Jason walks off with his catcher El Duque Hernandez

Friday was the highlight of our week at Yankees fall baseball camp.

Finally getting to play on the main stage of George Steinbrenner Field, a gorgeous expanse of green grass and Yankee blue sky that seats over 11,000, Jason and Scott moved to the big time of the camp experience after our first six games on some of the complex outer fields.

With Yankee Stadium PA announcer Paul Olden on hand to call the play-by-play, we enjoyed a doubleheader sweep, 12-2 in the morning game and 12-3 in the afternoon. Neither game was as close as the final score, either. It always puts a chill through a Yankees fan to hear Sinatra croon “New York, New York” for victory at game’s end, as we did today. After all, at camp when Yankees play Yankees, even at this level, one of the Yankees teams has to win.

An enthusiastic crowd of about eight people was on hand for the opener as we beat the Tanyon Sturtze-El Duque Hernandez coached team for the second time in three days. Jason got to catch ‘Duque for a couple of innings and each lad got an at-bat against the four-time World Champion. They had about as much luck against him as most major leaguers did during ‘Duque’s nine year career.

Yankees legend Ron Guidry keeps Scott on his toes at first

As a special Yankees treat, Ron Guidry, Louisiana Lightning, was in camp Friday to help coach at both our games. The 170-game winner was a Yankee for 14 years and is a southern gentleman. He’s also a rabid LSU football fan, which will be unfortunate for him on Saturday night.

Among the three of us, our bats came alive with six hits, two for each of us in the first game, and they both drove me in from third at one point during the rout.

The afternoon, with record high temps once again about 90 degrees, was against Shane Spencer’s team who were winless for the week at 0-7. A half dozen bottles of champagne sat on their bench as they planned to celebrate either their first win or totally ineptitude.

With the crowd at Steinbrenner Field swelling to about a dozen, we fell behind 2-0 in the first but got seven runs in the third to make the champagne celebration one of futility for our counterparts.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, but pointed out by both boys a few minutes later, in that explosive third inning, at one time, the bases were loaded with Bergers. It was chronological too: I was on third; Jason on second and Scott at first!

Our bats stayed corked in the afternoon with seven hits and we closed the week with 36 family hits in 88 at-bats for a .409 average. Scott had 14 of them and Jason an even 10.

Of course, it didn’t hurt any of our swings to be sitting in the dugout with coach Chris Chambliss, who was a hitting coach with the Yankees, Mets, Cardinals, Reds, and Mariners. He even had a tip or two that helped a 63-year-old relic.

As a team, The Bombers, clocked in with five wins in eight games, good enough for a second place finish, only one game behind the eventual champs who were swept on the day.

Losing my appeal in kangaroo court. Foreground is bailiff Homer Bush; center Judge Tanyon Sturtze and in rear is in competent counsel Oscar Gamble.

After an entertaining team dinner on Friday night, with Homer Bush and Chambliss holding court with old baseball stories, all that remains of my dream week is our two-inning game on Saturday morning against the ex-real Yankees.

Kangaroo Court did find Jason and Scott Friday morning. Chief Justice Tanyon Sturtze fined them $5 each for being my sons. Frankly, I didn’t take kindly to it and thought it was a frivolous sanction.

Thus, I used the available in-house appeal of the camp court system and engaged former outfielder Oscar Gamble, who serves as a very incompetent, but cheap, defense attorney to represent me.

I got just what I thought I would. I asked Mr. Gamble to explain to Judge Sturtze that the kids really had no choice but to be my kids. Sturtze was understanding, but still doubled the fine to $10 each.

I paid the fine and fired Oscar Gamble.

Text and Images by Roy Berger for PeterGreenberg.com