Rodger’s Diary - 2008 Aberdeen Ironbirds
I think Cal Ripken’s feats are also monumental away from Camden Yards at Aberdeen, MD.
His Rookie A - Aberdeen Ironclads, a NY-Penn League affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, are baseball
in the finest minor league stadium I have ever seen .
His “Cal Ripken Baseball Program” is a worldwide operation, whose world series is played at three state of the art ball parks located on the grounds of the Ripken Stadium complex.
His staff conducts summer baseball camps for children interested in getting first class baseball instruction, and a towering, new Marriott Hotel houses the visiting teams, and baseball campers throughout the summer.
Ripken Stadium is a family oriented place where it is always fun to see a ball game.
This season, the home team is blessed with three southpaw pitchers, Cole McCurry, Chris Salberg, and Richard Zagone, who are mowing the opposition down, and five position players, SS Jedediah Stephens,
C Caleb Joseph, 3B Tyler Kolodny, OF Jacob Julius, and 1B/OF TJ Baxter who are hitting a ton.
Also, they are very much blessed with hitting coach Cesar Deverrez, my old time friend since he and his side kick Manny Alexander played at Hagerstown in 1992. I’ve never seen a catcher with a stronger arm, in fact he posed as “The Muscle Man,” in the Frederick Keys card set I shot in 1993 for Best Cards. This is one special guy, who never forgot his friend.