| | | MELVILLE, N.Y. -- Monday was an off day for baseball's homeless team, the minor-league Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds. One of a precious handful in a 140-day season spent entirely on the road.
|  | | The Black Diamonds usually play at a laundromat on their off day. |
"It gives you a chance to think about other things," catcher Jason Torres said. "It's just as needed a rest for your mind as for your body."
It's a chance to rest. A chance to relax. And perhaps most importantly, a chance to do your laundry. Spend five months on the road and you pile up a lot of dirty laundry.
Manager Bob Flori's off day began in the morning when he took the team's dirty uniforms to the Long Island Ducks stadium for washing. With just one set of uniforms per player -- gray of course -- Flori must bring the laundry to the stadium on the first day of each series so that his team will at least have some clean pants to wear.
Is this part of Joe Torre's job description?
Flori also picked up the team's meal money -- $18 per day per player -- for its short stay on Long Island. The meal money is supplied by the eight-team
Atlantic League that operates the Black Diamonds and is ready for the team each time it arrives in a new city. At least that's the way it's supposed to
work, and fortunately such was the case when Flori arrived for it Monday. He had player-coach Edgar Tovar distribute it to the players.
|  | | Catcher Mark Williams and second baseman Harvey Hargrove get a little chatty as they wait for their laundry. |
He ate lunch at an All-U-Can-Eat Chinese buffet restaurant, then spent the afternoon filing through the necessary paperwork for the newest Black Diamond, pitcher Terry Hayden, and returning phone calls.
"There are no days off with this job," said Flori, a combination manager, general manager and traveling secretary.
Catcher Mark Williams (one of three players with a car) and second baseman Harvey Hargrove dropped off their clothes at a laundromat in the morning and
returned in the afternoon when the clothes were clean and folded as neatly as an origami crane. Williams' 30-pound load cost him $23, nearly a day's salary just to wash his clothes, but at least he had enough clean clothes to take him through another two weeks.
Shortstop Vic Gutierrez used the day off to return to Atlanta where he is applying for permanent residency. He won't be back until Thursday, so Flori
will have Tovar take his spot at shortstop and shift P.J. Williams from center field to third base for the upcoming series.
|  | | It's not all chores on the off day as Williams and Hargrove head for the bowling alley. |
Outfielder John Adams spent the night in New York City with his wife, Jenny, who flew out from their home in Kansas for the week. This is just the third time the two have seen each other since the season began in May and probably their last visit until the season ends in September.
Torres spent his afternoon at Yankee Stadium, watching the Yankees-Angels game with his uncle, salsa musician Rey Sepulveda. Torres plays for a team
without a home ballpark but at least for one afternoon, he was able to soak in the tradition and atmosphere at the most famous stadium in American
sports.
"I was telling my uncle, 'This is my goal. I guess I'm taking the hard way but this is still my goal,' " Torres said. "To get out and see that game today fed my hunger. My goal is not the money, but to make it to the major leagues. And stay there."
Torres, 22, has never been on the field at Yankee Stadium, but he did spend a brief and wonderful time at the Ballpark at Arlington in 1997 and 1998 as part of the Rangers' Career Week for their top prospects.
|  | | Jason Torres is still very hungry for a shot at returning to a big-league clubhouse. |
"We had batting practice in the empty stadium, and there was that great sound when you hit the ball," he said. "If we take batting practice at the stadium tomorrow, it won't be the same because it isn't as large, and it won't have that great echo. I remember the balls we used in Arlington were new and white, and you could hit them farther than you can even dream."
Big-leaguers make an unimaginable amount of money. So much that it's difficult to grasp for players earning $1,000 to $1,200 a month. But there are other, more subtle displays of major-league life that you can get a grip on.
Like the soda machines in the clubhouse.
"You didn't have to put any quarters in the machine; the soda was free," Torres said. "And the freezer was filled with Nutty Buddies and Snickers and all kinds of ice cream bars, and you didn't have to pay for them. You just had to slide it open and lift them out. And there were boxes of bubble gum, one kind of bubble gum in this box, another kind in the other. And they had all those Power Bars that you pay $4 a bar for at GNC. They're in the clubhouse for free."
He shook his head, smiling.
|  | | Pitcher Kyle Sheldon didn't have to leave his hotel room to get in a workout. |
"I mean, it's like they give you just a taste."
Just a taste, but enough to linger for years.
His brief trip to the majors over, the day off nearly over complete, Torres returned to the hotel and the team with no home. He said good night to two teammates and went to the front desk to get change for a dollar.
It was laundry night, and he needed $1.75 in quarters for his load of clothes.
Senior writer Jim Caple is spending this week on the road with the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds. Page 2 has upped his per diem to $15 a day. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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