Al's Big Red Machine Blog

Welcome to Al's Big Red Machine Blog and follow my journey as I fulfill a lifelong bucket list experience at age 60 to play baseball as a Cincinnati Reds player.


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Living The Dream

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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 cha...
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Yesterday's Experiences Inspire Tomorrow's Achievements

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I've always been a believer in that your future is often shaped by the people, interactions and experiences that personally inspired you at different points in your life. As such, I asked and received confirmation from camp administrators that I could affix personal photos on the inside panel of my assigned locker for the week. It's hard to pick a few photos from a 50-year reservoir of treasured baseball images, but I'll travel with a slice of childhood and adult memories that will make up my "vision board". Unlike traditional vision boards which focus on what you want the future to look like, my goal is to have the memories that my images invoke inspire me to relish, enjoy and play the game I love with the passion of a little boy who dreamed of some day playing for The Big Red Machine.
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Livin' the Dream at Reds Fantasy Camp

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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 ...
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