Yesterday I visited my summer home, Fifth Third Ballpark.  There was an open workout featuring the 2012 West Michigan Whitecaps.  The day started out wet and dreary, but ended up being sunny and nice.  There’s some players returning from the 2011 team, as well as some new ones.  The news media was there and their coverage was of the players with famous relatives.  Names like Kaline, Avila, Leyland, and Lemon are associated with this team.  This also means that I’ll have to explain this crap multiple times to casual fans whom I may encounter this season.

There’s also some new things at the ballpark as well.  There’s new siding in the press/suite area.  The Fifth Third logo has changed and that’s reflected throughout the ballpark. The sign by the big highway has been updated. Most importantly there’s a two new scoreboards.  There’s a nifty new manual scoreboard.  They also installed a massive new videoboard out in left center field.  It’s big and pretty cool.  Opening day is the ninth and it’s supposed to be cold.  That doesn’t matter though, it’s just great to be there.

As a loyal and long time Detroit Tigers fan I had to purchase Justin Verlander’s new cereal, “Fastball Flakes”. Only available at Meijer in Michigan and, online at plbsports.com.

I couldn’t help but think about Charlie Brown and baseball, while pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training. 

“Pitchers and catchers report tomorrow” is a statement that is music to my ears. Can’t wait.

I took this photo of Rob Brantly last summer.  It’s a personal favorite.  I was going to have him sign it, but by the time I got around to getting a print, he was promoted to Lakeland.  Oh well.  It was a one shot take.  So many people let the shutter button fly and “cheat”.  I was quite proud of my timing.

One of the great things about baseball is all of the hijinks that can happen during the game.  Last June I managed to get a seat next to the dugout.  There was little to no obstruction, which was great.  What I saw was the relief pitchers having some fun.  It was early in the game so the relief guys didn’t head out to the bullpen yet.  They decided to play some tricks on the fans.  They took a ball, made string using athletic tape, attached it to the ball, and threw it over the top of the dugout.  The ol’ ball on a string trick worked for a while, tricking some of the people. The fans thought they were getting a souvenir, until they saw the string.  The prank was going well but then one of the players accidentally let go of the string and the ball finally made it into the crowd. 

As the game progressed, the home team was winning in a blowout so the guys did some more things  A pitcher or two took a couple of water balloons from the on field promo girls and chucked them at them as well.  I busted up laughing.  If I can recall properly, I believe there was even a reilver taking a nap as well.  Those were definitely some good times.