Baseball

Southwest Michigan Devil Rays shortstop Reid Brignac, at CO Brown Stadium in Battle Creek.

Southwest Michigan Devil Rays left fielder, chasing what turned out to be a Jason Armstrong single in a game at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park.

Felix Escalona (I'm pretty sure, but not absolutely certain) scoring for the 2000 Michigan Battle Cats at Battle Creek's CO Brown Stadium. The Cats were a Houston farm club in 2000, and Escalona's teammates included John Buck, Mike Gallo, and Jason Lane. Chad Qualls and Roy Oswalt were both on the 1999 team. (So was Minnesota's Johan Santana.) (Just imagine that....) 2001? We had Chris Burke. Needless to say, I'm rooting for Houston. Felix made it to the majors with the Devil Rays, and is now an occasional Yankee . Camera: Nikon N90s

...Ramirez. For Jules, & Em. West Michigan @ Lansing, 090505. Din't say no more baseball. Just no more endless strings of pitcher pictures ....

Lansing third baseman Jason Armstrong and shortstop Ryan Klosterman react to a bounding ball in a game at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park.

Oldsmobile Park, Lansing, Michigan. It's September 3, 1996, and the Lugnuts are about to host their first postseason game ever. That appears to be Scott Key signing a baseball. Camera: Chinon Genesis III. Scanned from a slide.

Had to wait while my druggist filled a prescription yesterday, so I found myself wandering around downtown Grand Ledge with a camera. This cozy Pony League ballpark, called Fitzgerald Field, is tucked in beneath Bridge Street's bridge across the Grand River. This is a small, but fully functional, ballyard, with bleachers and dugouts and signs on the outfield fences. Needs some grass, though. Really quite cute. Shot this photo from the bridge; Second Island would be in sight if I'd pointed the camera to the right.

Fort Wayne's Yordany Ramirez dives for safety at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park in a successful second-inning steal on September 1, 2005. That's Lansing's Eugenio Velez waiting for the throw at second, with Luggie shortstop Ryan Klosterman moving over to back up the play. David Hicks watches the play develop from first base. I miss baseball. ------- In the event you don't already know, I'm moving most of my baseball pix to another Flickr account: mwlguide . See you there!

This photo was in my desktop background rotation for years . It doesn't work so well on the hi-res monitors I use these days. Joe Hamilton of the Michigan Battle Cats, at bat at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park in August of 1996. The catcher's Matt Treanor , then of the Lansing Lugnuts but more recently a Florida Marlin. My favorite 'Cat; one of my favorite Luggies. Photo taken with my Chinon Genesis III. Not sure how I processed this, nor what tool I used. But I should rescan the pic & figure it out.

My friend and colleague Bob , watching the Luggies at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park. I'm ready. Where's baseball?

The Babe was wandering around SkyDome (sorry: Rogers Centre) before the Yanks/Blue Jays game on August 5, 2005. I imagine there's a backstory, but it turns out I don't really care. SABR 35 Convention photo. This photo's also posted on my other (baseball) Flickr .

CO Brown Stadium, Battle Creek, Michigan--home to the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays. And my home away from home. Picked up my season tickets today. More photos here .

Baseball's back! Southwest Michigan Devil Rays shortstop Brandon Rousseve, sprinting after a popup. Original photo here . More photos from the game, too. Taken at Oldsmobile Park in Lansing.

I think those are John Matulia's feet. Fort Wayne @ Southwest Michigan, 4/10/2006. I'll get the rest of the pix up in the MWLguide photostream this evening....

Cedar Rapids manager (& third base coach) Bobby Magallanes chats with baserunner Brad Coon. Meantime, Southwest Michigan pitching coach R.C. Lichtenstein confers with pitcher Wade Davis, catcher Matt Spring, and first baseman Ryan Bethel about the situation. Lightly shopped; the original's here . 3rd inning at C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek, Michigan. I took a couple hundred photographs last night and have posted them on the MWLguide photo stream .

Southwest Michigan outfielder Garrett Groce steals another base. Garrett does that a lot. Original photo here . More photos from the game here .

Southwest Michigan catcher Alex Jamieson tags incoming Cedar Rapids baserunner Flint Wipke in the first inning of a game at Battle Creek on April 21, 2006. Wipke's trying to score from second on Mark Trumbo's single to left; Pat Reilly's already scored on the hit, and on deck batter Warner Madrigal's urging Wipke to slide. ============= The strange effects partly resulted from a mis-setting, as the (Chinon Genesis) camera didn't realize I'd installed the lens extender. Over the years, I've done that a lot. In this case, though, we can blame the camera; I was fighting to get it to hold its settings, and by game's end the camera had completely failed. I'm reasonably sure the second roll I took at the game will be the last for this camera. Sad, but not that sad. The camera served me well for a number of years, but I've got far better equipment. As I've discussed before , it took good pictures but wasn't the right camera for this photographer. The original scan , and the rest of the roll , are on the MWLguide photo stream .

Baserunner Alex Jamieson (Southwest Michigan) and first baseman Habelito Hernandez (Dayton) watch the developing play. It never ceases to amaze me how closely these young professionals watch the ball. Midwest League action at Battle Creek, Michigan's C.O. Brown Stadium, May 23, 2006. Original photo here . 444(!) game photos here .