Clint Hurdle-C, 1B, 3B-Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals-Current manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, August 20th, 2012

As a first round pick by Kansas City in 1975, there was a lot expected from Clint Hurdle.  He spent about 2 years in the minors before arriving in 1977 to a lot of fanfare, but he sadly never lived up to the hype.  He spent several years in the majors finishing his career with the New York Mets, which is where his career took off.  Clint was hired in 1988 by the Mets to manage the St. Lucie Mets.  He also managed both the Mets AA and Triple AAA teams.  He was hired in 1994 by the Colorado Rockies to be their minor league hitting instructor, and was promoted in 1997 to be the hitting coach for the big league club.  In 2002, he was hired to manage the club after the firing of Buddy Bell.  During his 7 plus years with the Rockies, he led them to their first and only World Series appearance in 2007 against the Boston Red Sox, where they were swept in 4 straight games.  In 2009, he was fired as manager of the Rockies and quickly landed a job as a studio analyst for the newly formed MLB Network.  The Rangers hired Clint to be their hitting instructor and helped develop their young hitters.  At the conclusion of the 2010 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates hired Clint to manage their club.  He has done a terrific job working with a young club as well as changing the culture of the team.  He has them believing they can win, and it shows on the field.

I was able to talk to Clint briefly before the game and he told me how his favorite player growing up was Al Kaline.  He spent about 5 minutes signing autographs, talking to fans and friends at the game.  He came off as a very nice person who loved baseball.

George Kontos-RP New York Yankees, San Diego Padres August 18th, 2012

After talking to John Baker, I sat down and noticed a Giants player coming down to the bullpen to perform a bullpen throwing drill.  I saw the name Kontos on his back, and honestly, I didn't know who he was or anything about him.  After his throwing drill, he walked out to the OF and started talking to Will Venable and several other Padres players.  I researched him quickly using my phone, and found out he was a relief pitcher who started the season in AAA and had been called up on June 10th, 2012.  He had a 2.33 ERA and in 33 inning had struck out 29 and walked only 8.  He started to walk back to the dugout and I called out to him and he walked over and signed my ball.  I asked George who his favorite player was and he said, "Kerry Wood, I grew up watching him pitch with the Cubs." 

When I got home, I researched George and found out he was drafted by the Yankees in 2006 and converted to a reliever.  He pitched well in the minors and was drafted in the rule 5 draft by the San Diego Padres in 2011, explaining why he was chatting with several Padres players.  The Padres decided not to keep him (a HUGE mistake) and the Yankees took him back.  He was traded to the Giants just before the 2012 season for catcher Chris Stewart.  It looks like the Giants have a keeper in George Kontos.

On April 28th, 2013, George took an updated photo with me for the blog.

John Baker-C Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres-August 18th, 2012

Catcher is a very difficult position to play, and John Baker is a man who works hard to be good at it.  Born in 1981 in Alameda, Ca, John stayed in the area and attended Cal-Berkeley playing baseball.  In his junior year, he led the Pac-10 in batting with a .383 batting average, which got the attention of the Oakland A's, who drafted John in 2002 with their 4th round pick.  He was traded to Florida and made it to the majors in 2008.  He has struggled with injuries over the last couple of years, but that didn't deter Padres GM Josh Byrnes from trading for John to help solidify our catching depth. John is also a player who gives back to the community. He has traveled overseas to Afghanistan to meet our troops serving there, and has worked with the charity Homes for Haiti when he was with the Florida Marlins.  Truly a great man on and off the field.

Catching him before the Padres game, I was able to ask him who he loved as a player.  "Will Clark" said John without a hesitation.  "When I was a kid, I batted left handed like Will did and I loved the fact he was a clutch player".  

I hope my Padres keep John Baker here.  He's a good guy.

Jason Marquis-SP Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres-August 4th, 2012

Baseball has always been a big part of the life of Jason Marquis. Growing up in New York, he followed the Yankees and played Little League Baseball.  He is one of a handful of major league players to have played in the Little League World Series and Major League World Series.  He led his Little League team to a third place finish in the 1991 LLWS, tossing a no-hitter in the third place game.  In 1996, the Atlanta Braves selected Jason with their first round pick, and he decided to sign with the Braves rather than go pitch with the University of Miami.  In 2000, he was called up to replace John Rocker on the roster and stayed with Atlanta until he was dealt to St. Louis along with Adam Wainwright for J.D. Drew.  In St. Louis under the watchful eye of Dave Duncan, he developed into a solid starter.  He spent 3 years there before moving on to pitch with the Cubs.  His best year was in 2009 with Colorado Rockies.  Using a revamped pitching motion, he pitched well enough to be selected to play in the All-Star game, which was held in St. Louis.  The Cardinal fans gave him the longest ovation for a non-Cardinal player.  He has struggled with injuries over the last couple of season, but appears to be back on track with the San Diego Padres this season.  Jason is also a great hitting pitcher.  He won the Silver Slugger Award in 2005 with the Cardinals hitting a career high .310 with 8 doubles, one triple, one homer and 10 RBI's.  

Catching Jason near the dugout before the game, I asked him who his favorite all-time player was he said, "Don Mattingly,,,,outside of myself," which he said with a laugh.  He said he grew up a fan of the Yankees and he "loved Don's work ethic." Thank you Jason for taking the time to chat with me.

Brad Mills-INF Montreal Expos 1980-1983 and current manager of the Houston Astros-July 24th, 2012

Brad Mills was drafted in the 17th round by the Montreal Expos and by 1980, he was in the major leagues.  In 1983, he suffered a severe knee injury, which ended his playing career, but not his career in baseball.  After his injury, he got a job managing in the Cubs minor league system and spent parts of 11 seasons with the Cubs as well as the Dodgers and Rockies. By 1997, then Phillies manager Terry Francona hired Brad to serve as a bench coach, a job he held until 2000.  In 2003, he returned to Montreal to serve as a bench coach before being tapped once again by Terry Francona to join him in Boston. In 2009, the Houston Astros hired Brad Mills to manage the team.  It's been a rough 2 1/2 years for Brad, but he continued to help the young talent develop and lead the team during a rebuilding period. 

I was able to catch Brad before the game on Tuesday and ask him who his favorite player was.He spent some time thinking about it saying, "it's a real tough question, but I would have to say Willie Mays."  I didn't get to ask him more as there was a lot of noise going on in the field and he could barely hear me, but I was thankful for the time he took to answer my question. 

Here is a picture of the ball Brad signed for me.

Brad Brach-RP San Diego Padres-July 8th, 2012

Brad Brach is a young pitcher with a lot of talent.  Drafted from Monmouth College with the Padres 42nd round draft pick in the 2008 draft, Brad has moved quickly through the Padres farm system.  Between 2008-2012, he has saved 115 games and is looked at as a future setup man or closer by the club.  He has a fastball which has been clocked as high as 94MPH and his slider comes in between 80-85 MPH with a lot of movement.  He's struggled with his control since coming up to the big leagues, but has shown flashes of brilliance.  As Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley says, "he needs to trust his stuff."

Before Sunday's game, I was able to talk to Brad about who his favorite player was growing up.  Brad is a "Cal Ripken Jr. Fan."  He grew up watching Cal play and he told me "I grew up playing SS in Little League because it was Cal's position."  Brad took this picture with me and I thanked him for his time.  Keep up the hard work Brad. 

Dusty Baker-Former OF Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's & current manager of the Cincinnati Reds-July 5th, 2012

Dusty Baker was a hard-nosed player who hit well in the clutch. He witnessed history from the on deck circle on the night of April 8th, 1974 when he saw Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run.  Drafted out of high school in 1968, he quickly made his major league debut in 1969 and came up to stay in 1972 and hit for a career high .321 average.  Traded to the Dodgers in 1976, he became their starting left-fielder.  He made history in 1978, when he became the 4th Dodger to hit 30 home runs in a season, a feat that no team before had ever accomplished.  He remained with Los Angeles for 7 seasons and won a World Series ring with the 1981 team.  He left the Dodgers in 1984 and joined the Giants for a season before moving on to Oakland where he played his last 2 seasons.  After his retirement, Dusty joined the San Francisco Giants as a coach and became their manager in 1993.  He led the Giants to a 2002 World Series appearance, losing to the Angels who were led by former teammate Mike Scioscia.  After the 2002 season, Baker jumped to the Chicago Cubs and in 2007, Dusty became the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the team he currently manages.

In my last blog, Ron Washington had told me his favorite player was Dusty Baker because, "he took care of me when I first came up."  I couldn't wait for the Reds to come to town so I could mention this to Dusty and I was lucky because the Reds were the first team the Padres played on their next home stand.  My friend Brian and I got to the ballpark early and walked to the Reds dugout and saw Dusty walking out of the dugout.  We got his attention and had him sign my new baseball and a ticket for the game.  I asked Dusty who his favorite player was and he said, "Hank Aaron, because he was the best player ever." I told Dusty I asked Ron Washington the same question and he has said it was you, because you took care of him when he first came up.  Dusty responded, "I did take care of him and I felt the Dodgers didn't play him enough." It was great to hear Dusty's reaction to what Ron said about him.  Here is a picture of the ball Dusty signed: