Turning the page

Now that hockey season is approaching, it's time to close the books on our 2010 Summer of Baseball. For the second season in a row, Colin and I made the most of his summer vacation taking in games, primarily within the Florida State League.

Though we like to show off the fruits of our labors, this seasonal blog is more than a brag book. It's a chronicle of a father and son forming another deep bond over our national pastime. It's eating hot dogs and Cracker Jack. It's chasing foul balls. It's teaching him the game.

More than anything else, though, it's simply hanging out.

For the record, here are three things that made our time together special:

~ Teaching Colin how to keep score in baseball;
~ Making a big hit with the Tampa Bay Rays' Rocco Baldelli; and
~ Colin scoring team-signed balls from all 12 FSL teams.

As always, thanks for stopping by. God willing, we'll be back next spring.

A big hit

As former Tampa Bay Rays player Rocco Baldelli begins his comeback with the Charlotte Stone Crabs, there are certain milestone along the way. Getting his first Florida State League hit was one of those moments.

Thanks to good luck and a quick finger on our camera's shutter, we were able to capture that moment on July 22 when Baldelli, serving as a designated hitter for the Stone Crabs, cracked a double against the Clearwater Threshers.

Not content enough to simply capture the moment, we wanted to get Baldelli to sign the photo. In the process, we also wanted to share a copy of the photo with him.

Last Thursday, with the Stone Crabs in Tampa to play the Yankees, we succeeded in both aspects. Not only did Baldelli sign one of the 8x10s, but he also gave Colin a wide, warm smile and a rock-solid fist bump when Colin gave him a copy.

"What's this?" Baldelli asked Colin as he handed him the photo folder.

"It's your first FSL hit, a double against the Threshers last week," Colin replied.

"Really? That's cool," Baldelli said before delivering the fist bump. "Thanks, buddy"

Star attraction

Every so often, a Major League Baseball player heads down to the Florida State League for some sort of rehabilitation assignment. As you can expect, the player's presence not only piques our interest, but he also draws a crowd.

Take Tampa Bay's Rocco Baldelli. After spending the first part of the season serving as a roving instructor throughout the Rays minor-league system, Baldelli, one of the Rays most popular players ever, began a comeback attempt with the Charlotte Stone Crabs, the Rays Advanced-A affiliate.

We caught up with Baldelli in his first week with the Stone Crabs, when the team was in Clearwater to play the Threshers. Though a crowd gathered near the visitor's dugout before the game, Baldelli told us that he'd signed after the game. Last week, we saw Baldelli again, this time in Tampa. Again, he said he'd sign after the game.

In both instances, Baldelli kept his promises. Not only did he add to our single-signed baseball collection (above), but he also signed an 8x10 of his first FSL hit for Colin as well as our work-in-progress Rays mini helmet (at left).

Three-trip ball

For the most part, Colin tries to knock out a Florida State League team-signed ball in a single visit. This one, from the Charlotte Stone Crabs, took three visits.

It all begin in early July, when we made the trip to Bradenton. After loading up on a team ball from the Marauders before the game, Colin turned his postgame attention on the Tampa Bay Rays' FSL Advanced-A affiliate. That first effort landed nine signatures.

A couple weeks alter, we caught the Stone Crabs in Clearwater. There, Colin added a significant number of autographs, including one from former Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli, who was just beginning his comeback attempt. Still, there was one signature lacking.

Last Thursday, in Tampa as the Stone Crabs played the Yankees, we got the final signature from Tim Beckham, the first overall pick in 2008 by the Rays.

In all, the three trips netted 22 autographs:

Jim Morrison (manager);

Tim Beckham, Joseph Cruz, Shane Dyer and Marquis Fleming; and

Chris Andujar, Neil Schenk (we believe, though it could be Nick Barnese), Michael Sheridan, J. Stranz (whoever that is) and Greg Sextion; and

Stephen Vogt, Matthew Moore, Kyeong Kang, unidentified, Frank De Los Santos and Rocco Baldelli; and

Jake Jeffries, Christopher Murrill, Matthew Hall, Anthony Scelfo, Reid Fronk and Frank De Los Santos (yes, twice).