Westchester Show and New Britain

I had mentioned in my previous post that I was hoping to go to Baltimore this weekend. There was a change of plans. I had too much work to do to take off Thursday and Friday. So, I decided to hit a show in Westchester and then head up to New Britain CT for the New Britain Rock Cats (Twins) vs. Reading Phillies (Phillies) AA teams.

The show in Westchester had 6 players set to sign autographs. I added Ed Kranepool to my Shea Stadium Seat back. That brings my total to 28 former Mets on the seat back.

There is usually a free autograph with admission to the show and it was Paul Blair, I got Blair on an 8x10. Also at the show was Joe Pepitone, Al Downing, Lou Brock and Buddy Harrelson. I have everyone else except for Downing and didn’t want to stay around and wait for him.

Had some lunch with Grandma and then headed up to New Britain. Gates open 90 mins before the game on weekends. I decided to go to the Reading side before the game because they had more top 20 prospects for either team. On Reading I got:

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2011/10/28/2519502/philadelphia-phillies-top-20-prospects-for-2012

Trevor May SS on an OMLB and also got (3) 2011 Topps Minor League Heritage cards. Trevor is ranked 1st overall player in the Phillies system. Real nice guy and signed multiples for everyone.

Jiwan James (3) 2011 Topps Minor League Heritage cards. According to the website above he is listed as the 20th overall.

JC Ramirez (3) 2011 Topps Minor League Heritage cards.

Then on an OMLB I was able to get the following:

Bob Milacki, Pitching Coach

Lisberto Bonilla

Frank Gailey

Jay Johnson

Drew Naylor

Julio Rodriguez

Sebastian Valle,

Miguel Abreu

Troy Hanzawa

Cesar Hernandez

Tim Kennelly

Darin Ruf

Leanadro Castro

Tyson Gillies

Steve Susdorf Then after the game I head over to the Rock cats parking lot and was able to get the following on a OMLB: Andrew Albers David Bromberg BJ Hermenson Bobby Lanigan Blake Martin Daniel Turpen Chris Hermann Nathan Hanson Logan Darnell Estarlin De Los Santos Brett Jacobson Evan Bigley Marc Dolenc Wilken Ramirez Caleb Thielbar Deibinson Romero Shawn Roof Luis Perdomo One of the first players to walk out was top prospect Joe Benson. He was not in a great mood after going 0-5 and being demoted  from AAA a day earlier. There was only 2 of us graphing and he still said "Not today" I had 2 cards for him and was on the fence on whether or not to get him on a OMLB. The other prospect that player’s in New Britain is Aaron Hicks. Apparently he Snuck out of a different entrance. Hicks was another I was not sure whether or not to get on an OMLB. 45 Auto’s is not a bad day. It would have been better if I would have gotten Benson and Hicks. I may go back up there one more Time this season. It’s a 3 hour trip if I drive. If I go to a day game. I can take the ferry and cut off driving time.  Trevor May

This is the 24th Minor League Stadium I've been to. The stadium opened in 1996. It replace Beehive Stadium that still stands adjacent to New Britain Stadium. Beehive Stadium was built in 1983 when the Redsox AA team relocated from Bristol CT. The Redsox AA affiliate played in New Britain until they left in 1994 for Trenton. The Twins affiliate played at the Beehive for just the one season, 1995. From what I was told Beehive is used for high school games. In my opinion there is nothing special about the stadium. I think the dugouts are abit to far down the lines.

The Ducks come home this coming Friday for a 10 game homestand and then on May 25th I'm hoping to head up the see the Rockland Boulders vs Worcester Tornadoes. Not sure
if some of have heard that Jose Canseco signed on to DH with Worcester. Jose is hanging on by a thread at the age of 47. There is no official roster posted yet. So, I'm not sure if there are any other former big league players on Worcester or Rockland. Dave Lapoint is the Boulders Manager and Damian Rolls is the Boulders Hitting Coach. I do know that Howard Johnson's son Glen did sign with the Boulders.