Tagged: Rebecca Herman
Onward and Upward
In the course of my first season writing for Padres360, it has been an entire learning process. I started out asking a few questions, trying to adapt to expand on what players said rather than worry about what I was going to ask next. Each player and experience has taught me more about the process about putting together stories about players. Some players give you a lot to work with, some less, but all I have found interesting and enjoyable to hear and every player I have talked to, with the exception of Zack Greinke, have been respectful and receptive to talking about their careers.
With the year winding down, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank my co-author and friend Rebecca Herman for allowing me to be a part of this. She has and idea and a vision about writing and approached little old me about it. I said yes right away, not thinking about what it would take to put together a blog. It’s not like there are 12 of us who are doing this, or that we have interns who can help with the heavy lifting, it’s the 2 of us. That is no complaint or disrespect to any other bloggers out there, it’s just the acknowledgement of where we are at now. We squeeze in our blog in between our jobs and family time. It is a LOT of work, and I don’t regret it or dislike it for one minute, it is fun….and The Casual Fan lives on..
The Big SSSHHH!!!
Yesterday at the Padres game, I decided to go over to the Brewers dugout and attempt to talk to and or get the autograph of Bob Uecker. Bob never came out, so I was left standing around watching batting practice when Brewers manager Ron Roenicke came walking toward the dugout. I decided to ask Ron for an autograph to give to my friend Rebecca Herman who interviewed him for a book she is working on. He walked up and I said, “Ron” and held up the ball. Ron looked up at me, put his index finger in front of his lips and said, “ssshhh, not now” and walked into the dugout.
In 41 years of going to ballgames, I have never had that type of reaction while asking for autograph. I could understand if I was yelling the whole time, but I didn’t even yell, “Ron” when I called to him. While I didn’t get the autograph, the memory I have from this moment is priceless.
Padres Home Opener-April 9th, 2013
Ah, that day of the year I love! Regardless of how bad or good my Padres are, I love the home opener. It’s our chance to show our Padres some love and remind then we’re behind them 100%. We get to see the changes made to the ballpark (good and bad,) see our friends who work at the ballpark who we haven’t seen since last season, and sample some of the new food and drinks offered at the ballpark.
Arriving at the ballpark at 12:00PM, we sat in the car and drank champagne while waiting for the gates to open at 1:10PM. After finishing the bottle, we walked to the gate and saw a couple of the Dancing Friars Of The Right Field Mission greeting fans and praying for a Padres victory. Corey “The Abbot Costello” Menotti blessed me before entering the ballpark (every Padres fan needs a blessing.) After that, it was off to the Park in the Park entrance where we would finally enter the Padres home called Petco Park.
Once entering the Park, we walked around and checked out the Fox Sports booth and interview stage located near the Tony Gwynn statue.
The field in the distance looked spectacular! The grounds crew had done a marvelous job preparing the field for the upcoming season. We checked out the new bullpen area. It’s a 2 tier bullpen with the visiting team bullpen at the top level and the Padres bullpen remaining in it’s original spot.
As we headed to the gates to go in, we ran into a group of the Padres security staff. One of the men gave his Padres Opening day employee pin to my BFF Rebecca Herman aka the TheBaseballPHD, who added it to her hat that was loaded with pins (and boy, was that hat heavy!) Upon entering, we started to observe some of the changes made during the off-season; Ballast Point Beer area, a barbershop quartet singing about things to do in San Diego and how beautiful the city is, the new Jack Daniels right field party area and the field decorated for opening day. There were Padres Little League Player there to greet the team. A plaque was mounted in the Padres bullpen during the ceremony for Darrel Akerfelds. Vin Scully, Jerry Coleman and Dick Enberg were there preparing to announce the games for the clubs. All was right with the baseball world…
At this point we were all very hungry, so we headed to Hodad’s Restaurant to get a bite to eat. They’re burgers are excellent! Tasty, juicy, flavorful and make fresh on the spot.. I won’t torture you with pictures that will make you hungry (the thought of one is making me hungry as I type this) but to top all of this off, the owner of Hodad’s was there! Mike Hardin aka Bossman saw us, walked over and greeted us with hugs and said “welcome home!” He took a pic with me sporting his new hairdo and his classic tattoos…
We headed to our seats to watch the game and we weren’t disappointed!The Padres beat the Dodgers 9-3! Will Venable hit a home run and cleared the bases with a 3 run triple. The crowd cheered, the Beat LA chants were heard all over Petco. The Dodger fans that were there were classy and weren’t drunk and obnoxious. A friend of mine posted a tribute to her mom during the game. She had passed away but was a HUGE Padres fan and her daughters have committed to always attend the Padres Home Opener in her honor. I am sure in heaven, she smiled as she saw this image on the new scoreboard…
I hope the Padres keep it up. It’s a long season, but it is made better by the friends and family you go to the game with. It’s enhanced by the friends you make at the ballpark who work to make the experience even better. I love my Padres.
Padres and WBC-Day 4 Spring Training-March 10th
Our last day of Spring Training was a very big day for my friend Rebecca Herman aka The Baseball PHD. She was contacted by Josh Ishoo that she would be granted an opportunity to interview Padres manager Bud Black at the Padres complex. We arrived early Sunday around 8:00AM and Rebecca walked into the offices. Players were coming in and some dealers were waiting by the gate hoping to catch the players coming in and get their cards, ball and pictures signed. Gates to the practice fields opened at 9:00AM, so I was able to walk to the fields and watch the players come out. The players broke into 2 groups; the rookies walked to the minor league area and the veterans walked to the main practice field. The rookie were going over basic instructions which included; spikes must be 60% black or the MLB will fine you, no alcohol, no women in your rooms, no drugs including spice and bath salts. They were told, “you have a golden ticket in your back pocket, so don’t blow it.”
Rebecca’s meeting ended at 10:00AM and Bud Black told her the following….like I would reveal that here! Please follow her at The Baseball PHD and I’m sure she’ll eventually write about it.
We packed our stuff and headed to Chase Field to watch Team Canada vs. Team USA. We got seats behind home plate and walked around and took pictures. I got a picture with Phillippe Aumont of Team Canada (he’s in the Phillies organization) and tried to take a pic with Tim Leiper, but he declined to take a picture.
We settled in our seats and saw Team Canada jump out to an early lead, only to have Team USA come back and win the game 9-4. We spent most of the game listening to a couple of guys and talk and talk! One of the men claimed to have seen Babe Ruth hit a home run in person (something I very much doubt.) We chatted with some fans in front of us from Canada who were extremely nice, but were about to kill me for heckling Team Canada. They were cool and we gave them cards with our info for our blogs.
With the game over, we walked to our car and made the long 6 hour drive back home, but not before stopping for one last meal at Cracker Barrel in Yuma. The trip was wonderful and I look forward to Spring Training 2014, which is only 50 weeks away, but who is counting…
The "Casual Fan" Of Baseball 