Nick D'Andrea 1932-2007

My Great-Uncle Nick passed away Thursday at the age of 74. I don't want to make this an obituary so much as a remembrance of the great things that I remember about him. Uncle Nicky stayed single throughout his life, which made him a rich man. He lived 2 doors down from my grandparents, and he would always have Mary and myself down to show us his new technology. The first time I ever saw a personal computer, a Porcshe, and an answering machine, it was at Uncle Nick's. He also owned a drum set which he would let us play, and a speed boat at Lake Wallenpaupack that he would let us "drive" at an early age. He was much more than material things, of course, as he was very giving and generous. The most famous thing my Uncle Nick was known for was his Christmas Eve parties. After everyone ate dinner at their respective places, Uncle Nicky would have 60 of his closest relatives over to his house for a party that was always something special, and he took care of everything himself. He was also a Big Brother for many years, telling us as recently as this Christmas how he still kept in touch with all 3 boys, now grown men, in whose life he made a significant difference. He will be missed by all who knew him.

11th Annual St. Patty's Party

Mari & Ian hosted another excellent and memorable St. Patrick's Day party at their house. It was an intimate gathering of old friends, and it was a blast. Karaoke, dancing, and a little (OK, alot!) of the Irish spirits were had.



Mari, Ian, Sharon and myself are the sole survivors of the first party in 1996 at Penn State. Hard to believe how much time has gone by.

But the more things change...




The more they stay the same!



Happy St. Pat's everyone!

Spring Training Trip Days 3 through 5

The rest of our trip through Florida was great. We went to Port St Lucie on Saturday to see the Dodgers and Mets, amazingly the first time I've see these two rivals play each other. The Dodgers won in the ninth inning, 5-2.

Sunday was melancholy for me, as it was most likely the last time I will see the Dodgers in their 60-year home of Vero Beach. We got their very early and watched the pitchers take batting practice, and got plenty of autographs as they made their way to the stadium. And I got two of '80's favorites, Ken Howell and Mariano Duncan.

The game itself was a downer, as the Dodgers lost 4-1 against the Braves. So many great players have played on this field, I am happy to have seen a few of them in two trips here.

We finished our trip back where we started on Monday, in Orlando. We watched the Nationals get crushed by the Braves 14-5. I have a feeling I'm going to see alot of these guys in Woodbridge this year.

We had a great time in Florida, and certainly did not want to come back to the cold and crappy DC area. Life has to resume sometime, I suppose.

Spring Training Trip Day 2- Vero Beach

It was so great to return to the Dodgers' spring training home for the first time in 4 years. Staci had a great start to the day, as I noticed her favorite player Ryan Zimmerman signing autographs. We both got him to sign, and Staci got a picture with him. She was in heaven. While I didn't get any of the big names I was looking for, I did get one of my favorite old-timers Manny Mota to sign. It was a beautiful day at the park, and we had great seats right behind home plate. And the Dodgers beat the Nats 12-7 in a pretty exciting game. The only downside was finding out that longtime Brooklyn Dodger and World Series hero Clem Labine had passed away that morning. I suppose if you have to hear bad news like that, it should be in a place where Clem was so beloved. Tomorrow: Port St Lucie, home of the Mets.

Spring Training Trip Day 1-Orlando

Spring is officially here, as Staci & I enjoyed the first game of the season. We arrived from cold & crappy DC to sunny Orlando very early this morning. Since we didn't have alot planned, we got the Braves' stadium 3 hours early. We got to watch all of batting practice, and we got one autograph (Wilson Betemeit- not bad). It was my annual re-awakening as the first pitch was thrown. Life can begin again! Our seats were great, and we got to talk to an older couple who were Dodger fans as well. Excpet for the mild sun poisoning suffered by both of us, and the Dodgers' 7-2 loss, it was a pretty good start to what should be an exciting 5 days. Tomorrow: on to one of my baseball Meccas: Vero Beach!

A Travesty to Gil Hodges

The Veterans Committee for the Baseball Hall of Fame voted today to send...NO ONE to the Hall. What makes this worse is that this is the third time in a row that they could not pick one deserving person into the hollowed halls of Cooperstown. The purpose of this committee being formed was to make sure that executives, managers, and great players who slipped through the original Hall voting get their due. There were MANY deserving men who they chose to ignore today. Doug Harvey, one the greatest umpires of all time. Marvin Miller, the union head who saved players from antiquated labor and made hundreds of players millionaires. Ron Santo, one of the top third baseman of his time. Being a Gil Hodges (and Dodgers) fan, I have decided to focus my rant on their omission of Gil.

Gil Hodges is one of the greatest first baseman of the 1940's-50's. From the official Gil Hodges website, gilhodges.com:
"Hit at least 30 home runs a season for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954

·Had over 100 RBIs during the 1949 to 1955 seasons

·Played in seven World Series, six with Brooklyn and one with Los Angeles

·Inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1982

·Career consisted of:
2,071 games played
7,030 at bats
1,921 hits
1,105 runs scored
295 doubles
48 triples
370 home run
1,274 RBIs

·Had a career batting average of .273

·Had a career slugging average of .487

·Had more RBIs during the 1950s than any other player at 1001."

He had the numbers. He had more RBI in the '50's than Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, and Willie Mays. He appeared in 8 All-Star Games, won 2 World Series with the Dodgers, and managed the '69 "Miracle Mets" to the World Championship.

This Committee (who, by the way, are made up of Hall of Famers!), have committed a huge injustice to all true baseball fans, but more importantly, to these men like Hodges and Santo. It's time for baseball to take a hard look at changing their way of "selecting" these much-deserving contributors to this fine game. Let's fix this before the next vote in 2009.

Two Weeks Into My P-Nats Career

It is nice to wake up in the morning and be excited about work. The first two weeks of my baseball career have been boring at times, but when you wait 12 years for something, you can deal with boring! And things will be picking up soon, as we hire all the seasonal help next week, and start ordering for the season the week after. It won't long before I am writing that I don't have one minute of free time at my job! Of course, I will look back on these times when I am GM of the Dodgers, and laugh at how simple it all was!

What are we to do????

A-Rod and Derek don't love each other any more? Say it isn't so! This is the only thing that I do not like about the first couple of weeks of spring training, crap stories like this that no one truly cares about. Except maybe Tim Hardaway, who hates gay people like these two. What a world.

Now Batting For the Nationals...Who????

Just glancing over the hometown Nats' non-roster invitee list. It reads like a list of..well, nobodies. Jason Simontacci. Joe Thurston. Darnell McDonald. Melvin Dorta. These guys aren't even has-beens, they are never-were's. Sure, there are a couple of retreads, somewhat-recognizable names: Tony Womack, Ray King, Tony Batista. Guys who are way past their prime. What would Manager Lou Brown from "Major League" say?

GM Jim Bowden: How would you like to manage the Nationals this year?
Lou Brown: Gee, I don't know...
GM Jim Bowden: What do you mean, you don't know? This is your chance to manage in the big leagues.
Lou Brown: Let me get back to you, will ya, Jimmy? I got a guy on the other line asking about some white walls.

Thank goodness for Ryan Zimmerman and John Patterson, because besides them it's going to be a loooonnng year in DC...

How It All Began...

It's hard to believe that the first baseball game I went to was nearly 28 years ago. I was a fan before June 10, 1979, but being at a ballpark for the first time was a religious experience, even at 5 years old. And as luck would have it, I got to see two future Hall-of-Fame 300 game winners duel each other in Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro. It's funny that is still the best pitching matchup I have seen, and may ever see. I also got to see Mike Schmidt, who's in the Hall, and Pete Rose, who should be. The weather was beautiful, the game was exciting, even with a lopsided 10-3 Braves win. The ballpark, well, did I mention the weather was beautiful? Yes, my first game was at Veterans Stadium, the cavernous, colorless cookie cutter park in Philadelphia. The park will always hold a special place to me, however, as I spent most of my childhood splitting games between here and Yankee Stadium. Thankfully, Darwin-ism finally caught up with the Vet in '03, and it fell down and went boom. It looks much better as a parking lot next to the beautiful Citizen's Bank Park. The good memories remain though.