MY ALL-STAR ADVENTURE

In January of 2007, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig made it official that St. Louis would play host to the 2009 MLB All-Star Game. For many, this was a shock as year after year, St. Louis had been largely overlooked as a potential host for baseball’s Mid-Summer Classic, despite having one of the most faithful and farthest reaching fan bases in the entire sport.

For 42 seasons, baseball’s best players took the trip to other baseball cities for the ceremonial mid-season exhibition of the stars. In some cases, the game had been held in the same city twice since St. Louis last hosted the game in 1966. New York, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, Seattle, Anaheim, Cleveland, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Minneapolis all hosted the All-Star game twice before 2009. Two teams hosted the game three times in the last 42 seasons: The Houston Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates. In fact, America’s game took the Mid-Summer Classic to Canada twice (Montreal in 1982 and Toronto in 1991) before Baseball City, USA was ever considered to host again.

No team or city has waited so long between hosting opportunities. No team had been passed over more times than the Cardinals. Year after year, frustration built within Cardinal fans, who were just wondering when it would be there time to shine as the center of one of baseball’s most celebrated events.

All of this frustration exploded in the five days that were All-Star Week 2009. It seemed as though that all of St. Louis felt they had something to prove to Major League Baseball and the large amount of media outlets gracing the city with their presence. All at once, the city banded together to show that Cardinal fans are the most knowledgeable, most gracious and most deserving fans in the baseball world.

This isn’t the story of how the game came to the Gateway to the West or how St. Louis showed Major League Baseball how the All-Star Game should be presented every year, but it is a personal account of what took place during those five special days this July. Those five special days that Cardinal fans had been waiting over 40 years for. That special day that younger fans, like your’s truly, had been waiting their entire lives for.

PART I: THE FESTIVAL OF FANS

Since I first started watching the All-Star Game in 1996, there has always been one event that has always captivated me outside of the game itself. No, not the HGH Derby…I mean Home Run Derby, but the All-Star FanFest. It was a chance for fans to get closer to the game, to experience things that can only be experienced on the ball field, like hitting a homer over the wall or off the foul poll or making the game saving catch by leaping over the wall to rob the opposition of a home run, or in my case, calling your favorite play from your favorite team’s storied history.

On July 11th, my friend Ryan and I took off for America’s Center to experience “the world’s largest baseball themed amusement park.” For those who don’t remember the commercials for FanFest, Ozzie Smith was the spokesman of the event. He ended every commercial with, “I’ll see you at the 2009 All-Star FanFest.” When Ryan and I finally got into the door’s, we received the news that Ozzie was, in fact, not at the FanFest. This completely changed my view of Ozzie Smith. I now consider him one of the biggest liars in the history of baseball. If you tell someone that you will see them at the FanFest, you better be at the FanFest. No home run in Game five of the National League Championship Series can make up for this atrocity Ozzie. Shame on you. But since you’re a Cardinal legend, I might be alone in scolding you, so maybe I will let it slide.

Anyway, once you walked in to the America’s Center, you were greeted by the World’s Biggest Baseball, which had the signatures of previous All-Stars such as Roger Clemens, who humbley wrote under his signature, “The ROCKET was here.” Unfortunately his pen must have run out so I finished his sentence for him and put, “The ROCKET was here doing steroids.” At least Roger Clemens would be telling the truth at FanFest.

After defacing the World’s Biggest Baseball, we noticed a large crowd making a run for the second floor of America’s Center. Apparently Will Clark, whom became very popular during his short time in St. Louis for really sticking it to J.D. Drew for not hustling, was getting ready to sign autographs upstairs. We followed the crowd and had Will “The Thrill” sign our FanFest programs because we did not bring anything to be autographed.

While waiting in line for an autograph, Ryan and I began making small talk with a guy about our age. We asked if he was from around here, if he had tickets to any other events and just made baseball talk. However, we left out the important question of “What is your name”. Because of this, throughout the rest of this story, he will be referred to as goatee guy, or GG for short.

Well, GG apparently came to the FanFest alone. And apparently making small talk with him meant that we wanted him to follow us around the entire day. No offense to GG, he was a nice guy, but I was not interested in being followed by a complete stranger all day while trying to enjoy one of the more unique features of the All-Star Game. So Ryan and I somewhat ditched him in the main room by running into a crowd. However, we would continue to run in to him at a couple more attractions.

As we walked around the interactive center, we came across the “Call the Play” booth. I saw this and knew that this was my chance. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for. This was my chance to show the world that I could do play-by-play for the St. Louis Cardinals. And not just do play-by-play, I could make a legendary call on a legendary play.

Like any good Cardinal fan, I chose to call the play where Albert Pujols tees off on Brad Lidge of the Houston Astros to send the Cardinals back to Busch Stadium for Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. The original call was made by the Fox Sports secondary team of broadcasters, so I knew that I would be able to do a job somewhat better than them. However, I was at a disadvantage as I knew what was going to happen so the call was not as spontaneous.

I started off….OK. Not my best work, but I managed to make it interesting. The lady running the booth was somewhat surprised that I was able to start rattling off stats from almost five years ago (she clearly had never read any of my blog posts). As Albert stepped into the box, I began to calm down, just anticipating the moment that the ball left his bat and headed into orbit.

Finally, the moment came. On an 0-1 pitch Albert swung at a hanging slider that caught the middle of the plate. This ball was gone, and I mean way gone. Suddenly the excitement of that moment began to come back to me. The emotions I felt that night started rushing through my veins. Except this time I was going to let the world feel what I was feeling.

But I gagged. No words would come out. I saw the ball leaving the stadium (if the roof had been open) but I couldn’t speak. Finally, about five seconds to late, I was finally able to belt out, “AND HOLD OFF THE WRECKING BALLS TO OLD BUSCH STADIUM!! ALBERT….has…hit a home run.”

The excitement left me. I suddenly became very aware that people could hear every word I was saying and I was apparently speaking so loud that a small crowd had gathered at the News Channel 5 desk that I was “broadcasting” from. The moment was over and I didn’t really know how to feel about it, which is why I’m leaving it up to the readers of this blog. Below is the video of my broadcast. Feel free to tell me what you think. Feel free to be critical, but don’t kill the dream. This is the reason I went into journalism in the first place.

After attempting to call our own favorite play, Ryan and I were able to do two more activities before the place became incredibly crowded. We were able to do three attractions in the first hour we were at FanFest. In the next hour, we were only able to do one. Oh well. At least Taco Bell was giving away free Volcano Tacos, which kept us happy while we waited to take five swings in the virtual batting cages.

On our way out we came across Cal Ripken Jr. and his brother Billy just finishing their radio show. Of course, there was a mad dash to try and get Cal’s autograph (poor Billy, nobody really appreciates you) and we decided to be part of the rush. Ryan apparently had brought two baseballs. He handed me one to try and get signed. Somehow, Ryan managed to have one of the few existing baseballs that still say “Official National League Baseball” on it. Needless to say I felt stupid trying to get Cal Ripken Jr.’s autograph on a National League Baseball. Maybe he wouldn’t notice. Of course in the end it didn’t matter as Cal signed about fifty autographs and then made a mad dash for the exit, leaving Ryan and I with nothing to hold on to but our blank balls. Feel free to laugh at the innuendo placed at the end of that sentence.

Overall it was quite the experience. I got an autograph from Will Clark, who also commented on my ability to catch a ball (he compared me to Alfonso Soriano. OUCH!), I got to make my first attempt at being a play-by-play announcer, I felt what it was like to see a baseball go over the fence (even though the fence was only 100 feet away which is about the equivalent of popping up to the second baseman. Shut up, it felt good!), and I got to face off against pitching ace and former HGH user, Andy Pettitte. All of this, of course, was done in a span of four hours. It was a good day.

FanFest is a fairly new attraction that travels with the All-Star Game. Some people scoff at the idea of a baseball theme park, but it really does get you in the mood to watch and play America’s National Pastime. It reinvigorated my love of the game, and reminded me of my days as a kid with dreams of making the big leagues. Dreams that recently died when I realized that there are several players now playing professional baseball that are younger than I. Thank you Colby Rasmus for killing my childhood dream. Then again, I think there is still hope for me. After all, Chris Duncan is still in the Majors despite the fact that he can’t hit, field, run, add or subtract and thinks he spells his last name like a certain donut shop.

It was a great way to open up All-Star Week 2009. But FanFest was only the beginning of what turned into a four day whirlwind.

In Part II of “My All-Star Adventure”:

-My girlfriend goads me into going to the Celebrity Softball Game, and then shows her undying

love for me by sitting out a four hour rain delay.
-My Uncle Mike buys two orders of supreme nachos in less than five minutes
-Busch Stadium ushers prove once and for all that they really are huge jackasses.

Stay tuned…

BONUS BLOG!!

Something I couldn't fit in but I want to share with the world. This is another video that Ryan and I made while at FanFest. It's an interview with Hazel Mae and Harold Reynolds of the MLB Network. Ryan compares Yadier Molina to a certain Iranian president (jokingly of course) and I can't help but start cracking up. ENJOY!