One at a time

If there's one thing about Florida State League games, it's how easy it is to snag the occasional game-used ball from a player, coach or umpire. Over our Summer of Baseball, Colin's been able to collect more than two dozen balls.

We used some for the 11 team balls that Colin has accomplished over the course of the campaign. Others have been used to build a single-signed baseballs, or SSBs collection. Brevard County's Eric Ferris added this one before Wedsnesday's rained-out game against Dunedin.

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.

Good call

If you believe Baseball America -- and there's certainly no reason to doubt the publication -- Clearwater's Dominic Brown will be patrolling right field for the Philadelphia Phillies by 2012.

In fact, Baseball America has him as the Phillies' top-rated prospect.

Perhaps, then, it was a good idea to have Brown sign a Florida State League ball (another foul ball that Colin has collected) and a FSL Top Prospects card before Wednesday's game against the St. Lucie Mets.

Focused effort

Now that we're nearing the end of our Summer of Baseball, and running out of teams to pursue team-signed balls, it's time for a little cherry-picking, namely top prospects within a team's organization.

In this case, it's St. Lucie's Reese Havens, the New York Mets' first-round pick in 2008.

As you can see, Reese, an infielder, signed a Florida State League baseball, one of the many Colin has picked up over the course of the summer, as well as this FSL Top Prospects card before Wednesday's game against the Clearwater Threshers.

Without even asking

Our original intent was to add Clearwater Threshers manager Ernie Whitt to the Major League Baseball alumni ball before Wednesday's sweltering game against the St. Lucie Mets. Without even asking, hitting coach Kevin Jordan added the sixth autograph to the game-used Florida State League ball.

These work just fine

With Colin securing another seven Florida State League balls, including five foul balls, over two games last week, we decided to use a few for single-signed balls last Saturday when the Dunedin Blue Jays, the Advanced-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, played host to the Sarasota Reds.

As you can see, three Dunedin players -- Kevin Ahrens, from left, Justin Jackson and Moises Sierra -- were more than happy to honor our requests. This week, we're hoping to add Clearwater's Dominic Brown and St. Lucie's Reese Havens to the single-signed ball collection.

Game-used baseballs weren't the only items we got signed as Jesus Gonzalez (#24) and Raul Barron (bottom right) were among the 11 players to add to the Dunedin Blue Jays mini team bat. Among those also signing the mini bat were C.J. Ebarb, Justin Jackson, Jon Jaspe, Lance Loftin, Bradley McElroy and Manny Rodriguez.

Hopefully, we'll find room and time for Tim Collins, Adam Loewen and Eric Thames before season's end.

A minor Miracle

Most times, we try to stick to a single team when it comes to hounding at Florida State League games. Now that we're nearly the final third of our Baseball of Summer, though, we're finding it necessary, in the interest of finishing some team balls, to hound both teams.

Last Wednesday, with the Fort Myers Miracle in Tampa to play the Yankees, was one of those instances where we had to practice a little double-dipping. We still had some room on a team ball, started earlier in the season before a game against Dunedin, and we had a couple of cards we wanted to get signed.

That's why we split up our pregame hounding efforts, so we could add these to the Miracle team-signed ball, giving us a total of 18 signatures:

Joe Benson, Allan de San Miguel and Deibinson Romero, for the second time;

Estarlin De Los Santos; and

Dakota Watts and Evan Brigley.

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.

Remember him?

Most every Florida State League team roster carries a former big leaguer on its coaching staff, hence our work-in-progress Major League Baseball Alumni team ball project.

Sarasota's batting coach Jorge Orta, who played for five teams in his 15-year career and won a World Series ring with the 1985 Kansas City Royals, became the latest ex-player to add to the project.

Pretty sweet signature, too, if you ask me.

This isn't brain surgery

Even if it sounds like we're bragging, it's hard to argue against the simple methodology Colin and I use to fill up a team ball. Need proof? How about this team ball signed by 17 members of the Brevard County Manatees, the Florida State League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers?

Really, it was pretty simple. We show up near the visiting team's dugout just before the team begins its pregame warmups. Armed with a roster, I feed Colin the names of players heading out to the field. He then addresses them by name, asking politely if they'll sign his team ball. Very few, to date, have refused this requests.

We must confide, too, that we gambled a bit with this ball, believing at the time it was our final foul ball of the season. No need to worry, though. By game's end, in which the Manatees lost to the Clearwater Threshers, Colin had added collected another three foul balls.

Here's who signed the Brevard County team ball, the ninth of our Summer of Baseball:

Eric Ferris on the sweet spot;

Martin Maldonado, Brent Brewer and Logan Schafer;

Lee Haydel, Mark Willinsky, Brandon Rapoza and Roque Mercedes;

Alex Periard, Caleb Grindl, Derrick Alfonso, Chris Errecart and Zelous Wheeler; and

Pitching coach Fred Dabney, Rafael Lluberes, Omar Aguilar and Steffan Wilson.

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.

Making the most of our time

We took a chance, really we did, by driving up to Dunedin last Thursday. It had rained for nearly two days straight and the skies looked threatening. Still, though, we didn't let that, or the two inches of standing water near the Mets' bullpen, stop us.

Though we dodged raindrops before, during and after the shortened game, Colin, using a foul ball, was rewarded for our efforts, completing a team-signed ball from the St. Lucie Mets, the Florida State League affiliate of the New York Mets, in less than 30 minutes of rain-free hounding.

The 17 members of the St. Lucie squad to sign the team ball, the seventh of our Summer of Baseball, were:

St. Lucie manager Tim Teufel, one of two balls he signed for us, on the sweet spot;

Phil Regan, Reese Havens and Kirk Nieuwenhuis;

Juan Lopez, Zach Lutz and Brahiam Maldonado;

Angel Calero, Manuel Alvarez, Jake Eigsti, Hector Pellot and Rafael Arroyo; and

Julio Rivera, Brant Rustich, Carlos Guzman, Jordan Abruzzo and Tim Stronach.

School ties

One of the first things I check when researching a visiting Florida State League team is whether or not any of the coaches are former Major League Baseball players.

In the case of the St. Lucie Mets, the Advanced-A affiliate of the New York Mets, former big leaguer Tim Teufel fit the bill, becoming the third person to sign MLB Alumni ball.

I was able to easily call over Teufel after telling him that we were fellow alums of St. Petersburg Junior College, now known as St. Petersburg College, and sharing a memory of Ed Davis, Teufel's coach during his days playing for the Trojans.

"Wow, hearing that name has brought back some memories," Teufel said.

Next trip, though, I'll have to get Phil Regan, one of St. Lucie's coaches, on the MLB Alumni ball.

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.

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.