Missing Teddy

One year ago tonight, we lost our little buddy Teddy after a game between the Suns and the visiting Hickory Crawdads.
We came home from the game and he needed help.
After a trip to the 24-7 Vet, Teddy was gone as I had to make the toughest decision that pet owners have to make.
More about that night can be found here, but I wanted to write about life without Teddy a year later...

He's missed.
Simplistic, I'm sure, but the house just isn't the house without him.
It's just not the same without that face waiting for me when I come home from work or a ballgame or a trip to the store.
Ed's been helpful, but it's just not the same.
I don't have the little guy hopping up on a couch to lay with me or the running to get tossed popcorn or whatever food item I happened to have at that time and that makes me smile just thinking about it...

We still have not brought home another dog and I'm still not in a hurry to do so.
We have looked around the net a time or two but just haven't been sparked enough to make any movement.
Cherie says she's not sure about another dog with the house eventually being just the two of us.
She thinks that could be a problem when we go away, but I disagree.
When both kids are gone, a dog would be a great bridge to avoid the empty nest syndrome, but that's neither here nor there because in any case, it won't be Teddy.

Loss never is easier to take and the saying "time heals all wounds" just isn't so.
It still hurts a year later and I bet it always hurts.
The loss in my life is beyond words.
I don't think non-pet owners can ever really understand the connection that can happen sometimes.
Not always, I can think of plenty of pet owners that never quite get there and that doesn't make things bad-we don't connect with every family member in our life now, do we?
I remember talking about Teddy to Kendall Morris and he said something that stayed with me.
Kendall's family had bought a dog over the previous year or two and he said "I never understood people with a dog or cat and how they took things so personally-Now I do".

I think of my pal every day over the last year and it sometimes makes me laugh, smile, and sometimes even worse.
The time we spent together, I wouldn't trade for anything and his passing cannot take that away.
My religious views are well known, but I'd like to think that my pal is spending his time right now waiting for me at a special back door.

I miss you and I hope to eventually see you again...

Back later with the Devils reaching a contract with Cory Schneider, I just felt that this was more important for me to get down on "paper",... 

Cleveland clears cap space

The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their relentless charge to bring LeBron James back to Cleveland as the team today culled some space on the salary cap in a three way deal with the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics that can only be looked at as making space to entice James.

The Cavaliers swapped veteran point guard Jarrett Jack and 2014 first rounder Sergei Karasev to the Nets,while sending 2013 first rounder Tyler Zeller along with the team's 2016 first rounder (protected from lottery) to the Celtics while Cleveland received the rights to three players that have never played in the NBA and one that hasn't even played in Europe in years.
Cleveland could pull in a future second round draft pick,if certain conditions were met,but that is likely to be a moot point.

The deal was made to create space to attract LeBron James and if he indeed is returning to Cleveland with the space made by this deal,then it was a successful trade.
However,if this has been another attention seeking maneuver by James and he stays in Miami-the Cleveland Cavaliers traded two first round picks that are nice role players (Zeller) and one (Karasev) with the possible potential to be an off the bench scorer that all teams seem to have for essentially cap space to attract players that likely would not be coming to town.-this could loom as a huge mistake.
The Cavaliers are all in and I suppose Karasev and Zeller might be worth the risk of losing to add James.
I know Jarrett Jack is worth losing as Jack was overpaid and underproducing in his one year in Cleveland and veteran PG types are a dime a dozen in this league.

Give the Cavaliers credit for being in the race in a battle that would have never been imagined a few years ago and I'll easily do that,but deals like this and other rumored (Please-NO moving Andrew Wiggins!) are risks that we will have to wait and see whether they were worth it or not.

I'll be back later tonight with a special post.....

Power Outages and why they "suck"

An interesting day from the world headquarters as it started strong,had issues and then finished better to conclude the day.

The title is a paraphrase from my neighbor,who so eloquently offered her thoughts on power outages.
After a great start with a great sub (more on that on a future slow day),seeing the lovely Cherie and I's friend Denise there and finding some more pepper plants to place in Pepper Land MD,the day was pretty good as I sat at the Muni waiting for the Lakewood Blue Claws,so I could finish their team set.

The graphers with Derreck and I swapped various forecasts for an impending storms arrival when suddenly my phone rang.
Yes,I know most of you don't even know I have a cell phone-that is how seldom I use it,but it rang to Derreck's amazement and Cherie told me it was pouring rain at our house.
We live just a few minutes (as in maybe 3 or 4 by car) and it was literally the calm before the storm at the Muni.
I'm sure anyone knows the feeling before a storm when the skies get dark,yet the wind stops and the eerie calmness arrives.
I was able to trek to the back grandstand before hearing Cherie utter "OH MY GOSH,OH MY GOSH,I HAVE TO GO".
It was a very unsettling feeling being so far away and helpless and by the time we reached the other end of the grandstand,the storm had arrived and I limped to Derreck's car in the downpour.
Derreck graciously took me home and all was well except no power.
We would have no power for the next 3 or so hours,except for a brief respite of a few minutes in between.

One never realizes how much comfort that we have until the power goes out.
No cooling,no television,internet etc.
It really makes you think how pampered we are-me included.
Nothing seems to make the clock tick slower than having little to pass the time.
I brought out the Strat O Matic cards and played two games of the Giants 1971 season as they took both games from the Cardinals to have something to do as the one advantage was that it was at least daylight available to play and later read (started the Long Season) as well.
I'm sure that I would have gotten by in the non-electric times,which my wife seems to romanticize,and you deal with the hand that you've been dealt,but for all the nostalgia that I have for the past-I don't have a fondness for the days of limited power.
As my dimwitted neighbor says "This sucks".

For the record,we eventually killed the times by going to the Muni anyway and catching a few innings of a Suns win.
Amazingly,the game was played!
If you have been there for a hard rain,you would know just how amazing that was!

Back later with more!!

On the Signing Front-Mini Version

A mini version of the signing front today as time is short yet the pile needs to be shaved down a bit....

The Asheville Tourists hit Hagerstown and so did the graphers as the Tourists are the only chance to graph the only Colorado Rockies affiliate on the East Coast.
Sadly,there was no appearance by first rounder Jonathan Gray,who was assigned to AA,but there were some interesting players in Asheville.

David Dahl returned after an injury filled 2013 and being killed by graphers last season in street clothes in Hagerstown in Asheville's last season trip here.
Dahl wasn't quite as accommodating in the 2014 run,but still signed 3 and I was able to get him on both of his top 100's,so I was happy enough!

Ryan McMahon was another highly thought of prospect that signed for me and chatted a bit as was Correlle Prime.
Prime has one of the better signatures that I've seen this season.
19 year old shortstop Emerson Jimenez,powerhitting catcher Jose Briceno and pitcher Johendi Jiminian were other top 30 Rockies prospects to make it into the collection.
Former White Sox catcher Marv Foley was traveling with the team as a roving instructor and I was able to get Foley on two cards.
Thanks to Corey Cunningham for running down to the dugout to get Foley as I continued to work on the Tourists....

I also continued to work on the Suns during the series as I was able to add roving instructor Gary Thurman on his Donruss "The Rookies" and Suns ace Lucas Giolito on his Bowman Blue Mini.
I also nabbed Nick Pivetta on his Suns card before he started personalizing....
A few words on personalizing.
I love personalizing on pictures,I think it adds a lot to the picture and since I don't sell my stuff anyway,it doesn't bother me a bit.
However,as much as I love it on bigger items,that's how much I dislike it on cards.
Why? Well,mainly because of the smaller surface area,there just isn't much room for a "to Shawn" and then the signature.It tends to looks cluttered and junky.
The player can sign however they want,they are doing me the favor,but just stating an opinion on the eventual look of the item...

Derreck and I were accompanied by our good friend Tracy for a trip to Reading for the Trenton Thunder,the Yankees AA affiliate.
You never know what you are going to get with a Yankee team and the bag was mixed this time.
The team had three top 100's with Tyler Austin,Gary Sanchez and Mason Williams and I went 1 for 3 as Austin signed,but a miss with the other two.
Supposedly,both Sanchez and Williams signed getting on the bus,but Derreck had to be at work,so we had to leave at an appointed time.
The bad part was that Derreck was still late as we took an hour to reach the interstate (usually about 15 minutes) due to road construction.
Derreck asked Williams to sign earlier and was told "I ain't got time for that".
Good thing too,because his average fell to .200 later in the game.

I did get a few nice signatures though.
The best was catcher Peter O'Brien (very nice),Taylor Garrison and Taylor Dugas along Robert Refsnyder,who was very surly before the game,but nice after in a bi-polar way.
It happens with competitors sometimes,I suppose.
Former Tiger and current coach Marcus Thames signed,but not before ruining my sharpie by dropping it on the point and shoving it into the pen.
Occupational hazard! HA HA!

That ends the short version of the signing front,buying me a little room before a larger next update.
Until then,keep the sharpies inked!

Jim Brosnan and my love of the written word

I was sorry to hear of the death of Jim Brosnan earlier this week at the age of 84.
Brosnan was an average reliever for the Cubs,Cardinals,Reds and White Sox in the late 1950's and early 60's and was best known on the field for his 1961 season as the "fireman" for the surprise National League titlist Reds.

Off the field,Brosnan was best known for his two books released during his career-diaries of the 1959 season,"The Long Season" and "Pennant Race,Brosnan's look at the miracle run of the 1961 Reds.
Brosnan's book were the first real look at the inside of baseball and were predictably bashed by many in the game.
Brosnan's book were a little more whitewashed than later books,most notably Jim Bouton's Ball Four as Brosnan deleted any talk on sexual issues and Brosnan cleaned up much of the language of the locker room to tame the subject a bit,but the books never seem to be sifted through by censor.
Brosnan simply took out things that he didn't feel was needed for any potential young readers to read and I can respect that decision.

Brosnan wrote an inside the game look that could be read by all ages and I loved reading those books,yet I didn't actually own them until a reprint a few years back.
Brosnan told the truth and named names,which is half the fun of reading such books.
I remember reading the Dirk Hayhurst minor league diary and being disappointed because he created pseudonyms for players.
I understand the wanting to have players keep some privacy,but by not doing so,Hayhurst took away the readers potential connection to the subject and his work suffered for it.
Brosnan didn't and like Bouton,you feel a connection from the word for players that are represented by just a statistic or a baseball card.
As a result,you feel like you "know" the manager with a bias like Solly Hemus or a player that isn't your kind of guy like Fred Talbot or even Brosnan or Bouton themselves for being more intellectual than most in the game.
Baseball,for all the fun it can be,is still a job to be worked at,like we all have and whenever there is a job to do and you don't control all the surroundings,there will be people that you don't always like.
Brosnan's book was the first one that show baseball as just another job and opening that up made people feel closer to the game (at least for a while until salaries went out of control for the average person) and look at them as real people,not just people on card.

One side effect of reading Brosnan's book and later Bouton was me getting very excited about getting common cards of players that were on teams that were featured in those books.
Few of those players were stars as the only one's that come to mind in Long Season or Pennant Race were Stan Musial and Frank Robinson,but I remember being thrilled finding cards of players like Joey Jay and Marshall Bridges just because of their appearances in the book,let alone if I could find an actual Brosnan or Bouton card!

Jim Brosnan stepped into my life as a young child with these books from the library.
I bet I checked those books along with Jim Bouton's more times than I can count.
My family emphasized reading without telling me what to read,so from day one,my love of reading allowed me to gravitate towards sports,which was the one thing that I had in common with my father.
Looking back,whether I realized it or not,I was searching for something to be able to have in common with a man that was often at work or emotionally unavailable and sports was the only avenue that I had.
Don't get me wrong,I love the games or I wouldn't be doing this today,but there has always been more to me than just sports and I haven't always done a sterling job of letting people know that.
I mean,I've always prided myself on being multi-dimensional,yet often unless I get to be good friends with someone,the easy way is to just look at me as a sports guy.
I've always loved reading not just sports though.
I also love biography,history,space,politics and the list goes on as my enjoyment of reading has never stopped.
Reading has always been a friend to me,a friend that is always available and only leaves me when I'm dumb enough to not bring something to read.
I wonder if the next few generations will have the same attachments to reading when so much will be digital?

Jim Brosnan's books capture a period of time in baseball history as the time begins to turn towards the more modern ballplayer,yet they still show that no matter the time period,this game is still played by people of a certain age and no matter the advances in the social world,people of that age group is still a certain type of person-often untouched by failure and filled with the answers that only age makes one realize is truly fools gold.
I think I'm up for re-reading,even if you aren't a baseball fan,maybe you might enjoy it too.
Even if it's just for the time holding a book in your hand.

Grading the circuit-Frederick Keys

Today is the start of an occasional series that will look at what I like and dislike on the various stops on my travels on the minor league baseball circuit.
Future post will deal with Hagerstown,Harrisburg,Reading and Altoona along with possibly others,but today we will start with the Frederick Keys.

The Keys have usually been the gold standard in my experiences from top to bottom through the years and they continue to lead in most areas.
Frederick is easy to graph at,as I've noted in the past and the park offers easy access to the field at any spot on the concourse.
The park is beginning to show its age a bit,but still offers a close view to the field and was among the first of the 90's parks to offer a view of the game while waiting in line at a concession stand.
Now,many parks have more stands or have television's showing the game while you wait,but Frederick still has the advantage of simply turning around to watch the game.
The lines usually go slow as the team won't be able to add lines until the day comes that the team is able to add some areas for renovation to Harry Grove Stadium,but at least you can watch while you wait.

The Keys also get high marks for the lack of obnoxious games that used to be a staple in Hagerstown (More on them on the Suns post) and when they do play various on field games,the microphone isn't turned on high and drown out every persons conversations.
I understand that the casual fan is the fan that teams have to draw from to make money,but the Keys also seem to get that baseball is the draw and that leads to a toned down experience that allows everyone to enjoy the game and the entertainment surrounding it.

Harry Grove is a solid park to watch a game at,nothing spectacular,but solid.
I wish that the Grove had an outfield area to sit as stadiums that have that tend to spread the crowds out a bit,but it is what is and there really isn't what I would say is a bad seat in the place.
The sightlines are good and the seats are close to the field,so you'll enjoy your game viewing,but pay attention-foul balls tend to get to the stands FAST and more than once,I've seen fans get smoked by foul shots.
Two times,I've seen fans leave via ambulance so please pay attention to the game,even if just enough to know where the ball is going.

The Keys usually get top marks for customer service too.
The employees in the ticket office are quite accommodating and the front office folks are helpful as well.
I only added the word usually because of a bad experience with a Keys usher at a recent game was my first bad one ever in Frederick.
I'm not going to give play by play of this experience,but suffice it to say "Daniel" won't be winning any All-Usher team spots any time soon.
Frederick is not alone with this as one of the regular stops has constant issues with rude and downright mean ushers as we will discuss this when we reach that particular team.
I'll never understand why ,with the importance of customer service, that teams employ these types.
But it's just our opinion and if you have one problem over eight or nine years,that's a pretty good ratio for the Frederick Keys when you consider how many games I get to.

The Frederick Keys do a good job and I rank the Keys experience near or at the top of the teams that I see regularly.
I'll be ranking these in order as we go along so as you read a new post,I'll have the new rankings.

1) Frederick Keys

Cavaliers lock up Kyrie Irving.

The Cleveland Cavaliers locked up their franchise player as Kyrie Irving accepted the team's maximum contract offer of five years and 90 million for a extension adding to this season,which is the final year under Irving's original rookie contract.

Irving's commitment to Cleveland allows new GM David Griffin to build the franchise around the skills of Irving without the worry of Irving packing up and leaving town at the end of the upcoming season.

The process began with the drafting of Andrew Wiggins,who I think will mesh very nicely with the skills of Irving,will continue with the free agency period as the Cavaliers are rumored to be preparing offers for several players,although which one depends on what you read (I'm hoping for Gordon Hayward of the Jazz,myself) and might end in a trade,if not two.
The person that might be most likely to leave in a trade might be Dion Waiters,who despite being an explosive offensive player has not been able to work well with Irving when both players are on the floor at the same time.
Waiters has been productive enough that he might bring a nice piece to the Cleveland puzzle or perhaps a future number one pick depending on the trade partner.

Kyrie Irving's biggest problem has been health as his 71 games last season was his highest in his three seasons by the lake and that means that he still missed 11 games.
Irving's durability issues goes all the way back to his lone season at Duke,so this is nothing new or a one season aberration,but the Cavaliers are forced to live with them.
Kyrie Irving will have to be the focal point of the Cleveland organization,at least until Andrew Wiggins matures, and this contract allows the Cavaliers to know that he is locked as said focal point.
Now the biggest issues are these-Can the Cavaliers surround Irving with the talent that every team needs to succeed? Can Irving thrive as the franchise player or would he be better suited as the second best player on a contending team?

I don't have the answers to either of those questions,but I do think that this deal was a no-brainer for the Cavaliers.
They had to show that they could keep the star player (s) around after that certain someone took his talents south and that forced their hand,although Irving's performance certainly warranted a contract such as this.

The rebuild continues with two foundation stones in Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins,now the time is here to see how Cleveland is able to add to the foundation.....