How Can Anyone say Baseball Is Not Romantic?

I hope you enjoy these. For anyone who doesnt know,this is a year long project for myself where I write a blog entry a day. The artwork is something I did last year. Before 1/3/23 I had never drawn one thing in my entire life and then one day I decided to teach myself to draw and drew like 350 pictures last year. It's not just for me but also for Swift Moves in hopes of getting our rankings up on search engines. Does it work? Who knows. If anyone enjoys the artwork I post and wants me to send them an original, let me know and I'll send it to you in a frame.

Ive mentioned before the Tampa Bay Rays are a major League baseball team that is located right here is st. Pete, FL. The fact that they are like a seven minute drive from my house still blows my mind. But this is a story about something that happened to me back in 2002. The Rays used to have Spring Training right here in St. Pete every year. They played games downtown but their actual training facility was like at a park where little league played in the middle of a neighborhood in the middle of the city. 

In 2002 I found this out and to my great surprise it was like a mile form my house so I decided to go see it one day. I got there and just started walking around looking at stuff and noticed the pitchers are in this field off in the distance. So I walk over there with a roster of players in my hand and notice one of the guys was named Steve Kent and was not only four days younger than me but also went to my rival high school back in Texas! I see them all lined up at the fence and see him and call kind of yell his name. To my surprise he walks over and starts talking to me. I asked if he knew my friend who played baseball back home and he said he did indeed, he said he actually hit a homerun off of him high school. I was kind of in shock that not only this potential Major League Baseball star was talking to me but he actually knew someone I know and we were 1200 miles from home. Steve had not actually been signed to the team yet he was just trying out, trying to achieve his lifelong dream. We chatted for probably a minute and he said he had to go. I looked at him and yelled “are you going to  make the team?”. He looked back, threw his hand by his shoulders and shrugged. I left him alone after that. So about a month later Im watching tv and notice the rays are playing the Yankees in Yankee stadium. And who is starting? Thas right-Steve Kent! In his major league debut they started him in Yankee stadium against legends like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. If you dont know alot about baseball, that's about the most intimidating debut you can possibly have. I remember he did get the first three batters out which was a pretty amazing start. I read in the paper (way before iPhones) that he signed a one year $500,000 contract. Throughout the year I would go to games and chat with him. He was cool, he would always give me an autograph and talk to anyone I was with. I ran into him one time in a restaurant, he was alone, I could have joined him but my Mom was in town and I just couldn't do it. 

For someone who grew up playing baseball and collecting baseball cards, this was a pretty cool thing to happen to me. He got traded the next year and I never spoke to him again. I think about him sometimes “The Summer of Steve” I call that time.  JK. But I think it's awesome I saw this guy right before he made the team and accomplished a lifelong dream. I was so happy for him. I think he played a few more years in the majors but I lost track of him.

The Artwork-It's the King! No, not Elvis but Burger King! I really like this one. The weird thing is I think I like his shoes the best, just something about the way they came out. This guys got rizz though. Look at all those rings, his awesome crown and his cool necklace. The colors all came out great. Hios eyes are off green which I think is cool and his mustache and hair say a lot. I think we can all agree I did well with this one. I hope you enjoy it! 

Contest-This is an ongoing contest. It's a weird thing. On 6/27/24 we started with $10 then everyday I'm adding $1. The first person to call in or comment or message gets the money. Here's the kicker. You can either call in right now and get $10 (or whatever it happens to be this day) or wait till the next day when the money goes up. I think I have like 175 days left so the pot can get up to almost $200. It's free money, it's not a scam, it's in the marketing budget. No employees or employee families are eligible. I hope you win! 

The total on 7/30/24 is $43.