Too bad Philly won it

Though we were disappointed when the Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Philadelphia Phillies during the 2008 World Series, we weren't going to miss out on an opportunity to see the famed World Series trophy when it came to Clearwater recently.

Granted, it'll never carry the stature and status of Lord Stanley's Cup -- at least in our humble household -- it was cool seeing the trophy, all shiny in silver and gold, for the three innings it was on display at Bright House Networks Field, home of the Phillies spring training and Florida State League affiliate, the Clearwater Threshers.

Besides checking out the World Series trophy, Colin also added to his Clearwater Threshers team ball. Among those adding to it was Kyle Drabek, the Phils' first-round pick (18th overall) in the 2006 MLB draft, who's coming back from Tommy John surgery. His signature, with the No. 8, is second from the bottom.

Also signing were Luis Ramon Arzeno, Chance Chapman, Michael Cisco, Fidel Hernandez, Tim Kennelly, Cody Overbeck and Johan Sampson.

He'll take two

It might not be the greatest start to our Major League Baseball hounding campaign, but we all have to start somewhere.

With the Oakland A's in town to play the Tampa Bay Rays last week, we took in an afternoon game on a fly-away day. Despite the rain and grousing about a $15 parking fee, we made it inside -- dry and in time -- for Colin to snag the first two MLB autographs of the campaign on one of his hand-drawn team sheets.

Oakland pitcher Brett Anderson, who won a bronze with Team USA at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, was the first to sign. A's pitching coach Curt Young, who spent 10 years in the big leagues, also signed, even engaging Colin, decked out in Rays gear, in a conversation about his loyalties.

"Hey, you got a lot of Rays stuff on. Who are you rooting for - the Rays or the A's?" Young asked.

"I like the Rays because they're my hometown team," Colin replied. "But I really like baseball."

"That's good," Young said. "That's what I wanted to hear."

Brett's FSL Report #1

Editor's note: Baseball Mondays is pleased to announce that Brett, a Fort Myers, Fla.-based autograph hound, is its Florida State League correspondent.

It was a great week when two Florida State League teams -- the St. Lucie Mets and Sarasota Reds -- visited Fort Myers, allowing me to score autographs from many of the top prospects in baseball and a Hall of Famer as well.

First up was St. Lucie, who have the New York Mets' three first-round picks from last year: Ike Davis (18th overall), Reese Havens (22nd overall), and Brad Holt (33rd overall). All three were great signers; each doing nine cards each. Davis also signed two Brooklyn Cyclones programs after the cards.

Also signing cards were Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Francisco Pena (former major leaguer Tony Pena’s son), Greg Veloz, manager Tim Teufel (who signed nine cards), Brant Rustich and Stephen Clyne.

Overall, the Mets, for being one of the FSL's most prospect-laden teams, are great signers. Not one player refused to sign, or didn’t sign what was handed to them.

Also in town watching the hometown Fort Myers Miracle was Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, a roving instructor for Minnesota. Luckily, I had this game-used ball in the car, which Molitor signed as he left the field. Molitor travels to the Twins' affiliates during the regular season, taking notes on players for the big league club.

The next team in town was Sarasota. The Reds have Cincinnati's two most recent first-round draft picks: catcher Devin Mesoraco, in 2007, and first baseman Yonder Alonso, in 2008, who's rated the Reds' No. 1 prospect as well.

Alonso, drafted seventh overall from the University of Miami, is a tough autograph for FSL standards. While most players are happy to sign and will come over asking if you need anything, Alonso will go out of his way to avoid graphers. He'll limit you to a strict one-per when he signs.

A couple of graphers from Fort Myers told me a story about Alonso from a recent road trip to Sarasota. They were waiting by the dugout, and when Alonso comes out, they ask, “Can you sign an autograph for us?” Alonso walks over and signs for one of them and walks away. The other asks him to sign, and he responds, “I signed an autograph for you, and you both are together, so share it.”

Not knowing what to expect, and seeing recent autographs from him varying from his full-name signature to an Y and a line, I asked him to personalize to get the best possible signature. It worked out as planned, with Alonso being very friendly and signing the bat beautifully with: To Brett, Best of Luck! God Bless!

The next day I asked him to sign a card and got a much different signature, and he was not as friendly as the first encounter.

The rest of team were pretty good signers. Among the players signing cards were Mesoraco, Justin Reed, Denis Phipps, Zach Stewart, Alex Buchholz, former major leaguer and current hitting coach Jorge Orta, Ben Davis (a former major league catcher who is converting to a pitcher), Jerry Gil and Neftali Soto (another one-per signer).

Getting Extended

Extended spring training (or XST) games at the Minnesota Twins' minor league facilities are great spots to score some autographs from young baseball prospects, says Brett, a Florida State League correspondent for Baseball Mondays.

For those of you new to extended spring training, it is mostly young high school age players (drafted the year before) and international players who are not ready yet to be on their own in a minor league city. One example is Cincinnati Reds prospect Yorman Rodriguez, 16, who signed last August for $2.5 million, the largest amount given to a Venezuelan prospect.

Many players at these complexes, including some big leaguers and top prospects, are rehabbing from injuries. Some sign, some don't.

Boston's John Smoltz, in Fort Meyers as he rehabs his way back to the Red Sox, wouldn't sign recently for five people. But Boston's No. 2 prospect Nick Hagadone, coming back from Tommy John surgery last summer, willingly signed.

XST's Southern Division includes squads from the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Twins, Red Sox and Reds. Among the players to sign cards recently include:

~ Red Sox: Ryan Colvin, Drake Britton, Derrik Gibson, Yamaico Navarro, Ryan Pressley, Pete Ruiz, Christian Vazquez (Brett took the photo), Ryan Westmoreland (Brett took the photo), Bryan Peterson (Brett took the photo), Hunter Cervenka, Hagadone, Tommy Hottovy, Andrew Dobies and Tyler Yockey;
~ Rays: DJ Jones, Dustin Biell, Elias Otero and Ben Ogilve.
~ Twins: Aaron Hicks (Minnesota's #1 prospect), Tyler Ladendorf (Brett took the photo), Danny Rams and Jeff Lanning.

Right up front

Colin got a great start on his Tampa Yankees team ball last week, snagging 14 signatures before a Florida State League game against the Daytona Cubs. He had a great time, too, announcing the Yankees' batting order in the bottom of the fifth.

The biggest deal about the game, though, was watching it with Colin's Nana and Babop, visiting from New England. They're fervent New York Yankees fans, so Babop bought us all seats right behind Tampa's dugout. That alone made for great memories.

Besides Matthew Cusick (shown above), the following prospects, listed top to bottom, signed this New York Yankees ball (the park's souvenir store didn't have any Tampa Yankees logo balls):

Jack Rye, manager Luis Sojo, a former big leaguer, and Blue, the squad's mascot;

Jonathan Hovis, Austin Krum, Craig Heyer, Cusick and Grant Duff;

Mitch Hilligoss (who tossed us a game-used ball between innings), Addison Maruszak and Jonathan Ortiz; and

Brandon Laird, Jesus Montero (the Yankees No. 2 prospect) and Eric Fryer.

Wiffleball windup

How do you burn off hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and ice-cold cans of soda? How about taking part in a backyard game of wiffleball? Here, Colin prepares to unleash his blazing "speedball" pitch.

Leading off

Just like here in the Tampa Bay area, there's no pro hockey taking place in Toronto, either. But rather than let that sideline hockey hounds, a handful have turned their attention toward baseball, specifically the Toronto Blue Jays.

Al, Hound Central 4.0's Toronto-based correspondent, files the first Major League Baseball hounding report of Baseball Mondays' 2009 summer campaign, sharing the bounty of his family's visit to a recent "Have a Ball With the Jays" event.

It looks like they had a great time, doesn't it?

This old-school Blue Jays jersey, a design from the team's earliest days in the late 1970s, turned out to be a pretty sweet item.

Signing it were Rod Barajas, #20; Jose Bautista, #23; Shawn Camp, #57; Jesse Carlson, #39; Raul Chavez, #13; Scott Downs, #37; Jason Frasor, #54; Roy Halladay, #32; Brandon League, #22; Jesse Litsch, #51; John McDonald, #6; Dustin McGowan, #29; Bill Murphy, 62; Lyle Overbay, #35; Scott Richmond, #48; Alex Rios, #15; Ricky Romero, #24; B.J. Ryan, #52; Marco Scutaro, #19; Brian Tallet, #56; and Vernon Wells, #10.

Need proof that the Blue Jays' bigger-named players attended the event? How about this photo of pitcher Roy Halladay signing a replica jersey? Works for me.

A better look at Halladay's signature on his replica jersey. Nice placement, between the name and the numbers, too.

Halladay also signed this 8x10. Not a bad haul, eh?

Johnny McDonald, or simply "Johnny Mac" within Blue Jays fandom, is known as a super nice player.

Reports say Alex Rios, on left, solidified his fan-favourite status at the event, staying almost an extra half-hour so people went home happy. The same, I've heard, can't be said for Marco Scutaro. That's Aaron Hill with Rios.

A Lyle Overbay-signed baseball.

A Vernon Wells-signed baseball.

Halladay and Rios signed the brim of this Blue Jays hat

These Blue Jays mini ice-cream-cup helmets were signed by Brandon League, #22; Rod Barajas, #20; Brian Tallet, #56; Vernon Wells, #10; Jesse Carlson, #39; and Raul Chavez, #13. Great idea.

Our first forays

Given our proximity to three Florida State League (High-A) teams, it makes perfect sense -- to us, at least -- to keep our hounding skills current with trips to minor league stadiums in Clearwater, Dunedin and Tampa.

Instead of cards, though, we'll focus on team logo baseballs. They're affordable, portable and, when completed, will look pretty neat lined up in Colin's curio bookcase.

So far, we've started on two teams -- the Clearwater Threshers and Dunedin Blue Jays. Tomorrow, with Colin's Nana and Babop in attendance, we'll start a Tampa Yankees ball.

Over the summer, we'll try to hound every team in the league. I'm not sure we'll do team balls for every club, these will come into play over the course of the season: Charlotte Stone Crabs, the Tampa Bay Rays' FSL club, and the Jupiter Hammerheads, a Florida Marlins farm team.

While we'll try to get the league's best prospects on the team balls, this project is more about having fun than anything else. That's the best part about collecting as a hobby -- there's no pressure involved.

Here's what we've collected so far:

We kicked off our FSL hounding campaign Saturday, April 18 with this Clearwater Threshers team ball.

Manager Ernie Whitt was the first to sign the Threshers team ball. Others following suit were Javis Diaz, Derrick Mitchell, Matt Rizzotti and mascot, Phinley.

The Dunedin Blue Jays team ball was started Saturday, April 25.

Dunedin's Moises Sierra, top, and Justin Jackson were among the first Baby Jays to sign the team ball. Others signing were manager Omar Malave and Chris Emanuele.