Change in plans

Back in April, in the earliest days of our Summer of Baseball, building a collection of team-signed balls was not among the goals of the project. No, the project was more about hanging out, watching a ton of baseball and, if we were lucky, adding a few baseball autographs to the collection.

Initially, we figured we'd put together team balls from our three local Florida State League teams -- the Clearwater Threshers, Dunedin Blue Jays and Tampa Yankees. Yes, that was the plan.

Here we are, though, in the last week of July. Thanks to a seemingly never-ending supply of foul balls and 16 members of the Sarasota Reds, the FSL (Advanced-A) affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, Colin completed his 10th team ball of our Summer of Baseball:

Jorge Orta and Rafael Gonzalez;

Jake Kahaulelio, Jake Long, Justin Reed, Josh Beal and Joseph Krebs (Like how everyone's first name begins with a J? Pure luck, I promise.);

Devin Mesoraco, Shane Carlson, Mace Thurman and Neftali Soto; and

Steven Otterness, Dennis Phipps, Kyle Day, Dave Sappelt and Jason Louwsma.