Here's one from the archives. This photo dates (I think) from December 1998. It was taken at the Big League Dreams facility in Cathedral City. (Please let me know if my memory is faulty. Also, let me know if you have old photos you would like for me to post on the blog.)
Front row (l. to r.): Jared Weinstock, Grady Berk, Travis Turek, Brett Weinstock, Jason Puklus. Second row (l. to r.): Chris Auten, Jamie Van Soelen, Daniel Williams, Colbie Bell, Matt Hale, Brooks Fitch. Third row (l. to r.): Art Hale, Steve Weinstock, John Puklus. (Photo courtesy of Anne Arvin.)
Where was Philip Johnson?
2 comments:
Congratulations to Travis Turek for being selected in the 44th round by the Cleveland Indians in this year's Amateur Draft.
I'll second that and be the first (before Puklus or Johnson or one of those guys does it) to take credit for teaching Travis everything he knows about baseball.
Possibly the best--certainly the luckiest--managerial decision I ever made involved Travis. In 1999, Travis and Daniel Williams were the big dogs on the Malibu Little League Dodgers. (Jacob Perrin and Stephen Williams were also on that team.) In a mid-season game, Travis got upset about something. I should have taken him out of the game, but thanks to the stringency of Little League's substitution rules, rather than sitting Travis down I moved him from shortstop to left field. He was not happy.
Soon after Travis went to left to serve his on-the-field suspension (in my memory it was the very next batter, but that's probably not the way it actually happened), someone singled sharply through the 5.5 hole. Travis fielded the ball and, still angry, threw a rocket in the direction of home. Stephen, who was catching, caught the ball knee-high right off the front corner of the plate and tagged out the surprised runner who was attempting to score from third. It would have been a great play if Travis had been at short playing in for the play at the plate, but he was in left field 150 feet from home plate.
I can't claim that my coaching did anything to give him that ability.
Post a Comment