Baseball Hall of Fame Visit October 2014

It's been awhile.

I know it's been some time from the last time that I posted... almost six months.  Yikes.  If you are an avid follower, I apologize.  Where have I been?  Well, I'll explain that more below.

My boyfriend and I in front of Baseball Hall of Fame

Right now, I want to share my experience at the National Baseball Hall of Fame from this weekend.  If you have not had a chance to get to the Hall of Fame and museum, you need to get there.  Seriously, it has something for every baseball fan, whether an avid fan or a novice.

Baseball Experience Room

We started our experience with a short, 15 minute or so movie in the "Baseball Experience" room.  It started with the presenter asking the crowd who we are all rooting for to win the World Series.  The crowd was pretty much split in thirds between the Orioles, Royals, and Cardinals.  When the presenter asked about the Giants, you could almost hear crickets through the silence.  The short movie showed the history of baseball (very quickly) and some highlights throughout the years.

Ted Williams .406

Bill Mueller, 2 Grand Slams in One Game Opposite Sides of the Plate

Jason Varitek, most no-hitters caught; Kevin Youkilis- most consecutive errorless games by a first baseman

The photos above are the records held by former Red Sox players.  As you can see from the photos, the Red Sox are well represented in the Hall of Fame.  Whether it's Ted Williams and his .406 average, Bill Mueller hitting two Grand Slams in a game on opposite sides of the plate, Jason Varitek catching a record 4 no-hitters, or Kevin Youkilis setting the record playing 238 errorless games at first base.  

2013 World Series Ring

2013 Red Sox Memorabilia

Johnny Gomes, Boston Strong

2013 Red Sox World Series Champions

2013 Red Sox World Series Memorabilia

We were lucky to get the the Hall of Fame before the 2013 Red Sox World Series exhibit was going to be history.  Last year was such a special year for the Red Sox- worst to first.  Of course, they now have gone from worst to first to worst again, but maybe we'll continue the trend next season.

Lou Gherig and Babe Ruth, 1927 Barnstorming Tour

Photo from LegendaryAuctions.com

The first photo above is from the Hall of Fame and shows Lou Gherig and Babe Ruth during the 1927 Barnstorming tour.  This photo was taken in Fresno.  This photograph meant a lot to me because my great-grandfather, Al Van Camp, played on the Bustin' Babes barnstorming team during that year.  The second photo above is a photograph of the barnstorming teams in Des Moines, Iowa.  My great-grandfather is just to the left of Babe Ruth.

Display of how Ted Williams believed he batted

Ted Williams Bat

Ted Williams Memorabilia 

Display of Red Sox locker at Hall of Fame

Above are some of the Red Sox memorabilia throughout the Hall of Fame museum.  There was tons of Ted Williams displays, rightly so.  The above photograph shows the "Red Sox" locker in the room displaying a locker for every team.  Inside the locker are Curt Schilling's shoes from the "Bloody Sock Game," Koji Uehara's glove, Jason Varitek's captains jersey, and a 100 Years of Fenway Guitar.

Greg Maddux

Frank Thomas

Tom Glavine

Tony LaRussa

Bobby Cox

Joe Torre

Above are the displays for the 2014 Hall of Fame Inductees: Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine, Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox, and Joe Torre.  I linked up each person's Baseball-Reference page for your reference.

The Hall of Fame

Carl Yastrzemski

Carlton Fisk

Dennis Eckersley and Wade Boggs

Jim Rice

Ted Williams

Joe Cronin

Jimmie Foxx

Tris Speaker

The above photographs are at the plaques of former Red Sox players who have made it into the Hall of Fame.  I included Dennis Eckersley in this, even though he went in as an Athletics, for the reason that I believe his stats are pretty 50/50 between the two teams.  Who will be the next Red Sox player inducted?  My bet is on Pedro Martinez.  (I apologize for the weird spacing above; the website won't let me delete the space.)

Now... where have I been the past six months?  My former job made me pretty exhausted.  I would leave for work between 7:00-7:30 and not return home until about 5:30-6:00.  My job exhausted me to the point that I was falling asleep on the couch before 9:00 most nights.  I had no energy to do anything besides work really.  This past summer, my boyfriend and I moved from Connecticut to Western Massachusetts.  After the move, I quit my job and am currently looking for something local.  I'm toying with the idea of doing a career change, but that's a scare step for me.  

I know these are not excuses to not continue to write, as I really do love writing.  Let's just forget this past season happened- the Red Sox season and me not writing.  Fresh start for all involved.  

Red Sox's Key To Success- Being Healthy?

This sounds simple enough.  A healthy team equals a better overall team.  Middlebrooks and Victorino have spent the majority of this young season on the disabled list.  Once they returned to the line-up, the Red Sox seemed to play with more grit, with better defense, and with more heart.  This would seem to equate that the Red Sox needed Middlebrooks and Victorino in the line-up to play better baseball.

When the Red Sox called up Victorino on Thursday, it would seem that the Red Sox would get the much needed spark that they seemed to be lacking this season.  Victorino provides the team with energy, on the base paths and in the outfield.  Despite going 1-for-5 in his return, the Red Sox lost to the Yankees in a 14-5 massacre that saw Mike Carp, the pitcher.

Photo from NESN

However, Middlebrooks returned to the line-up for Friday's 8-1 win against the Blue Jays.  Middlebrooks went 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBIs.  Victorino went 1-for-6 with a double.  To make room for Middlebrooks, Daniel Nava was demoted to Triple-A.  The Red Sox would go on take 2 of the 3 games against the Blue Jays, which would indicate that having Middlebrooks and Victorino in the line-up is more beneficial to the Red Sox.

As mentioned before, the Red Sox demoted Daniel Nava to Triple-A.  Nava has struggled this season, hitting .149 with 2 home runs, 3 RBIs, and 1 stolen base.  Yes, it doesn't look good for Nava, and maybe he does need to go back to Triple-A for a bit.  But, if there's one thing we know about Daniel Nava is that he's a fighter.  By now, all of Red Sox Nation knows Daniel Nava's story of being his college team's manager, hitting a grand slam in his first at bat in the majors, and becoming a key member of the 2014 Red Sox World Series Championship team.

Photo from ESPN.Go.Boston

In 2013, in 134 games, Nava hit .303 with 12 home runs and 66 RBIs.  He was a big reason the Red Sox played as well as they did last season.  I understand that the fact that Nava had options that played a major role into sending him down to Triple-A, but let's say he didn't.  Would the Red Sox have released him to make room for Victorino?

The Red Sox seemed to think pretty highly of Grady Sizemore, a player who hasn't played in the major's since 2011; that season, he hit .224 in 71 games.  In 2010, he hit .211 in 33 games.  In 2009, he played 106 games and hit .248.  He hit .268 and played 157 games in 2008.  Sizemore is currently hitting .221 in 19 games with 2 homes runs, 1 triple, 7 RBIs, and 2 stolen bases.  Yes, small sample size, I know.

Photo from SportsIllustrated.cnn.com

I guess what I'm trying to point out is the Red Sox were considered to have gotten "healthier" with the addition of Victorino and Middlebrooks and sending Nava down to Triple-A.  These moves may be important and necessary at this time, but they also have a player on their team who hasn't been considered "healthy" since 2008.  The Red Sox took a chance on Sizemore; and hopefully, that chance pans out for them.  With about a month into the season, I'm still uncertain about this move the Red Sox made.

Only time will tell...

It's Been Awhile...

A wonderful birthday gift

It's been awhile since I have last posted.  I admit, this off season I haven't felt as "into the blog" as I would have liked.  Not that I didn't still love writing the blog because I do.  Things changed drastically over the winter, and I'm learning that things are constantly in motion.  I won't get into every detail, but here are a few of the things that went on that helped contribute to me not writing for months:

• Most important, my brother's diagnosis with leukemia.  When I first moved to Connecticut, my youngest brother was diagnosed with leukemia (I mentioned it here and how I bought the #GetBeard shirt in honor of him).  I'm happy to report that my brother is officially in remission and will be getting married in about five and a half weeks.
• I started a new job.  I started working at a law firm in Hartford in December.  With working, I no longer had my days to write the blog.  This is no excuse, I know, since I wrote the blog while I was living in Iowa.  But, this was a huge adjustment to me.  I had been at my job in Iowa for years before I started the blog, and I was comfortable with the pace and then writing.  Working in Hartford is a much faster pace, and the type of working I'm doing is different.  It was a huge adjustment for me, and I'm still adjusting to it months later.  
• My original plan was to start blogging again once a week when the season started.  Unfortunately, the Friday before Opening Day, I received devastating news that my cousin had passed away.  It hit me very hard, especially since I was not with my family and would not be able to attend the funeral.  I won't get into all the details, but my cousin suffered from addiction.  His brother set up A Go Fund Me Account in my cousin's honor, and I highly recommend everyone to check it out, especially if you've ever known anyone who has suffered from addiction.

I wanted to start writing this past Sunday, but I've been fighting a sinus infection.  I'm actually home from work today with it, so I thought I'd do a little blogging.  But, we're not here about what's going on in my life; we're here about the Red Sox.

For my birthday, my wonderful boyfriend got me a Fenway Four-Pack; tickets to four Red Sox games.  There were tickets for a game in April, May, June, and September.  My parents are coming to visit in July, and we got tickets for a game when they're back.  We also got tickets for a Yankees game in August.  That works out to a game a month for six months.  Not bad.

A beer in honor of my cousin

We went to our first game April 5th against the Brewers.  It was a bitterly cold night (seriously, the temperature was around 35*, and it was windy).  I hate to admit it, but we didn't last past the 6th inning.  I blame Buchholz.  Everyone around us left, which made the wind hitting us that much worse.  There was no coffee and little hot chocolate available.  The Red Sox ended up losing 7-6 in 11 innings.

Since we're a few weeks into the season, I thought I'd just do some random thoughts on the season so far:

• I am not in panic mode...  yet.  There's been a lot of talk on the radio and television about whether people should be panicking about the Red Sox, since they are currently in last place and have a 9-11 record.  Season is still early.  The past two games have showed the Red Sox still have fight in them.  Victorino and Middlebrooks coming back from the DL will make a huge difference.  
• Buchholz needs to get his act together.  Every year, it's the same thing.  He shows these flashes of brilliance then falls down the wormhole again.  My guess is if he has another bad outing in his next few starts, he'll be making a trip to the DL and Workman will be brought up.
• Not impressed with AJ Pierzynski.  I don't think I'm being biased here.  He's batting .235 with a HR and 6 RBIs.  I don't think his defense has been stellar either; I'd rather Ross be back there.  I know it's still early, but I don't know how this move will benefit the Sox.
• Anyone else get really annoyed with the ESPN commentators Sunday night during the game talking about how much the Red Sox missed Ellsbury?  Wow!  I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I'm not a big fan of ESPN; and I try not to watch things on ESPN, if I can help.  Sunday night, ESPN could not let up on their admiration for Ellsbury.  Honestly, I think once Victorino returns from the DL, the Red Sox will be more of a threat on the base paths.  Sure, Victorino doesn't steal bases like Ellsbury, but he has confidence running the bases.  The Red Sox just need some confidence.

I'm hoping to post again this coming Sunday.  Make sure to follow me on Twitter at BornIntoItInIA.  You can also check the side of the blog for Tweets.  

GO RED SOX!