Being new to all this I have no idea about what is happening when the ESPN states a particular professional player’s start is in question because there is a problem with his contract. After a week or two I’m starting to get a feel for things. For instance: My son called yesterday and said he may not get to start in the season opener because of contractual problems. Seems it all comes back to me and it’s my fault! Since he’s not 21 yet I have to sign for him. His club sent me his contract to sign and I signed the contract and placed it in the pre-paid FedEx envelope, drove down to FedEx 20 miles away, walked up to the counter and explained I had a pre-paid envelope and asked for instructions. The clerk plucked the envelope from my hand and informed me she would to take it from here. I asked for a receipt and she punched in a few numbers in her high tech looking cash register thing and out comes a “ticket” with tracking number, destination, employee number, time of day, weight of contract, size and color of envelope...everything possible was on this slip of paper. Since it was “overnite” I’m sure it was whisked to a waiting jet and delivered to the head person of the Toronto Bluejays. Here is where the contractual problems started. This state of the art, high tech, envelope especially designed for FedEX that cannot be torn by an Olympic weightlifter that comes with its own 3M adhesive protected by the little piece of paper you remove before sealing... well, it had NEVER BEEN SEALED. The envelope was empty when it arrived.
But have no fear..FedEx has the most sophisticated tracking system in the world...The only problem is this tracking system is for envelopes....not for contents.

Fungo,

It might have been o.k. had a human not had to handle the package; then maybe it would have been sealed.

Hopefully things will get worked out. Just when you think you have the game all figured out, they change the rules.

Hang in there!

O42

That stinks, Fungo. A shame the season can't start on July 3
Congrats on your son getting selected, and best of luck to him in reaching his dreams.
JT

Fungo, That just stinks! Hopefully his club will get a new contract out ASAP. Also, hopefully you won't be reading the details of his contract in your local newspaper!

Fungo

You may need to fly to Toronto and sign it there

Fungo,

Different situation, same problem. A friend of mine's son who was supposed to start for Vancouver called and said that his and a couple other players contracts haven't been authorized by the home office yet and probably wouldn't be until the end of the week so they can't play.

You'd think a "business" like MLB (or maybe it's just the A's) would have their act together a little better.

Sounds like an issue for an agent to resolve.

Fungo,
You are too funny. BTW, did you forget to seal it? Make that fedex driver make the 20 mile trip out to YOUR house!
Well I see at the next level, there are a whole set of different problems that pop up.
Parents, keep us posted so in the future, some of us can be prepared.

I'll trade you that problem for our hope that our older son gets enough summer league innings to be ready for fall practice at his new school, and that son number two looks good in his summer showcases.

It's all perspective; and I know you know that already. Neat to read about happenings where most can only dream of...thanks!

Fungo- I think TR has a great idea! Let the business run itself for a few days and Enjoy a trip to Toronto!

Congratulations to Josh - it should be an exciting year!

PS- it's always the parents fault don't you know!

One small problem ... Fungo doesn't fly. Luke sorry to here about the mess up. But after all you were just doing your job and being a pain for Josh! It's your parental duty, obligation and right!

Bob is right....I'm like John Madden. NO flying for me. I’m a former aircrew member in the US Navy so I can say I don’t have an inherent phobia about flying but my past experiences just make me acutely aware of what can happen once a human gets airborne. I refuse to suffer the same fate as my FedEx package.

Fungo -
It's that Murphy and his Law again. You'd think that the "I'll take care of it" stuff would include seeing that the envelope was completely sealed! Good grief. However, this must mean that everything else will go smoothly right? My congrats to Josh!

Fungo, I am not sure what you have against flying. It is the landing that usually causes the problems

Here is the link for an interview with Josh Bell.

http://bluejays.scout.com/2/389231.html

Infielddad,
Thanks for the link. I wasn't aware of the Q&A with Josh or the "Inside the Dome" website...but since it requires a subscription to read the Q&A, I guess I will have pay up or just imagine what it says.
Fungo

Fungo,
Sorry. I have sent you some information in a PM on other Blue Jay sites/blog that you might find either useful or another way to avoid work...like I do.

Fungo

From my experience and proven statistics, flying is a whole lot safer than driving!

Fungo,
I've designed aircraft and I'll still fly on them, but I won't fly on a helicopter.

Wvmtner,
Those stats are usually based on passenger miles, not on a per trip basis for a given individual.

CADAD

Maybe so but it's a whole lot easier to get a drivers license, it's a lot more congested on the highways and there are a lot more idiots driving cars than there are flying planes. Not to mention getting shot at. You're from So Cal, I shouldn't have to convince you.