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)