Terry B’s Travelogue
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Saturday, July 4 (Avon, OH)
I’ve always enjoyed playing at Lake Erie for Independence Day. Back in the old days, when we stayed at a different hotel, I would make the two mile walk to the lake, which was a great place to spend a summer afternoon, holiday or not. I have often missed those meandering walks this year as I’ve traded them for training runs instead. I cover a lot more ground when I’m running, but the general sense of purpose on these runs makes me notice and appreciate a little less of what I see.
From our current hotel, the lake is about a six-mile journey, and I have no intention to take on a 12-plus mile run today, so I decided to jog to my second favorite destination from the old days, Crocker Park, an outdoor mall which was right down the street from the old hotel and is now about a three and a half mile jaunt. That set me up for an eight-mile run, which seemed more doable today.
The park wasn’t as full as I’ve usually seen it in the past, but I think a big part of the reason is because several stores were closed for the holiday. It’s hard to know for sure, though, because it’s been years since I’ve been there. I’ve written before about the decline of malls as witnessed through my time in the Frontier League, but I recently read that malls are coming back in style, and especially outdoor malls like this one, so my money says this place is probably still a big draw on a different summer day. On this summer day, I was just grateful that the Barnes and Noble was open because it allowed me to hang out in the air conditioning for a while at the halfway point of my run.
The ThunderBolts continue to excite on the road. They swept the doubleheader today, with the game two win coming down to a Justin Fogel home run with the team down to their final strike. Winning at home is great, but it’s always slightly more satisfying to win on the road because I have to get on the bus with the team after the game.
With Gateway and Schaumburg continuing to struggle, the Bolts’ hold on first place feels less tenuous each day. I keep waiting for one of these teams to get on a roll and establish themselves as the favorite, but lately, other than the Bolts’ one eight-game winning streak, nobody has. Who knows, maybe it’ll just play out like this all year.
Thursday, June 25 (Washington, PA)
Yesterday, I tried to keep my run as flat as possible, but failed, so today, I decided to lean in to the hills of the Allegheny Plateau. As I left the hotel, I ran directly uphill for about a mile and a half, and this time I did something I almost never do; I mapped out my route beforehand. Unfortunately, the streets in the hills were not as well labeled as I hoped and it’s hard to have a clear perspective on where you are when you’re ready to pass out from exhaustion, so I completely missed my planned route and eventually just turned around an went back.
What I hadn’t planned for was that running straight downhill isn’t easy either. Easier than running uphill, certainly, but much more terrifying. I couldn’t slow myself down, which meant that I at least made record time getting back to the hotel. The run down, in fact, was so fast that I felt like I hadn’t run far enough after all. The feeling wasn’t strong enough to run any further, but it was there. Three miles isn’t very much, but when half of it is uphill the whole way, I feel I’ve done my job for the day.
After I got kicked out of my hotel room, I spent the afternoon lounging by the pool. Maybe lounging isn’t the right word. I actually used the entire time to get work done, but it’s not always nice enough out to do that on a pool deck chair, so it was one of the most pleasant afternoons of work I’ve had in quite a while.
My day today could easily be split up into three clearly delineated segments. The first was that exhausting run. The second was my relaxing (yet still work-filled) afternoon, and the third was one of the longest baseball games I’ve ever worked. That middle stanza is looking more comfortable all the time.
Rain is never fun at a baseball game, but especially on getaway day. I figured we’d drive through the night and make it home around 6:00 in the morning. Not an ideal arrival time for a home gameday, but there’s not much we can do about that. Tonight, it rained softly for over an hour before pitch. It never came down hard but it was steady enough that we couldn’t start the game on time. Thus began a madcap evening of popup rain showers, indecisive umpires and a communication gap that left everyone unsure of whether or not we would ever have baseball.
The game started and stopped twice with only 11 total minutes being played in the first two scheduled hours. By the time we finally got the game rolling for real, there were maybe 40 fans in attendance, but if you’re going to sit out the rain that long, you know you’re going to stay the whole game. In this case, that meant staying until almost 1:30 in the morning. The ThunderBolts came from behind late to force extra innings then won in sudden death. If nothing else, this team is undoubtedly exciting to watch.
Now, after all the starts and stops, we’re ready to head home, where we should arrive between 9 and 10 am. That’ll mean straight to the press box when we arrive and hopefully I’ll have enough time to get ready for tomorrow night’s game.
The nine-game road trip finished with a 7-2 record and with the Bolts in first place. Now we’re home for the next six, so it might be some time before I update this guy again, but I’ll be back!
Wednesday, June 24 (Washington, PA)
First thing this morning, I went for a run through the hills of Washington, which make Evansville look like a runner’s paradise. There are no sidewalks pretty much anywhere around the hotel, which means I spent much of the time running on the road, and you know these Western Pennsylvania motorists. They’ll just as soon run you over as look at you. Eventually, I made it to a side road (Pike Street), which carried me in the same direction as the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, which I walked to last year. It’s been named the Number One Small Museum, according to some billboard I saw yesterday.
My trip to the Trolley Museum last year wasn’t planned. I encountered a brochure for the museum and, trying to find more information about it, began to ask around. We went to a bar after the Pirates game and I spent a few minutes talking to the bartender about the museum. She had never heard of it, so couldn’t recommend it, but after leaving, Toby Hall, our interim manager at the time, remarked, “That was fun, watching Terry work his game on that bartender.” I assured him we were just having a conversation. “No,” he replied. “You know how I could tell she was interested in you? Because she kept talking to you even after you brought up the Trolley Museum.” This led to constant mockery of me for my fixation on the museum and at that point, I couldn’t just not go, so the next day, I took the hour-long walk and had a great time there. It really is a good museum.
It didn’t feel nearly as far away while I was running today but I also didn’t make it all the way there because much of the road once you start getting close is a glorified dirt path. Instead, I turned around and marveled that I was somehow still going uphill in both directions. I had planned on running 6-7 miles today, but I settled for about four and a half because I felt all the incline work would make up for the lack of mileage.
My previous two marathons were both run in Chicago, which I believe is the flattest major marathon in the world, which also makes it the easiest. New York isn’t exactly in the Allegheny Plateau like Washington is, but it’s a lot hillier than Chicago and people who have run both have told me it’s a lot harder, which means it would behoove me to make my training a little tougher as well. It’s hard to do that in Chicago (which it turns out is also pretty flat on non-marathon days), so it’s nice to have a few opportunities to run through mountainous terrain on the road. At least, I tell myself now that it’s nice. It definitely didn’t feel that way when I was running.
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Today was a doubleheader day, which means early start time, which means not a lot of time to do anything else before hopping on the bus and getting to the ballpark.
Game one was a fairly comfortable 9-4 win but game two was a frustrating loss. Washington came from 5-1 behind to win 7-6. The Bolts’ offense was on fire for the first ten innings of the day but that all changed when the Wild Things put in their second best starting pitcher in the fourth inning of game two. Why they were using one of their top starters out of the bullpen, I wasn’t sure, but he steadied the game and allowed his team to come back, giving up just one run in three innings.
Then, with Washington ahead 7-6 in the seventh, Kobe Foster, the league’s best starting pitcher came in for the final three outs. It was only his third career relief appearance in five years, and first career save chance. Washington’s Tom Vaeth was managing like it was game five of the championship series, which I suppose is kind of flattering for the ThunderBolts. This was a big June game between two first place teams. I don’t know if the wacky bullpen management will have long-term implications for the Wild Things, but at least for today’s game, Vaeth pushed all the right buttons. The Wild Things held the Bolts off in game two.
That leaves tomorrow as the last chance to get a series split. It’s always nice to leave town on a high note, so that makes it another important game.
Tuesday, June 23 (Washington, PA)
Playing a day game the morning after a nine-hour bus journey isn’t the easiest way to start a new series. At least I assume it isn’t; I didn’t actually play. Announcing one is no picnic either, though. The winning streak came to an end after eight games with the Bolts trailing the whole way in an 8-3 final.
I had a really bad broadcast this morning. I don’t think I said anything interesting the whole time, though I did make Chris Dugan and Andrew Lorenzi – my press box compatriots here in Washington – laugh at least once, so it wasn’t a total loss.
I feel like I’ve been having a hard time broadcasting in general lately. Maybe it’s because I spend too much time on these blog entries and not enough on game prep. (Then why aren’t these better either?) It’s difficult to judge your own broadcast quality because you have to listen back to yourself to get a good feel for it and I don’t think anyone enjoys listening to themselves. As much as I hate to say it, I really have to rely on feedback from my audience to get the best sense of how I’m doing. It’s called “broad”casting for a reason. As much as I’d like to just go off my own impression, if I’m not serving the populace tuned in, I’m not actually doing my job.
Sometimes I wish I had chosen a less subjective profession. If I were a plumber, I’d know I was doing well if the toilet flushes properly next time. As a broadcaster, I never truly know.
Nine years ago, I wrote a book about working in minor league baseball and about halfway through the writing process, I came to a terrible realization. There really was no mass appeal to my book. There was no overarching story that would unite audiences. The conceit of the book was essentially spending a summer inside my head. The narration took the reader through everything I did, thought and said for the duration of baseball season. That meant that to foster an enjoyable reading experience, I needed the reader to enjoy spending time with me. It was the first time in my life I ever particularly cared what anybody else thought of me. Not caring was one of the staples of my personality. I suppose on some level, everyone wants to be liked, but I definitely didn’t to the extent that I would change my behavior in order to achieve approval from others, especially not strangers.
I think the experience of writing, and more importantly, publishing, my book changed me fundamentally, even if only slightly. Ever since then, I believe I’ve gotten softer in my desire for approval, especially from people I don’t know.
I think what it comes down to more than anything is the desire to make a positive difference in the world. I wouldn’t for a second suggest that I am doing anything important in my job, but just because it isn’t important doesn’t mean it can’t make a positive impact. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people, who would love to have the job that I have. If I don’t believe that I’m bringing something to the table that they wouldn’t (which isn’t the same as saying I have to be better than anyone else would be), then what’s the point of doing this? That’s one of the reasons I had such a difficult decision to make when I returned to broadcasting last year. After four years of doing PA, I knew I preferred to be broadcasting, but it was hard to justify replacing our existing announcer unless I felt like I could bring something different and exciting to the role.
The last few years, I’ve generally received more negative feedback than positive, so it can be difficult to figure out what to ignore and what to take to heart, but there are days like today when I know I wasn’t good enough. Hopefully tomorrow’s a better day, for all of us.
So, what do you do with a free evening in Washington? I guess the answer is simple; you get out of Washington. Mike, the bus driver, offered to take the team to Pittsburgh to check out the Pirates-Mariners game. Most of the team took him up on it and it was another beautiful evening at PNC Park.
We had one last year too. On an off day before our three-game series with the Wild Things, Toby Hall, Kevin Santiago, Trainer Tom (no last name, apparently) and I made a trip into the city for a Pirates game, so this has all become old hat. It remains one of my favorite MLB stadiums and it couldn’t have been a more perfect night to go there. We’re already trending upwards!
Monday, June 22 (Washington, PA)
We left Crestwood at 9:00 this morning, which is a pretty early departure for a non-gameday, but the early start allowed us to arrive at the hotel just before 7:00, so it was nice to have an entire free evening.
The trip was largely uneventful; I got some work done (not enough, but some), got a little bit of sleep (not enough, but some) and spent a lot of time staring out the window as the Midwest rolled by. I had a headache, so didn’t read a single page of my book. Embarassing.
Eventually, we got in to Washington with enough time to go to dinner at Primanti Bros., which I have been looking forward to since probably January, when Tom Carcione brought it up and I had to admit that I had not only never eaten there, but had never even heard of the place. The corned beef sandwich was certainly good, but the fact that I didn’t get the coleslaw on top of it drew our manager’s ire.
Tomorrow starts the four-game series with a 9:35 am first pitch (That’s Central Time; I never deviate.), so maybe I should sleep some.
Some stray observations from today’s journey:
o We stopped for lunch in Perrysburg, Ohio, a city I’ve stayed in before. But I had never before seen Fort Meigs, the War of 1812 battle site that we passed by today. The site was named after Return Meigs, which apparently is someone’s name, but the historical marker indicated that it was actually our greatest president, William Henry Harrison, who commanded the fort.
o We traveled behind a carnival for a good chunk of the drive. I don’t know where they were going, but I kind of wanted to keep following them rather than come to Washington.
o I really don’t care for the shape of Ohio’s flag. I think it’s high time they get in line with the rest of us. I’ve felt this way for a long time but I finally feel like something needs to be said.
I think that’s a good place to go out for today, making another state hate me. Two down, 48 to go!
Sunday, June 21 (Forest Park, IL)
What have I done to deserve this? I make a promise to write every day about my journey with the ThunderBolts and immediately, there is no journey because we’re rained out twice in five days. What am I to write about now? Well… what did I do today without baseball? Laundry, that’s what. Is that worth writing about? Let’s see, I started with the whites. No, that’s no fun. Let me start over.
I was disappointed to receive word shortly after arriving in Schaumburg this morning that the game had been called off, but it was undoubtedly the right call. It began raining around an hour before what would have been first pitch and didn’t stop for at least the next ten hours. It might still be coming down; I haven’t checked since then. It’s frustrating, but there’s no one to blame but Mother Nature. Curse you, Mother Nature! I like my own mother better, anyway.
With no ThunderBolts game, I spent part of my afternoon tuned in to other Frontier League action. Gateway lost again, which means the Bolts will remain comfortably in first place through the off day. I’ve spent some time reflecting over the last few days on what it means to be broadcasting for a first place team. As I’ve written about many times in the past, I know it’s not my job to care about wins and losses, but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s an extra spring in the step of everyone around the ballpark when the team is good. Our front office has been remarkably steady, which means that most of us have been burned by the ThunderBolts enough times over the years to be skeptical of a strong start, but the deeper we get into the season, the more exciting it feels.
As a rookie broadcaster in 2010, when I called a demoralizing playoff loss in Traverse City (the last time I got to call a playoff game), I was so depressed that I vowed I would never be so emotionally invested in a team that I worked for again. I needed to keep it professional. In the last decade and a half, that emotional distance has been important because when you’re working for a second division team year after year, it’ll break you if you insist on riding the highs and lows of every game.
I’ll admit, though, as we enter the latter stages of June, the game results are starting to matter a lot more to me and the only way I can describe it is that it feels… good. Yeah, that’s the right word for it. It feels really good. As a broadcaster, not just of baseball, but anytime I’m on the air, I’ve always felt that my tone will carry over to the audience. If it sounds like I’m having fun, my audience will have fun too, even if they aren’t particularly interested in what I have to say. If I sound dour, that feeling will be infectious too. In the same vein, I think if the results start to matter more to me, that urgency will be reflected in the way I broadcast and will be transferred to my audience. (I’ve never asked; do I actually have an audience? I’m never sure if anyone is listening to me.)
I’ve spent so many years trying to tamp down the significance of any individual game and instead try to produce a fun listening experience that has little to do with the results, that this will be a refreshing change of pace if the winning continues. In any case, the team remains enjoyable to watch.
I think we’ll know a lot more about the quality of the ballclub over the next week and a half. After four games in Washington, the Bolts come home for six against Gateway and Florence. If they remain in contention after that gauntlet, it’ll be time to get excited. Set your clocks.
Saturday, June 20 (Schaumburg, IL)
Last night, as I exited Wintrust Field, I stopped by the table on the concourse down the first base line that was giving away free s’mores to pick up a late night snack. They weren’t there for me; they were for the kids that were spending the night for the Boomers’ sleepover night. But I was able to use my charms to secure one for myself. Either that or I stole it. You decide which is more likely. Anyway, I got a delicious free s’more and it wasn’t even worth writing about last night? How great is this job? That could have been the highlight of my week if I worked in accounting. Also, I probably wouldn’t be writing a travelogue if I were an accountant. Furthermore, I’d quickly lose my job for my lack of ability. In my current job, no one fires you for that apparently.
If there’s one thing I miss about my pre-baseball life, it’s a summer Saturday afternoon. The world seems to come to life, especially on a nice day like today was. For all my lamenting about commuter trips, they allow me to set my schedule a little easier. This morning, I got back to my training, running five miles through an idyllic setting, and I got to encounter lots of people who were out enjoying life along the way. Most of the time, I hate people, but there’s something really positive about the energy of folks who have no responsibilities on a summer day. One fellow smiled at me as I slowed my jog at a stop light and said, “You picked a good day for it!” I couldn’t do anything but smile back and respond politely even though the idea is ludicrous that anyone you’d encounter out for a run would have just picked a day at random, hoping the weather turns out to be good that day. I mean, I guess that is kind of what I do, but I do it several times a week. Most runners don’t just go out once in a blue moon. Anyway, it’s good to meet friendly people.
I felt good that I was able to get my running back on track and I felt good that the library was open again so I had a place to get my work done, but what I feel even better about is that the ThunderBolts made it eight in a row tonight. Facing the 2023 Frontier League Pitcher of the Year, I was reminded, as I often am, that it isn’t 2023 anymore. Another productive day for the offense led to a 6-3 win, and now I get to go searching through the record books to find out when the Bolts’ last nine-game winning streak was. That’s research I enjoy. (note: I actually enjoy it so much that I didn’t want to wait. I took a break from writing this to find the answer. It’s 2008.)
A win tomorrow would be a third straight series sweep, something that hasn’t happened since 2007 (I took another research break). Then it’s a long Monday bus ride to Washington. It looks like that’ll be a battle of first place teams. I should stop now. I have to go remind myself that it’s still only June.
Friday, June 19 (Schaumburg, IL)
The ThunderBolts won their seventh straight game tonight, so I spent much of the broadcast running through “first time since…” stats. Here’s a rundown of a few:
· First time sweeping back-to-back series since 2013
· First seven-game win streak since 2016
· First time above .500 through 35 games since 2017
· First time in first place after June 8 since 2012
These are, of course, negative stats disguised as positive stats because all they’re doing is underscoring the team’s struggles over the last decade and a half, but everything feels positive to me. For a long time, I’ve asked only one thing as a broadcaster. I’d like to call meaningful baseball games after the all-star break. It seems like a modest goal, but I haven’t done it in nine years (and those post all-star break games were devastating, so I’m never satisfied). This year, since we’re only three weeks from the break, it would take a pretty big collapse to not at least be in the race at the start of the second half. It’s hard not to get excited about that.
I always feel weird during commuter trips and this is part two of back-to-back such series. I never quite know how to line up my day for these, but I do much prefer going to Schaumburg than Joliet. It’s just a 25-minute drive from home, so easy to get to. When we play in Schaumburg, I typically try to go to the library to get all my pregame work done, but it was a holiday today, so all the libraries were closed. That meant I had to stay in my depressing home, where I find it very difficult to work. At least I got to keep the World Cup on in the background. It’s the first time I’ve actually had the chance to watch any of it.
The laxer schedule for the commuter trips should also give me more time to run, but I just went ahead and didn’t do that today. Marathon training is going swimmingly, isn’t it? To be frank, it wasn’t a very productive day at all, but it’s amazing how quickly that feeling of unaccomplishment (not a real word, I know) disappears when you get to watch a fun baseball game in the evening. This was a fun one. Weird, a lot of errors, but not many walks, so I categorize it as fun. It was another nice night too. Not a bad office view in Schaumburg this weekend:
Thursday, June 18, (Joliet, IL)
Wouldn’t you know it? I make a promise to write every day during the road trip and right away, we have a doubleheader that goes to 11:30 at night. Now, after midnight and following a six-plus hour broadcast, I have to pretend I’m coherent enough to write something intelligible. OK, here goes…
For all my wailing about yesterday’s rain out, it really lined things up nicely both for me and the team. For starters, I got to go on my extended run last night (update: my legs were only a little sore today). For the team, it allowed Tom Carcione to throw two of his best pitchers out there in seven-inning games, which is usually a recipe for success and was again today. The Bolts swept the doubleheader, improving to 18-16, the best 34-game mark for this team since 2017.
The wins made it two straight series sweeps and a six-game win streak. Game one tonight came down to the wire before game two was decided in a blowout. During the game one broadcast, I spent some time retelling the story of Tuesday night’s come-from-behind win. What stood out to me more than anything was that the Bolts had hit their way to victory. We’ve had a lot of close game lately and almost all of them have been decided by walks, so as a fan, it was so much more fun watching a team come back using pure offensive firepower.
That’s not what happened today. Joliet forced the first game to extras thanks to a barrage of late walks that forced in a few runs and the tone was set in game two when the Bolts took five walks in the first inning to open a big lead. Eventually, the bats got going too. They hit five home runs in the doubleheader, which was a fun change of pace.
When you come to the ballpark every day, it’s nice to see a variety of styles. No one wants to see cookie cutter games every night, so it’s great that we were able to see some homers today from a team that usually scores their runs by stringing together a bunch of singles. In any case, this team is really fun to watch. They do a lot of things well offensively and defensively.
Pitching has struggled but that’s less a Windy City issue than it is a baseball issue. The last several years covering college baseball, I’ve seen the quality of play steadily eroding and it seems like that trend has made its way up to the professional ranks. In a world of hard analytical data, scouts seem more interested in raw numbers than in situational pitching ability. Because of that, I don’t think pitchers are being taught how to pitch from a young age anymore. More often, they’re being taught how to juice those specific numbers. That has led to a whole pool of guys who can’t throw strikes. The Frontier League cumulative ERA right now is more than a run higher than it was last year, which was already one of the highest numbers in league history. Walks are off the charts. The ThunderBolts pitching staff is on pace to break the league walks record by almost 50, and there are several teams in the league that have issued more.
The Frontier League isn’t the only league experiencing this, but it’s the baseball I’m watching every day, so it’s the one I’ve taken most notice of. As long as the Bolts keep winning, the walk numbers won’t put a huge damper on the effect of the results, but there’s no doubt games have been less clean and have been running much longer this year (e.g. tonight’s post-midnight writing session).
Tomorrow we head to Schaumburg, keeping this commuter road trip going. The Boomers are 15-3 at home, so the weekend figures to be a real challenge, but we approach it as the higher seeded team. Tonight’s research project: try to find the last time these teams have faced each other with the ThunderBolts in a higher position on the standings board. I’ll have the answer by tomorrow. Looking forward to a fun weekend!
Wednesday, June 17 (Forest Park, IL)
How odd it feels to write my “travelogue” from inside my own home, but we had a rain out in Joliet today, so with a free evening, I figured it was high time to resurrect this moribund log. Throughout the first month-plus of this Frontier League season, I’ve rediscovered my old friend lethargy. It’s really easy to find excuses not to do things, so that’s just what I’ve done: found excuses and not done things. But no more. The Bolts are on the road for the next week still, so I am going to commit myself to writing every day for the rest of this trip. That’ll get me through next Thursday, June 25. Please hold me to it.
OK, I’ll admit it. My lethargic realization wasn’t just about writing. I’ve also had a hard time keeping my marathon training going lately (but not my charity fundraising if you make a donation below!), so today’s rain out may actually have been a blessing in disguise for me. Shortly before Joliet called the game, the skies and the forecast began to clear, so by the time I got home this evening, it was actually one of the loveliest nights of the year weather-wise. In order to fully take advantage, I took myself out for a ten-mile run, the first time I hit the double-digit mark since my debacle in Evansville a few weeks ago. Trainer Tom recently warned me that I’m setting myself up for an injury by going long periods between runs then doing a long one, but he’s a baseball trainer, not a marathon trainer, so what does he know? And anyway, I’ve only been home for a few hours and I can already almost stand up again, so everything’s fine.
The last time I trained for a marathon, I tried to be more regimented with my running schedule, but time has been so limited this year, that I just go out whenever I can and run for as long as I can. I know this is terrible for my body, but I have found it to be fairly difficult to find time to create a running schedule when the team is on the road and darn near impossible when they’ve been at home. Today’s extended session was less about feeling the need for a ten-mile run than it was about it being a beautiful night. I finally got the chance to just enjoy being outside and exploring the Northwest side of Chicago as I used to but haven’t had the chance to lately. I kept running because I was enjoying it, not because I felt I needed to cover a certain distance.
I was looking forward to a ballgame tonight and part of me felt that I should have been annoyed by a rain out on a sunny, pleasant evening. And it was definitely weird jogging through parks where 16” softball and Little League games were going on, knowing that our team was given the night off, but it turned out to be a nice evening. I wish it were the start of my renewed vigor toward marathon training, but I’m sure it’s a one-off. Anyway, at least I’ll be writing more!
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Thursday, June 4 (heading out of Florence, KY by bus)
The last three games were maybe the craziest series of baseball I’ve ever seen. Tonight’s 20-19 loss certainly ranks near the top of games I’ll never forget. It says something when the details of a wild 13-12 loss yesterday are already hazy in my mind because I’m trying to work out what nonsense happened yesterday, what happened today, and if perhaps I actually dreamt all of it.
In the midst of today’s nutty contest, I got a text from skipper Tom Carcione, who usually doesn’t even carry his phone in the dugout during games. He had been trying to work out a trade with Ottawa for one of their star players but it required the Bolts signing a college catcher out of California and including him in the deal. Just prior to gametime, the catcher was still on the fence but as the game got going, success! He agreed to sign, only we had to get him a contract right away. Fortunately, this is the one trip that my broadcast partner, Zach, came along on, so I was able to hand the reins to him for an inning while I ironed out the paperwork.
This was the first time I can remember that I had a manager ask me to sign a player midgame, but it’s far from the weirdest place I’ve had to work out a deal. For the record, I have no say in player transactions, I just sign the contracts and do my best to make sure our roster is organized, but last season, there was one moment at least where I had to act as liaison between two managers trying to work out a postseason trade.
It was early September and our season had already ended, so I was back in college football mode and getting ready to work a game in Maryland. We had a free evening the day before the game, so got some sightseeing in around Washington, DC. My fellow broadcasters and I had made it to the White House when the skies opened and it started to pour. As I sought shelter futilely under a large tree, I received a call from an Atlantic League manager who was trying to trade for pitcher Nolan LaMere. The Atlantic League season extends later than ours and they wanted him for the stretch run. I called our manager, Toby Hall (who now manages Florence), to work out the details with him before calling the Atlantic League team back. All of this had to be done rapidly because they wanted LaMere in uniform that night and the daily transaction deadline was just minutes away. I had to race to make sure that all of the trade agreements were signed and sent on time, which wasn’t easy because I had to do it all on my phone, which was drenched from the rain storm. And again, all this was happening on the lawn right outside the White House. The whole experience was surreal, kind of like calling a 20-19 baseball game. Anyway, the trade agreement was processed on time, then the rain stopped and we took a walk to Ford’s Theatre, so it all worked out. Well, not for Lincoln, but you know…
Before I sign off, here’s my regular reminder to help provide one-on-one support to cancer fighters, survivors, previvors and caregivers. Donate to Imerman Angels!
Saturday, May 23 (Evansville, IN)
It’s been a wacky couple of days in Evansville. I guess wacky is probably the wrong word to describe last night. What would be better? Maybe… not wacky. We were rained out, which seems to happen every time we come here. It’s one of the worst places in the league to get a postponement because there is nothing around the hotel other than a Denny’s, so predictably, I spent the night at Denny’s (I guess if you like their grand slam, it’s really a great place to get a postponement).
Today, prior to our doubleheader, I decided it was time to stretch my running distances a bit. I had less game prep to do because there wasn’t a game yesterday, so I prepped instead to go on my first ten-mile run of the year. I’d peaked at nine before today and crossing over into double digits seems like a significant training milestone.
There are no sidewalks near the hotel in Evansville, so to go exploring beyond the Denny’s requires the willingness to walk on the side of the interstate. I’ve tried this before with terrifying results (note to assuage any concern: nothing that happened was terrifying; I was just terrified at every car that whizzed by at 70 miles per hour, 18 inches away from me). Still, I reasoned that if I was running, I would be spending less time on the road, and I was right. Unfortunately, that was the only part of the run that went to plan.
Coming to Evansville rather depresses me. I’m sure there are very nice parts of town, but we stay in the middle of nowhere (Denny’s excluded from criticism) and even after I braved the interstate and made it through to the town itself, I mostly found industrial parks and rundown houses. One of the few things I actually like about running is getting to discover new neighborhoods around Chicago and beyond, but this one left me wanting. Still, I made it what I figured was approximately five miles and turned around to travel the same distance back to the hotel.
I didn’t want to retrace my steps and see the exact same roads, so I took a different route back, which is probably not a good idea when I don’t know where I am in the first place. When I run, I like to keep myself free from distractions and my pockets free from jangling, so I never carry a phone or any sort of GPS or communication device. All I had with me was my hotel card key, so when I inevitably got myself lost, I was pretty much stuck.
One thing I’ve probably always taken for granted living in Chicago is that no matter how lost I get (and I get myself lost often) I can fairly easily find my way to some landmark I know or at least a street that’s familiar because we were built on a grid system (that’s why Chicago is better than all other cities). At very least, I always know if I’m going east/west or north/south and how far I am from State and Madison. Not so in Evansville. Some of these roads have slight curves in them that were imperceptible to me as I ran but occasionally, out of nowhere, I was going south when I thought I was going west. Or something like that, anyway. I don’t know. All that matters is that for a while, I didn’t have a clue where I was.
I tend not to panic, but there was a stretch where I legitimately thought I was going to miss the bus to the stadium even though I left the hotel more than four hours before it was scheduled to depart. Eventually, though, I did make it back to that main interstate, only I was about two miles from where I thought I was. In the end, I got back to the hotel only a little the worse for wear but having accidentally run 13 miles. My body isn’t nearly ready for that much yet, but I guess it fits right in to my slapdash prep for this November’s race.
The Bolts got swept in their doubleheader today. Here’s hoping for more success tomorrow…for all of us!
Friday, May 15 (East St. Louis, IL)
Although anyone who knows me or has been on one of my tours knows of my disdain for St. Louis, it is always one of my favorite road trips of the year. It’s nice to be in a city, any city, when you’re accustomed to staying in the middle of nowhere. Each year, when we’re in town to play Gateway, I make sure to find time to explore the city by foot. One year, we happened to be here for the grand opening of the Museum of Westward Expansion, so I was one of the first people ever to visit it. Another, I just happened upon the championship parade for the St. Louis Blues, who had won the Stanley Cup that year. It’s still the only championship parade I’ve ever been to (until the ThunderBolts go marching down Cicero Ave. this September).
This year, I took a different tack, journeying through the city on a jog rather than a walk. This allowed me to see a bit more than I usually do. Even though I was supposed to be training, I made plenty of stops on my run, paying visits to the St. Louis Library, the Old Courthouse and the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum. I also happened upon a protest in front of City Hall, which is a striking building.
I had to pull that picture off the Internet since I don’t carry my phone with me when I run, but the building really left an impression. No wonder St. Louis is so scary. Their mayor works out of a vampire’s castle.
Maybe all the residents are scared too (protestors aside). I ran into almost no one today, literally or otherwise. On my Chicago tours each week, I talk to guests from all over the world and hear lots of stories about downtowns that have gone silent post-pandemic. I’m not sure this one was ever all that vibrant, but it’s dead today, on a Friday, and that feels disconcerting.
Less disconcerting: the ThunderBolts won again today. That’s a 6-2 start to the season. I know they can’t keep up at this pace all season, but it’s nice to have these wins in the bank.
Tuesday, May 12 (Avon, OH)
Aside from announcing baseball games and training for a marathon, I’m trying to spend as much time as I can this summer giving walking tours around downtown Chicago. Since Monday is our only team off day, that’s the only day of the week I’m able to partake in that particular activity. This is actually the third straight year I’m giving every Monday tours, which is a lot of fun but does lead to certain problems. Problem number one is that being a tour guide on my one day off each week means that I don’t actually have any days off. In fact, from mid-April to mid-September (later if the Bolts go to the championship), I have exactly two days that I don’t have to work: May 31 and June 9.
That’s exhausting but I can’t complain because I enjoy my work. The bigger problem is that our travel schedule, while not exactly taxing this year (see yesterday’s post), features an awful lot of day games, specifically road day games. The first of those was today at Lake Erie. Playing a morning game to start a series means we have to travel the day before, which also means I’d have to cancel my Monday tours to take the bus with the team. I wasn’t too fond of that idea, so decided to drive myself to Lake Erie for the first road trip of the year. Another issue: we go straight from Lake Erie to Gateway, a nine-hour journey that I’d rather not have to haul myself on. So, how do I transport myself to the first half of the trip but make it easier to get on the bus for the second trip? Frontier League Deputy Commissioner Matt Shepardson had the solution. He suggested I take the overnight train to Elyria, Ohio and catch up with the team from there. Brilliant.
I hopped on the Amtrak at 9:00 last night for a trip that got me to the Cleveland area by 5:00 this morning. The train ride was uneventful and almost entirely populated by Amish, a single sick woman and the sucker who had to sit right next to her (me, in case you hadn’t figured it out).
It occurred to me when I arrived in Elyria this morning that I hadn’t actually done any research on the part of my journey that would take me from the train station to the ballpark for our 10:35 game. I think I assumed there’d be an all-night coffee shop right outside the train station where I could park myself and get my game prep done before hitching a ride to the stadium.
Why would I have assumed that?
The streets of Elyria were completely empty. And dark. And it was cold out. So, I did what I always do when I don’t have a plan. I just started walking. Eventually I would find something, right? About a mile down the road, I came upon a McDonald’s that had just opened for breakfast. That seemed like as good a place as any to hunker down for a few hours.
I grabbed an Egg McMuffin and a booth and got to work on my game notes, and I apparently wasn’t the only person who had the idea of spending the morning there. A handful of old folks were scattered at other tables, reading the morning paper or just hanging out. It was kind of weird. They all seemed to know each other and I had the feeling that I was in a small town diner from an old TV show. The waitress knew everyone by name (McDonald’s has waitresses???) and she kept checking up on me and refilling my glass of water. All in all, I don’t think I could’ve picked a better spot to spend the morning.
The only place better, it turned out, was the baseball field. The Bolts won their road opener 9-0. And after catching a 15-minute ride to the park, I was there to see it all. Let’s call day one on the road a success.
Monday, May 11 (Chicago, IL)
Last season, the ThunderBolts went on the longest road trip in franchise history (maybe league history?). We traversed over 5,000 miles, mostly by bus but occasionally by plane, on a journey that lasted two and a half weeks. It was the craziest trip that I had been a part of and so, felt the need to chronicle it. Afterwards, I got so many compliments on my travelogue (maybe as many as two or three and only one was from myself) that I decided I had to listen to popular demand and bring back the practice for this season.
We don’t have any such crazy road trips this year. In fact, this is one of the most comfortable road schedules I’ve ever experienced in my 12 years of traveling with the Bolts. With that in mind, this blog should be a lot less rambling and scatterbrained than last year’s was (should be).
In looking back at last season, I think I gained a different perspective on the season through chronicling my adventures on the road, so I thought it might be fun to try to give it a go for the full summer this year.
I don’t think I’ll be keen to write about every one of our 51 road games, so this won’t be updated every day, but I’ll do my best to post regular updates, once per series at minimum. Since I’ve already tried my hand at covering the daily ins and outs of a road trip in last year’s travelogue and I’ve narrated an entire season once before (in the extremely popular book, A Wonderful Waste of Time about the 2017 ThunderBolts), I think this year’s writing will be a little more free flowing. Some days I might talk about my favorite lunch spots or tourist destinations on the road, others I might opine about the latest hot button baseball topics and sometimes, I might just use this space as a running log.
That brings me to the real purpose of all this. This fall, I’ll be running in the New York Marathon and, in so doing, I’m trying to raise at least $5,000 for Imerman Angels, an awesome charity that offers personalized one-on-one cancer support for cancer fighters, survivors, previvors and caregivers.
I’ll post periodic reminders, but it would be amazing if you can find it in you to offer any donation at all to this great organization. You can click this link to donate.
This will be my third marathon but I’ve never tried to train for one while also traveling with a baseball team, so that could get interesting. In any case, I’m excited to be on the road with the ThunderBolts for another season, and just like last year, I’m excited to look back on this when it’s all over to figure out just when I lost my mind, if indeed I ever had it. Thanks for coming with!
