NSBB at the 2005 Convention

[Mark_R]

I arrived at the Hilton at around 3:30, and like Burnt, was lost amidst the maze. I walked around to get a feel for the place and still felt confused. Gave Jon a buzz and he set my towards the registration area in which I got all the necessary pieces of info, but I lost my autograph scratch thing. :evil:

 

I then went into the Cubs Locker Room shop in which when I got in there, they were bidding on a game used Sammy Sosa jersey, and it was at 800. Feeling the prices were too steep, I left in a hurry and went to the basement in the SW wing into the area where they have all the reasonably priced items for regular joes like I. Didn't buy anything, did a lot of the feel out process on what I *want* to buy. I've set up a time tomorrow right after the session with Hendry and Baker where I'll buy a few things. I then realized that opening ceremonies were a mere hour away and then went up to the Grand Ballroom. I phoned Jon and proceeded to go to the tiny claustrophobia area in which he inhabitted as almost the entire room was filled up. Spent a good time talking to Jon and he duly noted about the lack of punctuality on the Cubs part, which apparently is a regular thing.

 

Enjoyed the intros for the most part, only a few things disappointed me. The crowd seemed rather subdued for a lot of it, only getting really excited for (in regards to the past players) Jody Davis (why?), Andre Dawson, Billy Williams, and of course, Ron Santo. But even Santo's reaction disappointed me as I was anticipating some sort of HOF chant to break out, but alas it wasn't meant to be. Current player reactions were strong and I'm glad that people actually seemed to recognize Jason Dubois.

 

The videos, I was eagerly anticipating them, but felt like they dragged on *a lot*. Not to say that they weren't good, but there was a lot of repitition and some poor music choice (which is a minor quibble, but some of the songs didn't seem to fit the package they were highlighting). I love the Todd Walker Superman slide into home plate as much as anyone, but it doesn't have the same effect when I'm:

 

A: seeing it three times

B: it doesn't have the original commentary which incites a lot more desire and passion within me.

 

After a brief meeting with Jon's brother and NSBB's Garwilly, we then went down to the Grand Ballroom and met up with Serena. She had awesomely saved us a few seats and we all had a chance to chat baseball before the show began. Serena had her NSBB Ringer on which was a really nice touch and hopefully some at the convention saw the shirt and happen to come to the site because of it. Good work advertising Serena.

 

Sports Central was interesting with a ton of hilarious moments. Kerry clearly seemed to have animosity towards Sosa while being subtle about it. Dusty Baker talked in circles and ridiculous metaphors like usual. Ron Santo's flaming toupee story had the crowd in absolute stitches and Dempster and Walker were crazily charismatic. Major thumbs down to the parents who were bringing their kids to the front row (in front of the front row anyway) looking for autographs while other people are trying to pay attention to what is going on. Bother the players when you're bothering them, I don't want to have to hear security every five minutes telling kids to get away from the railings and such.

 

I'm not much of an autograph seeker so that will probably be a skip for tomorrow. NSBB'ers, I need some ideas on what sessions to go after 2:00. Any veterans of the convention that can help me are greatly appreciated as to which exhibits are worth the time.

 

Thanks y'alll.

[USSoccer]

Is Aramis scheduled to be there?

[Mark Priors Calves]

Thanks for the updates everybody. Stay safe on the roads for the rest of the weekend.

[sherwood921]

I just got home, I had a great time. I got a picture taken with Prior and then later I saw Hendry so I took one with him too while I was telling him how he's got my dream job and I appreciate the way he handles his business by trying to keep it hush-hush. I saw the first half hour or so of the Sandberg thing at 2:30. That was cool. Frye and Zimmer both seemed to get pretty choked up when talking about the guy. Brenly also seemed pretty at ease with the whole organization and was even crackin' a few jokes.

[Banedon]

Any NSBB'ers in here??? :D

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2005-01/15954863.jpg

[barrettismyidol]

My recap of the convention…

 

This was my first year attending, so it was slightly confusing, but I had a good time overall. My friend and I got to the Hilton around 4:30 (we couldn’t get out of school early and we missed the first train, delaying us more), and went to register. My friend won the Kerry Wood autograph lottery! We headed up to the opening ceremonies, but unfortunately it was already full and had been closed off. We were able to catch a glimpse of the players as they went into the ballroom though. After watching all the players go in, we headed to the ballroom with the radio show, and got second row seats! That was quite exciting, except that we were two hours early. We sat around for awhile and talked to the people next to us. About an hour into our wait, we left our jackets on the chairs and went down to the shopping area and got Cubs Convention t-shirts. We went back upstairs and hung around for awhile more until the radio show started. My friend got Jim Hendry’s autograph for me during the commercial break (she’s not a hardcore Cubs fan, so she said I could have it). My favorite show had to be the one with Walker and Dempster. Both were hilarious. At the commercial, Dempster jumped off the stage and signed autos for a bunch of kids (I was getting extremely annoyed that parents let their kids creep up to the stage the whole time). When my friend and I were standing outside the hotel waiting for our ride, Ryan Dempster tried to nonchalantly walk out the front door. My friend was looking down at something and I elbowed her and whispered that it was him. Unfortunately, the kid next to me must have been listening because once I said it, he turned to his friends and told them, and soon Ryan had a whole group running after him.

 

Saturday was not quite as fun as Sunday. My dad and I went this time, and got to the Hilton at about 9:45. We hurried down to Michael Barrett’s autograph line, but there were people already past the metal gates they set up, and the line was winding around the whole area. We stood in it for a few minutes and realized there was no way we were going to come close to him. We headed to the “Not for Women Only” session, and got seats in the second group of chairs. I couldn’t really see anything, but the session was pretty funny. We snuck out before it ended and went downstairs so I could get in the Kerry Wood line (my friend gave me a picture to get autographed for her, since she won it). The line for Kerry was supposed to start forming at noon, but when I got there at 11:30 there were already people. I got up to him at about 12:30 (only around 15 minutes after he started). Everyone in the line tried taking pictures with him, and he was very gracious and tried to turn toward the camera and smile. This was slowing down the line quite a bit, so the ushers stopped that. I got up to him, said hello and asked how he was doing, and he smiled said “Good, thanks. You?” He signed and then shook my hand, and I had a huge smile plastered on my face. While I was in line for the Wood signing, my dad got in line for Michael Barrett, take two. Take two turned out worse then take one. We stood in line about 3 hours (2 for me by the time I got back from the Kerry Wood line), and came within 4 people of getting his autograph. He was 15 minutes late and the line moved extremely slow. I’m not sure if we was talking to people or what, but whatever he was doing took a long time. We got to the front and the usher told us he was only taking 10 more people, and counted off. We happened to be just a few people too far. It was extremely disappointing. I think they need to make some sort of system where they count off right away, rather then making people stand for 3 hours and then telling them at the last minute that the person is finished. After that, we stopped to buy a shirt for my sister. As we walked to the line, Michael walked up a ramp right next to the line, and was mobbed. He signed a few autographs, moved farther up the ramp and signed a few more. He joked that no one had even known who he was last year. He thanked everyone but told us that he had to go, and said sorry he couldn’t stay. Michael seemed very nice, but the Cubs need to find a better way to do autographs, because they end up with a bunch of angry fans. We left after that, in a futile attempt to beat the snow. Overall, I had a pretty good time, besides the disappointment of the auto lines.

 

Whew, that was long.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

I will write mine up after I get back from dinner. I did write a rant about sosa at the convention if you want to read that...

[Chris]

Thank you to everyone for your reports!

[barrettismyidol]

Pictures!

 

It was pretty hard to get good pictures. My camera doesn't zoom too well, and when it does, the pictures are grainy. There are some nice shots of people's hair though... :lol:

[Jon]

I'm going to post my reports of today in pieces.

 

Downers: I walked into the building exactly at 9:00, over 90 minutes later than I planned on getting there. But because of the weather, the ballroom was still open for the Dusty and Hendry session. Z couldn't make it. And even worse, Serena was sick the whole day. Hopefully she'll be able to go tomorrow.

 

Misc stuff: Ernie Banks was walking buy right after I bought a few 8 x 10 photos. I should his hand and because I was still holding the photos, he kind of grabbed my wrist to see who the pic was of. I immediately said "A-Ram" without thinking but then said "Ramirez" a second later. He replied by saying "Ah. What a beautiful swing that man has." I just replied with "yup!" It was nice to shake his hand. I also got another autograph from Hendry and complimented him some more. He seems like a really nice guy. MacPhail also seems like a good guy, but I'll post about that session...now. I'm going to post the sessions I took notes at (Meet the Management, Coaches' Corner, and the MacPhail session) in reverse order.

 

My notes:

 

-The Cubs' projected payroll is $104 (not necessarily at the beginning of the season if Hendry doesn't want to spend the money right now).

-Would rather call this session Baseball "Progress"

-There's a new 10 year extension with the minor leagues. It's a great way to market the game, especially going into the 21st century.

-There is a brand new umpires' agreement for 5 or 6 years. They wanted to avoid the previous situation when umps threatened to leave.

-Last week, they signed a new agreement with the MLBPA which will really push forward new technology on the internet. He called it "one stop shopping."

-Praised the deal with XM Radio

-Increased attendance not just for first year of new stadiums. Attendance for 22/30 clubs went up. Praised the parity of having half of the teams still in the playoff race late.

-On the new steroids agreement: much better agreement than before. Players can be tested up to 5 times in a season, not including the offseason. New tests including testing for precursors (stuff from GNC while still legal). Penalties stiffer. It's a joing agreement which is great. Unfortunately, they don't test for emphetamines. It's not perfect. The last agreement had a positive impact. In terms of testing, it's as good as a policy as in any sport.

-The Cubs really did make progress last season. The last 10 games came down to bad hitting and two blown leads. Increased win total. First back-to-back winning seasons in 32 years. Most combined wins in consecutive seasons in 58 years.

-Praised the minors. 4 of 6 teams made the playoffs, two won championships. A lot of individual titles. 16 players in big leagues from farm system in past few seasons, 4th highest total in big leagues. Oakland and Toronto two teams in front.

-Excited about having a lot of young players in the big leagues.

-The steroid agreement was a joint agreement and will not expire when the CBA does.

-If hockey goes to revenue sharing/salary cap, more pressure will be placed on MLB teams to do the same.

-Revenue from luxury tax split in the following ways: 25% goes to the Baseball Tomorrow fund (helps build parks, etc)., 25% goes to promoting baseball in countries that do not have organized high school baseball, 50% goes to the players' benefits program (which takes pressure off the teams to fund the program).

-Has financial summaries for every MLB team in a binder. Projects AZ to actually lower their payroll by $14 million this year.

-The market was not as good as it was last year. Better off spending money last year instead of this year. High contracts will fluxuate (up and down years). Half of the high contracts came out of NY this offseason.

-Thought about having 8 divisions of 4 teams to help out situations like the AL East (Baltimore, Toronto, and TB). In order to help out those teams, MLB would have to have a salary cap/revenue sharing plan. Doesn't know if they're ever going to get to that. There has been some talk about expanding the playoffs but he doesn't like the idea (nor did most people in the room).

-They've tried telling players to spend more time signing autographs in the park but that usually only lasts a week or so. They have to keep reminding the players because they know that the #1 thing fans want is access to the players.

-Doesn't think Washington will become a major market team. The novelty will wear off. Other franchises will probably move down the road. Studies have already been done.

-Mark Peel's question regarding why they have a special waivers process after September 1st: They went from 3 to 4 waiver periods because waivers were being asked for too far in advance and players didn't know how long things would take. The players want the best opportunity to stay in the majors and having 4 process helps, even though they're all basically the same (that question took MacPhail by surprise).

-They want to be aggressive with the renovations, especially with the proposed new building. They have to provide new amenities without taking away the charm. The Trib did a great job putting in a ton of money into Wrigley when the bought the team. They have to keep the charm but stay abreast with other venues. They wouldn't be planning the new building next to Wrigley if they didn't think Wrigley was going to last another 50 years.

-In terms of steroids, players can turn to the management or to the MLBPA if they want help getting off the stuff. The program is called the Employee Assistance Program.

-Not opposed to cross-promoting with other local teams but it hasn't really come up.

-Was initially concerned about Wrigley closing when the first brick fell. The Cubs didn't interpret it correctly (as in it being a major stuctural issue) until the 2nd brick fell. Feels good about the netting. Less concerned the 2nd time the brick fell because of the LA Times reporter who talked to the building commissioner and reported false information to him. Nobody in the organization will knowingly expose fans to danger. You can never guarantee anything so they want to put up seemless netting, including to prevent false reports about falling bricks like the one that happened last season.

-In terms of top 5 minor leaguers with the highest ceiling, said he's not 100% sure that Guzman will be ready. Not in the top 5 and they can't count on him. He was ready, though, in 2003 and that's a shame. Dope will be 21 next year and has the opportunity to be a very good middle of the lineup type guy. Was very high on him. Was also very high on Pie. He watched in in a 4 game series and said the guy can do it all. Harvery and Pinto are two more in his top 5. Andy's sleeper pick is Sergio Mitre. He should have been at AAA last year and has developed a "plus, plus sinker." Hopefully he'll continue to develop.

-With the new revenue, their projected payroll is $104 million. They want to improve the team 12 months out of the year, though, so it may not all be spent now.

-The reason for the Jimmy Buffett concert is that they keep 100% of the profit and don't have to share. The neighborhood is helped out a lot, as well, since the schools will be getting a good deal of money from it.

-Hates long term deals. The holdup with Sosa a few years ago was that they didn't want to go more than 4 years (Katz originally pitched 7 years). Agents are working the system right now pretty well and are leaking information to the press. Thinks Beltran actually wanted to go to the Yankees to blend in and not the Mets. Wants to keep committments as short as possible. Pat Hughes chimed in: You have to look at how old a player is going to be at the end of a deal. Mentioned Damien Miller as an example.

-As suspected, Wrigley Field expansion does NOT come out of the payroll.

-The Glauss signing, as well as Beltre, definitely has affected their negotiations with Ramirez.

-With Comcast, they got the broadcasting rights back.

-Yankees' projected payroll is $208 million (that's over $8 a player).

-Boston's projected payroll is $127 million.

-Stopped selling tickets at the convention a few years ago to prevent scalpers from getting the order forms.

-The added night games will go towards some summer days but some will be used for April/September. Hates the excuse of it being too hot out during the summer. Players want a routine more than anything else. They don't like the different start times.

-Loves Moises Alou but it's better to let a guy go two years early than two years too late.

-Clement did a great job.

-Thinks the team is a lot like the Cardinals a year ago in terms of the offseason. $$$ is going to extending deals and arbitration.

-The Trib is not against eating money from Sosa's contract. They let Hendry do what he wants and pride is not a factor. They want what is best for the team.

-Like hitters and pitchers, good GMs bat around .800. Bad GMs bat around .600. They don't worry about what people think of them.

-Moneyball question- Pat Hughes: Beane had three horses on his pitching staff that made some of his other signings seem smarter than they really were. Andy: Billy Beane was the first player that he ever traded for. You can't be afraid to look at every available tool (i.e. stats) out there. Gives him credit for positively chaning the game. Stats are very relevant in the minor, especially at the higher levels but you can't organize drafts around stats from college/high school/independent ball. A lot of what was written about in Moneyball is used by the Cubs.

-There can't be any contraction until the CBA expires. Some cities are really struggling. Contraction does make a lot of sense from an objective standpoint but there would be a big fight with the players and the players' union. Less is more when it comes to the number of teams.

-The White Sox Spring Training games on Comcast aren't going to bring in much money. They're just a filler for hockey.

 

 

Okay, that took a while. I need to eat, shower, and relax for a while before I start my next writeup. They aren't going to be this long, fortunately.

[Chris]

Jon, I hope you found the Believe bracelets, the word is that they sold out and are going for over $10 each on ebay!

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Great write-up Jon. Very informative. I look forward to the rest of it.

[barrettismyidol]

Jon, I hope you found the Believe bracelets, the word is that they sold out and are going for over $10 each on ebay!

 

Sold out? When I left earlier, they still had boxes of them... but I left a few hours ago, so maybe they are.

[Chris]

Jon, I hope you found the Believe bracelets, the word is that they sold out and are going for over $10 each on ebay!

 

Sold out? When I left earlier, they still had boxes of them... but I left a few hours ago, so maybe they are.

 

The people saying that are also trying to sell them, so it could be a "rumor". In any case, I just found a guy with over 300 of them getting $6 each. Major, major profit.

[Jon]

Jon, I hope you found the Believe bracelets, the word is that they sold out and are going for over $10 each on ebay!

 

Sold out? When I left earlier, they still had boxes of them... but I left a few hours ago, so maybe they are.

 

The people saying that are also trying to sell them, so it could be a "rumor". In any case, I just found a guy with over 300 of them getting $6 each. Major, major profit.

They definitely didn't sell out. They were actually selling them at the individual sessions. They were selling really, really well, but they still had plenty.

 

A few more notes for now about my day: I spent most of it with Mark_R and a good deal with Mark Peel and his friend. I saw Mark Kanges and Ernie and was going to follow them to the Behind the Mic session (that had already started), but I really needed to get something to eat. All I've eaten in the past 30 hours is two slices of pizza (I'm going to dinner soon). And by that time, I didn't bother going to the session. And it actually looks like I have a massic cut on my right shoulder from carrying around my heavy backpack the entire time. There was no bleeding, but strangely enough, it looks like it's bleeding right now. Freaky. I also kinda overslept a bit and it took be really long to get down there this morning because of the weather. I was planning on getting there at 7:30 (it's between a 75-90 minute el ride), but actually walked right into the hotel at 9. Because of the weather, I was still able to get in the doors. Even better, I have a new Paul Sullivan story. I had a spot along the wall before I went up to get in line to ask Dusty a question. When I got back, who steals my spot? That's right. Paul Sullivan. It wasn't that bad, though. There was a nother spot about 10 feet away. Of course, he barely took notes during the session. He was reading a newspaper during parts of it.

 

Hopefully Mark Peel will only have to expand on a few points. I wanted to take the pressure off of him, especially since he had to get up before 5:00 this morning.

Edited January 23, 2005 by Jon

[Chris]

Any word on whether or not Kanges went off at the question session?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Any word on whether or not Kanges went off at the question session?

 

I'm sure he'll post his full report tomorrow.

[J.R.]

I just found a guy with over 300 of them getting $6 each. Major, major profit.

 

Smart guy.

 

They want to be aggressive with the renovations, especially with the proposed new building. They have to provide new amenities without taking away the charm. The Trib did a great job putting in a ton of money into Wrigley when the bought the team. They have to keep the charm but stay abreast with other venues. They wouldn't be planning the new building next to Wrigley if they didn't think Wrigley was going to last another 50 years.

 

Best news I've heard all day. Thanks for the recap.

[Jon]

I made a couple of edits to my prevoius post (including a new Paul Sullivan story). I was also disappointed that I wasn't able to talk to Pat Hughes. He was at the MacPhail session and only 10 feet away from me the entire time, but when the session was over, he had to dart out of the room to get to the Behind the Mic session. Darn! Oh well. Maybe another year.

[Chris]

Any word on whether or not Kanges went off at the question session?

 

I'm sure he'll post his full report tomorrow.

 

After everything that went on, I wasn't sure if he would even post it here. I've been keeping up with the "other board" to see if he's posted anything but I am yet to see it.

[imb]

Pictures!

 

It was pretty hard to get good pictures. My camera doesn't zoom too well, and when it does, the pictures are grainy. There are some nice shots of people's hair though... :lol:

 

What the...there are real girls on the internet? Crazy.

[barrettismyidol]

Pictures!

 

It was pretty hard to get good pictures. My camera doesn't zoom too well, and when it does, the pictures are grainy. There are some nice shots of people's hair though... :lol:

 

What the...there are real girls on the internet? Crazy.

 

Well, actually, I'm a 50 year old man. Those are just some random pictures I found on someone else's album. :lol:

[Chris]

Pictures!

 

It was pretty hard to get good pictures. My camera doesn't zoom too well, and when it does, the pictures are grainy. There are some nice shots of people's hair though... :lol:

 

What the...there are real girls on the internet? Crazy.

 

Well, actually, I'm a 50 year old man. Those are just some random pictures I found on someone else's album. :lol:

 

The guys in Social will be crushed

[Jon]

Coachs' Corner:

 

Dusty: Sarge's favorite saying is "Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in"

 

Dusty: Whether or not to leave a pitcher in is the toughest decision to make. Pitchers' strengths vary a lot and you really have to monitor the number of "stressful innings." It also depends on how tired the BP is and what the upcoming schedule is like.

Larry: You can't risk a season for just one game

Dusty: The AL is a lot easier because you don't have to worry about double switches and the like.

 

Dusty (in response to Mark Peel's question): Sosa's strike zone has changed, yeah, but that's to be expected when you get older. Your body changes.

Sarge: Being hurt changed his stance. His toes were bothering him for a long time.

 

Sarge: On working with a hitter, he looks at hitters and works with their strengths. He doesn't like oddities but leaves them alone if they work. Corey needs to swing through the ball more instead of just having an uppercut swing.

 

Dusty: In terms of lineups, he was always in a preset lineup when he was playing. Some players used to play in platoons before and just haven't seen enough LH pitching. He'd love to have the same lineup everyday but has to put people in the best position for them to succeed.

 

Dusty: Definitely noticed a lack of fundamental baseball. Some players have never bunted before and it takes a while to teach it in the majors. They have a lot of swing and miss guys so it makes hit and runs hard.

 

Speier: He's going to be a "very, very aggressive base coach." Everything depends on the situation. There are times when he'll hold a runner if there are two outs, of course. He boasted about his great sense of hearing and said that he has to hear from the crowd if it's "go or no go." That drew a big laugh from the audience.

 

Dusty: Can't stand baserunning mistakes. Players used to be embarrassed about those. You can't really practice baserunning in game situations because you can't replicate the intensity. At 30 or 35, you have to know how to run bases. They have a great baserunning instructor in the minors in Vince Coleman. At 35, it's too late to teach baserunning. If the ball is in front of you, it's all on the player. They need self-pride.

 

Larry: The pitchers are good hitters. They're more interested in their bunting ability, though, since that's probably more important in terms of strategy.

 

Dusty: He has gotten in trouble for using starters to long (from the media and fans, I assume).

Larry: There is a fine line between building up stamina vs. risking injury. You want to get a pitcher out on a high note. Stamina should really be built up in the minors. Pitchers know they aren't expected to last long. Quality starts is NOT a good stat. Wins are most important, whether it's 1-0 or 6-5 ( :scratch: ). You'd like to leave them in there.

 

Sonny Jackson (my question): When they acquired A-Ram in the middle of the season, they didn't want to change his defense mechanics. Instead, they waited until Spring Training. They filmed him and other thirdbaseman around the majors, especially Eric Chavez because he's a smaller guy and has to depend more on his footwork. It's all about footwork. They wanted to get A-Ram's feet going. They gave the videos to A-Ram and he watched them by himself. They left it up to him. He went to work and worked a lot. You have to really give him credit and all they want him to do is keep it up.

 

Dusty: He does get nervous when opposing sluggers come up to the plate and will often turn to Dick Pole and tell him not to have one of his "epiphanies."

 

Gene Clines: In regards to a hitting philosophy, he takes what the hitter currently has and improves on it. The approach is different with different hitters.

 

Dusty: Corey is the best candidate for the leadoff spot. He's still learning how to play baseball. He's been talking with Brett Butler during the offseason. Corey never hit leadoff in the minors but they have guys on the coaching staff who did and will try to work with him. He has shown flashes of being able to succeed in the leadoff spot. He has improved thanks to Sonny Jackson and other coaches.

 

Sonny: Corey always batted 3rd in the minors. They have to start from scratch. Everything is based off of his footwork at the plate. They work every day together when the team is at home. Wants him to bunt more because of the pressure it puts on the defense. He's trying to convince Corey to bunt more.

 

Dusty: The music selection in the clubhouse has been 100% more democratic since he got here.

 

That's all. I left about five minutes early to get to the MacPhail session.

 

Oh, and Juan Lopez's nickname is "Porky."

[burnt out cubbie fan]

Well, I think Jon is going to cover pretty much everything I had to say since, probably more accurately too since he was sitting there with a notebook the whole time.

 

A few notes though. First, Jon you were right about the whole not for women only section. There were a couple of humorous questions but for the most part it was stupid stuff like what is your bedroom like and do you shave your back or chest. One of the funny questions was when they asked if you could have any body part from a teammate, who it would be and which part. So Dempster says that he would just take Kyle Farnsworth's body. To which they ask if he would want his arm. Dempster responds that he is fine with his, thank you very much. :lol:

 

I also caught the tail end of the pitchers and catchers event. I thought it was pretty funny when a kid asked Barrett what he says to Zambrano when he goes to the mound since most of the time Carlos is pretty crazy out there. Barrett responds that most of they time he doesn't even know what he is going to say. That Carlos is usually pretty animated when he is on the mound but that he really grew up during the year. At the beginning of the year he would just go out there yelling at him. He would talk to him in Spanish since he knows some. Apparently, one time he actually just went out to the mound cursing at Zambrano in Spanish. After a while he realized that Carlos is alot bigger than he is so he stopped doing that. Barrett said that by the end of the year he really didn't have to yell at him anymore.

 

Also, Carlos did show up by the end of the day at least because he was at the kids only press conference.

Edited January 23, 2005 by burnt out cubbie fan