CMC WS Tally and Derby Honeymoon

I stopped by the local pharmacy the other day to print out some pictures from our August vacation and picked up one of those 24-packs of Topps cards, you know, the one with the gum. It was a rather uninteresting pack, for those Elvis Andrus and Vladimir Guerrero cards.

Of course, both are integral parts of the 2010 American League Champion Texas Rangers. And both will be playing right there at AT&T Park tonight for Game 1 of the World Series.

The vacation photos remind me that I still have some vacation posts to write about, a vacation we went on two months ago. Among the posts, probably the least pressing, are some 2010 Topps cards I picked up at a couple Casey's General Stores back home.

They also remind me of another vacation, three years ago, the one where that photo of AT&T Park is from. That vacation was actually our honeymoon, that included attendance at the 2007 All Star Game and Home Run Derby. I'll get to that a little bit more later.

For now, I've got a couple World Series thoughts and notes. There are the CMC-related thoughts and the non-CMC-related thoughts.

The CMC-related thoughts center around the World Series teams' extended coaching staffs. I've already covered Ron Washington, now the first CMC set member to pilot a team to the Fall Classic. But there are other CMC set members on the extended coaching staffs. Including Washington, there are five in all. And Washington is the only one yet featured here.
Washington is joined on the Rangers by two other set members, pitching coach Mike Maddux and, on the extended staff, baserunning coordinator Wayne Kirby.

On the Giants' side are batting coach Hensley Meulens and then catching coordinator Kirt Manwaring.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy might be considered an honorary CMC set member. In 1990, Bochy was managing the single-A Riverside Red Wave. Only managers in AAA made the CMC set. But he did play a prominent role in my April feature of Vince Harris. Harris praised future two-time World Series manager to the Los Angeles Times, saying he was a good manager to play for.

Back to tonight's game, and that Guerrero I pulled from that pack of 2010 Topps I picked up. Some has been noted of the Rangers hitters having few, if any, looks at Giants pitchers. But some, notably Guerrero, have seen the park and had success there.

My wife and I were fortunate enough to spend our Honeymoon in San Francisco for the 2007 All-Star festivities. We got to go to both the Home Run Derby and the game itself. I remember none of the home runs went into the bay. The big feature of the park and the derby and it didn't happen once.

I also remember trying to heckle the throng of kids in the outfield for dropping fly balls. That was fun. Of course, with my voice and how far away we were (second row from the top) I was lucky if the people in the next row heard me. But, really, I know you're kids and all, but you've got to catch those.

And I just remembered, looking over our pictures from the derby, the coolest shirt we saw there. It read simply "Baseball isn't boring. You are." Awesome.

Then there was Guerrero's big win, in the park that now three years later, he's playing his first World Series game at. I just checked Wikipedia to refresh my memory on the home run total, Guerrero hit 17 total, and three in the final for the win. We'll see if he can continue that success tonight.

And here is a wide shot of the field. Sorry, somehow we got a few fingers in the frame.