I got up early Friday to drive to the St. Louis area and play a morning round of golf with FL Commissioner Bill Lee. We were joined by Gateway's General Manager Steve Gomric and Media Relations Director Jeff O'Neill. You can find out a lot about people when you play golf together. What they found out about me was that I should practice more.I will say that Bill Lee enjoys his job with the Frontier League. He travels the FL's highways and back roads constantly during the summer and is on a first name basis with front office and game day staff at each site, as well as many of the teams' regular fans. Incredibly, he also knows every non-chain restaurant in the Midwest and the specialty of the house at each one. The FL Media Guide features his favorite place to eat in each city. Perhaps in future travels, I'll stop by these restaurants and provide a full report - hard hitting news at its finest.
The one thing I should mention about the Commish is his commitment to the players of the Frontier League. As many of you know, the League has an age limit of 27 years old. It is the only independent league with such a restriction and, because of that rule and the rule that requires half of the rosters to be made up of rookies, the FL is a very young professional circuit. Bill once told me that one of his regrets was that he wasn't fortunate enough to have children of his own. Because of that, he added, he thinks of the young men that come to the Frontier League each summer as his extended family, a family for which he feels a great deal of responsibility. I think that single fact guides Bill in how he steers the rudder of the League. If I were fortunate enough to have a child playing in the Frontier League, I would feel reassured that Bill Lee was at the helm.
I have to approach the next subject delicately. To know Grizzlies' GM Steve Gomric is to wonder about Grizzlies' GM Steve
Gomric. Not a shrinking violet, Steve told me with confidence (way too early in our morning round) that he is, pound for pound, the sexiest man in the Frontier League. I explained to him that I am a blogger, not People Magazine, but he was relentless in his self-avowal. I could have left it there, but to my amazement, he actually backed up this claim during the game last night at GCS Ballpark. Steve is one of the "Diamond Dudes", a group of four that regularly drags the infield between innings and does so with the flair of dance. On Friday, Steve and his compatriots paid homage to the late Michael Jackson with their routine and, to my complete surprise, Steve not only pulled off the moonwalk, with accompanying flip of his fedora, he also did the rotational steps from "Smooth Criminal" flawlessly. Here's to you, PFPTSMITFL, you made me a believer.When you do a blog like this, I've learned, you have to have a certain sense of bravado. That bravado, however, often turns into apology. I misstated an item in my last entry, which I was called on when I got to the park Friday. I neglected, which I now deeply regret, to note that Gateway was actually the first Frontier League team to surpass the 200,000-fan mark, accomplishing the feat in 2004. "Rules Guy", and Grizzlies' play-by-play announcer, Joe Pott took me to task early in the evening (which was handled with his usual tact) - in addition, I learned that Deputy Commissioner Kevin Rouch, who was also at GCS Friday, had received at least one e-mail with a similar admonition. Sorry for the misstatement - it won't happen again (oh, c'mon, you know it will).
The coolest thing I saw at the stadium Friday was actually at the Grizzlies' baseba
ll academy, which is housed in a building just outside the left field gate. The academy, which caters to teams and players around the Metro East area, has a pitching machine that is simply amazing. In the main batting cage, the hitter faces a movie screen. A "real life" pitcher winds up and, as he releases, a baseball shoots out of the screen. The whole thing is run by a computer that can program fastballs up to 100 mph and throw all kinds of breaking pitches, every one of them reliably over the plate. It is truly remarkable. I didn't want to interrupt the young guys who were taking cuts when I was there, but I would have loved to re-live my youth by striking out against a 12-to-6 curveball.All in all, it was a great day, hacking around a golf ball with the Commissioner and company and then hanging out at another of the great venues in the Frontier League. On my next trip to GCS, I'll take the chance to talk more about the park itself and how the town of Sauget, Illinois, made up of just about 250 hardy souls, hosts thousands each night to watch professional baseball. Now it's time to cross the mighty Mississippi to take in a game at River City's T.R. Hughes Ballpark - the final leg of this 7-7-7 expedition. Talk to you then!
(Diamond Dudes picture used with permission of ace team photographer Paul Baillargeon - thanks, Paul)
