Opening Day! Who will be the 2014 Secret Weapon

Only two short days until Baseball is back! We will celebrate in our usual fashion, tape the game > information blackout > Peanuts, crackerjack, Hot Dogs and Bud. I Can't Wait. The pups don't even sense that another season is looming. Suckers!

Jose Oquendo, the Cardinals third base coach and Secret Weapon. He got the nic name for being a rock star utility infielder - the most under-appreciated job in the game. And now we love him as our third base coach. Don't ignore him... at least don't do it twice :)

Several years ago we learned that the last game of the Beloit Snappers (then Brewers minor league affiliate) became a little bit of a Name-Your-Price game as the concessionaires tried to empty their stocks for the off season. It was great - dollar beers turned in to "how about 2 dollars for a medium? OK?? how about $3 for a large!" "Dollar dogs? Yes Please!" All that plus a $8 ticket makes for a great Labor day weekend.

One of these games we were sitting behind home plate happily munching our cheap pop corn and keeping score. After the third inning we noticed a pattern, 'now playing Left Field, Vinnie Rotino', "now playing 2nd base, Vinnie Rotino" Yes, their young utility man played every position in that last game of the season.

Fast forward to the bottom of the 8th, the two young Snapper pitchers charged with charting pitches in the September sun noticed a new face warming up in the 'bull pen' (we use that term loosely for the dirt down the 3rd base line where the pitchers warm up). You got it - there was our friend Vinnie Rotino warming up to pitch the top of the 9th. It was hard not to giggle along with them as they inflated his pitch speed by maaayybe 10 mph. But hey, secret weapon indeed, he got the job done and the Snappers won the day.

Several years later we saw our friend Vinnie as the Bull pen Catcher for the Brewers, shared with him how much we enjoyed his performance that day - he got a good laugh that we remembered him.

A Closing Day

We love our Gateway Grizzlies - a little independent league team outside St. Louis. We saw our first game in 2001, we found them in the Baseball Directory and couldn't wait to see the new park. We followed the directions in the directory to get to our first game and wound up in the parking lot of a strip mall in Sauget IL, not the best neighborhood. After driving around a little, confident that there were no tell-tale stanchions anywhere in the vicinity, we called the box office number in our beloved Directory. Apparently, they didn't get around to building that park. Off we went to a small field in a public park where they sold beer from an igloo cooler and all the seats were bleachers. We saw our first "Cross town Clash" the new Gateway Grizzlies vs. the only slightly less new River City Rascals. It was a blast.

By the next season the park was built, it was shiny but not nearly as charming. Luckily, we've given them a couple of chances to win us back and they certainly have.

On one of our last visits we were there for the last game of the season, the Grizzlies hadn't made the playoffs, so it was a little bit of an end-of-season party, lots of shenanigans at the game followed by fireworks. Still very high on our list of promotions was the fact that you could buy a roll of toilet paper for something silly like a dollar and right after the final pitch of the game, we all toilet papered the park. There was a brief melee when we all tossed toilet paper at the field, the stands, each other and the dugouts, and then once the fireworks started each light explosion sillouetted Grizzlies on the field pitching rolls of toilet paper through the field or batting long trailing fouls.

Much pity for the person who was stuck with the mess, but it sure was a great way to celebrate the end of the season.

Opening Day at Busch

Only a little more than 24 hours away and we will be enjoying the 2013 home opener at Busch. Something else to check off the 'bucket' list.

Although we have seen a few minor league opening day games, this is only our second Major League opening day. We saw part of the Philly's opening day game in 2001 - not pretty. Our experience included missing the first several innings trying to find parking - our friend finally gave up on the game, dropped us off and went back to work. And we were amazed that most fans in our section were more interested in watching the drunks peeing off the back of the section than watching the game. If I remember correctly, we too gave up and went back to work early.

We have never been to the Brewers' opening day - the unofficial opening of the out-door drinking season in Milwaukee, but we have learned not to try to have dinner at any restaurants in a 10 mile radius after the game on opening day (out door drinking having begun at the 8a tailgate).

So far (before tomorrow) one of our favorite opening days was a day we had a party at our home on 49th street in Milwaukee. It was a beautiful day, I was working from home that day until noon and first pitch for the brewers was around 1 I believe and the Cardinals had the prime time game. We had a ton of ball park food - turned the TV around so that we could watch the game from the porch. A lot of people came to eat and drink and generally embody the pass-time! Between games, our neighbor kids watched Major League and both the Brewers and Cardinals won that day. It was a perfect day.

Until tomorrow - we hope!

It's all about Matheny

 

It started early in our relationship, listening to the games on the radio around the campfire, it's late in a close game and it comes down to that one clutch hit... "it's all about Paquette" (who?) (former Cardinal catcher) It was uncanny, it seemed to always be up to our friend Paquette to come through with a hit and win the game. So that transitioned into our next catcher and for a long time my favorite player "it's all about Matheny". Who could we always count on when it counted? It's all about Matheny. I was heartbroken when he stopped playing for the Cardinals and even though it has frequently been all about Molina,  the rally cry never stuck for him. We're more likely to chant "Yadi! Yadi! Yadi!" or (to the Jaws theme) 'Yaaadi... Yaaadi... Yaaadi... Yadi, Yadi, Yadi, Yadi... Yadier!" 

So when Tony LaRusa finally retired even though we all thought it would be Jose Oquendo as our new skipper, once again, it was all about Matheny. 

We're coming off of a fantastic Post season in 2011, it was beyond exciting and carried us right to the World Series and an Unbelievable Championship. We've clinched a post season spot again, in typical Cardinals fashioned (by the skin of our teeth) and we'll see... "It's all about Matheny".  

Or is it? Maybe it's all about "Coors and a shot" (Matt Holiday) or 'Torty!" (Allen Craig) or "Squirrel!" (Skip Schumaker) or "Ready when you are CB" (Carlos Beltron) or the aforementioned "Yadi!!"

Or maybe it's about the GARDEN GNOME!! But that's another post. 

Go Cards!!! Let's make it 12 in 12!

Koenig Glossary: Ass Grab...

 We have developed quite a glossary of baseball terms in the 14 years we have been watching baseball together. One of these terms is Ass Grab. I believe it came about in the summer of 2001 (where many of our terms came about) when Pete was working as an usher for the minor league Camden River Sharks. I went to a lot of games alone while Pete was working and had time to notice things.

We were watching a game during this season and there was a meeting at the mound. My comment to Pete was "Aw, looks like someone's going to get their ass grabbed" ("huh??!") I went on to explain that every time there was a meeting on the mound, it always ended with someone getting their ass grabbed. 

A lot has been said about the friendly pat on the bottom that most sports employ, but it doesn't fail in Baseball... at any level. If there is a meeting at the mound, whether it ends in a pitching change or just a quick scouting update, there is always a little... well... Ass Grab at the end of the conversation.

We have since incorporated it into our scoring, an "AG" in the corner of the batter usually indicates a pitching change. There is even the MAG - Major Ass Grab - almost always a pitching change, where everyone and their cat comes out to the mound to give the new pitcher a couple extra seconds to warm out before heading out to the mound, and No, the ass is not major or is the grab, just a comment on the number of people that are milling about on the mound.

So, feel free to add it to your own vernacular or scorecards. Maybe it will even just make you smile a little when you see that manly pat on the bottom when the crowd breaks up.  Whatever, it's our definition:
ASS GRAB: verb (used with object) The final moment of a meeting at the mound when the highest ranking authority figure shows his sympathy with the pitcher who is done for the day by spanking him. 

Pot of Gold

Pete caught this picture at the Salem Red Sox game this summer. I, of course, was at the concession stand waiting for the last Cheesesteak in Virginia.

We have a long history of 'Did you see that!' It probably started (maybe our first Cardinals game together) when Pete's Dad innocently asked Pete to pick up his dropped All Star Ballot and Pete missed one of Mark Magwire's towering home runs. We still use that to this day ('Hey Pete, can you pick up my all star ballot?'). Albert Pujols is coming up to bat? Hey Pete, can you pick up my all star ballot?

More likely though is the 'Did I MISS anything' reaction that originated with Karen Loftus when we were at a Mets v. Cardinals game at Shea and she left to look for some Ice Cream. Of course 2 innings later when she finally got back, having missed (Magwire again) a home run hit to the Citgo! 'Did I MISS anything?'

See above where I was at the concession stand. I can't even count the number of cool things I have missed because I was at the concession stand. This particular photo was taken after we fled our campground in Cave Mountain lake because of tornado warnings, and then huddled in a hotel for 2 hours monitoring the Sox website while the rain poured down outside. It was a beautiful night.

But I guess that's the point, it's always a beautiful night in the ballpark. After this, I will steadfastly maintain that if you follow a rainbow to the end, there will be baseball.

In the Beginning...

This hopes to be a combined labor of love from both Pete and me and our baseball adventures. We found each other as two Cardinals fans in Cub country, we met in 'The Summer That Saved Baseball' and enjoyed the end of the home-run race to beat 61 together. Since then we have seen hundreds of games together in hundreds of parks of every level. We have developed our own vernacular while watching and scoring the game. It permeates every corner of our life (in a good way!). So hopefully, some fun stories and definitely some amazing photos, hope you enjoy!

This summer we finally got a dream come true, a minor league park within short driving distance from home. We "Got Hooked" into the Lakeshore Chinooks inaugural season and once or twice a week make the drive up to Mequon (about 20 minutes) to see our Fish take out the competition. It's a lot of fun. The park is very nice, intimate with a couple challenges that they are working on solving for next season.

It offers Pete a ton of opportunities for photos including this gem of infielder German "Big Poppi" Reyes beating out a throw to first. I love the windmill feel of this shot. And of course nothing beats the vivid Green and Brown of the field in the bright light of the Lakeshore Sunset
(more of those later!)