I am here....the weather is nice....no snow anywhere

To all those folks in Minnesota - the weather is pretty nice here in Fort Myers - off the plane at 5:15pm and it had to be around 65 degrees.
The camp opened today with a reception dinner introducing the Pro Staff, Camp Staff, and the rookies who are in attendance. We were treated to a nice dinner and somehow, someway - I ended up sitting at a table with the following guys: (to my right)

Tom Brunansky, Rick Aguilera, Frank Viola, Phil Roof, Milt Cuyler, Wayne "Big Fella" Hattaway, Chad Yoder (Clubhouse Supervisor), and 2 fellow campers.
Video of Bruno, Aggie, Viola, and Roof.

I engaged Bruno about the trade that sent him to St Louis for Tom Herr (possibly one of the worst trades in Twins history). Basically the Twins traded away a great clubhouse guy (Bruno) for a total jerk (Herr). It didn't work out for the Twins. He did enjoy his time in St Louis where baseball is a sport where the fans are really involved. I think he drank a few budweisers while he was there. He is the hitting instructor now for the Twins AA farm club - New Britain Rock Cats - so nice to see the Twins Organization reaching out to past ballplayers.

Frankie V took 2nd place in his fantasy football league this year (better than I did) and he is in the running for a pitching coach job with the NY Mets minor league system. I wish him luck there - I know he wants to get into coaching. Frank spent much of the time razzing some "rookie" who was trying to take a picture of the foursome and ended up going "rube on the bit" and take another picture since the first one didn't work out. It was pretty funny.

I ended the day socializing with fellow campers at the bar in the Holiday Inn - the underrated part of the whole camp is the amazing friends you make while attending. It is just so unique - hard to explain. For a guy like me who enjoys all friendships....truly a great experience.

Tomorrow will be a day to get some pointers from the Pro Staff, get a scrimmage game in, do some throwing, fielding, and batting. I will find out tomorrow evening which coaching tandem drafts my baseball skills.

I will attempt to enjoy the 70's and sunny they are forecasting.

PB
(forgot my camera to the reception dinner so no pics - will upload a couple tomorrow)

Video of Dick Bremer announcing the Pro Staff.