Out, out, brief candle

Stalking the Reds players in their hotel when they are in Washington has become an annual ritual. With the exception of 2008 when I was in Ohio, I have done it every year since whatever year Pete McKanin was manager (the years of mediocrity blend together.) I go to the hotel to eat an overpriced lunch and see what the players look like out of uniform. The first time I went, I got a scorecard full of autographs until the Nazi Rat Lady who works at the hotel told me to stop harassing the players. For the next few years I didn't bother the players - just watched them. Today, though, before I left the hotel, I bothered Coco Cordero for an autograph; then, as I was leaving the hotel, Gomes walked in, so I bothered him for one, too. He was extremely nice and seemed like a very genuine guy.

The most thought provoking moment, however, came as I walked down the sidewalk to go home. A very tall man came towards me and I knew right away who it was. "Hi, Logan, will you sign my ball?" I asked this very tall man. He obliged.

I hope I made his day. As a rookie reliever who's only made a handful of Major League appearances, I wonder what he thought about someone actually knowing who he was and stopping him on the street for an autograph. It must be tough sometimes to see other players on your team getting all of the attention while no one knows who you are. Baseball is a team sport, yes, but it is a team made up of individuals of varying degrees of talent and importance. True, the weakest link sometimes rises to the ranks of hero, but when you play 162 games a season, it's the strong who make or break a team.

Dusty Baker came over to me to shake my hand because he realized I was a Reds fan (no - I wasn't that big of a dork that I had on Reds clothing. Ok, so I had on Reds socks. He couldn't see them.) I said hi to Mike Leake and he smiled. The others I saw: Hatcher, Cairo, Ramon, Harang, Danny Ray, Lecure, Corky Miller, and I think Heisey.

Here are my tweets from the outing:

# Scored Gomes and Coco ink then ran into Ondrusek onstreet so he signed my ball too. Must be a cool feeling for a rook to be stopped on st about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# It looks much less ridiculous in real life. "@jinazreds: @churchofbasebal I think you have to be a badass to pull off that mustache." about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Badass Rhodes just walked in. about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Corky Miller looks like a badass in real life. And Ondrusek is taaalll. about 3 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Just saw a bunch of Reds come in-Harang, Herrera, Ramon, Lecure. Ramon went to the bank. about 3 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Owings is sitting next to me w a blond woman about 3 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Looks like the flow of Reds has dried up. Looks like it's back to work for me. After I finish this last Sam Adams (1st in 4 months!) about 3 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Reds trainer is at air space museum. Makes me think abt baseball travel. After going 2 same cities every yr, must run out of things to do about 3 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Can't tell if I just saw Heisey, Masset, or Lecure. All white people look the same. Ha! about 3 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Just saw Gomes. Kinda cute up close. about 3 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Having lunch at Reds hotel in DC. Met Dusty, said hi to Leake, am sitting next to Coco, Cairo, and Hatch. about 4 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®