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2005 Season |
Edition No. 2 |
January 25, 2005 |
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Brethren:
First and foremost, my thanks to Itchie for hosting our Winter Meeting last Saturday night, which was extremely well attended with ten members. With only the distant Stretch, the ailing Screech, and the sun-bathing Mouse absent, an impressive total of ten league members were present to see the Cup bestowed upon yours truly. I’d like to think that the heavy participation was due mainly to your collective excitement over seeing my team rewarded for its fourth HSL championship, but the more realistic side of me realizes that the free pizza, free beer, free championship wearing apparel, and a chance to get out for a night with the boys may have been the more influential factors. Nevertheless, the impressive show of force was greatly appreciated.
Many thanks to B.T. and Underbelly for bailing me out on the wearing apparel issue, and taking the initiative to produce the snappy black microfiber jackets emblazoned with the Senators logo and the fitting “Fourth Term” insignia. I have to admit, when that first gray tee shirt came out of the box with the Skipper’s hastily-created design, prankishly faded and crooked, I was a bit underwhelmed if not sheepish about my own lame effort. Fortunately, my two guardian angels took the bull by the horns and made things right, for the greater good of all. Of course, the warm fuzzy feeling may disappear when I get the four-figure invoice from Art F/X, but for now, all is right with the world.
It is agreed that Draft Day will take place on Saturday, April 2, 2005, the exact starting time to be announced, depending on Max’s practice schedule. This gives you a little over two months to get ready for the biggest event of the Hot Stove League year. Don’t screw it up.
Lastly, I found it interesting that Juan Gonzalez has been signed to a base contract for next year in the amount of $600,000, although there are a number of incentive clauses built in. Of course, if any of them require him to play more than 25 games, he is out of luck. Contrast this with the contract recently signed by Paul Bako, which was in the amount of $650,000. To show you how far Long Gone has fallen, he has 434 career home runs and 1404 career RBIs at age 35, compared to Bako’s 14 career home runs and 129 career RBIs at age 33. Yet Bako will earn a larger base salary than his malcontent counterpart. Amazing.
I will be tied up in jury trials for most of the next five weeks, so I will not be doing many postings to the website or From the Bullpens during that time frame.
Have a great month.
Skipper
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