Our return to the diamond was courtesy of the Reds, who rolled out the indoor/outdoor carpeting for us. We eliminated competition committee, which solved that problem and got us back to our roots—fun and fellowship—and invented the TELOMUGs [The Extraordinary League of Most Unusual Gentlemen]. TELOMUGS allow the old guys—the fellows who built the club and have aged together thoughout the decades—to play among themselves before turning the field over to the Young Guns.

Rather than a draft, we went old school with a two-manager bat toss, hand-over-hand after that up to the knob, and chose up sides.

As bad as the Diamondbacks had been, the Cincinnati Reds proved to be the greatest hosts ever. We could not have asked for a better experience to rejuvenate our friendships, purpose, and soulful renewal. We did what we always loved to do: We played ball for fun with our friends.

As luck would have it, the Chairman sat next to Pete Rose on the flight back home and for three hours talked baseball, horses, No Bats, Cabo, and perhaps women. Pete limps along these days, so the Chairman helped him to his connecting gate back to Las Vegas. Pete groused about how the Reds don’t pay appearance money, yet he fills the stadium each time he’s honored. Pete’s view of the Reds differs from ours. To us, Cincinnati is the best.