Our summer family experiment in rural Colorado benefitted rock star Joe Cocker’s foundation. As Poet Laureate Marc Matthews so eloquently put it, “When I think of family values, I think of Joe Cocker.” Cocker lived in this tiny mountain town (population 431) and we raised money to support area kids in need. Joe was out of town, so we autographed plastic red tomatoes and hid them in his greenhouse, a move he got a kick out of when he returned.

In October, Cal and Bill Ripken hosted us at their minor league ballpark, a weekend that coincided with torrential rain and the D. C. snipers’ three-week rampage. Not wishing to risk the health of a veteran, rookies were sent out to gas up the vans.

The highlights were Mike (“Luther”) O’Neil grabbing Cal and Bill’s mother Vi and planting a big kiss that caused her legs to wobble, as well as Bill taking center stage to tell the story of what it sounded like when facing Nolan Ryan. “That one sounded high,” he said to the ump. Bill was priceless, a great storyteller, while Cal relaxed and had a few beers with the guys. He also got on the phone with Brian Fawcett’s son Brad, who would grow to be a fine player and No Bats legend.

We helped launch Cal and Bill’s newly formed Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, sending a group of Boys & Girls Club kids to a Ripken baseball camp in Moses Lake, WA. Each received a personally monogrammed travel bag and stuff to go in it. Ricky Sparks and Adam Camacho, sponsored by the Cocker Foundation, were among the group. Ricky went on to play minor league ball in the Mets organization and both joined No Bats after teen-hood yielded to adulthood.