#22
This intense level of cold is just wrong. With a windchill of -7, I picked Irish up at eight o’clock that morning for one last day of baseball vacation downtown. I don’t remember Iceland even being this cold.
Docile, docile Dominican Jhonny Peralta on the left, crazy, crazy Dominican Carlos Martinez on the right, signing away at those autograph tables. I’ve decided I really like Jhonny Peralta.
Irish and I found seats in the middle of the room, one row back from the front. Prime viewing for Bill DeWitt III’s thoughts on the three-year process of repainting all the steel in Busch Stadium, and opinions of potential future female signings in MLB. Thumbs down on the last one, in Irish’s and my opinion.
We worked through some more homemade buckeyes Carrie-Bri had packed for us between sets. The guy in a bright blue Clayton Kershaw t-shirt rocking out to “Eye of the Tiger” – don’t know how he confused St. Louis for LA.
By noon, the crowd was getting a little antsy for Mike Matheny’s appearance on stage. When he finally took a seat front and center decked out for the occasion in jeans and a sports coat, it didn’t take long for about half the female audience to scooch down front and start snapping his picture at an alarming rate. Fortunately they reserved the whistles for later, although I’m not really sure most of them remembered a single thing he said. Anyway, I’d say he’s probably pretty used to it.
Shortly later in the afternoon, a third day of live sports painting on stage inspired the artist in question to go into further detail describing his Mike Matheny portrait before the one o’clock auction.
“So you might wonder why I painted Mike’s back instead of his face,” the bearded gentleman explained, “I mean after all, Mike’s a good looking guy, right?”
Quite a few cat calls. Although I guess you have to admit there’s some truth in the statement when it’s universally declared across all of baseball, male and female alike, that Mike Matheny is, indeed, the best looking manager in the game.
When I got home to my boys, Oxbear and Puck were deep into plans for Puck’s first Lego Youtube video. Oxbear set up the recording apparatus at the kitchen table. I listened to Puck organize his Legos between takes.
“Oh, Dad, remember, we also have to organize the body parts. … I feel awkward saying that. Heh.”