It's a sun-drenched afternoon, contrary to rumours that summer will never come, and Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney is talking about a baseball team-in-progress.
His team, to be exact, a collection of young men from different countries, different cultures and disparate backgrounds who for the next few months will evolve into teammates. Some will become close friends. Some competitive rivals and, perchance, some wingmen.
Goldeyes starter Ronald Bay was effective for the most part, but surrendered a gopher ball to T-Bones catcher Craig Hurba in the fourth inning.
But then Forney is also a manager in progress, who might not even recognize the guy who first took over the reins two seasons ago. Could Forney compare the manager of today to that neophyte who took over for Hal Lanier in the summer of 2006?
"Very green, I guess," Forney said with a grin a few hours before the opening pitch of the Goldeyes' 2008 season.
"Experience is key in this job. When you first get it you think you're ready and you think you've done everything to prepare you for it, but you're really not prepared until you get in that dugout for a year or two. To be honest with you, the job isn't really about the game. It's about being a player-finder, to be part-time psychologist and sometimes a father figure for some of these guys, to give them a shoulder to lean on once in a while. There's a lot of things that have nothing to do with baseball."
So maybe it's not so surprising that a maturing manager, along with batting coach Tom Vaeth, spent the off-season scouring the diamonds for prospects who should require far less maintenance outside the white lines.
"If you're around our club for most of the season you're going to find out this is a different group of guys than we've had in years past," Forney explained. "We're younger and the priorities are different."
Perhaps because of some rather unfortunate baby-sitting experiences over this first two seasons as skipper, Forney this year focused on players who, well, don't really want to be here.
Don't misunderstand. We're talking about players with career goals that don't involve the nightlife that a large metropolitan city can offer.
"They're not here just to have a good time and spend the summer in Winnipeg," Forney noted. "They're here to better themselves and push their career to another level. They only want to be here for a month, get noticed, and move on."
Of course, history records that most won't move on in a month, so better to stock a team where the word "mature" is not a considered a negative connotation. In fact, much emphasis was placed on gathering information that had nothing to do with the game.
"For every player we signed that people will know about we talked to another 15 who you won't know about," Vaeth said. "We made a conscious effort to go out and get a lot of organized guys this year.
"Guys that have been out playing at high A and double-A, guys who've been around a little longer and seen better players. Those kinda kids you know what you're going to get on the maturity side, more so than the kids who thinks independent ball is his big leagues. Maybe he's a little more laid back and marches to his own beat.
"Sometimes we're guilty to a fault of making this too much a great place to play," Vaeth added. "Sometimes guys take advantage of it and treat it more like a summer recreational league instead of a professional league. Here, we have a nightlife that if you're not careful, kids can get lost in."
As opposed to some affiliated towns, Vaeth said, where "all they have is a Dairy Queen."
Of course, we all know that if one dedicates oneself to looking for trouble, then trouble you will find. To that end, the Goldeyes coaches have a motto: "You can party like a rock star at night as long as you play like a rock star the next day."
So far, not so much.
"We have guys you can have a conversation with outside the game of baseball," the skipper concluded. "There is a different maturity level here.
"The bus rides have been pleasant. They can usually get loud at times. There's a couple guys who can be obnoxious. But our bus ride to St. Paul and to Fargo, you could hear a pin drop."
Boring? Perhaps. Professional? Certainly.
It's often said this game is played by the Boys of Summer.
The Goldeyes just wanted a few more men, is all.
randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca
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