Living The Dream

After a few years of contemplating then talking myself out of pursuing, the arrival of my 60th birth year provided clarity, reflection on the experiences in life than can truly bring deep satisfaction to the soul. All of my life, I've been a passionate lover of the game of baseball as a player, coach and fan. While I wasn't blessed with sufficient enough talent to play beyond the college level, the game has defined who I am, how I've overcome obstacles and accomplished personal and business goals. "Field of Dreams" with Kevin Costner is my Notebook tearjerker. 

I grew up idolizing the "The Big Red Machine" and names like Rose, Bench, Morgan, Perez held the same sacred status as those in my school history books like Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. Throughout Little League, I often daydreamed about what it would be like to debut in the Big Leagues in a crisp red and white Cincinnati Reds uniform. Fifty years later, I'm finally going to get that chance as I join more than 100 other passionate Reds fans and former players at the 2022 Cincinnati Reds Fantasy Camp


Saying that I'm excited would be a gross understatement, especially since I know the journey in 2021 will be just as rewarding as its culmination in January 2022 at the Reds Spring Training Complex in Phoenix, Arizona.

Comments

  1. Dr. W. D. Nicholas, NBCTJanuary 24, 2021 at 10:35 PM

    Congratulations on your decision Al! As you know, I can relate to what you wrote here. I look forward to reading your blog and following your journey.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TheDigitalRaindanceJanuary 25, 2021 at 7:17 AM

      Thank you Nick. You are a front row witness to the baseball passion that I describe. We share some great childhood baseball memories. The Falcons, the As...lol

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's In A Name? That Who We Call Concepcion

Image
Joining me at the Cincinnati Reds fantasy camp is Miami cardiologist Gilbert Concepcion, a lifelong New York Yankees fan. Given his revered last name in Reds baseball land, Concepcion, of Cuban heritage, spent most of his professional life fielding questions from his Miami patients wanting to know if he had any family tie to the great Big Red Machine shortstop Dave Concepcion, a native of Venezuela. He didn’t give much thought to the Concepcion name connection and was planning to wear his old high school number 10 at the Reds fantasy camp. That is until he was recently looking through some of his childhood photographs at his parent’s home and realized that he wore the number 13 on a Little League baseball team. That discovery also perked another special memory.  As a physician, he was asked by the Venezuelan national baseball team physician to step in as onsite physician for the Venezuelan national team during the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 because the former was feelin
Read more

Livin' the Dream at Reds Fantasy Camp

Image
Day 1 at the Reds Fantasy Camp was a blast and a wakeup call on how grueling the life of a professional ballplayer is. After getting to the complex before sunrise to have breakfast, attend a morning briefing meeting, we headed out to the fields to begin our "tryout" so the coaches could evaluate us before the draft during our lunch. More than 45 minutes of infield practice, three different live batting sessions on multiple fields, bullpen pitching tosses and fly balls off the machine was enough to send me to the training room for a massage gun session on the quads. We finally learned draft results and my team for the week was appropriately Goodyear, home of the Reds spring training facility. We faced a crafty veteran pitcher who threw knuckleballs, curveballs and sidearm fastballs. On my third at bat, I finally got a hold of one and lined a single down the left field line. It felt great! Especially since I had already turned a double play as the starting second basemen. Lots
Read more

A Little Bit Reds Country

Image
We took a break from our practice ritual this weekend and I surprised my wife with Brad Paisley concert tickets at the IThink Amphitheater in West Palm Beach. Not only did we take in a great concert by Paisley, who is also a staunch American Patriot, but the crowd got an unexpected surprise when Paisley brought on stage one of the greatest Cincinnati Reds players to ever the play the game. Hall of Famer Johnny Bench graced the stage. It was the last thing I expected, but a great "value add" to an already terrific experience.
Read more