PHOENIX -- In January 2006, the D-backs held their first Fantasy Camp, and Air Force Col. Brent Vosseller was reading daily online reports via MLB.com while stationed overseas.
The D-backs were his favorite team, and he was a huge fan of 2001 World Series heroes like Mark Grace and Matt Williams, who were both instructors at the camp.
"I was turning 40 in 2007 and my wife said, 'Go and do this, it will be once in a lifetime,'" Vosseller said last week during the team's 12th annual Fantasy Camp at Salt River Fields.
That once-in-a-lifetime experience has turned into a yearly event for Vosseller, who like a lot of campers discovered that what initially caused them to come to the camp -- getting a chance to rub elbows with former Major Leaguers -- became less important than the relationships they made once they were there.