Al's Big Red Machine

When I suit up for the Cincinnati Reds Fantasy Camp in January, I will proudly wear the number "14" in honor of  Pete Rose, one of the game's most inspirational players and the all-time leader in hits with 4,256. "Mr. Hustle" always gave it 100%. A fierce competitor, Rose played baseball with a tremendous passion and never quit hustling regardless of the score in a game. For me, like the famous line in the Disney movie "Remember The Titans" says, "you're Hall of Fame in my book." Coincidentally, one of Rose's most memorable career moments came on April 29 (my birthday), when in 1978 for the only time in his career he hit three home runs in the same game. I celebrated a 60th April 29 yesterday and that milestone was one of the primary drivers in my registering for the Reds Fantasy Camp, so I'm honored to be wearing "14".   

As a tween and teenager when I wasn't chasing pretty girls, you could be sure to find me on a baseball field or in a batting cage. I could play, watch my friends play on their teams and practice baseball for hours. You see me and my best friend Jorge Martinez dreamed of playing in the Big Leagues one day. We spent countless hours perfecting our swings at the batting cages at Carol City High School, breaking only to take some sips of water from a nearby water fountain. And when our hands started blistering, we'd sit down on the clay floor and fantasize about hitting back to back on the Big Red Machine one day. For most of our varsity years, we played on rival neighborhood high school teams. He, on the juggernaut Carol City Chiefs, loaded with talent and heritage and I on the upstart, new American High Patriots. While on the field we were fierce competitors, off the diamond, we were the best of the best friends. The kind of friends that at 14, knew we would be the godfathers of e...

The "Big Red Machine" of the 1970s was baseball royalty for me. So when my childhood neighbor, whom I admired and bragged about his baseball prowess, was drafted out of high school in 1978 by the Reds, my connection to the iconic franchise grew stronger. Nick Esasky was the talk of Carol Park, a small but exciting ballpark in Carol City in the northern area of Miami Dade County. I hung out a lot at Carol Park as a teen, as it was the epicenter of youth baseball in Carol City, whose high school Chiefs baseball team, also produced major league players Randy Bush, Danny Tartabull and Otis Green. The park had a very tall chainlink fence in left field to protect homes from being pelted with errantly-thrown baseballs. There were only a few 15-year-olds in the Little League program who could boast hitting long balls against that towering Fenway Park-like fence. And that's why Nick, a manchild with Big League prowess, was a Carol Park legend for me and many of my Sandlot buddie...

One of the perks from participating in the Cincinnati Reds Fantasy baseball camp next year was to automatically become a member of the Reds Hall of Fame Museum, where all of my childhood immortal Reds legends will live forever in time.  While, unfairly in my view, not eligible for the MLB Hall of Fame, baseball's all time hit leader Pete Rose was the sole inductee in the Class of 2016 Reds Hall of Fame. Rightfully taking his place among Reds legends, "Charley Hustle" recorded 4,192 hits during his career, breaking the legendary Ty Cobb's previous record for most all time career hits. He changed the game of baseball forever with his signature head first diving slides into bases and his intensity, running out every ball he hit no matter if he appeared to be thrown out easily by a fielder.  His lust for winning had no boundaries, even in typically ceremonial MLB All Star games, when superstars usually just showed up for the fans.  Not Rose. He played to win and in the 19...

All of us have that childhood teacher that stood out, left a lifetime impression on us. It's no coincidence that mine was Ms. Knudsen, my 4th grade teacher at South Hialeah Elementary in 1970. You see Ms. Knudsen knew I was a big baseball fan and a little boy who was passionate about his favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds. It's practically all I talked about during show and tell time in class. I was also a good student, completed my work on time and was always very respectful. In mid October that year after watching the Baltimore Orioles go up on my Reds 2-0 over the weekend in the World Series, I returned to school on Monday, pleading with Ms. Knudsen to let me hear the Series on my transistor AM-FM radio when it resumed Tuesday afternoon during school hours. Ms. Knudsen made a deal with me, that not only could I not refuse, but was eager to make good on. She told me if I finished my classwork on time, without recklessly rushing through it, she would let me sit next to her wi...

My first non coaching "baseball practice" in more than 35 years was one to remember. Like the first day of class in elementary school, I was excited, anticipating the adrenalin rush of catching and hitting a baseball again. I made sure to do a little extra mobility and stretching in the gym the day before and even simulated the throwing and swinging motions in order to wake up those muscle fibers that had been dormant for years. Since the workout was at Cincinnati Reds slugger Nick Castellanos' property, I invited my son and surprised my 18-year-old nephew, a high school pitcher, to join me and get an opportunity meet Nick. After some initial stretching, Nick set up a machine to vault some fly balls our way. My confidence level was teetering as I didn't know how well I'd track the fly balls, given that I was wearing progressive, prescription eyeglasses. Castellanos Sr. and I took turns fielding the fly balls. When I heard the thump of the baseball pop out of the m...

I was 5 years old when I discovered the Cincinnati Reds . That special summer day in 1966 at Dodgers stadium in Los Angeles, I didn't even know how to pronounce Cincinnati, but sitting high atop the upper deck stands, I saw a very active group of red "circles" constantly moving from base to base, much to the disappointment of so many people seated around me dressed in blue.  I  didn't know the names of the players, but my dad and uncle seated on either side of me provided all of the narration I needed. I naively called the more active team the Reds, solely because of the color I saw on the tops of their caps. I remember asking my dad why the people around us didn't cheer when the red "circles" ran around the bases. He smiled and said "that's because they want the "Blues" to win. But on that 16th day of August, not even the great Sandy Koufax could stop the red "circles" from recording a 5 to 1 win. And while my uncle was exci...