Spring Training

Minnesota Twins v Philadelphia Phillies, March 9, 2004 Brighthouse Field, Clearwater, FL



I hosted a business trip to one of our manufacturing plants in the Tampa area. We flew in and straight to Hooters (the original) then to the game.

I don't think I ever had to fly 20 people to a place, transport them to a stadium, walk up to the ticket window and PRAY that the tickets I ordered online were sitting there for me.

This was my first, and only, spring training game. The Phils recently moved to this new complex. It was a beautiful complex. I took a walk around with one of my customers and ended up at the right field bar to get a few beers for us. I recognized a former (although he was on the roster after this spring) Phillie trying to convince two lovely young ladies that he was a major league ball player. He was struggling and drunk. So to throw him a bone I asked my client if he wanted an autograph on a baseball he just bought for his kid.

I approached him, said hello and told him I was a huge fan. It was the lifeline he needed to pick up both of these girls. I thought he was going to hug me. My client ended up with an autographed ball, the ball player probably ended up in a threesome and I got nothing.