Invited to the big-league camp, he competed for the Astros' second-base job this spring.

But Andy, in a big-league camp for the first time, hit only .222 in limited appearances and was recently optioned to the minors.

I was just a kid, and it felt strange because it was my first time in a big-league camp.

While he is in the big-league camp, Hughes wants to do more than blend in.

With travel between big-league camps limited, the ball clubs often played military squads in exhibition games.

A lot of them have never been to a big-league camp.

Eusebio also appeared on the 40-man winter roster in 1988, and joined the Astros' big-league camp during spring training in 1989.

"This is a tremendous experience to come to big-league camp, let alone with the Classic going on," Duncan said.

"I told him how some guys, instead of trying to win a job in spring training, get caught up in the idea of big-league camp," Wigginton said.

But during the first few weeks of the big-league camp, it was sometimes an awkward scene to see Valentine working next to Green.