Final Post for 2020 camp!

The 2020 camp concludes and a part of this year was the ability to see yet another Viking playoff loss – I will give the camp big credit for getting the game on the screens during the banquet. A predictable ending for the Purple. The banquet began at halftime of the game (when many fans still had hope….) and it starts with a Live auction – a wide array of sports collectibles and many other items up for bid. The auction ends up being another successful evening and all in all around $20,000 is raised to Lee County Memorial Hospital (Cancer center). We end the evening with a dinner and Team MVP’s. The Pro Staff literally give the shirt (well camp jacket) off their back (signed by the coaches) and announce the “team” MVP (some teams had 2 or 3) – it is a nice touch to cap off the week. Our teams MVP’s were Wolfe and Spector – great choices and they both had great weeks – it was fun to see the coaches not only give out their jerseys but recap the week of each team MVP. The awards were next and the camp gives out a number of awards: Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, Cy Young, MVP, Rookie of the Year, and the Kirby Puckett award (heart, hustle, positive attitude) as well. This blogger won’t lament on who was worthy or not – with 10 teams and a 120 campers – you could argue accolades for many players. I told one of my teammates on Friday that I bet we do not have an award winner on our team – mostly because we did not have a “stand out” performance or player. We had such an amazing team and everyone contributed 1-12. Unfortunately, we did not an award winner on our team but plenty of talented campers who will take home some “hardware”.

I appreciate the fact that my crazy camp experience and championship run keeps going. This was my 11^th camp, I have been amazingly lucky to play in Hammond (the big stadium) on Saturdays 9 times out of 11. Now playing on Saturday 9 out of 11 is a good feat – but the fact that in those nine games my team has come out victorious in all of those games is ridiculous. I very much appreciate the opportunity to be a part of that, it is getting like if the Yankees play the Twins – you kind of know the outcome. One of these days the Twins will beat the Yankees…..not in 2019, but maybe in 2020.

One last item that was brought to my attention – Lisa Ernst (one of the 4 female players at camp – which a shout out to them, all the ladies represented well!!) informed me of amazing opportunity for an off season “Fantasy Camper” get together. Mark it down and get a hold of Lisa or myself. This summer the Twins are playing the Diamondback in Arizona on July 20, 21, and 22^nd.  She has reserved the “pool area” seating in the outfield (right center) and she needs to sell 35 tickets for that to happen, this would be for the Monday July 20^th game – more details to follow but I am going to mark it on my calendar and see if it works – I almost think my son has a soccer tournament that week but will double check our family calendar – but to those campers who read the blog, at least get a pencil out for those dates.

Thanks again for following along – I think I set a “page view” record this week for those who chimed in to amuse yourself, every year I think to myself this may be the last year for the blog…..so until Jan 2021, we will see.

My email is bennep4@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments regarding the camp, or Twins baseball, or why the front office can’t sign any big free agents. I will be at Twins Fest in a couple weeks – just a 2 day event this year so hoping to be there for a few hours on Friday and Saturday. If you want to sign up for the 2021 camp (projected dates of Jan 9^th to Jan 16^th  – you better do it soon – it’s a “fills up fast” mode so make sure you don’t hesitate.

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