{"id":8137,"date":"2023-10-13T08:23:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T12:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=8137"},"modified":"2023-10-13T08:23:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T12:23:40","slug":"bens-baseball-blog-6-good-people-in-this-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/13\/bens-baseball-blog-6-good-people-in-this-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben’s Baseball Blog #6: Good people in this world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor’s Note: Local teacher Ben Fawbush is sharing his adventures through the Reds organization via a Lilly grant with WZBD. Follow along with each post as he takes an inside look at professional baseball in America. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By BEN FAWBUSH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special Report for WZBD<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There truly are great people in this world who go out of their way to help someone who they have never met. Sometimes in life you just get lucky by knowing someone who knows someone. In this case, it happened to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Way back in February when I announced to the social media world that I had been awarded this grant to follow my baseball dreams, an old high school friend who I haven\u2019t really talked to in a long time came to my assistance. The power of social media and keeping \u201cin touch\u201d with everyone I know paid off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter Tara Burge Phelps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once Tara read my post she sent me a message\/text letting me know that she had a great contact for me to get in touch with. We chatted, I got the person\u2019s information, contacted them, and waited for a response. This contact was\/is a very busy person. Hank Reed is that person. Hank and I played email tag for a while and then finally texted and spoke on the phone. To give you a very brief description of Hank, whom I have still, to this point, never met in person, he used to negotiate baseball player contracts. He has contacts within the Reds organization and others. He is very down to earth and loves his family, sports, and life. Never once did he ask for anything in return for helping me (although I am trying to think of ways to show my gratitude as \u201cthank you\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to fit the bill).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hank called me back in early September and asked when I wanted to get this stuff done. I explained my journey to Daytona and Dayton.\u00a0 He asked, \u201cDo you want to do Cincinnati this year since they are in the playoff hunt?\u201d Ummm..yeah I do! Long story short Hank got in touch with his connections at the Reds and my son, Ryne, and I were able to watch the Reds battle the Pirates on a very important late September weekend in which the Reds sorta shot themselves in the foot (they were up 9-0 in the 3rd inning and then lost in extra innings). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were able to witness Joey Votto\u2019s last home at-bat (single). We were able to see Joey get a more than deserved standing ovation when he started his last game at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hank was also able to get Ryne and I into the Reds Hall of Fame at no cost to us.\u00a0 This Hall of Fame, in my opinion, is right up there with the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.\u00a0 They had so much history on display, including a special feature on “Women in Baseball” which was very interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The “Women in Baseball” exhibit in the Reds Hall of Fame. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was such an awesome experience.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t get media credentials this\u00a0time although\u00a0we tried (playoff time isn’t a good time I found out). We didn\u2019t get a tour. We didn\u2019t get to interview anyone. We had father and son time. It doesn\u2019t get any better than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
No trip to Cincy is complete without a bit of Skyline Chili. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hank and I will be in touch as next season rolls around and I plan on meeting up with him and going to a ballgame to pick his brain and listen to his experiences. To Hank: Thank you for your selflessness and dedication to making my journey as good as it could be – I can\u2019t wait to meet you and watch some baseball. To Tara: Thanks for reaching out and hooking me up with Hank; you didn\u2019t have to do this, but that\u2019s just the person I have always known you to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I am currently watching the future of Major League Baseball in Arizona for the next week. Arizona Fall League is a great time to sit back, watch baseball, and enjoy the weather and scenery. Next year I will pick up my journey and continue on to Dayton for 2 days, Chattanooga, Louisville, and Cincinnati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow more of Ben’s blog on WZBD.com using the tag #lillyblog or by clicking here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: Local teacher Ben Fawbush is sharing his adventures through the Reds organization via a Lilly grant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[44,15,75,26],"class_list":["post-8137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-baseball","tag-featured","tag-lillyblog","tag-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230924_140942-scaled.jpg?fit=1920%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}