Batting Practice at Comerica Park

As a kid growing up, my childhood dream was to play 2nd base for the Detroit Tigers. That dream never became a reality for me. I played summer league at Thomas Stadium in Niles, played on the J.V. team in High School and was the last one cut off of the Varsity team when I tried out as a Junior. Which was when the reality of my situation hit me. I just was not a good enough player! The glove was there, but the bat was not close to being good enough. Looking at my future, I had a choice to make my Senior year. Put more effort into a baseball future that really was not there or go to work as a co-op student so that I could try to pay for college since my parents were not in a financial situation to help. Nobody in my family had ever graduated from college and few had even attempted to go to college. So, I chose the latter of the two choices and even worked full-time between 2 jobs while going to college full time all while trying to build a solid relationship with the woman who would eventually become my wife. It was hard and I don't regret it one bit! I have been blessed with a great wife and a career in Real Estate that I genuinely enjoy and have met some great people along the way.

But, when the opportunity came up for me to step out onto a major league baseball field, I jumped at it. On Friday, July 30th, I had the awesome experience of taking batting practice at Comerica Park in Detroit. Home of my Detroit Tigers. It was a blast!! From taking warm up swings in the batting cages behind the visitors dugout to shagging fly balls and eventually stepping up to bat against former Detroit Tiger and 1984 World Champion, Dave Rozema, which was who was throwing BP.

There were over 60 people taking BP with me. Out of those 60+ people, only 1 was able to pop one over the fence. No, it was not me! But I was in Left Field when it was hit right over my head as I was heading back to the fence so I got a nice view of it sailing over the fence, over the gap between the stands and the field and then into the seats about 3 rows up.

I practiced leading up to Friday. Taking BP in the cages at Hackers up in Niles and worked my way up to the fast pitch machine. But I was not sure what to expect or how I would feel when stepping up to bat against a former Major League Pitcher in a profession ball park. I took the whole thing seriously. I had my Detroit Tiger batting practice jersey on, baseball pants, cleats, batting gloves and even the knee high blue socks. I made sure that I had an old school look about me with the socks and the way that I had the bottoms of my pants up high to show off those blue socks (not a big fan of the way the players wear the bottoms now a days).

When I stepped up to the plate, Rozema spoke out to me and said "At first glance, you sure have the look of a ball player! You have the uniform and the batting gloves, but I don't see a belt! Real ballplayers finish out their look!" It was funny, and said as a joke, but I did get his point. I laughed and had a hard time during that first pitch. He got in my head! Luckily, I re-grouped, focused and was able to get some good swings in. The best of those swings might have been a double in the gap in left center. The rest would have been line outs, ground outs or singles.

A couple of things became VERY clear from my experience.

Hitting a Home Run is a very hard thing to do! You truly have to hit the ball perfectly and with a lot of bad speed in order to hit that baseball 345 ft down the left field line or worse the 420 feet in left center. I really do not see how there could be such a thing as a cheap home run after having the experience of being out on that field.

The people that play baseball for living work really, really hard at what they do! To be in playing shape and to be able to hit a little white ball that is coming at you 95 mph takes skill and dedication. There is no way these players can just show up and play.

And, if you have an opportunity to take BP at a Major League Ball Park.....TAKE IT! It was worth what I paid and it is an opportunity to do something that you would not be able to do otherwise!

Inception

Not that I am some great movie reviewer, because I know that I am not. But when I see a great movie, I cannot help but to share my thoughts about it and what I got from it. So today, this post is about the movie Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

First, let me say that I really enjoyed this movie! It reminded me of the Matrix, but only a little different. Second, because of its complexities, there is no way I am going to nail this review perfectly without seeing it again which is something I would gladly take the opportunity to do if it presents itself.

At first glance, from the previews, it is easy to see that this movie is about dream manipulation in some shape or form. The movie does a great job in explaining what dream extraction is, which is stealing someones inner most ideas, thoughts and secrets. A little later in the movie the concept of Inception is brought up, which is actually planting an idea in someones mind so that they think it was their thought to begin with and the person would never know that you were in there head to begin with. Scary concept!

That is a great story line in itself, but the movie is actually much deeper and complex then that. The character that DiCaprio plays, Cobb, is struggling with the past. Much of that past has to do with his on screen wife named Mal and the decisions that he made to bring him to this point in his life. The word Mal, by the way, in Latin means evil. Mal had passed on some time before the movie takes place and she keeps "popping up" in the dreams that Cobb has entered into in an attempt to thwart his extraction jobs from others dreams.

This movie talks several times about taking a "leap of faith" and leaving the current world behind to enter another. The more you are in this "dream world" the more it becomes your reality and the more you want to be a part of it. The problem for them though, is that they always have to return to the current world, leaving them longing to return to the other one.

I tend to watch movies and look for "Jesus moments" or "God moments" and I love it when I find them! This movie has that all over it!

Much of Christianity is living in two separate worlds. The world view of things is much different then the Christian view of things, but as Christians, we need to be in both of these worlds. And when I am in the "world view" of things, there is a longing to be back in the "Christian view" of things. But I know at some point, I have to return to the world view at times. It is a back and forth. Just like it is in this movie, we need both worlds in order to exist.

Another subplot of this movie and in taking the "leap of faith" is going back to confront ones past. Late in the movie, Cobb realizes that he is going to have to confront Mal as more and more he is realizing that he is holding onto something that is not healthy for him or the ones around him. This is a great message for all of us. How many times do we hold onto guilt or anger or regret? There is comfort in holding onto it, in an odd sort of way, and if we hold onto that guilt or anger or regret it consumes us and turns into a different person.

In the confrontation scene, I couldn't help but to recognize the similarities of when Jesus was tempted by Satan. Kind of a "all of this can be yours" type of moment. I am not saying that Cobb was like Jesus, just saying that it was a similar type of moment as it was becoming more and more evident that Mal was evil. In order to do this "confrontation", Cobb has to go deeper into his dreams into a "lost" area. This area of his dreams is full of beauty and destruction at the same time.

So, that is what I got out of this wonderful movie. I purposely left out the very end, because nobody likes to have something totally spoiled for them. But this truly is a must see movie! If you saw it, I would be interested to know what your thoughts about it were.........

Friday Morning Men's Bible Group

Well, it was my turn in the leadership rotation again for my Friday morning men's bible study group. This time I decided to do something totally different for the study. Usually, we have a topic and scripture to support the topic along with questions that we ask. We usually send the study, via email, to all members of the group so that they can look it over prior to Friday morning and make notes on what ever they deem appropriate to make notes about.

This week, however, I emailed everyone that they would not get any questions until we sit down at our tables on Friday morning. Then, I had envelopes labeled 1-5. They were not allowed to go to #2 until #1 was complete which meant that they had no idea what the next question was going to be. And since they had no lead time on the questions, all the answers were spontaneous.

So what do you think of doing a study like that? It actually went over pretty good. I tried to keep the questions a little more basic, but thought provoking so that it would provide a lot of discussion.

Here were the questions:

1) In your view, what does a Christian look like? In other words, what is your definition of a Christian?

2) What do you think God's answer to question #1 would be?

3) Does your answer for question #1 differ from what you think God's answer for it would be? If so, why do you think that is? If so, what do we need to do to get our vision in line with God's vision?

4) Do you have to go to church in order to be a Christian? Why did you answer the way that you did?

5) What role could you see Social Media (Facebook, Blogs, Twitter) playing with the church? How would you expect your church to use those tools? Do you expect your church to use those tools?

If you are reading this, let me know your opinions of these....................

Todays Thought

I woke up this morning at 6:00 a.m. turned the alarm off and went back to sleep. Kimberly says "aren't you going to your men's bible group?" "Too tired" I said.

After I got up and sat down at my computer and started looking through my emails and at Facebook, I started thinking about all of the excuses I come up with from time to time to NOT to go to church or to my bible study group.

"Too Tired, didn't sleep well."

"It's been a busy week, I have been up early every day"

"Ah, someone from another church is speaking this week, don't want to listen to them"

"Ugg, another series about tithe."

As you can tell, I am feeling a little guilty about missing my group this morning. I attend more times then not. Same for the weekend service at my church. But it did pop some questions into my mind today that I have been thinking about and I thought I would share.

What if God took the same approach to me as what I do with him?

How would that make me feel?

How would I react if when I brought a problem before God he said "You know, it's been a busy week, not really in the mood to hear about right now" or "another problem about money? give it a rest already!"

Good thing God is not like that, wouldn't you agree?

Disgusted

Normally, I try not to write anything too negative here. But I am just disgusted. It has now been 60 days since the Deepwater Horizon oil well blow out happened.

Disgusted that BP and our Government seem more concerned with trying to salvage oil that is spewing from the depths and to save the well then actually trying to stop the oil from spewing from the depths. And when they were trying to stop it, it was the same waste of time solutions that oil companies had back in 1979 which was when the last major spill in the Gulf happened. Only back then, it was in less then 500 feet of water, not the 5,000 feet that it is today. If it didn't work back then, what made them think it would work this time? Back then, the only solution that worked was to drill a relief well, which took them about 45 days to discover they were going to have to do this time. Who cares about saving the well? Blow the thing up! Think outside the box! Try SOMETHING different!

Disgusted that when BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward was brought before a congressional committee investigating this disaster, he had no answers.........to anything. And, he was given the questions in advance so that he could be prepared!

Disgusted at Congressional Committees that investigate, well, anything. All this is, is public grandstanding and both parties are guilty of it. About the only thing these committees accomplish is wasting time and tax payer money. I would love to see some of these people from Congress sit before a panel made up of the public, have it televised and see how they answer when asked some tough questions for a change.

Disgusted with the drill baby drill crowd on how drilling for oil in our country will free us of other countries oil. On the flip side of that, every time I mention "Boycot BP" I am told by the same people that all of this oil that gets pumped out of the ground gets all mixed together anyway, so if I get my gas at Speedway or Shell or where ever I choose that I will be getting some BP oil anyway. So all a BP Boycot does is hurt the local owners. It is true, the oil does all get mixed. So remind me, how does drilling in this country free us from other countries oil again if it all gets mixed together anyway??? Quit being part of the problem and start becoming part of the solution. Oh yes, and it is also the same crowd who wants smaller Government and is for "the people" but sure scream and holler when the Government isn't there to regulate something, like say, an oil rig that blows up in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. And then, actually comes to the defense of BP when our Government is putting pressure on BP to help out "the people" that have been effected by this disaster.

Disgusted that our Government seems to react extremely slow when it comes to this type of stuff. Katrina, the floods in Tennessee and now this "Gusher in the Gulf". I would have thought that after Katrina, we would have gotten more on top of our reaction time and take this stuff more seriously. Why our Government has not demanded more skimmers in the Gulf is a mystery to me. And why is BP the only company being investigated right now? They didn't even build the rig that blew up and I seem to remember some company called Haliburton involved with this. Why is it, that Haliburton seems to be at the center of so many controversial things going on in this world?

Disgusted at cable news channels and radio talk show hosts who throw out some kind of conspiracy theory to this spill. That makes a lot of sense. People that are so in love with the environment that they decide to ruin it in order to make a point. Give me a break. This was a negligent accident.

Disgusted that we could be so careless toward this beautiful land God gave us to live on and destroy the lives of all of this incredible wild life.

Just disgusted.........

The Perfect Game That Wasn't

Dear Mr. Selig

It has been said, that if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will instantly jump out. But if you put a frog into a pot of water and gradually turn up the heat until it boils, the frog will stay in the pot of water until it dies.

Umm, excuse me, Mr. Selig. The pot of water you are standing in appears to be boiling.

Last year during the playoffs, Mr. Selig, you were gifted with several reasons why we need instant replay in Major League Baseball. For failing to act on that opportunity, now you have a public relations nightmare on your hands after Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers lost his perfect game last night on a bad call by 1st base umpire Jim Joyce.

I understand that you are a purist, Mr. Selig, and do not like the thought of instant replay. "It takes away from the charm of baseball" many say. Well, what is charming about a very negative story about your sport? All because you did not take action after last years playoffs when most of the fans were screaming for instant replay. Why not give the fans what they want? Why not improve your sport?

Today, the fans and the media are not talking about the incredible career of future Hall Of Fame Outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. who decided to retire yesterday after 22 seasons and 630 Home Runs.

We are not talking about the incredible catch that Austin Jackson made to start of the 9th inning to save the perfect game.

We are not talking about how Galarraga only needed 88 pitches to get his perfect game, which would have been the least amount of pitches thrown in a perfect game.

We are not talking about how for the first time in MLB history that there were 2 perfect games thrown in less then a week from each other.

We are not talking about how for the first time in MLB history that there were 3 perfect games thrown in the same season and all with in a 1 month time period.

We are not talking about how, by using technology, that MLB was able to get this call right.

And, because a story like this brings out the worst in fans and the media:

We are not talking about the incredible amount of Grace that was shown by Galarraga towards Jim Joyce after the game.

We are not talking about how this call has devastated Jim Joyce, a man that has been considered one of the best umpires in MLB. A person who takes his job very seriously and immediately was apologetic to Galarraga to the point of tears after he realized his error.

We are not talking about how Jim Joyce stood up and accepted responsibility. Something few of us actually do when we make a mistake.

We are not talking about how when the call was made, Galarraga just stood there and smiled as if to say "really, you're just joking right?" and then he did not blow up when he realized it was no joke. He just concentrated on getting the next guy out.

Mr. Selig, you need to fix this problem! It is too late to fix The Perfect Game That Wasn't. What is done, is done and I don't see how you can over turn this play. However, this game will always have an asterisk by it. As will the careers of Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce. And that is directly from your inability to act on instant replay. Give the fans, players and umpires what they want. Give them instant replay.

Jim Joyce said this after the game: "Every Tiger there was telling me that I had kicked the call because they had seen the replay, so the first thing I did when I got in this locker room I told Tim the clubhouse guy to Que it up and..and...I missed it, I missed it."

Mr. Selig, you are setting your umpires up to fail by not equipping them with the tools they need.

Sincerely,

Barry Skalski

Who Is Hall Of Fame Worthy?

I just read a post on Facebook a little while ago about how at any one time there are 15-20 active MLB players that will make it to the Hall Of Fame. So, I thought it would be interesting to look at the current list of MLB Active (which means they have not retired) players to see if I could find 15-20.

First, I thought I should look at who I feel are the "no-brainers" that if their career ended today, would be in the HOF. I have that list at 7 players. These are the first ballot guys.

Derek Jeter- #44 in Hits @ 2812, #44 in Runs @ 1606, #89 in Doubles @ 449. Not to mention all of his awards, his clutch hits in the post season and he plays Short Stop which does not typically produce big time stats.

Ken Griffey Jr.- #46 in Hits @ 2781, #5 in HR's @ 630, #36 in Doubles @ 524, #14 in RBI @1836 and #31 in Runs @ 1662. He numbers also indicate the strong possibility that he never used any performance enhancing drugs as he showed a natural decline in statistics and never had the outrageous statistical seasons that some others have had, not to mention all of the injuries he had over his career.

Ivan Rodriguez- All time hits leader for a catcher and #46 overall @ 2751 and #23 in Doubles @ 556. Next to Johnny Bench, possibly the best catcher to ever have played. Brilliant defensively for most of his career, the last couple of years have been a little shaky. The only knock on him, that I can think of, is that he has been linked to PED's which was evident in his drop in weight and muscle 1 yr after being named in a Canseco book.

Alex Rodriguez- #80 in Hits @ 2583, #7 in HR's @ 589, #20 in RBI @1741, #25 in Runs @ 1712, #84 in Doubles @ 456. The big question here is how long did he use PED's? Their is no doubt that his stats are hall worthy. Another question might be "what statistic will he not be the leader of?" when he is completely finished.

Manny Ramirez- #87 in Hits @ 2522, #14 in HR's @ 549, #18 in RBI @ 1812, #59 in Runs @ 1520 and #30 in Doubles @ 537. Just a pure hitter. Not great in the field, but who cares with that kind of bat. Once again though, another player linked to PED's.

Gary Sheffield- #62 in Hits @ 2689, #24 in HR's @ 509, #25 in RBI @ 1676, #36 in Runs @ 1636 and #74 in Doubles @ 467. Another pure hitter that has a hard time on defense. And another player linked to PED's. Hard telling if it was the wrist injury in Detroit that really started his decline or the lack of PED's or both. But one thing for sure, he has some serious stats.

Mariano Rivera-#2 in career Saves @ 536 and a career ERA of 2.25. I don't there has ever been a player so dominant with just one pitch! When you look at his post-season career, it just gets even more ridiculous.

Here are a few more that are "not so slam dunks" but I think will definitely get in. In other words, they might or might not be 1st ballot guys. My guess is that they probably will not be and it will take them 2-4 ballots to get in.

Pedro Martinez- #13 in Strikeouts @ 3154, #76 in Wins @ 219, and a career ERA of 2.93. I had a hard time figuring out where to put him because I would like to see the Win total higher. No doubt though, a dominant pitcher. I do think he will get in, it just might take a couple of ballots.

John Smoltz- #88 in Wins @ 213, #16 in Strikeouts @ 3084, a career ERA of 3.33 and 154 Saves during his time as a closer. Dominant in the post season, perhaps the best starter in post season history. Injury problems lessened his stats a little bit. Personally, I think he is a first ballot type of player, but the voters seem to be weird with players that split time at different positions like he did.

Trevor Hoffman- #1 in Saves @596 and a career ERA of 2.85. This one might be a stretch to put him this high, only because closers do not do well in HOF voting. Lee Smith isn't even in the HOF yet, but his ERA is up over 3.00 which really hurts him.

Chipper Jones- #39 in HR's @ 428, #54 in RBI @1464, #74 in Runs @ 1477, #69 in Doubles @ 482 and 2440 hits. I would like his Hits number to be higher, but the power and production numbers should get him in.

That brings my total to 11 players. Here are the rest that need more stats to get in, in my opinion:

Albert Pujols- In only his 10th season, he is already #62 on the career HR list @ 378. His other numbers are 1775 Hits, 400 Doubles, 1150 RBI and 1102 Runs. He just needs to add stats, but there is no doubt that he should get them.

Miguel Cabrera- It is only his 8th season, so this might be an early call. He has 663 Runs, 1284 Hits, 801 RBI and a career .313 AVG. But he is only 27 years old and has a lot of playing left. Providing that he does not have injury problems, he should get his numbers.

Ichiro Suzuki- Another player that is in his 10th season. An exceptional defensive player that nobody tries to stretch extra bases on. He has 2099 Hits and has never had less then 206 Hits in a season. He also has 996 Runs. The knack on him is a lack of power. Only 85 HR's and 525 RBI. And at 36, how much longer can he do this? My guess is that he can play another 4 years which will get him close to 3,000 hits. Close enough for the HOF.

Johnny Damon- A couple of years ago, I would not have thought he was a possibility. But, after a couple of World Series rings and no drop off in production, why not? He is #94 in Hits @2474, #60 in Runs @ 1518, #76 in Doubles @ 465 and he has 1014 RBI. A couple of more seasons after this one and he should be at 3,000 hits which is the magic # I think he needs to get to, and I think he will.

That gets me to 15 players. Here is the remainder of who I was looking at. There no doubt will be a few that will certainly get talked about. A few of these may or may not get in.

Vladimir Guerrero- #42 in HR's @ 419 and #77 in RBI @1362. 2313 Hits, 1214 Runs and a career .322 avg. He is 35 though and has tailed off the last couple of years.

Jim Thome- #11 in HR's @569, #38 in RBI @1582, #69 in Runs @1496 and 2158 Hits. If he gets in, it will be because of the HR's for sure. But he was a defensive liability and DH'd a lot which will count against him. But, just when you think this guy is done, he comes back with another good year. He will be 40 this year, so I think it is safe to say he is close to the end.

Carlos Delgado- #30 in HR's @ 473 and #49 in RBI @1512. Just barely crossed 2,000 hits @ 2038 and has1241 Runs. But, he is without a team this year which might signal the end for him. He did not DH as much as I thought he did at only 184 games, but I think he might suffer the same as Fred McGriff, a sudden end to what was a very good career...... but just a little short of the HOF. Though I do think that McGriff should be in.

Jason Kendall- I bet that one shocked you more then just a little bit. Shocked me too until I started to look more closely to his numbers. His 2,132 Hits rank him high on the all time Hits list for catchers and he should be at #4 for Catchers by the end of the year. He also has 1002 Runs, 717 RBI and 181 steals while also being a very very good defensive catcher and a career .290 hitter. Not saying he is getting in, but his numbers are surprisingly good and he is very consistent. There are only 15 catchers in the HOF.

Omar Vizquel- #57 in Hits @2715, #92 in Runs @ 1382 and 910 RBI. He seems to be a "hanger on" at 43 years old and still playing, but he has accumulated some impressive numbers and is great defensively. Still, if he gets in, the Larkin and Trammell had better have gotten in as well.......just sayin.

Garrett Anderson- Yeah, I know, but look at his numbers. #90 in Hits @ 2513, #78 in RBI @ 1360, #39 in Doubles @ 518 and he scored 1.080 Runs. Those are not bad numbers. But I do think he will fall short.

Todd Helton- This was one of those players that I really dismissed early on, but his name kept coming up in my research so I put him on the list. Hits-2,173, RBI-1,211, Runs-1,239, HR's-326 and a .326 career AVG. But, he will be 37 later this year and he really needs 3,000 hits, I think.

Magglio Ordonez- It looked like he was done with a serious knee injury in 04-05, then again last year. This year, it looks like he is back again. If that is the case, he may have 2-3 more seasons at age 36, which means he still has a shot to make it. Hits-2031, HR's-284, Doubles- 408, Runs- 1,021 and RBI-1,179.

Andy Pettitte- #61 in wins @ 235, #53 in Strikeouts @ 2186 and a career ERA or 3.88. A great post season pitcher. I see him in as being similar to Jack Morris only left handed. Ok, maybe not as good as Morris, but close. I guess what I am saying is, if Morris gets in then it is a good sign for Pettitte. If Pettitte gets in and Morris doesn't, then I will give some consideration to blowing up the HOF...........just kidding, but seriously, Morris should get in before Pettitte.

Jamie Moyer- I can't believe I typed his name, but he will get some votes. At 47 he is still pitching. He is #39 in Strikeouts @ 2,374 and #40 in Wins @ 263. But, his 4.22 ERA will keep him out. Plus, come on, it's Jamie Frickin Moyer.

There are several other pitchers like, Roy Halladay and such, but Pitchers are so here today gone tomorrow because of arm problems that it is hard to put them in consideration until they get the numbers compiled.

So, that is what I could come up with. There may be some names I left off that you feel should be on here......see Jorge Posada, but he doesn't even have 1,000 RBI or Runs or even close to 2,000 hits. But let me know what actives you think will make it or if I left one off that you think should be on it.