Worth the effort

I must admit that we squeezed in a little more time than planned for the Fort Myers Miracle during last week's visit to Tampa.

Though we had decent luck with them in our first trip, when the Miracle played Dunedin in a sweltering matinee, we still had a few items, namely these cards for Joe Benson and Ben Revere.

The bat, from Rene Leveret, was a bonus, one of two he broke during the game. And though he told Colin that the team doesn't want players giving away bats, he relented and signed it for him.

Thanks, guys

It may have taken a few days, from the time that Dunedin's Eric Thames gave this bat to Colin until the Dunedin Blue Jays outfielder/designated hitter signed it, but it was well worth the wait. Especially, too, after this exchange:

Colin: Eric, can you sign this bat?
Thames: You mean you didn't throw that away?
Colin: Why would I do that? It's sweet. So, you gonna sign it?

As you can see, Thames did, indeed, sign the bat. That wasn't the only thing Colin got signed by D-Jays players during two visits to Dunedin Stadium to see his favorite Florida State League team, the Charlotte Stone Crabs:

Though we don't have too many cards to get signed, we were psyched that Dunedin's Kevin Ahrens, Andrew Liebel and John Tolisano knocked out what little we had;

Signing the Dunedin Blue Jays team ball during the Charlotte series were, from top, Sean Shoffit, John Tolisano and Kenny Rodriguez (yes, it's upside down); and

Ahrens, whose folks were in town for the series, also signed the D-Jays team ball.

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.

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).