[gskweres9]

Dunedin is a beautiful town, and it's unique compared to a lot of the spring training and minor league towns in Florida. It is small and quaint and has a real family feel about it. With a population of just 35,000, you'd have to make the roughly hour drive to Tampa to really get a big city feel. I guess Clearwater would work too. That doesn't mean there isn't anything to do in Dunedin. After all, it's on the beach, and who doesn't like the beach?

Unfortunately, Travis Everett wouldn't really take all that much time to explore the area. I guess it really depends on your point of view whether it was unfortunate or not. He planned on spending pretty much all of his free time at the team's facility, Dunedin Stadium. It didn't take Travis a long time to sign his contract after being drafted in the 22nd round, and he reported to Dunedin immediately, ready to get to work.

At 23 years-old, Travis was one of the elder statesmen in Dunedin. He was the oldest position player, and two relievers named Chris Shivers and Jay Wilson were the only other 23 year-olds. Shivers was a 28th round draft pick out of UCF in Orlando. Wilson was drafted the year before by the Rockies in the 14th round out of Miami of Ohio, but got released after injuring his elbow. As the older guys on the team, the three naturally got along. Both Travis and Shivers played their collegiate ball in Florida. Travis' best friend on the team, however, was a fellow outfielder named Miko Rodriguez. Rodriguez was a 19th round pick out of Texas A&M. Travis had grown up a Texas A&M fan, and his brother and father both attended A&M. The two bonded easily. They were both familiar with College Station, they were both middle round draft picks, and they were both outfielders.

The two bonded even more when June 21st rolled around, the date of the team's first game. Neither Miko or Travis were in the lineup. Travis got in the game in the 9th inning as a defensive replacement, but he didn't get an at-bat.

After the game, the two went for drinks and food at Dunedin Microbrewery, which is actually the oldest microbrewery in Florida. Travis loved history, and doing little things like this was enjoyable to him. I guess it makes sense that he loves a game with the history of baseball. After wallowing in misery temporarily, Travis looked at Miko.

"You know what this means, right?" Travis said.

"What's that?" Miko replied.

"Time to get to work," Travis said, gulping down the last bit of his beer.

His life in baseball had never been easy.