The first of my 3 games for the weekend started out in Rockland County, New York. The Boulders play in Pomona, which is about 30 mins north of the Tappen Zee Bridge, off of the Palisades Parkway.
If you have not already heard, Joe Canseco is playing for the Worcester Tornadoes in the Can-Am League this season.On Friday night they started a 3 game series with the Boulders. The Boulder do not draw well at all and even with Jose Canseco and $1 beers there where only about 1,000 fans in the stands. Oh, yeah and one 86 Met. I will talk about that later. http://www.canamleague.com/.
Jose is now 47 years young. He looks great for his age. He can still hit the ball hard. But, looks to have issues running the bases. It could be because it is still early season. http://thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=Jose-Canseco
I only too the ride because on a forum last week I read that he signed a few auto's and I know that Rockland does not draw very well. So, I figured that there would not be a lot of graphers there and I was right. There was about 6 of us. Rockland is an easy place to graph because the players need to walk thru the stands to get to the field. There are no entrance/exits in the dugouts.
Well Jose comes out and as soon as he gets thru the door way he says "Not now guys, Maybe later" and goes down to the field. Maybe later usually means NO. So, the 6 of us decided to go down to the dugout. But, when we got there they told us we had to leave the area unless we had tickets for those seats. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This is a Can-Am League game, What gives? Not looking for any other auto's I decided to break out the new camera and go down the 3rd base line abit and take pictures of the old guy.
Jose was looking right at me when I took this picture. After running around abit in the field he came over to the dugout and was stretching. While stretching a few kids asked for his autograph and then Jose asked an usher to have to kids leave the area. Jose, you must be kidding me? This is indy league ball. Get over yourself!!
Now its game time and I go to my seat which is 3 rows behind the 1st base dugout and who is sitting in the 1st row in front of me? That 86 Met that I had mentioned earlier. Howard Johnson. I had seen him on the concourse while I was waiting for Canseco. Not thinking he would be there. I had nothing for him and just hello. He said hello back. I'm not sure how many peaple knew who he was. I'm guessing he was abit relieved. The reason HoJo was there is because his sone Glen plays for the Boulders.
I was thinking he was there to take pictures of Glen when he comes to bat. But, he was there to take pictures of Canseco hitting. As soon as Canseco came to bat for the first time, HoJo left. He probably had his own suite.
Getting back to Canseco. Canseco went 1-1 with 3 walks and he was hit by a pitch. His one hit was a line drive down the 3rd base line. It probably would have been a double for the rest of the guys. But, when he got to 1st. He looked as if his ham strings where still tight.
These 2 pics are of Jose during his 1st AB and after he walked.
During all of his AB's there where a lot of fans heckling him. Anything from "go home old man" to steroid comments. I thought was pretty funny. But, I'm sure he expected it.
After hearing all of the heckling. I figured that he would not sign any autographs. So, I decided to leave for my 2 hour trip home. I was leaving the next morning for my trip to Baltimore and Bowie.
As of the time I wrote this. Jose was batting .250. He is 7 for 28. 2 RBI's, 6 walks and 11 K's.
Does this guy still think he can play in the Majors?
As for the stadium. Provident Bank Park is the name currently. I like it alot. I think it is a waste for the Indy League team. I believe it hold around 6,000 fans. Maybe the Atlantic League would draw better. I'm not sure.
The stadiums concourse goes all he way around the playing field, with bleacher seats in the outfield.
Check out this link for the Overview. http://rocklandboulders.com/ballpark/overview/
This is my second trip to see the Boulders and last season I was told by an usher that the team had signed with the Can-Am league for 2 seasons and was hoping to get an affiliation after that. But, this year I'm hearing that there is a territorial issue with the Mets, Yankees and the SS season (A) ball team the Hudson Valley Renegades. Which play about 50 miles north in Wappinger Falls.
I really think the Atlantic League would do better in this market. The ATL's players are more experienced and there are by far more former major leaguers in the ATL than I think most of the other indy leagues. Which I think would draw more fans.
Thanks for reading! I'm going to try to post about Baltimore and Bowie on Tuesday or Wednesday
If you have not already heard, Joe Canseco is playing for the Worcester Tornadoes in the Can-Am League this season.On Friday night they started a 3 game series with the Boulders. The Boulder do not draw well at all and even with Jose Canseco and $1 beers there where only about 1,000 fans in the stands. Oh, yeah and one 86 Met. I will talk about that later. http://www.canamleague.com/.
Jose is now 47 years young. He looks great for his age. He can still hit the ball hard. But, looks to have issues running the bases. It could be because it is still early season. http://thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=Jose-Canseco
I only too the ride because on a forum last week I read that he signed a few auto's and I know that Rockland does not draw very well. So, I figured that there would not be a lot of graphers there and I was right. There was about 6 of us. Rockland is an easy place to graph because the players need to walk thru the stands to get to the field. There are no entrance/exits in the dugouts.
Well Jose comes out and as soon as he gets thru the door way he says "Not now guys, Maybe later" and goes down to the field. Maybe later usually means NO. So, the 6 of us decided to go down to the dugout. But, when we got there they told us we had to leave the area unless we had tickets for those seats. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This is a Can-Am League game, What gives? Not looking for any other auto's I decided to break out the new camera and go down the 3rd base line abit and take pictures of the old guy.
Getting back to Canseco. Canseco went 1-1 with 3 walks and he was hit by a pitch. His one hit was a line drive down the 3rd base line. It probably would have been a double for the rest of the guys. But, when he got to 1st. He looked as if his ham strings where still tight.
During all of his AB's there where a lot of fans heckling him. Anything from "go home old man" to steroid comments. I thought was pretty funny. But, I'm sure he expected it.
After hearing all of the heckling. I figured that he would not sign any autographs. So, I decided to leave for my 2 hour trip home. I was leaving the next morning for my trip to Baltimore and Bowie.
As of the time I wrote this. Jose was batting .250. He is 7 for 28. 2 RBI's, 6 walks and 11 K's.
Does this guy still think he can play in the Majors?
As for the stadium. Provident Bank Park is the name currently. I like it alot. I think it is a waste for the Indy League team. I believe it hold around 6,000 fans. Maybe the Atlantic League would draw better. I'm not sure.
The stadiums concourse goes all he way around the playing field, with bleacher seats in the outfield.
Check out this link for the Overview. http://rocklandboulders.com/ballpark/overview/
This is my second trip to see the Boulders and last season I was told by an usher that the team had signed with the Can-Am league for 2 seasons and was hoping to get an affiliation after that. But, this year I'm hearing that there is a territorial issue with the Mets, Yankees and the SS season (A) ball team the Hudson Valley Renegades. Which play about 50 miles north in Wappinger Falls.
I really think the Atlantic League would do better in this market. The ATL's players are more experienced and there are by far more former major leaguers in the ATL than I think most of the other indy leagues. Which I think would draw more fans.
Thanks for reading! I'm going to try to post about Baltimore and Bowie on Tuesday or Wednesday
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