2013 AZL

With the 2013 season almost over, Sammy and I have had a great time traveling around town watching games.  Surprise Stadium is the home of the Royals, Rangers and Padres this year.  Maryvale has the Brewers and Goodyear is home of the Reds and Indians.  The weather has been hot but the kids have a lot of fun.  The Giants 1st Rd pick this year, Christian Arroyo hit his 1st pro home run and we were luck enough to see it and Sammy and a friend of his got the ball and gave it to him after the game. He was kind enough to take a picture and sign a ball for them.  We ran into Neftali Feliz in Surprise while he was on a rehab assignment and the next day Sammy brought all of his Feliz baseball cards to the game and he signed all of them for Sammy.  We have enjoyed watching the Indians 1st rd. pick this year, Clint Fraizer the past few weeks.  He has been a lot of fun to watch, plays the game aggressive a throw back style of game.  We had a chance to meet him and the kids all got his autograph, very humble kid! You don't see much of that anymore.  The playoffs starts in a few weeks and we cant wait to see who makes it to the championship game!

2013 AZL Opening Night

We love going to AZL games.  They are close to home and fun to watch these guys start their pro careers.  Sammy loves talking to the players and sharing his snacks.  Sam had some baseball cards of Jairo Beras that he had signed and enjoyed sitting with the pitchers in the bullpen.   The Rangers 1st round pick this year (Travis Demeritte, infielder) hit a home run for his 1st pro hit.  Pretty cool to see and Sammy got the ball and gave it to him after the game.

Orem Owlz

On our way home from our road trip from Idaho we stopped in Orem,  UT to watch an Owlz game.  They are the rookie team (Pioneer Lg.) for the L.A. Angels.  We had a great time, the weather was beautiful and we had a great view of the mountains from our seats behind home plate.  A foul ball was hit out of the park onto the freeway on ramp so of course we went looking for it and found it.  We try to get a game used league ball from every road trip and so far we have been lucky enough to do so! Sammy was lucky to get two balls that night and was kind enough to give one to a little boy sitting behind us.  That kid was so excited!!! It was a great night!

Spokane Indians

This is the 5th year in a row now that we have made a visit to Spokane with Sammy's cousins and Uncle Mark to watch the Indians play.  We were able to go to two games this year and had a great time.  We did the usual, boys ran off and played and watch the game on their own.  Hanging out by the bullpen talking to the players and getting autographs after the game.  Sammy had his annual picture taken with Recycle Man and shared his starburst with the players. The 1st game was "Jackie Robinson Day" and all the players wore #42 on their jerseys!  Cant wait till next year!

STAR WARS

Sammy was so excited to go to the Star Wars game with his buddy Brandon.  The cool thing was this was Brandon's 1st MLB game.  They had a blast, all the Star Wars characters were at the stadium walking around and interacting with the Kids.  A cool surprise was, we got to meet and take a picture with Sen. John McCain.  He was great with the boys and chatted with us for a few minutes.  While we were talking to Sen. McCain, Darth Vader walked by and the boys were gone.  We had so much fun!!!!

Rangers Double-Header

Sammy and I enjoyed watching the Rangers back in May play a double-header against the Diamondbacks!!  Game one was exciting because we were able to watch Martin Perez pitch.  We have followed Perez since his playing days in Spokane.  We were also excited to see Jurickson Profar play also, he is ranked the #1 prospect in all of baseball this year!  The 2nd game was even cooler to watch as Yu Darvish took the mound.  Sammy had a lot of fun with his buddies that joined us for the day. They had a lot of fun hanging out, hitting the batting cages and just goofing around.  Before game one Sammy had his picture taken with Joesph Ortiz and Justin Grimm.

Tucson Padres vs. Round Rock Express

Sammy and I had a great time making a quick road trip down to Tucson to see the Rangers AAA team Round Rock! We were lucky enough to get free tickets from a friend of ours and get in the gates early to watch batting practice and get some autographs and pictures with the players.  Sammy had his picture taken with Chris McGuiness and autographs from Engel Beltre and Jurickson Profar!!  The cool thing is all three players were called up to the Big Leagues shortly after!  We enjoyed great seats and I enjoyed watching Sammy jumping up on the dugout and doing the hokie pokie in front of the whole crowd. Another great baseball road trip!!!!!!!!!!!

2013 Spring Little League Season

Michelle and I had a great time watching Sammy play his 1st season of coach pitch and Janet playing Softball for the first time.  It was a lot of work going back and forth, but definitely worth it!  Can't wait till winter ball!!

2013 World Baseball Classic

Sammy and I really enjoyed going to the WBC double-header this spring.  Our 1st game was Mexico vs. Canada.  It was a great game and got to watch a huge brawl between the teams.  We sat right next to the Canadian bull-pen and one of the pitchers tossed Sammy a foul ball. The 2nd game was USA vs. Italy.  It was awesome to be able to watch all the talent at one time for the USA team, basically an all-star team, and they almost lost.

 

2013 Spring Training

Sammy and I had a lot of fun this year!  Sammy got a bunch of autographs and photos with the Rangers. This year Sammy had his picture with W. Font, Colby Lewis and Joey Gallo (AZL MVP and Home Run Champ). We enjoyed going to games in the Stadium and back fields.

Images of 2012