Holy Crap!!!! That was one of the most frustrating posts you have put up so far. Again, I am catching up on these archived posts, but all the negative talk about contracts? Let me just say that it is my belief that contracts are between employer and employee. As far as I am concerned with your contract….Who Cares???? Wow, that was really frustrating. I feel like I missed a ton of that posts because I was getting such a headache from all the negative questions posted.

On a somewhat different note: I am a teacher. I thought it was almost laughable when you mentioned $90,000 for a salary. I am not sure if there is a public school teacher in the country that can make that. There certainly is not in New Hampshire. I suppose there are administrators or college professors that make that kind of money. But not the regular teachers. Like anyone that is happy in life, I believe that most teachers work as teachers because they love what they do. I know for a fact that people begrudge us because we get so much vacation or great hours or whatever. But honestly, I don’t know too many people in other professions that have a masters degree and make as little as $35,000. I love working with kids. I would do it for free if I could. If everyone would find a job that they loved, maybe no one would worry about what everyone else is making. I certainly don’t begrudge you your millions and I don’t expect anyone to begrudge me my days off.

Matt

First of all, thank you for giving the fans an opportunity to contact you.
My question is this. If it became apparent that Tec needed an extra day’s rest during a pitching cycle, would you be willing to have Mirabelli be the catcher for your starts? I ask this because while Tec is brilliant at calling games, you are perhaps the best prepared pitcher in the league, and therefore are the best able on the staff to call your own game if necessary.

Have you ever read Tom Seaver’s “The Art of Pitching”?

I have been a die hard Sox fan since the summer of 67 when I used to listen to the games on a radio I snuck under my pillow at night. I know that many people have written to you over the past 2 and a half years but I wanted to add my thanks for the risk you took to bring us all a world series. I listened to the 75 series while attending my school in England and would wake up at 2 am every morning to hear the games played. And when the games kept getting postponed because of rain everyone wondered what I had been doing to cause my semi-stupor each morning. When Fiske finally hit his home run I thought sure we would win it all that year. But I have learned the greater the disappointment, there will always be a bigger reward in the end and what you and the rest of our affectionate idiots did to the Yankess made 37 years of frustration worth every minute of it.

The other reason I am writing has nothing to do with baseball and I would not broach the subject here but I have been frustrated in trying to contact you directly through the Red Sox or through some other means. At least this I hope you will read. I have read stories that you collect war memorabilia and a gentle man I know has a very unique collection of war memorabilia going back to World War I. He has an authentic collection of letters, medals, and other personal memorabilia collected often times directly from the flying aces themselves. His collection spans from World War I clear up to and including the Korean War. I have seen the collection and know it to be very authentic and could never be duplicated again because most of aces have long since passed away. The gentleman in question is an older man who had a kidney transplant about 5 years ago and is not in the best of health.

I had made a promise to help try and find a buyer for him because he really is not capable of finding one himself at this point in his life. (Actually he can be a real pain to work with but I guess that goes with the eccentricity of collecting these things). Any way, about 2 years ago I read an article that you collected this type of memorabilia and wanted to find out if you were interested in learning more about his collection.

Actually, as a further reference I know someone who actually went to the same college as you, I think it was in Prescott Arizonia or some place near there. His name was Christopher Shockeye, at least he said he knew you. And of course you could always check with Steve Carlton if you know how to contact him because he knows my name and came to stay at our home in Paulden, Az briefly about 20 years ago. This was about the same time he began building his home near Durango.

I am not sure about how you could contact me but I would be glad to send you my email address and contact information if you would like to pursue the war memorabila. I can personally state I have never seen such an extensive collection in my entire life and have known the man for years as we owned the ranch next door to him for 8 years. If you are not interested it would be nice to know that as well. I do not know if I should leave my email address on this blog or not nor am I sure if i will spot your answer to my question.

In the meantime, I think you and the team are going to have a fantastic year and with Pap back in the bullpen, which was the only thing that really made any sense, I believe all of the pieces are now in place to give anyone a run for their money.

Good luck
Symtech, (My company name)

Lifelong Phillie fan here. I really wish the Phils would have taken the opportunity to sign you before you went to Boston.

I saw your comment about Carlton and Schmidt being pushed out of the game. With all due respect, I have to disagree. I was fourtanate to see Lefty’s last game in Philly with the Phillies. At that point in time, he clearly had nothing left and he tried to hang on two years after that with ERA’s over 5. Clearly I think he held on too long. Also I found your quote about Schmidt leaving too early a little odd also. I don’t remember hearing anything about that. Do you have an inside story on that?

Good luck in the upcoming year. Thanks for all the charitable work you and Shonda do in the community.