It’s “Pitchers & Catchers Report” Holiday Weekend!

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There’s a rumor going around that Monday is a holiday of some kind. I’ve always felt that Opening Day should be a holiday, but since someone apparently decided instead to make the Monday after “pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training” a holiday, I’m not going to complain about it. Those of us with Monday off really should try to come up with something appropriately baseball-related to help us celebrate.

Pitchers and catchers report this weekend!

The Twins’ pitchers and catchers officially report to Spring Training Saturday, with first official workouts, I believe, scheduled for Sunday. When that happens, it’s officially “baseball season.” I guess we’ll have to come up with some kind of new “countdown” widget to put up over on the right side of the page. Maybe a countdown to Opening Day? Ah, a blogger’s work is never done.

Speaking of which, with the season quasi-officially underway, our work here is about to get more serious, too. Sure, it’s been fun ranting about Bud Selig and the Twins’ moves (or lack thereof) and how things are shaping up for other teams, but if we’re being perfectly honest, most of us ran out of really interesting topics to talk about a long time ago. But with baseball players actually getting on the field this weekend, that’s about to change.

We’ve already been getting a few reports from Ft. Myers from both paid professional media like the Strib’s LaVelle E. Neal III (who’s been getting his blog warmed up with occasional reports) as well as bloggers fortunate enough to be on the scene like John Swol of TwinsTrivia.com (who’s posted about several pre-camp visits he’s made to the complex, along with links to a whole bunch of pictures).

Pretty soon (though not soon enough), it will be our turn. I’ll be making my way down to Ft. Myers toward the end of Spring Training for my annual trip and I will be posting pretty much daily while I’m there.

Babs: Now you've seen Ft Myers Beach... so you can just go watch baseball

But this season, I won’t be the only Knuckleball reporting from the Lee County Sports Complex. CapitalBabs will be embarking on her first-ever Spring Training adventure early in March. She has promised to post her impressions and we can pretty much count on seeing a whole bunch of pictures, though she did mention that she and her hubby also have plans to spend time on non-baseball related activities while they are in Ft. Myers. She mentioned something about golf and beaches. Heck, I didn’t even know there was anything going on in Florida besides baseball that time of year.

Anyway, I really enjoy seeing and hearing about the Spring Training experience through different eyes and especially from the perspective of fans who haven’t been down there before, so I’m looking forward to reading Babs’ reports.

Of course, we won’t be the only bloggers to make the journey. I haven’t heard or read about everyone who’s announced plans to make the trip but I did read that Thrylos, from Tenth Inning Stretch, is planning on reporting from Ft. Myers at some point. If you know of other bloggers going down there, do us a favor and mention something about it in the comments section. Likewise, if any of our readers are going to be down there, let us know that, too. We’d love to hear from you and maybe even share your favorite pictures from your trip, if you’re willing.

If you feel inclined, you can also click here… and here… and here… to go back and read the Spring Training Guide tips I posted about this time a year ago. Or just wing it and discover things on your own!

Podcast Appearance

I also want to mention that I participated in “The Phil Naessens Show” podcast Thursday night. You can give it a listen over at The Baseball Page site (www.thebaseballpage.com). If you haven’t added The Baseball Page to your regular list of sites to check out, you should. The folks there cover a wide variety of MLB issues. Phil is interviewing bloggers representing all of the Major League teams. I encourage you to overlook his questionable judgement in choosing me to be his Minnesota Twins blogger representative and check it out anyway.

Condolences

Finally, we send our condolences out to the family, friends and fans of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, who passed away Thursday, less than a year after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Carter was never one of my favorite players, probably because he never played for a team I felt any particular affinity toward, but I do remember the enthusiasm he brought to the game. I remember watching him and thinking, “that guy really enjoys playing baseball.” He obviously also played the game very well. Carter was just 57 years old at his passing and I have to admit that hits just a bit too close to home for me. Rest in Peace, Gary.

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Once again, if any of you have Spring Training plans, by all means leave a comment or at least email us and let us know about your plans!

– JC

6 Replies to “It’s “Pitchers & Catchers Report” Holiday Weekend!”

  1. It took me a moment to figure out what the heck you were talking about — Monday’s a holiday? We don’t get that holiday where I work. 😉 And I’m still dreaming about a time when I can actually be off to attend spring training…

  2. Hey Jim,

    I really enjoyed meeting you and appreciate your willingness to overlook my poor judgment and appear as a guest on the program 🙂 I’m hoping this was the first appearence of many!

    Really looking forward to Spring Training and the 2012 season!

    Phil

  4. KL: This is the first year that I’ve had this particular holiday off… so there’s still hope for you.

    Phil: I said “questionable” judgement, not “poor”! I enjoyed it and hope listeners will, too.

    Topper: That would be great! We’ll definitely need to compare schedules.

  5. Indeed, all systems go for me and will be in Fort Myers for a week, rather late in the Spring Training, so I can catch more of the big boys and catch some minor league games as well.

    Would be interesting to see if we all see each other.

    Funny anecdote: Last time Topper and I watch the same game live Butera hit a HR for one of the biggest Twins’ come from behind victories (in Philly a couple seasons ago.) Ain’t happening again.

    Got my food guide up today, so if you all want to have a look at Forth Myers specific cuisine (or know which is the place where Twins’ players frequent most often – hint: it is close to the park), go have a look.