More from Cooperstown. Finally a whole entire Royals team picture.

If you missed the story on this one when I posted it from Cooperstown there was apparently a nuclear explosion level of fart in the barracks and there was one culprit. Can you guess who? (reenactment here)Mike.Michael with a pickoff to first. Glenn.Jack.Jamie.Johnny.Anthony.Zach.Patrick and his sliding/diving catch. Which is so ridiculously blurry (yeah, I’m a photographer) but I couldn’t get rid of the picture cause it was a great play. Immediately after. Of course this one’s in focus.Chase down. Anthony, Jack C, Glenn, and Jack.Jamie.Jack. And Patrick at first.James making a great catch in the field.Patrick and John.Jack.A little Royals cheer.Afternoon game. Bobby.Kevin.James after getting hit in the ankle with Coaches John & John. (he was okay by the next day)Jack. With Patrick at first again.Brothers meeting on the mound.Timmy and his buddy Mr. Allen. And his pins, of course. You can see the collection growing each day.Timmy and his other best buddy Mr. McNiff. Who never ever smiles (for pictures or in real life) but Timmy can always make him smile. Always. Its awesome!!He’s like the team mascot. 

Baseball. That is pretty much all. Although we can add in baseball in the rain. Sooooo much better. (Not really at all.)

Anthony.BobbyJack B.Jamie. (it was a ball)Johnny H. (I believe that this may have been his over the wall home run)Patrick.Jack B.Kevin.Have to get one of Anthony running at least once a game.Jamie.Jack C. (he was safe)Timmy pin trading. He even got the owner’s (pictured on the left) special pin. How lucky! Kids would come around to see Timmy from the other dugouts, he would roll out his towel like a merchant in an Arab market and say “and what are you interested in?”And when he wasn’t pin trading, he was playing catch with the other Royals kids, Mr. McNiff or Mr. Allen. Kevin. Johnny C. pitching and Jack B. at first.Johnny C.Jack C. (he was out)Patrick.Zach. (this was right before they had a rain delay)Jack, Jamie and Bobby.Michael making another great outfield catch.Mrs. Klier and Julia- besties.After a loss in the first game, it was time for a night game. It wasn’t all that bright even under the lights so as it got darker the pics got blurrier so I didn’t take many.

Patrick.Bobby.Glenn.Patrick.Kevin.A run down. Mike, Zach, Johnny H, Kevin, Anthony, Jamie. 

Still more to come soon.

Finally, finally got to edit the Cooperstown pictures, so I’ll be posting a bunch over the next few days. Some of them you may have already seen a few of the photos on the blog, but putting them back in so that the story makes sense. Lots of new ones included though.

You know how much I don’t like baseball as a general rule, but I have to say that I had a really good time on this trip. I loved watching all the boys play, hanging out with all the amazingly great Royals parents and Dreams Park really is the Disney of baseball. Keep in mind I’m NO sports photographer, but I did my best from my spot in the parents dugout area. It’s very stressful watching the games thru the lens, trying to follow the game, cheer and not shake the camera!

Opening ceremonies- all 104 teams marched in with their banners. Then it was off to the ’round the horn, speed, home run, pitching accuracy competitions.

The boys waiting their turn for the ’round the horn competition. Johnny went to the home run derby, Jamie to the throwing accuracy, Anthony to the speed competition.

After the ceremonies, Timmy and I headed back to our hotel and all the boys went to get some sleep (I don’t know if that actually happened though) in the barracks for the first day of games the next morning. And so it begins…

Game One:

Michael pitching.

Zach.James.Jack C.Johnny C.Jamie (he was safe).Johnny C.Glenn, Johnny & Anthony.Glenn.Patrick.Getting a little ‘atta boy’ after their first game which they lost. Game Two later that afternoon. It was really pretty there. Bobby warming up.Patrick.Patrick.Johnny H.Michael made some amazing catches in the field. Patrick did his share out there too.Jamie hitting, Anthony running.You cannot beat Anthony. 
Anthony.Jack.Bobby.Jack C.Timmy was having a great time, especially with the pin trading. More on that later. We were all invited over to the house the Ryans and Luvins were renting for a little pool party and bbq. So fun!

First, the most important part- A ROYALS WIN!!!!!! So, so proud of all of the boys who worked so hard all week and won a game. Not a regular game, but a playoff game!! The final score was 19-21 and the entire game was totally anxiety provoking, exciting, and made me want to vomit for the THREE hours the 6 innings took. It was back and forth every inning between the Royals and the New Castle team, but I was thrilled for the boys that they won!! The New Castle Highlanders (from Chappaqua) fought really hard and were total gentlemen.

This was immediately after Jamie’s grand slam homerun for the win.

Had to take one pic of the scoreboard. They played but lost another game immediately following their win versing the Metro Monsters from Cali who were such nice boys and a great team. After nearly 5hrs of baseball in a row with no lunch for anyone it was a relief (at least for me) for the boys to get done. It’s single elimination playoffs, so they’re done for the tournament.

Much to their chagrin, we made them walk alllllll the way over to the Dreams Park sign for a team photo- it’s a literally once in a lifetime trip for them, so we had to get the money shot. (I know the lighting and shadows are pretty bad- but I didn’t bring my off camera flash, and this was the only time of the day we could do the picture. Probably no one cares but me anyway!)Since they’re now done, today’s plans include a big breakfast in town (Doubleday cafe) followed by the Hall of Fame. I will be IN for breakfast for sure, but OUT for the HOF. I’m looking forward to reading my book down by the lake for a few quiet hours. Then it’s closing ceremonies and the championship game tonight.

It’s been quite the baseball immersion for me this week. And although I still feel exactly the same way about baseball as I did coming in (still don’t like it), I do still really like watching the Royals play. They have all come SO far and have become such great  friends. I feel like we have a whole new extended family in the parents and siblings of all the players. There was no bickering at all between them this week, and even after 5 days together nonstop, they are still having such a great time all hanging out together at every opportunity they can get. How amazing is that? And if it’s due to baseball, I’ll still take it.

Much more to come from the whole Cooperstown Dreams Park experience when we’re back home and I have some time to edit the 1300+ photos I’ve taken so far this week. I have some great action shots and I can’t wait to share them with you and our Royals family!!

Well, 2 more Royals losses, but honestly that’s so not the important thing. And I was reminded of this fact today. I am SO proud of all the Royals boys and the coaches for the way they are playing every single game with heart and class. They may not be the best team out there (not by a lot- they’re currently ranked 101 out of 104 teams) but they are the best behaved, most respectful, nicest bunch of kids you could meet on a ball field or anywhere else. Let me explain…

The first game the boys lost 7-2. They played a perfectly respectable game, they just lost.

The second game vs. the New Hampshire Cats they lost 25-4. And let me tell you that this team- the New Hampshire Cats- were the most disgustingly behaved, ill mannered, pieces of crap I have EVER seen play baseball. (sorry- not sorry). They were beyond bad sports, heckling the crap out of our team when they were already winning 20-4, yelling from the dugout, yelling during our pitchers windups, talking trash in the field. I even yelled from the parents stands for some kid in the field to shut up (yeah, he definitely heard me) and another one to drop the fly ball (again sorry, not sorry). When they were up 25-4 and our boys were up at bat in the last inning before they got mercy ruled, they switched pitchers!! Switched effing pitchers to make sure no one else got a run so we didn’t mess up their standings by getting another run. And the umps were terrible, letting this heckling go on during the game. All of them should be ashamed of themselves and I sincerly hope the parents of the Cats are very proud of their disgusting kids. Although the way the parents were behaving, it’s no guess where the kids learned their “sportsmanship” skills from. (in all fairness I have to add that the boys mentioned the catcher was nice, being a really good sport and that there were one or two other kids who were good sports as well). But overall, ew.

I’m happy to report that our Royals got more runs on the Cats than any other team they’ve played this week. Including Anthony stealing home!!! So we did mess up their standings a bit, and I heard they were pissed. Good for them. Suck on that.

I’d like to add that in every game so far this week (so that’s 6 games out of 6 played) the boys and coaches have received nothing but compliments from the other teams and the umps. How nice the boys are, how hard they are playing, how respectful, how supportive of eachother they are. And that my friends is truly what baseball is about. And you know I know nothing about baseball.

If you are reading this and don’t agree with my views, you’re more than welcome to your opinion. But this is my blog, and I’ll write what I want. And I’m not being a mom who is feeling sorry for our team who didn’t win. They haven’t won one single game here in Cooperstown, but everyone else they’ve played have been excellent teams both in skill and sportsmanship. Isn’t that the way its supposed to be???

On to happier news- I finally got a whole team picture!!

Top row: Coach Jamie, Coach John H, Anthony, Jamie, James, Bobby, Johnny H, Kevin, Glenn, Mike

Bottom row: Jack C, Zach, Johnny C, Jack, Michael, Patrick, Coach John B

So go Royals!! I don’t care if you don’t win any games (playoffs start today- so keep your fingers, toes, whatever crossed for our boys to win just ONE game) but you keep on being of such amazing character and class and you will always win. At least where it counts.

(and even after all of this BS, they are still smiling, laughing and having an amazing time TOGETHER.) A little side note about this picture. Apparently, there was some ummmm….gas flying in the bunkhouse the other night. Like farts that someone said if you opened your eyes you would see the mushroom cloud from the nuclear blast. With hang time like no one’s business. So they did a recreation for a photo to comemmorate one of their fondest Cooperstown memories to date. Can you guess who the culprit was?