Call Him Up
When I logged on to this site today, it said that my last blog entry was way back on June 8th. The first thing that came to my mind was, “How the heck do I even begin to write about all that’s happened around here in one little blurb?” Well, the truth is that there will some amazing things that I’ll forget to include, and truthfully, that’s unfortunate. I really have valued every day of this internship, and there has been something each and every day of every month that I’d like to write about. But for your sake, so you don’t get too bored, I’ll focus on a few big highlights that have come and gone here in Baseballtown.
I’ve got to start with the most recent big news, and perhaps the story that will impact the play on the field most directly all season – Domonic Brown’s call up to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Yes, he’s now a former R-Phil, and a current Iron Pig – weird. But you can’t keep someone who’s that talented and naturally gifted in Double-A forever, and the Phillies decided it was time to move the Florida native up a level.
First of all, I have little doubt that he’ll find great success with the Iron Pigs. As fans got to see here in Reading, Dom is a 5-tool player, and can awe you with his bat and his glove. It’s still amazing to watch guys like this, who are still so young in life, but can accomplish so much on the diamond. Here in Baseballtown, I got to witness him hit home run after home run, two triples in one game (first time since 1999), and other amazing offensive feats. His average “dipped” slightly below .300 for maybe a game or two, before rising back to around .320 when he left. He hits the ball to all areas of the outfield, runs extremely well, and was a true spark in this lineup.
Second, I will admit it’s a bit disappointing to lose a player like Domonic Brown – and not solely for the reason you’re thinking of. Yes, watching him abuse opposing pitchers was a treat, but the way in which he handled himself with the media, fans, and myself too – now that was impressive. It could have been very easy to get a huge ego and start blowing people off, knowing that you’re the top prospect in an organization. Not Dom. He did every interview that was asked of him, every appearance, signed every autograph, and never ignored anybody that I saw in his path. This particular talent, along with his amazing baseball skills, will make him a star wherever he goes in the future.
The next memory that comes to mind has to be Dennis Haskins, er, Mr. Belding. Now, for those of you who don’t know who this is, go rent ‘Saved by the Bell’ and get a television education. A classic show from my youth, with one of the most memorable characters in Mr. Belding, and he came here…to Reading. Amazing! This kind of promotion or excitement, along with about a million other things, is what makes the Minor Leagues so much more appealing to fans.
Speaking of the fans…they went crazy for Mr. Belding, and the love was certainly a two-way street. He got a very loud ovation when he first came out, dressed in R-Phils gear, to sing karaoke (look for his CD on Amazon, seriously), and continuously invited fans onto the stage to sing along with him. I watched in awe, as Mr. Belding, a mere few feet away, sang his heart out in the Classic Cafe. What a night.
June was a crazy month in terms of the teams schedule, with a three-game set, a seven-gamer (including the annual morning game), and a six-gamer to wrap things up. The R-Phils lit up the sky so many times with some great fireworks shows, much to the enjoyment of very large hometown crowds. But most importantly, the team started to really string some wins together. At one point in June, they put together a six-game win streak to pull themselves farther up the standings. Although they remain in fifth place in the Eastern Division of the EL, they’re beginning to close gaps, and judging by last night’s victory over first-place New Hampshire, they know they can beat anyone.
Well, if you haven’t closed the window already, I commend you. It’s pretty tough to convey all the excitement that happened since my last posting into a word document or blog, but I tried. Hopefully it won’t be as long between posts for next time, and the R-Phils only have three four-game series in July. That should leave me some decent time to get back on here and write some more. Until next time…
Baseball and Birthdays
The R-Phils just finished one of the wildest weekends I’ve ever seen in any level of professional baseball. After getting rained out here at FirstEnergy Stadium in the top of the 6th – with some loud lightning too – on May 27th, the game was suspended and to be completed at a later date. It turns out that later date was June 4th up at Portland. So, what was supposed to be a three-game set on the schedule now looked like this:
Friday: completion of 5/27 suspended game & first game of the series
Saturday: double header (first game from rain out on May 4th)
Sunday: series finale
So in essence, three games morphed into a five-game, survival of the fittest, series at Portland. It was back and forth all weekend long, with the R-Phils taking the suspended game, the Sea Dogs taking the first regularly scheduled game, and the teams splitting the twin bill. As if there wasn’t enough rain influence in the series already, Sunday’s finale was canceled due to the bad weather. After a much-needed day off yesterday, the boys of summer are back at it tonight here in Baseballtown, to kick off a seven-game homestand.
While the team was away, it was program time to start things off. It’s always interesting going through rosters and looking at statistics for opposing teams, as you learn a lot about them pretty quickly. For instance, New Hampshire came through Reading three times in the first few months, and I can honestly say that I know the Fisher Cats lineup almost as well as our lineup. The R-Phils will end this homestand with a four-game set with Richmond, who has also traveled here quite a bit in 2010, but not before the first appearance by the Trenton Thunder. The Yankees Double-A affiliate is currently in second place in the Eastern Division of the E.L., and this series provides a tremendous opportunity for the R-Phils to make up ground.
There’s a lot going on at FirstEnergy Stadium as usual, with Dog Day at the Park tonight (along with many other promotions and activities), Screwball’s Birthday on Sunday, and the famous morning game (9:35 a.m. start) on Monday. The field looks ready to go, the players will be getting here soon and will be anxious to play in front of their hometown crowd once again, and the entire staff is geared up for the second homestand of June. Hard to believe that once this seven-gamer is over, the R-Phils will have played more than half of their home games for the season. Time sure does fly, so let’s take advantage of it now, and win some games….Go R-Phils!
Also…I suppose at this point, the title of this entry makes absolutely no sense, and you usually as a writer try to work in the headlines during the first paragraph. Oops. Well, June is an exciting month for me with so much baseball to be played at FirstEnergy Stadium (3 homestands), but June 20 is also my birthday. Here’s to hoping that on that day, in the final game of a three-game set versus New Britain, the R-Phils can deliver me a victory. That would be icing on the cake.
Away We Go
Can you believe the R-Phils are about to start their last homestand of May? I mean, doesn’t it seem like just a few days ago this team was kicking off their 2010 season? I realize that I’ve been amazed at how fast the baseball season is going in just about every blog entry thus far, but it is quite incredible if you think about it. After three games against Richmond and a four-game set versus Portland, the team goes back on the road and it’s practically Memorial Day Weekend. Crazy I tell ya.
Before Reading can take off for the road once again, it’s time for the team and the fans to enjoy a nice seven-game stretch here at FirstEnergy Stadium. Leading up to tonight’s game was the work that I’ve become accustomed to while the team is away: program, program, and more program. I don’t quite recall if it was written about on here, but my first effort on the Baseballtown Gazette was a rough one. I put many, many hours into it, got frustrated by the lack of results, and the Reading Eagle publishers helped me out a whole lot to get that done on time. By now however, it’s becoming more of a routine than a pain in the neck. The one thing that didn’t really hold up the process of printing, but certainly was wild, were all the roster moves. You wouldn’t believe all the moves that are made across Minor League Baseball within just one or two weeks, and even with just three teams in particular, you’re swapping different players bios in and out almost every day.
It’s always been very enjoyable for me to write game previews, recaps, and articles in general. If you check out the site today, the Dog Day article, Turn Back the Clock article, and a number of other ones were penned by yours truly. The recaps, as noted, are interesting to write because I get to dive into a sea of stats to work with. It must have been a hundred times more difficult 20 years ago to write such comprehensive work. Hopefully in this homestand, I’ll be covering and writing about R-Phils wins, which hasn’t always been the trend as of late. I have faith that this group of guys will turn it around though.
There’s also the stuff that’s been going on outside of FirstEnergy Stadium that is certainly worth writing about, namely – R-Phils Front Office Softball. Yes, it is true that I had, before this, never played softball in my life. But at the same time, I have a distant memory of my father playing slow-pitch softball a while back. One of his teammates, they said, “could easily turn a triple into a single.” So I figured, if that guy can play it, I can play it. It has been, without question, a great highlight of working here in Baseballtown so far, and not just because we’re 2-0. It’s a fantastic group of guys to play with, a whole lot of fun to get in these games, and as an added bonus…we have some nice new shirts.
Looking at the computer’s clock, it’s just about 1:30 p.m. right now as this is just about ready for publication. That means, with my superb math skills, that tonight’s game is just five and a half hours away. From what I’ve been hearing in the ticket office, both tonight’s and tomorrow’s games are standing room only – should be a terrific atmosphere. On today’s schedule, I still have to help get all the game notes ready for the media, run down and get lineups from both clubhouses, print those for the media and the managers, and a bunch of other stuff. We have a full night of events and promotions tonight as well, so I better get going before things get crazy. Until next time…
That Ball Is Gone!…Again!
With every bit of good news, there always seems to be some not-so-good news riding right along side. Domonic Brown is the top-prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, and so far this year for the R-Phils, he’s raised eyebrows not just within the Phillies family, but across all of baseball. There is only one word to possibly encapsulate the kind of season #7 has had so far – unbelievable. His play has been more than enough to be called a top-prospect. On the flip side of things, as well as a number of guys on this team have been playing, the end result hasn’t been kind so far in 2010. The not-so-good news in this case is the early struggles, but the baseball season is long, and to pull hairs now wouldn’t do any good.
You know what…let’s get that bad news out of the way first, everyone likes a happy ending. Yesterday the R-Phils got rained out in what was supposed to be their series opener at Akron, and will make it up today as part of a double-header. This is a great opportunity to get the road trip off to a fast start if Reading can take both games, as they can try to begin to climb the ladder in the Eastern League standings. As of today, they sit in 5th place with a record of 12-20, nine games back of first-place New Hampshire.
Speaking of the Fisher Cats…the team from New Hampshire sent the R-Phils off on the road with a sour taste in their mouth, taking the final two games of the last series at FirstEnergy Stadium. It was another missed opportunity for Reading, as has been the case early this season. After a 5-2 opening homestand, including a four-game win streak, it looked like this team that reached the post-season in 2009 was heading in the exact same direction yet again. But things turned quickly, and as R-Phils fans know quite well, it’s been an uphill battle ever since. There is no doubt that this team has had flashes of excellence, winning ball games with terrific starting pitching, great work out of the pen, and hot bats. But it seems that through 32 games, there hasn’t been quite enough of that. The effort and the heart are obviously there 100 percent for this team, but the outcome isn’t translating to that ratio. One would figure that at some point soon, the R-Phils are going to get red-hot and take off on a long streak that vaults them up in the standings. As of now however, all you can do is hope and wait for it to turn around. Let’s also remember, that despite the R-Phils early struggles, there’s 110 games left in the season. That’s more than enough time to right the ship.
Ok, that side, let’s get to the good stuff. Outfielder Domonic Brown is just 22, and has the added pressure of being the top prospect in a winning organization. How has he responded to the pressure? How’s he swinging the bat this year? Let’s just flash a few numbers:
.340 average / 7 home runs / 21 RBI / .681 slugging / 9 doubles / 32 hits
Seriously? Yes, he’s been that good, even though “good” doesn’t seem like the proper word to describe this young man’s 2010 season so far. Brown has been on an absolute tear as of late, and has even homered in the last two games he’s played in (both against the Fisher Cats). His average is tops on the team in 2010, as is his slugging percentage, on-base percentage, total bases, RBI’s, homers, hits, and runs. The versatile lefty is abusing pitchers and making it look easy in the process. He’s soft spoken and humble in interviews, but put him in the batters box, and you unleash something else entirely. To use a cliche, the sky is truly the limit for Domonic Brown. Right now, his nickname might as well be “that ball is gone!”, but he does so much for this team that his power is just one aspect in the grand scheme of things. R-Phils fans are being treated to a show right now by Brown, and it doesn’t look like it has any plans of stopping any time soon.
Here at FirstEnergy Stadium, as I look out the press box windows, the sky is overcast and the rain might fall any minute. Over in Akron, hopefully the rain has passed, and the R-Phils can start their road trip with a bang against the Aeros in a twin bill. There’s no doubt that there has been some frustration early on this season. But this team, as I’ve said, is chock full of talent, and is going to bust out on a winning streak some time soon. Domonic Brown is lighting up the sky and filling the stat sheets. His teammates are putting up nice numbers as well, and it’s only a matter of time before the end results start swinging in the R-Phils favor.
When It Rains, It Pours
I don’t like using cliches, but in this circumstance, absolutely nothing is more true than, ‘When it rains, it pours.’ Fact is, our boys have had a tough go of it lately, and are currently sitting in fifth place in the division. Just a few days ago, the R-Phils beat up on Richmond and took the last two games of that series. The clouds then started to cover up the sky and thunderstorms poured down on the young 2010 season in the form of six straight losses – a sweep by Harrisburg at FirstEnergy and a sweep by New Hampshire on the road.
The way I look at it is this: things are never as good as they seem and never as bad as they seem. If a team starts a season 0-10, guess what – you’re not that bad. By that same token, if you start 10-0, you better get a hold of your emotions, because you’ll come crashing back down to Earth at some point. Well it just so happens that the 2010 R-Phils are hitting a pretty rough patch of the season early on. A playoff team of a year ago, there is no chance that a team loaded with this many good players will have a record that feels like 8-15 for much longer. As John Belushi once said, “When the goin’ gets tough…………….the tough get goin!”
Looking down at the schedule in front of me, there’s a number of great opportunities for the team to make up ground on the clubs in front of them and string together some wins. Tonight they visit Portland for a four-game set with the Sea Dogs. Remember the first series of the year against Portland? Yes, the one where Reading took three games out of four – build off of that. Build off the fact that top-prospect Domonic Brown has been launching home runs and pounding doubles around the park like it’s going out of business. Also build off the fact that Michael Cisco takes the mound tonight and at times has looked lights out this year on the rubber. He’s allowed one earned run or less in two of his starts in 2010. I know in baseball you have to have a short memory, forgetting both the bad and the good, but right now the mindset has to be positive, taking it one game at a time (darn, another cliche…).
After the Portland series, they come home for six games at FirstEnergy Stadium and will again play in front of thousands of supportive, loud, and inspired hometown fans. This is a boost you can’t get anywhere else, it’s the comfort level of knowing the ins and outs of where you play. It’s understanding the angles in the outfield and things of that nature. Plus, New Hampshire comes to town for the second series of that homestand. Can you say “payback”?
While the team has been away, it was straight to the program, or, the Baseballtown Gazette. This is the third edition already which is hard to believe, and the process went pretty smoothly. After dropping it off literally less than an hour ago for publishing at the Reading Eagle, I’m quite confident that the third time will truly be the charm – this one looks good. The other odds and ends of the job are going along as well, but I’m just excited for the team to come back to town and win some ball games.
There’s a number of great match-ups coming up at FirstEnergy with nice promotions as well. Check them out at www.readingphillies.com or walk on up to the box office. As for me, I’ll get back to work for now, so that when the R-Phils come back home, everything is set and ready outside the game itself, and the team can focus on adding to the win column.
Let’s Play Catch Up
I’ll be completely honest with you – I’ve been a little busy of late and forgot about this blog. Hopefully I can be forgiven because there’s a valid reason that posts haven’t been popping up on here every Monday: it’s baseball season, in full-swing! That’s right, the R-Phils have played 19 regular season games thus far (almost 1/7th of the season already) including two home stands, one that wraps up tonight. So let’s get caught up, it’s been a while.
The last time I wrote an entry on this site, the R-Phils had beaten Portland 7-5 to earn their first victory of the year and level their record at 1-1. ClickEffects was becoming easier for me to run, and the general flow of the day was at a much more comfortable pace – even if the days themselves are hectic. Flash forward to April 28, and the team is sitting at 8-11 after last night’s double header. ClickEffects is a great tool, Frency (our Hall of Fame PA announcer) has a nickname for me, and the Stephen Strasburg circus just came and went. Oh, how quickly things can change. Did I mention Domonic Brown is hitting close to .350? Or that Brad Lidge and Joe Blanton are on rehab assignments here? Yes, Baseballtown has been jam-packed with stars, fans, and promotions over the past few weeks. Simply put…it’s been a great way to kick off 2010.
The first home stand against Portland and New Hampshire came and went, along with a match-up between Phillippe Aumont and former R-Phil Kyle Drabek. Intrigue anyone? The good guys came away with a victory in that one and finished the very first home stand with a 5-2 mark at FirstEnergy Stadium. Michael Spidale and Brandon Pinckney were en fuego. Times were good.
You probably know this from reading www.readingphillies.com, but the road trip to Richmond and Harrisburg turned out to be a bit rough, as the R-Phils managed a 1-6 record away from home. One of the neater experiences thus far in my tenure in Reading was taking a short drive to Harrisburg to see top-prospect Stephen Strasburg take the mound against our boys. I can say it with complete honesty – this kid is the real deal. He was hitting 98 consistently on the gun, with his off-speed stuff clocking in at 77. It was dazzling to watch, and quite interesting to here him talk at his post-game press conference in the Senator’s team store. I think someday I might look back and say, “Wow…I was recording Strasburg talk in a gift shop at Harrisburg’s stadium…and he’s 15-5 for the Nationals so far.” You never know.
The rest of the time the team was on the road was mostly downtime, as I got to go home every day at around 2:00 p.m. Yes, if you’re wondering, that is a joke. There’s no time for that in Baseballtown, as everyone was pulling their weight to get ready for the next set of home games. The Baseballtown Gazette was sent off to the Reading Eagle for publication and I feel good about the turnout, even though there were a few mistakes that had to be touched up here and there. As the season carries on, not only will the program look better, but it will become easier and easier to actually produce.
I must say, I’ve had a number of nicknames so far in my almost 23 years. Some of them, perhaps most, aren’t PG, so I won’t share them right at this moment for you. But it was beyond an honor for Frenchy, the awesome PA announcer, to give me a nickname that will without a doubt stick for the rest of the season (in the press box at least). I was outside bringing up papers during a recent home game as Frenchy was introducing the camera crew and video and sound crews. He knew me, he knew where I went to college, and thus…Aaron “The Owl” Gottlieb was born. I love it of course, as I’m a very proud Temple alumni, and brag about my Owls as much and as often as I can.
The current home stand wraps up tonight as Joe Blanton takes the mound for the second time in Reading. Between Blanton and Lidge both pitching for the R-Phils, it’s been a complete media frenzy. Throw in Strasburg and it’s just insane, to say the least. It will be nice to have a bit of rest from all the press conferences, intense fan demands, and roster moves…but at the same time, how cool is it to see those three pitchers play right in front of me? Not many people can say that.
So, as usual, I feel as if I’ve gone on far too long. For those of you still reading, I appreciate it, and hopefully another post will be up here sooner rather than later. The team goes on the road tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be here working. So here’s to an R-Phils victory tonight…I’ll catch you next time.
Excuse Me, Please Don’t Play That Song
It feels like it’s been weeks since I last checked in with this site, but as it turns out, the reality is that time flies when baseball season gets cooking. The R-Phils are two games into the season already, which is hard to believe, seeing as how it seems like just yesterday that I was driving to the stadium with 50 or so days until Opening Night. But the practice is done, run-throughs finished, and preparation complete. The boys of summer are back and baseball is, pardon the pun, in full swing. Finally!
Before I get into the first two games themselves and the excitement that surrounded them, I want to try and describe what the final few days of getting ready meant for me. The biggest, or one of the biggest, challenges was learning Click Effects. This is the program that I’ve written about briefly in previous blog posts on here which runs the audio for the entire stadium during the game. The “charge!” organ riffs, the at-bat songs, and everything else. Simple enough, right? Well, consider the fact that I had almost no experience with this program coming into my internship, I’d say it was more of a challenge than some might imagine. But after moving songs around, getting comfortable with where they are and when to play the correct ones, and a whole lot of practice…I think I got it down. However, doing Click Effects in an empty stadium as a test is a little bit different than 7,500 people packed into FirstEnergy Stadium for Opening Night 2010.
There were plenty of other tasks I had to do before April 8th, and you’ll have to take my word that they were difficult and rewarding, but I really want to talk about these games. So, it’s April 8th, Opening Night in Baseballtown. The Portland Sea Dogs are in town for a four-game series and our team is more than ready to go. I had interviewed pitcher Jason Stephens two days prior, and he noted that the team is already forming a fantastic chemistry in the clubhouse and on the field. I ran down stat packs to the clubhouses, updated the dry erase leader board and lineups, copied down each teams lineup for the media, and prepared my music. It was showtime.
Now, let’s actually pause here for a second. It goes without saying that at-bat songs are pretty important. Think “Kashmir” for Chase Utley – when you hear that song at any time, you think Utley. Some players had come up to the press box with a CD or song in mind for their at-bat music. For those that didn’t, I tried to give them something upbeat and popular. For example, our catcher Tuffy Gosewisch got Dave Matthews Band’s “Shake Me Like a Monkey” (great song by the way). What did he do the first game? Tuffy went 2-4 with a double and an RBI. Safe to say he might keep that one for a little while. But for every minor success like that, there is a “Disturbia.” Yes, I chose Rihanna’s song for Melvin Dorta. Looking back, it wasn’t the best move I could have made. So during the day after game one, we got a call from the clubhouse attendant. Let’s just say that Dorta didn’t truly care for this song. Needless to say, I have the right one in there now.
The R-Phils actually ended up dropping the opener 10-5, but the crowd was unbelievable: 7,500+ people packed into FirstEnergy Stadium. It was a shame that they lost, but it’s a long season, and this team has far too much talent to worry about one little loss. Plus, I got a game under my belt, felt comfortable doing so, and had a great time overall. After the game, it was time for a minor celebration in the RBI room with much of the staff. This isn’t like another job at a corporate office building, where you count down until the time you leave and proceed to bolt out the door, exhaling deeply. Working for the R-Phils family, you want to stay. You want to be around the people here that you work with, to talk to, to hang out with, and to be around. It was a great time, that could happen about, oh, 70 more times this season.
Michael Spidale, who started in left last night, got three RBI in the R-Phils first win of the year, 7-5 over Portland. Aumont was our starting pitcher and there was even a reporter here from Quebec to cover the native son. The R-Phils won, I felt good about my tasks at hand, and hey…the big league club won 8-0 and are off to a 3-1 start. Not too shabby all around. Not too shabby at all.
Three, Two, One
“Still the rain kept pourin’, Fallin’ on my ears. And I wonder, Still I wonder, Who’ll stop the rain.” There’s nothing like starting out a blog post with a little bit of CCR. But man oh man, are those lyrics unfortunately true: it’s a rainy day here at FirstEnergy Stadium, and the forecast isn’t exactly giving me much hope for most of this week. With a little over nine days (hard to believe) until the R-Phils kick off their season on April 8th, I’m hoping this weather becomes something like U2 said: a beautiful day.
Weather and song lyrics aside…it’s getting pretty busy around Reading as the season inches closer. Down in Florida, the Double-A squad is sitting on a 6-6 record after dropping a game to the Jays Double-A team on Saturday. By my count, they only have five more spring training games before the rosters for each affiliate are set in stone for opening day. Will R-Phils fans see Domonic Brown, Tyson Gillies, Phillippe Aumont, and other stars? Nobody knows yet. But I’m hoping that the fans that pack FirstEnergy will get to see those guys because the numbers they’re putting up so far are tremendous. Tyson Gillies, who came over with Ramirez and Aumont from Seattle in the Cliff Lee deal, is destroying pitchers, with a blistering .393 average. He’s racked up four extra base hits (three triples) and four RBI. Oh yeah, he’s also swiped three bags. The top Phillies prospect, Dom Brown, continues to shine, and has hit a home run and knocked in three in his time with the Double-A squad (remember, he was tearing it up with the Phillies for a while). Lastly, Aumont’s numbers speak for themselves: 7 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs. Wow.
As the players get their final full week of AB’s in, and rosters begin to form, the action back here at FirstEnergy has been non-stop. This past weekend we had a full run-through of in-game contests, games, and things of that nature. The hundred or so game-day employees were on hand to get a tour of the stadium and prepare for their upcoming duties. To try and paint the most accurate picture I can, there were a few new faces to the press box on Saturday.There was a previous intern who held this position last year that was helping on Click Effects. Also present was Frenchy – the voice of FirstEnergy and the R-Phils. It was a pleasure to meet him, and judging by a few hours of practice, this season is going to be a lot of fun up here with the media.
During this employee orientation and run-through, it was all business. But there was still a good dose of energy and baseball flavor as it all kicked off. The full-time employees and the junior associates and interns were introduced, one by one, running out the dugout…All-Star style. It was pretty funny and great to watch at the same time, and I had the luxury of watching it all while playing a song to match the mood. After things got started, interns and employees would volunteer to practice the in-between inning activities that make coming out to FirstEnergy the best fan experience possible. For example…the mascot introduction. Did we have people dressed as the duck or turtle? Nope, not at all. Did interns pump their fists and come out to the music with pure enthusiasm acting like those mascots? You bet. Matching the exact song to each event was a task in itself and something that I’m quite new to, but feel very comfortable that I’ll be able to get better and better at as the season rolls on.
So, I continue to really get to know the people I work with, and it makes this internship more and more enjoyable. When they say the R-Phils, and minor league baseball in general, are like a family, well, they’re not kidding. It still feels great to come to a stadium every single day to work, and soon enough, I’ll be looking out at nine players and thousands of fans as opposed to empty seats soaked in rain. Now that will be a beautiful day.
FirstEnergy Getting Ready
Right off the bat, I apologize for the blog post this week being delayed by a few days. Throw in a few technical difficulties coupled with a rush to get a number of things done, and well, here you have a post on Wednesday. Starting next week, we’re back to Monday’s! Blog dates aside, I really must start off by tipping my hat to all the R-Phils employees and other workers who have been doing an unbelievable job getting this stadium ready for Opening Day. By the way, it’s only 15 days away.
FirstEnergy Stadium is really something you have to see and experience in person: it’s historic yet brand new, classic yet stylistic, and completely fun and interactive. But as touched on in the last post, there is so much effort in the baseball off-season by everyone involved, and the grounds crew and maintenance crew have been on top of their game. The concession areas are just about ready to open (can you smell the Churgers in the air?), the picnic area on the third base side is looking good, and the seats are ready for thousands of R-Phils fans to pack this place come April 8th. So again, when you come to a baseball game, you may not think about what it takes to get a stadium ready for game time. I’m guilty of not realizing all that hard work…until now. Hats off to the workers here. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.
There are so many different things to see at a minor league game, and one of those is the historic display case near the entrance. Yesterday I was given the task of filling that case with jerseys, hats, posters, banners, pins, and so much more from the 1960s all the way up until last year. I was shown a few pictures of what it looked like last year and how it was designed, but I feel that I certainly put my own touch on it this year. Starting on the far right are the most recent R-Phils jerseys and hats and so forth. There’s Rollins and Howard, Hamels and Burrell, and so many more memories. As you move along to the center part of the case, I went back in the years just a bit. There hangs the 1995 Championship banner, along with some R-Phils Hall of Famers who are forever immortalized. I also placed all the “Kings (and Queen) of Baseballtown” statues along the shelves. On the far left, it get’s a little old school. A newspaper from decades upon decades ago, highlighting the first ever game at the new stadium. There’s the old jersey, the old cap, and so much more. I feel pretty proud of the way it came out, and hopefully you’ll get the chance to take a look sometime this year.
Down in Florida meanwhile, the boys on the Double-A roster have been doing quite well. The new additions, who may or may not start here (Aumont, Gillies, Ramirez), are all improving by the day and opening eyes. There are some familiar faces and there are some surprises as well. Going into today’s game against the Double-A Yankees, the Double-A Phillies squad stands at 4-4. Worley pitched a heck of a game yesterday, tossing four perfect innings en route to a 2-0 win. It’s going to be so exhilarating to actually see these guys in such a short time, take the field I’m looking at right now and play ball. Speaking of which….
I’ve never dealt with a tarp before. Ever. The best memory I have involving a tarp is back a few years ago when the Phillies helped the Colorado Rockies grounds crew hold down the tarp in all that wind. Remember that? Classic. Well, it’s safe to say that I have a second tarp memory after the past few days. That’s right, this intern has the title of PR, but like the family we are here at the Reading Phillies, everyone chips in. It was raining just a bit and our head groundskeeper, Dan “Dirt” Douglas, called everyone out for a little help – just in case it started down pouring later on (which it did). Myself and about fifteen other interns and full-time employees, jumped and stood on top of the tarp. Trust me, this is far more thrilling to do that to read about, but hopefully you’re getting a feeling of what it’s like. We held the railing on the first base side and pushed the tarp back with our legs a few feet. After that it was pushing, pulling, dragging, with dirt and mud all over. But I’ll say this – the field looks great, and Dirt was right.
Some other things I’ve been working on finishing are the program, the bios of the players (with head shots!), and continuously updating the spring training statistics. Today we’ll also go over the game script in a test run here in the press box. That means I’ll be working Click Effects and the group message board and so forth. It’s just practice now, but that becomes reality in just over two weeks.
It’s hard to imagine that this Friday will mark four weeks down here as the R-Phils PR Intern, but time sure does fly. I can easily imagine it being sometime in September, looking back on this blog post, and wondering where all the time went. There is no doubt this season is going to be a blast and I’m going to be learning on the job. But instead of thinking ahead, I think I’ll just focus on the present. That means getting ready, because before you know it, it’s media day and then Opening Day. How about that?
Go R-Phils!
Changing of the Seasons
If April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, what do three straight days of hard rain in March bring? Your guess is as good as mine, but I’d like to think that the downpours around the Reading area are just a final clearing up before baseball. Maybe that’s wishful thinking but the forecast is calling for temperatures above 60 (with sun!) all week long. Now that, is baseball weather.
When I wrote on this blog last week, I reflected on my first week here with the R-Phils: the excitement, the tasks at hand, and so forth. As I enter my third full week with the club, there’s a mixture of both comfortability and anticipation. With each passing day and every passing week there is a sense of belonging up here in the press box at FirstEnergy Stadium. It’s a feeling that this is what I love being around and this is what I want to do. Something about going to work everyday at a historic baseball stadium – not some corporate mess of cubicles – puts my mind at ease and certainly makes work much more fun. When baseball is something that you love, and that’s the case with me, it can’t get much better than this.
However, on the flip side there is also a nagging sense of anticipation for Opening Day. When I arrived here there was about 40 days left until our first game against Portland (tickets available for all games at www.readingphillies.com). In fact, when I originally interviewed there must have been over 80 days or so until the season kicked off. That number is now whittled down to 24. With football in the off-season, the Sixers playing so badly I would rather not talk about it, and March Madness just getting underway, baseball is front and center. The field looks ready, the stadium seems ready, and I’m ready. This is my first position in baseball, and perhaps it’s excitement and nerves, but all I want is 7:05 pm on April 8th. I’ll be right here at FirstEnergy Stadium, in the press box, watching my R-Phils take the field for the first time. There’s nothing quite like that first day of baseball.
In the time leading up to Opening Day however, there is absolutely work to be done. One of the funniest things people ask, and I’ve actually heard this a few times, is something to the tune of, “So during the baseball off-season, is that like a vacation? You don’t do anything right?” At the PBEO Job Fair in Indianapolis I attended this past December, GM’s even joked that they too had been asked this kind of question. I suppose it’s just overlooking the obvious, but to once and for all answer anyone who thinks that employees in the baseball world simply take a big break….uh, no. Not even close. As soon as the off-season starts, hard work begins. Sure, it’s different than what you’re doing during the year with games, but you have to prepare for the next season faster and harder than anyone might think. Reading has proved this point very well.
There is a process to everything that has to happen. Our pocket schedule is in the final stages of being completed right now before it’s distributed to the public. You didn’t think that all of a sudden it just appeared at local restaurants and banks, did you? I’ve seen very hard work go into numerous drafts and attempts at making this schedule. Then there’s tickets, sales, marketing, and so on, and so on. Everyone has a role, and my role right now is centered on learning the trade as best I can and helping out with a number of media related tasks.
For a little while I have been working on getting together the layout for our first homestand’s booklet. That’s compiling head shots, statistics, and other information for the R-Phils and the two other teams we’ll play that homestand. I’ve also been busy finding the right pictures for the All-Decade team, which was announced on www.readingphillies.com. There’s a number of other jobs that I’ve either completed or am in the process of completing that might seem trivial or unimportant right now, but are essential to the 2010 season. You won’t see my work on the playing field, that’s for sure. But everyone, myself included, works behind the scenes to make sure that the product and entertainment value off the field is just as great as the product on the field.
So, what now? Back to work! There’s a program to be made, headshots to be sorted through, and articles to be written. Baseballtown is gearing up for this season and so is our staff. As the players continue their spring training down in Florida right now, we’ll brave the elements and make sure that come April 8th, we’re good to go.
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