Greetings to you, blog reader. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rod Collins. I reside in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have been a baseball fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut as a fan of the New York Metropolitans, known by most everyone as the Mets. I was born in 1961 on the same day on which ground was broken for Flushing Meadow Park. Flushing Meadow Park was later renamed Shea Stadium, which closed following the 2008 Mets season. This being said, you now know why I am referred to as "Sheakid".
This year's blog will be my third, as I posted them in both 2013 and 2014 while I attended Mets Fantasy Camp in Port St. Lucie, Florida. For those of you who may not be knowledgeable in what fantasy camps are and what they are all about let me tell you a bit about them. Former major-league catcher Randy Hundley is credited with having originated the idea of a "fantasy camp" in the early 1980's. They were called Dream Weeks back then. These camps allow fans, usually aged 40 and older, to play the game they love in a camp setting where they wear authentic uniforms and play against each other while being coached by former players of their favorite team. Sometimes these camps can command a fairly large price tag, nearing as much as $5,000 for a week of fun. While baseball is probably the most popular sport for camps, there are camps in the other major U.S. sports as well.
I first heard about MFC in my 30s and thought about how cool it would be to attend such a thing. I quickly found that the cost of such a venture would prove to be somewhat prohibitive to such an event taking place. I always kept it in the "bucket list" category, however.
Now, I love baseball and I love the New York Mets. I lived and died with them for so many years while growing up. I followed them when I moved to Tampa to attend college and was lucky in that a local station, WTOG, channel 44 carried Mets games on Friday nights on over-the-air television. Remember, this was pre-satellite tv and the sports packages which they afford to subscribers.
I also followed them when I moved to Minneapolis in 1988 to start the next chapter of my life. It was tougher because of regional coverage and the fact that the local nine were in the American League, while the Mets reside in the National League. I arrived just after the Twins had won their first World Championship in 1987, firm in the belief that it would probably be the ONLY world championship in their history. But, before I knew it, I had gotten a part-time job with the team and was standing on the field while the Twins celebrated right behind me after defeating Atlanta in the fantastic Fall Classic of 1991. I could never have foreseen such an event. I eventually got a full-time job in the front office of the Twins which got me closer to the game than I could ever have imagined. Heck, I got to be the mascot for a couple of years. I got to hang out with players who were marginal at best and others who were hall of famers like Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Kirby Puckett. My dreams of playing professionally were replaced by my later occupation. Nirvana reached.
Following my departure from the Twins I took 2002 off from baseball. When I say I took the year off I mean I didn't watch SportsCenter or anything baseball-related for the entire season. To do such a thing would have been unconscionable to me before it happened. But it was what I needed to do in order to keep some semblance of sanity.
Fade to black.
Fast forward to December 2012. I'd picked up with my adoration of the Mets once again, partly with the help of satellite television which allows one to follow their team no matter where they may live in the U.S. I received a letter from the Twins stating that I was being given the option of taking a lump-sum payout of my major league baseball pension. I decided to take that option. It was actually the suggestion of my wife to take part of the payout, "from a job in baseball", to do something "in baseball". I contacted the Mets and got a verbal okay to send the payment to them only 3 weeks prior to the opening of camp. It was all I could do to keep from jumping out to my skin before I arrived at the spring training home of my New York Mets.
The 2013 MFC was an incredible week. It exceeded my expectations and the experiences were incredible. Just putting on the uniform of my favorite club, customized with my name and number on the back, made for memories which which I will take to my grave. I attended once again in 2014 and after finding myself on a team which went 0-7 for the week in 2013 I luckily ended up on a team which went 7-0 and won the championship. What a turnaround.
Good fate has given me another opportunity to attend this year and in five days I will travel south to Florida once again for one more chance to push the sun back up in the sky and add to the memory bank which I will withdraw from when I get old and am unable to play this game that I love so very much.
I will be posting between now and the start of camp and then each day during camp. I hope you will follow my activities and that you enjoy the ride almost as much as I do. I got great feedback from those who have read my previous MFC blogs and enjoyed them a great deal. I hope you will do the same.
If you'd like to read my account of the 2013 MFC, go to: 2013metsfantasycamp.blogspot.com.
If you'd like to read my account of the 2014 MFC, go to:
2014metsfantasycamp.blogspot.com
This year's blog will be my third, as I posted them in both 2013 and 2014 while I attended Mets Fantasy Camp in Port St. Lucie, Florida. For those of you who may not be knowledgeable in what fantasy camps are and what they are all about let me tell you a bit about them. Former major-league catcher Randy Hundley is credited with having originated the idea of a "fantasy camp" in the early 1980's. They were called Dream Weeks back then. These camps allow fans, usually aged 40 and older, to play the game they love in a camp setting where they wear authentic uniforms and play against each other while being coached by former players of their favorite team. Sometimes these camps can command a fairly large price tag, nearing as much as $5,000 for a week of fun. While baseball is probably the most popular sport for camps, there are camps in the other major U.S. sports as well.
I first heard about MFC in my 30s and thought about how cool it would be to attend such a thing. I quickly found that the cost of such a venture would prove to be somewhat prohibitive to such an event taking place. I always kept it in the "bucket list" category, however.
Now, I love baseball and I love the New York Mets. I lived and died with them for so many years while growing up. I followed them when I moved to Tampa to attend college and was lucky in that a local station, WTOG, channel 44 carried Mets games on Friday nights on over-the-air television. Remember, this was pre-satellite tv and the sports packages which they afford to subscribers.
I also followed them when I moved to Minneapolis in 1988 to start the next chapter of my life. It was tougher because of regional coverage and the fact that the local nine were in the American League, while the Mets reside in the National League. I arrived just after the Twins had won their first World Championship in 1987, firm in the belief that it would probably be the ONLY world championship in their history. But, before I knew it, I had gotten a part-time job with the team and was standing on the field while the Twins celebrated right behind me after defeating Atlanta in the fantastic Fall Classic of 1991. I could never have foreseen such an event. I eventually got a full-time job in the front office of the Twins which got me closer to the game than I could ever have imagined. Heck, I got to be the mascot for a couple of years. I got to hang out with players who were marginal at best and others who were hall of famers like Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Kirby Puckett. My dreams of playing professionally were replaced by my later occupation. Nirvana reached.
Following my departure from the Twins I took 2002 off from baseball. When I say I took the year off I mean I didn't watch SportsCenter or anything baseball-related for the entire season. To do such a thing would have been unconscionable to me before it happened. But it was what I needed to do in order to keep some semblance of sanity.
Fade to black.
Fast forward to December 2012. I'd picked up with my adoration of the Mets once again, partly with the help of satellite television which allows one to follow their team no matter where they may live in the U.S. I received a letter from the Twins stating that I was being given the option of taking a lump-sum payout of my major league baseball pension. I decided to take that option. It was actually the suggestion of my wife to take part of the payout, "from a job in baseball", to do something "in baseball". I contacted the Mets and got a verbal okay to send the payment to them only 3 weeks prior to the opening of camp. It was all I could do to keep from jumping out to my skin before I arrived at the spring training home of my New York Mets.
The 2013 MFC was an incredible week. It exceeded my expectations and the experiences were incredible. Just putting on the uniform of my favorite club, customized with my name and number on the back, made for memories which which I will take to my grave. I attended once again in 2014 and after finding myself on a team which went 0-7 for the week in 2013 I luckily ended up on a team which went 7-0 and won the championship. What a turnaround.
Good fate has given me another opportunity to attend this year and in five days I will travel south to Florida once again for one more chance to push the sun back up in the sky and add to the memory bank which I will withdraw from when I get old and am unable to play this game that I love so very much.
I will be posting between now and the start of camp and then each day during camp. I hope you will follow my activities and that you enjoy the ride almost as much as I do. I got great feedback from those who have read my previous MFC blogs and enjoyed them a great deal. I hope you will do the same.
If you'd like to read my account of the 2013 MFC, go to: 2013metsfantasycamp.blogspot.com.
If you'd like to read my account of the 2014 MFC, go to:
2014metsfantasycamp.blogspot.com
I take great pride in residing in an area of these United States where what the east coast calls Jonas, we call "Saturday". Granted, I have great sympathy for those players. As of right now, about 45 or so of them will not arrive until Monday evening. They will arrive after three flights that day. Our fearless leader, Doug Dickey, has done his best to make this week's schedule of events come together as close to the original plan. I am far from envious of that young man, that's for sure.
I actually arrived into the Sunshine State last night when my Sun Country flight touched down in Orlando around 10:20 p.m. I changed my own itinerary in order to attend the memorial for my late aunt Beatrice, who passed away on January 8th. She lived to the age of 89, which is a damn good run if you ask me. She is the person who introduced me to the Mets and taught me about team loyalty, even when your team is absolutely worthless while on the field. We would sit in her apartment and watch the Mets on WOR channel 9, and win or lose, mostly lose, we would watch the entire game. This was in the days when games started at 8 pm. 8 pm! Can you believe that? Of course, games routinely lasted 2-2 1/2 hours. She was at games 3-5 of the 1969 World Series. It was one of the highlights of her life. We didn't share a ton of things, but we always knew we had a kindred spirit in each other.
When I spoke today at her memorial I donned a white home Mets jersey over my white shirt and Mets-themed tie. It was in her honor that I did so. My brother-in-law Sam, who is a professional piano player, played me to the podium with a light rendition of "Meet the Mets" on the organ. It just happened that her memorial was on the day before I was due to arrive at fantasy camp. I am dedicating my time at fantasy camp to her this year.
When I spoke today at her memorial I donned a white home Mets jersey over my white shirt and Mets-themed tie. It was in her honor that I did so. My brother-in-law Sam, who is a professional piano player, played me to the podium with a light rendition of "Meet the Mets" on the organ. It just happened that her memorial was on the day before I was due to arrive at fantasy camp. I am dedicating my time at fantasy camp to her this year.
After some fun time with family members whom I don't see often enough, the drive down to PSL was my last step to readying myself for my exciting week. A stop at Duffy's Sports Bar gave me a chance to run into guys and gals whom I'd played with and against in 2013 and 2014. It's such fun to see the faces of fans who have a common bond with myself. They live and die with this team as do I and this year is different in that there will be a new pennant raised at Citi Field come April. Excitement for the upcoming season is rampant for the first time since the late '90s.
Tomorrow those of us who are here will hit the field for some drills and the week will be underway. It'll probably be over before I know it, but I will try to bring it to you through my eyes and hope you enjoy the ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment