Living the baseball dream: Some guy named Eddie joins the team
Editor's note: On the cusp of his 60th birthday, John Fieser's daughter arranged for him to attend former Chicago Cubs catcher Randy Hundley's fantasy baseball camp. Fieser, of Naperville, has played with and captained competitive softball teams since the mid-'70s and is a long-suffering Cubs fan.
The weeklong camp in Mesa, Ariz., includes twice-daily intersquad games, building up to a game at the Cubs' Hohokam Park pitting the campers against former Cubs players who serve as coaches.
Fieser took his laptop to camp, too, and e-mailed reports to family and friends back home. We're printing edited versions of his dispatches, which will run through Friday.
Day 5: Friday, Jan. 30
After the morning clubhouse comedy show, we took batting practice. Jody Davis fed the machine and we each got six swings. One of my fantasies almost became a reality. After hitting a couple liners, I hit one that made Davis pause to watch. It hit about five feet below the top of the fence in straightaway left field, about 360 to 370 feet. Had I gotten under it a little more, it would have gone out, and I would have just ended my batting practice right there, bat in my left hand, fist pumping with my right, all the way to the dugout. However, since I just missed, I tried again, but had just one swing left, and while I hit a line drive, I didn't drive the ball anywhere near the fence. "Missed it by that much -"
The team pairings for games on Friday were determined by the standings as of that morning. And for the Big Game against the ex-Cubs the following day, teams bat in the order of best record to worst. We had to play the team with the best record, Davis/Smith, to help determine standings, and we helped them seal a 1st inning start for them by losing to them. This loss not only allowed that team to end up No. 1, but also broke our 3-game winning streak. I went an ugly 3-for-4.
After lunch, we played the Jenkins/Pepitone team. Once again, "Pepi" was MIA (seems to be a pattern). Our team acquired a new player - had not seen him all week. I heard earlier in the week that he was on the team but he wasn't attending camp yet because he was "writing songs." Before the game, he took some swings against Iron Mike and had some trouble making contact, but looked like he had some potential to hit. His fielding looked solid. He had the home jersey on, but no clue there - no name, just No. 35. So, who was this mystery man?
Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.
Now, I guess I should have been impressed that this rock star was on our team, but I must really be getting old and harder to impress because my first reaction was, "Where was this guy for the other seven games? We could have used him this week."
We won the game and ended up 4-6 for the week, good enough for 6th inning in the Big Game on Saturday. I went 2-for-3 with a double. I think Eddie took the collar, but I'm not sure.
Coming Friday: The Big Game: Campers vs. the real Cubs
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=272675">Day 1: 'I will die a happy man' <span class="date">[2/15/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=271888">Day 2: Living a baseball dream<span class="date">[2/16/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=271940">Day 3: Playing the Giants<span class="date">[2/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=272417">Day 4: Ron Santo comes for a visit<span class="date">[2/18/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>