Thursday, January 31
In this morning's meeting, Kerry was awarded another Gold Rope this morning for his stellar play in yesterday's games. And because Jim Palmer had to leave the camp because of commitment he'd made for the Super Bowl, he was present in the clubhouse during the morning before leaving to catch his flight. Kerry said Palmer, along with Weaver, shared the following story. Palmer had checked in early this year and by coincidence he and Earl wound up on the same floor of the hotel, the tenth (and top) floor. This morning, Palmer had his bags packed and was waiting by the elevator when he heard a door shut. He looked behind him and saw Earl coming out of his room. He said he was hoping the elevator would show up before Earl did and, sure enough, that's what happened. But just before the doors shut, he heard Earl shout out, "Hold that elevator!" so he did and Earl got in. When Earl saw that it was Palmer, he said, "Oh it's you." The elevator stopped at the sixth floor and someone not affiliated with fantasy camp got on, saw the two of them, and said "I know you guys." Palmer said, "Yeah, Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver." The guy responded, "Don't you guys hate each other?" Earl got off at the lobby level as did the guy from the sixth floor but Palmer had go down to the garage to pick up his car. He told Earl, "I'll be at the complex this morning." And Earl came back with, "When are you ever going to leave?" And Weaver concluded the story in the morning meeting by saying he'd feel a lot better in the afternoon when Palmer would be gone.
In fairness, Kerry said they don't seem to mind each other that much. He said Earl clearly doesn't care for Palmer and he has the impression that at one time Palmer was bothered by this but not anymore. Interestingly enough, when the signing session with the weekend pros takes place, Weaver and Palmer usually sit next to one another. And Kerry said they clearly do some of this for effect. He also noted that Frank Robinson does a great impression of Earl.
As for the game action, they played Glenn Gulliver's team in the first game. This game was being played under veteran's tournament rules where no pitcher throws more than one inning. If the game were to go into extra innings, they could then bring someone back for the seventh inning. Gentile's team fell behind 5-1 after two innings but they scored three in the top of the third to make it 5-4. They then scored two in the fourth to make it 6-5. Gulliver's team scored a run to tie it due to an error Kerry made on a grounder at third. He said his contacts dried out and he was messing with his contacts, not paying enough attention to the batter, and the ball bounced off his glove. He said he should've had it. In either the fifth or sixth inning, they managed to score a run to take a 7-6 lead in the game. Kerry played third for most of the game but moved to short in the fifth so their stud pitcher could be available to come in for the extra inning if that were necessary. Kerry pitched the sixth inning and said he felt like he had a dead arm. He hit the first batter on a 1-2 pitch, the next guy popped up but the ball fell in "the Bermuda triangle" but they were able to throw out the lead runner for the first out. He said he walked the next guy which meant the best hitter in the camp was coming up to the plate. Kerry managed to strike him out and after the game the guy came over to him and told him that was the first time he's struck out during the entire session. Kerry got the next guy to ground out to third and was credited with a save. At the plate, he grounded sharply to short for a forceout at second in his first AB. He doubled to left with a runner on and eventually came around to score in his second AB. And in his third AB, with runners on second and third and two runners in, he wound up facing a really slow pitcher. He took the first pitch for a ball, managed to foul off the first pitch after being well in front of the pitch. He said he told himself to stay back on his back leg and keep his hands back and he was able to line a single to center for an RBI. (The three run rule came into effect on this play.) The most memorable thing that happened occurred when Diamond Jim really got into it with one of the umpires. Kerry said the umpiring has been particularly bad this year and his team has been on the losing end of several bad calls. Gentile got very upset when one of their batters was called out at first when everyone in the park could see that he was safe. He wound up being suspended from Game 2 with the understanding that the umpires would not penalize his team for his outbreak in the games that remain. He is very likely to hear about it in the morning meeting tomorrow because this has never happened in the history of fantasy camp.
Jim Spencer and Joe Durham co-managed the team in Game 2, with Gentile's wife reporting the game action to him via cell-phone. They wound up losing 3-2 to Dave Johnson's team. They were facing the most effective pitcher in camp, a guy who can throw three different pitches with good command. Kerry started the game and really felt good on the mound. He said that through the first three innings, he didn't give up a run and his team managed to score one in the first and one in the third to give him a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, in the bottom of the third while trying to beat out an infield grounder, he tweaked his right hamstring. He immediately called for a substitute runner and had the trainers take a look at it. They stretched it and he said that hurt quite a bit. Spencer asked him if he could pitch and Kerry said he wasn't sure so they sent him out to throw some warmups. He said he could feel it but went ahead and pitched the fourth inning. D.J.'s team managed to score an unearned run off him in the fourth. Spencer pulled him after four because he could tell that Kerry was being affected by the strained hamstring. Then the debate began about where to play him. Initially they were going to put him in left and have the CF run down balls but Kerry pointed out that this wasn't such a good idea. They knew he wouldn't be able to make the long throw so he wound up at second for the top of the fifth and their second baseman went in to pitch. He got the side out so he started the sixth with the understanding that they'd bring in their ace if someone reached base. Sure enough, he walked the first batter so they brought in their ace. The first batter hit a high popup down the rightfield line. With his bad hamstring, Kerry couldn't get to it, even after diving for it, and the guy wound up with a single and the baserunner moved to second. The next batter hit a ball off the pitcher's glove to load the bases with nobody out. They brought the corners in and Kerry and the SS played halfway, hoping for a doubleplay ball. The batter hit a grounder to third who made a bad throw to the catcher (the ball wound up at the backstop) and two runs scored to make it 3-2. There were runners and first and second, none out, and the next batter struck out. The guy after him hit into a nice 6-4-3 double play to end their half of the inning. In the bottom of the sixth, they managed to get runners on first and second with two out but their batter hit a flyball to center and that was the ballgame. At the plate, Kerry said he walked in his first AB. He singled in his second AB but that was when he strained his hamstring. In his final AB, he couldn't distribute his weight properly in the batters box and he wound up hitting a flyball to right.
His team is pretty nicked up. He said one of the guys got hit by a pitch on his hand in a game yesterday and this morning he had a bruise on both sides of his hand. Kerry told him, "that doesn't look so good; you'd better have a trainer look at it." He said the trainers immediately sent him to the hospital and the guy showed up with a cast on his hand later in the morning because it turns out the hand is broken. This guy would normally serve as a substitute runner but his legs are also messed up so Kerry isn't sure if this guy will be available to play or not. He noted that someone on another team injured his meniscus in the Veteran's Tournament over the weekend and was packing to go home on Monday but the trainers were able to wrap him up in a way that allows him to play. The orthopedic surgeon, who happens to be his physician, gave him a shot of novocaine in the knee today and he was able to put weight on it and move around but he's not playing at all. He needs an MRI but his insurance company won't approve one out of network so he'll have to wait until he gets back to Baltimore. So the injuries are mounting.
Tomorrow is an interesting case. In previous years, every team has played 8 games before heading into the Championship games. But this year, the teams have only played seven so they are playing a "Seed Game" which has the functional effect of punishing the top teams. Each team will play the team closest to it in their division. Gentile's team has the division title even though they're tied with Etchebarren's team with a 5-2 record. But because they beat Etch's team in head-to-head action, right now, they have the lead. But if they lose to them tomorrow, they'll be seeded #2 in the Ring Championship against Rocky Johnson's team, the #1 team in the other division. (In Kerry's opinion, Rocky's team is the best team in camp this year.) The Championship will pit the #1 team against the #2 team in the other division and those winners will face each other in the final game for The Ring. The #2 slot in the other division is up for grabs as both Jack Voight's team and Dave Johnson's team are tied with a 3-3-1 record. Rocky's team has a 5-2 record as well so they're guaranteed a #1 seed in the tournament. The tournament will begin tomorrow afternoon and the championship game will be played Saturday afternoon. So keep your fingers crossed and stay tuned.
Tonight, they had the Q&A Session with the weekend pros. This group includes Earl, Frank, Brooks, Boog, and other former Orioles who aren't present for the entire week. Palmer normally participates in this but because of other committments, he came down early and left early. Kerry said the usual questions about who the toughest (hitter/pitcher) they faced was asked as well as some questions about the Final Weekend at Memorial Stadium. I told Kerry a bit about Bob's recent piece about Memorial Stadium and he shared some of the comments that the pros had about it, which I plan to relate.
Kerry said Frank started by commenting that he was working for the Orioles that final season. Nobody knew who was coming for the event. They had sent out invitations to everybody but didn't know how many players would actually show up. Al Bumbry was unable to come because the Red Sox were still in the middle of a pennant fight and he was one of their coaches so he couldn't leave. Eddie couldn't be there because the Dodgers were still fighting for the division with the Astros when the final weekend came around. But Frank was surprised to see so many players in attendance. He said that he went downstairs to the clubhouse and saw dozens and dozens of former Orioles and he realized that this was the largest group of former players for a franchise who had ever gathered in one place at the same time. And he commented that while he stood in the tunnel, waiting to go into the dugout and onto the field, he could hear the 50,000+ fans in the stands while the music was playing and he felt chills in his bones. He said it was an incredibly stirring moment for him.
As for Memorial Stadium, both Brooks and Elrod commented that they haven't been able to go there since that weekend. Brooks said he wants to keep all the good memories that he has and remember it as it was. Elrod said he's never been by and never will for pretty much the same reason. He said he wanted to see it maintained as a living museum although he recognized that it wasn't real likely to happen. He commented that someone had sent him a stadium chair with #44 on it. 44 is the number he's worn as a coach (he wore #10 as a player). He still hasn't been able to take the chair out of the box because he doesn't have the heart to do so yet. He figures he will someday but he isn't ready just yet. And Boog Powell commented that it holds memories for him and his children. Boog was born in Florida, but his kids grew up in Baltimore and they spent a lot of time at Memorial Stadium because of their dad so they have a lot of memories of it as well. None of them have been able to visit it since that final weekend.
I also asked about interesting Earl Weaver stories, and Kerry shared this story as related by Al Bumbry. When Bumbry first came up, he wound up facing Bert Blyleven even though Blyleven was the toughest pitcher he's ever had to try to hit against. He said Paul Blair couldn't hit him a lick and because he (Bumbry) didn't have a track record, Earl would play Bumbry in center on those nights. After a few years had gone by, Bumbry said Earl came up to him and said, "Al, can you hit Blyleven's curveball?" to which Bumbry replied, "no." Earl then told him, "Why don't you just take the pitch and swing at the fastballs?" In his first AB, Blyleven threw the first pitch for a curve and Bumbry sat on it for strike one. The next pitch was also a curve; strike two. On the third pitch, also a curveball, knowing that he was going to be punched out, he swung at it. Earl said, "I thought you said you couldn't hit it." And Bumbry replied, "Figured I might as well swing at it since the umpire was going to punch me out anyway."
Ken Gerhart said that in his major league debut he struck out in all four of his at bats. He was sitting in the clubhouse feeling pretty low and Earl came by and said, "At least you didn't have to go up and strike out a fifth time." Earl was definitely not one to offer condolences.