Baseball has never been a game to me, regardless of what anyone outside the profession may think. It wasn’t a game to me before I was a player, and certainly wasn’t a game when I was a player. It was always more than that to me and this story below nails it in so many ways.

SHADOW GAMES: Baseball and Me
Posted on Dec 22, 2008 10:29 am
By Todd Drew

Cancer can’t change the way it will always be between baseball and me.

I was informed that Todd passed away today and I would like to send my thoughts, prayers and condolences to this Yankee fan, who I have immense admiration and respect for, and his family. I hope you find comfort in the Lord in this trying time.

That letter was posted at Alex Belth’s Yankee Banter Blog

I get messages from a lot of guys that play baseball, from little league to college. I wanted to pass along a website that is run by the man working me out right now. The man I love to cuss at right now really. This guy is one of the new breed of trainers, much like Dave Page (Red Sox Strength Coach), Paul Lessard (Head Trainer for the Red Sox) and the folks over at Athletes Performance (Still the best facility with the smartest staff I’ve ever been around)that understand baseball and the work needed to train the right way to get into baseball shape.

Check out some of the stuff he talks about for pitchers. Some fascinating new stuff coming to light the past few years that many young pitchers would do well to read up on.

Sabermetric guys will laugh, stat guys will moan, but the Rays signing of Gabe Kapler will have an impact on this division next year. Gabe is not only a nice addition as an extra bat and OF, but his clubhouse presence is beyond measure. One of my all time favorite teammates, and people, this guy is a rock in the clubhouse.

He brings a ton of veteran qualities but beyond that he’s a stabilizer. He is one of the guys that never allows a clubhouse, or team, to go too high, or too low. He’s much more unique than many think or believe, just ask the guys that were here with him, ask the Brewers teammates he played with last year.

The only fear for a team like Tampa is a letdown in my opinion, not having guys in that clubhouse to push and make them understand that going out this year and being mediocore makes last year a fluke. I never wanted to be on a team or thought of as a fluke, since that denotes luck beyond skill. Gabe, and Pat Burrell, are going to help that team be good again next year. Not to mention Joe Maddon is a truly good guy. I’ve known him for 20-plus years and he’s a major reason I was even discovered. I don’t know what kind of manager he is but I’ve heard nothing that would make me not want to play for him or think it wouldn’t be a blast.

If they can stay healthy and compete again they can truly turn this division into a three-team show, and that would be a good thing.

Oh and another thing. This is why it’s now different here. These guys just do things right, professionally and players pay attention and notice.

“In November, Smoltz sent a video to teams he was interested in playing for, throwing in a bullpen and chucking a football. The Red Sox were impressed, so they sent front office representative Ben Cherington, trainer Mike Reinold, and pitching coach John Farrell to Atlanta to watch him pitch. “Even for a guy who’s been in the big leagues for 21 years,” Smoltz said, “That really impressed me.”

You have to understand how big that is. Laugh it off but it’s real and few teams put that personal of a touch to things. I promise after John talked to John Farrell Boston became a much more realistic option. Meeting and talking to him you get real fast that this guy is wired so differently than pretty much any coach, front office person you’ve ever been around.

Also this:

“Smoltz attended the Celtics game last night, and in the third quarter, they flashed his face on the Jumbotron. “It blew me away,” Smoltz said.”

It happens in other places I know, but it’s special and things like that make memories for a lifetime. 1993 at a Flyers game it happened to me and I’ll never forget it. Fans make moments like these in rare places, but they impact players.

Congrats to Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson. Well deserved. Following Part 1, here is Part 2 of our Hall of Fame talk …

Tommy John - Discussion: Wow, how do you win 288 games and strikeout less than 5 per 9? Never realized his career was that long and he threw that many innings. Explains the Tommy John Surgery! Even more, didn’t have a 2-1 BB/K ratio, more hits than IP, and still managed to win 55 percent of his games. That’s pretty impressive. Another pitcher who was really really good.

Jay Bell - Discussion: First  Jay Bell memory … I think it was 1986, instructional league in Florida and this shortstop for the Indians is supposedly really good. We play them one day, the next day he gets called up from IL to the big leagues and hits a HR. That got me to thinking I was always one day away from being in the show. A great teammate and all around great guy. I loved Jay because I thought he was a position player that might actually run slower than me:) Jay played fundamental baseball as well as anyone I ever played with.

Don Mattingly - Discussion: Faced him two times, to the tune of about 1000 feet worth of home runs. Gets my vote! Kidding. I always remembered this guy as a pure force on offense. Looking at his career I think it’s clear that he’s a first ballot lock HOF’er if he wouldn’t have had the back injury. He was a nightmare to watch. I never liked the Yanks growing up (due to being a Pirate fan) but I loved to watch Donnie Baseball hit. Seemed like a very quiet guy who just showed up and played his ass off. Even with the back problems the latter half of his career he put up awesome numbers for the time he was healthy.

Mark McGwire - Discussion: Dreaded this one. Mark is one of the kindest and nicest men I’ve ever known. Both he and Sammy put baseball back on the map after the ugliness of 1994-95. That being said I couldn’t do it. Had he stood in front of Congress and flat out denied ever using steroids/HGH then I think I’d feel vastly different. The fact that he didn’t gave me an answer in and of itself. I think the world of the guy and his massive amounts of work off the field speak as much about him as anything else.

For the rest of the list - Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Lee Smith, and Mo Vaughn - I’ll have to get back to you on. Until then I’ll refer you to WEEI.com’s Kirk Minihane’s list for a pretty good reference.

Rob suggested this topic and I figured I’d give it a whirl. The players listed on the 2009 HOF Ballots are:

Rickey Henderson - Discussion: There is none. Greatest leadoff hitter of all time and if there is any justice we’ll get to hear Rickey say “Rickey” in the third person about 132 times when he’s unanimously elected. Should receive every vote. YES

Alan Trammell - Discussion: A six-time all star with a World Series MVP, four Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers and 3 Top 10 MVP finishes. A hell of a shortstop and along with Ripken was one of the new mold breaking offensive guys at this position when I was growing up. A guy I remember being a stud (monster ‘87 season) but from what I gather HOF standards like to look at your best collective seasons. I guess he didn’t dominate for long enough to be a HOF’er, but a stud none the less.

Tim Raines - Discussion: Let’s see, a leadoff hitter who finished in the top 10 in OBP seven times, batting average four times, OPS four times, Runs scored six times (6 STRAIGHT YEARS btw), hits six times, total bases four times, walks six times, stolen bases nine times (led the league from 81-84), runs created six times … ALL of that in a 10-year period (1981-1990). He’s going to get overlooked because of Rickey but in my opinion the second greatest leadoff hitter of the modern era. He did EVERYTHING you ask of a leadoff hitter and more, and he did it in Montreal. If he’d played in LA, NY or Boston he’d be a lock. YES.

Andre Dawson - Discussion: I just remember this guy OWNING the 80’s in right field in the NL. His ‘open contract’ and subsequent MVP season for the Cubs seemed to sum him up in a nutshell. Another player that will see Montreal continue to hurt his chances in my opinion. ROY, MVP, eight Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers, four Top 10 MVP finishes, including two second-place finishes (which I think often times means MVP season in many other years). Add eight Top 10 SLG percentage finishes to the eight gold gloves and he was a RF that mashed and played HOF type defense for a decade. He dominated for a decade in the NL, and a decade worth of seasons like that is HOF material in my opinion. Add to all this that he was just a phenomenal guy and it’s an easy one for me. YES.

Bert Blyleven - Discussion: How on God’s green earth is this guy not on a plaque already? What the hell? Nineteen years after posting a WHIP of 1.159 — in 1970 btw — he posts a 1.116 WHIP (a truer standard of a pitchers effectiveness I have yet to see). NINETEEN YEARS LATER!! Oh, and he finished in the Top 10 nine times in between those two years. This guy played on CRAPPY teams!!!!!! CRAPPY! His HOF worthy stats are too numerous to mention so I link them here . Writers do us a favor and put a true HOF’er in the HOF. YES.

Jim Rice - Discussion: See Bert Blyleven … I mean come on. Does it strike anyone as odd that players increase their vote totals as the years go by, AFTER THEY RETIRE???? Look, I know it’s not easy, and I know mistakes are made, some by sheer accident, some by stupidity (see Dustin Pedroia being LEFT OFF the MVP ballot of one dolt this year), but how on earth do vote totals fluctuate for guys AFTER they are done? Does that mean voters are doing MORE work and MORE research as the years go by? Less? Shouldn’t this be taken dead serious by ALL writers afforded the honor of being allowed to vote? Should the process change? This guy finished in the Top 5 in MVP voting SIX TIMES in an 11-year period. Six times people considered him the best player in the AL in an 11-year period! I was more of an NL fan growing up but I’ve been around long enough, talked to enough pitchers from that era in the AL and to a man they are all pretty emphatic that he was without a doubt one of the 2-3 most feared hitters in the game. If he’s reading this he knows I can kick his ass in golf but I’m saying here and now this man deserves to be in the HOF. YES.

Dan Plesac - Discussion: My first “Sack” memory came in Milwaukee in the late ’80’s. He was throwing a pen coming off an injury and they had a gun on him. He was throwing his fastball from 96-99 and mixing in a 92 mph slider … He didn’t remain a closer long enough to merit HOF votes I don’t think but if there was a HOF for awesome teammates with great senses of humor this guy is a first ballot HOF’er. Sack could make you laugh until you cried, funny as hell and a fantastic teammate who I wish I’d been able to play longer with. I still remember walking into the bathroom in Arizona and I hear “GO TO THE WHIP! GO TO THE WHIP!!” and I’m thinking “What the hell?” only to see him come out of the stall. He is HUGE into Horse racing and breeding and has been for a long time.

Harold Baines - Discussion: First Harold Baines memory … Standing on the mound in Texas in 1989 and thinking “Man this guys standing WAY too far off the plate to hit MY fastball, he’s got no chance.” About 15 seconds later the ball bounces off the top of the center field fence and into the bleachers. A consistent producer at a tough spot to be one, this guy did nothing but produce. I think his post season numbers will be underrated but in the end this is the HOF, for baseball’s greatest, not baseballs very, very good.
Also a fantastic guy and from everything I heard an awesome teammate.

David Cone - Discussion: Didn’t win 200, or strikeout 3,000 but this guy was damn good for a long time. A post season monster who had three bad games to spoil his ERA but a 12-3 lifetime record is money, and he was. I remember him being the first real ‘hired gun’ guy in the mid-to-late 90’s. I only knew him a little but he was a great guy and everyone from Lenny D to a few others that played with him swear by him as a teammate. Should get more votes than he likely will but another VERY good player who might be just short of being considered great.

Ron Gant - Discussion: Had he not broken his leg I think Ronnie would have been a 500 HR 500 SB guy, and a lock. One of my all-time favorite teammates. He played the game as hard as it could be played and he played hurt. Fantastic teammate and fantastic person.

Mark Grace - Discussion: Only guy I played with that talked more than me, which in and of itself merits some sort of Hall of Fame. One hundred and seventy-four HR, and more than 2,400 hits don’t get you into the Hall of Fame, but, this guy could flat out play. Was literally a Gold Glove SS playing first base. Four Gold Gloves (and he should have won more) and no one had more hits than Gracie in the 90’s. An OB and Doubles machine, I don’t think Mark will get the votes he should but he never did the ’sexy’ stuff like hit HR’s and drive in boatloads, he was the guy getting on base in front of those guys and if you don’t hit 350 or steal 75 bases people seem to downplay how good you could have been.

I’ll finish the rest tomorrow …

Related link:

Minihane: Who Belongs In 2009?

Q-What impresses you most about Smoltz?

A-The entire body of work. In addition to being a #1 starter the guy was a HOF closer, who else can make that claim short of Eck? This guy was a stopper as a starter, and a closer. That he’s still a dominant power pitcher at his age, with that many innings is incredible. I’d trust the Sox to have done the medical homework and given the arms they now have they’ll be able to mix and match with the back end of their rotation (which could feature 2 front end guys) as the schedule and their health permits.
Fast forward to October, damn, how would you like to start a series facing Beckett, Smoltz, Lester and Dice?

Q-What’s your favorite moment competing against Smoltz?

A-Guys like John don’t elicit favorite moments, at least not for me. I always wanted Glavine or Maddux, but never because they weren’t as good, but because I knew my offense wanted no part of Smoltz. Glavine/Maddux were frustrating but ‘comfortable’ 0-4’s, John was a painful one and I know of some guys that got “Smotzitis” quite often.

Q-Were you surprised that Smoltz left the Braves to sign with the Sox?

A-Nothing surprises me anymore. I’m surprised at the amount of untruth’s being spewed by someone, but nothing surprises me anymore. The club put a value on him and that value didn’t match what John wanted. After almost 20 years with a team, doing what he did, as a player you always hope for and sometimes expect more loyalty, but that’s just not what teams do anymore, if they ever did.

Q-What is the value of approaching the 2009 season with more than 5 viable starting rotation candidates?

A-Too numerous to list. If you can avoid “accumulation” incentives like starts and IP, and you can get the staff to buy into the process of keeping everyone fresh for August to September, which is not as easy as it sounds, it’s huge. Like I said earlier, you enter October with a healthy fresh Beckett, Smoltz, I don’t care who paid what for whom, you are favorites in any series, 4 or 7 games, no matter who you are playing.

Q-What is your impression of Baldelli as a hitter when healthy?

A-Another great sign in my opinion. First off the big piece is he’s a kid that was raised understanding what baseball means to the New England area and that he really wanted to come here says something about his makeup. That’s a big deal to me. As a hitter? Rocco is one of the 2-3 best high fastball hitters in baseball, bar none. He has the rare ability to go up waaaay out of the zone high, and hammer balls. Very few guys can do that. Many are aggressive up there but few produce in that area. It’s not a great strength to have since good pitchers don’t live up there, but you can KILL mediocre pitching which consistently makes mistakes up in the zone. He’s incredibly aggressive. I liked that facing him because I felt I could get more chase than normal. He’s a superstar athlete, run, throw, smart player. I always felt he was an exceptional baserunner and a ’smart’ player. Didn’t miss cut off men, never a base behind where he should be, always in the right spot. Little things, little things that will come into play in the role he’s going to be asked to fill. I hope he’s healthy because I’d really like to see him put together all the stuff people have raved about since he signed.

I am not sure some people are seeing or realizing how this whole blog thing works. At the top of this page it says “38 Pitches”, not “39 Pitches” or “Yoda’s Blog”, this is 38 Pitches, my blog.

Now that doesn’t mean anything other than this is a blog where I post my opinions and thoughts. Don’t take this personally but there is literally nothing in the history of my blog I have ever posted to please you, or meet your expectations. If something I say, or an opinion of mine is something you agree with, cool. If not, that’s fine too.

I don’t, and never will, post for either of those reasons. I post what I think, I post what I believe. Neither of those makes me right or just, they make me, me.

If you don’t like me, or you disagree with me, or you are so bent on the fact that I voted for John McCain you can’t sleep, don’t come here. Why on earth would you?

I am 100% positive I’ve made more than 1 mistake on this blog in the past. I am more than 100% positive I’ve said something that offended someone and I had no intention of offending when I said it.

Case in point. Ya it might be trivial to some, but my epileptic frog jog apparently offended some readers who suffer from epilepsy. That or someone who doesn’t like me posted as such to make the comments. Either way this is not a forum for that and if anyone was offended I apologize, that was obviously not my intent.

Many of you have commented “Stay above the fray”, “Don’t sink to his level” and more, and you’re pretty much spot on. However that’s not what I chose to do. I am flawed, just like every single one of you and speaking my mind and talking ‘off the cuff’ are somehow deemed great qualities and nasty traits at the same time by different people.

I can’t stand someone who makes a big deal about ‘telling it like it is’ or ’saying what’s on their mind’ to emphasize their assertiveness or toughness. Neither of those is a ‘tough’ quality to me.

I do say what I think, I do tell it like I think it is. Neither of those makes me right, they make me, me.

It’s not that hard and sure as hell shouldn’t be that disturbing to people. Not to mention be that big of a deal.

If you don’t want to hear me, can’t stand my opinion, why the hell are you clicking on this link? Better yet, not only are you clicking on the link, you’re signing up for a Wordpress account to leave a comment on a persons blog you can’t stand?? Who does that speak more about?

I don’t care if my opinions popular or unpopular, it’s mine. I do enjoy the back and forth here especially when someone calls me out and I learn something I didn’t know or my opinion changes upon further research, that’s cool.

CHB doesn’t permeate my thoughts or bother me. I get annoyed from time to time and to be honest I laugh like hell at you people talking about “Let him be” and “Why do you care?” when you cannot imagine what it’s like to have someone you have no respect for write demeaning and false things about you or your teammates publicly, most especially when you know them to be untrue.

You learn to deal with it, but there are times when you don’t feel like just ‘dealing with it’ and that’s the times when I say something. That’s certainly not been the best course of action over time for me and I’ve learned a little in the past 23 years.

The thing is, we don’t know each other. Short of meeting me in person, shaking my hand and talking, we never will. What you know about me, my thoughts, my family, my faith in the Lord, my love of the game, all of that, you know because people I don’t know told you.

This blog was a way for me to change that, and I like that. I can write what I want, when I want. Under the blog banner what I write is what I want and how I want. I don’t ‘work in the media’ as a few would like to think. The stuff I do for the column is writing on topics Rob and I think are relevant to sports but I’ve been given complete freedom to write whatever I choose to.

That’s what’s going to make EEI and this site so unique as the writers get more into the flow and the content gets fresher.

So in short, if you are interested in something I say, cool, if not, fine, go to someone’s blog you do like, or better yet start your own. I have no problems with people liking or disliking me, being human I’d prefer people didn’t dislike me but hey, that’s life.

38 Pitches will be blog posts of my thoughts, my opinions, my family and my career. If none of those are of interest to you then by all means please delete that bookmark.

“Precisely when did a contract become a one-way deal?”

So CHB chimes in on the BC coaching fiasco in about as timely a fashion as reporting on the Lincoln Assassination at the outbreak of WWI. Sweet. In the world of hypocrites he’s vaulted to the top spot.

A guy who was first in line to berate Sosa, McGwire, Palmeiro and me when we were in front of congress -them for some things, me for shutting up for once in my life when he of all people knew that without photographs or physical evidence, dropping names on that day would have been character assassination of the highest order. Yet, strangely, he was also at the front of the line during the HR binge with stuff like this:

“The ball is juiced. Mark McGwire and friends are hitting something that looks and feels more like a Titleist HP Eclipse than an old-time hardball. Today’s ball is wound tighter than Tom Coughlin. It’s not made by Rawlings, it’s made by Wham-O - the company that brought us those cool Super Balls of the 1960s. It’s Flubber. Or Son of Flubber. In an effort to stifle complaints from every pitching coach and meatball artist hurling middle relief, baseball commissioner Bud Selig and his lieutenant, Sandy Alderson, have commissioned a scientific study to determine if today’s baseballs conform to size, weight, and impact standards established by Major League Baseball. The study is being conducted by Dr. Jim Sherwood of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.”

Really? How does that work? How do we get to play both sides of the fence and not be accountable like you? Where do we apply for that job?

This is the same guy who, late in the Rocket’s tenure in Boston when Clemens LEFT THE PARK before the ending of a game he started and his team lost, wrote what a warrior Roger was, how he couldn’t stand the losing, to the point he couldn’t remain at the ballpark. Yet in 2004, Pedro left the park and CHB couldn’t contain himself:

“Martinez didn’t stick around to talk about things after the game. In fact, team guy that he is, Pedro left the ballpark before the game was over. He must not have been feeling properly respected, or something like that.”

See our little feud dates back to this article. If CHB ever did like me (which he claims he did) it all ended after he wrote this. I called him in the clubhouse, talked about the Clemens piece and then asked him about the Pedro piece. Why the two different views? Why was it, that all the players CHB appeared to rip and detest, from Carl Everett, to Pedro, were not white? Was he a racist? I had to ask, I assumed I already knew that he wasn’t but I had to ask. If not that then what? Star hater? Did he try and find a way to just not like the good to great players here?

His defense was “Why are you yelling at me? I write and have written nice things about you.” Which in a nutshell, summed it up for me with CHB. Did he really think we lived on islands in the clubhouse? Did he really think we were OK with people like him ripping our teammates? How can you play with guys, and mingle with media members that write and say things that often times are outright lies? How can you play with guys and face them everyday, playing both sides of the fence? I can’t, and never have. It’s likely one of the reasons I have so many ‘non’ allies in the press. Maybe it’s the fact that these guys rip on each other daily, people they work at the same paper with, and think that’s how it works, that makes them think this is OK. These guys rip and belittle each other far more than anyone I’ve ever played with yet many of them can’t wait to write a piece on a player doing that same thing.

So few of them are the experts they would have you believe they are. Hell, I promise you there are way more fans in Boston that know more about the Red Sox than people like CHB.

Maz, Bradford, Buckley, Sean Mac, Browne, Benjamin … I do believe they know what they’re talking about more often than not but part of that is because I feel like every one of them is a fan of this team and cares about the team. They are certainly objective for the most part. Maz and Buck can get carried away at times but it’s never out of malice.

How do I know this? I know this because I lived the life, I saw them, I heard them, I saw the inside of the clubhouse and saw the interactions and the goings on and every day I got to see what they wrote and said, and so often it never matched up. It was pure BS for the sake of being the one ‘in the know’.

You see it all the time in sports. Free agent Manny Ramírez signs a contract with the Red Sox in 2000 and it looks great. But when it comes to 2008 and he doesn’t like those two one-year club options at the tail end of his deal, Manny lies down like a dog to get out of the contract and make the options disappear. The team is forced to trade him.

In sports? Really? Only? Or do we see it all the time in sports, and the rest of the world, but sports is the only place we care enough to write about it? Oh, and you spent the last four years lambasting a manager who’s ass you now kiss as the ‘best ever’ for placating and ‘enabling’ the guy you hate so much, all the while knowing he was doing everything within his ability to manage the situation as best as possible.

After the 2007 World Series, Curt Schilling signs a one-year deal for $8 million plus incentives. When he shows up in spring training looking like Chris Farley, unable to throw a Wiffleball because of an injury, the club is on the hook to pay him the $8 million. For no services. The club must live up to the contract.

Really? I wasn’t overweight or out of shape in 2008 when I showed up, where’d you get that? Your ‘inside’ sources? You wrote this same thing in 2007, after I stunk up opening day in KC, you and others, about how ‘out of shape’ I was, and how unprepared I was to start the season. You seemed to fade away after I went 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA in my next 8 starts, you and everyone else. So what, I was out of shape for that one game? How does that work?

Your ‘inside’ sources are crap because you and pretty much everyone else had no idea how the 2007-08 off season went and the events that occurred during that time frame. Your ‘hit and run’ journalism is so far beyond tired and boring it’s laughable.

After all these years and all that crap you’re now on the moral high ground? I have yet to hear the full story from anyone regarding both sides of this story so I can wait until then. How is it though that after all these years you can take this stance? You of all people know how sports and contracts work. It’s not, and never will be, like the ‘Real World’ right? It can’t be. You want contracts to be two-sided when far more teams and schools throw loyalty out the window than any number of athletes ever could. Loyalty in your sense of the word is a selfish and personal thing. It’s only ‘loyalty’ if it offends or pleases you.

Looking back on the Rocket’s tenure here I can’t decide when you hated him, when you loved him, when you hated the Sox and when you loved them. You flip-flop more than an epileptic toad.

Do you stand for anything? Truly? I know life’s been a challenge since that ‘group of frauds’ won it all in 2004 and destroyed a thing you’d created, but someone with your talent in writing certainly has better things to do, or at least more meaningful ones right?

If you do please check out this event, pretty cool stuff!

www.alstradeup.com

We were sitting around yesterday, packing for the trip back home and I started thinking about packing, moving, traveling. Twenty-three years after I hopped on a plane to Elmira, New York I tried to see if I could even contemplate the mileage I’ve traveled, and the times my wife and I have had to move.

I can’t calculate the mileage but was going to take a stab at how many times we’ve packed up our things and moved. I consider four weeks or more in one spot a ‘move’ since we toted everything with us.

1986

Arrive in Phoenix after driving from Yavapai JC (on the heels of losing in the JC World Series in one of the funnest and best years of baseball ever) and the following morning I hop on a plane.
1. Phoenix to Elmira (Elmira from June to August). BTW that was all for a whopping $750 a month - pre taxes - which I made it on by renting an attic room for 99 bucks a month!
2. Elmira to Sarasota for Instructional league (September to early October)
3. Sarasota to Phoenix for the winter.

1987

4. Phoenix to Winter Haven (March to early April).
5. Winter Haven to Greensboro, N.C. (April to August).
6. Greensboro to Sarasota for Instructional league (September to October).
7. Sarasota to Phoenix for the winter.

1988

8. Phoenix to Winter Haven spring training.
9. Winter Haven to New Britain, Connecticut (April to July). Traded from Sox to Orioles (Brady Anderson and I for Mike Boddicker).

10. New Britain to Charlotte, N.C. (August)(10)

Called up to the Major Leagues
11. Charlotte to Baltimore (September).
12. Baltimore to West Palm for Instructional League.
13. West Palm to Hermisillo, Mexico for Winter Ball (my only no-hitter!)
14. Hermisillo to Phoenix for the winter.

1989

15. Phoenix to West Palm Beach for spring training.                                    

16. West Palm to Rochester, NY (April to Sept 1).

17. Rochester to Baltimore (September).
18. Baltimore to Santo Domingo, D.R. for Winter Ball.
19. Stayed in Baltimore that winter.

1990

20. Baltimore to Sarasota for Spring Training.
21. Sarasota to Rochester (April to June).
22. Rochester to Baltimore (June to September).
Stayed in Baltimore that winter (also met Shonda the day the season ended)
Traded to Houston that winter (Pete Harnisch, Steve Finley and I for Glen Davis)

1991

23. Baltimore to Orlando for spring training.
24. Orlando to Houston (April-May).
25. Houston to Tucson (sent to AAA, June to early July).
26. Tucson to Houston (July to Sept).
Spent the winter in Houston

1992

27. Houston to Orlando for spring training.
Traded final day of ST to Philadelphia for Jason Grimsley, flew to Miami for one day to meet the team then to Philadelphia. (Shonda was driving to Houston with the wives and heard about the trade on the radio, she pulled over to the side of the road, went to Houston and packed up, headed to Philly.)
28. Philadelphia April to Sept, lived in Marlton, NJ in the off season.

1993-1999

35. Seven straight years of Living in Philly, Clearwater every January through the end of March, back to Philly for the season. We started to go down January 1st every year to workout in the warm weather much earlier. Gehrig was born in 1995, Gabby in 1997, Grant in 1999.

2000

36. Philly to Clearwater.
37. Clearwater to Philly until July.
38. Traded to Arizona for Travis Lee, Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa and Vincente Padilla
Philadelphia to Arizona for August to October 1st. Spent the winter in Arizona

2001-2003
41. Winter and season in Phoenix and eight weeks apart while we ST in Tucson. Garrison is born in 2002.
Traded the winter of 2004 to Boston for Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon, Jorge De Larosa and Michael Goss.

2004

42. Phoenix to Ft Myers for spring training.
43. Ft Myers to Boston for the season.
44. Boston to Phoenix for the off season.

2005

45. Phoenix to Ft Myers for spring training.
46. Ft Myers to Boston for the season.
47. Boston to Phoenix for the off season.

2006
48. Phoenix to Ft Myers for spring training.
49. Ft Myers to Boston for the season. Settled into Boston as residents for good, that winter.

2007 and 2008
51. Boston to Ft Myers for spring training.
Ft Myers to Boston for good…

Fifty-one moves. Damn. It’s certainly not a normal number but I wonder how many is “a lot”? Even taking out spring training since it was 6-8 weeks (but it was still a full fledged move, even more so once the family made the trips every year) that’s still a crap load of moving.

Those first few years it was a nightmare on the money I made. Starting at $750 a month I think the most I made in the minors was $2,500 a month or so, pre-taxes. I didn’t sign for much either so I know I made the most of every dollar back then.

Oh, and welcome to 2009. Over/under on how many times you sign or date something 2008? For me I’ll go 10 …