Yankees Fantasy Camp - daily report!

[Vintagedeputy]

Ok, so as you guys know, I'm at Yankees Fantasy Camp in Tampa, Florida.

I'm going to do a day by day update so that you fellow Yankee fans can live this dream with me!

Day 1 -

Flights into Tampa were rough (bad weather) and I'm not sure that my pilot ever learned lesson 2, landing. Anyway, I got to the hotel and immediately saw the Yankees check in table.

I checked in and was given my info packet. It contains team roster, itinerary, id badge, etc. I'm going to be playing on the River Dogs. The team will be coached by Ron Silver, a former minor leaguer and someone who helped Josh Hamiliton make his ML comeback. Our "legends" on our team will be Jake Gibbs and Oscar Gamble.

I went down to the bar to have lunch and met some fellow campers. They invited me to sit with them and then the stories began. Tales of prior camps had my mouth watering for more. In between stories, they'd point out Yankees walking around the lobby. "There's Mickey Rivers, there's Al Downing". To say that I am in awe doesn't fully describe this event.

I bought some photos and found out that Tommy John cancelled . The scoop for tonight is that there is happy hour, followed by a cocktail reception where you meet your team, and your legends. Dinner then starts at 6pm and autographs can be obtained throughout the night. David Wells is only signing 2 items after dinner apparently due to the rush for his autos last year.

I'm going to prep some stuff now for autographs and I'll report back after dinner!

Jim

[Vintagedeputy]

Day 1 continued...

Cocktail reception started at 5:30pm. All of the campers milling around chatting with former players and getting sigs. I got auto's from Jake Gibbs, Jeff Nelson, Homer Bush, Paul Blair, Jesse Barfield, Luis Tiant, Chris Chambliss and Luis Sojo.

Jake Gibbs is one of my coaches for my team and within seconds he had my name memorized. Barfield shared stories about Mattingly and talked hitting with us. He even pulled out his cell phone to show us pics of different big league hitters and what they were doing right and wrong.

At 6pm, we went in for a buffet dinner. Sitting next to Jake and hearing stories of the old Yankees was amazing. Food was equally amazing, chicken and steak and all the sides. Then the Yankees did a slide show showing all the great players in attendance and some of their accomplishments. Each player was greeted with a round of applause. Then, the teams were introduced and the players stood to be recognized.

After dinner, David Wells signed 2 items a piece for the campers and was as nice as could be. I got a photo signed along with a 1998 World Series baseball.

Later, we all retired to the bar area. Some players went to bed but I got to hang out and have a beer with Jeff Nelson, Oscar Gamble, Mickey Rivers, Chris Chambliss, Al Downing, Mike Torrez, and David Wells. I asked Boomer about wearing the Ruth cap in '97 and then I showed him a card (98 Fleer) which pictured him in the Ruth hat. He said that he had never noticed that they had gotten him with the Ruth hat on for that card. He looked at it and said "yep, it was 1997 because I was still wearing Wilson, while pointing to his Wilson glove in the pic.

Anyway, time to call it a night. Bus leaves at 7am headed to Steinbrenner Field for photos, uniforms, stretching and breakfast.

[DJaeger22]

youre one lucky guy, chambliss used to come into the store my dad worked at... before i got a chance to meet him he moved away from the area but everyone said he was a real nice guy to talk to.
cant wait to hear more about your week

[allstarsplus]

Day 1 continued...


Later, we all retired to the bar area. Some players went to bed but I got to hang out and have a beer with Jeff Nelson, Oscar Gamble, Mickey Rivers, Chris Chambliss, Al Downing, Mike Torrez, and David Wells. I asked Boomer about wearing the Ruth cap in '97 and then I showed him a card (98 Fleer) which pictured him in the Ruth hat. He said that he had never noticed that they had gotten him with the Ruth hat on for that card. He looked at it and said "yep, it was 1997 because I was still wearing Wilson, while pointing to his Wilson glove in the pic.

.

Jim - That is a great group to hang out with! Great Boomer Wells story too!

[BULBUS]

jim, thanks for the updates. this is something i hope to do some day. ask jesse barfield about collecting game used. he was buying and selling on ebay for a while. i sold him a couple of bats a few years ago.

-chris

[Vintagedeputy]

WHEW! So many things happened today that I dont even know where to start!

Suffice it to say that I spent the day in pinstripes with Jake Gibbs and Oscar Gamble. We played a game against other campers and my team won 12-3. We then took infield, outfield practice, and hit in the cages. Oscar Gamble worked on tweaking my swing a little to bring my bat speed up. We also did team pics and ate like champs.

My locker was filled with t-shirts and stuff and all day long, we kept getting more goodies like an auto'd pic, duffel bag, and shower shoes. The day ended with riding back to the hotel with Bucky Dent!

I'm a bit beat right now so perhaps more details later.

[Vintagedeputy]

Well, the week is drawing to a close now. We had rain today so our last official game was cancelled. We were supposed to play double headers yesterday and today. They anticpated rain so we played 3 7-inning games yesterday. I am beat! Every muscle is sore.

My team ended up being 5-1 for the 6 games. The only team to beat us was a team of ringers - campers who all know each other and come to camp every year as a team. Apparently no one ever beats them. Hey, 2nd place out of 8 teams ain't bad!

Since we got rained out today, we took some BP in the cages after breakfast and kangaroo court. Then, they players came into the locker room and we did Q&A and they signed more auto's. Even David Wells signed more stuff and he and Strawberry were the last ones to stop signing before lunch. They (and all of the players) were absolutely great all week and signed whatever, whenever.

Tomorrow we play the legends game. My team will go second and we'll play 2 innings against the former Yankees. I'm sore as all hell, but I wouldn't miss that game for the world.

[neverfinished94]

awesome thread! I've been looking forward to your posts all week

[Vintagedeputy]

Well, I just completed a multi paragraph post detailing what happened today and it disappeared........damn.

Anyway, I'll just tell you that I had to face Jeff Nelson in the legends game and I was able to foul off 2 of the rockets that he threw at me, but I ultimately struck out. His first 2 pitches were inside fastballs and I thought that I was gonna die! At least I can say that I made contact.


Rather than typing all that for nothing again, I'll just post some pics...



My team was called the Riverdogs, which is why you see that listed here. In this photo, I'm seated middle, bottom row and surrounded by Yankees....can you name them?





This is me batting in one of our first games.....gotta love the pinstripes.

[island_style]

Hey, Jim.

Thanks for the reports from your Yankee camp. What a thrill it must have been to put on the pinstripes and be coached and play with the Yankee players.

Please tell us more about your experience! Tell us about the Kangaroo Court fines, any pranks and rookie hazing that went on in your camp. What was it like when you first got to the clubhouse and saw your locker with your uniform in it? Let's hear about the player stories you heard. Well, the ones that you can mention, anyway! Other than your uniform, what other items did you bring back? What number did you choose for your jersey, and why that number?

Congrats on getting the gift from your family to go to the Yankee camp! I'm sure you now have a lifetime of memories!

Kind Regards,

Ron.

Rsamiano@aol.com