1030 Touch 'Em All

Touch 'Em All

  • 5 ? This is an excellent episode! One of my personal favorites!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 4 ? This episode was great! I will definitely tell others about it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 3 ? This episode was good. It was worth reading.

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • 2 ? This episode was like the neutral zone ? I am indifferent.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 1 ? Bellisario would be rolling in his grave if he had one.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    1
D

Dman176

Guest
Touch 'Em All
March 18, 2002

Viera, Florida


Sam must make sure that an injury-plagued pitcher who is five years removed from the game "makes" the Florida Marlins baseball team. What Sam does will affect his nephew, other teammates, and World Series history.


Written by: Greg Carey


Thanks,
TVS Team
 
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Our rating system this season consisted of six raters! We took the average of six raters and came up with an average for that episode.

Based on ratings of 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, the average of this episode was: 8.2


Some of the comments given were:

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Valery S. Gemini said:
I KNEW it would come, sooner or later: a baseball story. It seems that us Europeans will NEVER fully understand what this game is about! So I'll leave aside my close to zero knowledge of this sport, to concentrate on other aspects of the story.

I liked the parts about Al's tiredness - I don't remember having read much about that in earlier stories, but it's so easy to understand: if we follow the QL timeline, Sam has been leaping since 1995 i.e. TEN years. This hasn't been easy for him, but for the Observer, being regularly stuck in the IC for a good part of these 10 years, trying to get at least one full night of sleep between leaps etc. surely it wasn't a bed of roses either. Thanks GTFW -and Greg, Al's "old man syndrome" was only temporary!

I also liked the way Sam manages to deal with all the different & intertwined "little wrongs" needing to be put right. This sometimes can be more difficult than having to overcome one single but big problem. Great interactions between all events and characters, with Al's own action in his present being the "cherry-on-cake."

So - despite its setting in a (for me) totally mysterious universe, I loved this story a lot!

RATING: 8.5

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Sporty said:
I would rate TOUCH 'EM ALL an 8 (This was a good story. It is a good read.)

Loved the baseball angle. I am a big baseball fan, especially a Cubs fan, you should have had them win the Series instead of losing it. Though we all know it was Florida that did it really. Great story.

RATING: 8.0

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Morris Finkle said:
This was a nice change-of-pace episode compared to many of the more recent stories. Knowing a little about baseball definitely helped me enjoy some of the more intricate details of Sam's leap. Excellently written, Greg!

RATING: 8.5

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Seeker said:
No comment given.

RATING: 8.0

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Sparky said:
I really enjoyed this story! Thanks!

RATING: 8.0

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Kazzi said:
Unable to rate.

RATING: NR

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Now, it's your opportunity to rate this particular story. Let the author(s) know how you rate this story. If you'd like to give feedback, please go ahead and leave a reply!

Thanks!
The Virtual Seasons Team
 
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I don't know a great deal about baseball, but I'm a huge Yankees fan whenever they play in the World Series, so I'm familiar with a few of the names that were mentioned. Wishful thinking that they were "supposed" to win the 2003 World Series! :b

That was a very cool story, Greg! I liked it! :) The "old" angle is played up very realistically. When you consider some of the recent developments in TVS, like the new handlink, and the fact that Al has at least 2 or 3 grandchildren, etc., you can understand Al feeling his old age starting to catch up to him.

And this story actually leads perfectly into my next one. You have no idea how prophetic it is that Al wondered if Sam would still be doing all of this 10 years from now. Hmmm...

Heh heh... :evil
 
This story hit me in February when spring training/baseball exhibition season was starting up and I thought the other "Beckett" angle was too good to ignore. It was also a way for me to do quite a few things: 1) Write a much lighter story compared to my previous one...considering the season finale, I figured it would have been too much to have a very dark story lead into it...2) Tackle a whole bunch of sports issues (Kobe Bryant rape trial, steroids in baseball, etc...) without writing numerous stories with Sam as an athelete, so it became numerous tasks for our Leaper to do in one shot...
3) Address the fact that *gasp* yes our heroes have been doing this for many years and may start to lose a step...and finally 4) I wanted to write a minimalist episode in that there are not many scenes at PQL and not many characters from PQL that are featured...Just as AL referred to turning off Stephen's enhancements to use the handlink like the old days, I wanted to write a story like the original episodes ...Focus on just Sam and Al as much as possible...

Except for Mark, Pete and Steve, all the baseball players were real people...and yes the Marlins really have a minor league ball club in Albuquerque and it was named after a Simpsons episode (The Isotopes)

ps...Did everyone get the Hitchcock cameo by Bartender AL (B.A.) in the photograph at the bar? The visual of Mantle and Maris standing with B.A. popped in my head while I was writing the scene so I stuck it in...I was being cryptic as to whether or not B.A. of GTFW had influenced other athletes...Did B.A. help Maris hit 61 home runs somehow in 1961? We'll never know
 
If I am disadvantaged by knowing absolutely squat about baseball, it certainly didn't spoil my enjoyment of this story.
I like the fact that it was lots of little things for several people, emphasising the idea that the lives Sam touches touch others.
A great human story, well done!
 
Hey Greg, this was a great story! I especially enjoyed the mentions of "Married... with Children", my VS episode from earlier in the season :b , and "The Simpsons". I didn't realise that Albuquerque actually named their team after that episode. hahaha... too funny!

Overall, the episode worked out quite well. I enjoyed getting an update on Al's age (it never occurred to me that he was no longer in his '60s - really makes you think!).

I did enjoy the "throwback" to the original QL with minimizing the PQL scenes (kind of like I've done in a couple of my stories, on purpose for the same reason), and it figures it was time for another baseball episode. <G>

Great job!

... Mike. ^_^
 
As I mentioned above, there was a little joke about a picture on the wall of the sport's bar having Al the Bartender standing between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. What i didn't realize until recently is that you can see this on video!!!! I was watching a movie the other day called *61 which was directed by Billy Crystal. The movie is about Mantle and Maris of the New York Yankees trying to break a home run record set by Babe Ruth. In the movie, the manager of the Yankees was played by Bruce McGill (Al the Bartender) so he does get to be with Mantle and Maris. ANother coincidence of the movie is that Michael Anthony Hall (Johnny Smith of the "Dead ZOne") plays Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford (Johnny Smith shows up briefly in Season 11)...
 
Overall I thought it was a good story. However it is somewhat repetitive with a baseball story already done twice on the TV series. It does have a nice touch showing how much Al is aging.
 
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