Should be no surprise but no one contacted me to pick up a Kevy Award. Feels good to be ignored sometimes. And now it is time for a 35,000 foot look back at this past season. It was a decent but unremarkable year for me in baseball.
I saw 8 players make their major league debuts (Nestor Cortes Jr, Pedro Araujo, Brett Graves, Tyler Bashlor, Wes Parsons, Adam McCreary, Josh Rogers and Blake Trahan) and none of them will probably be great players. Wonder how many of them will be in the Atlantic League in 3 years or less? Considering I only got two ML debuts in last year this was quite a windfall. The best player I have seen make his debut is Nick Markakis. Probably not a Hall of Famer but he is a Hall of Very Good-er.
I saw 6 4-hit games (Alex Gordon, Brett Gardner, Trey Mancini, Adam Jones, Randall Grichuk and Adam Frazier) and seven multi-homerun games (Pedro Alvarez, Bryce Harper, Mike Moustakas, Justin Bour, Mark Trumbo, Jordan Luplow and Maikel Franco). One big league grand slam, Ronald Guzman of the Texas Rangers. The most hits I have ever seen in a game is still 6 by Freddy Sanchez. I don’t know if I will ever see that again. I’ve seen several players hit 3 home runs in a game but it’s been awhile for that. Don’t see too many grand slams, the last one I saw was Francisco Cervelli in that beat down in Chicago in 2017.
I saw 4 10+ strikeout games (Stephen Strasburg, Jake Arrieta, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander), the first two against the Pirates in April, Scherzer late in the season against the Marlins and Verlander against the Orioles. Guess the biggest milestone was seeing Scherzer get his 300th strikeout of the season. It’s a rare feat so why not point it out? Most in a game I have seen? I was at Scherzer’s 20 strikeout game a few years ago. That was history.
Despite what may happen with Harper I will remember that multi-homer game. It was against the Rockies and a Rockie fan in the left field seats kept yelling out that Harper was overrated. There was no way that Harper could hear him and he was playing right field that night so I know he didn’t know but Harper proceeded to hit a homerun into the next section over from that fan. That person kept on going the next time Harper came up and this time Harper knocked one into his section. Let’s just say the third time Harper came up I heard nothing about him being overrated. Harper did not have a good season in some ways but teams are going to be lining up to sign him.
It was much of the same in the minors as in the majors. There was a lot of good and a lot of bad and a lot in between. I saw a triple play at a Revolution game (a first in franchise history) and one player hit for the cycle in Edinson Lantigua of the West Virginia Black Bears. I also saw two York County natives play in the form of West York’s Brett Kinneman of the West Virginia Black Bears and Spring Grove’s Dalton Hoiles of the Aberdeen Ironbirds. We also had another native son get drafted in Cash Gladfelter who went to the Seattle Mariners and I wonder if I might get to see him next year since the West Virginia Power are now a Mariners affiliate. After all of those years with the Pirates that will be a bit weird. Two others were eligible but were not drafted. I heard the one wanted 3rd round money to sign so he is off instead to the University of Kentucky. Haven’t seen a York Countian play in affiliated ball since South Western’s Matt Hockenberry of the Reading Fightin’ Phils though I also saw Northern’s Cody Eppley play in Indy ball this year with Southern Maryland. I also saw Eppley when he was with the Indianapolis Indians too but that was in 2014 he he stunk in the game I saw.
That was about it for the remarkable feats for the year though I partook in the Tim Tebow Experience once again when he graced City Island with his presence. I will probably always remember at the first game of the series the heavens opened up before the game and some autograph seekers wanted his signature so bad that they stood in line in the downpour not wanting to give up their spot. Crazy people but then take a look on eBay and one can see why. I don’t think they got it though as Tebow seemed to favor the on field spot to sign and only signed a few items. I’m not even sure he signed anything that night. He can’t be that naive to know that most of what he signs will end up on eBay.
Got quite a few ballparks in this year, most on the yearly circuit. Listed in order of first visit:
Camden Yards, Baltimore MD
First Energy Stadium, Reading PA
Prince George’s Stadium, Bowie MD
Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium, Frederick MD
Nationals Park, Washington DC
First National Bank Field, Harrisburg PA
Daniel Frawley Stadium, Wilmington DE
Municipal Stadium, Hagerstown MD
Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia PA
People’s Natural Gas Field, Altoona PA
Coca-Cola Park, Allentown PA
People’s Bank Park, York PA
Regency Furniture Stadium, Waldorf MD
Clipper Magazine Stadium, Lancaster PA
Arm & Hammer Park, Trenton NJ
Ripken Stadium, Aberdeen MD
Yogi Berra Stadium, Montclair NJ
Richmond County Bank Ballpark, Staten Island NY
MCU Park, Brooklyn NY
Citi Field, Queens NY
Bethpage Ballpark, Central Islip NY
BB&T Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field, Williamsport PA
Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, Salisbury MD
PNC Park, Pittsburgh PA
G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium, Woodbridge VA
The Diamond, Richmond VA
Harbor Park, Norfolk VA
Monongalia County Ballpark, Granville WV
FirstEnergy Park, Lakewood NJ
Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, State College PA
PNC Field, Moosic PA
Lot of miles on the car…Haven’t counted how many bobbleheads I added but it’s probably at least 30 new ones this year. Not really much else was on the promo schedule outside of a beer stein in Washington. No stadium replicas or anything.
The only place on the somewhat yearly circuit that I considered heading to but didn’t make it was Binghamton, might make it up there for a hockey game though. Went up last year to avoid the massive rain storms down here during the Labor Day weekend and picked up a bobblehead while at it. The problem with Binghamton is that it is 3 hours to there and I am not seeing any new teams that I can’t see in Harrisburg or Reading. Their bobbleheads all happened to fall on days that other and more appealing ones were being given away so it just didn’t work out. I would imagine that next year there will be a Tim Tebow one though. This year there was also a great secret that I had and that no one will get to know it. It could blow up the Internet should it get out but I don’t have to worry about that because it isn’t. I’m taking the Eric Cartman approach of I have something and you can’t have it to make you want to know it more. Now if only I could get my own theme park. Kevinland sounds pretty good! Have you made it this far? I figure very few people have.
And a complete list of teams seen:
American League
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Angels
Minnesota Twins
New York Yankees
Oakland A’s
Seattle Mariners
Tampa Bay Rays
Texas Rangers
Toronto Blue Jays
National League
Atlanta Braves
Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
Miami Marlins
Milwaukee Brewers
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
St. Louis Cardinals
Washington Nationals
International League AAA
Buffalo Bison
Indianapolis Indians
Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs
Norfolk Tides
Pawtucket Red Sox
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders
Syracuse Chiefs
Toledo Mud Hens
Eastern League AA
Akron Rubber Ducks
Altoona Curve
Binghamton Rumble Ponies
Bowie Baysox
Erie Seawolves
Harrisburg Senators
Hartford Yard Goats
New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Portland Sea Dogs
Reading Fightin’ Phils
Richmond Flying Squirrels
Trenton Thunder
Carolina League Advanced A
Buies Creek Astros
Carolina Mudcats
Down East Wood Ducks
Frederick Keys
Lynchburg Hillcats
Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Potomac Nationals
Salem Red Sox
Wilmington Blue Rocks
Winston-Salem Dash
South Atlantic League A ball
Delmarva Shorebirds
Greensboro Grasshoppers
Hagerstown Suns
Hickory Crawdads
Lakewood Blue Claws
Lexington Legends
West Virginia Power
Rained out for Columbia Fireflies
New York/Penn Short Season A
Aberdeen Ironbirds
Brooklyn Cyclones
Connecticut Tigers
Lowell Spinners
Mahoning Valley Scrappers
Staten Island Yankees
State College Spikes
Tri Cities Valley Cats
West Virginia Black Bears
Williamsport Crosscutters
Atlantic League Independant
Lancaster Barnstormers
Long Island Ducks
New Britain Bees
Road Warriors
Somerset Patriots
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
Sugar Land Skeeters
York Revolution
Can-Am League Independant
New Jersey Jackals
Quebec Capitales
Next year’s big baseball trip may be down to the Carolinas (have I mentioned this yet?). In a perfect world I would like to hit some of the battlefields in the Shenandoah Valley like Opequon Creek, Kernstown, Port Republic and McDowell and take in games in Salem, VA, Asheville NC, Winston-Salem NC, Greensboro NC, High Point NC and probably one or two other spots. Kinston NC, Zebulon NC, Fayetteville NC, Greeneville SC, Columbia SC, Durham, NC and Myrtle Beach SC are in play as well. I’d like to knock out the rest of the Carolina League if I could.
Don’t know what I’ll do in North Carolina but I’m sure there is something to do and I trust my ability to find something of interest. I hit most of the battlefields on my 2017 trip. We’ll see, the schedules are coming out for 2019. I would also like to go to Japan for the Rugby World Cup and I would like to take in some of the Japanese Major Leagues too. That will be determined if I can get all of the tickets for matches that I want. There is always that little voice in the back of my head telling me not to do that but I’ve gotten that for every baseball trip and I’ve always had a good time. Japan though would be a whole new nut to crack.
Not much going on this week. Getting settled in for the 6 months of non-baseball season. Now the weather was nice still but we went from summer to fall in about 12 hours Thursday/Friday. I did have to run up to Harrisburg to pick up Weenie Boy Tuesday night and fortunately it was still nice and warm. Of course he gets the latest flight back into Harrisburg so that I am up well past my bedtime. It turns out he almost missed his flight down to Myrtle Beach for the third time this summer. His plane was late leaving Harrisburg and he arrived in Philly as his flight was pulling away. Fortunately for him he was rebooked on a later flight to Charlotte but nearly missed the flight from there to Myrtle Beach but he made it. You know, I told him just to go to Philly and I would have driven him there, just not at 6 AM. Apparently that is what he is doing next year (or BWI), unless of course I drive him down as part of my Carolinas swing.
This weekend I hit Gettysburg to walk some of the battlefield and enjoy a gusty and chilly fall day while hopefully seeing some fall foliage. On the last count I didn’t. After a nice walk along the first day’s battlefield I headed down to Frederick to visit Flying Dog, Monocacy and Brewer’s Alley and then to Hanover to visit Aldus and Warehouse before heading home. Did not grab a beer at all of them just got something to go, don’t need a DUI now do I and with a nice Saturday night at hand, I can sit back and enjoy a cold brew or three. First time also at Warehouse (brewery list is updated), a bit small but a nice place. Apparently its been there for 5 years but if I remember right they had really odd hours for a long time which is why I haven’t made it in yet. That might be the last York County brewery left to visit. With all of this evening down time I have put quite a bit of a dent in my beer stash but the last time I went shopping I found a beer from Iceland so I’ll pick that up next time I’m in. This would be the time of year to go hit Harper’s Ferry and climb Maryland Heights, there’s an idea for next week. Hopefully the weather forecast improves.
Headed up to Reading for the Royals’ Sunday game against Worcester. Stopped at Schaylor Brewing in Shillington and Oakbrook Brewing in Reading for a cold one and dinner beforehand. Schalyor is a nice place, just off of 222 and Oatbrook is a nice little place, its an old firehouse on the south side of the city tucked in a residential neighborhood. Bit busy today since there was some kind of bike event going on. It was Eagles pride night. I’m not an Eagles fan but the line to get autographs from Vince Papale and Bill Bergey was short so I jumped in. Nice guys, Papale is a talker that’s for sure. In the game Worcester jumped up 1-0 and then Reading went on a 6-1 run. I was wondering at one point if Reading would get to 10 goals (I’ve never seen that, made it to 9 twice though) but they didn’t. Instead Worcester rallied chalking up 2 goals in the 3rd period. They also had a penalty shot as well but that was blocked. That would have made it real interesting. That was it though, Reading wins 6-4.
