Don’t Tread On Me
I don’t know how many of you know any war veterans, but I’m guessing someone in your life has taken part in a war at some point or another. If you don’t know anyone, I recommend tracking down a vet, taking a few hours and just pick their brain. The older vets are like walking history books and they all have stories that will rattle your brain.
As for myself, I count myself lucky to know quite a few veterans from wars spanning across the 20th and 21st century (WWII, Vietnam, Korean, Desert Storm, and whatever you want to call the current war). I grew up listening to one of my dad’s best friends, Tom, tell his stories from Vietnam. Every time we would go over and visit he would tell my brother and me about a different time he was under attack, or where he drove his tank, or how he received different medals. He would show us his old uniforms and photographs from a time and place that many veterans would rather not talk about. Listening to Tom (and my grandfathers and friends I graduated with), I gained a greater respect for those men and women that defend our country.
This month’s Indians in the Community event was very special to me because I had the opportunity to go to the USO care packaging facility in North Canton along with my fellow co-workers and help take care of the soldiers currently in active duty. We had a few different jobs when we were there including: rearranging the assembly line to make for easier packaging, counting and sorting DVD’s that will be put into care packages, bagging over 2,000 bags of hand sanitizer and soaps as well as boxing up over 100 care packages that will be sent out to soldiers serving overseas who are from the Northern Ohio area.
I can usually talk my way through anything but, while my blog writing skills are just amazing beyond belief, I’ve decided its time to introduce a new way for the Cleveland Indians to talk about their off the field accomplishments. Below is a link to a quick video of our time at the USO facility, including a few interviews with volunteers and the USO project manager, Jeannie Soley. With film being a visual medium, I hope these videos we produce help shed a little more light on what the Indians do to positively impact the Cleveland community as well as create a stronger connection to our fans.
Thanks to Dan Mendlik for putting the video together! Indians in the Community–USO
Vinnie Pestano praises player (alliterations are fun)!
There are usually some pretty good stories that come out of Fantasy Camp week. Sometimes they are stories shared by the former players about their old teammates and the crazy stuff they would do. Sometimes they are stories told by veteran campers about past camps they’ve attended both here in Goodyear and even those camps that took place in Winter Haven. I’ve had the opportunity to witness these stories as they are happening–before they become actual stories–and I’ve probably helped spread them around, turning them more into fish tales instead of factual events.
This year hasn’t been any different. In fact, one particular story stands out to me this week. It all began when one of the campers, Dennis Barriball, tried to catch a pop fly during a game on the second day of the tournament. In what appears to be a random freak accident, as Dennis was catching the ball his achilles decided it didn’t want to stay intact anymore. Dennis fell like a shanty in a snowstorm and, after being checked out by our trainers, was diagnosed with a blown out achilles.
For most people, this would be the end of Fantasy Camp. The inability to walk makes it tough to play any baseball 
games. Dennis thought differently and decided the next day that he could at least bat for his team (in Fantasy Camp they allow pinch runners to start at homeplate and run to first as soon as the ball is hit).
Rumors of his stupidity heroics made it to the major league side of the complex where Cleveland Indians pitcher Vinnie Pestano tweeted about it. Here at the Indians, we like to Connect our fans to the players so we asked Vinnie if he cared to meet Dennis. Without hesitation, Vinnie said he would love to and the rest is history.
Many other great stories happened this week, but this was the one that sticks out the most. An average guy comes to Arizona to live out his fantasy of playing baseball just like the pros. He gets to be managed and taught by former players that he grew up idolizing. He gets to use the same facilities that the current Tribe players use and if this isn’t enough, he not only ends up catching the attention of pro ball players, but he gets to meet them too! If that isn’t Creating memories and Connecting generations, I don’t know what is!
Thank you to Vinnie for being a stand up guy and to Dennis Barriball for, well, just being a guy who can stand up on a blown achillies!
“Da Plane! Da Plane!”
Today, January 16, I am celebrating my 5th year anniversary at the Cleveland Indians. Please…hold your applause. Normally I would have prepared a speech and had a little party after work, ask people to bring gifts and cash, and reflect back on the 5 years that have been. Unfortunately, I am not home in Cleveland around my favorite co-workers (you know who you are and who you aren’t). I am instead burdened with the task of going out to dinner and hanging out with Indians alums: Dave Burba, Mike Jackson, Brian Anderson, Chad Ogea, Len Barker and a few others. I’m stuck down in Arizona at the Cleveland Indians Spring Training Complex for the week instead of being able to enjoy the cold, snowy weather in Cleveland, Ohio. I have no choice but to get paid to entertain these former pro baseball players while they manage/entertain/teach campers all week for our Indians Fantasy Camp. Five years of working at the Indians and I’m lucky unlucky enough to have to do this. Boy what I wouldn’t give to have a cool job.
I hope you picked up on the sarcasm because I was laying it on pretty thick. Are you kidding me? I love this! Cleveland Indians Fantasy Camp is going on this week down in Goodyear, Arizona and so far it is a blast! The camp is open to anyone (male or female) ages 30 years old and up. You can be 85 and still participate if you are able to! People come from all over the country to take part in this camp and basically live the life of a major league ball player (minus the ginormous salary, of course). The campers get to stay at a 5-star hotel, have breakfast and lunch at the Indians complex, be drafted onto teams which are managed by former Indians players, play in a tournament style set of games and have a championship game in the main ballpark.
The most important part about this camp is that all of the money raised here goes to Cleveland Indians Charities (CIC). Every night there is always a Kangaroo Kourt, where our judge and former Indians pitcher, Gary Bell, will fine the campers for doing things incorrectly or just downright stupid. Any money raised from the fines also goes to Cleveland Indians Charities. You should actually want to get fined because you know your money is going to a good cause.
So that is where I’m at this week celebrating my 5 year anniversary at this ball club. I may post one or two more updates on the week for my die-hard fans out there–which I’m calling the Sherman Screwballs. I will at least keep you posted on who wins the championship and how much money we end up raising. As always, thanks to Dan Mendlik for the picture (and future pictures from this week).
Lunch Lady Land
Welcome back to my blog! I say that as if you people left me and are just now coming back, when in reality I know that you didn’t really leave me. You just realized that there weren’t any new blog posts since the beginning of December 2011 and there was no reason to come back until now. One could blame me for the lack of blog posts. I blame the Indians for giving me so many vacation days in a one year period and having such a busy schedule from January through November that I can’t actually use them until the last month of the year so they just pile up and I take them all at once! That was quite a run-on sentence there, eh?
Anyway, I’m back now and that is all that matters, really.
I’m here to share with you the Indians first Indians in the Community of 2012. Once again we kick started our year of volunteering at the St. Augustine Hunger Center in Cleveland. We had about 14 members of the Indians Front Office help prepare and serve lunch on January 11. We did anything from peeling potatoes, to cutting up peppers and onions, to re-stocking their food pantry. We then worked on the buffet line and served the customers their lunch. The meal was a pretty square meal including Italian sausage in cooked vegetables, mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, beef soup, bread, and a nice little piece of cake for dessert.
It was great to share some laughs with the customers of the Hunger Center and some of us even shared some tears–not with the people but more so with the onions as we cut them up (pause for laughter)!
The Hunger Center opened it’s doors over 30 years ago and is part of the St. Augustine Church. For those that are wondering, the Hunger Center does not only provide meals, but also addresses other needs of the poor and the homeless such as: food, clothing, emergency funding for rent and utilities, furniture, appliances as well as advocating for those poor seeking medical help.
They are always accepting of donations and, from our experience there, are in definite need of potato peelers, napkins, and plastic silverware to name a few things!
Thank you to all employees who volunteered as well as Dan Mendlik for taking the photos.
“And I’ll Make A Wish and send it out to you…”
Everyone has a dream in life, or a wish that they wish would come true. My sister probably wished she would have another sister instead of two brothers. My brother probably wished I wasn’t such a wuss growing up and wouldn’t cry every time he practiced different wrestling moves on me. My friends probably wished they were as cool as me…who can say for sure?
I used to wish that I would be a famous TV star. And, while I never wanted to be on the TV show “Blossom,” I will admit that I may have wished a time or two to be Joey Lawrence. He was so cool! As awesome as he was, I am pretty glad that wish never came true because, other than a great song or two (my blog title is a lyric from one of Joey’s songs), his career and stardom has pretty much shot straight downhill since “Blossom” ended. I recommend not making a wish on that falling star.
There are some great wishes that are worth making realities. This past Sunday the Cleveland Indians and the great people at Make A wish and Macy’s helped inspire some kids to dream big. The immensely popular Macy’s Santa Claus made his first public stop to Cleveland (normally when he delivers presents on Christmas Eve it is more of a secret event). As part of his stop, he was able to swing by Progressive Field where he met up with Cleveland Indians players Travis Hafner and Josh Judy to hold a private meet and greet with some Make A Wish families at Indians Snow Days. 
The Make A Wish families and Tribe players welcomed Santa and two of his elves (Jingle Bell and Nutmeg) to Progressive Field and had the opportunity to hang out with him, get some autographs and a few photos. They even got to enjoy the Frozen Mile and The Batterhorn (two main features at Indians Snow Days) with Santa before he had to make his way to Macy’s store at Great Northern Mall. For a visual recap, check out the video link below. Special thanks to Amy Michelson and Dan Mendlik for putting the video together.
http://pressbox.mlb.com/pressbox/multimedia/?itemId=20023377
You can take THAT to the bank…The Foodbank!
Sometimes when I look back on my life, I think of all the food that I’ve wasted. There were so many times growing up that I would just not eat all of the food on my plate because I was either too stubborn to listen to my parents when they told me to finish it, or the food just tasted really bad (sorry Mom). My parents would do the “make him feel guilty” trick by saying, “You know, there are starving kids in Africa who would love to eat this food that you are wasting.” That was pretty much the same moment I would drop the food on the floor and feed the not-so-starving dog.
I don’t know why people use the starving kids in Africa as an excuse to not waste food. What about the starving kids in Canada? Or even closer…Cleveland, Ohio?! Does it make us feel better to pretend that only other countries/continents have hunger issues? A little local fact: Cleveland Foodbank helped provide over 30 million meals to families in need around the Greater Cleveland area this past year. As great as that sounds, the need is for 50 million meals!
The Cleveland Indians front office did a fraction of their part this week as part of their “Week of Caring.” On November
photo courtesy of Dan Mendlik
16, they held their annual food drive outside of Progressive Field. With a huge help from Progressive Insurance, they were able to collect enough food for close to 7,500 meals! We even had about 15 Progressive IRV’s stop by the ballpark to drop off over 155 boxes of food.
photo courtesy of Dan Mendlik
The next portion of our “Week of Caring” involved our front office employees swinging by the Cleveland Foodbank to help sort, package, and fix up some meals on the morning of November 18. Partnering in the community once again were our friends at Progressive Insurance, who took over the afternoon shift after the Indians employees finished the morning shift.
Our final day of the “Week of Caring” ends with a Thanksgiving Dinner served by members of the Indians executive staff, including Mark Shapiro, Paul Dolan, Chris Antonetti, and many more! Five local charities were invited to bring 75 people each to attend the dinner at no cost to them. Delaware North Companies (the food partner with the Cleveland Indians) prepared and donated the food. The dinner takes place on Sunday, November 20 and is intended to provide a hearty Thanksgiving dinner for those families that may not have been able to afford one.
“I can’t believe we drove around all day, and there is not a single job in this town!” “Yeah, unless you want to work 40 hours a week!”
When I decided to move home from California it wasn’t easy finding a job, especially finding one in the city I grew up in and for a sports team that I grew up watching. I applied online for positions around Cleveland for over a year and a half; all returning the same results of me not being qualified for the positions I wanted, or the positions were filled by a better candidate (I’m not sure how that is possible seeing as how I am perfect in every way, but whatever).
After numerous rejections, I finally decided to re-create my resume. The fact that I was still showing that I lettered in Cross Country and Track in high school, or that I was a medical marvel when it came to academics really didn’t wow any potential employers. I needed to create a resume that would make those employers think that I knew what I was doing and that it related to what position I was applying for. “Buzz words” were no longer deemed stupid and a waste of time. These words helped twist simple job experience tasks into a sophisticated work of resume art. Drove a van for Amish workers? Try: Transportation Specialist for Constructional Engineers. Picked up horse manure? I prefer: Gathered and disposed of trusty steed remnants. See how that makes the task seem much more important? By the way, I grew up in and around Amish Country for those wondering about these odd jobs. And no, I’m not sure who decided to hire me at the Indians based on my past job experience.
Anyway, a resume is a very important piece of getting hired for a job. The past two days, members of the Cleveland Indians front office have been volunteering their time at Glenville High School teaching students how to create their resumes. Partnering with Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.), the volunteers work with the students on building successful resumes as well as fielding any questions they may have about the job market. Y.O.U. provides a resume building software that the students use, saves the resumes on their main server so they can be updated at any time, and presents the students with 10 copies each of their new professional resumes!
Youth Opportunities Unlimited’s mission is to empower youth–disadvantaged youth born into poverty–to succeed in school, in the workplace, and in life. For more information, visit www.youthopportunities.org
Those who can, do. Those who can do at the All-Star level, teach!
Chris Perez always says, “you can never throw too many curveballs.” For the sake of argument (or me getting sued for libel) I can’t officially say Chris Perez ever said those words. I don’t even know why he would say that. In all honesty, I made up that whole quote and the fact that he said it. I’m sorry Chris Perez. I was just trying to write a blog entry and needed a lead-in for it. This was all I could come up with. It’s been almost a month since my last blog entry and I panicked. It’s been 11 years since my last confession, too, but I won’t get into that train wreck (long story short: I’m not even Catholic so there was no reason for me to be in a confessional at the time).
Back to the story at hand…
Chris Perez, an All-Star closer, gave a pitching lesson to a lucky fan who won the lesson from a silent auction. The auction was part of the annual Indians Wives Association’s Tribe Treasures auction held here at Progressive Field during the season. The well-informed lot of you who always read my blog will remember the Wives auction as the same place the Justin Masterson head shaving item was sold at. Chris Perez’s wife auctioned off the opportunity to have Chris teach a 30 minute pitching lesson!
The money raised went to charity (split between Cleveland Indians Charities, Beech Brook and Providence House) and, while I normally try to post pictures, I’m going to attempt to throw a video link up here. The video was created by our team photographer, Dan Mendlik, and has Chris Perez talking about trying to teach the winner how to throw a curveball (the reasoning behind the first quote of this entry…it’s not funny if I have to explain all of my jokes). Enjoy!
“What’s for dinner? Chicken or…Chicken?”
When I lived down in Winter Haven, Florida back in 2007 as the Indians Spring Training Marketing Coordinator, I had the chance to swing by Universal Studios with my girlfriend to enjoy some amusement park fun. We were standing in line for one of the rides, I believe the “Twister” ride–if you want to call it a ride, and there was a woman eating a giant chicken leg!
It was probably the funniest thing I had ever witnessed while people watching. She was just standing in line with the big drumstick, gnawing on it like a lion gnaws on a baby gazelle. Can you picture that? She didn’t care that the sauce from the giant drumstick was smeared all over her face because she was on vacation and she was enjoying herself. Standing next to her in line, I felt like my arteries were getting clogged! To me, that was a whole lot of chicken…
The Cleveland Indians recently partnered with Tyson Foods and Lift Up America for a food drive. Tyson Foods donated over 31,000 pounds of meat (mostly chicken) to help feed local food agencies. With help from The Cleveland Food Bank, 28 food agencies swung by Progressive Field and picked up their portion of meat. Prior to the pick up, a press conference was held on Gateway Plaza to announce the news. Volunteers from the Baldwin-Wallace football team, Cleveland Metro School District as well as Indians outfielder Trevor Crowe, Pitcher Josh Tomlin and 2nd baseman Cord Phelps were on hand to help load the trucks with food.
Josh Tomlin and Cord Phelps help load donated protein into truck
31,000 pounds…now THAT is a whole lot of chicken!
I wonder if the University of Tennessee athletes get paid, or if they are all just Volunteers.
Part of my job here at the Cleveland Indians, nay, the majority of my job here is to coordinate different events that involve numerous volunteers. It is a very rewarding job because I know that at the end of the day, events that I have planned and coordinated, ended up helping someone or some non-profit organization. It’s also great because every one of my volunteers, whether they know it or not, don’t need to be paid! It’s free help! Anyone can work to get paid, but it takes a real man (and woman) to work for a hearty handshake and a warm smile…and free Indians tickets.
The Indians in partnership with Business Volunteers Unlimited continued the Indians Volunteer Challenge during the 2011 season. The Challenge is an opportunity for area families, citizens and baseball fans to give back to their communities and receive Tribe game tickets. To make life even more exciting (and to back up our reasoning for calling it a volunteer “challenge”), we thought we would reward the person with the most volunteer hours logged the opportunity to throw out a first pitch before an Indians home game.
We actually had two winners this year. Richard Schapel of Parma and Brian Dietrich of Avon each logged over 160 hours of community service and were named the Cleveland Indians Volunteers of the Year. They were honored during a pregame presentation last night and Richard Schapel threw out the ceremonial first pitch. I’m sure we’ll have the challenge next year, so keep an eye out on Indians.com for how to sign up!
Indians Off The Field
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