The final days of spring training in Arizona proved to be our favorites.  Typical of most vacations, we tried to cram as much as we could in the last two days.  By now, we had a routine down and were at the minor league practice fields for the Milwaukee Brewers by 9:30AM to avoid paying for parking.  Some of the players were already doing stretches, checking assignments and mingling with fans.  I experienced my own adrenalin rush from the sound of the cleats on the pavement between the batting cages and the practice fields.  Since we are in our third season with the Carolina Mudcats, the Brewers A affiliate, we knew several of the players by name and even better, they referred to us as “Michele Vassalotti’s US family!”

My first stop was the batting cages where I watched Jace Avina take his swings.  I met Jace last season in Kannapolis a couple of weeks after his call-up from the Arizona Complex League.  When he took his stance in the batting cage, he emitted confidence with every swing.  After he was finished, Jace come over to the door and gave me a quick hug.  As I leaned in the doorway of the building, a player was positioned at the door with a sheet in his hand listing the four minor league teams of the Brewers and which field each player was practicing on that day.  I was all eyes and ears as each player checked in with him.  “I work for the Mudcats. Where do you play?” I asked.  He responded, “I’m David Tofu – I’m a coach for Wisconsin.”  I laughed.   It reminded me of the time when I asked NASCAR driver Timmy Hill what he did with the team. 

Adjacent to the batting cage building was a fenced-in area where another coach, Charlie Greene, was operating a machine which threw balls to the catchers.   One of the catchers stood from his crouched position and flipped his mask up.  It was one of the Mudcats catchers from last season – Jose Sibrian.  I waved and he nodded back, then returned to his crouched position.  Greene shouted out frequent reminders to the catchers – “Make sure where the Rawlings is!”  I continued to watch in awe the flexibility of the catchers as they worked.  Catching is truly the hardest defensive position in baseball!

There was more activity on the main walkway as the players started dispersing to the four playing-fields we had access to.  Jace’s dad Armando texted me that the family including Jace’s biggest fan, his brother Austin, had arrived and were at one of the fields waiting for Jace’s group to start.  For the next couple of hours, I felt like a “Kid-in-a-candy-store” bouncing from field to field watching the minor leaguers vying for positions at different minor league levels which would be assigned by the following week.  Every pitch thrown, every at bat taken and every defensive play was being scrutinized by team managers, coaches and development personnel including Bob Miscik and Quinton McCracken. 

At noon, we headed walked over to the American Family Fields gate and attended a game between the Brewers and the Padres.  It was a gorgeous day for baseball and fans were scattered throughout the grass above the outfield.  While I will pass on hot dogs in any ballpark, I could not resist having a brat!  And it was awesome!  In the 7^th inning stretch after singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, the fans sang “Roll Out the Barrel!”   The Brewers won 4 – 2.  It was double-header time for us as we headed to Goodyear Park where there was an evening game with the Cincinnati Reds hosting the Seattle Mariners.    We had been at so many games there between our February and March visits, GM Bruce Kessman joked about me coming to work there for spring training 2024.  As I was mentally calculating costs of a short-term rental and what to do for transportation, I heard a booming “No” in my ear!   Rick had no sense of adventure even if it was my fantasy! 

The game was brutal for the Cincinnati fans.  Seattle scored FIFTEEN runs in the first four innings.  We were just about “baseballed-out” for the day so we headed back to Glendale.  I called Michele enroute and we planned to meet for dinner.  When we got to his hotel, I called him from our car.  A sleepy-sounding voice answered.  He apologized saying he was really tired and just wanted to go back to sleep.  Trying to contain my disappointment, I replied that we understood and we would see him the next day.  I hung up and turned to tell Rick about the change in plans.  Rick was trying to contain his laughter.   Michele was standing outside our car holding his phone to his ear and laughing as he mimicked in his Spanish accent what I said.  It was a fun ending to a great day!