Another trip to Hammond Stadium

I took another trip out to the Twins spring training home this morning, It was a beautiful sunny day with temps in the high 70’s. When I arrived at the Twins minor league complex and prepared to park my car I noticed that the gate was locked with a padlock but yet I could still see some players wandering around the fields. One of the fans told me that the asphalt parking area was going to be sealcoated today so the team was trying to keep the area free of vehicles and fans.

Still not a lot of players around, I was lucky enough to get a couple of pictures of the German born Max Kepler and talk to him for a few minutes. He seems like a very nice kid and we even have something in common, we were both born in Germany. I didn’t know it until I started writing this post, but today is Max’s 19th birthday, I missed my opportunity to wish him a Happy Birthday. Ge’ez, 19 years old, what was I doing on my 19th birthday? Oh yes, I remember now, I was in the Navy on board the USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) in the ECM (Electronic Countermeasures) room over in the Mediterranean on one of my two Med cruises. But that is a whole different story. I introduced myself to former Reds pitchers Matt Maloney and Jared Burton and they were nice enough to pose for a picture on their way out to the practice field. I saw former GM Bill Smith leaving the Twins minor league offices and head out for his car. Not much else was going on today so I left after about 90 minutes. It is fun out there when there are only about a half-dozen fans out there. I did get a couple of pictures that I posted with the rest of my 2012 spring training photo’s that you can find in the right hand column of my home page.