Note from a Player

 My junior high coaching season ended yesterday. Well, sort of... I'm the junior varsity girls softball coach at one of the middle schools in our district. The junior varsity team is made of all the sixth graders and a few seventh graders, and our last game was yesterday. Technically I'm also the assistant varsity coach as well, and that team will continue to play for a week or so until they are eliminated from the state playoffs. Trying to coach a bunch of energetic 6th and 7th grade girls can take a lot out of a guy, but now I'll get to relax a bit and enjoy my assistant varsity gig. 

I've held this coaching position now for the last seventeen years and it's been fun watching the younger middle school players grow and mature into the occasional standout high school player. 

Every now and again I get a little extra something from a player during or at the end of a season. This was one of those years and I thought I'd share it. 

Sweet note from a very nice kid. 

I hope this note brought a smile to your face! Thanks for stopping by!

Folder of Fun: Page 10

The Folder of Fun, as I like to call it, has been in the works for about three years. That's about the time I stopped buying retail and hobby packs and began tracking down cards which fit a certain general description: FUN.  Here's a link to the first post in this series if you'd like to go back and catch up. 

Page 10 seems like as good a place as any to discuss the big news in the baseball world today, which is the official cancelling of the Minor League Baseball season. 

The writing was on the wall, and has been for a couple of months, but that doesn't make it sting any less. Last summer was my first working with a minor league baseball team and I was very much looking forward to year number two. 

As much as I enjoyed getting paid to go to a professional ballpark, I think I still enjoy being a paying fan more. There's just something about sitting in the stands, relaxing, and taking in all the sights and sounds.

All of the aforementioned brings us to Page 10 of the Folder of Fun.

These eight cards are from the 2013 Panini Triple Play set. It's not a great set by anyone's standards, but the price point and overall concept were both kid friendly, which I think we could use more of in this hobby of ours.

No commentary here. I'll let the cards speak for themselves.

My Folder of Fun is my way of documenting my favorite game and what makes it so great in my eyes. I think these cards do a fine job when viewed threw this lens.

The next few pages are within the same mold: sights, sounds, smells and traditions. Hopefully we'll all be able to experience them first hand at local ballpark in 2021!

A Small Step Up the Ladder

Last summer I worked downtown at Dozer Park entering data for the Peoria Chiefs on their TrackMan software. In short, I worked about 15 fifteen games, made minimum wage, was given a $10 food voucher for each game, and had the best seat in the house to watch a historically bad Peoria Chiefs season. (The 2019 team broke the franchise mark for most losses in a season. Ouch.)

I'm still thirteen years or so away from retiring from my high school teaching and coaching job, but it's never too early to lay the groundwork for a post-retirement job. Working at a part-time data entry position on game days seemed like an excellent way to get my foot in the door. Plus, those perks... being paid to watch baseball!

In 2019 was one of five part-time individuals who worked the TrackMan system. I didn't meet them all, but I believe the rest were all college students. I received an email earlier this week from my contact at the Chiefs asking if I'd like to work again this year. He wanted to know if I'd be interested in becoming a substitute stringer in addition to working the TrackMan system. Heck yeah!

Last season's stringer, a veteran of at least a few seasons, was a mid-twenties gentleman who decided to take the LSAT and was accepted to law school. From what I have gleaned from recent emails the new full-time guy comes from within the organization and I'll be his backup.

In a perfect world, my plan is to become the Chiefs' full-time stringer after I retire in 2033, while working as a part-time data entry guy until then. Moving up the ladder this early wasn't part of the plan, but I'm pretty excited about it.  Here's a great article on the daily routine of a baseball stringer.

Applying for a non-fan MLB account was my first step.

As part of my training I'll have to watch video of some baseball games and input them into the stringer software, otherwise known as Gameday to you and I.

Once I become proficient, I will have earned the title of "official scorer" at the MiLB level, albeit a part-time substitute scorer.

High school baseball tryouts start in 36 days, which seems like forever from now, but at least now I have something to keep me busy until then. Wish me luck!

Ogle That Vogel: Regional Championship Edition

My junior high softball coaching season concluded today. We were one game away from going to the State Championships, but we were bested by a pretty talented team this afternoon in the Sectional. So it goes.

Regardless, the team went 20-5 overall and the girls brought home only the second Regional Title since I started coaching with the school fifteen years ago. It was a fun year with quite a few interesting characters. There were many more laughs today than tears and I'm thankful for that!

I'm still not sure how I manage coaching junior high girls in the fall and handle high school boys in the spring. Talk about being from two different planets!

To celebrate, how about a 1-of-1 Vogelbach autographed plate from 2017 Topps Chrome?

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Only three more printing plates to go. Ha!

The MLB season is coming to a close and I'll be getting ready for the playoffs. It doesn't look like my Cubs will be joining the excitement this year, but that won't stop me from showing off some truly wonderful cards of the Vogelmonster.

Stay tuned!

Gasp! I Have a Summer Job!

I just finished my nineteenth year of teaching and the last time I had a summer job was back in 2001 when I taught 3rd graders during summer school. Yikes! That was an experience!

Generally, my normal school year doesn't end until late May and then things start up again in late July with junior high softball tryouts. There's typically a six week window during June and July where I'm doing some summer coaching, but not this year. School affiliated summer baseball is dying in central Illinois, but that's a story for another day.

My view from my work station.

A former player of mine is slowly working his way into baseball and he inspired me to give my longtime dream of working in baseball a chance. Knowing ahead of time that I wouldn't have my typical summertime coaching responsibilities I applied with the Peoria Chiefs for a summer job.

I had grand ideas of being the official scorer, but my spring and fall coaching duties conflicted with the Chiefs' schedule of games quite a bit and that bubble burst fairly quickly.

I'm a Data Entry guy! I found my niche with the TrackMan system the Chiefs use.

TrackMan tracks all kinds of numbers and I love it!

A Bradley University intern worked the TrackMan system most of April and May and I filled in a couple of times when needed. The intern graduated and moved back home so now I'm one of four guys who works on a rotating schedule to operate the TrackMan system. As of this post I've worked five games in June and eight overall.

I have a badge!

I clock in about thirty minutes prior to first pitch and enter the starting lineups into the computer.

In general, I'm responsible for numbers 1 through 4, in the picture below, during the game. The main two I spend most of my time are #2 and #3, which includes the umpire's call of each pitch or the outcome of the ball put in play and identifying the pitch type. Pitch types can be tricky!

I watch each pitch live, but sometimes it's difficult to determine the difference between pitches so I look at the data the TrackMan system gives me with each pitch. The velocity and spin rates of each pitch are often good indicators. Once I combine the numbers with my veteran eye I usually can tell the difference between a fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. There are other options, but I'm not privy to information on the movement of the pitch so I try to stay away from sinkers, cutters and splitters.

At the end of the game I upload the data into the system and after it's "cleaned" by the TrackMan staff it is then sent to the Chiefs and Cardinals to digest and dissect. I'm usually clocking out and walking to the parking lot about five minutes after the conclusion of the game.

 Here's a picture of my work station.

The dry erase board is for the radio broadcast. When a home run is hit I'm supposed to write down the distance of the homer and the exit velocity off the bat and show it to guys in the booths to my right (visiting broadcast) and left (home broadcast).

The two gentlemen in front of me run the live GameCast of the game for internet viewers and Dozer Park's scoreboard. The guy on the left has another career and just does this for fun and extra spending money. The gentleman on the right is working for a living in baseball. He does three innings of radio, is in charge of the post game summary and numerous other jobs. They are both twenty-something guys and love to talk baseball, food and women. For the most part I just play the role of "fly on the wall" but occasionally I'll chime in or I'll be asked to settle a debate. For instance, last Monday they asked me to settle the hot dog condiment debate! LOL

The red pieces of paper on the tabletop are "Chiefs Bucks" that I may use how I see fit. I get $10 each day to spend on concessions. Nice perk!

In summary, I get paid to watch baseball. I also get the behind-the-curtains view of how a minor league baseball staff produces its product on game day. Baseball talk and other musings keep me entertained between innings and I also get some coupons to spend on ballpark food.

I'm really enjoying it and am hopeful that I'll be lucky enough to continue working this position during upcoming seasons. For yours truly, it's like the best summer job ever!

High School Baseball Update

Last Saturday, May 25th, the high school baseball team I help coach won it's third straight Regional Championship.

All year long we've had stellar defense, excellent pitching and just enough hitting to get by. The Regional Championship game was no different. Take a look at the video I made to commemorate the moment of the 9th-inning walk-off victory:

On Wednesday, May 29th, we defeated Lincoln by the score of 2-1 to move to the Sectional Championship game.

Yesterday we faced off versus a very talented Galesburg team, who jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.

We managed to tie the game in the middle innings and then with two outs in the bottom of the 7th our catcher hit a walk-off single.  Celebration Time!

 Our catcher was the football team's starting quarterback. He has some elusive moves as you can see from the picture above. 

But, when an entire team is chasing you  . . . well, eventually you're going to be on the bottom of the dog pile!

Below is a video of the last play from a local TV channel.

This is only the fourth time in school history the baseball team has advanced to the Elite Eight.

We play tomorrow for a shot at the Final Four! Wish us luck!

One Gesture Leads to a Second

Back in December I posted a feel good story about passing on a baseball card to one of my high school's maintenance workers from his playing days. Alex, a blog reader, enjoyed the story and decided to make a significant contribution. A week or so later I received a yellow padded envelope with about twenty more Roberto Batista cards. There were numerous duplicates in the package, but even better was that at least one copy of every card produced from his playing days was included.

Shortly thereafter I hit up Dave at Minor League Singles and cleaned out his Roberto Batista inventory. There was a spell back in January and February where I'm sure I was ultimate Roberto Batista collector! I had 31 copies of his cards from his minor league days.

Seven of those cards went into a card frame I picked up on Amazon.

I filled out the other two card slots with a team photo card and a Cardinals logo card from Fleer.

Twenty-three of the remaining cards went into a clear plastic case with a bow placed on top.

Card for Alex

The last card was to receive an autograph to send back to Alex. I was able to locate a few other cards to send to Alex as part of a thank you package for being so generous with his card funds to surprise a former minor leaguer, who he has connection to, with a nice gift.

The generosity from Alex did not stop with Roberto cards though. Somewhere during all the planning and waiting he slipped a PWE into the mail with a Brooks Kieschnick in-person autograph. Score!

Planning and waiting . . . Well, I wanted to surprise 'Berto with the frame and all the duplicates for his birthday, which was March 10th. I placed everything into a gift bag and it sat in my closet at school for the entire month of February. Sometimes waiting is the hardest part! On March 8th my school had a half-day and I was able to track down 'Berto at lunch and I pulled him aside into one of the nearby faculty lounges for some privacy.

He saw the gift bag and he started shaking his head, left-to-right, and repeating, "What did you do?" I tried to explain as best I could about how I collect cards and then write about them on my blog on the internet. I mentioned how one fellow collector thought he should have more cards from his playing days than just the one I gave him back in December.

I handed over the gift back and his hand found the clear plastic case of cards at the bottom. I don't think he knew what to make of it at first and I explained they were all duplicates to keep or to pass on to family and friends. He then reached in again and pulled out the frame.

At first he was kind of speechless, save the occasional "Oh, My God." He sat down, placed the frame on the table and started pouring over the cards. I interjected that I thought there was a copy of each of his cards in the frame. He then said, "Yeah, a card for every team I played on except the summer league."

The card in the top left is from 2000 when 'Berto was 18. I guessed, "The Dominican Summer League?"  He responded with, "Yes, where I played before coming to the US." To the best of my knowledge cards have never been produced from the Dominican Summer League.

'Berto then repeated something he said from our initial baseball card encounter back in December, "I don't have much from my playing days."

He continued with more, "They sold everything. When I didn't make the majors they got rid of it all."

I didn't prod, but from what I could tell his baseball mementos, although priceless to him, could be had for the right price if it meant helping his family. He mentioned something about how he doesn't even have his All-Star trophy. I'm assuming that was from his 2003 season where he led the NYPL in saves with a 0.88 ERA.

Roberto, humble and gracious as always, was truly touched by the gift. We parted with some smiles and a handshake and I made off for my afternoon meetings. Later, on my way out of the building to baseball practice, I bumped into another maintenance worked and she commented how nice the card display was and how appreciative 'Berto was of the gift. I thought it was pretty cool that he thought enough of it to show off to his co-workers. That made me smile.

I want to thank Alex for reaching out and providing so many more cards for this endeavor. I had plans of my own to grab one of each of his cards, but Alex really came through with his package of twenty cards.

It's been about ten days since I surprised 'Berto with the cards, but I've seen him a few times since then, while coaching the baseball team, and I always get the biggest smile and a wave.

One Gesture, Two Made Days

Sometime back I learned that one of our maintenance guys at the high school I work at was once in professional baseball. I don't know him very well, but he knows I help coach the baseball team, and I respect the hell out of his work ethic. We always wave at each other or say 'Hi' when close proximity. He's such a jovial fellow I always leave with a smile on my face after seeing 'Berto.

Being the baseball minded individual that I am I had always wanted to type his name into baseballreference.com and take a gander at his career. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't learn 'Berto's last name until recently and I was too shy to ask up until that point. He did pretty well for himself, especially when he played with New Jersey!

A couple of months ago I tracked down the two minor league cards you see above. I decided to sit on them for awhile, mostly because ... well... I wanted one signed but I was too embarrassed to ask. But also, what if this was a chapter of life he didn't want to talk about? Maybe he's bitter about his career ending before making it to the show? You just never know.

So, I decided to wait until today. Today was the last day before winter break. EVERYONE at a high school is in a good mood on a day like this. (Well, maybe not the students taking semester exams.) But, I figured why not?

I put the card on the left in a one-touch case and grabbed a sharpie for the other. If I was going to get one of the cards signed it would have to be the one of him smiling. He's always smiling!

At the end of my day and the beginning of his I tracked down 'Berto. He had his earbuds in while getting ready for work and he was talking to his wife. I motioned that I wanted to chat real quick and asked his wife to hold on for a second.

I explained that I collect baseball cards and signatures when I could get them and how honored I would be if he would sign his card for me.

He seemed completely shocked that anyone would ever possess his baseball card. His face immediately lit up and started talking to his wife again about how a guy at work has one of his cards and how he's asking for an autograph. He kept repeating how he couldn't believe it.

I think if another individual would have walked in at the point in time they would have thought we were two little kids having the times of our lives. Honestly, I think we both were.

I asked him when the last time he autographed something for a fan was and he replied he hadn't signed for anyone since 2006. He passed the card back to me but not before gently blowing on the ink to make sure it wouldn't get smudged.

I then told 'Berto how I hadn't been completely upfront with him and how I didn't have just one card. I had a second which I wanted to give to him. He was completely taken aback. He mentioned how this is only the second card he has from his playing days. The other one was given to him by his mother, who has since passed. He was genuinely touched and the smile, already ear-to-ear, grew even more.

I told him thank you for the autograph and I held out my hand.

That wasn't going to do. 'Berto grabbed me by the shoulder and brought me in for a man hug.

It was so awesome to make him so happy. What a great way to start winter break!

I've Been Gifted a Collection

I was out of town for an educational conference covering standards based grading for two and half days days last week. The timing stunk, you know, because Topps Series 1 dropped on Wednesday.

Me?  I was traveling in a Suburban to Indianapolis. Sigh. Even though I wasn't able to get away and purchase any product I was in a hotel conference center with Wifi... thank goodness for the blogs!

When I returned this past weekend my wife said one of her co-worker's book club friends's had decided to let go of her father's sport collection. I went down stairs and here's what I found in my man room:

Yeah. Two cats and a bunch of boxes.

For the record, I guess the co-worker is in her 50's. Hmmm...  But, the real question is when did the father collect? If it's from his childhood, then we're looking at cardboard from the 1950's or 1960's. If the hobby was something he dabbled with in his retirement, then I'm looking at a bunch of stuff I already probably have.

I haven't touched the boxes yet. My busiest part of the calendar year is almost here and I'm not sure I want to start this sorting project while my high school baseball coaching season is taking place. Then again, there's a good chance my curiosity will get the better of me.

Stay tuned!

Football Trip to NIU and Penquins!

The high school I teach at saw its football team play in the 5A state championship game at Northern Illinois University this past Saturday. It was a fun season, especially for a football program which had never advanced past the second round of the playoffs in its history. 

Dunlap entering the field by ripping through the cheerleaders' sign. 

I have had the cushy job of manning the iPad the past few seasons to record live footage. My footage is then sent wirelessly to three other iPads so coaches and players may look at game film much the way NFL teams due on the sideline. It's a fairly easy job, and any student could do it, but I think the head coach likes having a dependable and responsible co-worker on the job. 

2 hour drive, but the fans travel well!

The played Chicago Phillips High School, out of the Chicago Public League where students transfer schools as frequently as the wind changes direction. I was told that nine of Phillips' starters transferred in this school year. Yeah... that'll give a boost to your program in a heart beat!

Our team was the underdog going in and our quarterback was lost to a shoulder injury during the first offensive series of the game. We lost 33-7, but our team showed heart in the second half and took home the second place trophy back to Dunlap with pride. A 13-1 record is definitely something to be proud of! It was really an amazing season. I've seen first hand how hard the coaches and players work and I'm very proud to play a small part in their memorable season. 

The above pictures were taken from my spot atop the NIU press box. Yep, up high, outside, in the wind, on a 40 degree day. I wore layers and stood in the sun, so it actually wasn't too bad. The video guy for Chicago Phillips was fun to talk to as well, so time flew by even though the game was a 21 point spread fairly early on. 

During halftime I found my way back inside the press box and enjoyed the free food!  Coffee on a cold day? Yes, please!

Later that even, once back in P-town, my wife and I restored our inflatable penguins to their rightful place in the front yard. We lost our big ash tree this spring and now the penguins are on center stage!

We don't do much for holiday decorations, but we do love our penguins!

That's it for today's post. I hope you enjoyed something non-cardboard related for a change.  More cards of the Vogelmonster tomorrow!

He's Back!

It's been a busy start to the school year, but I've got a few pictures to show off. These should give you a quick summary as to what I've been up to, since I haven't had much time for cardboard as of late.

My junior high softball coaching duties ended yesterday and maybe now I can play a little more attention to the blog with the extra time.

 Above is a picture of me hitting fly balls to my sixth grade team during pregame warm-ups. I take pride in being able to hit a softball into the glove of a less than confident twelve year old. Not easy to do at one hundred and twenty feet away from me!

My wife, father-in-law and I planted a new tree in the front yard. 

 We lost our ash tree last fall to the notorious emerald ash borer.  Gingkos are slow growing, but they are supposedly very hearty. Hopefully this little guy does well!

Our school district had a "school improvement day" recently and I learned how to graph within an on-line graphing calculator.

 It took some work, but I finished a Cubs logo!  The shading of the red and blue was the most challenging. Hat-tip to my co-worker Mike for troubleshooting for me!

I was able to get a little paddle boarding in a couple of weekends ago. 

Laura and I, feeling a little brave, traveled across the lake at Snakeden Hollow on the same board. She sat on the back and I did the paddling. I tried to make it across standing up, but I quickly found I had to kneel. Either that, or wind up wet!

I've resumed my duties taping games for the football coaching staff.

 Last week, I was in a scissor lift about twenty feet in the air at the back of the north end zone. Yikes! Their end zone camera is currently broken, so they have four sophomores running the camera from atop the press box, which is my normal post.  I'm not a big fan of heights and I'm hoping they get the camera fixed soon.

Lastly, the Mariners called up Dan Vogelbach yesterday. I should be pumped about this, but he'll be lucky to accumulate ten at-bats the rest of the way. The Mariners seem committed to Danny Valencia and Yonder Alonso at first base with Nelson Cruz being used as the DH. I guess that leaves me waiting 'til next year. Go figure.

No Cardboard, but Hardware!

On Saturday my baseball team played in the Regional Championship against the #1 seeded team, who had one the last three regional titles and earned a fourth place finish in the state tournament last year. Needless to say, we were the underdogs.

We fell behind early, in part to some shaky defense, but we rallied, wound up turning three double plays and came out on top, 4-2.

It's a great group of guys, and their personalities are all over the map, but they do have a few things in common: working hard, having fun, and love for the game. They are an easy group of guys to coach and I am very proud of them.

Winning the Regional Championship was kind of a big deal, as it was our first since 2009. The head coach, featured in the video below, didn't take over the program until 2011 and this is only my second year with the varsity team. All of the players were still in elementary school eight years ago.  So, yes, some celebrating was in order!

After the big game I headed north to my in-laws, which gave me an opportunity to visit the Jewel-Osco chain of grocery stores.

I came home with twelve boxes of Cubs-centric cereal and have already distributed half of those to my friends in P-town. Three will stay in my collection and the other three will be shipped out east to another fellow Cubs fan.

While up north my wife and I went out on the Kankakee River with our stand-up paddleboards. The river was a little high and it moved a little quicker than what we're used to. 

 We saw Laura's dad along the side of the river shortly after we put in. Coincidentally, he was birding in the area and he had been watching us for some time in his scope. I guess we were more interesting than the birds!

We typically don't wear our life jackets, but we had a conversation the night with Laura's parents before about how rough the river was this time of year. I'm glad we had them on when we passed her dad!  We went about nine miles on the boards and saw two fawn, four turtles, numerous fish, and a water snake.  Good times and good exercise!

Today I have two baseball practices. One practice is for my spring baseball team as we get ready for the sectional contest tomorrow evening. I'm getting pretty excited for that game... we're on an eight game winning streak and only need three more victories to reach the final four in the state tournament. Wish us luck!  The other practice is for the summer team, which is made up mostly of sophomores and a few juniors, who will be trying out for the varsity squad next spring.

Have a great day, everyone!