Weekly Baseball Thoughts

Today I got to drive down to San Diego and go to Petco Park for the first time to see the Dodgers take on the Padres. I have never really been a big baseball fan until about a year ago. Since I never really was a fan, I never really had a team. I have always struggled with who I should tie my allegiances too, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a resident of Central and Southern California the vast majority of my life, i've never rooted for a Cali team, and I figured baseball was the best time to start. The Dodgers never really had a player I could really get behind. They have had a revolving door of players and none of them seemed as if they really would be worthy of another fan (Jeff Kent comes to mind). The Angels however, had one Mr. Vladimir Guerrero. He will swing at anything, and always seems like he is giving 110% out on the field. So a few months back, I decided to officially swing my allegiances towards the Angels as I let my fiance buy me an Angels hat that I sport proudly.

Today, however, I may have found another new player, and he happens to be on the other team, the LA Dodgers. Since we arrived early to the park we decided to walk around and take in the scenery (a great new park in downtown San Diego a must do if you are in the area in the summer time). At the same time batting practice was going on. We (me and my roommates) proceeded to head down towards batting practice to see if maybe we could get a ball. One of my roommates is a die hard Dodger fan and know just about everything about them. One recent Dodger call-up, named Matt Kemp has made an impressive explosion on to the scene. Since his debut on May 28, the kid (he is younger than me after all being born in September of 1984) has hit 7 bombs in that short span of time.

That's not what really impressed me however, it was his demeanor during the batting practice. My roommate, being a hardcore Dodger fan, has a shirt of all the Dodger minor league teams. This particular night he was wearing a Jacksonville Suns shirt. The Padres fans had been heckling him prior to us arriving, because they too wanted a ball, the only difference is they had no idea who he was. Kemp, being quite playful with the oppositions fans, kept telling them that he was just the waterboy, hoping someday to get a chance to play the game himself. Since I have lived with this Dodger fan for quite sometime I knew who Kemp was. My roommate got to the bottom of the stands, and Kemp saw his shirt.

"Nice shirt," said Kemp. "Thanks, I know you played there earlier this year, Matt," said my roommate. "I was there for a little while, yeah," Kemp said. "Yeah what did you hit like 27 bombs when you were there or something," said my roommate. At this statement Kemp got a huge grin on his face, and turned around to shag another ball. He promptly turned around and tossed it towards my roommate. Unfortunately for him the desperate Padres fans swarmed him and tore the ball out of his hands. Kemp, watching the entire time, turned to my roommate and said "Don't worry Jacksonville, i'll get you one." The next ball that came to him, he got into the hands of my roommate, and my roommate left with a big smile on his face.

While this may seem juvenile to some who read this, to me, it's refreshing. A player who actually cares about his fans, and who is actually having fun playing in the bigs, quite frankly I don't ever see it anymore. I'm sick of hearing about Barry Bonds and how big of a jerk he is, and how he'll never talk to fans or media. I sick of hearing about ball players taking too seriously. Yeah it's your job, but your getting paid to play the game. Matt Kemp understand that. Sure the guy is 21, and sure he hasn't even been in the Majors for a month, but he gets it. He gets that it's a game, and he gets that the fans make the game fun.

When I saw how Kemp was interacting I immediately became a fan. He was never disrespectful with the Padres fans, but merely playful. When it came time to appreciate his own fans, he knew how to handle it. Kemp didn't start the game, but he did get in. He pinch hit in the 7th inning and hit a monster shot into deep center field, a blast which was estimated at 433 feet. This kid is good, and he may become a superstar. Even if he doesn't count me as a fan (even if I have to root for him when I have my Angels hat on).