I’m pretty wiped from another long day in the sun, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking today.
I got to the yard around 10:30 AM only to find out that they don’t open the gates until 11:00 AM. Oh well, at least I was there from the start. I was contemplating a move to the berm to see if I could catch some batting practice home runs, but instead I decided to stick around and see what autographs I could catch.
There you see ESPN’s Steve Phillips interviewing Gary Sheffield after batting practice. The interview was a good 20-30 minutes between the two. I’m wondering how much, if any, was off the record as it seemed that Phillips turned off the recorder part way through. Just prior to this interview, I got Phillips’ autograph as he walked from the batting cage to the area they were seated at in the picture above. I’m not a huge Phillips fan by any stretch, but he was very nice and I responded in turn as we bantered for a good 2-3 minutes. One lady asked Phillips the following, “Are you someone famous?”
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This is flamethrowing reliever Joel Zumaya during some sort of photoshoot. Not sure what it was for, but he was nowhere to be found after the shoot. Hopefully he pitches Friday against the Yankees.
Magglio Ordonez and Craig Monroe heading to the locker room after some quality batting practice. The two respectfully declined to stick around and sign autographs. Neither were snide or rude, just said that they were busy and would try to be available later. Monroe made himself available about an hour after this just before game time as he made his way to the dugout.
Curtis Granderson warming up in the bottom of the first. While I preferred my Wednesday seats because of their proximity to the Tigers’ dugout, these actually offered a better view.
Jim Leyland signing a bunch of post-game autographs, including my program!!!!! I had moved from my seat and was making my way around the stadium to the exit as Todd Jones closed things out. I stopped immediately to the left of Detroit’s dugout where Leyland had sat with Gene Lamont just outside of the dugout all game. As Jones closed out the final scrub that Houston offered up this afternoon, I hopped down a few steps to see if Leyland would hook me up. He was very kind with his time and continued to sign despite saying he had to go three or four times. I was the second one to get an autograph and snapped the above picture and the two below immediately after.
Another great day in Florida!
I had initially planned to go to Sarasota this evening for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins game, but I was just too tired. Tomorrow the Yankees will be here and I will be on the berm hoping to catch a baseball.
Baseball By Paul 