The sad part of baseball camp

This year at camp will have some feelings of loss to it - obviously with life things are inevitable and death being one of them. One of my favorite Pro Staffers passed away in September - Lee Stange. "Stinger" as most people called him was the perfect blend of personality, baseball knowledge, and 'hard-ass' (or smart-ass). Stinger was my very first coach in 2010 (along with Tony Oliva) and had such a wonderful week - his voice is one of a kind, he had a great laugh, and was full of one liners. Lee passed away on Sept 21st after battling cancer and was 81 -- so he lived a good life and we were lucky enough to have him at camp last year -- so it was not like he was slowing down much - but he will be greatly missed - he gave out a lot of nicknames (and not to rant on nicknames - but anyone can give/suggest nicknames...but when they stick, that's golden) and those nicknames are beloved. One story that I found great was a few years ago I was pitching against Stingers' team and I threw an inside fastball to a left handed batter -- well it literally destroyed the bat, the bat pieces went everywhere and the batter was holding on to just the handle, well a camper told me he was sitting on the bench next to Stinger when that happened. As a former pitcher, Stinger that is, he loved breaking bats and said after that happened, "How I love when a pitcher does that" (mind you it wasn't his pitcher, it was the opposition), a pitcher at heart. I know Lee loved baseball and golf and I also know he is up in heaven doing either or both daily and look forward to seeing him again.  I wonder what nickname he will have for me the next time we talk.

I have to mention another former pro staffer who passed away last year - Frank Quilici -- who much like Stinger - was a great man. Unfortunately for Frank he was struggling with dementia (or alzheimer's) for a few years so he was not able to be a camp the last few years - but was a great personality for the camp and all around great guy.  He was never my coach but I had the pleasure of being a locker mate and listening to his stories were a lot of fun. Frank was very genuine and cared about other people, that was evident. He could talk to anyone, so very friendly. You know he is making more friends in heaven. See you soon Frank.

The sad part of camp -- the "gone but certainly not forgotten" category. We will raise a glass for both of them many times this week.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~