Dugout interviews get the FastForward Adventure Reporters up close and personal with their favorite players
SPORTS FEATURE - October 2011
By KC Badala, Tyler Baker-Williams, Nina Becam, Joseph Blair, Matt Coopersmith, Simon Crabill, John Hassen, Katrina Horsey, Connor McGuigan, Ashley Salinas, Alex Schwartz and Sari Wisoff - from Branson, Marin Academy, Marin Country Day, Marin Horizon, Marin Catholic, Marin Primary & Middle, Redwood High, Ross, Tam High and Terra Linda High Schools
Getting closer is everyone’s dream. Walking into the defending World Champions stadium with butterflies in our stomachs, we were on the way to meet to our favorite world champion baseball players—the SF Giants. Excitement washed over us like water gushing out of a waterfall as we took our own press passes and stepped through the tall metal gate of AT&T Park. The smell of popcorn, churros, and hotdogs wafted down to the field from the food courts as the thought of ballpark food made us want to float six feet off the ground all the way to the source of the smell as you see so often in those corny cartoons. Our eyes bigger than baseballs and our mouths open wide enough to swallow up the great AT&T Park itself, we gazed around at the place where legendary baseball superstars are born, pinching ourselves harder and harder as we got closer to the dugout. As soon as we walked down those steps, we knew we had just set foot in the ultimate Giants paradise.
The first player we got the spectacular opportunity to meet was 2nd baseman Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera was born and raised in Columbia. “I was inspired to play by my dad,” he says. Cabrera was four years old when he first played baseball in Columbia. If there happened to be MLB in Columbia, he would love it. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Marine Biologist,” says Cabrera. “My grandfather was a fisherman, so he talked about fishing and water. I was intrigued by the sea.”