Chapter 9 - "Hitting the ball was easy. Running around the bases was the tough part." (Mickey Mantle)

Monday morning 5am and still 45 minutes before the alarm and I am awake and ready to go. Looked out the window and its raining. Met up with Brent at 6:15am and got to the facility at 6:30. Walked in and WOW! Rows of lockers with chairs and uniforms. Got down to locker #12 and found MAIO.

What an operation. First stop was an introduction to the trainer and the training room.

After that we got dressed and hit the batting cages. Brent can hit the ball but can't pitch BP worth a darn. Grabbed breakfast and had our first meeting at 8:30am. They broke us up into five groups. My group started in the outfield. Caught the one hit to me, first step was back, back, back and put the old glove in the air and came down with it. Next station was hitting. Went into the tunnel with Chad Epperson. Jeff, you would have been proud. Than I got tired and he came to me and send get that barrel out to the pitcher - sound familiar. Thereafter no problem. Took another round with Al Bumbry. Jeff again you would have started laughing. He said, "hit the ball" as I was not following through. So Jeff, kudos to you, you nailed me from the beginning. After hitting we went to base running with Dick Berardino, Rich Geldman and George Thomas. That was more just a walk through. Went to the pitching station next and threw for 30 minutes. Thought my arm was going to come off. Bill Lee kept it interesting. Final station, fielding, was with John Valentin and Lou Merloni. Lots of ground balls. After that was lunch and a well deserved break. More to come in the next chapter of my afternoon. Oops, forget to mention that the Hooter Girls were giving out VIP cards to go to their place and listen to the music.