A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Baseball

Harmon Killebrew, 1936-2011

Harmon Killebrew signs an autograph in Cooperstown in 2007.

Baseball has lost another legend.

Harmon Killebrew, 74, succumbed to his battle with cancer Tuesday. He battled it for several months, but the cancer — as usually the case — won. And it’s a shame as Killebrew seemed to be one of the most genuine Hall of Famers out there.

Through my years of working with the area newspapers, I’ve had the chance to meet and interact with many Hall of Famers. I never had a personal dealing with Killebrew, but every time I saw him in Cooperstown, whether as a fan or when I was working, he always seemed happy and genuinely excited to talk with fans.

Killebrew signing an old Twins jersey.

The photos in this post were taken in 2007 during the Hall of Fame week, when Killebrew was signing autographs outside of one of the local businesses. After taking this photo, I watched for a little longer and Killebrew really seemed to enjoy being out and interacting among fans.

It was just a few days ago when he released a statement saying the disease was incurable and he was ceasing treatments and entering Hospice care to spend his final days with his wife and be in comfort.

His battle ended Tuesday.

It’s been a tough year for the Baseball Hall of Fame in regard to losing some of its elder statesmen.

On May 6 of last year, former Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts died.

And since the last Hall of Fame ceremony in July, the Hall has now lost four members since then. Sparky Anderson died in November, Bob Feller in December, Duke Snider in February and now Killebrew.

Needless to say, it would appear the Hall will likely be working toward a very moving “In Memory” video at this year’s ceremony in late July.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

“… and we’re wearing sunglasses.”

It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.

I hope you all know that quote.

If not, it’s from the Blues Brothers, which is one of my top comedies of all-time. The reason I’m quoting the movie?

Because I’m heading to Chicago.

As long as nothing falls through or comes up over the next three weeks, I’ll be heading out to the Chicago area to see Brendan finish his basic training at the Naval Training Academy in Great Lakes, Ill. I received a letter from him today letting me know I’m on the short invite list and I wouldn’t miss this unless I absolutely had to.

And, being I have some time, I’m going to do my best to afford this and get out there and see it. Well, unless some employment comes up, which I’ve warned him would stop me from coming and that’s understandable.

Anyhoo, so I’ve been checking out Chicago. My plan is to stay for three days and I think I have some pretty decent ideas. Now, Mother Nature, help me out with this one, will ya? I want to see the boy graduate in good weather!

I’m hopefully going to get an early flight and fly in before most people are even at work. From there, the goal is to rent a car and head to Beverly, which is one of the oldest active geocaches in the world. It was placed May 13, 2000 — so it’s more than 11 years old. The loop that it’s on has something like 10 geocaches and should take about 2 hours total, from information I got from a cacher who recently did the loop. I’ve made contact with a few local cachers, too, who are looking to do the loop so it looks as though I hopefully won’t have to do it solo.

After that, maybe a few other caches before heading to my hotel and checking in and probably taking a shower and finding some food. That night is up in the air. I could go do some more caching. I could relax. Or I could check out a baseball game.  A lot of that depends on the weather and my plan for Saturday.

See, the two independent baseball teams in that area that have home games are anywhere from 35-65 miles from my hotel. The ceremony the next day is early, so I have to take that into consideration.

That day is all about the ceremony and being able to hang out with Brendan afterword when he is on his leave. I might sneak off that night for a caching event, pending when I get free and all. That event is about 45 miles away, so I’d have to plan accordingly. We’ll see there.

Saturday is the day of decisions.

The first one is that I could play in a disc golf tournament. It would be an all-day affair, but it is PDGA sanctioned and it would be playing in a tournament in a new area with new players and such. The interest is there to do that. But at the same time, I could always just find myself a disc golf course Thursday or Friday and play a casual round or something. One of those days, I’d also like to make the quick 15- or 20-mile drive up to Wisconsin to find a geocache up there and add that state to my total.

In a perfect world, I wouldn’t mind making the drive into Indiana to get that state, too, but we’ll have to see how the week unfolds.

Anyway, option No. 2 for Saturday is a day of geocaching. I’d be able to hit two or three events (all in the Joliet area), which include a Blues Brother-themed Flash Mob event. Kind of really intrigued by that.

If that happens, maybe I’ll catch a ball game that night.

I originally was going to fly out Wednesday, but want to do this as economically as possible, so I’ll be leaving Thursday.

I’ll be making some decisions soon. But, either way, I’m looking for a fun trip and am really excited to see Brendan take his next step in the Navy. He’s been like a little brother to me for many, many years, so this will be one exciting ceremony.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

A break from reality

Even when I’ve slipped away recently, I’ve always had the reality of life looming overhead. The job hunt and everything else.

This weekend, I’m going to try and ignore it all.

I’m heading to Washington, D.C. to visit a longtime friend and also hopefully grab dinner with a former co-worker. I’m heading down early Friday morning with the possibility of hitting a few geocaches on the way down (though, I will admit, that I don’t usually like caching solo. It’s just not as fun, I don’t think). My goal is to get to D.C. at a decent time and head over to Arlington National Cemetery and spend some time there until my one friend is free from work.

Then, tonight, is a trip to the Verizon Center to see the Capitals vs. Rangers in an NHL Playoff game. That should be a hoot.

Saturday’s plan was to hang out in D.C., take some photos and meet with the former co-worker for dinner. However, rain is predicted for much of the day, so I’m not sure how much photography will be done, but goodness knows there’s enough to do in D.C. even without the weather being perfect. Besides, they are calling for showers, so I can deal.

Sunday’s weather is supposed to be nice, so an early start should give time to do some more things in D.C. before I have to start heading back around 4-4:30 p.m. or so.

I’ve also got a couple of disc golf course scoped out. I wouldn’t mind playing a round or two at some point this weekend, so we’ll see how that goes. It would be nice to play away from the home state and area!

While in D.C. …

I’m hoping to grab a bunch of the virtual geocaches. I have a list of all of them and there are many. Some are easy and some are a little more in-depth. I also want to get some stamps for my Passport to your National Parks book. There’s a few spots that are loaded with stamps, so I could get a whole heap of them. However, the one place with like 40-plus stamps, I’ll probably skip because it could take a long time to sort through them all and stamp them etc. Plus, I’d have to hit that Friday on the way down as the place is M-F only.

So, I hope either way, I’ll have a lot of photos to sort through.

The weekend doesn’t end Sunday, however.

My cousin sent me a message the other day about having tickets for a Phillies game Monday. And who is supposed to pitch, pending nothing happens? Roy Halladay.

Hell yeah.

My one brother is on spring break that week, so he’s heading down with me. As a baseball coach, I’m sure he’ll be able to pick up some tips from watch Doc Halladay pitch.

Of course after that, it’s back to reality. But I did some good work on applying for jobs this week and now I need to ignore reality for a little bit!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Playing the game of supply and demand

For those of you who participate in fantasy sports leagues, I’m sure you’ll understand where this post is coming from.

Especially if your league has two key components — an auction/salary cap and keepers.

Our baseball league is set up this way. For the draft, it’s auction style and each team has a cap of $260. However, each team is allowed to keep up to 10 players (and in the years we’ve done this draft, everybody has always kept 10 players). The way we do it is that you take the player’s salary from the year before and add on a certain amount. So if you have a player who made $4 or more last season, you add $3 to the salary. If he made $3 or less, you add $1.

That can start to add up, but it can also make for some very valuable keepers and steals.

It also makes the draft a very interesting place to be.

We held our draft Sunday morning. This year, we made it so all keepers had to be e-mailed in before the draft, so we skipped right past that part, which was very nice. That’s when the fun begins.

See, depending on who you keep, you know what positions you need. But say you need a catcher and six of the eight teams already kept their catcher. The odds are, you can do well with things. But, if just three teams kept their catchers and those players are the top three catchers available, things start to get interesting. Depending on the position, people can pay over-market value for players in a hurry.

Lets use me as an example.

I needed a shortstop. With two teams keeping shortstops (Derek Jeter and Troy Tulowitzki were the lone players kept that that position). That meant, of those in the eight-team league, six of us were in the running for the top shortstops.

The FIRST person of the draft nominated was Jimmy Rollins.

Being a Phillies fan, I had wanted to see if I could get Rollins. Though he had a tough season last year, he’s in a contract year and he appears to be healthy. Rollins could have a strong year and being he’s quite key to the Phillies, I thought he might be worth the risk. Though he’s always been one of the top defensive shortstops in baseball, our league doesn’t measure that — it’s based on hitting and pitching. So for me to get value out of Rollins, Jimmy has to hit.

So what’s market value? According to the cbs.sportsline website (which we use for our league), Rollins should be about $26 in a mixed (NL and AL) league with a $260 cap.

I ended up paying $17.

Is that good or bad? Who can tell. But being he was the first player thrown out, there were still some stellar shortstops remaining, so I think I got a fair price for Rollins. Later in the draft, I was looking for an outfielder and bid on Tampa Bay’s Ben Zobrist, who I’ve long been a fan of. I ended up paying $17 for him, too, which I think is over market value. But being he came out late, I had to overpay to get him as the top players were becoming harder and harder to come by.

That’s where the supply and demand comes into play.

Consider this — if you bid on several players and lost out on them. You have far more pressing needs than some others. AND, you likely have more money remaining for your cap. But, with players disappearing, the supply is not going to meet the demand.

Hence your economic lesson with fantasy baseball.

Let’s take a look at a few.

Cleveland catcher Carlos Santana is solid. He’s one of the best young backstops in the game. And, he was projected to cost about $16 or so.

He went for $26 in ours because it was late in the draft and several people still had pressing needs for a starting catcher.

Players like Atlanta’s Jayson Heyward ($25), San Francisco’s Mat Latos ($16), and Michael Young ($16) were some players who went over their market value during the draft. Young closers like Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel ($10) and Matt Thornton ($17) of the White Sox went way over-market because people needed closers at the end, so they went all-in with the hopes of getting something special with these guys.

That being said, if you wait in the wings, you can get some steals when people fill their spots. Players such as Rickie Weeks, who is listed to be worth about $20 in a league set up like ours went for $1.

We also have a snake-draft at the end of the auction, where each team drafts 10 more players in a traditional setup. For keeper purposes, each player is awarded a salary of $3, but that doesn’t count against the initial $260 cap.

This is where there can be some interesting picks and steals. Sometimes people think about the long-term and draft someone who might be on the disabled list with the idea of stashing him and using him later or as a keeper.

For example, I had the No. 1 pick in the snake-draft this year. That was because I finished last in the league last season. So I took a flier on Stephen Strasburg, the young phenom pitcher of the Washington Nationals who is out the majority of this season following Tommy John surgery. However, with all the hype surrounding this kid and how well he performed last year before getting hurt, I figure he might be worth snagging and keeping for the future.

In the end, who knows how it will work out.

The players in the snake-draft could be awesome and someone you selected for $40 could end up getting hurt in the first game and being out for the season. It’s always a game of chance with fantasy baseball, but it’s interesting to see unfold. Only time will tell how it all pans out.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Baseball cards and Rapid Robert

In honor of opening day, I thought it would be a good day to share the rest of my stories from the baseball card show I went to last Sunday.

Yes, I know that Thursday was the official Opening Day for baseball, but today is when the Phytin’ Phils open, which, to me, is opening day!

When looking for baseball cards, I’ve come to the conclusion there are basically two types of people — the collector and the investor. A collector can be split off into a couple different versions — one looking for certain players, teams, types of cards etc. But for the most part, the collector knows what he or she wants, has a certain price in their head and can walk away from a deal if needed. After all, eBay is a wonderful friend to the card collector.

Then you have the investor. These are the people who usually buy things with the idea of reselling, or something along those lines. They spend a little more freely. They want to be able to turn things around into a bigger profit, or have the chance to do so.

Me? I’m a collector.

When I go to a show, I usually am looking for a few things — cards of a player I am collecting (though I do most of that on eBay), players on the Phillies (game-used/autograph), players I used to cover in the minor leagues, or something quirky that really catches my eye.

Being I hadn’t been watching things a lot lately, my goal this past weekend was to pick up a few players and see if I could find something kind of fun.

But before I get to the cards, allow me to show something that was incredibly cheap — 15 bucks — of something I’ve wanted for a while. A signed photo of Bob Feller. For those who don’t know, Feller, or “Rapid Robert,” was one of the best pitchers of all-time and one who gave away four years in his prime to serve the United States of America in World War II with the Navy. This is something he often spoke about as his proudest moments.

I got to deal with Feller twice during my time at the local daily newspaper — both during Hall of Fame events. I found him to be an extremely amazing individual. He spoke candidly and honestly. He had his views and his thoughts and stuck with them. His memory, too, was impeccable. The first time I sat to speak with him, I told him where I was from and the first thing he did was ask me about the former owner of a local minor league team. Incredible.

But, in the line of being a newspaper reporter, you can’t (and shouldn’t) ask for autographs. Most of the people I covered, I took the memories of that and went with it.

Dealing with Feller was quite amazing. Though I got to see him throw to a couple of batters in the Legend’s game at the Hall, I can only imagine what it would have been like to see him in his prime. He went 266-162 with a 3.32 ERA and 279 complete games. He had three seasons with 25 or more victories and six total with 20 or more victories. He finished with 2,581 strikeouts, including 348 in 1946. He was an All-Star in eight of his 18 seasons.

At this card show, however, was a wonderful signed photo of Feller. It was certified, so I felt like it was worth and it listed for just $15. (Even though Bob died this past December at age 92, his autos might not be worth as much as some because he was an avid signer. His autograph is readily available, which is a wonderful thing for a Hall of Famer to do).

Here’s the photo:

Bob Feller autograph

That started the day. What a way to start, eh?

I already blogged about my Konstanty find, so here are a few others.

Rauuuuuuuuuuuul!

Raul Ibanez is one of the only Phillies starting eight (not including pitchers) that I didn’t have an autograph of, so when I saw this I had to nab it as quick as I could. What an ugly autograph though, eh? He’s in the final year of his contract with the Phils and I’ve always been a Raul fan, so hopefully he can have a solid season and help the Phils to another World Series title.

Chase and his bat

Though Chase Utley is starting the season on the disabled list, I have a hard time passing up a sweet Utley card when I see it. This one was really nice and was a really good price, so I nabbed it. Hopefully, Chase will be back in the lineup as quick as possible (as long as he’s healthy) and help the Phils to their fifth straight NL East title!

A quirky find

As I said, I like certain things.

I have seen these before and wanted one. It really didn’t matter the player and this one was, I believe, five bucks. I liked that it was the patch and the autograph. Jeff Kobernus is in the Nationals organization, so maybe it’ll be worth money some day if he makes it big, eh?

Speaking of quirky…

Joe Pepitone!

I’m not a Yankees fan.

Never have been, never will be. But I love the history and tradition of the team. And there’s something about Joe Pepitone. I don’t know if it’s the name, the way he played or what, but I like Joe Pepitone. And I loved this card. Add to it that it was in a half-off bin and I ended up making a bargain to get two cards from that bin for $10 instead of $12, and I was a happy camper!

I picked up a few other cool cards at good prices, too — including two game-used cards of Mike Schmidt and Cole Hamels.

As per normal, too, I broke a box at the show. Me and Rod went half-and-half on a box with three guaranteed hits. Unfortunately, the hits were all game-used and nothing major. Would have been nice to get something really sweet out of it. It’s the 2010 Allen and Ginter, so there were some interesting cards. One in particular I was really happy to get, but I’m going to save that for another time as its own post.

Anyway, the Phytin’ Phils are about to start their season and I’m going to settle into some baseball. Go Phils!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.