As is the case on most Sundays, I watched the Twins on DirecTV. There was a little extra interest today, with the Twins taking on the Mariners, who I followed from 1998-2001 when I worked in Mount Vernon, Wash.
I was also a little intrigued with M's third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo, whose bloodline is thick with professional sports, as his father, Manu, was a college and NFL star lineman and his brothers, Marques and Zach, were college stars at the University of Washington and then NFL players.
Matt Tuiasosopo chose baseball and while he has been up and down from Tacoma to Seattle this year, he is a Major Leaguer. He also faced the Laramie All Stars in the 1998 Northwest Regional Little League Tournament in San Bernardino, Calif.
That led to me to wonder, with Laramie's rich history of going to the regional tournament, there probably have been a few Major Leaguers that not only have played in the tournament, but against Laramie.
One other comes to mind, the Rockies Troy Tulowitzki. I'm sure there are others and local baseball coach and historian, VerDon Hoopes, would have a better idea of how many MLB'ers came up through the ranks as 11- and 12-year-olds.
It's always fun to see a young baseball player turn into a MLB player. While that hasn't quite happened in Laramie or surprisingly in Cheyenne, for some reason Casper has three -- Mike Lansing, Tom Browning and Mike Deveraux.
While in Mount Vernon, I covered Kyle Kendrick while he was a high school football, basketball and baseball star, and now he pitches for the Philadelphia Phillies. I also briefly interviewed NASCAR star Kasey Kahne while he was a teenage sprint car sensation in NW Washington.
While I am sure that Kendrick and especially Kahne don't remember me from those days, I haven't forgotten, and yes, that always makes good bar conversation.
In a related note, the Laramie All-Stars will be making another trip to San Bernardino as they are coming off their 17th state title (fifth in-a-row) and will open the tournament on Aug. 6 against Auburn, Wash.
Keep track, maybe there is a future MLB'er in this tournament. Of course, we won't know for until another 10-12 years.
