Thursday, July 16, 2009

True Blue

As part of my All-Access Multipass, I came to Dodger Stadium early enough to watch batting practice. (Last time I did this, Mike Schmidt was in the lineup.) In between Manny's 'roid-free power bombs, I kept focusing on the jockey-like B.P. pitcher, Pete Bonfils. For after you drink from the same enormous Powerade cooler as someone, you feel a connection to them. Curious, I did some Holmes-ian sleuth work and discovered this tidbit-filled page:

There is an Arcadia resident who has been pitching for the Dodgers for 28 years. And get this: he has never given up a run. His name is Pete Bonfils, and he is a batting practice pitcher. Pete is also a baseball memorabilia collector. Two upstairs rooms at his home have been converted into a shrine to the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Fortunately for Pete, he has an employer that allows him time off to do what he loves to do. Batting practice pitchers make only $50 a day, so he’s certainly not doing it for the money.

Watching batting practice was actually a highlight of the day for me. And Bonfils was a helluva lot more consistent than 4/5ths of the Mets rotation. So here's to you, Mr. Bonfils. In fact, I enjoyed your show so much, I'm even giving you an official SoSG Tag (see below).

5 comments:

Orel said...

Hope you used a cup.

Delino DeShields, Sr said...

I actually felt guilty about using their Powerade, till I saw am even lazier reporter do it (at least I was standing in the sun!)

Eric Stephen said...

Good call on following the other reporter. Don't want to be that first guy, to get yelled at.

Kyle Baker said...

This is the guy featured in BLUETOPIA, no?

Alex Cora said...

Yeah, he was featured in Blutopia. He seems to have a pretty cool (and expansive) collection.