July 15, 2008

Tonight is the Major League All-Star Game.   I am watching the pre-game at LaGrave Field as the Cats prepare to take on the Wichita Wingnuts.   What a silly name for a baseball team.  I don’t care for it, and I don’t mind saying so.  Many teams these days continue to try to come up with the most ridiculous name thinking they will be the next big thing with their logo and their merchandise, etc.

Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t care for the crazy nicknames like Wingnuts, WartHogs, AirHogs, Saltdogs, etc.   I also don’t like the names like Wind, Fury, Fire, Sun, and other elemental things. 

I like good old-fashioned names like Cats, Cubs, Yankees, Dodgers, Rangers, etc.   I guess that’s just my age talkiing.  The “Sox” names are also good…. White Sox, Red Sox in the majors…. here are some good “Sox” names from minor league history:   Amarillo Gold Sox, Reno Silver Sox, Utica Blue Sox…. all good names. 

But… I digress….  It is a great night in the baseball world.  The pre-game ceremony at Yankee Stadium tonight was the best I have ever seen.  Pre-game ceremonies are the best part of All-Star Games.  This one was one of the best.  I have to admit that I teared-up when “The Boss” was brought onto the field in a golf cart to deliver the balls for the first pitch ceremony.  I have heard that George Steinbrenner has Alzheimer’s.  I don’t know if this has been confirmed, but obviously, he is not the man he used to be.  It was truly an emotional moment.

What was particularly thrilling to me was the fact that there were several Hall-of-Famers on the field who have been seen at LaGrave Field in recent times.

I saw Dick Williams, who was here in June.  I saw Fergie Jenkins, who was here last year as well as Bob Feller and Harmon Killebrew who were also here recently.  It is just awesome to think that all of these baseball greats and others, like Duke Snider, Sparky Anderson, Maury Wills and Sam McDowell, who have been at our beautiful little ballpark in recent times.

What a great thing we have going here in Fort Worth.  Our special little ballpark has already hosted many great monents in its short modern history.   In addition to the many hall-of-famers we have already had as visitors, we have seen the 2004 Central League All-Star Game as well as three Championships and many, many other exciting games.  A list of the most memorable for me would include the first ever game in 2002, the aforementioned All-Star Game, the championship clinching games of 2005 and 2007, and the most recent 4th of July.  There have been many nights that I have been proud to be a Cat.

We are gearing up for the 2008 playoffs now.  It looks to be a very exciting time as the Cats try to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive championship.  It will be a challenge to accomplish something that has never been done before.  In fact, the Cats already hold the record in independent baseball having won three consecutive championships.

Right now we are fighting through some injuries both on our pitching staff and with our position players.  We will probably have to make a couple of player moves in order to shore up our roster for the playoffs.  Our league rules prohibit roster moves in the final two weeks of the season, so we will have to make some hard decisions in the next couple of weeks in order to be healthy and at full strength for the playoffs.

Tickets for the playoffs will go on sale in the next few days.  I hope you will be out here at the ballpark to root on the Cats.  You don’t want to miss it because we never know when the next great memorable moment will occur.

See you at the ballpark!      JPD

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 12:26 am and is filed under From the Desk of the President. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.