SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- It's a picture Gabe Kapler has taken thousands of times. He spent a dozen years in the majors, played 500 more games in the minors, and even 38 in Japan. Before coming to San Francisco, he managed in Philadelphia for two seasons.
Before just about every one of those games, there was a young kid or a pack of them leaning across the rail, hoping for a quick photo or an autograph. Occasionally, the kid would be bold enough to ask for a baseball, or perhaps a few pieces from the tubs of bubble gum in every dugout.