My first Cardinals Fantasy Camp

[ClassicO]

I just got back from 6 days in Orlando at my first Fantasy baseball camp, and I want to congratulate the Cardinals organization and the many alumni players who participated for an amazing experience.
You get so much baseball in a short time. It's so great that 80% of the 100 or so players/campers are returnees.
After tryouts and practice, including hitting and fielding lessons from Willie McGee and Ozzie, you then get assigned to an ex-Cardinals alumnus-manager (e.g., Matheney, Eckstein, Izzy) and one alumnus player (e.g., Ankiel, Motte, Lankford) per team. The players are still extremely good and try hard.
There are about 24 Cardinal alumni, and the best part is that every alumnus is incredibly engaging from breakfast/lunch/dinner and throughout the baseball meetings and games. I heard more fun stories than I've ever heard before. Eating dinner next to Ankiel one night and Willie another was mind-blowing.
You play 6 games after a day of tryouts and practice, and it is rough on the bodies but great for the soul.
The live pitching is hard to hit, but I was very happy with my defense and got on base via hit/error/walk enough to satisfy myself.
I had great lessons/instructions from former professional and college players where I live for over 6 months, lost 15 pounds, and was as healthy as I could be going into it, but I still came back happy and sans major injury (but my entire body was sore for the past 4 days).
In short, I strongly encourage it.

[Ozziesfan41]

I just got back from 6 days in Orlando at my first Fantasy baseball camp, and I want to congratulate the Cardinals organization and the many alumni players who participated for an amazing experience.
You get so much baseball in a short time. It's so great that 80% of the 100 or so players/campers are returnees.
After tryouts and practice, including hitting and fielding lessons from Willie McGee and Ozzie, you then get assigned to an ex-Cardinals alumnus-manager (e.g., Matheney, Eckstein, Izzy) and one alumnus player (e.g., Ankiel, Motte, Lankford) per team. The players are still extremely good and try hard.
There are about 24 Cardinal alumni, and the best part is that every alumnus is incredibly engaging from breakfast/lunch/dinner and throughout the baseball meetings and games. I heard more fun stories than I've ever heard before. Eating dinner next to Ankiel one night and Willie another was mind-blowing.
You play 6 games after a day of tryouts and practice, and it is rough on the bodies but great for the soul.
The live pitching is hard to hit, but I was very happy with my defense and got on base via hit/error/walk enough to satisfy myself.
I had great lessons/instructions from former professional and college players where I live for over 6 months, lost 15 pounds, and was as healthy as I could be going into it, but I still came back happy and sans major injury (but my entire body was sore for the past 4 days).
In short, I strongly encourage it.

Sounds like a great time congrats bet it was fun

[craviduce]

That sounds awesome, ClassicO

Do you have a favorite moment or two?

[ClassicO]

That sounds awesome, ClassicO

Do you have a favorite moment or two?

Hard to choose. Off the top of my head:
- Listening to Brendan Ryan at morning meetings tell the story (with help from Horton, Tudor and others) of how he was late to a game start and then left his glove and had Chris Carpenter chew him out from the mound and then in the dugout (on national tv). So entertaining.*
- Turning three double plays with Jason Motte, who is in incredible shape and can play a wicked SS - and hits.
- Watching Ankiel hit a HR over the CF wall against us.

*He starts the story at about 11 minutes of this Jim Hayes interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpo0QWlnvhQ

[Mort Gage]

Fantastic, the Disney WWOS complex, right? A few questions, what's your approximate age and what's the average age of your fellow old jocks? Did you face ex-Card pitchers or other old guys?

[simmonsmcgee1]

Very neat to hear about the fantasy camp. Thanks for the info. One big question though...How much does it cost to attend? Thanks.

[RamFan08NY]

Great story. Great read. I really enjoyed the story. Must have been the time of your life!

[TheFantasyStud]

Awesome post! It makes me love baseball and ball players even more. The love of the game lives on!

[Absolut]

Did you get to try and pickup women from the dugout like Contreras ?

[ClassicO]

Fantastic, the Disney WWOS complex, right? A few questions, what's your approximate age and what's the average age of your fellow old jocks? Did you face ex-Card pitchers or other old guys?

Yes - Orlando for this and last year, but it returns to Jupiter next year now that Roger Dean Stadium rebuild is finished. Also camps in Cooperstown and Field of Dreams, Iowa.
Alumni can't pitch. They almost all played SS (Brad Thompson 3rd). Ankiel played lefty short and it was crazy.
Ages 27-75, and I was on the higher end! The 75 yr-old throws a lot every day of the year and is in good shape.
Mix of guys who played HS, JuCo and a good number who played college ball. Some in great shape; some not at all.
I worked out pre-camp against live and curve/FB ball machines but nothing could prepare me for the "camp-lifers" who pitch and throw slow change ups and curves. One Bartolo Colon looking f*ck who hit and pitched well. If I go back, that's what I'll work on - slow/breaking stuff.
The best pitcher was a 30s guy who pitches in an adult league and had 4 pitches. He dominated. He made me look silly on a curve and then a slider (you start with 1-1 count like softball). Great guy.

[ClassicO]

Did you get to try and pickup women from the dugout like Contreras ?

That would be a hard no!
Not exactly a draw for the ladies.

[ClassicO]

One side note: I heard Walker has lost a good amount of weight.

[ClassicO]

Two studs; 1 dud.

IMG_0635.jpeg (70.86 KiB) Viewed 119 times

[pitchingandefense]

Thanks for sharing! Sounds like an amazing experience.

[Mort Gage]

Two studs; 1 dud.


IMG_0635.jpeg

No dud, you look good with Ankiel and Motte.

[ICCFIM2]

Fantastic, the Disney WWOS complex, right? A few questions, what's your approximate age and what's the average age of your fellow old jocks? Did you face ex-Card pitchers or other old guys?

Yes - Orlando for this and last year, but it returns to Jupiter next year now that Roger Dean Stadium rebuild is finished. Also camps in Cooperstown and Field of Dreams, Iowa.
Alumni can't pitch. They almost all played SS (Brad Thompson 3rd). Ankiel played lefty short and it was crazy.
Ages 27-75, and I was on the higher end! The 75 yr-old throws a lot every day of the year and is in good shape.
Mix of guys who played HS, JuCo and a good number who played college ball. Some in great shape; some not at all.
I worked out pre-camp against live and curve/FB ball machines but nothing could prepare me for the "camp-lifers" who pitch and throw slow change ups and curves. One Bartolo Colon looking f*ck who hit and pitched well. If I go back, that's what I'll work on - slow/breaking stuff.
The best pitcher was a 30s guy who pitches in an adult league and had 4 pitches. He dominated. He made me look silly on a curve and then a slider (you start with 1-1 count like softball). Great guy.

Thank you, that is good information. I would like to try it some year. I will be 62 this year. I definitely need to train like you did as it has been a long time since I even played softball, much less tried to hit a baseball. I play a reasonable tennis game, so still am using hand eye coordination skills regularly...I know a couple of the Cardinal players that are my age or a couple years older reasonably well and I know they are all still in tremendous shape compared to myself. While I regularly work out, I doubt I could get to the shape they are in even if I was pretty focused for 6 months. That sounds like a pretty touch crowd with quite a few playing college ball. Starting with a 1-1 count is pretty harsh at my age...I probably need 2 swings just to have any sense of timing...Thank you for the stories and insight.