A They don’t give you a physical for a work visa. If you have a job and you haven’t robbed a Laundromat, you usually get the visa. Let’s see, does Edinson Volquez have a job? Oh, yeah — Opening Day pitcher and an employee of the Cincinnati Reds who makes $1,625,000 this year. And that’s even if he does have a sore arm — which he doesn’t.
Q The majority of regular-season games are played at night, but most spring training games are during the day. Isn’t spring training to get ready for the season, so why not more night games? — Craig, Peoria, Ariz.
A Tradition rules in baseball and since nobody can really explain I’ll go with tradition. A long time ago spring training fields were small Class A ballpark and the lighting was terrible, like a couple of flashlights taped to a telephone pole. Since night vision goggles weren’t invented, teams protected their high-price talent from playing in the darkness by playing day games. Now most teams have expensive state-of-the art stadiums with excellent lighting, but they still stick to day games. I like it. Nights are for dinner and entertainment in spring training.
Q What is the greatest Opening Day game you ever saw? — Michael, Arlington, Texas
A I’ve seen 38 in Cincinnati with many, many memories, the worst being the day umpire John McSherry suffered a heart attack and died on the field. He was a good friend and a great umpire, but had too much fondness for giant pizzas. A memorable one was 2005 when newly acquired third baseman Joe Randa hit a walk-off home run to win. Everybody thought it was the start of something special with Randa. It wasn’t. He was gone by 2006. Randa was the fourth different starting third baseman in four years for the Reds (Aaron Boone, Brandon Larson, Juan Castro, Randa) and Edwin Encarnacion in 2006 made it five in five years, the team’s own Third Man Theme.
Q There appeared to be a lot of Reds and Indians fans dressed as empty seats in Goodyear during Thursday’s TV game. What gives? — Bill, Dayton
A Wish I knew — and so do the Reds. Last week I watched a game on TV, the Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros in Ed Smith Stadium. There were more than 6,000 fans on a Tuesday. The Reds couldn’t draw 6,000 in Ed Smith unless the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox were in town – and they were mostly Yankees and Red Sox fans. Heck, they couldn’t draw 6,000 for an Astros game if tickets were free and you could have your photo taken with a Hooters girl.
Q When the Reds played the Rockies last week, Joey Votto was the Reds DH but the Rockies had their pitcher bat. Wouldn’t a manager want a position player to get a few more at-bats? — John, Austin, Texas
A Works both ways. Since the NL doesn’t use the DH and the pitchers have to hit, managers also have to get their pitchers are at-bats against live pitching in spring training, especially to work on sacrifice bunts. Personally, I wish they’d take the DH and flush it away from every baseball game played on the planet.
Q Will there be a rookie contributor on the 2011 Reds who will as much an impact as Drew Stubbs, Mike Leake and Travis Wood had on the 2010 team? — Pat, Troy
A Stubbs wasn’t a rookie last year (had 180 at-bats in 2009). Nobody will have an impact to start the season like Leake because no rookie is going to make this team coming out of camp. Wood made his impact the second half and, of course, could happen – depending on injuries, trades and somebody on the roster falling on their face. The Reds are so loaded with young talent, guys at nearly every position, that an impact rookie could be at any position, depending upon need. If I’m a Reds rookie, I wonder, “How and when am I ever going to get there.”
Q It seems the Reds are going to have to send a few good players to Triple-A when they break camp and how do you think their bench stacks up against the Reds of the NL Central? — Justin, Dayton
A Louisville manager Rick Sweet can’t wait to get his team, which should be more loaded than a baked potato at an Idaho convention. As for the Reds’ bench – as good as anybody’s. Whoever isn’t catching is still a No. 1 catcher. Who else has a back-up shortstop who was a World Series MVP just a few months ago? And in Chris Heisey and Chris Valaika, the bench is well Chris-tened with young talent who proved themselves last year.
Q Young players in spring training are usually assigned high numbers, but go to lower numbers when they make the majors. What is the highest uniform number worn by a player now in the baseball Hall of Fame? — Jeff, Dayton
A The highest number is ’65,’ but that was worn by one-time Cincinnati Reds manager Bill McKechnie, for whom the stadium in Bradenton, Fla., (Bill McKechnie Field) is named. It is the spring home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. A player. For a long time it was the ‘53’ worn by Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale, but two years ago pither Goose Gossage was inducted and his number was 54. Anybody remember what number Ty Cobb wore? He didn’t. They didn’t have numbers on uniforms when he played.
Q I know that Charlie Sheen is a huge Reds fan a friend of Pete Rose. Wouldn’t it be good if Pete could talk to Sheen about his problems because surely Charlie Sheen would listen to Charlie Hustle, right? — Joe, Dayton
A I saw on a TV show not long ago that Sheen said Rose did call him, but who knows what they talked about. Sheen basically said Rose called to tell him to hold his head high and keep his chin up. While we all know what Rose could do on a baseball field, I’m not sure I’d want him to be my psychologist and personal advisor to my lifestyle.
Q Your sense of humor comes through in your writing, so which current Reds player has the best sense of humor and which Reds of the past had the best sense of humor? — Tom, Youngstown
A Kids just love to have fun, and a sense of humor is prevalent with ballplayers. Gags and pranks in the clubhouse are rampant. Jokes fly. One of my all-time favorites as a funny man was outfielder Dave Collins. Who used to torment one writer on a daily basis and loved to attach a coat hanger to the guys back belt loop and string toilet paper off the hanger so it trailed behind the guy as he walked around the clubhouse. Well, you had to be there.
Q Do you think we will see Drew Stubbs turn into a true leadoff hitter as far as being able to draw a walk or effectively lay down a bunt? — Amy, Xenia
A So far, so bad. I’m on record as saying Stubbs will be this year’s big surprise. But at this point Stubbs is hitting .207 and even worse are these numbers: 29 at-bats, 14 strikeouts, two walks. I’m not batting instructor, but that doesn’t appear to be too good, does it?
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