Day 5, last day of Fantasy Camp, and I can't believe how fast it has gone. Gaspar's Ghosts finished in 6th place (out of 10 teams), which places us as the 6th team that plays again the pro's today. Our last game as a team at Fantasy Camp will be played in the stadium at Tradition Field for three innings. As I mentioned before, the pro's have only lost three games in over 200 three inning games played. I woke up feeling much better, I wasn't as sore from the day before. I definitely felt like I could throw an inning or two.

Since we weren't going to have to take the field until around 11:30, we had the chance to sleep in for a little. Jack and I packed before we left, and I think this is when the depression started to settle in. Little by little throughout the day the horrible reality set in that Fantasy Camp was coming to an end. We got to the locker room and I proceeded with what has become a tradition, and that is to go straight the training room, sit in the hot jacuzzi and let the trainers work their magic. These guys are brilliant, and I thoroughly appreciate the time and work they spent on helping me prepare for a game.

                                                 

Jack and I took a slow stroll to Tradition Field. We took our time walking to the game, taking in the last moments of the fantasy. The weather throughout camp was sunny and warm, absolutely perfect baseball conditions. However, today the overcast sky was appropriately to what we were feeling. We arrived at the stadium and the goosebumps that I have felt for the past four days came back again. It was a beautiful sight! Scoreboard, announcements of names, perfectly manicured field and a larger than it looks on TV stadium. What a treat!

We warmed up on the sidelines and it took me a bit to warm-up. I think my arm was finally starting to get weak. The nerves started to kick in as we made our way to the home dugouts. What awesome dugouts. Coach Niemann hung the lineup I was batting lead-off and playing CF during the first inning. Damon Gersh our best pitcher was taking the mound to start the game. In the first inning, we let up one run to the Pro's, not too much damage. I got back to the dugout between innings and got myself ready to hit. Stepping to the plate I realized how amazing this all was. I heard my name over the PA system and the chills appeared again. I dug into the box and said hello to the catcher and umpire (standard for my first at-bat), and proceeded to get the chills again as Jerry Grote was crouched behind the plate. As I continued to dig-in and look at the mound, I realized that Jim McAndrew was preparing to pitch to me. Are you kidding me! How great. He could still throw pretty hard, and probably was one of the hardest throwing pitchers we faced during the week. I should have enjoyed it a bit more, I only saw two pitches. Ball 1. And a groundout up the middle, which Felix Milan made a great play on. Bobby Wine said to me as I was sprinting down the "why you running so fast kid". I guess I really wanted to get on base. Jack got up this inning and he also grounded out, but had a good swing on the ball. Nobody really did anything else, I guess we were in awe of where we were and who we were playing.

Coach Niemann told me to take the mound for the second inning. I took my warm-up pitches and I felt really good. Again, chills appeared when I heard my name announced as the new pitcher and stepped on the mound. It was quite intimidating standing on the mound in this stadium. The first batter I faced was Pat Zachary (I will tip my cap to Pat Zachary, as he started game 3 of the 1976 World Series for the Big Red Machine in Yankee Stadium and beat those assholes, Willie Randolph was 0-4 with 1 K). We took the count to 2-1, as I was throwing pretty well. He popped up to CF for the first out. From the second to the third batter I don't remember what happened, I was too excited. What I remember from there is facing Tim Bogar with two outs and thinking to myself "don't let him take you deep". We took the count to 3-2, and battled from there, he just missed on two pitches, fouling them back. I had a curveball grip on the following pitch, but changed my mind and came with a ball four fastball. Stepping up to the plate next was a former pro who played for a bit for the Cyclones. He is a younger guy, but I am not sure what his name was. We took the count to 2-1 when I snapped off a "charlie" that buckled his legs. Next pitch I cam back with a fastball that I threw as hard as I could, hitting the outside corner and getting him to swing on his heels for strike 3. As I was running off the field, I realized that I had probably just thrown my arm out. It was killing me! However, it didn't matter, I had K'd one of the pros!

The final inning was pretty uneventful. A few hits, no runs and another Pro's win.

The end of the game signified the end of Fantasy Camp. Half of our team "hitched" a ride on a golf cart back to the locker room where we packed our gear and prepared for a trip back to reality. The past five days was an introduction to a fantasy world where we were treated like pros and played like amateurs. We were lumped together and forced to play like a team, what resulted was memories and hopefully friends for a lifetime. Tomorrow we will trade our home/away uniforms in and go back to being pro's, Jack back to being a pro on wall street, me back to being a pro of the auction business, David Gersh back to a pro of the restaurant business, Randy Voorhis back to being a pro of carpentry, Doc back to being a professional plastic surgeon, Howie back to a pro of the music business, Mercado back to a professional conductor and nine other pro's.

I want to thank Matty, Howie, the Kneesy brothers, Timmy, Voorhis, the Gersh brothers and Mercado for making my rookie year of Fantasy Camp so much fun and memorable. I want to thank Randy Niemann, Rod Gaspar and Al LeBoeuf for the time they spent with us, whether it was teaching or telling stories. I want to thank Jay who organized the perfect experience and has probably the best job. I want to thank the other guys that I met, Lynch, Bill, Adam and Ed.

Now we wait until spring when we will be invited back to Shea Stadium to play again as the Gaspar Ghosts. I look forward to keeping in touch with my new friends and reminiscing with my brother.

We were all Just Living the Dream!

(there are new pictures that have been uploaded, make sure you look through my photo albums)