Spring Training

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So for my 60th birthday my darling wife gave me the most frivolous wish ever, a week at the Detroit Tigers Fantasy camp. Back when I was a kid I wanted to be a Detroit Tiger. But genetics and coordination dictated otherwise and the best I ever did was second string second base at Pinehurst, NC, high school. So, now I get the chance to see what the really good guys get to do.

The following is the first installment, I promise some photos in future blogs...

The drive to Motown was like driving across Siberia, OK, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but the wind was howling and blowing snow everywhere. But it was fun to be headed north where they have real winters and where kids go to school in spite of a bit of cold and snow.

I ended up a bit north of Detoit, in Macomb, MI, where I went to the Macomb Batting Cages for a lesson. My instructor, Joe, hobbled in....overweight and limping. I did not know who he was and thought to myself, ‘hope that is not my coach...’ Opps. Turns out when you are not training for a marathon you really should not worry about what your coach looks like. In the first half hour he fixed my throwing stance, corrected glove placement on ground balls, and had me airing out throws to first like....well, like a 60 year old guy that can, on occasion, hit a target.

Then to the batting cage. After a few soft tosses so he could observe my swing he went to work correcting that—starting with that I held the bat incorrectly. Who knew you are supposed to line up the second knuckle of your hands on the top of the bat. It’s true, as he demonstrated that when I held the bat the way I was holding it he could easily push it back but holding it correctly I was able to swing through his 250 lbs plus pushing against it. Simple physics, right Morgan? We wrapped up with me slashing a few hot singles through the left side of the infield (it was slow toss, remember, I won’t be ahead of too many pitches next week). On Saturday I head back for day two with Joe.

After the lesson headed back south into Detroit and met Michael and his friend David Woodruff at Joe Louis Arena for a Detroit Red Wings game. The Wings have been stumbling this year, having the longest current streak of any professional team in making the playoffs, that would be 21 straight seasons (for you sports trivia nuts the longest every is 29 seasons by the Boston Bruins) during which they have won 4 Stanley Cups. But they followed up Wednesday’s 5-4 win over Chicago with a great 4-1 win tonight over the Montreal Canadians.

We exited the game in a snow storm and headed to a Detroit eating establishment the Green Dot Stables ( http://greendotstables.com/). What a great place. The simple menu are a wide array of $3 sliders, ranging from mystery meat (tonight’s was venison) to Cuban pork to regular cheeseburgers and the clearly Marcia inspired Quinoa Burger. Check out the menu on the web site. As with so much in Detroit, this place was parked in an odd place, out between a number of old industrial buildings. It was packed with happy Detroiters, and a good time was had by all. Michael picked up the dinner tab, we went back to David’s place (about 4 blocks from Commerica Park) and hunkered down to listen to the wind howl and the snow pelt the windows.

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