My Day in the Big Leagues

 9/11/2009
A's 12 @ Twins 5

I'm not going to review the Metrodome as I have been the other stadiums. It simply isn't worth it. The stadium is nothing special, it's a dome, rats and mice share space with Joe Mauer's bats, and it won't be hosting Twins baseball anymore after only 9 more home games. Oh, and there's a swastika in the roof. It's a unique baseball experience to be sure, but it is done as a baseball stadium, as the Twins get ready to move to beautiful (and I mean BEAUTIFUL) Target Field in 2010.

What I will do, however, is tell you all about my day in the Big Leagues.

Perry Castellano has been one of my dad's best friends for many, many years. He was the best man at his and my mom's wedding (not exactly a good luck charm on that one), and has known me since the day I was born. After injuries cut short his career as a firefighter, he followed a new path in life, becoming a 40 year old intern on the strength training staff of the Texas Rangers system. After bouncing around the minor leagues and switching organizations, Perry was eventually promoted to the position of Major League Strength and Conditioning Coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. And he's loving every minute of it.

So when I wrote to him about my travels, he was more than thrilled to meet me in Minneapolis and get me a ticket to the game, and little did I know, much much more.

We "left for work," as he does most days, at about noon. We arrived at the Dome at about 12:45 and wandered through the bowels of the stadium until we reached the Twins clubhouse. This is domain that only a select few people ever see. Usually in order to enter a Major League Clubhouse, you either have to have had a .300 average in AAA or at least a media credential, but here I was, watching Perry say "how we doing today?" and joking with guys like All-Star catcher Joe Mauer and manager Ron Gardenhire.

Perry changed and then introduced me to the early birds that were there. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, the coaches, and "Gardy" just to name a few. I tried to hide my awe as I made the rounds. I doubt it worked well.

Then I shadowed Perry as he went through his gameday rituals. I watched as Perry mixed a sports drink for the players, and then followed him as he set up the weight room for the afternoon work outs. Mind you, this was all starting at about 1:00 in the afternoon, for a game that would start at 7:00 that night.

As the strength and conditioning coordinator, Perry's main job function is to make sure that the players (who are, at the same time, million dollar investments) are ready to play every day. This is no small feat, when you consider the 6 month, 162 game schedule. As the season winds down into September, and the Twins continue to try and catch the Detroit Tigers for the Central Division crown, this job becomes that much more crucial.

This job carries a lot of pressure, and is under a large magnifying glass, but Perry doesn't appear fazed. He is very humble, and knows how much hard work (and luck) it has taken him to get to this point in life. And he realizes that tomorrow could bring three pulled hamstrings and that his job could be in jeopardy. So he soaks it all in, and loves every minute of it.

The job has its drawbacks, as he is away from his wife and kids for 6 months at a time. But he luckily has a very supportive wife and great kids, and just has to look at his name on a Major League locker every day to make it worth it.

As we waited for the players to get ready for the weight room and pitchers to get ready for their bullpen work, we went out and walked around the field of an empty Metrodome. It is always really neat to me to see a stadium when it is completely empty. I walked around, stood on the mound, felt the astroturf, kicked the dirt, and basically did everything a fan would do if they had access to an empty major league diamond.

Then we headed back under the stadium to the weight room/batting cage, where Perry helped the guys do strength and endurance drills, and I watched Joe Mauer try to perfect that beautiful, beautiful swing of his. I watched pitcher Kevin Slowey do a limited work out, due to his injured wrist. Kevin and I chatted, as he wanted to hear about stadiums he hasn't pitched in yet, and he told me how he wished he could do something like my trip. To hear a major league baseball player say he was jealous of me is something that validates this whole trip.

The weight room and cage is the only one in the Metrodome, so the visiting A's eventually came in to use it as well. I just stood and gawked like a little kid when I realized that I was in a room with Joe Mauer, Denard Span, Kurt Suzuki, and Rajai Davis.

We then went out to the bullpen to watch the starting pitchers do their between-start workouts. A starting pitcher pitches about once every 5 days, but doesn't just work once every 5 days. Every day those guys are working out, throwing in the pen, or doing something that looks equally excruciating to mere mortals. A lot of fans have BIG misconceptions about the life of a starting pitcher, and yes, there is sound reasoning behind keeping track of pitch counts. To borrow a phrase from that crappy MTV show, you think you know, but you have no idea.

We went back to the clubhouse as it got closer to time for batting practice. More and more players and media had shown up, and the relatively small Metrodome clubhouse felt pretty crowded pretty fast. So I headed to the dugout and watched batting practice and took pictures and enjoyed all the Dubble Bubble I could eat. As fans began to show up, they stood above the dugout looking for autographs. A couple of times, someone accidentally dropped a ball, or a card. When I would go to pick it up and hand it back to them, there was this look of severe disappointment in their face when I would emerge from the dugout and they realized I was nobody. Talk about humbling.

After taking his swings, Justin Morneau came and sat next to me on the bench. He too told me how cool my trip was, and was nice enough to take a picture with me. After batting practice was done, I went and took my seat behind home plate, and watched as the evolution from empty stadium to game time was complete.

I wasn't much of a good luck charm, as the Twins lost the game, and badly.

It was hard to watch them lose, especially after getting to know them throughout the day. After seeing the game through that lens, I had a whole new appreciation for the life of a Major League Baseball player. As a fan, it is sometimes hard to remember that they are just people, and employees in the business. Yes they play a game for a living, but they work pretty damn hard to be so good at that game. It is a pretty tough life and there is a ton of sacrifice involved for people who are not much older than I am. They put in 10 hour days, almost every day, for at least 6 months, and they wouldn't trade it for anything in the World. They hear your cheers, but they also hear your boos and taunts. They're people, and for the most part, really nice people.

So thank you, Perry, and to the Twins, for letting me spend a day in the Big Leagues. It's an experience that I will surely never forget, and I really, truly appreciate it.

You can see all my photos from the Metrodome here.