Resourcefulness

Part of our routine when we arrive at a Florida State League game is for Colin to patrol the grandstands along the outfields, looking for baseballs. Not only does it provide an instant souvenir, but it keeps us in supply for team-signed baseballs.

Case in point: Our first trip to Bright House Field in Clearwater, where the Jupiter Hammerheads. the FSL affiliate of the Florida Marlins, took on the Clearwater Threshers. It took Colin all of 10 minutes to find a ball, even if it meant summoning up the courage to crash through a spider web to get it.

Like any good hound, he immediately put his new-found treasure to work, getting 22 Hammerheads to sign it:

Corey Madden, Isaac Galloway, Kyle Gunderson, Steven Cishek and Daniel Pertusati;

Jose Ceballos, Johnny Dorn, Jake Smolinksi, Paul Gran, Kevin Mattison and Hunter Mense;

Jeremy Synan, Ryan Keady, Jhan Martinez, Jonathan Fulton and unidentified; and

Peter Andrelczyk, Andy Loomis, Steve Watson, Robert Taylor, Ben Lasater and Emilio Ontiveros.

Change in the lineup

At first, I wasn't going to bring Baseball Mondays back to life this summer. Too much going on, I thought, and too little time. After careful consideration, though, as well as people still checking in on Mondays, I feel an obligation to provide weekly postings.

I imagine, too, taking in a couple of Florida State League games over the past few weeks has helped. But, no, there aren't any plans to duplicate last summer's effort -- 312 innings spread over 35 games. We're looking at a much more manageable schedule of 19 games, including a day trip to Bradenton, for our Summer of Baseball 2010. If Mother Nature allows, we'll see all 12 FSL teams.

Of course, most postings will focus on hounding. Colin's already off to a good start, snagging team balls from the Dunedin Blue Jays and Jupiter Hammerheads, as well as a respectable number of game-used balls. On Saturday, we got rained out, as an early evening thunderstorm kept us from watching the Charlotte Stone Crabs play the Blue Jays.

Once again, Dunedin Stadium will serve as our home field. Bright House Field in Clearwater may be more modern, but you can't beat the ticket deal offered by the D-Jays: 2o ticket vouchers for $60. Even if it's $10 more than last summer, at $3 a ticket, it's one of the best deals in baseball.

About the only real project we'll have this summer, beyond snagging a team ball from every FSL club, will be teaching Colin how to score a game. We tried a couple of innings at a recent Clearwater Threshers game. Lots of questions, all answered, before the Phillie Phanatic, in town for a guest gig, interrupted our trains of thought.

Brett's FSL Report No. 2: Fan Fest

When the Florida State League All-Star Game rosters were released a few weeks ago, it looked as if it would be a great event with many future stars on hand. But, one by one the so-called stars began to get promoted to AA.

From Sarasota's Yonder Alonso, Fort Myers' Carlos Gutierrez, St. Lucie's Brad Holt, Jupiter's Michael Stanton, Clearwater's Dominic Brown and Kyle Drabek, and Tampa's Jesus Montero, the FSL has lost a ton of talent in the past few weeks. All in all, there have been 21 players named to the original roster who either were injured or promoted.

With what was left on the original roster, and the replacements, I made out better than I expected during the FSL's All-Star Game Fan Fest. The event, held at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, was well-organized by the host team Miracle, with many games for children to play, live music, food and player autographs.

For most of the event, players were just hanging around, mingling with fans, playing games with children and signing just about anything. Most everyone signed next to their player bio in the program and I got plenty of cards and other miscellaneous items signed. In total, I was able to get 206 autographs (editor's note: Jeezum crow!) altogether from this year’s All-Stars.

Among the players signing cards , shown above, were Tampa’s Austin Romine, Fort Myers' David Bromberg and Ben Revere, Palm Beach’s Adam Reifer and Shane Peterson, Jupiter’s Jeff Allison and Matt Dominguez, and Daytona’s Starlin Castro and Jody Davis.

Fitting the bill

Of all the items pro baseball players are offered to sign -- from baseballs to cards to photos -- I imagine they appreciate a change in pace from the standard fare. At least, that's the reasoning behind Colin's effort to get a plastic hammerhead shark signed by members of the Jupiter Hammerheads during our two-game Shark Week hounding effort.

The shark, a former bath toy that reinforces Colin's inquisitive nature toward the creatures, proved to be very popular among the players. Even without prompting, many of the 13 Hammerheads players who honored Colin's requests said it was the first time they had been asked to, well, sign a hammerhead shark.

The baker's dozen, shown from left to right in each photo, to sign were:

Elih Villanueva, Kyle Gunderson, Spike McDougall, Geraldo Valentin, Gregory Burns, Jose Rosario, Hunter Mense and Jhan Marinez; and

Ryan Curry, Alejandro Sanabia, Osvaldo Martinez, Matt Dominguez and Brandon Tripp.

Catching Hammerheads

As much as catching a shark would've been the big highlight of Shark Week, it was the Jupiter Hammerheads -- the baseball team, not a rare species found in Florida's tropical waters -- who sealed the deal for the shark fan in our household.

From pitcher Alejandro Sanabia, shown above signing the Hammerheads team ball, to 3B Matt Dominguez, the Florida Marlins' 2007 first-round draft pick who signed this card, the Florida State League team stepped up and made sure that Shark Week, our Summer of Baseball mini-project, was a success.

The team ball, however, wasn't the only item. We also added these:

~ a plastic hammerhead shark,, quite the hit with the team's players. Many said it was the first time they had signed such an item; and

~ Three of Jupiter's All Star Game representatives -- Jeff Allison, Miguel Fermin and Alejandro Sanabia -- on an All Star players ball.

All told, 18 players signed the team ball:

Spike McDougall and Jeff Allison;

Garrett Parcell, Jose Rosario, Miguel Fermin, Alejandro Sanabia and Kyle Gunderson;

Osvaldo Martinez, Gregory Burns, Elih Villanueva, Brandon Tripp and Jhan Marinez; and

Hunter Mense, Matt Dominguez, Ryan Curry, Geraldo Valentin, unidentified (anyone know who it is?) and Smelin Perez.

Part of the game

Beyond all of the autographs Colin picked up over Shark Week, I believe this dugout lineup card, given to Colin by Clearwater Threshers coach Ramon Henderson after the team's 7-3 victory over the Jupiter Hammerheads last Thursday, was the coolest item he received.

I'm sorry, though, I'm not sure what the black dots represent. I'm thinking they might be strikeouts.

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.

It's Shark Week

Living here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, it's no secret that the warm Gulf waters hold a variety of sharks Among them, you'll find bull, nurse, reef, hammerheads and threshers. With Colin being a big fan of sharks -- from a respectable distance, mind you -- he's always eager to learn more.

As a result, this week is one of the biggest of our summer baseball-hounding campaign. In what we're calling Shark Week, the Jupiter Hammerheads meet the Clearwater Threshers. Schedules allow us games on Thursday and Saturday.

In a stroke of luck, the Hammerheads, the Advanced-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins, returned my repeated phone calls for a team logo ball. We're hoping to make it the fifth team-signed ball of the season. Even without one, we could've used one of the four Florida State League game balls that Colin has accumulated this season.

For the Threshers, we'll focus our efforts on finishing their team ball. Atop the list is Dominic Brown, the top-rated prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies system, and fellow FSL All Star Yohan Flande.

Now, we'll also do a little fishing during the week. Maybe, we'll even catch (and release) a shark.