A Great Weekend

In case anyone was wondering, I had a great weekend, which for me, like many others, was extended due to the Thanksgiving holiday. It was time well spent with family, eating turkey and pie, sweet potatoes and pie, dressing and pie, and then for dessert, some pie. Thanksgiving day was also spent watching some good, nail-biting, it wasn't pretty but a win, Broncos football. Friday was primarily taken up with what is probably the most traditional task for the day after Thanksgiving, putting up the Christmas tree. I don't really recall the majority of Saturday, so whatever I did obviously wasn't interesting enough to deserve mention here. Sunday, on the other hand, was what truly made this weekend great. Sunday started out innocently enough, but it quickly took a dramatic turn early in the afternoon when I decided to organize the garage with the threat of snow and wanting to put the car in there.

Allow me to back track for a bit. For several years now I have collected autographed baseballs. My collection is small as baseballs I deem worthwhile having are usually expensive. It is, however, a collection I am proud of. Along with the baseballs are other collectible baseball memorabilia, such as the ticket from the Rockies' inaugural home opener and the ticket from the first game at Coors Field. For most of the time I have had these items I have not been able to display them due to limited space in our house. When we bought our new house in February, one of the things that excited me most was a dedicated office and shelving in that office perfect for displaying my young collection of memorabilia. So, over that last few months I have gone through various boxes of "baseball stuff" and determined what I wanted to display on the shelves. Hank Aaron signed ball, yes; Yogi Berra ball, yes; Larry Walker ball, yes; Tony Gwynn baseball, yes; Jeff Cirillo ball, I guess so, what else will I do with it. The one item I couldn't seem to find was the foul ball I caught at a Rockies' game several years ago. I couldn't remember any other boxes labeled "baseball stuff" where it might be. I was starting to get a somewhat sick feeling in my stomach. Many people go their whole lives attending baseball games and never get a baseball. How could I be so careless to actually lose it?

This is where Sunday comes in. When I got into the garage and actually started strategizing how to organize it I came upon a box labeled, you guessed it, "baseball stuff". "What's this?" I thought. "I don't remember this box!" Now, it is my garage and my stuff, so I shouldn't have been surprised that this box was there. I mean, I put it there myself, but as it turns out, I was surprised that box was there. So, without giving it much thought, I lifted off the lid of the box to see what kind of "baseball stuff" was in there, and, right on top, was the foul ball. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! The foul ball that was lost had now been found! It was a joyous occasion. Later, in the evening, I got on retrosheet and looked up the information about that game when I caught the ball. I had always remembered it was the last game of the season against the Giants, off of the bat of Terry Shumpert against Alan Embree, but I couldn't remember the season. So, the game was October 3, 1999 in the bottom of the 9th in a game in which we trailed by one going into the 9th and rallied to win by one. What a glorious way to end a baseball season, to rally in the bottom of the 9th to win the game AND catch a foul ball.

Oh, and by the way, I did finish organizing the garage and got the car inside, sheltered from the oncoming storm. On Monday I woke up to: no snow, but who cares, I once again have my foul ball. This time, for good.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

With the completion of the World Series, now comes the the start of the off-season for baseball. While most of the other major sports have a relatively quiet period during their off-season, baseball never really settles down very much. Since the commissioner's office forbids any major announcements during the WS, GM's and owners chomping at the bit to make changes at the top announce them in a flurry as soon as the October Classic is over. So, we have already been seeing a pretty hefty game of musical chairs with the GM's. The two that probably were the biggest surprises were DePodesta's firing in LA and Epstein stepping down in Boston. With owners becoming more and more involved in the daily operations of their teams, the ground that GM's stand on is becoming shakier and shakier.

As well as the various management changes, we have free agency to keep us busy. There are a total of 206 players eligible for free agency, with 151 having already filed. Players have until November 10 to file and can start negotiating November 11. Four of the six Rockies eligible have already filed; Todd Greene, Dustan Mohr, BK Kim and Dan Miceli, while Mike DeJean has already re-signed with the Rox and Jamey Wright has yet to file. Of the 151 players who have filed, I counted 19 former Rox while there are another 10 who could still file. For a rundown of the Rox' minor league free agents, read UITR. I have added a Free Agent Tracker on the website to keep up with all the free agent activity.

Speaking of the website, at the risk of sounding like I can't make up my mind, I have done another redesign. This one however, is a complete structural redesign while the previous one was more of a change of color scheme only. It should be much easier to get around. Let me know what you think.

I can't help but wonder what is going on in the Rox' front office when Jerry DiPoto, after only one year in the organization, decides to take the job of color analyst for home games and then ends up darting to the dreaded snakes for a similar job he had with the Rox.