Friday (12 Oct) - Baseball Fantasy Camp

Friday (12 Oct) - Baseball Fantasy Camp

Note: Didn't get around to posting this until now.

My Friday was mostly taken up at Petco Field, the home of the San Diego Padres. I, along with about 50 or so other codgers who wanted to relive (or imagine) their baseball prowess were invited by the team to participate in a fantasy baseball camp. For about four hours we got to hit, pitch, and play infield and outfield on the major league team's field. We got to change in the player's locker room, and worked out of the home dugout.

We were separated into groups and rotated through each part of the camp. Our group started with pitching. As I told one of many new friends I met, there was a reason that my hands-on baseball experience was mostly as a slow pitch softball pitcher - I have no throwing arm. Pitching off a rubber in the bullpen ... well, that 60 feet, 6 inch distance seemed a lot farther than it was, and throwing off a mound took some getting used to. I bounced the first couple. I did get a few over the plate, but I think I could have walked it over to the catcher faster than the ball got there. Surprising fact: in the Padres bullpen they have a garden, growing mostly tomatoes and peppers. It seems that most team bullpens grow some kind of vegetable garden. Never knew that. They must get really bored out there during games. Randy Jones, who is one of the greatest pitchers ever to play for the Padres (he's retired now), visited us in the bullpen and gave pitching tips.

After pitching, we shagged fly balls in the outfield. I managed to catch all of the balls hit my way, even if I almost lost one which came in with a nasty backspin. I figured my outfield play made up for my poor showing on the mound.

After that we headed to the batting cages. I would have preferred hitting from home plate, but another group was taking infield practice at the same time. At the batting cages, one used an automated pitching machine, and the other was manned by a team staffer who pitched from behind a screen. I did well in both - they were certainly not pitching at major league speed, but it was plenty fast for me. I was jammed a couple of times, taking the ball on the narrow part of the barrel, and that HURT. Going to have some sore hands.

Our last task was infield practice. I played first base, and we took ground balls, worked on double plays, and tried to be serious while laughing at our own gaffs.

There were surprisingly few injuries. A couple of slip and falls, and one person got a chipped tooth from a misplayed catch. As for me, I took a lot of hard throws as the first baseman (the third base and shortstop players really wanted to show off their high velocity, but not always accurate, throws). Not only were my hands even more sore from catching those throws, the throws I didn't handle well ended up hitting bare hands, and sometimes the knees when I had to drop down to stop throws that ended up bouncing in front of me. One of the staff, seeing that I wasn't getting my glove on some of the throws, still laughingly congratulated me on taking those shots in the hands and knees - instead of the groin, since we were not wearing protective cups.

I got to meet Andy Parrino, who is one of the Padres second basemen. I heard that pitcher Corey Luebke, who missed most of the season with an arm injury, was on the field as well, but I never saw him.

After we were done on the field we went inside and had dinner. We watched the Yankee-Orioles game and no one tried to usher us out as the evening grew longer. Eventually, tired and full, I followed a growing line of folks headed for home. I had a new jersey, cap, and a baseball to remember the day by. The Padres staff also took a lot of pictures and video. I believe we are supposed to get a copy of that.

I'll sleep soundly tonight ... but, oh, I am not going to want to get up in the morning .... groan.