MWL Ball Begins & Spring Training Report

Well, I'm happy. Minor league baseball season has begun and I've already watched the Bees play two games. It's another season of new coaches and new players. Burlington's major league coaching staff signed real well. Joe Szekeley and Terry Bradshaw are both very personable, and Jose Bautista, although I haven't been able to stop him yet, did sign 6 cards for my wife. After a 20 year career in the game as a player he's probably a bit weary of autograph seekers though. Rolling Finger's son is pitching for the Bees. (Makes all of us seem a bit older doesn't it?) Needless to say, I'm packing 3 or 4 of his cards in case he comes to watch his son in Burlington.

This weekend I hope to see Kane County, Peoria and Clinton. Kane County looks especially interesting with Chip Ambres returning and the 2000 #1 Draft Pick, Adrian Gonzalez playing for them as well. Poor Adrian, I figured he'd be with Peoria and over the winter I've accumulated 14 different cards of him to sign, and have friends who want me to get some signed, too. Needless to say, I hope he sticks around all season. I met the Peoria kids at the Meet the Chiefs dinner. A real bunch of nice kids, I dined with Chris Narveson, Carman Cali, Matt Ortiz, Albert Rogers, and Donovan Graves and had a really great time. The Chiefs have a Major League coaching staff too, and all 3 of them, Joe Hall, Mark Grater, and Jeff Shireman, were all very gracious signers.

It looks like a good year for autographs in the Midwest League, with David Espinosa, Luis Montanez, David Krynzel, Corey Myers, and Luis Terrerro being some of the more impressive names to be coming through. Bees fans have been promised a visit by George Brett, and a visit from Vida Blue on July 27th as he'll be inducted in the Burlington Baseball Hall of Fame along with such greats as Paul Molitor and Billy Williams.

Spring Training Report

I've currently gotten 126 of the 202 requests that I sent out during Spring Training back successfully. I should hit the two-thirds mark, and with any luck at all, maybe the 75% mark. Not too bad. Here are people I've had NO luck with after two requests:

Oscar Salazar, Rueben Quevedo, Jose Molina, Julio Zuleta, Hideki Irabu, Adrian Brown, Eli Marrero, Kevin Nicholson, and Emil Brown. On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't give up. Ben Sheets signed a card for me this spring. This was my third attempt and first success.

On the autograph front: Two books that the serious autograph hunter should not be without have just been issued in their new up-dated versions. I can't stress enough how useful the Baseball Directory 2001 is to anyone getting autographs at the Major or Minor League stadiums or by mail. And R.J. Smalling has issued a new autograph listing, #11. Lots of new addresses and up-dates on a lot of guys who I had gotten back in the mail for bad addresses. This book is a must!

Recent Smalling 10 Successes

Ron Reed, Dave Roberts, Tom Shopay, Ken Reynolds, Dale Roberts, Frank Duffy, Rich Severson, Larry Shepard, Jack Cullen, Gail Hopkins, Adrian Divine, Barry Evans, Mike McQueen, Jim Foor, Jake Wood, Boog Powell, and Billy Conigliaro. Mr. Conigliaro was a nice surprise; I've heard he's a tough autograph to get. I don't know how current this address is, as it arrived about a year after I wrote to him. This is just a sample of what I've gotten back recently.

Fantasy League News

My Maple City Bomb-Throwing Anarchists won their league with a 9-1 record. Hopefully they'll be an XFL League for them to return to next year. I got recent autograph responses back from John Avery, Jim Druckenmiller, and Rashad Salaam. Now it's baseball. I'm in a draft league from work, a rotissiere league and a head-to-head league and a town league in which you pick a line-up once and can only change it during the All Star break. Do I like statistical games or what?

Anyway, that's all for now. Good luck and have fun with the hobby. I sure do.

~ Rich Hanson