Arizona Fall League

[godwulf]

Playoffs? What playoffs? It's Arizona Fall League time!

Finishing up the second week of play, and my Scorpions are at the top of their division with a 6-2 record, after beating the Solar Sox last night in a light drizzle - thanks, in part, to a seventh-inning, 2 rbi ground rule double off the bat of Nats phenom Bryce Harper, who just turned 18 last Saturday and was playing in what I'm guessing was his first professional game. I wouldn't mind having been the one who went out and picked up that ball, but I wasn't.

Since joining the team on Monday, Bryce seems to have resigned himself to signing a whole ton of autographs. Both last night, and the night before, he was out after the game surrounded by a large crowd - well, large by Fall League standards, maybe fifty or sixty people - signing, signing, signing. Seems pretty serious, but a nice kid.

Speaking of signing, Tuesday night, the Rockies' Charlie Blackmon was signing before the game, and somebody came up with a well-worn Tulsa batting helmet of his. (He found a small crack, and said, "Yeah, it's mine. I threw it around a bit.") He must have spent two minutes admiring it, and - this is what impressed me - asking the owner exactly where he wanted it signed; he even asked the guy how he was going to display the helmet, in order to get a better idea.

Aside from getting a couple of balls single-signed by DBacks Konrad Schmidt and Daniel Stange (both of whom spent time with the big club this past season), and getting Marc Krauss to sign one of his bats from Visalia, all of my autographing efforts so far have been directed toward batting coach and former Diamondback Alan Zinter. Two of his DBacks bats and a batting helmet from '04, so far, and as the season progresses, I've got one of his Houston bats, two large locker tags, one of his coach's jerseys from Visalia, and a stack of cards to bring out.

I'm taking two weeks off from work starting this Monday, and plan to get out to 12-15 games in that time. Who's got time for Baseball on t.v.?

[godwulf]

Since he joined the Scorpions a week and a half ago, 18-year-old #1 draft pick phenom Bryce Harper has signed autographs down at the end of the dugout, without fail, after every home game. As I mentioned before, he's very serious -but I guess in his position, with the pressures to perform and succeed that he's facing, we'd all be that way.

Last night, after a long game, it was going on ten o'clock, and it was cold, but Bryce was down there signing, as always, so I decided to see if I could squeeze my way into the crowd and toss him a ball. After several minutes, I managed to secure a recently vacated spot, right in the area that he seemed to be concentrating his attention on, and stood there, having to resist the physically aggressive (East Coast types, I'm assuming ) trying to squeeze me out. Bryce looked at me and reached out his hand, and I tossed him a new Arizona Fall League ball and a pen, and got a beautifully signed ball back.

On the other hand, I'm told that Desert Dogs manager Don Mattingly isn't signing much of anything. At the end of the season, I may have a couple of nice (unsigned) Mattingly Yankees photos to give away.

[Chris78]

How has Ted Simmons been with signing? I could not make it this year and wanted to get him and Mattingly, and of course Harper along with a few other prospects.

Chris

[godwulf]

How has Ted Simmons been with signing? I could not make it this year and wanted to get him and Mattingly, and of course Harper along with a few other prospects.

From what I've seen, the Managers (not just Mattingly) generally don't really come out of the dugouts that much, except if they see someone they know. I can't really say about Simmons, as I'm always hanging around the Scottsale dugout and don't pay too much attention to what's going on on the other side of the field.

[Fnazxc0114]

sounds like a good time godwulf. Has bryce done pretty good so far?

[godwulf]

As a late roster addition, he's only allowed to play on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so he hasn't played much, yet...maybe three games, assuming he played today (which game I coudn't make it to). If I recall correctly, he hit an rbi double his first game, and went two for four in his second.

[LastingsMilledge85]

How is he allowed to play? I thought in order to play you needed to at least be playing at the Double-A level for about half the season?

[godwulf]

How is he allowed to play? I thought in order to play you needed to at least be playing at the Double-A level for about half the season?

Five of the seven players must have been on some Double-A or Triple-A roster by August 16th, but the rules currently allow each MLB team to send two players "below the AA level". Usually, that means a Single-A player, of course, and teams will frequently send a promising one to the AFL, but I have seen players with no pro experience here before, and the rules do permit it.

[LastingsMilledge85]

Thanks, I was never aware of that.

[godwulf]

Wondering whether I should get Koby Clemens to sign a ball for me, to display with my Pete Rose, Jr. bat...sort of a "one generation off" display.