14 Days to Opening Day

April 5, 2007 is Opening Day for the Timber Rattlers. That is in 14 days.

The number 14 is represented by Ernie Banks.

Let's play two today!

Thursday Motivation (3/22)

Excellence: "Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence."

Thank you, despair.com. You win again.

M's 7, Rockies 4

Seattle beat Colorado 7-4 in Cactus League action yesterday.

Ex-Rattlers in action for the Mariners:

Adam Jones (WI '04): 0-for-1
Rene Rivera (WI '03): 0-for-1, run scored

Former Appleton Fox Raul Ibanez was 1-for-3 with his fourth home run of the spring for Seattle.

Baseball History -- March 22

Complete entry for March 22 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1991
At Sotheby's in New York, a 1909-10 tobacco card in mint condition of Honus Wagner sells for $451,000 (with the 10% auction house premium) to hockey star Wayne Gretzky and LA Kings owner Bruce McNall. A 1952 Topps card of Mickey Mantle goes for $49,500, tripling the pre-auction estimate, while a baseball, signed by 12 players at the 1939 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, sells for $20,900.

Wikipedia has a this bit about the Honus Wagner card.

1981
Orioles manager Earl Weaver is suspended for three days by American League president Lee MacPhail for removing his club from the field and forfeiting a spring training game to the Royals. It is the 4th career suspension for Weaver, who was upset that the umpires did not provide him with an official batting order after Kansas City made numerous substitutions.

Perfectly understandable reaction from Earl.

1889
The All America team beats Chicago 7–6 in England's Old Trafford Cricket Stadium. The Manchester Guardian said the "general verdict of the more than 1,000 spectators was that the American game was ‘slow' and ‘wanting in variety.'

This complaint from cricket fans?

Field Photo March 21

It's as if someone wanted to say, "You called yesterday gray? I'll show you gray, idiot." But, the field needs the rain, right?

Lion in the Rain

May I just say, "First day of Spring my ear."

15 Days to Opening Day

April 5, 2007 is Opening Day for the Timber Rattlers. That is just 15 days from today.

The number 15 is represented by Cecil Cooper.

Cooooooooooooooooooop!

Wednesday Baseball Movie Quote (3/21)

Coach Morris Buttermaker: Listen, Lupus, you didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya? Now get your ass out there and do the best you can.

This is from the original.

Timber Rattlers on the Rise

Sunday's Life & Style section at www.postcrescent.com had a few Timber Rattler notes.

First, apparently, one of the five readers of this blog is On the Rise:

Who: Tom Kulczewski

What and where: Kulczewski is director of operations for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a minor league baseball team that serves as the Class A Midwest League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

What he says: "The best part is coming to work at a ballpark every day and being at a place you love," Kulczewski said. "You feel like you're really a part of something special."

What sets him apart: In his current position since 2003, Kulczewski is something of a jack-of-all-trades figure within the Rattlers front office. His many duties include handling the upkeep at Fox Cities Stadium to making sure Rattlers players and coaches are taken care of in terms of travel arrangements and uniforms.

There are a few other unofficial duties that he has as well: Letting me go through the old programs that he has in his office for material on this blog and reading this blog.

Also, the Rattlers are an organization you should Keep an eye on:

Who are they: The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a minor league baseball club that serves as the Class A Midwest League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They play at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium, 2400 N. Casaloma Drive in Grand Chute.

What's new: Fox Cities Stadium underwent its second major renovation project of 2006 when its playing surface was re-graded and dressed with new sod during the off-season.

The project cost between $60,000 and $80,000 and was paid for entirely by the Fox Cities Sports Authority, a nonprofit organization that owns the stadium and leases it to the Rattlers.

"It's looking fantastic," Rattlers president Rob Zerjav said. "It looks like you could just take a marble and roll it and it will be a steady grade down to the warning track."

I'll have to try that. Anyone have a marble?

A few more cuts

Mariner Minors had this last night on three ex-Rattlers who were either optioned or re-assigned out of major league camp.

After looking at the box score for yesterday’s 4-16 blowout against the Cubs, I figured heads would start rolling, but I didn’t quite anticipate it happening so soon. Still, with only one split-squad game left on the schedule, I suppose it’s about time. The Mariners have optioned LHP Ryan Feierabend and RHP Cha Seung Baek to Tacoma, while re-assigning RHP Renee Cortez to the minor league camp.

Jay has a summary on each of the players at the post. The link at the top of this post goes to the post at Mariner Minors. The link in the quote goes to the release at the M's site.

Then, there is this little tag at the end of Jay's post that is of interest to Rattler fans.

And here’s a note of former M’s in the news again… It looks like Trot Nixon may be edging out Shin-soo Choo for a spot on the Indians roster.

Follow that link.

Diamondback 8, M's 1

Arizona topped the Mariners 8-1 in Cactus League action yesterday.

Ex-Rattlers in action for the M's:

Adam Jones (WI '04): 0-for-1
Yung-Chi Chen (WI '05): 0-for-1
Rob Johnson (WI '05): 0-for-2
Jeff Dominguez (WI '06): 1-for-1
Jon Nelson (WI '03): 0-for-1
Brent Johnson (WI '05): 0-for-1
Eric O'Flaherty (WI '05): IP, 0H, 0R, 2K

Speaking of O'Flaherty, there he gets a section in M's Notebook this morning.

For all the talk of potential promotions of youngsters Brandon Morrow or Jon Huber to Seattle's bullpen come April, one dark horse candidate continues to impress. Left-hander Eric O'Flaherty pitched a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts against Arizona.

O'Flaherty has given up just two runs over seven innings this spring, logging six strikeouts. He had held left-handed hitters to a .238 batting average entering the contest.

"The best way to describe it is he's been quietly effective," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "He just goes about his business and lets his actions speak for themselves."

Baseball History -- March 21

Complete entry for March 21 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1978
The Padres fire manager Alvin Dark, replacing him with pitching coach Roger Craig. Dark becomes the second manager after the Cubs' Phil Cavarretta in 1954 to be fired during spring training.

Fired in spring training. That's cold.

1977
Mark Fidrych, the 1976 Rookie of the Year, rips the cartilage in his left knee and will undergo surgery in ten days. The injury will effectively end the fabled career of the Bird.

What kind of career could he have had?

1975
Yes, in baseball. Georgia Tech shuts out Earlham 41–0, setting an NCAA record for scoring and for winning margin.

Was this before they switched to aluminum bats?

1936
Joe DiMaggio runs his spring training record to 12-for-20, in an 11–2 Yankee victory over the newly named Boston Bees. Before the next game is played, the prize rookie is left unattended with his foot in a diathermy machine. The resulting burn ends his spring training and delays his ML debut until May.

For more than you will ever want to know about diathermy machines go HERE.

Field Photo March 20

Not much change on a gray Tuesday morning.

Safari in Appleton

This is Roar of the Crowd. He's a lion and he is outside Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

He is there as part of a promotion for The Lion King, which opens at the Fox Valley Performing Arts Center in May.

In fact, there are lions all over the valley. Go HERE to see them all.

And, yes, that is eye black Roar of the Crowd is wearing. If I can get closer, there will be a better shot tomorrow.

16 Days to Opening Day

April 5, 2007 is Opening Day for the Timber Rattlers. That is just 16 days from today.

The number 16 is represented by Sixto Lezcano

From baseballcardproject.com.

There is a sixtolezcano.com. Turn your audio down before clicking that link. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is a bit loud on the site. Plus, it looks like the page was designed in about 1993.

His 1980 Opening Day, game winning, grand slam against the Red Sox used to be on YouTube. But, I can't find it now. Tuesday is off to a great start.

It wasn't a good first round

MILB.com's Moniker Madness, their way of picking the best player name in minor league baseball and getting in on bracket-mania, completed its first round yesterday.

It was not a good showing for Austin-Bibens-Dirkx (WI '06).

Biggest Blowout: Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha (81%) over Austin Bibens-Dirkx (19%).

Ouch.

Go to the link to vote in round two.

Mariner Split Squad Monday

The Cubs beat the M's 16-4 in one spring training game yesterday.

Ex-Rattlers in this game:
Chris Minaker (WI '06): 0-for-1
Josh Womack (WI '05): (defensive replacement)
Rene Rivera (WI '03): 2-for-3
Michael Saunders (WI '06): 0-for-1
Luis Oliveros (WI '02): 0-for-2
Ryan Feierabend (WI '04): 2IP, 9H, 8R, 3HR allowed
Renee Cortez (WI '03): IP, 3H, 3R
Cha Seung Baek (WI '00): IP, 2H, R, 0ER

The Mariners beat the Diamondbacks 8-5 in the other game yesterday.

Ex-Rattlers in this game:
Adam Jones (WI '04): 0-for-1 run scored
Brent Johnson (WI '05): 0-for-1
Matt Tuiasosopo (WI '05): 1-for-3 (RBI)
Julio Mateo (WI '00): IP, 2H, R

Baseball History -- March 20

Complete entry for March 20 is at BaseballLibrary.com is HERE.
Highlighted entries:
1989

The commissioner's office announces that Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation for unnamed "serious allegations."

I wonder how that turned out.

1973
In a special election held by the BBWAA, the late Roberto Clemente receives 393 of 424 votes to earn entry in the Hall of Fame. The Hall's Board of Directors had earlier waived the 5-year-wait rule for Clemente.

I wonder who the 31 guys were that didn't vote for Cemente.

1915
The Braves break ground on Commonwealth Avenue and begin construction of Braves Field. Owner Gaffney wants a large enough park so that inside-the-park homers can be hit in three directions. The field will open on August 18th.

I wonder if there are any pictures of Braves Field.

Field Photo March 19

It has been a few days, but things are looking good at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium

In a not seen in this picture update, there is very little snow on the concourse and much less snow in the seating area. Woo-hoo!

17 Days to Opening Day

April 5, 2007 is Opening Day for the Timber Rattlers. That is 17 days from today.

The number 17 is represented by Jim Gantner


Image taken from Rock River League Hall of Fame.