Walking into Chase Field, eyes wide and backpacks stuffed, Arizona Diamondbacks’ front desk employee Sergio Cuevas checked us in one by one. After asking about his unusual title, Sergio stepped aside from his desk and gave me the mantra I’d learn to live by in Arizona. You don’t get a second first impression.
I always wondered how, 25 years after suiting up in a big league uniform for the last time, ballplayers could recount every character, count and condition of their first big league hit or the first guy they punched out. Now, I get it. I remember each hug, each “You’re so much shorter than I expected!”, each recollection of something one or the other tweeted of the bright, connected and eager finalists. It all goes back to sage Sergio. First impressions. And every one of the #FanCave30 left me impressed.
That was the easy part. The 60-second “elevator pitch” stating why we should be chosen to live in the Fan Cave was my chance at a winning first impression with Major League Baseball. I went with an earnest approach, citing some of the more “human” truths I’ve learned from watching baseball. That you can change someone’s opinion by going on a hot, or a cold streak. That being odd can get you just as far as being great. And that when things hit absolute bottom - like in the case of my favorite ballplayer, Rick Ankiel - you have to get creative to get back up. (Turns out, in Ank’s case, all they had to do was move the mound back a couple hundred feet.)
Over the course of two full days, the 30 of us found ourselves on equal footing as some of our baseball idols - MLB players, analysts and executives - who all greeted us by our first names, no prompting or “Hello, My Name Is" tags necessary. Greg Amsinger and I talked Saved By The Bell and the Oakland Athletics outfield. The group participated in bar-style baseball trivia, where our MC and former A’s fan favorite Eric Byrnes called me out for my Petaluma National Little League Hat, and I high-fived his baby bulldog Porkchop. We split up into smaller cohorts and shipped out to different spring training facilities. The Royals put on an amazing show for my group, featuring Jeff Francouer, Alex Gordon, and The George Brett - though you’ll have to wait for the video to hear the details - and Frenchy personally assured me that he’d be back for this year’s Bacon Tuesday in Oakland. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in averaging three hours of sleep per night, as bed just didn’t have the same appeal as another dance party, another debate or another deliberation with my newest, closest friends.
I’m writing this recap from a pub in San Luis Obispo. That is because the hostel I’m currently camped at is co-habited by a crazy roommate and I’m too chicken to crash in my car. And the reason I’m five and a half hours from home in the first place? Well, after my week in Phoenix, I just wasn’t ready to return to normal life. For whatever strange, screwball reason, I justified it to myself that if I didn’t go home, the exhilaration of the Fan Cave finals wouldn’t have to end. But you all know I’m a little off.
Or maybe I’m a little bit on to something. I believe in momentum, in baseball and in life. To the #FanCave30: Whatever decision is made, know that the incredible work you’ve done and the great impressions you’ve made means that life as it was, or life as it’s supposed to be, doesn’t have to be anymore.
Whether we're on the fast track to the bigs - or still toiling in the bus leagues come The Call from the powers that be at Major League Baseball - we’re headed places. Together.
Whether we're on the fast track to the bigs - or still toiling in the bus leagues come The Call from the powers that be at Major League Baseball - we’re headed places. Together.