Chapter 4 – Positions: Left Field and Left Out

You would have thought that finding out about this back in July and kind of hinting about this as a "39th" birthday gift for the last 18 months I would have done a little more to get ready for Camp. So it’s been a crash course over the last several months to get ready. The Camp Sign-up Form came in September and Patti filled it out for me before I knew about it. She somehow got my pant size, shirt size and hat size. She even put my number – of course 39th. I guess that did not cut it so she put down number 50 (in honor of receiving my AARP card). As for the field positions, she wrote down Left Field and Left Out. I ended up seeing the form before sending and decided to prove her wrong. So my training regime began.

October/November – This was my cardiovascular time. I was walking every day for about 2 miles getting up to 3 miles. Couple of times even went to the club and walked on treadmill and biked as well as lifted. Than day-light savings came and it still way to dark in the morning to walk and became to cold. So that ended that and my cardio is pretty much set. I am in a heap of trouble. If that ball is not out of the infield, I will be doing my impression of Manny jogging to first base carrying my bat or a David Ortiz strut down to first base.

December – Met with the folks at Extra Innings in Wrentham and put together a plan to get me caught up on the hitting front so I would not have to run so fast. Took four lessons during the month of December. Jeff was my hitting instructor. It was interesting; this young guy was going to teach me how to hit. I told him it was weird because for 18 years I was on his side of the fence. He asked me what I wanted to accomplish. I told him “let’s start from the beginning, break me down and build me up”. So he took a look at my first swing and he said stop. One swing. He looked at me sheepishly and asked “are you a golfer?” I asked in what respect but knew what he was getting at. By the way, my golf game is not at issue here. He said I had a golf swing and that we had a lot of work to do. Now I understand why my son’s Little League Coach was upset once when he heard Kevin went golfing. So for the next four sessions, we worked on the basics: weight on back foot, swivel the toe, hands back, hips, elbow in and follow through. Over 500 soft tosses later, I think I feel comfortable with my swing. But that was just soft toss, what about facing real pitching?

On a side note, the family went to Florida over the Holidays and I brought my cleats and glove down with me hoping to get some time on a field. Played catch once in seven days. Other than that, the glove and cleats sat in the condo as I enjoyed the great weather as well as the food and drink. At least my right elbow is in shape.

January – Started to hit against live pitching. Well as live as I was going to get in January in New England. Have been renting space in thecage at Extra Innings facing Iron Mike the Pitching Machine. First time I went with Kevin and we set the machine at 60mph. We figured that was going to be the average arm speed of the pitchers at Camp. After a couple of whiffs, I got my focus and started hitting the ball. The black 32 felt good. Stance was right, hands back, elbow in, swivel toe and hips through. The ball was flying off the bat. Thank goodness for pitches right down the middle. Kevin got in the cage for a few minutes and I could see the fire rekindle in his eyes - he missed it maybe just a little. Afterwards we played catch a little and in the car ride home I asked how I did. Instead of being impressed he said “my hand were all wrong, I was chopping at the ball.” (Cats in the cradle, he turned out just like me…). But I knew he was a little impressed.

Caught up with a couple fellow campers during the month and hit with them. One of the guys is going for the fourth time. He said don’t worry about butting (there goes my average) and stealing (so much for the cardio). He confirmed the pitching was in the 60’s occasional 70’s. All in all he said that everyone has a great time and not to worry. I feel so much better.

I figure I have five more times in the cage and one last lesson with Jeff before takeoff on January 30th. My entourage arrives in Fort Myers on Friday the 30th and will be staying with parents for a couple of days before checking into Camp on Sunday the first. Not sure if I will have time for any other Blog entries before than given my work schedule, just came back from chilly Minnesota where the low temperature the last two mornings was -22 degrees. Hoping I can get to the club for maybe some cardio and lifting before than as well.

Having almost completed this tough training schedule, I am confident that if I was to fill out the form today the positions that I could play would be right field (hoping no one hits that way) and second base (shorter throw to first). So much for “left out”.