"FAN FEST FOUR - FINAL FINALE"

I hung around for the next 'town-hall meeting', this time featuring Larry Beinfest, flanked on one side by Josh Willingham and Mike Jacobs and on the other by Jeremy Hermida and Sergio Mitre. The moderator was radio's Roxy Bernstein (it was the first time I ever saw him - he looks young enough to have just come out of college). This time I took some sporadic notes of what they said, which is why this post is so late - I felt I could stall until I could get some time to myself to do it. Now I hope I can read my notes. Let's see...

- Larry made it clear to the questioning fans that he has nothing to do with the stadium issue, that that was Samson's department. He also said that this year is totally unlike any other year that he's presided over, that Loria wants to win every year, that he supports the WBC, and that the cigar smell has finally been removed from the clubhouse (laughter).

- Mitre showed up with a mustache and goatee, with prompted a question about Girardi's no-facial-hair rule. Mitre says that he has no problem with it, that what was on his face at that moment was there just through laziness. Then Josh mentioned that he had no facial hair to shave, which also got the crowd laughing.

- Someone asked Josh about whether he preferred catching over left-field. He said he had no preference, and that whatever is determined in spring training is okay with him.

- Mitre said that he was greatly influenced last year as a Cub by Greg Maddox and his work ethic and preparations.

- Someone asked the players who was the nastiest pitcher that they each personally faced so far in their brief MLB careers. Jacobs said Esteban Loiaza, Hermida said Kyle Farnsworth, Josh said Billy Wagner.

- Most of the fans' questions were to Jeremy about that grand-slam homer in his first MLB at-bat. How did it feel when he hit it, how did it feel after he hit it, what kind of pitch did he hit, what kind of pitch was he expecting, how does he feel about the attention, does he realize that he'll be asked about it continously from now on - questions like that. I won't give his answers so that you can have a chance to ask him, except to say that, yes, he realizes he'll be answering these questions for the rest of his life. But he seems to have a level head - in the middle of one answer he refered to baseball a "game of failure" and said that it teaches you to be humble.

- A kid asked the players who was their favorite players when they were growing up. Jacobs said Chipper Jones, which brought out boos from the crowd. Willingham said Cal Ripken Jr., Hermida said Ken Griffey Jr., and Mitre said Nolan Ryan.

- Beinfest said that he was really impresed with Chris Volstad, calling him 'outstanding'.

That's about all I can make out from my notes, except the revelation that Mike Jacobs constantly chews sugar-free bubble gum during games.

I left Fan Fest at this point. I passed by the box office in doing so, and saw only a couple of people standing at the windows.