Day One: Saturday, Feb. 1
For an explanation about how Fantasy Camp is set up, see the introduction to last year's report. It should be noted that Kerry played for Jim Gentile once again last year and had a terrific time.
This year, Kerry is reuniting with good friend, and fellow Belfry-ite, Craig Steffen. They are hoping to be drafted together since the first time they attended camp found them playing on opposing teams. We'll have to wait and wonder about this until Monday when the draft is held.
Kerry left windy, chilly Chicago late Friday morning and met Craig in Tampa mid afternoon on Friday. After securing a rental car, they drove to Sarasota where joined Dave Berson, another Belfry-ite, for dinner. Shortly after that, it was lights out time. Extra sleep during the week is always welcomed by the campers so getting a little extra at the beginning of the week was deemed advisable. It should be noted that the veterans arriving from Baltimore will be taking a flight that leaves BWI around 6:30 am Saturday. No doubt they'll be a bit tuckered out after the early morning takeoff. The rookies will take a similar flight on Sunday morning.
As in previous years, they will participate in the Veteran's Tournament over the weekend and then begin play for The Ring on Monday afternoon. In all of the games, they start at the top of the order only in the first game of the day. After that, they cycle through everyone, in turn, for the rest of the day. This means that the leadoff man, which Kerry always serves as, only bats once a day "at the top of the order."
It's probably time to report on some of the "perks" involved with this experience. As if spending a full week in the sun playing baseball isn't enough of a perk for most of these guys, they also get their very own, personalized uniforms with the number of their choice-- home and road at that! They also get a warmup jacket. And of course, there is the time spent with the former pros although Kerry seems to believe the excitement associated with that aspect of the camp experience wears off after the first year. At least it did for him. We'll see if Craig has a similar view. The other thing that should be apparent to anyone following the Belfry message board of late is that the time spent together with the other campers is, in and of itself, a big part of the fun. Some of these guys never see one another except during this week and I think that is a major factor in why they keep returning year after year. Some even come back while on the DL (ie: they attend the camp but can't participate due to injury; there is one such camper present this year in fact).
As for the demographics, Kerry informed me that there are three women campers participating. One is a rookie and two are veterans. I'll try to find out who is coming from the furthest distance. I know that in previous years there has been someone attending from the Los Angelos area but I'm not sure if he's returning this year or not.
Kerry and Craig's game action and career stats are posted in the statistics link below.
Saturday, Feb. 1 Game action
Kerry and Craig wound up on different teams in the Veteran's Tournament. Both of their teams split their games in today's action, giving the teams a 1-1 record in the Tournament. With six teams involved and only four games total being played, it's looking like a close race for the championship game Monday morning.
In Kerry's games today, his team won the first game 8-1 and he got the credit for the victory on the mound. He threw the requisite two innings (one per game under the veteran's tournament rules) and allowed no runs, two hits, one walk and a strikeout. At the plate in the first game, he got three walks in his three plate appearances and scored twice. He wasn't happy about his plate performance in the second game and is hoping to get extra BP in tomorrow morning before the action begins. He was credited with a double on dropped pop fly and he struckout in his team's 1-0 loss. He said he played third when he wasn't pitching and he had somewhere between 12-15 plays in the field which he handled flawlessly.
Craig's play was equally
impressive. He played the OF in both games and was credited with three
putouts. In addition he took what should've been a sure double down the
line and caused it to be nothing more than a single. At the plate, he had
three singles and a walk and I was told that one of those singles should have
been a double. His team lost the first game 1-0 and won the second game
3-1.
The rookies and the camp pros arrive on tomorrow's flight. The rookies
will go through their evaluation drills while the veterans tournament
continues. (These games are managed by fellow campers. This year,
some of the campers who are on the DL this year are handling those
duties.) Of the pros, only Gary Kendall and Rocky Johnson were in camp
today.
Kerry also mentioned that there is a wrap party for some movie stars at their hotel tonight from 10 pm - 2 am. He and Craig discovered that their room is located six floors above the party. Since sleep is a prime consideration for good play and injury prevention, they were keeping their fingers crossed that it wouldn't be too loud. So far, both of them are doing well phsyically-- no aches or pains to report which is unusual. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this trend continues throughout the week.