Making a Mark on the Ballfield

One of the all-time Hall-of-Famers in Fergie's group is Harmon Killebrew, who was a Washington Senators third baseman in the late 50s and went to Minnesota when his team became the Minnesota Twins. When he retired, he had the third highest home run total of any right-handed batter, and he was a solid all-star. As a Cub fan, I never saw too much of him but I always respected him. Now that I have met him, I really like him as well. Soft-spoken, friendly, a man with a solid handshake: I was very pleased to have a moment to talk with him, a man who made his mark on baseball.

Shortly after my moments with Harmon Killebrew, I moved into center field (I did spend most of my playing days in center field or left field) and spotted a potential self-portrait. Here you see me making my mark on the Ho Ho Kam Stadium outfield.

Next post will be a look at a minor league practice, which was a surprisingly enjoyable part of my spring training trip.

Fergie & Friends For Charity

It was a perfect night for a baseball game, any kind of a baseball game. But the event that had convinced me to head out to Arizona, the Fergie & Friends Annual All-Star Game, was an event to remember. Great music as mentioned in the previous post, lots of nice people to talk to. But the real highlight was the 30 minutes we were allowed down on the field to "Meet and Greet" the All-Stars and Old-Timers. All the former ballplayers were friendly, shaking hands and having pictures taken one after another. Fergie Jenkins, certainly the most successful Cub pitcher of my lifetime with six straight 20-win seasons, was affable and organized. Billy Williams, seen with me in the other photo, spent the entire time smiling and laughing with people. That half-hour, by the way, stretched out to me being on the field for two and a half hours, talking baseball, listening to music, taking pictures, and just loving life and baseball.

Besides Jenkins and Williams, we met Ron Santo, Jody Davis, Bob Dernier, Glenn Beckert, Randy Hundley, Steve Trout and Jay Johnstone among other former Cubs. We also met several Hall-of-Famers including Harmon Killebrew, Bob Feller, and Rollie Fingers. It was a wonderful night all the way around.

My friend Terry, a Mesa-area resident I had just met, spent some time taking photos of each other with the ballplayers and just on the field. "This is baseball heaven," he said, ninety minutes after the fun had started. What else could I answer? "Amen."

The next post will feature another hall of fame ballplayer, but one who played with a much larger ball.