Kid in Candy Store

That’s what it felt like to me last night at the Fergie & Friends Charity All-Star game at Hohokam; getting a chance to talk with and later announce the introductions for an array of Baseball Hall of Fame members and former MLB stars.

The weather was perfect for the evenings festivities, besides meeting the ballplayers I ran into many friends including a group from the Central Illinois Cubs Booster Club, my favorite vendor – Mark the Beer Guy, and all my Hohokam pals (who all donated their time and effort to last nights event). I also met and talked with Author and Photojournalist Tammy Lechner who had a table selling her book “Our Team – Our Dream: A Cubs Fan’s Journey Into Baseball’s Greatest Romance”, the book has over 300 one of a kind photos and narrates the Cubs fan’s journey over a 15 year span. I have only scanned it briefly so far but the photos are fantastic, I’ll give you a review once I finish the book.

The game itself was as you would expect very loose and fun, as expected Fergie & Friends beat the AZ All-Stars 10-6 in the 7 inning affair. Jon Warden who pitched briefly for the Detroit Tigers in 1968 before a shoulder injury cut his career short helped add some humor as he had a microphone down on the field. Warden might have had a short MLB career but he may want to try stand-up comedy, some of his jokes were a bit off-color, which of course I enjoyed.

Great to see the former Cubs especially those who played on the 1984 team; my first spring working at old Hohokam. Next year though I don’t want to do the announcing, I want to play…even if it is against Fergie and his talented Friends. Guess I could play and do the PA announcing at the same time however I wouldn’t want it to take away my concentration, even if the game doesn’t “count”. The Fergie Jenkins Foundation gave away a lot of checks to deserving causes last night and that was why we were there in the first place, a win win night at Hohokam. I also got to have my photo taken with Fergie and Billy Williams…like I said, kid in a candy store!

By the way the Cactus League set a new attendance record this spring with 1.31 million fans with the Cubs leading the way. Tomorrow I will post the favorite photos I took of the Cubs this spring, can’t wait for opening day. Go Cubs!

Hall of Fame members Fergie Jenkins, Billy Williams, and the P.A. Guy.
Photo taken by the magnificent Tessa Lee!