Inside The Clubhouse: Commanding Presence

A few days ago, I received another story from Scott Thigpen among my many e-mails. As Scott even says, it's more entertaining in person than in print, but it still shows a revealing glimpse behind the scenes.

This time, the story is about Carlton Fisk. His accomplishments deserve respect and he apparently got respect from playing the game right. I'll let Scott take over.

I'd like to share a story about Carlton Fisk. When my Dad and I went down to Sarasota, Fisk was in his last year (I believe, it's been a while). Anyway, he was one of the players I wanted to meet since he was a legend. I didn't get to meet him, but that was ok, I wasn't going to bother anyone, I was happy to be in the clubhouse :)

My Dad and I went to the practice the day after we got there and got to watch BP and it was cool. Remember, this was my first experience at a major league club, spring training or otherwise, so it was all pretty cool. My Dad and I sat in the bleachers and named players on the field and just enjoyed being there.

If I remember correctly, the clubhouse was out beyond right field. We saw a pretty big guy step out of the clubhouse and walk slowly to the batters box, where a couple of younger players were taking bp. As the player got closer, we saw that it was Fisk. As he got to third, everyone in the cage, packed up their stuff and headed out. There were three or four players in line and taking turns batting. They all cleared out when Fisk got there. It was cool, seeing the old warrior stride up and all the young guns clear out.

We had been watching BP for a while and it was funny to see how he walked up, took his swings and walked back to the clubhouse.

Anyway, that's one of my favorite stories from that weekend. In print, it's not quite as entertaining but I thought you'd like to hear it.

I loved hearing about that, Scott! That certainly paints a picture of how much even the rookies respected Fisk. I'm sure all the Fisk fans who read this blog will appreciate that story!

Thanks, Scott! I really appreciate that you take the time to share these stories with me and you allow them to be passed on to my readers.