A Baseball Writer With Heart

As I have bragged before (here, here and here or when he got me a Frank Thomas ball) my little brother is a beat reporter for MLB.com as the Blue Jays reporter. While I enjoy baseball, I’m nowhere near the avid fan my little brother is – which is why I marvel at his writing. As I blogged about once before, I am impressed at how his writing transcends mere baseball reporting. I’m not a Blue Jays fan (technically he isn’t either), but I follow his blog as I because I enjoy his writing and I don’t want to miss when one of these “beyond baseball” masterpieces comes through.Well, he did it again! He has written another “baseball article” that demonstrates that his ability to articulate LIFE and not just baseball, and is what makes him such a masterful sports writer. Before you read his article about how Blue Jays top prospect Travis Snider has dealt with several deaths recently, including his mother, it might interest you first to realize a few things not mentioned in the article about Jordan’s personal connection to this story. First of all,  Snider’s mom Jordan’s and my mother both have the same name, though…

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Cubs? Sox? Free Tickets Buy My Fandom!

OK, I am officially still a Sox fan, but who can turn down free tickets to a Cubs game, especially the FIRST PLACE Cubs, and on Build-a-Bear Day! I got to be a good uncle and take my niece when travel plans and other conflicts prevented her family from getting to all go as originally planned when they got the tickets way in advance. Poor me. Headin’ to Wrigley in Style! My wife saw my “Do the Dew” hat as I left and said, “You don’t have a Cubs hat?” (um, I’m a Sox fan!) But I answered, “I will when I get back!” We went to pick up some friends (see below) and were on our way to root on the Cubs! I should mention that my niece is the only Cubs fan in her family, the rest are Sox fans, but she is loyal to her other uncle, (my brother), who is a serious Cubs fan. My first pleasant surprise was that that there is FREE PARKING at a Cubs Game! Granted, we were there early to get a Prebuilt-a-Bear for the girls, but we parked right on the street just a few blocks away from the park,…

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Major League Bastian in Town

You may remember when I bragged that my little brother went to the Major Leagues! As an MLB.com beat reporter that is. Well, he was in town this week for the Blue Jays vs. the White Sox series. But the first thing he did when he arrived was the Presentation: The Presentation of the Frank Thomas Ball In April I went to visit my brother in Dietroit and got to meet Frank Thomas. The highlight wasn’t meeting this famous ball hitter, it was hearing my little brother (who I taught baseball to) say, “Hey, Frank, I’d like you to meet my brother.” Of course, I wanted an auto-graph, but since we were in the clubhouse, and I was there with a temporary press pass, that is prohibited. So I had to settle for a hand shake. Even my brother, because he is press for Major Leage Baseball is not allowed to ask for autographes. So how did I get this? My autographed Frank Thomas Ball! Well, I also got to meet with John Gibbons, the Blue Jays manager, and after I left, he went and asked Frank for an autographed ball, and gave it to my brother and instructed him…

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My Adventure with Flat Stanley

It’s been a fun two days, I got to hang out with my MLB beat reporter bro, have full access to roam behind the scenes and on the field at a major league ball park, hang with Frank Thomas in person, but BAH… the highlight, was spending a day with Flat Stanley! What?!? You’ve never heard of Flat Stanley? Well, I’ll get back to him… Major League Grass! These are my feet on the grass at Comerica Park, home of the almost-world-series-champs Detroit Tigers, the day after their opening day against the Blue Jays, who my little brother covers for MLB.com. (look for his name right on bluejays.com) I drove to Detroit to hang with my bro for a few days and watch him “in action.” Karl and Jordan in the Dug Out My one day media pass gave me access to the whole park. I entered the stadium via the “tunnel” on the visitor side after passing through the clubhouse. Sorry, but no pictures were allowed in the clubhouse. This was a day off, between opening day and a game today, so the park was empty but there were players there to practice, work out, etc. Among several Blue…

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Big Bro reflects on Another Big Brother

As I’ve posted before, my brother is a writer for MLB.com , and specifically as the beat writer for the BlueJays. (see me endangering my life to show my support this past season) But with all the senior writers being busy with the World Series, my little brother Jordan, got to cover a major article, about the death of Joe Neikro. I wanted to post the link to the article on my blog because I wanted to show off how great a writer my brother is. I enjoy do enjoy baseball. If you drop by my house in the afternoon, you may find me tossing a ball at the pitchback in my backyard, a recent new habit when I just need time to think. I’d like to claim credit for teaching Jordan everything he knows about baseball since I AM his big brother, but he and I both know better. But I’m not a huge fan or follower of baseball, though I do really enjoy championship games, and especially when they are Chicago teams! But I am always amazed how my brother can take a subject that usually isn’t of great interest to me, especially the death of a player…

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