The Most Thrilling Experience Of My Life

I wish I had the time to write about everything that has happened over
the last two days. It's a constant go around here, from one hotel to
the next, meet this guy, make a phone call, send an email, interview
for that job, etc. Basically, if I'm not actively pursuing something
at any moment during the day and even late at night than I'm missing
valuable opportunities.

I'll have to write more when this is all over. I just don't want to
miss out.

It's been amazing and a whole lot of fun.

Hats Galore

The New Era booth had a million different hats. Rawlings, Wilson all
the dealers are here all trying to sell, sell, sell. Tons of stadium
design firms, publications, stadium software, souvenirs, craziness...
I'll have to go back tomorrow and collect all the free giveaways.

Like I said there's all kinds of merchandise here. I was even courted
by a woman who wanted me to be a $6,000 greasless deep fryer. She
made me feel like a king and there was free food involved.

The Trade Show - Lot's Of Usefull Stuff

Like this!

Too Late

The Reds called me at 11:30 Pm to do an interview tonight. They
really enjoy trying to catch you off gaurd. So I put my pants back on
and made what seemed to be my 1000th trip down this hallway from my
room, out thru the casino, across "the strip" into the Bellagio,
through their casino and back over to the infamous lobby. Passed
everyone from the media including Steve Phillips and Roch Kubatko!!
(couldn't do a photo though). Good interview.

I actually spent most of the day at the job fair and interviewed with
the Dodgers there. Initially I wasn't selected from the 500 or so
resumes, but I noticed one of the selected hadn't claimed an open time
slot so I swooped in and snuck my way into the interview room.

Now I'm not going to say it was my best interview, but the guy seemed
to like the initiative. The plan is to meet with him again maybe
tomorrow or Wednesday.

Earlier in the evening I met up with the Brewers and took my pitch
test. Basically you get 60 pitches and you have to determine the
pitch type between a Fastball, Changeup, slider, and curveball. You
see the pitch twice, but it's far from easy and it's super important
to do well on the test since the job revolves around watching tons of
games and charting and logging the data for advance scouting.

As I was waiting around for the Brew Crew I shook some hands and
chatted up a few other notables including the one and only Ken
Rosenthal! He and I talked about how the Baltimore Sun breeds
impressive talent... Kurkjian, Shaunessey, Buster Olney, and Rosenthal
of course. That's basically mlbtraderumors.com in a nutshell.

I also intercepted ANDY "the rebuilder" MACPHAIL in the lobby. I must
say he's very friendly and I thanked him for the ticket he gave me to
that Orioles win back in September... Of course, he knew nothing about
it since it wasn't he who gave it to me, but they were his seats
nevertheless. I think it's a MacPhail reunion here in Vegas this
week. It's just one of those long standing baseball names.

Sorry no interesting Boras or player news. I pretty much missed all
that today while I was at the Hilton.

Ok bed time. Finally.

The Boards

Here's one of the boards they post the jobs.

As you can see it's kinda crowded. This photo does not do it justice.

Everyone's Looking For A Job

Quite an intense atmosphere here at the PBEO Job Fair. I threw a few
resumes into the stacks. Mostly somr Baseball Ops internships and some
scouting stuff, which are relatively limited.

There's actually hundreds of postings and a lot of them are
internships in sales, marketing, stadium ops, etc. Plenty of mascot
opportunities and other sorts. Check out the next photo...

Bingo, Bango, Bongo

Got here around 6 PM PCT and checked into the Flamingo. At this point
I'm just trying to get my bearings straight. Vegas is a lot to take
in at once.

We ran over to the Bellagio lobby to scope out the scene and got a
good feel for the layout. It's definitely a madhouse even without all
the baseball people. There were some media types hanging out and I
spotted a couple other notables in Harold Reynolds and Rob Dibble.

Not much more tonight, I'm beat.

Karaoke At O'Hare

To the tune of "I'll Be Home For Christmas". Amazingly, the flight attendant pictured here was serenading the folks waiting for their flight over the PA system.

The layover has me here in 5 degree Chicago for a couple hours. Pretty cold if you ask me.

The Media Prepares

Here's how my favorite hometown blogger Roch Kutbatko is preparing for the Winter Meetings. I've put Roch on my list of top five photos to take with.

For those of you too lazy to click on the link here's a quick blurb to whet your appetite

Each day begins with reporters rushing into the media room by 8 a.m. to set up their laptops and claim their territory like a dog peeing in circles. Then you stake out the lobby. Scott Boras always draws a crowd, and since he represents Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez, Vegas won't be any different. The gamble is ducking back into the workroom and missing him, so you need to be in two places at once - sometimes three, if you're also waiting on a general manager or another agent.

See you in Vegas! ... or Chicago during the layover.

Suiting Up

Gear up, it's to time take care of business.

9:50 AM EST takeoff time Sunday morning from Reagan National and everything is good to go. (that's right, I linked the airport) Two suits and threads for 5 days, including swim trunks for the sweetest pools in the world. Temperature says 65 and sunny so that's not so great for swimming, but nevertheless, I'm prepared for everything.

I'd like to share a couple email exchanges I had with a Rays employee the last couple of days. His latest reply back to me tonight had some sage advice:

"Try not to look like a job seeker if you do visit the Bellagio – i.e., don’t run around in a suit with your PBEO badge hanging out! Don’t accost GM’s; it’s not worth your time."

Don't accost GM's? I'm glad I'm not an agent.

He was quite candid in an earlier note during the week: (I was trying to understand how I could flag him down, having never seen him before)

"As for what I look like…well, as someone who has been in your shoes, I think I can say this without being too callous: that’s part of the challenge!"

As if I needed an additional challenge.

"Rays"ing Prospects In Brazil

I enjoy reading articles like this. Teams are always looking to expand their reach around the globe and it sounds like Tampa has made some inroads in Brazil. They are basically using the same formula most teams have used in other countries like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela: Build a beautiful state of the art facility, attract the best coaches around the game to the area, reach out to the community to build up interest in youth organizations, and then highly publicize the first official signing to the parent club.

Here's some more commentary about the deal from the East Windup Chronicle.

One of the key players in the deal is Gerry Hunsicker, who is Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations for the Rays. I've had a few encounters with Mr. Hunsicker. First of all, like me, he's a Saint Joseph's grad, which makes him a super beast. But more importantly, in 2004 he came and spoke to one of my classes in school. Why, might you ask, would the (at the time) General Manager of the Houston Astros be speaking in an academic environment? Well, obviously the class was called the Business and Tradition of Baseball and Hunsicker was one of the many speakers my professor had arranged to visit us that semester.

My second encounter with Gerry came in March of 2006 down in Florida at Spring Training with my brother, AI. The photo above is AI pictured with Rays GM Andrew Friedman. You'll notice that Mr. Friedman has some bunny ears attached to his noggin. Who's fingers could those be? That would be a Mr. Gerry Hunsicker's.

At least someone is continuing this age old tradition.

Winter Meetings Preview

For those of you that are interested in a general overview of this event go here.

MLB.com has a preview article worth a looksie.

Most of the action will be going on at the Bellagio, which is where all of the MLB General Managers and their staffs are staying. I'm assuming many of the agents, media, and upper echelon execs are holing up there as well. It turns out that XM/Sirius Radio's MLB Home Plate will do a live broadcast inside the lobby of the Bellagio. I called them yesterday and found out they will be reporting from 10 AM EST to 6 PM EST. So too will ESPN's Baseball Tonight which will be airing a Hot Stove Special from the Bellagio Monday thru Thursday for one hour starting at 5 PM EST.

That's not all though.

The under-the-radar Winter Meetings will be taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Las Vegas Hilton. This stuff will get less attention in the media since it's mostly trade shows, work shops, and job fairs. Clearly not as sexy as the wheeling and dealing going on over at the Bellagio. A lot of the minor league people are over there.

As advertised on milb.com:

This is the 107th annual gathering of the baseball convention, a place where club owners, front office personnel, league officials, just about everyone from the business side of the game whether from the Major Leagues, the Minor Leagues or internationally, will gather in one spot.

Maddux Retirement Press Conference Scheduled For Monday At the Bellagio

This will certainly add to the buzz out in Vegas next week. Hopefully I'll get some on-the-scene pictures.

I took this photo overtop the visitor's bullpen at Nationals' Park before he started the August 27th game in Washington.

A New Team In Philly

So I worked as an intern for the Philadelphia Phillies from January, 2004 thru September of 2005. This was part of a great program that exposed me and 25 or so other college students to the business of baseball... and the fascinating stories of Philly's phinest phans.

Essentially, our main job was to sell tickets and answer customer service questions in the Phillies phone center, but occasionally we dabbled in other departments too. My personal highlight came each year at amateur draft time when I participated in some of the pre-draft prep work and tryouts. I also got to call off a player's name into the league-wide conference call during the '05 draft. My selection came in the 48th round and he went by the name of Ben C. Hornbeck out of Sunnyslope HS in Phoenix, Arizona. I was a bit nervous, but when the 1437th overall pick finally came, here's how it all went down.

From time to time I like to monitor the moves going on in their organization and I still keep in touch with a few friends and former interns. During the time I was there the team was led by Ed Wade, now the General Manager of the Houston Astros. After I left, Pat Gillick previously of the Seattle Mariners, was hired to run the show. He kept most of Wade's staff and then proceeded to advance the team to two playoff appearances and one phulfilling championship. Since the end of October the Phils have made a few moves:

Ruben Amaro, Jr. was selected to supplant Gillick as GM and Assistant GM Mike Arbuckle decided to move out to Kansas City to be the Special Advisor to GM Dayton Moore. That created an opening for Orioles' Director of Baseball Administration Scott Proefrock, who was subsequently hired to replace Arbuckle. Now the braintrust is pretty much complete for 2009. Or is it?

Kasten's Nats

Just a quick note about something I read this morning about the Nationals on ESPN.com. I'm not surprised to see an article written like this about Washington. The team has been close to terrible since it's come to the Nation's Capital and they are still years away from developing a farm system that will produce annually. Also, everything I've heard from folks around the game and from my brief experiences working with them and attending games at Nationals' Park has alluded to this sentiment: The organization is in disarray.

But one section of the article took me by surprise from the above reading and it makes me sad:

It's no secret in baseball circles that club president Stan Kasten has chafed over his role in the hierarchy. In late September, both Washington newspapers, the Post and the Times, described Kasten as frustrated with his lack of organizational clout. According to the Post, Kasten has had difficulty coping with the Lerner family's "hands-on, tight-fisted management style."

One baseball executive who's friendly with Kasten told ESPN.com that the Nationals' president was "miserable" in his current role. Kasten declined an e-mail request for an interview but recently insisted that he'll be back with the organization in 2009. Nevertheless, his name has been bandied around in Toronto in conjunction with the Blue Jays' vacant CEO position -- in part because of his friendship with interim CEO Paul Beeston.

If this has any merit the organization is doomed.

Here's an update on what I have planned for the Winter Meetings next week:

Like I said in an earlier post, I've been trying to schedule meetings with different teams in an effort to get them to hire me. Yesterday I had two promising leads come through. One with the Cardinals and one with the Diamondbacks. Lead is a relatively loose term though, so in other words I'll get a chance to hobnob with some of the lower rung officials, shake some hands, and pass out some resumes. Nevertheless, it's positive. The others I plan on meeting with are the Brewers, Reds, and the O's.

I'll be sure to keep you abreast if Theo rings the celly.

Taxpayer Field

Here's a sneak peak of the Mets new stadium. Sounds like a hitters ballpark with an interesting out of town scoreboard.

Hopefully you'll get a sense that the content I'll be focusing on here are the new innovations and other interesting ideas around the game. So you'll be disappointed if you're looking for commentary on trades and free agent acquisitions. There won't be a whole lot of sabermetrics, analysis or anything of the like. I figure there's a million other blogs doing that.

Recent Reads

So in an effort to schedule some meetings next week with some baseball guys I emailed this article from bizofbaseball.com to a few of my contacts. Basically I try to give these guys a reason to open my emails so I always provide some other type of content, but I don't do this often. It's got to be cutting edge and pertinent to what they do. This particular article is an interview with Rick Peterson, the former Mets and A's pitching coach, and I think it was well received with all three of them replying back to me. It's quite long, but well worth it. He gets into some interesting ideas about diagnosing poor pitching deliveries and methods to repair them. He also has a cool story about an experience with Jason Isringhausen towards the end.

In my emails I also wanted to know if their specific team employed this method of "prehab". Unfortunately I didn't get any concrete answers, but I'll be sure to take it up with them next week.

Where To Begin? Again.

So I decided to bring the blog back. That's right...I've had a lot of things to say recently and it's about time you started listening!

Since I've been home for a little more than a month I've been on the job hunt for work. Specifically in baseball, more specifically in player development with a Major League ball club. So far, that process has been largely unsuccessful, but I hope that's mostly a reflection of the timing of the industry. Most organizations do their hiring over the winter around the Winter Meetings.

Recently, I've spent a lot of my time trying to keep up with what's been happening within the sport. I've been doing that by reading articles in the press, websites, watching video, some interesting blogs, primary documents, a few books, and one message board. I'm sure we'll get to some specifics later. I also get a kick out of bouncing ideas off my friends, family, and roommates who humor me by listening to my rants every once in a while. Thanks to all.

In addition to all that nonsense I'm trying to build up the few relationships I've made over the years so that I will get an opportunity to interview along with hundreds of other applicants for a few internship opportunities in the coveted Baseball Operations Departments within the game. No one said this is easy.

Over the next week I'll bring you into my world. This is mostly a baseball related world, but this will tend to get a bit personal as I'll try to describe the trials and tribulations associated with a career in the field. I realize not everyone who reads this will be interested in the baseball stuff or even my own personal thoughts, but it could be interesting to those who think it's fun to chase after something just a little bit out of reach. And I think everyone can relate to that.

We'll kick the renewal of the blog off with some particularly uplifting news regarding the odds that face me as I head out to Las Vegas with hundreds of other folks begging for work in the National Pastime: Jays Cut 24 Front Office Jobs

I'm Back

Yep. I'm back in Washington, DC. Home.

I got a bit complacent with the blog over the last week of the trip and I apologize for that. The long trips took a toll on my energy and I was trying to see as much as I could before I had to get back to the "rat race".

The final stop of the trip came down in Cullowhee, NC to visit AI once more. There, he cooked me several meals and did my laundry. We also watched many football games and movies such as 3:10 to Yuma and Kung Fu Panda. That's right, Kung Fu Panda.

Thank you to the loyal readers.

Also want to thank all those who offered up interesting ideas on things to do along the way. I tried to do as much as possible in the short amount of time that I allowed myself. Believe it or not 6 weeks isn't very long to see our whole country. The next time I go out I'll do it with a co-pilot and I'm sure there will be other things to see. I put over 11,400 miles on my Dad's brand new Honda Odyssey. So I'd say he deserves some thanks as well.

I don't know what will happen to this blog now. I haven't given it much thought as to whether I will try and post on it in the future, but it's been fun and I hope it's inspired others to go out and see the country.

Creamy And Smooth

Awesomeness on a stick. I had the Mexican Caramel Popsicle.
Unfortunately no photo is available of the actual desert.

El Lobo At Baja Burrito

Excellent menu and selection. Gerard likes hot sauce on everything he
eats, but not Texas Pete. Blasphemy to the folks from Winston Salem.

The Best Room Is Upstairs To The Left

Gerard's cunning attempt to trick me.

It worked.

Another One Too Early

National Civil Rights Museum

More Elvis

Elvis Takin Care of Biz

The King - Graceland

Wednesday

Central HS - Little Rock 9

Just Missed It

Unfortunately, I got to Amarillo too late and they were closed for the
night.

I hear the steaks here are quite good.

A Route 66 Trademark

Here

Previously known as the Ceremonial Cave it has been renamed as the
Alcove Cave since we now know that the kiva was used not only for
ceremonies.

Animal sighting update:

On the way down I encountered a non-poisenous and non-constricting
garter snake. Also wanted to mention that I spotted a jack rabbit
while I was up in the hot air balloon.

Ladders

Had to climb a series of ladders up the wall of the canyon to get to...

Bandalier

Los Alamos

Tuesday:

Naturally, with all the top secret programs going down the actual lab
is off limits. So the Bradbury Science Museum had to do.

Los Alamos was chosen as the site for Project Y of the Manhattan
Project because its location was remote and beautiful enough to do
outdoor testing year round. It was also enough of a desirable
location to satisfy the tastes of the "primadonna" scientists.

The museum is an exhibition for a lot of the technology and sciences
that have dominated the news of yesterday and today. All kinds of
weapons displays as well. One of the central responsibilities of the
lab is to maintain the U.S. Nuclear arsenal. I watched an interesting
film on how nuclear weapons are now tested as broken up individual
components since the Nuclear Test Ban is in effect.

Pictured here are warning leaflets to the Japanese at the end of WWII
right before the Cold War started.

Earthship Mansion

Eco Hummer

Runs on hydrogen and vegetable oil!

Earthships

Hanging Out On Mi Peublo

Monday:

They say 80-100 of the natives live in the village adobes year round.
The rest live comfortably in the town of Taos.

The pole is used during a ceremonial right of passage that boys go
through. Not many details were revealed about these rituals since
they prefer to keep everything a secret to the outside world. That
includes their language.

The village had a Spanish influenced church that was recently rebuilt
and honors the Virgin Mary and Guadeloupe. There was another older
church that sat next to a graveyard that was left in rubble after it
was bombed years ago. Many, many craft shops in the pueblo.

It's A Celebration

Customary to all post flights is a ceremonial champagne toast.

Even better, if you land the balloon in someone's backyard you owe
them a bottle of the bubbly.

The owner knew the deal. He was waiting for us when we landed.

Pictured here are Ed and Dave, who run the whole operation.

Balloon View

The Rio Grande Gorge.

We dropped down all the way and rested right on the river and floated
for a few moments. Ed, the operator of this excursion, called it a
"splash and dash".

Filler' Up

Check back later for commentary and analysis.

Sunday in Taos, NM

I'm way behind on updates... Here's some photos from the last few days to whet your appetite.

Photos From The Road Part IX

Good thing they went first.

Redwood NP/SP

Photos From The Road Part VIII

Continuing south on the 101 in central Oregon.

Photos From The Road Part VII

Heading south on the 101 in Washington. Looks like the hills are on
fire, doesn't it?

Photos From The Road (and sea) Part VI

The Odyssey got its sea legs on the ride from Seattle to Bainbridge
Island.

Photos From The Road Part V

Tunnel shot in Seattle.

Following The Rio Grande

To Taos.

Inside

From the inside of the Basilica of St. Francis.

Update FYI: Birthday cake is no longer my favorite Jelly Belly.
Don't ask.

Santa Fe

An art gallery on every corner.

Definitely the place to shop if you are looking to outfit your rustic
mountain pueblo with some fine décor.

In the background is the St. Francis Basilica.

New Mexico Vibe

Stay out!

I fancy this quote, but I think it could apply to many areas of the
West.

This was at the O'Keeffe Museum.

Petroglyphs

Outside Albuquerque, NM.

Aunt Jan disclaimer: Still no UFO sightings.

The Future

Orioles 2008 first round draft pick. Brian Matusz. 4 innings
pitched, 8 Ks. Not too shabby.

Surprise!

I'm at a baseball game! But that should come as no surprise.

I'm In Surprise, Arizona for one 1 of 2 on the day.

Behind the dish, Orioles uber phenom, Matt Wieters.

The Arizona Fall League

The photo here is in Scottsdale. Earlier yesterday I saw a game in
Peoria.

A number of factors play into this being a baseball lover's paradise:

-gorgeous, always sunny, blue skies, slightly windy, 80 degree weather

-two showcase games/day of the best minor league prospects in baseball

-$6 tickets for seating ANYWHERE in the ballpark

-no crowds, meaning no overwhelming obnoxious Yankee or Red Sox fans

-fighter jets roaring overhead during games

-Snyder, Reimold, Matusz, and Wieters

-and no walkout songs, promotions, advertisements, mascots, or the
wave... Just baseball

It doesn't get much better than this.

Question, What Kind Of Bear Is Best?

Photographer, Andrew Ireland got very close to this beast in Grand Teton NP. In the process he pardoned the Ranger's repeated requests to exit the area. Copyright 2008

Animal Sighting Update

Here's a follow up post to an earlier entry on the different animal sightings throughout the trip.

Additional sightings:
Coyote - 2
Black bear - 2!
Elk - rutting season - Hundreds spotted at Mammoth Hot Springs in
Yellowstone
Moose - not as many as desired
Rabbit
Elephant Seals - PCH
A Bald Eagle
Sheep - standard farm style
Zebra - on a cattle ranch... and no, I don't have a photo
Llama
Salmon - leaping a cascade in Olympic NP on their way up stream. Most were unsuccessful, but to see this was a big thrill.
All kinds of other squirrels, birds, chipmunks, and other varmints

Pictured above are Pronghorn and copyright of Andrew Ireland 2008

Move, Lady!

Photo is out of order, but I forgot to post it yesterday. These waves
rolled over the highway.

Phoenix Tonight

The one and only for the road ahead.

That's A Lot Of Beans

Snuck this photo for your viewing pleasure.

Other highlights included the taste testing bar where you could try
any type of Jelly Belly. This was all free by the way.

We all had to wear goofy chef hats on the tour for some reason. And
we were told not to take them off. One guy looked homeless and was
dressed in a Scottish kilt of some sort. Actually I think it was just
a dark towel.

At the end I purchased a bag of the "belly flops" which are the
deformed beans. They will provide me with nourishment for the rest of the trip.