Running out of room

The pitchers for the Lakeland Flying Tigers must have gotten a late start on the off-day workouts recently. For the first time over the past two Summers of Baseball, we found the group still on the field when the Dunedin Stadium gates opened. Usually, the pitchers are in the clubhouse by the time we arrive, scour the stands for batting practice balls and find a prime hounding spot.

It's not that we're complaining, though, as Colin made good use of our fortune to put together a 26-signature team ball, the ninth of our 12-team Florida State League project this season. Usually, the team-signed balls average 19 signatures each.

Brent Wyatt, Rob Waite, Jared Gayhart, Jacob Turner, Luke Putkonen and Daniel Fields; and

Jose Ortega, Billy Alvino, Jon Kibler, Brandon Douglas (shown above, signing for Colin), Jon Kibler (yes, we know, that's twice), unidentified and Gustavo Nunez; and

Tyler Conn, Erik Crichton, Joe Coleman (pitching coach), Ben Guez, Wilfredo Ramirez, and Alexander Moreno; and

Brayan Villarreal, Bryan Holaday, John Murriam, Carmelo Jaime, Chris White, Larry Herndon (hitting coach) and Billy Nowlin (signed sideways).

Worth a Google

Here's the reason why any hound worth his or her salt should do homework before any hounding visit. You can get a single-signed, game-used Florida State League baseball from a top-rated prospect.

In this case, it's from Lakeland Flying Tigers pitcher Jacob Turner, taken ninth overall in 2009 by Detroit. In January, Baseball America ranked him as the Tiger's top prospect and 26th best

Hard to fill

As much as I like working these Florida State League Top Prospect sets during our Summers of Baseball, there's one improvement that I'd like to suggest: Issue the set quicker.

By the time the set's released in late June or early July, some of the players have been promoted, rendering the task of a signed set to my "never-get-done" list. To me, there's no reason -- technological, financial or legal -- why this set couldn't be published by mid to late May.

It's no surprise, then, that Detroit Tigers pitcher prospect Luke Putkonen, pitching for the FSL's Lakeland Flying Tigers, is the only player I've been able to have sign a card over the past few weeks.

There's still time left. Let's just hope the remaining players are still around.

Two will do

If it weren't for Detroit pitching coach Rick Knapp and pitcher Casey Fien, the time Colin spent along the third-base line Saturday night would have went all for naught. No complaints, though. Two autographs are two autographs. Now, if only the Rays would've won. At the least, he got to hear the Beach Boys.

At least Larry signed

After getting shot down by Daytona Cubs batting coach Richie Zisk not too long ago, I wasn't sure if we'd add any more former big-leaguers to the Major League Baseball Alumni ball before our Summer of Baseball came to a close.

Thanks to Larry Herndon, a hitting coach for the Lakeland Flying Tigers, the Florida State League affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, we now have seven signatures from former MLB players. If we can squeeze in a trip to see the Tampa Yankees, and that may be difficult to do, we'll try to add Luis Sojo.

Herndon, who signed before last Thursday's game against the Clearwater Threshers, played for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers over 14 seasons.

In case you're wondering, that's an autograph from former big-leaguer Mike Heath above Herndon's signature.

Quick fill

It's not so remarkable that Colin pulled in the fullest team ball of our Summer of Baseball when the Lakeland Flying Tigers visited Dunedin earlier this month. After all, this is the Florida State League, where the autographs come pretty easy, especially for a little kid.

What makes this baseball, one of the 15 foul balls (so far) that he's snagged over the summer, so remarkable is how he got the signatures on it. Dodging an occasional raindrop and ankle-deep puddles, Colin got the players to sign it within a 25-minute span before umpires and managers called the game because of rain.

All told, Colin scored 21 autographs from players in the Detroit Tigers pipeline:

Flying Tigers manager Andy Barkett;

Scott Green, Joseph Tucker, Audy Ciriaco, Christopher White, Justin Henry and Brett Jacobson;

Kody Kaiser (yes, it's upside down), Josh Workman, Michael Bertram and Chris Carlson;

For the sake of accuracy and clarity, here's Kaiser's signature viewed right side up;

Maiko Loyola, Andrew Hess, Jeremy Lasler, Devin Thomas and Adrian Casanova; and

Trevor Feeney, Jared Gayhart, Nolan Cain, Lester Oliveros and Chad Linder.

Chipping away

Thanks to the release and our subsequent purchase of the 2009 Florida State League Top Prospect set, we found ourselves with a little project over the summer -- getting it signed.

Well, it didn't take long to realize that we wouldn't complete the set, given the promotion of some of the players as well as missing out on teams so deep into the summer.

Still, that doesn't mean we not trying to get as many cards signed as we can. Here, Audy Ciriaco , a member of the Lakeland Flying Tigers (Detroit's Advanced-A affiliate), did his part to help in our endeavours.

We have a couple more to show off, thanks to a pair of Brevard County Manatees players, but that will wait until next Monday. Also, with two games over the next week, conditions exist to add a few more.

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.