I have been waiting for this one for a while--The Dodgers' Chin-Lung Hu gets a single, and the logical comment brings Abbott and Costello to mind.

Celebrating 15 years as quiet but powerful force in Major League Baseball, the Arizona Fall League commemorating its anniversary with a mid-season All-Star Game, featuring the best players in the league, many of whom are top draft picks destined for stardom. I read somewhere that nearly half of the players in this year's World Series were former AFL stand outs. That speaks volumes.

The game featured a rematch between the Mets Mike Pelfrey and the Phillies Gio Gonzalez. The spotlight in this clip is on three other players: Hunter Pence of the Astros who is one of the best young players I have seen in a while (he can hit, hit with power, field and throw), Dewon Day of the White Sox (his proud mom and dad gave us free tickets before the game) and Scott Tyler of the Marlins. We learned about Tyler, a Philadelphia-area kid, from his proud father who sat behind us. His dad, Toby Tyler, is a former ABA player who flew to Arizona to see his son (a second round pick) show his stuff.

The West team lost 3-1, and the sad note here is that the losing pitcher, Devin Perrin, is a Phoenix area guy with a huge cheering section of friends and family.

Another season of Arizona Fall League begins on a sunny Friday afternoon as the Peoria Saguaros host the Mesa Solar Sox. A lot of featured players today, most notably the starting pitchers: Mike Pelfrey of the Mets (former first round pick) and Gio Gonzalez (former first round pick) who came to the Phillies as part of the Jim Thome trade with the White Sox. After seeing Gonzalez pitch (and we also saw him in the Futures Game in Pittsburgh), the Chisox soon will be sorry the dealt him. Both he and Pelfrey displayed major league stuff in their individual three scoreless innings on the mound.

One humorous note: as a Phillies fan, I stopped young catcher Jason Jaramillo (played with Reading last year) to wish him good luck and identified myself as a Philadelphia native. He pointed to my shirt and asked me why I was wearing a Cubs Spring Training shirt if I was a Phillies fan. He walked away laughing.

One notable player not featured in this clip is 18-year-old Fernando Martinez of the Mets. He is the youngest player in AFL history having just turned 18. In the 5th inning, he came up, flicked his wrists, and hit one out in dead center field. Quite impressive.

It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of former Phillies great, Johnny Callison. What great irony that Callison wore number 6 and Ryan Howard, who wears that now, stands poised to perhaps be the MVP. Callison, a great right fielder who is know for winning the 1964 All-Star game with a home run, was a slugger who was a great RBI man and had a terrific throwing arm.

Callison probably never earned more than 15 or 20 thousand in his best year. Today, he’s be worth millions upon millions. I would compare him to someone like Moises Alou or maybe Jason Bay. In his prime, he was one of the top 10 outfielders in the game, and that’s saying a lot if you think who played in the ‘60s.

Featured here is a clip taken at Citizens Bank Park in July, 2005. It features the Phillies All-Century Team monuments which includes a nice look at Johnny Callison.

Number 6, you will always be in our hearts.

It’s difficult for me to remember if I ever went to a baseball stadium with no intention of going to the game being played that day. Today, we went to Chase Field to grab some of the color in and around Luis Gonzalez’s last day as an Arizona Diamondback. The fans were out in full force to provide a proper goodbye to the man who is the face of the Arizona baseball franchise. For the record, it’s also the last Diamondbacks game for Craig Counsell who is a class act, but is no Gonzo.

This clip contains TV footage of Gonzo’s last at-bat. Enjoy.