Strange things can happen. I refuse to believe anybody is automatically counted out of the district tournaments. Baseball is like that.

Justin had an upper respiratory infection. I'm not making excuses for the kid, but he just ran out of gas. Still, you can't give a team like that chances.

It's kind of like, if I wasn't in the game, if I wasn't even part of professional baseball, if it wasn't my job, I'd be excited just for the area. Just knowing we're going to have somebody coming in bringing all these changes, the excitement that he brings is very uplifting. It's fun to be part of it.

Willie Mays is an American icon and he is obviously one of the most recognizable figures with Negro League baseball. To have someone of his stature and to take his time to come, helps to legitimize the event and show how important it is to recognize the event.

They had just been named the worst organization in all the minor leagues by Baseball America . I was 23, and I figured I could turn things around and make a name for myself. I quickly discovered otherwise.

We knew coming into this game that we were going to have to play near-perfect baseball because they're so fundamentally sound, and we didn't do that. But this (tournament) was a good experience for us.