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MLW
Florida Tour 2002
On February 18, 2002, MLW Commissioner Shaun Breen left for Florida.
After spending several days in Orlando theme parks, he went on a
tour of three spring training camps. His journey brought him to
Port St. Lucie, home of the New York
Mets, Fort Myers, home of the Minnesota
Twins, and Tampa, home of the New
York Yankees. The trip proved to be a success, and ended on a high-note
when the Commissioner chatted about wiffleball with ESPN's Peter
Gammons.
Friday, February 22
Port St. Lucie, Florida
New York Mets
The first of the spring training stops was actually unexpected. Bad
weather in Orlando had put a damper on the Commissioner's much-awaited
trip to Universal Studios, but the storm had not yet reached the east
coast, so Breen got in the rented Ford Expedition and headed for Port
St. Lucie.
Breen was excited by what he saw when he arrived. His two favorite
pitchers of all-time, Al Leiter and Sandy Koufax, were working out
together, but unfortunately both were too busy to meet with the Commissioner.
The majority of the "everyday" Mets did not seem fan-friendly,
but the up-and-coming players and coaches were. The highlight of the
trip came when Breen met with third-baseman Edgardo Alfonzo.
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| Al Leiter and Sandy Koufax |
Edgardo Alfonzo and Shaun Breen |
Monday, February 25
Fort Myers, Florida
Minnesota Twins
This was the best stop of the entire trip. All the Twins were extremely
friendly. For example, a fan went up to utility player extraordinaire,
Denny Hocking with at least ten of Hocking's baseball cards. Hocking
signed all of them. Starting pitcher Joe Mays was probably the nicest
of the Twins; he met with fans on numerous occasions, and even asked,
"Is that everybody?" after spending at least 15 minutes
per session signing autographs and posing for photos.
In addition to Hocking and Mays, the Commissioner met with former
Twins manager Tom Kelly, gold glove first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz,
gold glove centerfielder Torii Hunter, designated hitter David Ortiz,
and soon-to-be Hall-of-Famer Paul Molitor (eligible in 2003). Hopefully
the Twins will still be around next year because the Commissioner
can't wait to return to Fort Myers on his 2003 tour.
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| Shaun Breen and Denny Hocking |
Shaun Breen and Torii Hunter |
Tom Kelly and Shaun Breen |
Joe Mays and Shaun Breen |
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| Doug Mientkiewicz and Shaun Breen |
Paul Molitor and Shaun Breen |
David Oritz and Shaun Breen |
Tuesday, February 26 - Wednesday, February 27
Tampa, Florida
New York Yankees
If it hadn't been for Peter Gammons, Yankee camp would have been
a waste of time. Security guards repeatedly yelled at fans for placing
pens, cameras, and other small objects on the dugout. The players
were guarded better than President Bush, and rarely acknowledged
the approximately 7000 fans in attendance. One fan saw pitcher David
Wells nearby just standing around. The fan asked if Wells would
turn around for a quick picture. Wells answered by saying, "Take
a picture of my back side. It's just as good." The only player
who interacted positively with the fans was Jason Giambi. He signed
for about 10 minutes, mostly for little kids and really old people.
After practice, Luis Sojo was spotted talking with several fans
while leaving Wal-Mart.
However, the highlight of the trip was meeting ESPN's Peter Gammons.
Unfortunately, Gammons admitted that he did not recall MLW being listed
in the August 6, 2001 issue of ESPN the
Magazine. When Breen explained that it was an article about
breaking the single-season home run record, Gammons asked if Breen
was the Barry Bonds of wiffleball. Breen said he was one of three
players to break the previous record of 12 homers, but was unable
to finish the season with the lead. Gammons then asked, "Is the
ball juiced?" Breen explained that the ball could not be juiced
because of the 26 holes cut uniformly throughout the ball.
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| Jason Giambi |
Luis Sojo |
Peter Gammons and Shaun Breen |
Overall, the trip was a success. Commissioner Breen is planning to
take another trip to Florida next year, where he hopes to be joined
by several MLW players.
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