then go on to average over .312 every month from June 1 through the end of the season. He finished the year with career highs in average (.292), home runs (25), RBI (73), hits (150), doubles (33) and runs (72) despite only playing in 130 games. His campaign landed him his first of many All-Star Game appearances, a Silver Slugger award and a respectable 16^th place finish in the National League MVP vote. Needless to say, I was quite happy with the results.

#48- I had the pleasure of meeting Ross Detwiler in the Fan Cave when he came in, along with Gio Gonzalez and Edwin Jackson, in early April 2012. Due to the fact that Detwiler was making his season debut that evening he kind of kept to himself toward the entrance of the building, away from everyone else. Gonzalez and Jackson ran around the place like it was a Chuck E. Cheese. The sketch that the production crew had set up involved Gonzalez and Jackson taking care of Detwiler’s daily activities so he could concentrate on his start. Jackson walked all of Detwiler’s dogs while Gonzalez had some dental work done in his place. One of the scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor involved the two transporting a body in a black body bag. Still not sure why they cut it. While all of the filming was taking place I took it upon myself to go over and talk to Detwiler as everyone else had ignored him. We chatted about music and a few movies to try and help him relax. I was able to help coax a bit of a smile out of him, and by this time all the other Cave Dwellers decided to finally come over and talk to. From what I recall the others talked about his start, something I didn’t want to touch. He seemed cool with it though. That night he pitched five solid inning of scoreless baseball, only giving up one walk and two hits while striking out six.

Detwiler broke into the Majors in 2007, the same year he was drafted out of Missouri State University. He only made one appearance that season on September 7: one perfect inning. Detwiler wouldn’t be seen again until 2009 where he made spot starts until the 2012 season. His first three full years were a bit rough; however, his 2012 campaign ended with a 10-8 record, a 3.40 ERA and 105 strikeouts. During my travels around the country last season I saw him make a start against the New York Mets at which he pitched six decent innings, giving up three earned runs off of one walk and six hits. The Nationals won the game 6-4 for his seventh win on the season.

Tonight Detwiler made his third start of the season against the Marlins with Angie and me in house. In his previous two starts Detwiler has been pitching near flawlessly. He had only given up three walks, 10 hits and one earned run in 13 innings, good enough for a 2-0 record and a 0.69 ERA. Against the Marlins he was just as good, going seven innings while only giving up one earned run off of seven hits and zero walks. He currently stands at 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA and is currently leading the pace for the NL Cy Young award.

While Angie and I didn’t necessarily have a horse in the race in the game, it was great to get back to the stadium where our relationship first blossomed. As much as people want to knock how gaudy it looks and how poorly assembled the team is, Angie and I will always look at it as our own special place where we first fell in love.

March 13- Washington Nationals

For several years I shared the same plight as my friend Dave Kaufman, and quite possibly the majority of Montreal, in being overtly depressed over the Montreal Expos relocating to Washington, D.C. We were, and are still extremely saddened by the move at the end of the 2004 season; however, different motives fueled our emotions. For Dave, he had lost the one team he grew up with. For me, I lost the team I grew to love, and even more so, lost the team that quite possibly could have ended up in my backyard in Portland. Regardless of our feelings, the overall feeling of a team moving back to a city which lost two teams previous never made much sense, even if the money was right.

For starters the Washington Nationals played all of their home games at the old Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, the same stadium that was built for the second incarnation of the Washington Senators back in 1961. A stadium, mind you, that they shared with a professional soccer team, DC United of Major League Soccer. From 2005-2007 the Nationals played all of their home games at RFK while a new stadium, Nationals Park was being constructed. Despite the new ownership, the team still performed as mediocre as the Expos had before their move. I’m not trying to dog on the team, but it’s unfortunately the reality of things. The team went 225-261 under then managers Frank Robinson and Manny Acta. In 2008, the team’s first year in nationals Park, the Nats went 59-102, and to cap things off they posted the exact record the following season which prompted Acta’s firing, only to be replaced by Jim Riggleman midway through. Despite their poor finishes, the team was starting to spend money on trying to keep and attract talent like Josh Willingham, Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman.

From 2010-2011 the Nats starting spending a significant amount more, especially after the acquisition of Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) and utilized their draft picks to their utmost potential. By the time 2012 rolled around the Nats were stacked. Analysts saw the heavy-hitting and stellar-pitching lineup as more of a fluke and didn’t expect them to do much. Ha! Try 98-64, the best record in Major League Baseball. On top of which the Nats made the playoffs for the first time in their history, and the second time in the franchise’s history.

The team I saw on the field this last season certainly shook off any bit of the lingering cloud left over from the old Montreal days; a mixed sentiment felt back in the old country. When I visited Montreal over the summer I overheard a few people talking about the Nats every now-and-then. Some was good, a lot was negative; and while I don’t feel that people should let go, the fact of the matter is that the Expos faded out in D.C. at the tail end of the 2010 season, the same time this hat became defunct. From 2009-2010 this cap served as the alternate cap, something I felt was way too short of a time frame. The Nats certainly went through a dark period under this cap; however, it was because of those gloomy times that the team was able to pull some solid draft picks and make some phenomenal trades for the 2012 season. Moves which totally justify the numbers I dropped on this beast.

#47- It was an extremely sad day in Oakland Athletics nation when Gio Gonzalez got traded to the Nats; however, in return the A’s got Derek Norris and Tommy Milone, a move which proved to be extremely beneficial for both sides. On April 16, 2012 Gio, Edwin Jackson and Ross Detwiler made their way to New York and in through the doors of the MLB Fan Cave. Since there wasn’t a Nationals rep in the Cave I had always taken it upon myself to rock the gear of any team whose players paid a visit, but only if none of the other eight were reps of their teams. My mother raised me right, in the sense that as a host I am always obligated to make the guests feel welcome. So sure enough the gang came strolling in, full of life. Detwiler was a bit standoffish on account that he was making his season debut against the New York Mets that night, but Gio and Edwin took to the Cave as if it were a funhouse. I was given the honor of leading the tour, something which felt really cheesy to me considering that these guys were grown men who just wanted to hang out, put their feet up and take a peek on their own time. As the tour came to a close Edwin and Gio were called over by the production crew to shoot their scenes for a video they were making on doing Detwiler’s chores for the day to keep his mind clear for his game. It was also during this time that the cat was let out of the bag on the Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) rule.

A few days before they came in there was a rule established by Ricardo Marquez and Ricky Mast that anytime anyone said the name Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) I had to bark like a dog. No exclusions applied. One of the two had tipped Gio off and in between takes he shouted Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) from across the Cave. This happened somewhere between 15 and 20 times, including his ordering the cab driver to stop and wait for him so he could run back inside and yell it at me one more time. Prior to his visit Gio had gone two games without a decision on the season and with a 3.38 ERA. After he left he went on to win seven of his next eight, dropping his ERA down to 2.04 at the end of May. It was also around this time that I had picked up this cap from the New Era Flagship Store from across the street. As soon as I got it back to the Cave I felt compelled to drop his number on the front for being such a cool dude. Unfortunately for me, I got the axe from the Fan Cave the following day.

Gio and I had been talking sporadically throughout the season on Facebook; however, when I started my road trip we stopped talking for the sake that we were both clearly busy with real life. On August 17 I made my way to D.C. to catch two games versus the Mets. It was during this time I met a longtime Twitter buddy Rachel Wynn (@RachWynn), a die hard Mets fan. Rachel and I hung out during the first game where we proceeded to get “white girl wasted” throughout the night along with one of her friends who came down to the games with her. The one thing I remember most from the first night was ending up at The Bullpen, an outdoor bar across the street from Nationals Park. There, we proceeded to crush a heavy amount of Bud Light with Lime and walk around the joint making fun of all the frat guys we saw. At one point the conversation turned really weird and I started coming up with ways to make a train wreck of a scene. The best idea? Yelling, “Who wants to get fuuuuuuuuuuuucked!?!?” as loud as I could. The rest of the night is a blur, but I had to get back to the game the next day so I slept in the car as to not cause an accident.

Game two came around and I headed in earlier with the hopes that I might be able to go say hey to Gio. Apparently luck was on my side as I stumbled into this sign on my way through the gate…

I’ll admit, I was a bit hesitant to drop in to say hello. I’ve never been much of a “fanboy.” You know, those guys that hound for autographs and photos and such. I literally just wanted to say hello… and maybe get one photo. I got in line pretty early and had to wait about 35 minutes to get inside, which wasn’t a big deal as I had time to kill anyway. I finally got close to the table he was sitting at when I noticed a sign that said “no photographs.” As in no photographs with the player so that more people could file through during the designated time. So, I popped this photo as fast as I could before I got up to the table.

I had promised a friend, Toni Taylor (@condorsfan06) back in Bakersfield, California an autograph of Gio’s. Not having anything else on me I slid my ticket across the table while his head was still down. He signed it and handed it back. In the process of his arm reaching out to his head tilting up he went from chill mode to jumping over the table to give me a hug in less than a nanosecond. “Heeeeeyyyyyy!!!” he yelled as he put me in a bear hug. We chatted for a very quick second as to not hold up the line, at which it ended with his asking, “Are you coming to see me pitch tomorrow?” My original plan was to drive to my friend Tom’s house in South Jersey the next morning; however, when a ball player asks if you’re going to be at their game, you do it.

I met up with Rachel and her friend again after game two somewhere in DC, along with another group of people we had partied with after the previous night’s game. This time around; however, I kept a cool head and kept my drinking light so I could go back to my hotel to shower and sleep. Luckily for us there was a bar we stepped into that had a Nintendo 64 set up with Mario Kart 64 in the console. Needless to say, Rachel and I made it an all out war. Can’t remember who won though. So I’ll claim it.

The next day came and it was pouring rain. Somehow in the two and a half months I had been traveling I had yet to deal with a rain delay. With nothing else to do I decided to grab a few beers and a few smokes to kill time during the three-hour delay. During my tour of the stadium I was spotted by two hardcore Nats fans who had been following me on Twitter since my time in the Cave. What was funny is that when I passed by them I had an apparent scowl on my face, which is common for me whenever I’m in the zone and on a mission. I got back to my seat when Gary (@SperryGary) had hit me up asking if it was me. I immediately remembered who I had passed and went right back to make introductions. Gary, his friend Ryan (@MyGuyRyan) and I hit it off really well, crushed a few more beers before the rain finally let up and Gio got to his warm-up routine. I dropped down, snapped a few photos and sank into my seat. Gio pitched a solid 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and I met up with Gary and Ryan front row on the first base side for the last two innings of the game. The Nats won 5-2 and Gio’s record jumped to 16-6 with a 3.23 ERA.

Gio unfortunately finished in third place for the National League Cy Young award, which in all honesty could have gone to Clayton Kershaw easily as well, but it was RA Dickey who took home the treasure. Last night Gio was tapped to make his season debut for the USA Baseball team in the World Baseball Classic. And, in classic Gio form, he dealt five solid innings only giving up three hits, no runs and punching out five batters. Oh, and if I didn’t emphasize this earlier, Gio is clearly one of the Top 10 raddest dudes on the planet.

#34- If you haven’t been following me on Twitter for very long there’s a very specific thing I always refer Bryce Harper as: “some Mormon kid.” Being a fellow Mo-Mo myself I always find it incredibly awesome to see a strong kid of faith following his dreams in the same footsteps as such greats as Wally Joyner, Cory Snyder, Jeff Kent and Harmon Killebrew. Harper was taken with the first overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft; something that really didn’t shock anyone. I mean, the kid is the real deal. Despite being the #1 ranked prospect, Harper started the season in AAA Syracuse for the Chiefs… for 21 games. The Nats promoted him to the Show and he made his MLB debut in Dodger Stadium on April 28, 2012. In that same game he cracked his first Major League hit, a double over the head of Matt Kemp as which he jammed around the bases so fast his helmet flew off, exposing that sweet power Mohawk-rat tail combo he had going. It wasn’t too much later after a game in Toronto that we were given one of Harper’s quotable gems after a reporter asked him what his favorite beer has been since getting to Canada where he can legally drink on account of his age. His response, the priceless, “That’s a clown question bro” that we’ve all said to a friend and/or co-worker at some point in time since that night. While people want to clown the kid for saying that, I have to tip my cap to him for having the foresight to get that quote trademarked and copyrighted for licensing purposes.

Harper churned out a phenomenal season, which merely added to the magic that was the 2012 Nationals, with his NL Rookie of the Year award after posting .270/22/59 and 18 stolen bases. The one thing that I will forever appreciate about this kid; however, is his attitude. He doesn’t fake it, he owns it 100%. I recall an interview he did for a magazine round the time he was drafted at which he commented on why he’s so arrogant on the field. His response, "There are so many people out there who will tell you that you can't. What you've got to do is turn around and say 'Watch Me'” That’s pretty insightful for a 19-year-old.

While I never had the chance to meet Harper when he stopped by the Fan Cave, I hope I get the opportunity to pick his brain sometime down the road. It’s very rare for me to admire someone so much younger than me, but if it was going to be anybody, who better than a person who puts his money where his mouth is?