RE: who's your favorite all-time baseball player,
Being a Red Sox one would be hard pressed to say anything nice...lol
He had his moments but he wasn't any where near the level of Bell for sure.
Rich, I agree with the minor league games 100%
We have the Lakewood Blue Claws Class A for Phillies only 5 miles from the house and I love seeing their games. Those kids give 110% every day certainly not like their big league brothers
They were advertising for host families when they first came to town and I put on my best act to convince the wife that we should be one. All I could think about is talking baseball 24/7 and going to every game it would be well received by me all I had to do is convince the Mrs. Her response was you want a 18-20 year old male and his friends at our house when we still have our 16 year old daughter living at home? My goose was cooked.
Two years down the road my daughter moved to New York City and she agreed to be a host family. We got the batting coach a former big leaguer Tony Barron
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/barroto01.shtml and it was a match made in heaven.
I went to every game shagged balls talked with all the players and coaches and after every game we had a bs session that lasted to the wee hours. Heaven can’t be any better.
Tony Barron was a Philly outfielder filling in for injured ??? until he brought his wrist thus ending his major league stint. He played several years in Mexican League making good money but all thinks come to an end.
At one of these bs sessions he told how he beat the Yankees 2 games in a row during interleague play driving in the winning runs for each.
I left a note on his locker door that no yankee killer is allowed in my home so move out buddy…lol
He left the note up and some of the kids thought it was for real.
Charlie Manuel was present at times and is one hellova guy. He was a roving coach for the minors at the time.
I was involved in the Big Brother Big Sister Program and the 8 year old I had loved baseball so he was a frequent visitor to games, field and locker room. He got balls signed and at times we would bring along one of his friends who he introduced to the team with great joy.
It was a great season only wish they had won more games.
Next year my daughter moved back home so no more host family.
We also have the Trenton Thunder Class AA for Yankees and Staten Island Yankees Class A for Yankees within 60 miles of home.