When you have to take a business trip, if you're like me, the first thing you look at is not the airline flight or what hotel you're staying at, it's what type of baseball is going on in the town or city you're staying in and that's exactly what I did.
Prior to making my trip out to Las Vegas for a computer geeks convention, I checked out the Area 51's (Dodgers AAA affiliate) game schedule, and found out that they were on their last home game before heading out on the road.
I checked out their website, AREA 51's, found out the public relations guy, Jim Gemma, and went to work. After hit and miss with Jim, we finally worked things out, and my press pass was all set.
After arriving at the Cashman Ballpark, I met up with Jim, and he walked me into the Area 51's locker room where the players were enjoying their free meal, well at least that's what it looked like to me. Jim walked me over to the "HITMAN" Mike Easler, I introduced myself, and away we went.
Mike and I had some things in common which helped break the ice. See, not only does Mike teach minor leaguers how to hit like monsters, see Andy LaRoche and recent call-up Delwyn Young stats, but he loves to also teach kids. At the PowerSwing Batting cage in San Antonio, Texas, Mike is a frequent guest there during the off season sharing his knowledge with youngsters. I had seen him teach their several times while working with my son, which was cool, because he was teaching his kids the same thing I was teaching my son (pounding my chest right now), and he treated each kid as if they were the only one there.
Mike and I sat around the office talked baseball for about 30 minutes, reminiscing about his career. We spoke about his 10 years in the minor leagues and how that made him a better person. In 1979, how two home runs against the Mets really made his career. He was also gracious enough to talk about some other hard issues like his dismissal in 1994 from the Red Sox, because he wouldn't work with replacement players.
The coolest part though for me was when Mike asked me to head out to the batting cage with him so I could see how he worked with the his players.
Mike is all about the players, "I'm Serious", a slogan he likes to use with the players. He loves to teach, he loves to share his experience with the players, but it seemed to me that what he loved the most was when his players succeed. To hear Mike talk about Young's recent called up, and how hard the kid worked to get to where he was at, put a fire in my stomach.
Talking Baseball with Mike Easler was, like I like to say, FANTASTICAL!!! When you meet ball players like Mike, and Fred Lynn who was on last weeks show, it discredits the notion that most ballplayers selfish and all about them. Mike treated me like one of the guys, and we had some excellent discussion on baseball. Like Fred, Mike just likes to Talk Baseball, which to me, is the reason why I love doing this.
