Living out a childhood fantasy or “What I did on my winter vacation”
by Mark Turner
This past August, my wife Mary and I were on our way to the Tacoma waterfront for a customer appreciation dinner. She asked me what I would like for my upcoming 60th birthday. I told her I really couldn’t think of anything I wanted or needed but I would give it some thought. Ever heard the term “The Baseball Gods”? Well they were sure looking down on me that night. As luck would have it, Nancy Murphey who works for the company hosting the dinner and her husband Mike were there. I was introduced to them by a former employer also in attendance and as it turns out, Mike and Nancy are organizers for the Oakland A’s/Seattle Mariners Fantasy Baseball Camp run by DHBA (Dave Henderson Baseball Adventures) originally started by Dave “Hendu” Henderson. I think we just found the perfect 60th birthday present. Didn’t take me long to get signed up.
Fast forward to January 11th, 2018. After months of preparation, trips to the gym and batting cages, it’s finally time to head to the Oakland A’s Triple A spring training facility in Mesa, AZ for a week of the major league experience, just like I dreamed of as a kid. Two games a day, perfect fields, perfect weather, big league locker room and training facility with all the staff. Clean uniform hanging in my locker every morning, the whole enchilada.
I report to camp around noon on the 12th to find a major league uniform hanging in the locker with 
my name above it. Dressed and on the field by 1:00, split into groups and run through a series of drills for the afternoon and at the welcoming cocktail party that evening, the coaches, all ex-major leaguers, took turns announcing their teams. My coaches were Johnny Moses and Gary Wheelock both ex-Mariners. Other ex-Mariners were Mike Moore, Brian Holman, Jamie Moyer and Keith Comstock. For the Oakland A’s, there was Bert Campaners, Shooty Babitt, Dave Stewart, Bobby Crosby and Dallas Braden. Three Mariners teams and two A’s teams, about 60 campers in all.
If you’ve ever played baseball or softball in any organized fashion, my last time was about 48 years ago, you know about not only the comradery, but the horseplay and pranking that go on, on the field and especially off. Well let me tell you they were on full display this week. Retired A’s pitcher Dallas Braden, as I found out, is known for picking out a rookie camper each year and really working him or her over and as you have probably already guessed, I managed to work my way into his cross hairs. So every morning we would all meet at 0830 in the cafeteria for our pre game announcements and Kangaroo Court where fines were levied for the previous day’s mistakes, throwing errors, base running blunders, any number of things, or in my case, not having Dallas’ morning coffee prepared just the way he liked it which was never going to be just right no matter what I did. With him fining me and me pranking him, we managed to give the other campers a good laugh every morning.
Yes, that’s Dallas, and yes, that’s my jersey, frozen in a block of ice. He got the last word but wait until next year, this ain’t over. I did however earn the nickname “Mr. Coffee”.
Six days of nothing but baseball including playoffs, a home run derby, pros vs camper’s game. Pretty exciting stuff trying to hit a 90+ mph fastball from a 23 year old White Sox prospect that was brought in. I did manage to foul off two pitches to a round of applause from the other campers. You would have thought I just hit a walk off home run.
The evenings were spent back at the hotel where a conference room was transformed into our own private sports bar where we could relax over a “soda” or two, talk about the days games, view pictures and video of that day and rub elbows with the pros. A week spent with like-minded folks from all over the US including Alaska and Hawaii and as far away as Australia. Some folks have been coming for years, some like myself, their first year, but whatever the reason, to relive the past, to fulfill a dream, whatever it might be, everyone followed the camp moto to “Always Have Fun” and boy did I ever. I’ve already signed up for next year and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the game or ever dreamed of a shot at the big leagues. Talent not required. You don’t need to be good, you just need to love the game. I now have a baseball family and the reunion is in Arizona every January. Check it out at DHBAbaseball.com and come join the fun. Tell ‘em “Mr. Coffee” sent ya.