Royals 2012 Fantasy Camp!!!

[CampWest]

Thanks everyone.

Wade, I'll look into Hoosier, thanks for the offer.

Joe, thanks for the offer, but I'd hate to waste an Eisenreich bat, but he does go to the Royals Fantasy Camp sometimes, so I might need something to get signed...

Gingi, I hope there are no scouts... I'd hate to see their notes. "Old. Slow. Weak. If he was a buffalo, he would sacrifice himself for the herd." - Something like that anyways. Regarding "Enjoy this", great advice. I have a tendency to put too much pressure on myself. I might just write that on the underside bill of my cap as soon as I get in the clubhouse.

Dale, I will play as much as they will let me. And I will definitely be "geared-up". Good call on the helmet, I'll have to figure out where to find an authentic helmet - I definitely want to take that home with me.

Also, I gotta say, my wife was incredible... We had talked before that I was going to do this at some point, but I bought this on a whim at the auction while she was home with family that was in from out of town. When I called and told her I spent a lot of money at the charity auction, she screamed "Yay" without hesitation. She's all for it and very encouraging.

[jppopma]

Best of luck Wes! If you are looking for a pro stock bat, you can also try to look into BWP bats in Brookville, PA. I've toured their factory there a couple of times and they seem very accommodating.

Like others have said, get yourself ready for it. Visit the cages a few times here and there, or just go and play with the kids.

Regarding the personalization of the bat, I do not think that anything can have the full team name on it unless it is ordered by the team. That is why we see even pro players bats without a team name if they are ordered directly, by an agent, or others. That being said, you can always leave off the KC part and have the inscription read "2012 Royals Fantasy Camp", since Royal or Royals can be anything.

[island_style]

Congrats on the Royals camp, Wes!

I did a Dodgers camp in Vero Beach and had a great time. The interaction between campers and instructors is just as fun off the field as it is on the field.

A few months before my camp the Dodgers sent me a chart of stretching exercises to do. It helped, but that's not to say that I didn't end up on the trainer's table a few times. The trainers were great, and they did a great job of getting the campers back on the field. It was especially helpful in-between doubleheaders.

Everyone took their turns at-bat, but some needed pinch runners. Those runners lined up by the first base line with their backs turned away from the plate. They ran when the batter made contact.

Definitely bring your own helmet. Otherwise, you need to use the ones provided by the camp, and you never know if one your size will be available when it's your turn at-bat. Try to check out southsportsinc on eBay. They have Royals helmets from time-to-time.

I ordered six ash bats from Carolina Clubs (they personalize...no team name, though), and the box of bats was waiting at my locker when I arrived.

Check to see if your Royals camp will provide a thumb protector (like Pro Direct). It's a rubber piece that slides over your thumb and rests in the palm of your hand. It will help against getting bruises while hitting with a wood bat.

Have fun, and please keep us posted!

Kind Regards,

Ron.

Rsamiano@aol.com

[CampWest]

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas everybody...

So, I've started getting stretched out a bit, played a couple softball doubleheaders and have been getting to the cages once or twice a week. Slowly I feel the swing coming back, though I cant handle anything above 70mph just yet. Hopefully won't run into much faster than that.

I had a conversation with the Royals coordinator a couple weeks ago.
I think she might be John Wathan's daughter. Anyhow. here are a couple of the details to come out of the conversation:

The Royals typically take 72 campers - split into 6 teams of 12.

They won't have the list of Alumni that will be in attendance finalized for a while, maybe another month or two. It sounds promising that all the "guys that always attend" should most likely all attend next year as they normally do. She said the core staple of guys that attend pretty much every year are George Brett, Frank White, John Wathan, Big John Mayberry, Dennis Leonard, Willie Wilson and Kevin Seitzer. Plus additional alumni.

I had heard that George Brett didn't attend all the time and I guess that was incorrect. George has only missed one year and that was because he was moving into a new house that week and couldn't make it. On the encouraging side, she made it sound like there was no reason to think George wouldn't be there this year. So, I am keeping the fingers crossed for that. Also, there may be a camp "rookie" in Mike Sweeney this year since he just retired this season.

Picked up some royal blue cleats, wristbands, batting gloves and a batting helmet to fill in some parts of the uniform. All from baseballexpress.com. And, Ron/IslandStyle, thanks for the advice on the Pro Hitter, thats been great in the cages.

[CampWest]

I received the official registration form in the mail a couple days ago. Partly just name, contact infomation, and uniform sizes. More interestingly, I need to select my jersey number. I always wore #3, #9 or #39. I'm leaning towards #9. #3 has not been very good for the Royals in recent memory. And I think I am too skinny for two numbers. Using that logic I should probably go with #1 since it is the skinniest number.

Almost all of my favorite players wore #5 (Brett, Brooks, Bagwell, Pujols - Jim Thome wanted #5 but it was retired so he went with 5x5 for #25). I think I'll pass on #5, because that is George's number and the Royals retired it. It seems disrespectful for me to use his number even in a fantasy camp. #9 seems like a good number. Ted Williams wore #9.

Also, I need to select my top three position choices. Wow, thats a tough one. I've played every position. I'd love to play first to keep busy, but I think I should leave that for some 60 year old. I'll probably mark down Shortstop, Second Base, and 1st. I'll play anywhere though I think infield seems best to get more action, not sure how much hitting there will be.

Lastly, today I received an order of bats. I ended up getting my bats from Phoenix Bat Company. Their founder, Charley aka Lefty, was very friendly and responsive in helping me find a bat model that wasn't in their standard offering as well as confirming a powder blue finish that wasn't an online option.

I ordered three model RB27, which is equivalent to a Louisville Slugger B363. The B363 was created to specifications requested by Jeff Bagwell, basically an I13 with a slightly scaled down barrel and an enlarged knob. Yeah, an enlarged knob. I've always taped the knobs of my bats so I figure this big flared knob would be a comfortable fit. It came in handy being a game used bat collector, because I was able to pick up about 40 different models and find what felt most comfortable. The B363 felt great and very well balanced.

The first bat is made of maple finished with a Powder Blue (I refuse to call it Carolina blue) handle and a Natural/Unfinished barrel. Second is made of ash and has a Smoke Black handle and a Flame barrel. Finally, my wife's favorite, made of maple finished with an Antique Cherry handle and a High Gloss Black barrel. All three bats are 33" and engraved on the barrell with the model and length, followed by Wes Campbell, 2012 Royals Fantasy Camp.

Phoenix was awesome to deal with.

[happyyoungster]

Wow...this is a really cool thread. Love the personalized bats, Wes.
If I ever decide to do this, I'll be armed with a few great ideas!

Thanks, guys.

[ferro39]

nice new set of equipment and brett is going to be there? id say that things are progressing nicely

id consider paying the fee to cheer from from the bench if i knew id be on the same squad as george

[island_style]

Great gear, Wes! In addition to the bats I ordered, I brought a pair of blue spikes, left and right handed batting helmets, batting gloves and infield and outfield gloves that I used in a league before the camp.

I'm glad the Pro Hitter is working out for you. It really made a difference for me when hitting the ROMLB's at camp vs. the dimpled rubber batting cages balls.

A lot of campers wore the numbers of their heroes/favorite players. While walking through the clubhouse I saw many jerseys with #42 (for Robinson), #32 (Koufax), #14 (Hodges and Scioscia), #1 (Reese), #4 (Snider), #6 (Garvey), etc., hanging up in the lockers.

We were issued (and got to keep) two uniforms: home white and road gray jerseys and pants with our name and number, a blue belt, pair of white sanitary hose, blue stirrups (old school low-cut style) and a cap. I also picked up a blue mock long-sleeve turtleneck with the "Dodgers" script embroidered on the neck from the clubhouse.

Our jerseys were made by Goodman, and the pants were AIS. The names and numbers on the back of the jerseys were blue-on-white, and only the bottom white layer was sewn to the jersey. The pro-style stitching was a nice touch.

Please keep us posted on your progress!

Kind Regards,

Ron.

Rsamiano@aol.com

[CampWest]

Not too much new since the last post...

However, this weekend the Royals announced a new benefit for Fantasy Campers... Every 2012 Royals Fantasy Camper gets the opportunity to buy two tickets to the 2012 All Star Game at Kauffman Stadium.

Sweet!

Keeps getting better.

[OaklandAsFan]

I am thinking of going to next year's All Star Game, I have family in the area.

Can't wait for people to start comparing the humidity of the midwest to the heat of Phoenix!!