BOB FELLER, ST RESULTS and MY
FANTASY DRAFT
Well, it's been awhile since
I've posted an article. Lack of ammunition, mostly. During
the off season I've been laying in cards to get signed.
I've mentioned the 2005 Team USA sets. For $30 these
beautiful sets are worth the money. Not only did I get 10
autographed cards in the two boxes that I purchased
(including the red autograph Alex Gordon jersey card), but
I've picked up quite a few of the jersey cards (which
usually go for a buck or two) and a lot of the autograph
jersey cards off eBay. Now's the time to write to these
players, BEFORE they become household names and less
obliging signers. Already this season I've gotten signed
cards and autographed jersey card responses back from Jed
Lowrie, J Brent Cox, Cesar Ramos, Jeff Larish, Mike Pelfrey
and Drew Stubbs. The Upper Deck SP Prospect set autographs
have been a chase item for me on eBay as well. I try to
pick up the less expensive ones, and I've already netted 33
autographed cards of individuals, dual autographed cards of
Colorado's Smith and Register, St Louis's Lambert and Smith,
Minnesota's Plouffe and Robinson and New York's Hughes and
Poterson and the Dodger's Odalis Perez and Ebert. I also
pulled a Nationals triple autographed card of Jose Vidro,
Bill Bray and Colin Balester. A beautiful set. Flawed
somewhat by UD's insistence on putting established players
in it as well.
BOB FELLER COMES TO GALESBURG
Yeah, "Bullet Bob" came to speak
at a benefit for the Galesburg Pioneers baseball team.
Although Bob is 86, he's still in excellent physical
condition, and has a mind as sharp as anyone's. And
opinionated? That's Bob. His talk covered a lot of areas.
He was adamantly opposed to players using performance
enhancing drugs, addressing it as both a health and a moral
issue. As a member of the Veteran's Committee, he mentioned
a few players that he feels who belong in the Hall of Fame,
including Gil Hodges, Ron Santo, and even my own personal
choice for most overlooked, Jim Kaat. He talked of his
service in the Navy during World War II, and reminded us
that his quarters on the USS Battleship Alabama, which is
berthed at Mobile, Alabama, has a plaque honoring him and
some of his service memorabilia. He even reminded us that
Bud Selig (Booooo!) will be appearing at his museum in Van
Meter Iowa, in June. Even my hat caught his attention. I
was wearing my usual opinions on my hat (Buttons like "Don't
Blame Me, I didn't Vote for him," "Some Texas Village is
Missing its Idiot," "Doing My Best to Piss off the Religious
Right," etc. I Have 7 buttons on my hat, but you get the
drift. Anyhow, Bob looked at my hat and said something to
the fact of "I'm a 'Hawk' myself. I believe in a strong
military." I've caught Bob about 5 different places, and
although he comes across as irascible to some, I've always
found his opinions well expressed and interesting. Oh yeah,
and autographs? He sold 8x10s for $5 as a donation to his
museum and signed cards and the 8x10s gratis. How many Hall
of Famers, especially of his accomplishments, would do that
nowadays. To a younger generation, one that focuses on
stats. Look at the time that both Feller and Ted Williams
lost to military service and imagine what their stats would
have been like if they would've gotten to play baseball
during those prime years, and you can appreciate how special
those players really were. Then too, remember. Today's
ballplayers gain an extra 8 games on them a year, just due
to the 162 game schedule versus their 154.
SPRING TRAINING RESULTS
I've gotten pretty good results
back from ST this year. I mailed out to close to eighty
players. Way down from last year. I've gotten some good
responses though, including Lance Cormier, Josh Fields, Neil
Wlker, Scott Baker, Scott Atchison, Wladimir Balentien, Mike
Wood, Brandon McCarthy, Igachu(the new Sox secong baseman,
pardon my spelling, I'm typing from memory) Jason Frasor,
Jeff Marquez, Kyle Bono, Merkin Valdez, Brian Dallimore,
Edwin Jackson, Scott Dohman, Ian Snell, Alfredo Simon, Greg
Golson, Dae Sung Koo, and Kiko Calero, among others.
Hopefully still many coming back. I've got quite a few out
yet, including Troy Glaus, Frank Robinson, Carlos Hines,
Chris Seddon, Ryan Garko, Chris Shelton, Michael Morse, Joel
Guzman, Blake Dewitt, Scott Elbert and Jeff Allison, among
others.
FANTASY DRAFT
Yeaterday was my fantasy draft,
Always one of the most fun days of the year. We meet at the
Bishop Hill Tavern in Bishop Hill, Illinois. Plenty of beer
and pizza were consumed. We lost one of our group at the
last minute, so our field was down to nine this year. It
opened up the talent pool a bit more. I drafted 8th and was
able to snag Todd Helton as my first pick. My second pick
was Bobby Abreu. My team finally ended up with 2B Jose
Reyes SS Orlando Cabrera Inf/C Sean Casey OF Bobby Abreu OF
Ichiro Suzuki OF Vernon Wells OF Andruw Jones OF Sammy Sosa
3B Michael Lowell !B Todd Helton INF/DH Brad Wilkerson C
Ivan Rodriguez P
Roy Oswalt P Ben Sheets P Roy
Halliday P Jake Peavy P Brandon Webb P Eric Milton. We draw
8 reserves. In our league that's it. No waiver wire. You
make changes that take effect every Monday from your
reserves, so those 8 draft picks are important. I have
Kerry Wood, Grienke and A J Burnett as back up pitchers,
Floyd OF, Cuddyer 2B, Crosby SS, Hall C and Ensberg 3B. Lo,
how the Mighty have Fallen: I picked up Sosa in the 13th
round, and my son added Bonds to his reserves in the 14th.
Ken Griffey was picked as a reserve in the 20th round.
Heres how the first 2 rounds went: 1 Alex Rodriguez, 2
Albert Pujols 3 Vladimir Guerrero, 4 Miguel Tejeda 5 Carlos
Beltran, 6 Scott Rolen 7 Randy Johnson 8 Todd Helton 9 Johan
Santana10 Hank Blalock 11 .Bobby Abreau 12 Nomar Garciaparra
13 Manny Ramirez 14 David Ortiz 15 Miguel Cabrera 16 Alfonso
Soriano 17 Victor Martinez 18 Eric Gagne.
That's about it. If you are
interested in any of my non-baseball writing, feel free to
go to PoemHunter.com where I presently have 78 poems
posted. Look for "Rich Hanson" or go to ABCtales.com where
I presently have 6 short stories posted. Try "Rich Hanson"
or "rich hanson" at that site and it should take you to me. Meanwhile, get your sharpies or
lumocolors out. It's just about time for the season to
start. Take care and have fun with the hobby. I'll sure
try to .
