Coaster Palooza Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 For those that don't know, I umpire baseball games and I have been doing this from the age of 13. I umpired professionally for 6 seasons. The Hot Stove Banquet came up with an award to honor an amateur umpire. I am the fifth recipient of the award. Aside from giving the most awkward speech that I have ever given, it was a nice evening. The event was last night and the pictures are below. This was the Hot Stove program. Maybe it should have gone earlier in the report?? Best part of the evening. We went to one of my favorite watering holes for a couple more beverages. The place is Goosetown in Willow Glen. My friend Dan thought I should have a picture of someone "giving" me the award. Me, giving my awkward speech. Kevin Frandsen, a local San Jose product currently with the San Francisco Giants. Stanford's Head Coach, Mark Marques Sam Piraro, Head Coach for San Jose State. This is Mark O'Bryan, Head Coach of the Santa Clara University baseball team. Next speaker was Bob Geren, current Manager of the Oakland A's. This is Bruce Bochy, current Manager of the San Francisco Giants. Ryan don't get too excited. Nope! That's the wall behind them. These were the GREAT seats my friends got because I won this award. Can we get any further back? The person to my right is John Oldham. He was the long time coach of Santa Clara University. I guess this should go in another thread, it just might. The guy on the left is Abel Hernandez and the one on the right is Eddie Kubo. They help run the PONY West Zone. This is Dave, he nominated me for the award. This is a better shot of where I will be sitting tonight. See, that's me! There's the banner, my seat is up there all the way to the left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What Now Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Palooza Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Thanks Evan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhishyBrewer Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 That's awesome Rick! Congratulations!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Awesome Rick!!! That's pretty cool that you got to rub elbows with all those baseball big whigs! Eric Byrnes (in the program) is one of my favorite players. I love guys that play balls to the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrider06 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 congratulations on the award Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayjay719 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Pretty awesome Rick! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Nice job, Rick! We need audio from that speech, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Palooza Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Thanks a lot everyone! Matt - Byrnes was really pretty funny. He is going through arbitration right now with the Diamondbacks and it is irritating him. He also kept looking at the Oakland A's table and Bob Geren. I know he misses playing for them and he would probably work for the league minimum to come back. ^Thank God I didn't have the audio. I would post the speech, but I just don't think it would be that great. I wish I didn't get so distracted by people getting up. I was one of the last awards and people were either leaving, going to the bathroom, or talking amongst themselves. A very big challenge to give a speech with those conditions. Plus the microphone sucked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Cool. I loved him on the A's. Guys that play hard like him are hard to come by nowadays. I have a soft spot for the A's, I played most of my Little League career on the A's. Thinking back, my career spans many teams. Just like a real life player! Dodgers, Tigers, A's, Ravens, Panthers, and Lobos (the Panthers changed their name this year). Here's my career stats for the Men's League: Matt's Stats As you can see, I finally got up to speed this last year! When we meet in March Rick, we'll have to talk baseball and umping. I'd really like to get in on that side of the plate too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterFanatic Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Congrats Rick! You are an excellent ump ... however, I think this is the call that really iced the award Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan King Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Congrats to you Sir! And thanks for the shout-out. That wouldve been really cool to be there! Grrr! *shakes fist* -Ryan This look familiar? And my Giants Hat is on It! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Palooza Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 ^^^Nice stats Matt. It looks like you're improving through the years. ^^Ted, thanks for the kind words and for the picture of my last call. I thought it would actually be the last call of my career, but I am umpiring again this year. Our home improvement cost me a little more than I expected and we also want to be able to do a couple of trips this year. ^^^Ryan, why are you stealing my couch, just kidding. We have some friends here with the same couch too. By the way, get a new SF hat! Isn't that the one from the mud/pond/whatever? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan King Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 ^^^Ryan, why are you stealing my couch, just kidding. We have some friends here with the same couch too. By the way, get a new SF hat! Isn't that the one from the mud/pond/whatever? *Sigh* Yes, it went over the fence into Revolution's pond. Its also been lost on many occasions, UK trip, school, etc. It goes everywhere with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 A good umpire? There's no such thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bush985 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Congrats Rick! Thats great! I'm glad Sam and Kevin were there to give speeches, two great parts of SJSU history. Sam is a great guy. I have spoken with him many times. hit me up sometime man! Havne't heard from you for a w hile. -RD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satoshi Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Congrats that Rick's got an umpire award of the year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USRoadTripper Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 ^^^Ryan, why are you stealing my couch My parents have the same one too! Same material at least! -Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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