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majormet · 07-22-2007, 04:56 PM

Life is strange. I went to bad the evening of the draft quite perplexed. I was drafted by St Louis at around 2:45 PM and did not hear from anyone in the organization all day or all night. I knew that it was not a misprint on the countless websites. Luckily none of these sites listed by lofty background as a "fortunate son". Ross Baumgarten was very lucky until magically he appeared in Comiskey Park one day to start and then as if everyone was holding a dark secret.. Baumgarten was the son of a billionaire. Needless to say, Ross never had a chance after that.

I woke up the next day around 11:00 AM and my cell phone was charging. I disconnected the cell phone from the adapter and saw that I had 3 missed calls. Each of these calls had a 314 area code. I would have to assume that is the area code for St Louis. I played the messages and saw I heard from a Preston Matthews, who was some office person in the Cardinals front office. I called Matthews back and he was very excited to tell me about my $60,000 signing bonus for this afternoon and that I would have a flight out of LaGuardia at around 2:00 to make this signing at 5:00 CST. I tried to act excited as if 60K were going to set me up nicely for the next 2 months. It didn't but I acted cordial and scrambled to pack things.

Among other things, I would be catching a 6:30 flight out ot St Louis to Oklahoma City and I would arrive in the middle of the game for the Oklahoma City game vs Ardmore tonight. Welcome to the no thrills world of minor league baseball.

I packed lightly as I figured I would buy a wardrobe and toileteries. I did make sure i had my ipod packed with all 15,000 songs on it and I also made sure I had a good supply of protein powder. Other than that I was ready to go, naturally my glove was packaged too.

I arrived at LaGuardia and looked for the United flight to St Louis that I was boarding and hustled to make the plane. The tightness of the schedule made it difficult to acquire a sense of anxiousness or nervousness. The people were all a blur. I have been in and out of airports for the past 6 years like they were go carts. I just knew I had to be at this meeting and get it over with so I can suit up in Oklahoma City tonight.

Some of the drafted guys ended up in Oklahoma City with me including the top pick in Oscar Ojeda. The 2nd round guy ended up reporting to AA Rolla, as he was some 24 year old Japanese pitcher. It was great being the 3rd round selection but I was also the 3rd starting pitcher selected by Walt Jocketty and the Cardinals.

I boarded the very empty plane and tried to fall asleep. I put on my ipod and listened to the new Pearl Jam album. This album was called Mutation, it was their 10th release and the critics were high on it. Every Pearl Jam album since Vitalogy was a letdown even if the critics loved it. It ws 2010, and they were 18 years into their recording career.

Luckily the Pearl Jam album was kind of dull with no great hooks or lead tracks and I woke up as the plane was descending. I grabbed my bags and saw a large sign for "sanford" in the waiting area of the gate. A large man with a rotund stomach in a suit was the driver and he introduced himself as Carl. Carl took my bag and got me to the limousine where I saw Oscar Ojeda for the first time. Ojeda did not know any English and had a very limp handshake for a dude that can throw 99 MPH.

We didn't say much as Carl was driving through St Louis rush hour traffic and Oscar was reading some kind of soccer magazine. I thought about the teammates I would have down in Oklahoma City and I all I could think of were Jorge Alvarado, a power hitting dimunuite second baseman who knew no English and Rich Gannon the former Delaware quarterback. I keep to myself so the less social the atmosphere the better it would be.

I arrived at the office and was dressed in dockers and a Stanford T-shirt. Ojeda came in with me and he was dressed in a nice suit. He knew he would be drafted in the first round unlike me and oh yeah... he was at the draft last night in Louisville anyway.

Walt Jocketty was in the room and it was an honor to meet the crafty GM of the St Louis Cardinals. I also was taken aback as Ozzie Smith was in the room as well. Ozzie greeted me first and he seemed to the friendly guy that everyone in the history of baseball has always said was. Great for Ozzie, not everyday you can overcome putting a job ad in the paper when you are in the MLB and end up in the hall of fame.

Jocketty spoke with me and told me that for now I am in Oklahoma City and that the Cardinals are fast tracking their pitchers so that if I produce I could be in the majors by as early as 2012. That seemed to be regular tracking for me, but what did I know. Just 3 years ago I had not picked up a baseball for 5 years.

The reporters were converging on Ojeda while no one could care about me and a few of the other draft picks in the room. I like being below the radar, this will work out fine as far I am concerned.

I will be off to Oklahoma City and I was told that I was pitching on Saturday which was only 3 days from now. I have no idea what to expect but I will take the 60K check and put it in the bank, and maybe buy some cheap Hyundai to get around the OKC.

07-22-2007, 04:56 PM	#3
majormet Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 2,536	Draft Fallout Life is strange. I went to bad the evening of the draft quite perplexed. I was drafted by St Louis at around 2:45 PM and did not hear from anyone in the organization all day or all night. I knew that it was not a misprint on the countless websites. Luckily none of these sites listed by lofty background as a "fortunate son". Ross Baumgarten was very lucky until magically he appeared in Comiskey Park one day to start and then as if everyone was holding a dark secret.. Baumgarten was the son of a billionaire. Needless to say, Ross never had a chance after that. I woke up the next day around 11:00 AM and my cell phone was charging. I disconnected the cell phone from the adapter and saw that I had 3 missed calls. Each of these calls had a 314 area code. I would have to assume that is the area code for St Louis. I played the messages and saw I heard from a Preston Matthews, who was some office person in the Cardinals front office. I called Matthews back and he was very excited to tell me about my $60,000 signing bonus for this afternoon and that I would have a flight out of LaGuardia at around 2:00 to make this signing at 5:00 CST. I tried to act excited as if 60K were going to set me up nicely for the next 2 months. It didn't but I acted cordial and scrambled to pack things. Among other things, I would be catching a 6:30 flight out ot St Louis to Oklahoma City and I would arrive in the middle of the game for the Oklahoma City game vs Ardmore tonight. Welcome to the no thrills world of minor league baseball. I packed lightly as I figured I would buy a wardrobe and toileteries. I did make sure i had my ipod packed with all 15,000 songs on it and I also made sure I had a good supply of protein powder. Other than that I was ready to go, naturally my glove was packaged too. I arrived at LaGuardia and looked for the United flight to St Louis that I was boarding and hustled to make the plane. The tightness of the schedule made it difficult to acquire a sense of anxiousness or nervousness. The people were all a blur. I have been in and out of airports for the past 6 years like they were go carts. I just knew I had to be at this meeting and get it over with so I can suit up in Oklahoma City tonight. Some of the drafted guys ended up in Oklahoma City with me including the top pick in Oscar Ojeda. The 2nd round guy ended up reporting to AA Rolla, as he was some 24 year old Japanese pitcher. It was great being the 3rd round selection but I was also the 3rd starting pitcher selected by Walt Jocketty and the Cardinals. I boarded the very empty plane and tried to fall asleep. I put on my ipod and listened to the new Pearl Jam album. This album was called Mutation, it was their 10th release and the critics were high on it. Every Pearl Jam album since Vitalogy was a letdown even if the critics loved it. It ws 2010, and they were 18 years into their recording career. Luckily the Pearl Jam album was kind of dull with no great hooks or lead tracks and I woke up as the plane was descending. I grabbed my bags and saw a large sign for "sanford" in the waiting area of the gate. A large man with a rotund stomach in a suit was the driver and he introduced himself as Carl. Carl took my bag and got me to the limousine where I saw Oscar Ojeda for the first time. Ojeda did not know any English and had a very limp handshake for a dude that can throw 99 MPH. We didn't say much as Carl was driving through St Louis rush hour traffic and Oscar was reading some kind of soccer magazine. I thought about the teammates I would have down in Oklahoma City and I all I could think of were Jorge Alvarado, a power hitting dimunuite second baseman who knew no English and Rich Gannon the former Delaware quarterback. I keep to myself so the less social the atmosphere the better it would be. I arrived at the office and was dressed in dockers and a Stanford T-shirt. Ojeda came in with me and he was dressed in a nice suit. He knew he would be drafted in the first round unlike me and oh yeah... he was at the draft last night in Louisville anyway. Walt Jocketty was in the room and it was an honor to meet the crafty GM of the St Louis Cardinals. I also was taken aback as Ozzie Smith was in the room as well. Ozzie greeted me first and he seemed to the friendly guy that everyone in the history of baseball has always said was. Great for Ozzie, not everyday you can overcome putting a job ad in the paper when you are in the MLB and end up in the hall of fame. Jocketty spoke with me and told me that for now I am in Oklahoma City and that the Cardinals are fast tracking their pitchers so that if I produce I could be in the majors by as early as 2012. That seemed to be regular tracking for me, but what did I know. Just 3 years ago I had not picked up a baseball for 5 years. The reporters were converging on Ojeda while no one could care about me and a few of the other draft picks in the room. I like being below the radar, this will work out fine as far I am concerned. I will be off to Oklahoma City and I was told that I was pitching on Saturday which was only 3 days from now. I have no idea what to expect but I will take the 60K check and put it in the bank, and maybe buy some cheap Hyundai to get around the OKC.