Last January 23 when I wrote the final installment of the Detroit Tigers fantasy blog and ended with “Anyone want to join me next year?”
Only BarryO, a retired Southern California banking executive and friend from Camp Impala, was game. On the evening of January 24, 2011 I got this late night email from BarryO:
“I just got back from the batting cage and I’M IN! I did better than I expected. I only whiffed on four of the 40 balls. I also realized that I have never played baseball before, only softball. I haven’t been this excited since I was 12 years old!”
I didn’t want to temper his excitement. At our age any excitement is still very, very good. When he found out we were going to be Yankees for the week the roof couldn’t contain him. BarryO has been a lifelong, devout Yankee fan.
I gave him some pre-camp advice. He listened. Fred didn’t.
I told Barry stretching is a key and if he could find a young baseball coach, or even a high school program, where he could do some fielding and hitting just as a precursor for the week it would go along way.
Barry jumped in with both feet. Before I knew it he was a regular at yoga and found a coach that worked with him twice a week; one day doing some fielding and the other in the batting cage.
