Draft Dignitary

Following a page from the National Football League, Major League Baseball is asking each team to send dignitaries to sit at the draft table during the first few rounds acting as eye-candy for the cameras carrying the draft. Teams are drawing upon their storied histories bringing out heroes from long ago to attend the draft. The list of celebrities reads like a Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Al Kaline will be there for the Detroit Tigers. Billy Williams will represent the Chicago Cubs and Randy Jones and Dave Winfield will be there for the San Diego Padres. For teams such as the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays they have a much smaller catalog of former players to choose from. Tampa Bay for example really couldn't find any of their former players that could represent the team. They therefore a sending Don Zimmer who is probably best remembered for being thrown to the ground by Pedro Martinez during a bench-clearing brawl between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. I know that's not really fair since Zimmer was a good player and a better coach having been in the game since they used rocks for bases. Still I challenge you to ask 10 fans who Don Zimmer is and you will get at least 2 that will mention Popeye being thrown to the ground by Pedro. The Rays must have thought it best to send someone with Zimmer to the draft so they are sending former Diamondbacks pitcher Brian Anderson who was invited to spring training this year but did not make the club. So technically; the Rays are sending a player who never played for their franchise. That got me thinking. If BA can represent the Rays, who would the Diamondbacks send?
I anticipated seeing names like Matt Williams or Jay Bell thrown about. Since both of these players were original Diamondbacks and still have connections with the team they would seem appropriate. I could even see the Diamondbacks sending Brett Butler who managed the Mobile Bay Bears last season before suffering a stroke or possibly Mark Grace who is now the color commentator for Diamondbacks telecasts. I was therefore just a little surprised when I saw that Arizona went a different direction and will be sending special assistant to the president Roland Hemond. There is no doubt that Mr. Hemond is qualified, he was instrumental in building several current franchises and is well respected within the game. The Diamondbacks are also sending Ray Blanco and Luke Wrenn. Yes that's right, fans attending the First-Year Draft will have the opportunity to meet Ray Blanco and Luke Wrenn! What's that? You don't know who Ray Blanco and Luke Wrenn are? These two gentlemen are amateur scouts in the Diamondbacks organization. Blanco played for the Cuba national team and has been a scout for 20 years. He covers southern Florida for the Diamondbacks so I guess they figured he was in the neighborhood anyways so he may as well be there. Luke Wrenn has been a scout for 25 years and was responsible for scouting current Diamondbacks shortstop Stephen Drew. He also scouted Nomar Garciaparra and Mike Hampton thereby proving that nobody is perfect. I am just slightly concerned that the fans at the draft may not understand and appreciate the representation the Diamondbacks are sending to this party. I am therefore offering my services as a fourth delegate to the draft. I know who Ray Blanco and Luke Wrenn are and I've actually met Roland Hemond once (I'm sure he doesn't remember that but it was a big deal for me). I also have been to Disney World about a million times so I can give the guys some tips as to which resort to stay at and which Disney Bus will take them to Wide World of Sports. I've also got some contacts within the parks so I might be able to swing us a few Fast Passes that will get us to the front of the line at Expedition Everest in Disney's Animal Kingdom. Seriously I can see no downside to this offer. I have a partial unused park ticket and my own Mickey Mouse ears so the Diamondbacks would not even need to get me an admission ticket or souvenirs thereby saving the team some money that they could use to sign their draft picks. And since the Diamondbacks will be on the road during the draft I have plenty of time I can devote to this assignment. It's something to think about, hopefully the Diamondbacks will take me up on this offer.