Tag: Kelly Thesier

February 14, 2011 – It may have been Valentine’s Day today but there was nothing about today at the ballpark that made it any different from any other spring day as Twins players and hopefuls worked up a sweat as they prepared for another season of baseball. The day started off kind of cool, the kind of cool where you welcome standing in the sunshine to feel those warm rays from the bright sun here in Ft. Myers. Officially spring training has not started but every day there are more players and more fans showing up at Hammond Field. Reporters are starting to show up also, Kelly Thesier was there and LaVelle E. Neal III rolled in too but he didn’t show up until after 11 AM. I had a very nice chat with Kelly Thesier who writes for MLB.com and then I listened in as she did a quick interview with pitching coach Rick Anderson primarily discussing Scott Baker. I didn’t see anything real special out at the park today but as I mentioned earlier, the number of fans is growing quickly but the players are very generous with their time after practice on their way back to the clubhouse and they sign everything that is put in front of them and pose for pictures when requested. Matter of fact, that is how I got a number of my pictures today that you can view on my 2011 spring training gallery. Tsuyoshi Nishioka remains the hot topic in camp and he seems to be everyone’s number one autograph target. There are already balls signed by Nishioka selling on E-bay for 80 to 90 dollars.