Once in a while it's nice to socialize with your colleagues outside the workplace, so tonight Official Opposition staff members are enjoying a gorgeous evening of baseball, with patio seating right behind home plate. Thanks to Rick Miller for organizing a great outing! We even saw Jose Canseco take his batting practice!
Currently Scorpions lead 3-2.
Earl may remember that Jose Canseco was the inspiration for "The Sportsman" character, no-one else will.
ReplyDeleteThere's no justification for AAA ball to pull out of so many Canadian cities over the years, just like there is so much more to Canadian baseball than the Blue Jays. Edmonton has a very nice minor-league ballpark, as do many Canadian cities, such as Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and so on.
My memory of Ducey was of nearly getting rear-ended by Fernando Valenzuela, who pitched for a brief time for the Trappers. El Toro had the most incredible delivery I have ever seen. Yes, he had that strange look-up-in-the-sky action, but he was just so incredibly fluid and athletic in his movements. It was like watching ballet on the mound. He made pitching look utterly effortless. Of course, all of his pitches hung directly on the meat of the plate. The game I remember he must have given up 5+ homers, let alone all the other base hits he was responsible for. So it was beautiful and ugly all at the same time.
And he was a terrible automobile driver, at least in Edmonton. I lived about a block and a half away from Ducey, which I would consider easily within the core of Valenzuela's car danger hit zone, any time he brought a vehicle to the ballpark.