Dear Henry

One day last week, cousin Joshua was Camper of the Day at Home Run and guess who was the Camper of the Day the following day. That's right. Joe. I'm very proud of him. It's hustle that wins that award.

Joe is loving camp so much that he asked if we would leave him in "After Care" so he could play more baseball (kind of the opposite of Jack at Ramah). It normally ends at 3:00 pm, but Joe now stays until 5:00 pm playing ball with a few other kids who don't leave for one reason or another.



Here is everyone assembled on the bleachers for Coach Mac's pep talk. I like the character building even more than the baseball fundamentals. Joe may feel otherwise.

Your brother is the one without the hat sitting next to Joshua. Even though Coach Mac stresses the importance of wearing your uniform, Joe seems to selectively tune that out. Oh, and one other thing. Joe's cleats stink. Bad. Really, really bad. Make you want to gag bad. I take them and air them out each night but I think he redoubles his efforts the next day to make them reek of the foulest smell ever.



Jake is there for his last year as a camper. He'll be a junior coach next year. Jake continues to be an excellent player, and for the second year in a row he is heading up to Bristol, Connecticut for the Little League World Series semifinals representing Washington, DC.

He is so big now. I look at him and don't exactly think - "that's how big Henry would be" because you were definitely going to be on the short side. A lot of the FA kids take growth hormones. It seems to work.

Go Jake!



This is an email we all got early last week from Richard.

---------- Original message ----------
From: Richard Mintz
Date: Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 12:33 AM
Subject: On to Bristol . . .

Hello baseball fans.

The Capitol City Little League won the DC Little Championship Tournament with a 14-7 win over Northwest Little League, qualifying for the Mid-Atlantic Little League Tournament in Bristol, Connecticut, the next step on the road to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Through the DC tournament, we won all of our games outscoring opponents 52-7 – very good all around team effort.

For the Mintz clan: Batting second tonight, Jake went 3 for 3, with two doubles, a walk, 4 runs scored and 4 RBI’s. He made a sterling stop at second base, saving two runs and then pitched in relief for two solid innings. Lots of work ahead of us to prepare for the tournament, just 18 days away.

We play games in Bristol on Aug 1, 3, 4, 5 and more if we keep on winning.

Let me know if and when you’ll be joining us in Bristol and I’ll make a room reservation for you at the Marriott Farmington.

Go Cap City!