As an avid fan of baseball, and landscaping, I found this article I read online tonight absolutely fascinating…

Los Angeles Dodgers Pitcher Could Be Baseball’s First Billionaire Player Because of Rock Quarry

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

VERO BEACH, Fla. —

Matt White, a journeyman pitcher trying to make the Los Angeles Dodgers, could become baseball’s first billionaire player.It has nothing to do with his arm. He owns a rock quarry in western Massachusetts.

White, who has appeared in seven big league games in nine professional seasons, paid $50,000 three years ago to buy 50 acres of land from an elderly aunt who needed the money to pay for a nursing home.

While clearing out a couple acres to build a home, he discovered stone ledges in the ground, prompting him to have the property surveyed.

A geologist estimated there were 24 million tons of the stone on his land. The stone is being sold for upward of $100 per ton, meaning there’s well over $2 billion worth of material used for sidewalks, patios and the like.

Of course, that doesn’t factor in the expenses involved in processing the stone and transporting it for sale.

“It sounds bogus even saying those numbers,” White said. “I’m just a small town guy trying to get to the big leagues. It’s beyond comprehension.”

The news has prompted some of White’s teammates to refer to him as “The Billionaire,” but the 29-year-old left-hander isn’t counting his money just yet.

“There are a lot of questions,” he said. “It takes time, it takes money, it takes machines. There are professionals who handle that stuff.”

White’s father has been involved in selling the stone, but it’s presently a small-time operation.

“I guess you could say the property is for sale,” White said with a chuckle. “We’ll have to see how things turn out. I don’t even know where to start. I’m in the process now of getting in touch with business-savvy guys, finding out how much to ask.”

White said he doesn’t feel like he’s wealthy, which he isn’t quite yet.

“Not at all. I don’t live like a rich man,” he said. “I’m a minor league guy who’s played winter ball to make ends meet.”

Dr. Peter Pannish, an adjunct professor in the department of geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, surveyed the property several months ago. He said he believes the stone was formed about 400 million years ago.

“It’s basically a slabby rock that can be used for sidewalks, building faces and stone walls,” Pannish said from his Amherst, Mass., office. “You can use it for a lot of other things, like flagstone on a patio. There are some sidewalks right here on campus that are made of that same rock.”

Pannish said he believes White could sell his property for several million dollars, or more.

“As far as hundreds of millions, I doubt if that’s possible because of all the expenses that would have to be considered,” Pannish said. “But it could be quite a bit of money. He probably needs a mining engineer or an economic geologist to come up with a good evaluation.”

White has received inquiries about making national television appearances, and has even been contacted about a possible movie. He is represented by Herbie Zucker of Zucker Sports Management in Chicago.

But for now, White is concentrating on his day job. And that’s no surprise, considering pitching in the big leagues has been a lifelong dream.

“They say lefties bloom later than righties. I keep telling myself that,” he said. “I’m here to make the big-league team. I feel confident about that, absolutely. I’ve had some pretty good years in Triple-A.

“I plan to play baseball until I can’t play anymore. My goal is to play in the big leagues, regardless of what happens with the rock quarry.”

White signed a minor league contract last December with the Dodgers — his eighth organization. He has appeared in 254 minor league games, 136 of them starts.

White pitched in three games each for Boston and Seattle in 2003, and one for Washington in 2005, going 0-2 and allowing 18 earned runs in 9 2-3 innings.

The Boston manager in 2003 was current Dodgers skipper Grady Little.

“The kid has a genuine love for the game,” Little said. “He’s quite a competitor, he’s always striving to get better. It’s not about money for him. He’s prepared himself well coming into camp and he’ll be going after somebody’s job. He’ll be given an opportunity.

“It’s a tough hill to climb. We have 28 pitchers in camp, we’ll leave spring training with 11 or 12. Before it’s over, we might need 20. He’s in there trying to get a job.”

With that, Little smiled and said: “Along the way, if anybody needs landscaping stone, we know where to find it.”

The flu has been rampant through our office the last few weeks. It hit me last Wednesday, as I was flying home from a business trip in New York. I don’t remember a time I’ve been on a plane with four blankets shivering all the way back to KC. I landed, drove home and spent four days in bed.

When I was finally able to re-enter the real world, I went to the Hy-Vee in my neighborhood for soup, toast and Sprite. Even though I go to the same grocery store all the time, I had never noticed the horse ride as you walk into the store. In fact, I stopped the cart kid as he was pushing a ton of the cars in, and he told me it was there for as long as he worked there. Interesting.

Immediately, I was reminded of when I was a kid, and my mom and dad would take me and my brother to K-Mart on Metcalf, near 95th (incidentally, just a few minutes from the Hy-Vee). Without fail, we would talk our way on the horses outside the store. Needless to say, if I called my brother right now, I think he’d have the same memory.

My mind thinks differently now. I sat there, got out my phone, snapped this photo, thinking of the business model behind the horse.

These things have to be expensive to buy - probably several thousand dollars, yet rides cost 25 to 50 cents. That’s a lot of rides to return that investment. But wait… is it more of an attraction… like it was at K-Mart when I was a kid? Is this a cheesy marketing ploy to get moms and dads (and kids to boot) to come that that store over others? Not sure, but it sure did make me think…

And then it made me grateful. I was thinking of our successes and failures of a business over the years, and I was proud that it has never included “cheesy marketing ploys” - and that just so happens to be delivered day-in and day-out from our team members every day.

Our team is more excited about this spring that any other spring I can remember. And the fact we’re real, honest, and transparent, I think makes us better at what we do every day.
…regardless of the horsie I really, really want to buy for outside our office…

On Monday one of the guys in the office, Jon, was befriended by a stray puppy. He found her in the parking lot of a Best Buy near our offices. She was hanging out near his car and as he approached her she rolled over on her back as if to say, “Yes! I’ve been waiting for you to scratch my belly.”

Jon brought her back to the office where we all immediately fell in love with her. How could we not? Look at that picture of her. She clearly was hungry and tired because she immediately ate some food we had here and then conked out.

We kicked around the idea of keeping her as an office pet since she was so docile and loving. We ultimately decided that wouldn’t be good for her. She needed a family with kiddos and a backyard.

Eric put out an ad on Craigslist and his church’s website along with the above picture and within two hours a family of four was on their way to pick her up. They walked in with their two children and “Magnolia”, as we called her, immediately took to the kids.

The family agreed to take her to a vet or shelter and have her checked for a microchip and to also receive her shots and such. Then they were going to take her new home.

What a sweet girl! We miss her already.

All of our snow billing for this weeks storm was mailed today. As always, a snow report and billing letter was included. To read the letter, click for the .pdf file below. If you have any billing questions, please contact Abby at the office.

snow-removal-letter-021407.pdf

All of our snow billing the last few days was mailed today. As always, a snow report and billing letter was included. To read the letter, click for the .pdf file below. If you have any billing questions, please contact Abby at the office.

snow-removal-letter-020107.pdf