Baseball History -- December 10

Complete entry for December 10 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries are:

1981
In what would be a blockbuster swap of outstanding young shortstops, the Cardinals trade Garry Templeton and OF Sixto Lezcano to the Padres for Ozzie Smith and P Steve Mura. The deal is put on hold, however, when Smith is unable to work out an acceptable contract with his new club.

They worked it out eventually.

1975
Bill Veeck and assistant Roland Hemond set up shop in the hotel lobby at the winter meetings with a sign saying "open for business" and start dealing, making seven trades in two days. First to go is pitcher Jim Kaat and SS Mike Buskey to the Phillies. The Sox receive pitchers Dick Ruthven and Roy Thomas along with OF/INF Alan Bannister.

Roland Hemond, member of the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame.

1972
The major leagues adopt the save as an official statistic. A pitcher shall be credited with a save if, when entering a game as a reliever, he finds the tying or winning run on base or at the plate, and he preserves the lead. Or he pitches three effective innings and preserves the lead.

1972
The American League votes unanimously to adopt the designated-hitter rule for a 3-year experimental basis. The DH will replace the pitcher in the lineup unless otherwise noted before the start of the game. In the December 1975 meeting the AL will vote to permanently adopt the DH. The National League declines to go along with the AL.

Busy yerar in 1972.

Sandberg ticket package

The Rattlers have put together a Ryne Sandberg ticket package that is on sale right now.

The entire release about the Cub legend making his managerial debut against the Timber Rattlers on Thursday, April 5 is HERE.

Individual game tickets for the Timber Rattlers won't go on sale until March 10, but you can get the Sandberg Package now!

These are the details on the Sandberg Package:

A special three game Sandberg ticket package is available now. Tickets are $21/reserved seat or $25.50/ box seat and include the following dates when the Rattlers will host Sandberg & the Chiefs at Fox Cities Stadium:

Opening Day on Thursday, April 5 @ 6:35pm

Sunday, May 13 @ 1:05pm

Wednesday, August 22 @ 7:05pm

Fans can order the ticket packages Monday thru Friday 8am-5pm by calling the Timber Rattler box office at (920)733-4152.

Let's hear those phones on Monday.

Squeeze Play

This week's Baseball on TV episode is from Season Four of Magnum, P.I. It originally debuted on November 17, 1983 and was called Squeeze Play. Now, there is a softball game in the episode, but there is a baseball undercurrent, too.

There were a couple of plots within this episode.

The first was that Robin Masters, the famous writer for whom Magnum worked as head of security, bet men's magazine publisher Buzz Benoit that his co-ed softball team from the King Kameamea Club can beat Buzz's co-ed softball team. If Magnum, TC, Rick, Higgins, and the gang lose, Buzz takes over Robin's Nest, the estate where Magnum lives. Plus, Higgins will stay on as Buzz Benoit's butler and Magnum is out on the street.

The second plot was that Lola Stenhauser, who works at the club and is on the softball team, hires Magnum to look for her estranged husband and trying to collect the back alimony he owes her or to bring him back to her so that they can reconcile.

Lola is a common character n television. She is treated like an old friend who has been around the entire time with the group of main characters...eventhough she has never been seen in an episode before this one and will never be seen again after this episode.

So, Magnum looks for Jerome Kappelwitz and finds him at a construction site. Jerome tries to crack a board over Magnum's head and misses. After calming down, Jerome says something along the lines of, "I knew it. It's Friday. Nothing good ever happens on a Friday!"

Magnum realizes that this guy is none other than Jerome "Bad Friday" Kappelwitz, a former major leaguer who was run out of baseball for hitting a reporter. The writer said that Jerome couldn't hit on Fridays and Kappelwitz got tagged with the 'Bad Friday' nickname. Kappelwitz prefers to be called 'Killer'. Hey, who wouldn't?

Magnum convinces 'Killer' to come meet Lola and maybe even play a little softball for the King Kameamea Club.

Jerome hits towering home runs and is an ace softball pitcher who makes TC look foolish. But, when Lola shows up for practice, she charges him. 'Killer' thinks that she is going to rush into his arms and all will be well. She gets up to him and slugs him. Then, she feels bad about it.

Everything settles down and game day arrives.

Jerome leads the King Kameamea Club to an early lead, but once Buzz realizes who Jerome is he calls the police. Seems there is still an outstanding warrant on Kappelwitz for popping that reporter. The police show up at the game and arrest 'Bad Friday'.

Buzz's team (called the Blasters if I remember) jumps in front and holds a commanding lead. But, King Kameamea Club charges back.

In the bottom of the final inning, there are two on base, two out, and King Kameamea is down by three runs with Magnum at bat.

Magnum crushes the ball to drive in both runs with a triple. Higgins is coaching at third base and puts up the stop sign. Magnum runs right through it and dashes for home with the tying run.

The best part of this episode is the slow motion they go to during this sequence, the way Higgins is yelling out Noooooooooooooooooo!, and that inner monolouge that Magnum has going on in his head that says, "I never felt faster!"

It's a close play at the plate, but Magnum is.......out! King Kameamea loses!

All is well though. Buzz Benoit's nephew Mickey Dalrumple (played by Eddie Deezen) reveals that his uncle cheated at cards to get Robin to make the bet on the softball game. Robin, who's face is never seen, but was voiced by Orson Welles, appears from nowhere to let Buzz know that he will write about the cheating and that will somehow ruin the Buzz Benoit empire.

Magnum and Higgins are back where they were and the adventures continue.

One final note on Magnum. Recently, The Sleuth Channel did a special on america's top fictional detectives.

I'm not going to put a lot of stock in this list due to the fact that Sherlock Holmes and Remmington Steele are both on the list as well as Lt. Frank Drebin from Police Squad.

On top of that, Magnum was rated number one. Now, I liked Magnum, but the all-time number one American Ficitional Detective on television is Columbo. No contest.

Plus, there are too many movie characters on this list and they use partners (Crockett & Tubbs, Mulder & Scully) as one entry. I'll do this one day...Maybe tomorrow if the Packers are being blown out by the 49ers.

Wisconsin vs. Marquette

Stepping to college basketball for a moment. Wisconsin plays Marquette in a great in-state rivalry matchup today.

I'm looking forward to it. It should be a good game and this is the first time I can remember both teams being ranked this high.

The rivalry isn't anywhere near where it was when Al McGuire was the coach for the Warriors. There is a famous picture (at least famous in Wisconsin sporting circles) of McGuire celebrating a last second shot to beat the Badgers 59-58 in 1974. I'm going to post it here without comment except to say that Al is the guy on the table with his back to the camera.

This is a file photo from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and can be found in a slide show as part of the jsonline.com coverage of McGuires death in 2001.

Enjoy the game everyone.

Luckiest Man

From npr.com

One good thing about spending hour after hour in airports and on planes is getting a chance to catch up on my reading list. On the trip to and from the WInter Meetings, I got a chance to start and finish Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathon Eig.

I've seen Pride of the Yankees more times than I care to admit and I really like the performance of Gary Cooper. However, I realize that Gehrig's life gets the Hollywood treatment with a few made up stories getting into the narrative.

Sad to say, but I don't think that I have ever read anything more than one of those career sketches in a big book of baseball legends about Gehrig. Not for lack of want, but for the lack of a really good biography of one of players from the 20's and 30's that I have always looked up to as a role model.

This is a really good biography and I learned a few things about this quiet, hard-working man that I didn't know or had forgotten. Here are fifteen interesting things about Gehrig (One for each season that contained his streak of 2,130 consecutive games) that I picked up from Eig's book:

1.) When Gehrig was born, the midwife who signed the birth certificate began to fill in the child's name as Heinrich -- after his German immigrant father. The midwife stopped and through a little creative crossing out named the baby Henry Louis Gehrig.

2.) Gehrig graduated from Commerce High School in New York in January of 1921, enrolled in a Columbia University extension program in February, and started playing for the Columbia baseball team April.

3.) Gehrig got a tryout for the New York Giants and their manager John McGraw later in the spring of 1921. He hit seven home runs in batting practice to start the tryout. However, when he was taking grounder at first, one skipped through his legs and McGraw stopped the tryout. He declined to sign the future legend.

4.) During the summer of 1921, Gehrig played professionally for the Hartford Senators, which almost cost him his eligibility. In fact it should have cost him his scholarship and his eligibility. But, he only lost a year.

5.) The Hartford newspapers aided the Senators and Gehrig in the deception by referring to him by the aliases of Lefty Gehrig and Lew Lewis. Think that would happen today?

6.) In his first round of batting practice with the Yankees, Gehrig grabbed Babe Ruth's bat by mistake and was so afraid of breaking it that he just stood in the cage without swinging. Eig admits that this story has a "hint of that too-good-too-be-true quality". And it's too good to leave out of this post.

7.) In one of his first games with the Yankees in 1924, Gehrig made a base running mistake and wound up being tagged out by Ty Cobb. Cobb insulted Gehrig and Gehrig became so enraged with Cobb that he was eventually ejected from the game. After the game, Gehrig chased after Cobb beneath the stands, threw a punch at Cobb, missed, fell on his head, and knocked himself out.

8.) Gehrig was a horrible negotiator and for most of his career always signed the first contract he was sent. That contract was almost always a lowball fgure from the Yankees because they knew that Gehrig was happy just to have a job.

9.) When Babe Ruth started talking about how bad a job that he thought manager Miller Huggins was doing, Gehrig took his manager's side. The start of the rivalry between the two sluggers.

10.) Gehrig tried out for the role of Tarzan in 1937 and eventually mad a movie called Rawhide. He actually lip-synched a song in the movie.

11.) During a 1934 exhibition game in Norfolk, Gehrig was beaned in the head with a fastball from Ray White. He was knocked out and White actually bragged about ending the streak. Of course, Gehrig played in Washington the next day. He tripled three times, but rain washed out the game and the performance before it became official.

12.) On June 3, 1932, Gehrig hit four home runs in a game against the Philadephia Athletics. The headlines in the New York papers were about the retirment of John McGraw as the manager of the Giants.

13.) Gerhig wasn't much of a drinker. But, he thought that he played so poorly in the 1938 World Series victory over the Cubs that:

Later that night, as the team celebrated at the Commodore Hotel, he started knocking back shots of hard liquor. At one point, he sat astride a chair and pretended to ride a horse, as if he were back on the set of Rawhide.

"You'd better look after Lou," one Yankee whispered to [Gehrig's wife] Eleanor. "He's drinking triples, and he's really bombed."

Gehrig had no way of knowing the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was already taking over his body.

14.) Gehrig's doctors had him convinced that injections of histamines or a lot of Vitamin E would either cure him or stop ALS in its tracks.

15.) After he died, Eleanor got into a nasty fight with Lou's parents about money. Eleanor's lawyer informed the Gehrig's that since they were still German citizens and with the German Army occupying most of Europe and battling Great Britain, it would be best if they not make any trouble.

There is much more to this fine book and maybe I'll do a bit more on it later on during the Christmas season.

Go to lougehrig.com for on the Iron Horse. Included HERE is the full text of his farewell speech and a few audio clips of the speech.

The chat

The SATURDAY SEATTLE PROSPECT EXTRAVAGANZA at Rattler Radio concludes with a few nuggets from the BA.com chat with Jim Callis that was held yesterday. Again, if you are a subscriber, you ay see the whole chat HERE.

Q: Matt from Houston, Tx asks:How good of a prospect is Alex Liddi? He's a pretty god natural athlete and is very advanced for someone out of Europe at his age. Where (if) would he rank in the top 30?

A: Jim Callis: Everything Matt says is true. He's a very interesting guy, but also very far away from the majors. He intrigues me, but I have him in the 21-30 range until we see more from him. He's still very raw.

Q: Phil Duryea from Seattle asks:Where does Matt Tuiasosopo fit into the Mariners future? Also what is your feeling on 2006 16th rounder
Austin-Bibens Dirkx he seemed to have a good debut.

A: Jim Callis: The Mariners are still high on Tuiasosopo, but he has to develop a lot more at the plate before he'll be ready to hit in the majors. There's still a lot of upside there, but not a huge likelihood that he'll reach his ceiling. Bibens-Dirkx has a lot of life on his sinker-slider combo and could become a setup man one day.

Q: Warren from Texas asks:I understand why Michael Saunders was not in the top 10, but does he make the top 20? What are his long-term prospects? Thanks for the chat!

A: Jim Callis: He just snuck onto the list at No. 30. He's a lot like Tuiasosopo in that Saunders has a lot of physical ability but has a long, long ways to go.

Q: Jack B. from Seattle asks:It doesn't seem like many of the Mariners' top picks turn out very well. Since A-Rod, you could say maybe Meche has done well, but not great. And, they've used their top picks for what many might call reaches (like Garciaparra). Is there a reason or explanation for what seems pretty systemic? It never seems the Ms really develop any above-average players -- their best players come via free agencytrade or are signed from overseas at a relatively mature state (Betancourt, Ichiri, Jojima, Felix).

A: Jim Callis: Good question. For years, the Mariners lost a lot of premium picks as free-agent compensation, but recently they've played so poorly that their top choices have been protected. The picks they've made, most of them haven't worked out well, and you're right, they've done much better internationally. The Mariners probably have the highest ratio of time and money spent internationally vs. domestically in recent years, so that's probably the biggest reason.

Q: Alexander from Wisconsin asks:Thanks for the great chat. Other than Buter and Tillman, who are other players that may play for Wisconsin in the midwest league. Thanks a lot.

A: Jim Callis: Carlos Triunfel, who signed for $1.3 million out of the Dominican this summer, is so advanced that he may make his pro debut at Wisconsin. Other possibilities, in no particular order: C Adam Moore, 3B Alex Liddi, INF Chris Minaker, OF Greg Halman, LHP Tony Butler, LHP Steve Uhlmansiek, RHP Chris Tillman, RHP Doug Fister, RHP Ricky Orta, RHP Kam Mickolio. Could be an interesting club.

Q: Jonathan Quayle Higgins III from Honolulu, HI asks:Tony Butler looks like a great pick. Who would you compare him to in the majors? Will he challenge for some strikeout crowns in the future? (Note, a guy picked him in my fantasy league this year and this guy never misses)

A: Jim Callis: Butler is good and looks like one of the steals of the 2006 draft, but I don't see him as a future strikeout leader. I'm terrible on comps . . . Maybe Scott Olsen?

Q: Jason from Texas asks:Does Kam Mickolio fit in your top 20 prospects for the Mariners and do you see the M's pushing him through the system fast due to his age?

A: Jim Callis: Mickolio just missed the Top 30. I don't think they'll rush him too much because he's not very consistent at this point. Sometimes looks great, other times somewhat clueless. He'll need some time.

Jim Callis thinks that the Rattlers could be an interesting club? Get your tickets now! Full Season, Mini-Package, or Holiday Package! Come on out!

Selected scouting reports

The Seattle Top Ten Prospect Scouting Reports are HERE -- if you are a BA.com subscriber. BA writer Jim Callis did these.

Just going to excerpt the scouting reports of the two players who may be Timber Rattlers in 2007 in this post.

#4 LHP Tony Butler -- Oak Creek, Wisconsin:

Background: Butler spent much of the spring pitching at 86-87 mph, and the consensus was that his projection wasn't enough to warrant buying him away from an Arkansas scholarship. But area scout Joe Bohringer and Midwest supervisor Ken Madeja stayed on Butler, who suddenly jumped to 94-95 right before the draft. Seattle stole him with a third-round pick and signed him for $445,000.

Strengths: Butler maintained his newfound velocity in his debut, working at 89-92 mph and touching 95. His fastball has late life and he uses his 6-foot-7 frame to leverage it down in the strike zone. He also can buckle knees with his 76-80 mph curveball, which already ranks as the best in the system. He has feel for a changeup with late fade and deception. Mature and intelligent, he showed no fear while blowing away hitters at two levels.

Weaknesses: While Butler has made some adjustments to his mechanics, becoming more fluid and reducing the stress on his shoulder, he still can improve the timing with his leg drive. His changeup and control need more consistency, as he walked 34 batters in 56 pro innings.

The Future: Butler will open his first pro season in his native Wisconsin, and if he pitches like he did last summer he won't stay long in low Class A. He has a ceiling as a No. 2 starter.

Emphasis mine. I'm not sure, but I think his duration in Wisconsin may be a bit longer that what Callis thinks. Remember this is all speculation on everybody's part.

#9 Chris Tillman -- Fountain Valley, California

Background: It's no coincidence that three of the Mariners' top four starting pitching prospects came from the 2006 draft. They targeted their biggest weakness by choosing Brandon Morrow, Tillman and Tony Butler with their first three picks. Tillman projected as an early first-rounder entering 2006, but an inconsistent senior season dropped him to the second round, where he signed for $680,000.

Strengths: Tillman owns two plus pitches in his lively 91-95 mph fastball and his slider. He generates velocity with little effort, as he has a loose arm and clean delivery, and he can add more once he fills out his lean 6-foot-5 frame. He showed some aptitude for throwing a changeup during instructional league.

Weaknesses: Tillman's velocity dipped in the spring when he fell in love with his splitter, and he'll need to recognize that his changeup is more vital to him as a starter than his split. He's not as mature as fellow high school draftee Butler, and some scouts questioned his mental toughness when Tillman struggled to live up to expectations as a senior.

The Future: Tillman will team with Butler at the front of Seattle's low Class A rotation in 2007. If they and Morrow develop as hoped, the Mariners will have landed three first-round talents at the top of their 2006 draft.

Again, emphasis mine. Speculation everyone.

They were early!

BA.Com released their Top 10 Mariner Prospects yesterday. It wasn't supposed to be until Monday. Oh, well.

The list that was posted yesterday is accurate -- believe it or not. There are a few scouting reports that I'll excerpt in a separate post, but remember that the whole scouting reports are behind the subscriber wall.

First a bit on the overview of the Seattle system by Ask BA columnist Jim Callis:

Bill Bavasi may have helped lay the foundation for a 2002 World Series championship as Angels general manager from 1994-99, but he has struggled in three years at the helm of the Mariners. Bavasi's Seattle clubs have averaged 70 wins per season, a steep drop from the 98 victories the M's averaged in four years under his predecessor, Pat Gillick.
...
The highlight of Bavasi's tenure has been the major league ascendancy of homegrown prospects Yuniesky Betancourt, Felix Hernandez, Jose Lopez and J.J. Putz. But all of them except for Betancourt were signed by the previous front-office regime, as was their latest phenom, outfielder Adam Jones. Bavasi has tried to put his stamp on the club by signing big-ticket free agents Adrian Beltre ($64 million), Richie Sexson ($50 million) and Jarrod Washburn ($37.5 million), but they haven't lived up to their contracts or changed Seattle's fortunes.
...
Most of the Mariners recent top prospects have been the results of their efforts on the international scouting market. Seattle placed a total of 21 players on 10 different World Baseball Classic provisional rosters, and its short-season Everett affiliate featured 13 foreigners from seven different nations. But spanning the globe hasn't been enough to prop up the system—or, by extension, the big league club.

Emphasis is mine to show you what might be ahead for the Rattlers in 2007.

BA also did a Best Tools in the system list. Of note:

Best strike zone discipline -- Brent Johnson
Best fastball -- Brandon Morrow
Best curveball -- Tony Butler
Best defensive catcher -- Rob Johnson
Best defensive infielder -- Oswaldo Navarro

According to BA, Jeff Clement has the best power and Yung Chi Chen is the best hitter for average.

Heisman in Baseball

Tonight, Troy Smith is a lock for the Heisman Trophy, the award that goes to the top college football player. John Heisman, the man for whom the trophy is named, is best known for his contributions to college football as a player in the late 19th century and as a coach at Georgia Tech. MILB.com points out that Heisman, who coached the Georgia Tech baseball team from 1904-1917, also has a tie to minor league baseball:

Many people do not know much about John W. Heisman, the man for whom the award was named 70 years ago. A three-line entry in a reference book reveals an even more obscure fact about him: Heisman also worked in Minor League Baseball.
...
"The Atlanta Club stockholders elected as president, J.W. Heisman, foot ball coach, theatrical man and magazine writer, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania."

You see, Heisman also coached the Georgia Tech baseball team for all but the final two years of his tenure at the school, which lasted from 1904-19.

His first year as Atlanta Crackers president resulted in a sixth-place finish for the Southern Association team in 1908. A fellow by the name of Tris Speaker led the league with a .350 batting average while playing for Little Rock.

In 1909, Atlanta captured the Southern Association title with an 87-49 mark. The Crackers didn't have anyone in the top 10 in batting, but they did have a pair of 20-game winners, proving that good pitching was just as important back then as it is now.
...
Reference books don't reveal how long Heisman was Atlanta president past 1911. They do reveal that he did not hold the position in 1917, the last season he coached the Tech baseball team.

And now you know, the rest....of...the...story! Good Day!

Baseball History -- December 9

Complete entry for December 9 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries are:

2000
The Rockies sign free agent P Mike Hampton to an 8-year contract worth $121 million.

That means Hampton has two years left on that contract with the Rockies. What do you mean he only went 21-28 in two seasons with Colorado, pitched three years in Atlanta and missed all of last season after Tommyb John surgery.

1992
The Braves sign free agent Cy Young Award and Gold Glove winner Greg Maddux to a 5-year contract, and then trade pitchers Charlie Leibrandt and Pat Gomez to the Rangers in exchange for 3B Jose Oliva. Leibrandt (15–7) saw his star fall in Atlanta when he gave up 11th-inning extra base hits in the 1992 World Series and the 1991 NLCS. Maddux, who turned down a $28.5 million contract extension in mid–season with the Cubs, signs for $28 million, $6 million less than the Yankees offered.

Here is a free agent signing that worked.

1965
OF Frank Robinson is traded from Cincinnati to the Orioles for pitchers Milt Pappas and Jack Baldschun and OF Dick Simpson. The Reds Bill DeWitt defends the trade by labeling Robinson "an old 30,"a concept that Robinson will quickly prove wrong.

Can't really top that comment.

Back in Wisconsin

It was an interesting travel day home from the Winter Meetings yesterday.

Checked out of the hotel and were in the shuttle to the airport by 12:20pm. But, our flight to Detroit was delayed from 3:15 twice until we would have missed the connecting flight to Appleton.

So, we switched airlines and had to go back through security to get to the other gate, but that flight didn't leave until a bit past 6:00pm.

Got into the Cincinnati airport and left there at 9:15 and got into Appleton and its 10 degree weather without incident before ten (Thanks to the time change).

Off to work in a bit to see what happened at the Stadium.

Missed this on Sandberg

There was a more in-depth story on Ryne Sandberg managing the Peoria Chiefs at PJStar.com on Wednesday and I missed it. Have I mentioned that Sandberg is going to be making his managerial debut against the Timber Rattlers at Fox Cities Stadium on Thursday, April 5? Well, he is.

Here is the story:

'Ryno' to take first step in Peoria

"I've been thinking for the past number of years how I can contribute to the game of baseball," Sandberg said during a media conference call from his home in Phoenix. "Up to this point, all that I can think about is just being in uniform and being with the players. This is the start of that. I've experienced that the last eight or nine years at spring training.

"I enjoy talking to the young players. I enjoy telling them about the different things I did to become a good baseball player and the things I did on a daily basis. It seemed like they were all ears. To see them go out and actually try some of the things and then report back, that's what I envision happening."
...
As word of Sandberg's hiring spread at the winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Chiefs president Rocky Vonachen spent much of Tuesday receiving back-slaps from the baseball world.

"It's kind of the talk of the winter meetings," Vonachen said. "A lot of people have come up and asked me about it.

"All the other (Cubs) affiliates were looking at me like, 'How did you pull this off?' They wondered, 'Why not us?' I think they were pretty jealous."

April 5, 2007 is not that far away, folks.

Mariner Top Ten Sneak Peek

One perk of the winter meetings is a lot of free stuff at the Trade Show.

A lot of it is, um, not useful. But the free copy of the latest issue of Baseball America was useful.

Former Rattler Adam Jones is on the cover and the top ten prospects of the AL West teams are revealed in the issue. The list won't be on-line until 12/11 and at that point it will be behind the subscriber wall. However, here is the BA Mariner top ten prospects.

#1: Adam Jones (WI '04)
#2: Jeff Clement (WI '05)
#3: Brandon Morrow
#4: Tony Butler (Oak Creek, Wisconsin)
#5: Ryan Feierabend (WI '04)
#6: Wladimir Balentien (WI '04)
#7: Mark Lowe (WI '05)
#8: Chris Tillman
#9: Yung Chi-Chen (WI '05)
#10: Eric O'Flaherty (WI '04 & '05)

I'll have some of the scouting reports on Monday when the article is available on the internet.

Rule 5 Wrap

BaseballAmerica.com has the list of players selected in the major league and the minor league Rule 5 draft from yesterday.

One ex-Rattler was selected in the draft.

Omar Falcon who just signed with the Giants was picked by the Cardinals in the minor league phase.

Familiar names for Rattler fans might be:

Ed Campusano. The former Peoria Chief closer was picked by the Brewers in the major league portion of the draft.

Josh Labendeira. He played for Clinton when the LumberKings were the MWL affiliate of the Montreal Expos and the Marlins took him.

The big name in this draft was Josh Hamilton, a Devil Ray farmhand who has battled a lot of problems (drugs and injuries), was selected number three in the major league part of the draft by the Cubs and sold to the Reds.

Baseball History -- December 8

Complete entry for December 8 is at BaseballLibrary.com is HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1951
The American League alters its restrictions on night games, adopting the National League's suspended game rule and lifting its ban on lights for Sunday games.

They had the lights, but because it was Sunday, they wouldn't turn them on if it got dark?

1916
The National Commission fines 51 players $25 to $100 for performing in post-season exhibitions. Among the guilty: Babe Ruth, Jack Barry, Duffy Lewis, 10 other Red Sox players, and Ty Cobb.

So, the players got fined for going out and trying to make a little extra cash in the off-season. By the way, I think that Ruth and Cobb got paid a bit more than $100 for playing his exhibition games.

Travel day

The shuttle leaves for the airport in a few hours and we aren't scheduled to get back to Appleton until later on this evening.

No more updates until tomorow morning.

Transactions?

Earlier in the meetings, Bobby Livingston (WI '03) was taken off Seattle's 40-man roster and designated for assignment. The Mariners needed the spot when they signed Jose Guillen.

Yesterday, it was reported that Rafael Soriano (WI '00) had been traded to the Braves for Horacio Ramirez.

But if you read the story, it was only that a report:

Seattle general manager Bill Bavasi denied that a deal had been consummated, although several sources confirmed that a trade could be imminent.

Developing.

Rule 5 Day

The Rule 5 draft starts at 9am EST.

What is the Rule 5 draft? MILB.com has a primer HERE.

Head on over to mlb.com for complete coverage of the draft to see if any ex-Rattlers get selected.

Baseball History -- December 7

Complete entry for December 7 is at BaseballLibrary.com is HERE.

Highlighted entries are:

1992
The Blue Jays sign free agent DH–1B Paul Molitor.

A dark day in Brewer history.

1957
The AP votes Tony Kubek of the Yanks as the Rookie of the Year. Frank Malzone of the Red Sox, who was declared ineligible, receives one vote. Malzone, with better offensive numbers, will later claim that he was robbed by New York writers, when the BBWA changes the minimum number of at-bats during the season, thus excluding him.

That's Wisconsin native, Tony Kubek.

Here is how it happened...

Ryne Sandberg is going to manage the Chiefs in 2007. The Peoria Journal-Star has the details in the story Sandberg sold on Peoria.

Pete Vonachen has done plenty of selling in his day.

So the former Peoria Chiefs owner had plenty of practice before trying to convince Ryne Sandberg that managing the Peoria Chiefs would be a good career move. Sandberg relented, and on Tuesday the Chicago Cubs announced the Hall of Fame second baseman would manage the Chiefs for the 2007 season.

"Ryne Sandberg as manager - that's about as big as it gets," Vonachen said. "That's probably the biggest thing that's happened for the Chiefs other than building our new ballpark Downtown."
...
Sandberg said he felt pretty sure he wanted to manage even before talking with Vonachen, whose son Rocky is the team's president. Pete Vonachen's urgings calmed any doubts.

"He just wanted to make sure that it was going to get done, and that there was no looking back," Sandberg said. "He just reconfirmed what a great town it is, what a great tradition they have going there, and that he imagined his phone was going to start ringing off the hook after the announcement (Tuesday)."

In order to help lure one of the most popular players in Cubs history, Vonachen said the Chiefs dug deep to secure Sandberg a condominium and a car while in town.

"It was a lot of people pitching in," Vonachen said. "I give the Cubs a lot of credit, too. They probably had to do a lot of things they wouldn't do for every minor-league manager."

That ringing off the hook. It happened.

Chiefs general manager Ralph Converse said the phones were unusually busy for a snowy winter day Tuesday, as word spread of Sandberg's hiring.

Sandberg makes his managing debut against the Rattlers at Fox Cities Stadium on Thursday, April 5 with game two and three on April 6 and 7.

The Chiefs return to Fox Cities Stadium May 12& 13 and August 20-23. Call the Rattlers for tickets soon.

That was neat

We were sitting in one of the lobbies last night watching all the different baseball people walk by. I saw a guy in a red jacket walk past and head for parts unknown. He looked familiar, but I wasn't sure.

I got up and followed him until he stopped by a big Christmas tree. He had his back to me and I called out, "Mike. Mike!"

He turned around and that's when I was sure. It was Mike Cuellar.

Mike was the pitching coach when I was in Duluth and even though it has been eight years since we have seen each other, he remembered me and we talked a bit about the old days.

Turns out that he is at the Winter Meetings looking for a job. I hope that he gets one.

Baseball History -- December 6

Complete entry for December 6 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1976
The Red Sox trade 1B Cecil Cooper to the Brewers for 1B George Scott and OF Bernie Carbo. This ranks as one of the Brew Crew's best trades.

As that old score board at County Stadium used to say: Cooooooooooooooop!

1946
The major leagues finally accept the contention that invasion of minor league territory will result in compensation for the entire league. The major league clubs agree to return the selection of the All-Star teams, except for pitchers, to a fan ballot.

Makes sense.

1920
A 5-year-old lawsuit that awarded $264,000 damages to the Baltimore Federal League club on April 12, 1919, is reversed by a court of appeals, which upholds the reserve clause and holds that baseball is not interstate commerce nor subject to antitrust laws. The original was initiated because the Baltimore Feds were not included in the settlement of the Federal League war. They wanted a ML team in Baltimore and did not get it. This ruling will be upheld in 1922 by the U.S. Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice William Howard Taft, brother of Cubs former owner, Charles Taft.

And the antitrust exemption is still in effect.

Actual News

When I heard about this any objectivity I have went out the window and I turned into a 15-year old fanboy and started thinking OHMYGOD!OHMYGOD!OHMYGOD!

Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg Named Chiefs 2007 Manager

PEORIA, IL- The Chicago Cubs and Peoria Chiefs have announced that Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg will manage the Chiefs in 2007. The announcement comes on the second day of the Annual Winter Meetings in Orlando, FL as the Cubs gather with each of their minor league affiliates.

Sandberg, who entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2005, will make his managerial debut on Thursday April 5th when the Chiefs visit the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. His first home game at O'Brien Field will be on Friday April 13th at 7:00 PM when the Chiefs host the Burlington Bees.

Get your tickets for the opening series at Fox Cities Stadium April 5-7, Cub fans and Rattler fans.

It was a tough day...

So, after the PR meeting this morning, a walk through the trade show, and lunch, there was a brief moment to rest:




I was bored in ten minutes. Can I get back to work yet?

That was fun...

The Mariners held a reception for their affiliates last night. Got a chance to meet Everett radio announcer Pat Dillon and talk a little shop.

Met a few of the front office people from High Desert.

Most of the player development people that swing through Wisconsin were there. Also, Chuck Armstrong stopped by the table to shake hands and say hello. Bill Bavasi stopped by when Pat and I were talking and said hello as well.

Not much on the docket today. There is a PR workshop in about an hour and probably a walk and some lunch mixed in there.

If there is a chance to get back and update the blog with anything of interest, I will.

Baseball History -- December 5

Complete entry for December 5 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1988
Not the best trade the Cubs have ever made. The Cubs and Rangers complete a 9-player swap, with Chicago giving up OF Rafael Palmeiro, P Jamie Moyer, and P Drew Hall in exchange for IF Curtis Wilkerson and pitchers Mitch Williams, Paul Kilgus, and Steve Wilson, and a pair of minor leaguers to be named.

Well, it did help the Cubs win the NL East in 1989.

1973
Ron Santo becomes the first player to invoke the new 10 and five rule. The Cubs want to trade Santo to the Angels for two pitchers, but he vetoes the deal.

That rule would be ten years in the majors; five years with the same team.

1927
The National Board of Arbitration rules the Texas League cannot place teams in Tulsa and Oklahoma City without permission of the Western League, which now operates in those cities. This landmark decision establishes league property rights in the cities of each circuit.

Property rights. One minor league city per team. That makes some kind of business sense.

My Winter Meetings -- Day 1

7:45am: Breakfast with the Rattlers

8:30am-9:30: MLBAM Panel--Using your website to connect your fans to your brand & Increase your revenue

9:45am-10:45am: Dan Migala--Death of a Salesman: How to grow your sponsorship revenue through proven ideas that meet the sponsors needs

12:30pm-2:00pm: Baseball Awards Luncheon--Emceed by Burlington Bees announcer Randy Wehofer. Salad, Roasted potatoes, asparagus, chicken, and some kind of soft strawberry shortcake-pudding type thing.

2:30-3:00pm: Baseball Rountable 10 Philosophies for Producing Successful Sales --Jeff Garner, Altoona Curve

3:05-3:30pm: NTR: Non-Traditional Revenue--David Burke & Rick Zolzer, Hudson Valley Renegades

3:35-4:00pm: Mascot Branding: Using your mascot(s) to promote your team and generate revenue--Jim Beck Wilmington BlueRocks

5:00pm: Trade Show Opening Night.

Random Picture From My Hotel Window (#2 in the off-season series)

Isn't the sun supposed to be out? Even if it is 7:20am?

Hello from Orlando

It was a long day of travel but the Rattler representatives made it to the hotel in Orlando about 7:00pm EST last night.

Part of me a very glad that I missed the Packer debacle against the Jets at Lambeau Field yesterday.

The business seminars begin in about an hour that will take up most of the day. That is followed by a trip through the Trade Show. The day wraps up with a reception that the Mariners are holding for their affiliates.

Updating with news when possible.

Baseball History -- December 4

Complete entry for December 4 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1976
Aurelio Rodriguez becomes the first American League 3B since 1959 to beat out Brooks Robinson for the Gold Glove Award. Other Newcomers on TSN fielding team include 3B Mike Schmidt, OF Dwight Evans, and C Jim Sundberg, who would combine to win 24 awards.

Aurelio Rodriguez is the answer.

1968
The Astros trade 3B Bob Aspromonte, who lost his job to Doug Rader, to the Braves for infielder Orlando Martinez. Aspro was the last original Colt 45 on Houston's roster, and when he retires, he will be the last original Brooklyn Dodger.

Good name for a book? Last of the Bums. Last of the Colt 45s.

1964
Baseball approves a free-agent draft. At their winter meetings in Houston, the minor league and major league organizations establish a system, basically like that of professional football, which will take effect in January 1965 and be held every four months thereafter. Choices will be exercised by clubs in inverse order of their previous year's standing. Draftees must be included in their club's 40-man roster or be susceptible to claim at the waiver price the following season.

A draft every four months? Wow. Good thing that got changed.

1914
Walter Johnson accepts a $6,000 bonus from the FL Chicago Whales and signs a three-year contract for $17,500 per year. Clark Griffith threatens to take Johnson to court, claiming he has paid Johnson for the reserve option in his contract. American League Prexy Ban Johnson asserts that Johnson was on the market and is "damaged goods," worth getting rid of. Griffith travels to Coffeyville, KS, to persuade his franchise player that the option clause is legal and binding. Two weeks later Griffith signs Johnson for three years at $12,500 per year and returns the bonus to the Feds.

Now that is hardball. Usually the players went to the owners. Getting the owner to go to Coffeyville, Kansas is bargaining power.

Not to rub it in...

Weather for Appleton is HERE.

Weather for Orlando is HERE.

Flight leaves in a bit. There is still a bit to do before heading to the airport. Possibly more later today.

I'll leave you with a a Sunday Flashback to the 2006 season.

This week is an extra-inning win over South Bend at Fox Cities Stadium on July 25. Just copy and paste the code below into your browser and the broadcast will start.

javascript:mp.play({ w:'http://web.servicebureau.net/conf/meta?i=1112701263&c=14667&m=was&u=/w2.xsl', w_id:'26832', pid:'milb_ga', type: 'a_free'} );

Baseball History -- December 3

Complete entry for December 3 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1992
The Mariners sign free agent P Chris Bosio to a 4-year contract.

In April of '93, Bosio would toss a no-hitter for the M's.

1980
Indians outfielder "Super Joe" Charboneau, who hit .289 with 23 home run and 87 RBI, is named American League Rookie of the Year.

Charboneau had a great 1980, but hurt his back during spring training in 1981 and was never the same. Cleveland let him go in 1983.

1901
At the league meeting, the Milwaukee franchise is officially dropped from the American League and is replaced by the St. Louis Browns.

The way that the Browns turned out, it was probably a good thing that this happened.

Best & Worst

Jeff Sackman, who is a contributor at Brew Crew Ball, wrote a pair of articles for The Baseball Analysts. Those articles are a statistical analysis that purports to give The Best Minor League Defenders and The Worst Minor League Defenders.

Jeff explains how he arrived at his conclusions:

Through its website, Minor League Baseball has made available a play-by-play log of every game played in the affiliated minors, complete with some batted-ball information. A person with enough time, desire, and misdirected energy can track every ball that was pitched, hit, or caught by a bush leaguer in 2006.

For pitching and hitting, there's MinorLeagueSplits.com. We can turn our attention, then, to fielding. Using a statistic called Range, I came up with plus/minus ratings for every 2B, 3B, SS, and OF in the minors.

For more explanation, go to the articles.

The ratings include some Rattlers or ex-Rattlers.

In the best category:
Shortstop, Oswaldo Navarro (#2)
Centrfield, Brent Johnson (#3)

In the other category:
Shortstop, Jeff Dominguez (#7)
Left Field/Right Field, Shin-soo Choo (#2)

It's worth a look if you are into these kinds of things.

Big League Freddie

This Week's baseball on TV episode takes us into the world of animation. Or, more accurately, the pre-historic world of animation.

That is my less than clever -- or hackneyed -- way of introducing the show this week as The Flintstones and the season four episode Big League Freddie. The following picture is not from the episode. It is a postage stamp from St. Vincent, but it sets the stage for the episode. I wonder if the designers know anything about baseball or the show. Thy have Barney as a left-handed catcher and Dino throwing the ball with his short arms instead of with his tail.

The show opens with Fred taking batting practice from Dino and slamming rocks over the fence into Barney's hammock. Barney happens to be trying to relax in the hammock but is buried in baserocks.

Barney asks Fred why he is taking BP. Fred responds that he is getting ready for the big game. The Cave Construction Company Championship between Fred's Bedrock Quarry team and Petrie's Petrified Lumberyard. Fred also wants to make sure that he looks good in front of Casey Strangle, the manager of the Boulder City Giants, and his #1 scout Leo Ferocious.

Quick aside: Man, I loved The Flintstones and their celebrities, Ann-Margrock, Cary Granite, Casey Strangle, Leo Ferocious.

Fred thinks that Strangle and Ferocious will be so impressed with his baseball skills that it won't be long before he is playing at Candlestone Park.

Dino is out as the pitcher and suddenly, Fred has a regulation mound in his backyard with Barney ready to pitch to him. Barney says that Fred needs to get ready for his "Out-drop, in-shoot, knuckler, slider, slowball, dipsy-doodle, curve, spitball, up-shoot, (DEEP BREATH) palmball, fastball, waste pitch, smokey Pete, beanball, nickel curve...and up-drop."

Of course, Fred takes this opportunity to lean on his bat while he waits for Barney to just throw the darn ball. That's when Barney throws the pitch and knocks the bat out from supporting Fred. That leads to a merry chase with Fred trying to bash Barney's brains in with the bat. Oddly, that didn't happen.

Back to BP. Barney is tossing BP from a lawn chair and Fred's new helper at the Quarry enters the yard to work out with Fred. That new helpers name: Roger Marble. (Roger Maris. Get it?!?!)

Roger is the sub for Fred on the company team. Fred doesn't point that out or be patronizing in anyway to Roger Marble. Then, Fred gets the idea to pitch BP to Roger and gives him the tip to just meet the ball.

Roger sends the first pitch back at Fred's head. Fred avoids decapitation and the ball knocks down four trees.

Barney's impressed. Fred wants to move on to pop flies. Roger hits one into the stratosphere and Fred takes the ball off his head for one of those cartoon lumps.

Next up is sliding practice. Fred is catching and Roger is heading home from third. Roger applies a blatantly illegal drop kick to knock Fred off the plate. However, Barney calls the guy he just met safe. (What the heck kind of friendship did Fred and Barney have anyway?)

Fred cries uncle by saying that is enough practice for now.

Fred heads inside and tells Pebbles, Betty, and Wilma his major league dream. It's so obvious that he is going to make it to the majors. After all, who was the number one ball player at Bedrock High?

Barney guesses Windy McShale? Stan Gravel? That's when Betty takes Barney home, but not before Barney gets off a parting shot that Fred should warm up his vocal cords because the big stars all do commercials.

Without thinking (which seems to be a main plot device on The Flintstones) Fred pretends to do a hair tonic commercial in the bathroom. He carelessly pours a bottle of something on his hair. Not until after he gets his hands stuck in his hair does he realize that bottle contained Sure-Grip Household Cement. (Who keeps that in the bathroom medicine cabinet?)

Looks like Freddie is out for the game. Nope. Wilma and Henry, the water faucet, get the hands unstuck. The dream lives!

Next scene is Candlestone Park (The Giants rented their stadium out for a Constrcution Company League game? Even in pre-history owners were looking for new revenue streams.)and the radio announcer sets the stage for the game. (Radio announcer for a Cave Construction Company League Game? Would this have been on ESPN 8, The Ocho?)

Mr. Slate, the manager of the team and boss of the company, is in the locker room to give the Quarry boys a pep talk. It boils down to "If you lose the game, your being out of work tomorrow will have nothing to do with that."

Warren Spindle (Warren Spahn!) is the pitcher for the Petrie's Petrified Lumberyard and he will face the lead-off hitter for the Bedrock Quarry, Fred Flintstone. (Fred, a lead-off hitter? I've always doubted Mr. Slate's business skills, I mean he keeps rehiring Fred back after getting rid of him. But, here is absolute proof of his lack of baseball acumen. Fred is a #5 or #6 hitter. No way should he be leading off! Visit my other website: FIREMRSLATE.COM for more on this idiot and the way that he is ruining of the proud baseball tradition that once was Bedrock Quarry.)

In the stands, Wilma calls for her man to get a touchdown. Betty corrects her. A man sitting next to Wilma says to "Throw the bum out."

Fred does what any good leadoff batter does and takes a strike. The fact that he didn't even see it has nothing to do with the fact. Fred is tuned up for Spindle's fast ball, but two straight "sneak" pitches fool Flintstone and he goes down swinging.

As Lindsay Nelson used to say, "We move ahead in the action." to the bottom of the second with Sandy Stoneaxe (Koufax! Get it!?!? Geez!) pitching for the Quarry and he is facing Lumberyard's second baseman, Pee Wee Rocks (Reese! See!? It's funny!!!!!)

Rocks hits a liner right at Fred. Fred is over-confident and takes it right off the head. Fred's heckler makes one too many cracks about him and Wilma cracks the heckler over the head with her purse in a move that would make Ruth Buzzi famous.

Roger Marble gets the call, but doesn't have his uniform. Slate tells him to put on Fred's. (See where this is going?)

Strangle and Ferocious show up late as the game is just heading to the top of the fourth. The two remember how they discovered Mickey Mountain (Mantle! Genius!!!). Throwing rocks at dinosaurs.

Now, Spindle must have been perfect through the first three innings, because Roger Marble is leading off the top of the fourth. The announcer completely misses the fact that Fred is out of the game and just says the Number 7 is batting. (Hey, it can happen. Although there probably would have been a bigger deal of Marble coming into the game as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the second. Plus, somebody on the Lumberyard might have tested him with a bunt or something.)

Marble crushes the first pitch of the inning for a home run and the scouts are impressed with this #7, this Flintstone.

In the bottom of the fifth Mickey Rockran (Mickey Cochrane! HA!) is batting and sends a liner ticketed for the leftfield corner. Marble makes a leaping grab and continues to impress the scouts.

Marble approaches the plate in the top of the seventh to the cheers of the crowd and is now referred to by the radio announcer as "Old Spark Plug #7." Marble crushes another home run into the dinosaur that is serving as a ladder for the monkey-operated scoreboard. (That is a line that could only be typed in a Flintstones recap or in Jurassic Park IV)

Later that day, Fred is at home; feeling down for not playing well and getting hurt. The fact that Marble played spectacular baseball is little comfort.

That's when Strangle and Ferocious ring the doorbell at the Flintstone house. (Sorry, the monkey-operated doorbell)

They ask to see Wilma's son. Wilma straightens them out about that fact. (That was the thing about Wilma Slaghoople-Flintstone. She brooked no nonsense, um, once she found out about it.)

Strangle and Ferocious are confused because Fred looked younger, taller, and better looking on the field. Ferocious says, "Oh, well. Looks never won a pennant."

They need to sign the guy who hit three homers and made all those great plays in the field. Fred begins ask what they are talking about. Then, he pretends to be Roger. Wilma wants him to be honest, but Fred signs the contract with the Boulder City Giants.

Fred takes the contract over to the Rubbles to brag. "It's a rock-clad agreement. They have to pay me whether I play or not. YABBA-DABBA DOOOOOOO!" The Rubbles aren't impressed and slam the door on Fred. While Fred was getting the cold shoulder from the Rubbles, Wilma locked him out of the house. Doesn't she understand. He is only doing this for her and Pebbles. She suggests the Dino Hotel for the night. Dino has none of that and slams that door to his house on Fred.

This only makes Fred madder and says that they will all change their mind when he is a big leaguer.

But, it was Fred who changes his mind first. All it took to change Fred's mind was Pebbles calling him bad. (That was about the only word that I understood from Pebbles in this whole episode)

Fred heads down to the Boulder City Giants office to tell the truth and break the contract.

The next scene has the Flintstones and the Rubbles at Candlestone Park to cheer on Roger Marble. Roger hits a home run for the people he's know for maybe two weeks. and Fred lets out another "YABBA -DABBA DOOOO!"

The episode ends with Fred reading from the sports section that the Rock Bay Pachyderms (I have no idea what team this is supposed to be. Anyone? Anyone?) will be holding their pro football tryouts next week. Fred was the greatest halfback at Bedrock High after all and so what if the baseball thing didn't work out. The football thing has to work!

Wilma locks Fred in a closet and won't let him out until he comes to his senses or grows up.

The thing to remember about Fred is that he tries to do the wrong thing or take a shortcut for the right reason. In the end though, he is a man about it, admits his mistake, and makes things right.

A winter meeting story

Here is the story of my first Baseball Winter Meeting that I mentioned last night:

Back in the fall of 1993, I was between jobs. Bartending at two different bars in my hometown was good money, but I needed to try and get into baseball.

Through a sports job service (that is no longer in business and never got me a job), I heard about the possibility of going to the Winter Meetings in Atlanta for a job fair. After checking it out with a guy I knew from UW-Platteville, Tim Bawmann. Tim was in the Florida State League at the time and he is the GM at Lowell now. After that conversation, I registered for the job fair, got a cheap flight on Midwest Express from my flight attendant cousins, and headed out with a pack of resumes and a stack of cassettes.

It was a bit overwhelming once I got down there. The job service had a little seminar on the first day down there about what to expect and what to look for in a job. Then, they mentioned The Big Board (more on that in a bit) and split us into groups.

There had to be about 150 guys who were interested in getting a radio job who split off into a room.

The host got up in front of us and said something along the lines of: Wow, that's a lot of guys looking for maybe three jobs.

We laughed, not knowing any better. Then, we all realized that he was serious.

The Big Board was a room with many large bulletin boards. Teams post job openings on the boards and prospective employees put their resumes (and tapes if they have to) into envelopes on the board. You had to write your room number on the resume so that someone could get in touch with you if they wanted to interview you. (Give me a break. Cell phones cost about $4,000 at the time).

That first day I walked in right when the job fair opened. There were ticket positions, internships, sales openings. But, seriously, there were three radio openings. I still remember what they were: Boise Hawks, Yakima Bears, and Columbus Red Stixx.

Technically, there was a fourth opening. But, it was for the Medicine Hat Blue Jays and only Canadians could apply. I thought being from Wisconsin was close enough. Suprisingly, I never heard from the Medicine Hat Blue Jays.

I also never heard from the Hawks, Bears, or Red Stixx -- at least not when I was in Atlanta.

The rest of the time was spent hanging around the job fair with a briefcase full of tapes and resumes waiting to hear of any new openings.

There was another UW-Platteville alum down in Atlanta. His name was Kevin Temperly and at the time he was the general manager of the Clinton LumberKings. They had just made the nickname switch from Clinton Giants. He mentioned the possibility of a PA Announcer/intern for the summer of 1994. I was kind of interested, but thought that I would look around a bit more.

About two days into the meetings, a job opening was announced that I was very interested in getting. It was the play-by-play announcer for the Beloit Brewers. Yep, I flew all the way to Atlanta for an interview with a team that is less than an hour from where I grew up.

I interviewed with the GM Steve Kretz. I thought it went well. He wanted me to give him a call when I got back to Wisconsin to see how things were going.

Saturday was spent watching a Falcons-49ers game at the hotel sports bar and trying to scrounge around for jobs. I managed to meet up with the speaker from the seminar on the first day and he took my tape and resume. Funny. Never heard from him.

Sunday was a day that I got to walk through the trade show. That was...weird.

That night, the Packers played the Chargers and I watched the game in the hotel sports bar. That's where I ran into Kevin again. We talked for a bit and he suggested that I swing by Clinton to check out the Riverview Stadium during the off-season and to give him a call to try and set up an interview. The Packers won 20-13.

Monday was the flight home. The rejection letters from Boise, Yakima, and Columbus arrived over the next couple of weeks. I still have them. I'm pretty sure that I still have every rejection letter I've ever received in a shoe box somewhere in the basement.

Many calls were placed to Beloit, but I kept getting the, "We aren't ready to make a decision yet." line.

After Christmas I drove to Clinton without calling. Wanted to check it out before I went there for any kind of interview.

The ride down was okay. I had lunch at a Country Kitchen, then drove by the stadium and around town. Thought about things for a bit. Then, turned for home. That's when it started snowing. Blizzard actually. The drive back was not okay.

End of the story is that the Beloit job didn't turn out, I didn't go after the internship in Clinton, and things kind of worked out to where they are right now.

Baseball History -- December 2

Complete entry for December 2 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries are:

1993
The Phillies trade P Mitch Williams to the Astros in exchange for P Doug Jones and Jeff Juden.

I'm sure that this trade had nothing to do with this entry from earlier in 1993:

Saturday, October 23rd

IN THE NEWS: In a dramatic finish, Joe Carter of the Blue Jays homers off of Mitch Williams with 2 men on base in the bottom of the 9th to give Toronto an 8-6 victory and the World Championship.

1966
California trades P Dean Chance and a player to be named to the Twins for OF Jimmie Hall, 1B Don Mincher, and P Pete Cimino.

Dean Chance another member of the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame

1957
The Hollywood (PCL) franchise moves to Salt Lake City, and the Los Angeles (PCL) team moves to Spokane. The San Francisco franchise (PCL) transfers to Phoenix, AZ.

This makes room for the Dodgers and Giants in 1958.

While you were working...(12/1)

or while you were trying to figure out why your DVD player decided to conk out on the night you actually rented a few movies for a change.

Mariner Mailbag at seattlemariners.com from earlier this week:

Do the Mariners have enough prospects to make an offer
to the Devil Rays for Carl Crawford?-- Chris M., Troutdale, Ore.

First of all, Crawford is still under contract with the Devil Rays, though it's believed that he could be moved to another team in the right deal. But to answer your question, no, I don't think the Mariners have enough Minor League prospects to land Crawford.

Seattle has carefully been building its Minor League system back up through the draft under the direction of Bob Fontaine, who has presided over the last three drafts. The Mariners' top prospects -- outfielder Adam Jones and catcher Jeff Clement -- could potentially land a quality player like Crawford, but not unless they're included in a trade with another Major League player. My best guess is the Mariners aren't excited about the prospect of moving their top prospects anytime soon.
Will Michael Garciaparra have a chance at making the Opening Day roster?-- Greg K., Atlanta

Garciaparra -- Seattle's first-round pick in 2001-- has turned his career around, and was rewarded last week when the Mariners placed him on their 40-man roster rather than risking trying to sneak him through waivers.

Garciaparra is a shortstop much like his older brother, Nomar, originally was. He hadn't done much professionally until last year when he hit .311 between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A Tacoma. He was limited to 70 games because of a strained left calf, but performed well in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .342 in 19 games with the Peoria Javelinas. Because he missed so much time last season, Garciaparra will likely begin the season at Triple-A Tacoma and could certainly stand a full season there.

With Yuniesky Betancourt likely dropping anchor as Seattle's shortstop for years to come, and with second baseman Jose Lopez likely going nowhere, Garciaparra's path to Seattle could be blocked. But if he continues to perform well, he'll find a place in the Major Leagues somewhere -- Seattle or elsewhere.

What are the chances that catcher Jeff Clement will make it to the Major Leagues in 2007, even if it's for a cup of coffee?-- Steve C., Park Forest, Ill.

I would say the chances of seeing Clement in Seattle next season are very slim, unless he is added to the roster in September when the active roster expands from 25 to 40 players.

There is more to that last answer at the link

If you are happen to be a Seattle area reader of this blog, take advantage of this:

If the recent cold weather has you feeling chilly, perhaps meeting the man with some big-league heat will warm you up! Come do some holiday shopping and meet Mariners closer J.J. Putz at the Bellevue Square Team Store from 6-7 p.m. PT on Monday.

Ask him if he still has any Timber Rattler stuff.

BaseballAmerica.com has their Mariner organizational report hidden behind their subscriber wall. But, if you are a member check out the brief story on Ryan Rowland-Smith (WI '03). A preview:

Lefthander Ryan Rowland-Smith looks forward to the offseason and returning to his native Australia, but he was more than happy to postpone going back home when the Mariners asked him to play in the Arizona Fall League.

"I looked at it as an opportunity," Rowland-Smith said. "This, as a whole, is the best competition I have faced."In a league where both batting averages and earned run averages are more than inflated, Rowland-Smith, 23, fared well. He went 0-1, 5.40 in 15 innings, but the reliever's numbers were marred by two ugly stints in which he allowed seven runs in two innings.

One last thing for tonight. The Baseball Winter Meetings are going to be held next week in Orlando, Florida. Somehow, I was asked to be part of the group heading down from Fox Cities Stadium.

MILB.com has a preview article HERE. A brief outline of what is done at the meetings:

After officially kicking off Monday morning with the annual Opening Session speech by MiLB president Mike Moore, the days will be filled by meetings covering all manners of topics. These range from individual league business, all-star games, public relations, marketing, licensing, travel and Baseball Chapel.

General managers, public relations directors, marketing and sales staffers and more get the rare opportunity to trade ideas, share their successes and learn from one another, all with the shared goal of making the 2007 Minor League season a winning one, not just on the field but off of it.

Also, 50,000 people interested in being a baseball radio announcer will be trying for about three open jobs. Trust me. I've been there. Might have to tell that story at some point.

The laptop and the camera will be making the trip and the blog will be updated daily while down there. Not sure what time it will be updated. Just that it will be.

Now, excuse me while I go all Office Space on the DVD player.

Not baseball, just awkward

While checking for a new story about the SWING of the Quad Cities sale, this story popped up at QCTimes.net:

Scheduling snafu keeps Riverhawks from playing

The Quad-City Riverhawks’ first six games went off without a hitch. But in the American Basketball Association, games on the schedule never are guaranteed.

The Riverhawks’ first road trip hit a dead end Thursday when owner Tom McGinn found out tonight’s opponent didn’t have the game on its schedule.

“I was talking to the owner of the Anderson (Ind.) Champions, and he was wondering why we were getting hotel rooms out there, because on his schedule we’re not coming out there,” McGinn said. “On our schedule, we are coming out there. If you pull out a few different ABA schedules online, some of them have us going to Anderson, some of them don’t have anything until we go to Chicago on Saturday.”

Then, there is this little line later in the story:

Not a single ABA team played its entire 36-game schedule last season.

What? Baseball I can understand not playing every game on the schedule. There have been a few hockey games that I have been involved in that had to be postponed, but the games were always made up at some point. Basketball?

And this passage will make me feel guilty if I ever complain about travel by a motor coach:

The Riverhawks are off to a 4-2 start and rank 16th in the ABA power rankings — the top 24 teams at the end of the season qualify for the playoffs — but the average attendance of 235 has been below what McGinn anticipated.

And a scheduling error on the team’s first try at a road trip certainly doesn’t help.

McGinn already had rented vans for the weekend — the team normally will travel in the McGinn family Winnebago, but McGinn didn’t want to risk potential snowy conditions — and the team prepared all week for a matchup with Anderson. Now the Riverhawks will drive over and back to Chicago on Saturday for a game against the Rockstars, a team they beat Monday, 114-67.

The ABA site is HERE. There doesn't appear to be a Riverhawk website.

Baseball History -- December 1

Complete entry for December 1 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1971
The Cubs release Ernie Banks and sign him as a coach. Mr. Cub finishes his playing career with 512 home runs and 1,636 RBI.

"Let's coach two today!" doesn't have the same ring to it.

1967
Pacific Northwest Sports, Inc. is awarded one of the two American League expansion franchises. The team will play in Seattle.

For one season. Then, it would move to Milwaukee.

1962
A complete overhaul of the classifications is made. The Eastern and South Atlantic Leagues are promoted from Class A to Class AA. CClasses B, C and D are abolished with those leagues being promoted to Class A. The Class B leagues were the Carolina and Northwest Leagues; The Class C leagues were the California, Mexican Center, Northern and Pioneer Leagues. The Class D leagues were the Florida State, Georgia-Florida, Midwest, New York-Pennsylvania and Western Carolina Leagues. The Appalachian League moves from Class D to Rookie classification.

Reorganization for a better tomorrow.