Category: Family Fun
Hurray for Opening Day
Heading downstate, I wasn’t very optimistic about this game actually taking place, as all the weather reports called for thunder storms. The baseball gods must have felt generous, though, and after the first three games of the season were postponed from Lansing, the Whitecaps and Lugnuts were finally able to kick the season off in Comstock Park. The sun was shining as I packed the kids kid in the car. The boys stayed back at my sisters due to illness, so I got to spend the day at the ball park with my favorite girl (my daughter, not Avril Lavigne). The weather was sunny as we played catch in the parking lot before the gates opened at 11:00 a.m. When we were finally let into the ball park our sences were overloaded with the smells of popcorn, hot dogs, and freshly cut grass as we recieved out free hats and found our seats. Lily played at the park for a bit before we got in line for autographs on the field at 12:15 p.m. They only allowed about fifteen minutes on the field, so we had to hustle to get her baseball and cards signed. Lily did get to meet the Tigers number two prospect Nick Castellanos and former Major Leaguers Ben Oglivie and Ernie Young. The rest of the day was perfect for baseball, topping low 80’s (a record high for the ‘Caps openers) with a nice breeze for us to enjoy the action.
The game itself was a real pitchers duel, with the Whitecaps winning 13-12 with a walk-off hit in the ninth. Trailing 12-7, they scored the last six runs of the game for the win. West Michigan battled back with a seventh inning two-run homer by Luis Castillo, and a three-run shot by James Robbins to even the score in inning eight. In the ninth inning, Dixon Machado stole second and scored the winning run on a two-out base hit by Rob Brantly. Machado was 4-5 on the day with a stolen base and three runs scored. Brantley went 2-4 with the home run and a two-run double. Bruce Rondon came on in the ninth to close the door and earn the win.
I simply can’t wait for the next ball game we can make it too. Just another month until our trip in May, which will include a Whitecaps game, too.
Photos property of M.I.B.
Our Toughest Off-Season Yet
The last several months have been the hardest off-season for the kids and I yet. I wish it was simply because there was no baseball, but unfortunately, it has nothing to do with our favorite sport. Without going into to much detail, I believe a family is like a team, and when one team member is selfish the rest suffer. If there’s one thing this experience has shown me, it’s how strong and special my kids are. I know I’m the dad and it’s my job to take care of them and be there for them, but the fact is they’ve been there and taken care of me more than I ever imagined. I truelly believe that if it wasn’t for them, I’d be in some padded cell right now being spoon fed pudding three times a day. I can honestly say that my kids are my best friends, and I really believe that we’ll be ok…as long as we stick together. We didn’t just hang our heads, though, we kept busy and shared a lot of laughs together this winter. Here’s a few pics from how we survived our toughest off-season…Opening day is on the horizon, and I’m determined to make this summer one of the best they’ve ever had. They deserve it.
Pro Wrestling
Lots of Hockey
Roller Disco
Bowling
Outdoor Fun
Rock Concerts
Photos property of M.I.B
Slap-Stick Softball
This past weekend was the Lake Superior State Laker softball team’s annual ‘Take me out to the Ballgame’ dinner to raise money for their trip to Florida to kick off the 2011 season. This has become a tradition for us over the last few years, and the kids have a fun time. This years dinner of hot dogs and hamburgers was actually on campus this year, which is a change brought on by the new head coach. Door prizes, raffles, and silent auctions also took place to help the team raise money needed for the long trip. Lily’s favoite new thing this year was her opportunity to throw a pie in the face of her favorite player. Her aim was true, and the girls got nice and messy. The boys were too busy eating to really notice any of this.
Good luck to the Lakers this season, and we’ll try to make it what few home games they have if the weather holds up.
Photos property of M.I.B.
Whitecaps Update 1/11/11
Winter Banquet and HOF: The Whitecaps 2011 Winter Banquet will be held on Wednesday, January 19th this year, and will be headlined by Detroit Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski. Also speaking at the event, is new ‘Caps skipper Ernie Young and alumni Will Rhymes and Brennan Boesch. This event will also feature the 2011 Whitecaps Hall of Fame ceremony which will induct current Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya, catcher Ramon Hernandez, and groundskeeper Heather Nabozny. Heather took good care of Fifth Third Ballpark in Grand Rapids before becoming the first female head groundskeeper in the Majors with the Tigers.
Alumni Moves: Former Whitecap center fielder Cameron Maybin was shipped from the Florida Marlins to the San Diego Padres for Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica. Maybin was on the Marlins opening day roster in 2009 and 2010. Maybin was sent to Florida from Detroit in the deal for Miguel Cabrera and was part of West Michigan’s 2006 Midwest League championship team. The Padres look for his range in center to be a great asset playing at Petco Park. Also on the move is pitcher Alfredo Figaro. The Tigers sold his contract to the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Pacific League. In eight appearances for the Tigers, he was 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA. Figaro was 10-6 with a 4.14 ERA in 23 starts for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens in 2010.
Tiger Fridays: Tigers Fridays are back at Fifth Third Ballpark for this season. Former Tigers Johnny Grubb, Steve Kemp, Frank Lary, Mickey Tettleton, Dick Tracewski, Jason Thompson, and Richie Hebner will be making appearances. The dates are June 3 & 17, July 1, 22, & 29, and August 12 & 26. The team hasn’t released the dates each former Tiger will be attending, though. I hope I have a chance to make it down to meet Tettleton. He’s one of my favorite players of all time.
Non-Roster Invite: Outfielder Avisail Garcia in one of the 18 non-roster players the Tigers have invited to spring training in Lakeland, FL. Garcia has spent the last two seasons with the ‘Caps and is ranked as the Tigers ninth-best prospect by Baseball America. In 2010 he batted .281 with four home runs, 63 doubles, and 20 stolen bases. In 2009 he was a .264 hitter in 81 games in West Michigan. He’ll be at Spring Training with former ‘Caps outfielders Andy Dirks, Ben Guez, Casper Wells, Clete Thomas, and Brennan Boesch.
Fifth Third Burger on TV…Again: Last year the famous West Michigan Whitecaps Fifth Third Burger was featured on Man v. Food. This year, the giant hamburger will be featured on the Food Network’s series ‘Unwrapped’ with host Marc Summers. The show will air at 9:00 p.m. on January 22 in an episode called ‘Game Day Goodies’. I plan on tackling this monsterous burger this season, but I’ll have three hungary kids to help polish it off. In two seasons, the ‘Caps have served 3,253 Fifth Third Burgers to fans, and 761 have attempted the Challenge to eat the whole thing by themselves. A total of 483 people have won the challenge, earning a T-shirt and their pic on the ‘wall of champs’.
A Look Ahead: This should be a fun year for us at the Whitecaps games. I’m trying to get my work schedules manipulated so the kids and I can make it to Opening Day and hopefully Star Wars day again in July. Brian will be making his debut at Fifth Third Ballpark this season, also. Below is a pic of him sporting his new hat he got for his third birthday on the 11th. I’ve also added a ‘Caps game to my baseball trip, as we’re flying back into Michigan via Grand Rapids. Why not stay and catch one more game?
Photos property of M.I.B.
Learning from the Lakers
The Lake Superior State women’s softball team has been busy in the community teaching young players about the game. They hosted weekly hitting and pitching clinics in the weeks before Thanksgiving, and just completed a weekend camp which incorporated all aspects of the game. I was lucky enough to get my daughter to most of the clinics and the camp, in fact, I recieved a call from first year head coach Lori Shimasaki inviting her to join the clinics. She’s become a favorite among the college girls, even hanging out with them for awhile at the local hockey games. She’s having a lot of fun and this will hopefully inspire her to keep playing. She’s been playing baseball since she was 5, but next summer will be her first shot at softball if she decides to play. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because she’s a good player and this could open up some doors for her in the future. Sorry about the low quality of the pics, but they were taken with my phone. The (ex)wife got the camera in the settlement.
Property of M.I.B.
End of Summer is a Bummer
It seems as fall is in the air, and summer is just about done. It’s an exciting time at the Major League level, but in the Minors, the seasons are winding down. For the kids, school starts on Tuesday, so we decided to head downstate and get in a couple of days of fun before it all comes to an end….
Traverse City Beach Bums vs. Windy City Thunderbolts: For the second year in a row, we end our baseball season with the Bums. My parents have season tix, so we just met them at the game, and there’s no place the they’d rather be with the grandkids than a baseball game. With their birthdays about ten days apart, we had them annouced over the PA system, which made the kids feel like celebrities. The Beach Bums are making a surge for their fist ever playoff appearance, so lots of good atmosphere for the game. The kids got to meet some of the players after the game, too, which is always a thrill. Final: TC 8, WC 4.
Adventure Island: Summer wouldn’t be summer without hitting the water park. The kids enjoyed the bumper boats, but they told us it was too cold to open the water slide. Hey, were from the U.P….nothing is too cold for us. You’ll also enjoy a pic of ol’ #94 here putting on a hitting display in the batting cages. I’m contimplating making a training video…we’ll see. The park here also has go-carts and adventure golf, both a summer must.
Central Michigan Chippewas vs. Hampton Pirates: I know this is a baseball blog, but I’ll throw just a little college football in here, too. Going down to watch football still didn’t stop us from visiting the baseball field there just to say hi. Hard to believe it will be seven months before baseball is played there again. The football game was fun (not as much as baseball, but at least they have cheerleaders), and we were able to dodge the rain thankfully. All in all, a good end to our summer fun. Now it’s time to track the MiLB playoffs and plan next season’s baseball trip. Final: CMU 33, Hampton 0.
Photos property of M.I.B.
All Good Things…
Just like all good things, our Little League season has come to an end. I call it a success because we had a lot of fun, and the kids hopefully learned a lot. You can’t judge these things just on wins and losses, ya know. Bitter sweet also because this is the last game for me coaching two of my kids on the same team. Lily will be moving on to girls softball next season. She’s been the only girl in the league the last two seasons. No doubt she proved she can play with the big boys, though…she was one of my best players all season. Trevor is torn between soccer and baseball. All his friends play soccer, so it’s a tough decision for him. It will be too bad if he quits, though, as he really came on at the end of the season, going 4-5 in the last two games and making some nice plays in the field. Maybe I can bribe him with a new glove next year…I know, despicible me. Still two years away from the little one starting tee ball.
Photos property of M.I.B.
Star Wars Night-Episode I: No Phantom, just fun!!!
West Michigan Whitecaps vs. Beloit Snappers: As we were rained out last night, the weather was on our side tonight. A beautifull night in Grand Rapids, to enjoy some baseaball. Of course, Star Wars night brought out over 10,000 fans to Fifth Third Ballpark for the game and to see their favorite characters. Yes, the two loves of my childhood colided in one special night with my kids. Baseball fans and Star Wars nerds fans alike were cheering in unison. The Whitecaps even wore special Star Wars jerseys with the likeness of Darth Vader on them. I think that Lily and Trevor were more excited over meeting the characters than the game, but at least they got to see everyone they wanted. Trevor’s favoites are the Stormtroopers and Lily liked meeting Chewbacca. The kids also got autographs from some of the Whitecaps players like third baseman Wade Gaynor and hitting coach Louis Quinnones who played with the Giants, Reds, and Cubs. The game was capped off with a fireworks display. Of course the kids had to watch the Star Wars movies on the way home (no prequals), and are now hounding me to play with my 30 year old toys. Oh well, they can’t last forever, but the memories of this ballgame can. Final: Whitecaps 4, Snappers 6.
Photos property of M.I.B.
Rain Batters Battle Creek
Battle Creek Bombers vs. Waterloo Bucks: Rained out. I guess I can’t complain too much, as I’ve been pretty lucky over the years, but when you only see a handfull of games a season, one rain out is disasterous. I can’t say enough about the Bombers oganization, though, as they gave us a full refund on our birthday package, yet still gave me my birthday cake and signed baseball by the team. I thought they might play it when we saw some of the players warming up, but the field ended up being too flooded. We wanted to re-schedule, but we just don’t know when we’ll be down there again. The kids were bummed, but we got to spend time together and visit some family. The Baseball Gods would make it up to us the next night, though…
Photos property of M.I.B.
Gratuitous Kid Pics
Yeah, just showing them off here a bit. The Little League Season is coming to an end here at the end of the month, but we’ll still keep busy. Got our tickets for the Battle Creek Bombers on the 23rd, and the Whitecaps(Star Wars Night) on the 24th. Until then…
Photos property of MIB
Minoring In Baseball 