Hearts of gold

Last Thursday, following a FSL game between the Charlotte Stone Crabs and Dunedin Blue Jays, Colin gave one of the foul balls he collected that night to the father of Kevin Ahrens, a third-baseman for the D-Jays.

The father, in town from Houston for the weekend to watch his son play, was very appreciative, as his own efforts to collect one that night went for naught. I must admit, too, in a tremendous feeling of pride as I watched Colin make that dad's day.

I guess that's why I teared up this morning after reading this St. Petersburg Times story about another young fan's act of generosity.

Actually, it's been easy

As we began our Summer of Baseball, we mentioned to a couple of Clearwater Threshers players that one of our hounding projects would be assembling a collection of team balls. Good luck, one said, telling us that it might be a difficult project.

Thankfully, it has been anything but that, as Colin worked his sixth team ball of the season, this one from the Fort Myers Miracle, the Florida State League affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

Using a foul ball, one of the dozen that Colin's collected so far this season, he got these Miracle players to sign:

Ben Revere, Loek (it's pronounced Luke) van Mil, Steve Singleton and Chris Cates;

Nick Romero, Rene Leveret and Kyle Waldrop; and

Mark Dolenc, Spencer Steedley, Chris Parmelee and Blair Erickson.

Another half-dozen Miracle players, including All Star pitcher David Bromberg, also signed another ball for Colin. On July 22, we'll try to put the finishing touches on this Miracle ball.

My bad

I should've been paying more attention. But, I wasn't. It was an 11 a.m. start, there were hundreds of kids armed with squirt guns (Camp Day at Dunedin Stadium) and it was hot, with a feel-like temperature of 100-plus degrees.

That's how Colin's so-called Florida State League All Star player ball gained a few signatures from Fort Myers Miracle players who didn't participate in the game.

Really, though, it's not a big concern. It was, and still remains, all about Colin having fun. An autograph is an autograph, no matter what's signed. Right?

Besides, we have one panel remaining. The next time, I'll try to pay more attention.

Good or bad, mistakes or not, here's who Colin added to the ball:

David Bromberg, who was named to the FSL All Star Game, Allan de San Miguel and Santos Arias; and

Jair Fernandez, Tyler Robertson and Henry Arias.

A Fort Myers Miracle team ball, however, does contain autographs from some of the Miracle's other All Star Game representatives: Chris Cates, Chris Parmelee, Ben Revere, Steve Singleton and Spencer Steedley.

A fan favorite

Justin Jackson, a 2007 first-round pick by Toronto, gets our vote for the friendliest player on the Dunedin Blue Jays. He always stops to say hello and signs a ton of autographs before and after every home game. I suppose it helps, too, that Jackson's grandfather, a welcome fixture at Dunedin Stadium, is one of Colin's "buddies."

That's not to say, though, that Jackson was the only D-Jay to sign before a recent home game against the Fort Myers Miracle. Nope, these players added to Colin's work-in-progress Dunedin Blue Jays team ball:

Tim Collins, Marcus Walden and Andrew Liebel; and

Leon Boyd, top, and a smudged autograph from Ryan Page.

Brett's FSL Report No. 2: Fan Fest

When the Florida State League All-Star Game rosters were released a few weeks ago, it looked as if it would be a great event with many future stars on hand. But, one by one the so-called stars began to get promoted to AA.

From Sarasota's Yonder Alonso, Fort Myers' Carlos Gutierrez, St. Lucie's Brad Holt, Jupiter's Michael Stanton, Clearwater's Dominic Brown and Kyle Drabek, and Tampa's Jesus Montero, the FSL has lost a ton of talent in the past few weeks. All in all, there have been 21 players named to the original roster who either were injured or promoted.

With what was left on the original roster, and the replacements, I made out better than I expected during the FSL's All-Star Game Fan Fest. The event, held at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, was well-organized by the host team Miracle, with many games for children to play, live music, food and player autographs.

For most of the event, players were just hanging around, mingling with fans, playing games with children and signing just about anything. Most everyone signed next to their player bio in the program and I got plenty of cards and other miscellaneous items signed. In total, I was able to get 206 autographs (editor's note: Jeezum crow!) altogether from this year’s All-Stars.

Among the players signing cards , shown above, were Tampa’s Austin Romine, Fort Myers' David Bromberg and Ben Revere, Palm Beach’s Adam Reifer and Shane Peterson, Jupiter’s Jeff Allison and Matt Dominguez, and Daytona’s Starlin Castro and Jody Davis.

Did you see this?

Tucked within our baseball hounding activities of Shark Week between the Jupiter Hammerheads and the Clearwater Threshers was an interesting sidebar: It seems the Tampa Bay Rays took exception to a Threshers bobblehead promotion, featuring players from the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, the Threshers' parent club.

The St. Petersburg Times was all over the story.

Fitting the bill

Of all the items pro baseball players are offered to sign -- from baseballs to cards to photos -- I imagine they appreciate a change in pace from the standard fare. At least, that's the reasoning behind Colin's effort to get a plastic hammerhead shark signed by members of the Jupiter Hammerheads during our two-game Shark Week hounding effort.

The shark, a former bath toy that reinforces Colin's inquisitive nature toward the creatures, proved to be very popular among the players. Even without prompting, many of the 13 Hammerheads players who honored Colin's requests said it was the first time they had been asked to, well, sign a hammerhead shark.

The baker's dozen, shown from left to right in each photo, to sign were:

Elih Villanueva, Kyle Gunderson, Spike McDougall, Geraldo Valentin, Gregory Burns, Jose Rosario, Hunter Mense and Jhan Marinez; and

Ryan Curry, Alejandro Sanabia, Osvaldo Martinez, Matt Dominguez and Brandon Tripp.

Catching Hammerheads

As much as catching a shark would've been the big highlight of Shark Week, it was the Jupiter Hammerheads -- the baseball team, not a rare species found in Florida's tropical waters -- who sealed the deal for the shark fan in our household.

From pitcher Alejandro Sanabia, shown above signing the Hammerheads team ball, to 3B Matt Dominguez, the Florida Marlins' 2007 first-round draft pick who signed this card, the Florida State League team stepped up and made sure that Shark Week, our Summer of Baseball mini-project, was a success.

The team ball, however, wasn't the only item. We also added these:

~ a plastic hammerhead shark,, quite the hit with the team's players. Many said it was the first time they had signed such an item; and

~ Three of Jupiter's All Star Game representatives -- Jeff Allison, Miguel Fermin and Alejandro Sanabia -- on an All Star players ball.

All told, 18 players signed the team ball:

Spike McDougall and Jeff Allison;

Garrett Parcell, Jose Rosario, Miguel Fermin, Alejandro Sanabia and Kyle Gunderson;

Osvaldo Martinez, Gregory Burns, Elih Villanueva, Brandon Tripp and Jhan Marinez; and

Hunter Mense, Matt Dominguez, Ryan Curry, Geraldo Valentin, unidentified (anyone know who it is?) and Smelin Perez.

Part of the game

Beyond all of the autographs Colin picked up over Shark Week, I believe this dugout lineup card, given to Colin by Clearwater Threshers coach Ramon Henderson after the team's 7-3 victory over the Jupiter Hammerheads last Thursday, was the coolest item he received.

I'm sorry, though, I'm not sure what the black dots represent. I'm thinking they might be strikeouts.

Overindulgence?

For good or bad, we've been told many, many times that we spoil our son, Colin.

Well, yes, I'd plead guilty to that charge. Willingly, too.

A case in point: This Philadelphia Phillies Gulf Coast League game-worn jersey of Clearwater Threshers 1B/DH Matt Rizzotti, plucked during Shark Week from a chest inside the team's pro shop at Bright House Networks Field.

As you can see, Rizzotti was more than willing to sign the jersey (it, as well as others, cost $50-$75) as well as verifying he'd worn it during a rehabilitational stint last season.

Just a couple

We didn't fill up the Clearwater Threshers team ball as much as planned during Shark Week, focusing instead on the visiting Jupiter Hammerheads.

Still no worries. We'll make at least one more trip to Clearwater before season's end. This time, though, we'll pay homage to the home team. We missed out on Phils' top prospect Dominic Brown, an error on our part.

That's not to say we didn't add to the 17-signature ball. No, we did. What we lacked in quantity, however, was made up with quality, snagging signatures from two Florida State League All Stars:

~ Starter Yohan Flande, a lefty who, through today (June 15), is 6-1 with a 2.45 ERA. His one-word sig covers part one from Phinley, the Threshers mascot. Tsk, tsk, tsk. The 17th signature, Flande had plenty of room to sign.

~ Pitcher Carlos Monasterios, a righty with a 4-4 record and a 3.48 ERA. He got lit up (three earned runs in two innings) by Jupiter during their four-game series.

Put to good use

Considering the small crowds and fan-friendly approach of Florida State League games, it's been easy for Colin to collect a handful of official FSL baseballs, either through foul balls, players or umpires.

Rather than have them sit around the house collecting dust, though, we started a FSL All Star Game ball during Shark Week, when the Jupiter Hammerheads played the Clearwater Threshers. Though we won't be making the trip to Fort Fyers for the game, the ball, given to Colin by an umpire after a Charlotte-Tampa game, will become a staple for the remaining FSL games in our Summer of Baseball.

Three members of the Jupiter Hammerheads, the Advanced-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins, were the first to sign: catcher Miguel Fermin, from top to bottom, and pitchers Alejandro Sanabia and Jeff Allison.

We hope to add a few more Wednesday, when we'll catch the Fort Myers Miracle, the Minnesota Twins' FSL club, play the Dunedin Blue Jays, a stop within Toronto's organization.

Signing bonus

As we walked toward Bright House Networks Field on Saturday, we could hear the sounds of a baseball game going on - the announcing of a batter, the crack of solid contact and a smattering of applause.

At first, we thought we had arrived late to the Jupiter Hammerheads-Clearwater Threshers game, part of our Shark Week activities during out Summer of Baseball. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Instead, we learned after arriving inside the park, it was a charity Legends game for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Among the former Major League Baseball players taking part in the game and nice enough to sign a foul ball Colin collected during the contest:

~ Pitcher Dick Drago, who played 13 years for the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, California Angels, Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Mariners.

~ Catcher Mike Heath, a Tampa native, who played 14 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Oakland A's and the St. Louis Cardinals.

It's Shark Week

Living here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, it's no secret that the warm Gulf waters hold a variety of sharks Among them, you'll find bull, nurse, reef, hammerheads and threshers. With Colin being a big fan of sharks -- from a respectable distance, mind you -- he's always eager to learn more.

As a result, this week is one of the biggest of our summer baseball-hounding campaign. In what we're calling Shark Week, the Jupiter Hammerheads meet the Clearwater Threshers. Schedules allow us games on Thursday and Saturday.

In a stroke of luck, the Hammerheads, the Advanced-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins, returned my repeated phone calls for a team logo ball. We're hoping to make it the fifth team-signed ball of the season. Even without one, we could've used one of the four Florida State League game balls that Colin has accumulated this season.

For the Threshers, we'll focus our efforts on finishing their team ball. Atop the list is Dominic Brown, the top-rated prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies system, and fellow FSL All Star Yohan Flande.

Now, we'll also do a little fishing during the week. Maybe, we'll even catch (and release) a shark.

Scoring four

After getting just one or two autographs on one of his hand-drawn team sheets, Colin went deep -- in terms of autographs -- with his latest Major League Baseball effort of the summer baseball-hounding season. Last Thursday, before the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Rays, Colin got four Royals players, including star pitcher Zack Grienke, to sign his latest team sheet.

The others to sign were also pitchers: Doug Waechter, a St. Petersburg, Fla., native who added a Bible verse (Colossians 3:23 (New International Version) - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.); Ron Mahay and Jamey Wright.

This Sunday, he'll have one for the visiting Washington Nationals.

Now, this is fun

Besides getting a decent number of players to sign, we had a real hoot working this Charlotte Stone Crabs team ball at two Florida State League games last week.

Though it's early in the season, the Stone Crabs are one of the friendliest baseball teams we've encountered. The players and coaches went out of their way to sign the ball for Colin, even taking the time to introduce themselves, shake his hand and engage him in conversations.

Then again, this is minor league baseball. It's what the players are supposed to do. But, still, the two trips to watch the Stone Crabs, the Advanced A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, have been the most enjoyable, to date, of our Summer of Baseball.

Last Thursday, Colin scored 13 autographs, including ones from Matt Fields and Shawn O'Malley, Colin's favorite Stone Crabs player, in between a doubleheader against the Clearwater Threshers. On Saturday, Colin added another half-dozen, with Nevin Ashley, Cody Cipriano and Ryan Royster among those signing before a game against the Tampa Yankees.

Though we missed out on Chad Bradford, the submarine-throwing reliever on a rehabilitation assignment from the Rays, Colin was more than happy to have these players and coaches fill up the ball:

Jeremy Hall and batting coach Joe Szekely;

Shawn O'Malley, Gregory Sexton, Diogenes Luis, Nevin Ashley and Cody Cipriano;

Christian Lopez, Brian Flores, Matt Fields, Ryan Royster and John Matulia;

Pitching coach Bill Moloney, Shawn Williams, Reid Fronk, Emeel Salem and Kevin Boggan; and

Omar Luna, left, and manager Jim Morrison.

We've got plans to catch the Stone Crabs in Dunedin later this month. Maybe we'll get Fields to sign the broken bat -- since repaired -- he gave Colin after Saturday's game.

We're hoping, too, that Tim Beckham, the Rays' No. 1 pick last summer, will make the move up from the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the South Atlantic League.

Tough crowd

One would think that Major League Baseball players would find Colin's team sheets hard to ignore. They're hand-drawn and there's no way they'd ever end up on eBay.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Only Minnesota third baseman Brian Buscher, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., took the time to sign for Colin before the Twins' 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday at the Trop.

I'm thinking that future attempts for Major League Baseball clubs will have to follow our normal hockey-hounding routines. Instead of hanging out near the dugout, we'll try our luck at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, where teams stay when they're in town.