WICHITA — Two nights, hundreds of cookies and thousands of laughs later, the Santa Barbara Foresters bus arrived in Wichita, KS, at about 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday for the National Baseball Congress World Series.
It’s strange, but no one seems to remember anything specific about the ride. When you spend 26 of 29 hours in a rolling metal tube, all the card games, iPod songs, movie-quote recitations and uncomfortable nap attempts just blend into a massive mission in which the only goal is to eat up time as the team’s beloved 1978 MC-9 eats up highway.
Pitcher Jesse Meaux finds an interesting sleeping position as the bus rolls through Arizona.
This year’s trip included a few more passengers (21 total) and less room to lay down or stretch out than last year, especially with the likes of 6-foot-8 pitcher Tom Lemke, 6-5 Bryce Uhrig, 6-4 Walker Moore and 6-4 Jesse Meaux on board. It also included a two-hour delay after being pulled over in Gallop, NM, for some sort of registration check and having to back-track 20 minutes to the Arizona border and go through again.
Regardless, manager Bill Pintard made sure everyone knew he was proud of them when the bus pulled into the Cambridge Suites Hotel in Wichita. He was proud because complaints and bickering were virtually non-existent, and everyone seemed to step off with a smile.
In 2009, the “‘Ster bus” rolled all the way through with no more than a gas-station stop and a fascinatingly authentic breakfast in Tucumcari, NM, along the way. Since the departure time Carpinteria was 10 p.m. as opposed to mid-afternoon this time around, the schedule was a bit different. The first night was a gregarious one, with the novelty of the bus ride still in effect and all the players singing along to pitcher/outfielder Ryan Hawthorne’s iPod playing everything from 90s hits to techno to Lil’ Wayne while eating the treats provided to us by the Kavanaugh and Larsen families (as well as the numerous other host families who chipped in cookies, cupcakes and such… thanks!).
Everyone was able to get some sleep eventually, whether it was on the floor in the aisle or in some pretzel-position in a seat.
The Forester bus parked in Albuquerque.
On Monday afternoon, everyone got to work out, swim and shower during a two-hour stop at High Point Fitness in Albuquerque, a nice gym and fitness center which was kind enough to host the team. Moore’s aunt and grandma met us there to say hello, and we also met another aunt in Gallop, as he has family all over the state on his mom’s side.
Most of the players took advantage of the pool while shortstop Jeff McNeil and reliever Nolan Rudman played a less-than-graceful game of tennis. High Point served up some tasty sandwiches and we were back on our way. Drivers Martin and Aby had been working in shifts up until then, but they flew back home and made way for Gene, a lovable old guy from Wichita who has driven the Foresters around town during the tournament in years past.
After 900 miles of rock formations in Arizona and nothingness in the badlands of New Mexico, I-40 makes way for the home stretch — 400 miles through the northern tip of Texas, a slice across the Oklahoma Panhandle and a jaunt across most of the state of Kansas. Everyone managed to find enough room to sleep in the back while assistant coach Alex Hoover, outfielder Nick Melino, Moore, pitcher Hoby Milner and myself played about six straight hours of “3-5-7,” an addictive poker-esque game.
Outside, it was one small town after another, with an endless chain of gas stations and old diners that feature window-paintings to cheer on the local high school football team. One said “This is Elk Country!” although you’re as likely to see a Flamingo as an Elk in Oklahoma. There are also silos holding grain peppering the side of the highway.
We stopped in Guymon, OK, the largest city in the Panhandle at 11,000 people, in the middle of the night for a tank of gas and some snacks for the final stretch. Moore noticed that the windshield was covered in splattered bugs, so he used the long-handled squeegee (for all the semi-trucks) to clear Gene’s view up. Gene is a true pro, but even the pros can get tired and only after hours on the road. Coach Pintard kept him company for the final couple of hours by standing up front and talking about everything from old-time baseball to recent Santa Barbara history.
Walker Moore cleans bugs off the windshield in Guymon, OK.
Pintard and pitching coach Dan Yokubaitis each have “offices” at the front of the bus, with “luxurious” 4’x4′ squares of floor where the front rows of seats have been removed so they can lay down. It’s also where the outlets to charge electronic devices are, so it looked like a Radio Shack with all the computers and cell phones plugged in. It’s crazy to think about all the communication that is generated from such a bus nowadays between all the texts, facebook status updates, mobile uploads and tweets that our phones sent along the way. The two brave females on the bus — trainer Margaret Rall and assistant/intern/coach’s daughter Brittany Pintard — watched movies on a laptop, and McNiel’s PSP even provided some video game entertainment.
How did they make such a trip without these things 20 years ago? It’s not as if baseball players are known for being bookworms.
The final hour seemed like three, but the moment of laying our heads down in an actual bed was instant bliss. The time for killing time is over, as there is a baseball tournament to focus on. Pintard said last week in an interview that anything less than a national championship would be considered a disappointment, and with an uber-talented group that went 40-9 on the regular season, everyone seems to feel the same way.
We ate up 1,500 miles of road to get here, and now it’s time to eat up the competition. Otherwise it could be a long, long drive home.
The Foresters’ first game is against the Casa Grande (AZ) Cotton Kings at 8 p.m. PDT Wednesday. All games starting before 11 p.m. will be broadcast on AM 1490 in Santa Barbara, and every game will also be broadcast on sbforesters.org.
