A couple weeks ago, I reached out to let you know about last Saturday’s Open House at my Yoga Studio benefiting the Wildlife Center of Virginia.

I told you about the more than 3,000 animals they cared for this year. Including Cardinals. Blue Jays. Orioles. Cubs. (No Rays. Sorry, Tampa.)

I told you about last month’s destructive ice storm that did massive damage to the animal habitats, pens, and homes at the Center.

Alex the Screech Owl and the Center’s Outreach Director Amanda Nicholson came to the Open House. But, I knew that, because of place and distance, many of you couldn’t.

But, I asked you to donate to help this good cause anyway.

And, you did!

You really did!  My heart nearly burst with happiness when I learned of your generous and wonderful gifts.

Thank you.

But, for those who couldn’t attend, I promised more than just a thank you.

And, I’m keeping my promise.

For The NY Mets Fan And Blogger… 

What do you give a Mets fan just off a terrible, bad, ugly, yukkicious, 85-loss season?

(Apparently, Jacob deGrom’s Cy Young isn’t enough to dull the pain?)

Wait. I know!

Here is Mookie Wilson, of the 1986 NY Mets (and part-namesake of my beloved cat Mookie Wilson-Betts), in Game 6 of the World Series. Sure, you know how this turns out, but isn’t it nice to hear Vin Scully remind you?

 

The Mets have won two World Series. And, yes, you would be right to wrinkle your brow wondering why the Bloggess would choose the 1986 victory over the other one.

The other one.

The. Other. One.

Whatever that one was.

I forget.

Thank you, Ken!

For The Minnesota Twins Fan And Blogger … 

Your gift is brand new. Congratulations on your signing this past week of former Oriole 2nd baseman Jonathan Schoop. He was one of my favorite Orioles and, as of this week, is my favorite Minnesota Twin.

Don’t let his brief tenure with the Brewers this summer fool you. It was a stupid, ill-conceived trade.

Have you ever been at a restaurant finishing up a rich and delicious meal and you’re totally stuffed, but they bring around the dessert menu and you look at it anyway, because, why not?, and everything looks amazing and how can you skip a dessert that is all chocolate and caramel piled high on a plate, so you order it even though you are so so so very very full, and it comes out and it’s a piece of cake as big as your head, and you take a bite and it is the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted, but after one bite all you can do is push it around on the plate with your fork with regret, because your stomach is numb with over-stuffedness, and you shouldn’t have ordered dessert, but you did, and now you’ve ruined everything.

That.

That is what the Brewers did with Schoopy. He was the dessert they never should have ordered.

He was the dessert they didn’t deserve.

Here is the most excellent Jonathan Schoop – the AL Player of the Week from July.

 

(My favorite part – besides all the home runs – is around the 2:20 minute mark and pitcher Chris Archer’s immediate reaction to his about-to-be-a-homer pitch.)

I believe this gift is the perfect fit.

Thank you, Jerol!

For The Fans Of Former Baltimore Oriole And Current Arizona Diamondback Christian Walker …

Editor/Husband never makes a gift list at Christmastime. This drives me nuts. And, it may be the reason why I end up getting him a calendar every year. (Shhh. Don’t tell.)

So, I appreciate when a giftee is very specific in their giftiness.

These donors had a very specific Bloggess request. Walker, who played a handful of games with the O’s in 2014 and ’15, and a handful with the D’Backs in 2017 and ’18, is a friend of their friend.

They wanted a Walker home run.

He hit three of them in 2018 – two off of the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw. Here’s one …

In late September, Walker was hit in the face by a pitch and suffered a season-ending sinus fracture and jaw injury.

“Could have been way worse,” Walker said after the injury. “My brain is good, my teeth are good, my eyes are good. Seems like just the jaw right now. I didn’t lose consciousness. Obviously it went really fast for me at the plate, but I guess I went to all fours, I didn’t go limp, which is a good sign. So, good so far.”

How about that? Someone who has just had his face broken by a 93 mph fastball (and was hit in the head by a pitch the season before) wraps up his situation with “So, good so far.”

Walker is currently on the 60-day DL, but D’Back’s writers think the departure of just-traded Paul Goldschmidt leaves a hole at first that Walker might be able to fill.

These are all things about Christian Walker you might not have known. (Beginning with Christian who?)

But, that’s not what was requested.

Walker has hit six major league home runs, and my donors wanted the first one. The one with the Orioles. In 2014.

They thought they could stump me. Silly, silly people.

From September 20, 2014. Red Sox versus Orioles.

 

Thank you, Lisa and Tim!

For The Marathon Runners …

To be honest, my Colorado readers who donated aren’t really baseball fans at all. Instead, they are elite runners – one a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. I’ve written about them on here before.

Their ties to baseball are tenuous, so finding the perfect thank you for them seemed impossible.

Until I discovered this …

In September 2017, the first-ever marathon inside a ballpark took place at Fenway Park in Boston.

I have anticipated your next question.

116 laps around the warning track.

(In the rain.)

 

The next time Boston does this, I’m going to badger Amie and Benji into running it.

Thank you, Amie and Benji!

For each of you who donated … thank you, thank you, thank you.  (A little something else will be arriving in the mail for you in the next week or so.)

(Thank you, too, to all those who came to last week’s Open House. I was able to thank you in person then, but one can never “thank you” enough.)

And, for those of you overcome with regret that YOU didn’t get a special “Baseball Bloggess Thank You” – it’s not too late!

Help the Wildlife Center of Virginia care for injured, ill, and orphaned animals and rebuild after last month’s destructive ice storm. Visit wildlifecenter.org and click the “Donate” button. In the “Notes” section let them know you are donating for the “Peaceful Hands Project.”

You will help save a wild animal’s life. You will be my hero.

Thank you!