The New Blog is UP

Greetings...

My blogging for the Crawdads has been moved here:

http://pirates.mlblogs.com

Please visit that site to see my current posts.

Thanks!

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Oh Well....

Well...

I have been fairly happy with this free website for blogging, but it's giving me problems now, more than usual. I wanted to make an announcement about Andrew McCutchen's move to Altoona and include a photograph along with it, but I haven't been able to upload a photo to this blog space for over 24 hours now. It just isn't working.

I have decided to accept an invitation to do my blogging as an inclusion in a much larger blog site on Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. In a nutshell, blogger.com sucks.

My next post in this blog will be making an announcement of where my blogging will go from here. Stay tuned...

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

On The Road (and the team too)

Tonight, the 'Dads will host the Savannah Sand Gnats for the final game 4 of the series. A win tonight will sweep that series and then send the Crawdads on the road. Thursday will be an off day. The 'Dads get 4 games at Lake County and then 4 more at West Virginia before returning home to host the Greensboro Grasshoppers for 4 games.

I'm attending the game tonight as a spectator rather than a photographer. I'm leaving after the game to drive up to Chicago for a long weekend. I'll try to remember to report back.

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Fire in the Hole

The Hickory Crawdads continued last night's shelling of the Savannah pitching staff by collecting a staggering 20 hits and 14 runs from the Sand Gnat hurlers tonight at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina. Every 'Dad in the starting lineup got at least one hit tonight. The best performances of the evening came from Tony Mansolino, with 3 for 4 and 3 RBIs and one homer (2 run), and Cameron Blair with 4 for 6, 5 RBIs and one homer (3 run).

Cameron Blair collects my Big Leage Chew Player of the Game award tonight. This is his second time this week. He's on a roll :)

The 'Dads complete this series tomorrow night and hopefully collect a sweep. After tonight's play in the league, the 'Dads are 5 games behind Lakewood after Lakewood's loss in Asheville.

I spoke briefly to the 'Dad's media relations director, Dave Friedman, before the game tonight. I told him about the Big League Chew award. He suggested that I try to get Big League Chew to donate the gum to the cause. It's probably a long shot, but I'll give it a try. If they agree to donate the gum, I'll start that project next season with some different ideas...

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Monday Monday

A nice thunderstorm rolled through Hickory prior to game time tonight, but we managed to get the game in on schedule. The combination of the weather (some rain through the early innings of the game) and the simple fact that it was Monday created a rather poor draw of fans in the park tonight.

The game, however, worked out well for the 'Dads as they smashed Savannah by a score of 11-2. With the 'Dads overwhelming success with the sticks tonight, I have had a problem choosing my Big League Chew Player of the Game. There are three Dads with some significant stats from tonight. Let's take a look at those:

Mike McCuistion (DH):

2 for 4 at the plate with one run scored and 4 RBIs

Eddie Prasch (3B):

3 for 5 at the plate with 3 runs scored

Andrew McCutchen (CF):

3 for 4 at the plate with two runs scored, a double, and a stolen base

Those four RBIs for McCuistion are quite impressive. Some of Eddie's and Andrew's runs scored were results of Mike's stick. Hickory's Media Relations person and the 'Voice of the Crawdads' on the Shellfish Radio Network, Mr. Dave Friedman, gave the BC Headache Powder Player of the Game award to Eddie Prasch. I think I'm gonna go with McCuistion. I just can't get past the 4 RBIs in one game thing :) I didn't jump the gun tonight on the award and I decided to review all the stats beforehand this time. Mike will get the gum tomorrow night. I had been watching Mike from the beginning because Hickory's first two runs were RBIs from Mike's line drive down the right field line that ALMOST got him a triple, but he was tagged out at third on the slide.

At any rate, several 'Dads had stellar performances tonight. We gotta keep this train rolling.

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Delaney & Corley

Every so often, I am alerted that a player's parents and family are in the park for a game. For the last four nights or so, Brad Corley's parents, Mary and Blandon, have been visiting. I was shooting at the gate tonight as Brad Corley stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the first inning with two runners on. He launched a BOMB over the left field wall for a 3-run stroke that put the 'Dads up 3-0 in the bottom of the first. I turned and shot a few quick photos his parents celebrating this hit. I printed a couple of the above image to give to Brad tomorrow night.

This hit was going to be the Big League Chew winner of the night, so in the 8th, I went into the dugout to give Corley the coveted prize. He told me, as have others before, that I should't give that out until the end of the game. They keep telling me that someone could hit a walk-off home run in the ninth. In most cases, it's wishful thinking. I gave him the gum and told him if someone topped his performance, I would make up for it tomorrow night...

Enter Jason Delaney...


With the 'Dads down 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth with two out, Delaney steps to the plate with Corley on 2nd. I got a perfect display of what a walk-off home run is. Delaney brought L.P. Frans Stadium into a frenzy with shot over the 401-foot mark in center field. Since I had already distributed the Big League Chew, Jason will get his tomorrow night and share the award with Brad.

Congrats to Jason and Brad, as well as the rest of the 'Dads for tonight's victory over the Savannah Sand Gnats. Let's keep up the good work and sweep this series.

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

The Autographs Revisited

Antonio Sucre, a member of the 2005 Hickory Crawdads organization, signs autographs for fans at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina on May 15, 2005...

I had a brief discussion with a Hickory Crawdads baseball player regarding giving autographs. I had a few questions that I wanted answered from a professional baseball player, and I got a lot of what I was looking for. After thinking about what I have seen myself, a lot of my suspicions have been confirmed. I will list the conclusions I have drawn from this dicussion and talk about what I believe.

Professional Baseball Players Will Sign Autographs for Fans

Some players are more interested in signing autographs than others. I have seen some who seem to look for the opportunity to do so and others who shy away from it. I'm not sure why some players try to avoid this. It's not really bad for their reputation with the fans, but it's good marketing to interact with the fans as often as possible. A professional athlete is dependent on fan appreciation, so they should appreciate the fans as much and as often as possible.

Professional Baseball Players Will Sign Autographs for Collectors

Collectors and professional card traders seem to make up a majority of the autograph seekers that I encounter at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory. These are not kids. A large majority of them are adults and they appear at the park regularly. At our park, they aren't always seeking autographs from the home team. They usually have those covered early in the season. They are getting autographs from the visiting teams. These collectors bring in larger collections of cards and other items for autographs. I have watched a few ball players sign 15 and 20 cards for a single collector at once. In many cases, they are signing multiple copies of the same card. When I see this happening, I know I'm watching a professional collector. They are getting a couple for themselves and a lot more for selling.

I asked a Crawdads team member how he felt about doing this because I was expecting a negative response. The response I got wasn't as negative as I had thought it would be, but I did detect a little bit of irritation in the player by his facial expressions and his tone of voice. He said:

"I sign them because it's the right thing to do. I'm not always happy about doing it because I know this person is going to make money from my signatures."

He went on to say that other players may not do it, or they may only sign a couple of the cards rather than a whole stack of them. It's basically up to the player. The players don't want to create enemies by not signing cards, but they aren't thrilled about the idea of these guys making profits from their signatures and images.

My contact with the Crawdads also enlightened me to another unique piece of information about this process. He asked me if I went to many other minor league ball parks. I rarely go anywhere but L.P. Frans Stadium. When I told him that, he told me that our park gives the fans easier access to the players than most other parks do. Our field house has a sidewalk that goes up to the stadium and fans can make a simple stroll down to wait for players coming to and from the field. He said that most other ball parks they play in don't have that easy access to the players. They don't get asked for autographs as often at other ball parks. He said he believed this is why so many of these professional collectors show up here in Hickory. They have a single point of access to all players from both teams entering and leaving the field.

What's the Best Solution?

I don't think there is any solution to the problem. The players can sign autographs at their discretion. I hope they do it as often as possible and make sure they get the autographs out to the FANS first. If the professional collectors don't get everything they want, it's OK.

I'm finished talking about autographs now :)

I'm heading out to the park shortly to cover game one in a series of four against the Savannah Sand Gnats. I'm hoping that the 'Dads can sweep this series :)

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

A Tough Night in HickTown

There isn't much to say about tonight's game in Hickory. The Charleston RiverDogs managed to shutout the 'Dads by a score of 3-0 at L.P. Frans Stadium tonight. The above photo shows one of the few highlights of the game. Cameron Blair managed to steal second base, but the Blues Brothers deemed that Shelby Ford interfered with the throw from the plate, cancelling the steal and generating the out.

The 'Dads performance tonight was so uninspiring that I had a difficult time deciding who would get my Big League Chew Player of the Game award. I decided to give it to Cameron Blair, not for the steal, but for an amazing catch he made in the 7th inning on a line drive that was headed into left field.

I did talk to a Crawdad tonight about the autographs issue that I discussed yesterday and got some feedback. I'm planning to write about that here during the 'Dads next road trip.

After losing three of four to the Charleston RiverDogs, we have a four-game home stand with the Savannah Sand Gnats starting tomorrow night. I'll be covering the first three of those games for sure, but the fourth one may get missed. I'm taking a vacation to Chicago and I'm not exactly sure when I'm leaving Hickory. It will either be Wednesday night or very early Thursday morning.

I hope I'll have something interesting to write about tomorrow night :)

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Say Cheese Please?

On the third day of the series, God said, "Let there be rain." And there was rain. A shit load of it. Is shit load one word or two? Anyway... The rain came and they saw that it was good... except for the fact that it was coming into the dugout faster than the drains could take it out. There was much rejoicing up until it stopped and game time was announced as 8:20pm instead of 7:00pm.

In the above photo, this is what happened when I asked these guys if they could all say "CHEESE" at the same time. I thought it was cute. They are looking at me like I'm an idiot. Imagine that :) Well, at least Cameron Blair was looking at all of them to see if they were looking at me like I'm an idiot.

The rain kept the temperature out of the 90s for this game though. It cooled down to 76 degrees but the humidity was rough. We managed to whip the RiverDogs by a score of 5-3 tonight.

Tonight's Big League Chew award was a tie. Andrew McCutchen and Brad Corley both had two-run dingers over the left field wall. Corley's ball is somewhere in the next county. I was glad to see him get it too because his parents are here this weekend visiting from Lexington, KY.

** Note of Interest **

I saw something happen tonight that I had never seen before. In an earlier blog entry, I made some comments about players giving autographs and I haven't had the opportunity to follow up on that yet, but after tonight, I'm planning to talk to someone about it tomorrow. I saw a player from the opposing team deny an autograph to a fan. This particular player was a 'prospect' from the Charleston RiverDogs and, IMO, he should be signing autographs. He told the fan that his agent told him he shouldn't be signing autographs. I don't know if that was true or not. Maybe he had other reasons for not doing it.

I'll be composing a full blog entry on this subject to post when the 'Dads go back on the road again. I want to talk to several players about it and get some professional feedback on the subject first.

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Big League Chew for Todd Redmond

Hickory Crawdads right-handed pitcher, Todd Redmond, is the recipient of my Big League Chew Player of the Game award tonight.

The 'Dads lost again tonight to the Charleston RiverDogs, but the loss wasn't a result of poor pitching in my opinion. Redmond allowed two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts. Redmond was followed by Derek Drage, who completed the loss for the Crawdads without giving up any runs. We lost 2-0 tonight but our failure was at the plate tonight. Redmond allowed four hits, but Charleston's Christian Garcia allowed four to us as well. We just couldn't bring the runners around and managed no homers either.

We still have two more games to go in this series with Charleston. Hopefully we can get our game rolling and split the series. We are 7 games out of first place. There is plenty of time to grab the title!

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Back in Town

The 'Dads returned to Hickory tonight after a 8-game road trip to face the Charleston RiverDogs at L.P. Frans Stadium. There wasn't much of a crowd (1,439) for the game as the outfield thermometer dropped just below 100 degrees at game time.

All I can say is that we got off to a rough start. Blair Johnson opened up on the mound for the 'Dads and gave up 5 runs in the first two innings, which was enough to push the RiverDogs past our 'Dads by a score of 5-4 on Wednesday night. Brian Holliday relieved Johnson and didn't give up any runs, and Jean Garavito closed the game.

In the above photo, Shelby Foard swats one over the left field wall for a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, chalking up his 5th for the season. Shelby wins my Big League Chew for the night, but my dumb ass went to the ball park without it. I'll take it tomorrow and give it to him :)

I'm no sports expert of any sort, but I am going to step out on a limb here and say that pitching cost us dearly tonight. When a pitcher gives up 5 runs in two innings, it makes it difficult to recover. Is it possible that Blair Johnson pitched really well tonight, but the Charleston batters were just having a good night? It could be for sure :)

The temperature forecast for tomorrow is just as ugly as today's. I think I'll post a photo tomorrow of the outfield thermometer just before game time. It was hot tonight.

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Neil Walker

Neil Walker, Pirates 2004 #1 draft pick (11th overall), is currently playing for the Lynchburg Hillcats. He played for the Crawdads in the 2005 season for almost a full season. He was pulled up to Lynchburg with just a few weeks left.

During the 2005 season with the Crawdads, Neil saw 485 trips to the plate. With 146 hits, he got 12 homers, 2 triples, 33 doubles, 7 stolen bases, and finished with Hickory with a .301 batting average.

Unfortunately, Neil's 2006 season with the Hillcats was off to a slow start. Neil had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his wrist in December 2005. His recovery process was slower than anticipated, so he got off to a late start with the Hillcats.

I talked to Neil briefly at Tuesday's game in Winston-Salem. He said he's feeling great and playing well. We'll have to keep our eyes on Neil's progress this season :)

BTW- Neil Walker was the first autograph I ever collected from a professional athlete. He's also the only autograph I bothered to collect during the 2005 Crawdads season. It's not because I didn't like the rest of the team... It's just that I didn't like collecting autographs :) I made a black and white print of the photo below and got his signature on it. I'm doing a little more of that now :)


John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Pedro Powell

I travelled to Winston-Salem on Tuesday night to see the Lynchburg Hillcats play the Winston-Salem Warthogs. I enjoyed getting to see a few of last year's Crawdads on the trip. One of my favorites is Pedro Powell. I used to see Pedro at the concession stand at L.P. Frans stadium about an hour before game time every night. He was loading up on cookies & cream ice cream before each game.

Pedro got a home run in West Virginia last year, and when he returned, I asked him if their ice cream was better than ours. He just grinned :)

Pedro plays center field for the Hillcats and he played that position for the Crawdads as well. Pedro is fast too, as are most center fielders. He's stolen 46 bases this season with the Hillcats.

Dads Roadtrip Update:

The 'Dads took 3 of 4 at Columbus and they won their first match with Rome on Saturday. They play Rome again today at 2pm. We are 5 games out of first place with plenty of time to catch up before the end of the season :)

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Eddie is on a Rampage!

Eddie Prasch dives back to first base ahead of a pick-off attempt on May 28, 2006 at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina...

The 'Dads are on the road at Columbus, but I just wanted to post an update on Eddie "Addicted to Donuts" Prasch. A few days ago, I posted about his amazing back to back homers after 509 trips to the plate as a professional without a single dinger. After he hit two in game three of the last series with Lakewood, he has had home runs in the first two games of the Columbus road trip. I should soon start writing the book "How Eddie Got His Groove Back".

I visited the Lynchburg Hillcats in Winston-Salem this evening. I got to see some old faces and a few of the 'Dads from this season also... Pedro Powell, Neil Walker, Dan Schwarzbauer, Antonio Sucre, Kyle Bloom, Derek Hankins, Steven Pearce, Luis Munoz, Romulo Sanchez, and a few others. I shot a few photos and I'll post them tomorrow...

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

David Davidson Moves UP!

Hickory Crawdads left-hander David Davidson was moved up to the Lynchburg Hillcats.

During David's 2006 season with the Crawdads, he pitched 56 innings, giving up 39 hits, 12 earned runs, 21 walks, and 72 strikeouts, with an ERA of 1.93.

David was one of only two left-handers on the Crawdads pitching roster. The other lefty is Brian Holliday.

If things go my way tonight, I'll see David and congratulate him on his move. I'm planning to go to Winston-Salem to see Lynchburg play. I should have a few photos from that later tonight or tomorrow...

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

The Autographs

During my past two years of covering the Hickory Crawdads as a photographer, I have been watching the 'Dads sign autographs at almost every game. I'm not much of an autograph collector myself, but I have been doing it more this year than in the past. I have never had an autographed baseball card until this year. I haven't even had an interest in it until I did the baseball card photos for the 'Dads. I got all of them autographed except for two. I missed getting autographs from Brandon Reddinger and Mike Hofius. They both left the organization before I got my cards. Maybe I'll be able to track them down some day so I can get my cards signed and have a complete set.

In the above photo, I saw this young baseball team lined up at the fence while the team was warming up in the outfield. Each of them had a ball held up hoping to get a player autograph. In my mind, this scene simplifies what professional sports is all about. These kids (and those who bring them to the ball park) pay the player salaries and provide them with a nice place to play. They allow the professional athlete to live his own dream by simply being the fans who buy the tickets and merchandise.

At L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, fans usually gather outside the team's clubhouse to get some autographs before the players hit the field for stretching and warmups before the game starts. As the players come out, fans ask for autographs. Most players stop and sign some before the warmups. Some others are guilty of sneaking around the walkway and hopping the fence or using the gate next to the field to bypass the fans. I'm not gonna dig into this subject, but I do believe that EVERY professional athlete should spend some amount of time at every opportunity to sign autographs for fans.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, let's talk about the two categories of autograph seekers I see at the ball parks... The above photo shows the first category. We have the young fans who aren't collecting as much but enjoy the opportunity just to get the autographs and meet the players. They simply love the game and the players. On the other side of the card, we have the 'professional' collectors. These are the ones I run into more often than the kids when I'm outside the clubhouse. Some of these collectors I have met travel from park to park getting autographs from players. I ran into one last night who had three friends with him who were doing the same thing. There were four guys (30 and older) outside the clubhouse waiting for autographs. When these guys ask for autographs, they open up a notebook and have anywhere from 2 to 18 cards signed by any given player. This takes up a good bit of the player's time and doesn't really allow them to sign for anyone else who may be waiting. They don't have unlimited time between the clubhouse and field warmups. I have watched several Crawdads sign 10 and 15 items for single autograph seekers, and I just don't think it's fair for the player and the other fans who may be seeking autographs. When I see one person ask for autographs on 5 or 10 of the same baseball card, I know that they are going to keep one or two and trade/sell off the others. Baseball card and memorabilia trading is a huge business.

I have never gotten any player feedback on this issue, but after writing about it, I think I will talk to a few players to see what their thoughts are on the issue. I will choose a few Crawdads who I regularly see signing autographs and ask them how they feel about signing autographs in general and signing for the professional collectors. I'll be curious to see how they respond.

I think I fall into a category between the casual and the professional collector. As I said earlier, I have only recently become interested in collecting any autographs. I was quite pleased to get the opportunity to shoot the photos for the Crawdads baseball cards this season, so I obviously wanted to get each of those cards signed. The second set of cards is coming out in August and I'm planning to chase signatures for all those cards also, simply because that's a very unique element of my personal portfolio as a photographer. However, as a photographer, there are some signed photographs that I would like to have also. I'm not planning to get one from every player this season, but I'm going to try to get about half of them. At the half-way point of this season, I gave each player a CD ROM with photos that I had made during the first half, so I hope that they will help me out with my autograph quest :)



I snapped this photo early in the season of Andrew McCutchen signing a baseball for a fan before the start of a game...

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Player Profile: Brad Lincoln

During some down time, let's take a look at some of the Crawdads roster. We were most recently introduced to Mr. Brad Lincoln. Brad was the Pittsburgh Pirates' first round draft pick in 2004 (4th overall pick). He was drafted as a junior in college from the University of Houston and signed with the Pirates on June 22, 2006 after agreeing to a $2.75m signing bonus.

Brad's professional career started with the Pirates in the Gulf Coast league where he pitched 7.2 innings in two games. During those innings, he gave up six hits, no earned runs, achieved nine strikeouts and gave up only one walk.

On July 19, 2006, Brad made his first appearance on the mound with the Hickory Crawdads. He faced some of the toughest batters in the South Atlantic League as the Lakewood BlueClaws went to work on his 0.00 ERA. During his 4.2 inning game on the 19th, Brad gave up 7 hits, 7 earned runs, 5 walks, and achieved 2 strikeouts. My personal opinion is that a case of the jitters coupled with facing some of the toughest batters in the league combined to get Brad off to a weak start and a 13.50 ERA after his first appearance in Hickory.

During the next 3 games against the BlueClaws, Brad spent some time with a few other Crawdads pitchers charting pitches during the game. I don't know when Brad's next appearance will be, but it will likely be on the road against Columbus next week. I'll be keeping tabs on those games and I'll report back when there is some new information.

If you would like to read some more biographical information about Brad's college career and awards, check out this link to the University of Houston Athletics page. It's quite impressive. I'm looking forward to seeing Brad in the future and I have high hopes for many great performances on the mound.

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Euvi Solano - Donuts Revisited

After last night's discussion of donuts, I thought it was quite interesting that Hickory's Euvi Solano lost his tonight as well. Euvi got his first home run of the season against Lakewood BlueClaws powerhouse Matt Maloney, who leads the South Atlantic League in pitching with a 1.55 ERA and 125 strikeouts. My hat's off to Euvi for picking up a homer against Maloney :)

Tonight ended a 4-game series against the Lakewood BlueClaws. The 'Dads managed to win one of the four, but the BlueClaws are the number one team in the northern division of the South Atlantic League. After tonight, they have a record of 21 wins and 9 losses in the second half of the season. The team is full of talent and we suffered at their hands this week.

Tonight also ended an 8-game home series for the 'Dads. They have tomorrow off and will be travelling to Columbus for 4 games against the Catfish and then on to Rome for 4 more against the Braves. August 1st is another off day before we kick off another 8-game series at home against the Charleston RiverDogs and then the Savannah Sand Gnats.

With 10 consecutive days of no home baseball for the Crawdads, I will try to make some postings with some photos of miscellaneous things between now and the next home series.

In the mean time, If you would like to have a sneak preview of the second set Crawdads baseball cards, take a look HERE. I will be turning these in next week, but I may change a few of them out between now and then.

I'm travelling to Winston-Salem on Tuesday to see the Lynchburg Hillcats play the Winston-Salem Warthogs. I'll be bringing home some photos of former Crawdads who are playing in Lynchburg.

Dosvedanya until then...

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)

Eddie Prasch and the Giant Donut

I don't know Eddie Prasch very well, but I speak to him occasionally in the dugout. He seems rather quiet to me. I think he's very focused on his game. Eddie covers third base for the Hickory Crawdads.

My observations of Eddie throughout this season are that he's an excellent fielder. Early in the season, his batting seemed very strong as well. As the season progressed, he seemed to be slipping just a little at the plate, but his current batting average (before tonight's game) was a solid .240.

Now... on to the thing about the giant donut...

When we see a big ole hairy ZERO on the scoreboard next to a player's home run count, we affectionately refer to this as a DONUT. Eddie has been carrying a donut around with him for a long time it seems. As I did a little research, I discovered an interesting factoid. Eddie was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2004 and he has failed to hit a home run in his first 509 trips to the plate. I'm fairly confident that this little tidbit has been hanging around in the back of Eddie's mind for some time now.

Eddie got off to a great start tonight with a stand-up double on his first trip to the plate. This was followed by a single on his next trip. On his third trip, the waters parted and a light appeared above the right field wall. His ball was sucked into oblivion, chalking up Mr. Prasch's first professional home run. A crowd of over 4,500 at L.P. Frans Stadium rose to their feet and cheered Eddie on as he rounded the bases.

I immediately decided that Eddie was going to be the recipient of my newly founded "Big League Chew Player of the Game" award. I have been carrying a pack of Big League Chew bubble gum to the last few games with me, which I award to some outstanding performance of the evening. I had already finished photographing for the evening when this event happened, so I returned to the dugout to present Eddie with his Big League Chew.

I stayed in the dugout for a bit, chatting and watching the game. Eddie returned to the plate for his fourth time of the evening, so I stepped up to watch. All I can say about what happened next is DAMN! That same light that ate Eddie's donut appeared again over the left field wall. Mr. Prasch had hit back to back home runs. His first one was a solo and this one was a three-run dinger, which put the 'Dads on top of Lakewood by a score of 9-4. Over 4,500 fans erupted for a second time of the evening. It was a beautiful night at the ball park...

Congratulations Eddie... Keep up the great work :)

John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)