Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
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Former Illinois catcher Lars Davis has been assigned to the roster of Class A Asheville Tourists.
Davis, who was the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2007 with the Illini, will join Asheville, which a farm team of the Colorado Rockies. They are managed by Joe Mikulik.
By the way, if Mikulik’s name sounds familiar, this is why.
Good luck, Lars!
What do minor league teams do what with all the players in spring training and the first game of the season weeks away? Simple.. take part in a logo contest. SportBiz with Darren Rovell which you can find on CNBC.com is hosting a minor league logo contest. Logos are pitted against each other and anyone can vote for their favorite.
The Cubs local single-A affiliate Peoria Chiefs are doing pretty well for themselves. They’ve made to the “Sweet Sixteen” of the best minor league team logos. Judge for yourselves.
For my friends in the Quad City area, the River City Bandits are still in the running too.
One more local favorite (and home to former Illini Brian Blomquist last year) is the Southern Illinois Miners.
Umm.. go Chiefs!
Proof that anything goes when it comes to minor league team promotions, Macon Music of the independent South Coast League is planning an “Eliot Spitzer Night” to capitalize on the latest transgressions of the now former New York Governor.
The club plans to invite Spitzer to throw out the first pitch and attend the game. Other plans for the promotion include:
The Spitzer promo won’t take place till June 13 so time will tell if this scandal will still be front and center in the public’s minds.
Tim Kuda, a popular baseball podcaster who has done the Tim Kuda Show, is switching gears and focusing on minor league action. His new show is called Minor League Baseball Radio and can be found at http://www.milbradio.com.
MLBR is a live show which debuts this week with interviews with minor league coaches, prospects and other personnel. The show is broadcasted live on Monday nights at 10pm.
Next week’s show includes:
Oakland Athletics Minor League Spring Training Coverage including:
Conversations with Midland RockHounds Pitching Coach Scott Emerson and top organization pitching prospect Trevor Cahill.
Kansas City Royals Minor League Spring Training Coverage including:
2007 #2 over draft pick and top prospect Mike Moustakas and Wilmington Blue Rocks Manager Darryl Kennedy.
For those who can’t listen to the show live, it is available for download or you can listen at their website.
For those in the area, plan your trip to see the Peoria Chiefs this year. The Chiefs, who are the Chicago Cubs single A affiliate, have already come out with the promotion schedule including all-you-can-eat hot dog nights (I know a few people who could give them a run for their money), free Joe Girardi t-shirts, and the headliner, in my opinion:
“Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter headlines the special guests at O’Brien Field this season as the VIP guest for the annual Legends at the Ballpark night with IPMR on Saturday June 14. Sutter was a closer for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves amassing 300 saves from 1976-1988 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. He and Chiefs Manager Ryne Sandberg had a memorable matchup in July 1984 when Sandberg tied the game twice with homers off Sutter on national TV at Wrigley Field.”
I think most Cubs fans who were around back then remember that game.
I planned to go see the Chiefs after having team broadcaster Nathan Baliva on our podcast last year but just never got around to it. I’ll have to make good on that this year. The Chiefs home season starts April 7 and single game tickets go on sale Monday.
Former Illini and current member of the Detroit organization Shawn Roof shot me an email update tonight. I always enjoy hearing from Shawn but now that he’s in his first spring training, I was anxious to see how things were shaking. Not surprisingly, Roof was one of the first ones down there:
“I’m down here in Florida right now. I’ve been down for about a week working out with some of the other guys that have gotten down here early. I am having a blast. The weather is beautiful and its nice to take ground balls on a real field again. Anyways its almost like the circus came to town down here with all the excitement from the trades the Tigers made. We pretty much have an All Star at every position.”
Baseball runs in Shawn’s family. Brothers Eric and Jonathon both play for Michigan State. Jonathon was drafted by Boston out of high school last year. There’s seems to be a rivalry among the three that can only exist between brothers.
Illini SS Shawn Roof dogging baserunner Eric Roof from MSU during a 2007 Illinois-MSU game
Fortunately, Shawn was able to catch Eric and Jonathon in action when MSU played a tournament in Deland, Florida last weekend.
“I had a great opportunity to go and watch Michigan State play down here this past weekend. I got a chance to see my little brothers play, and its hard to believe that they are all grown up and not the little turds I remember in the back yard. Eric is strong as an ox now, and hit the ball very well this weekend, and he’s going to catch quite a bit as well. He has really turned himself into a good player. I also got a chance to see the little brother Jonathan, hit his first career home run, so now they have both one upped my career home run total of 0, but he looks like he has a chance to have a very good year, and a chance to be an unbelievable player down the road. He made one fine catch up the middle that made me pretty jealous. I know I’m bragging on them, but I’m pretty proud of how they have come along, not to mention the Spartans look like a decent team as well.”
“Little turds”… how affectionate.
Roof said he expects good things from the Illini this year. He and last year’s Big Ten Player of Year Lars Davis were both in town working out with the team before the season started.
Rohde rounding the bases in his Illinois days
Mike Rohde, former firstbaseman for the University of Illinois, has been traded to Gary SouthShore RailCats. The Railcats were the Northern League Champion in 2007.
Rohde was acquired from the Sioux Falls Canaries and was included as the player to be named later in a trade that sent pitcher Kris Regas to the Canaries.
I know there’s a joke about the ‘Cats getting the Canaries or something like that.
Good Luck, Mike!
This is relatively old news but Ryno is back as manager of the Peoria Chiefs, the Cubs Class A team. Ryno didn’t do half bad his first year as a manager going 71-68 with the Chiefs. And one of my New Year’s resolutions is to make it to at least one Peoria Chiefs game this year.
Also mentioned in Carrie Muskat’s article about Sandberg is that the Cubs have brought on former Bucs GM Dave Littlefield to join the scouting staff. I did a double take when I read that then drew a deep sigh of resignation. Todd, our resident Pirate fan, has gone on numerous rants on Littlefield on our podcast. Find any episode that Todd is co-hosting and I’ll guarantee that he spends a few minutes on the topic.
So we’ll see.
I’m in the middle of reading Harvard Boys: A Father and Son’s Adventures Playing Minor League Baseball, right now. I think it might appeal to some TBZ readers. It is co-authored by a father-son duo, Rick and John Wolff.
Harvard Boys is mostly the story of John and what happens as he chooses to play baseball after graduating from Harvard. John (who played in the New York Mets organization) writes about living the sometimes not-so-glorious life of a minor leaguer. He gives us a detailed look of both his on-the-field endeavors but also life outside the ballpark.
What sets this book apart is the commentary from his father. After designated breaks in the chapters, his father Rick, also a Harvard alum who had gone on to play pro baseball for the Tigers in the mid-70’s, responds to what John has written. His comments speak with experience as someone who has gone through all of the same trials and tribulations that John is going through right now. Rick doesn’t hesitate to point out the generational differences, too. Personally, I enjoyed some of the historical anecdotes by Rick.
John Wolff isn’t a superstar and probably will never will be. To me, it makes this book that much more appealing.
If you’re interested in Harvard Boys, you can get it through the publisher, SkyHorse Publishing or through Amazon.com.
Followup: I just found out that co-author Rick Wolff hosts a radio show Sundays at 8-9am on WFAN 66AM out of New York. Fortunately, WFAN streams its broadcast if you’re interested in listening to Rick’s show. Here is the show description from WFAN’s web page:
The Sports Edge:
This lively show focuses on contemporary issues that confront the parents of athletes of all ages, from kids who are just starting out in sports, to experienced athletes on the high school varsity and beyond. Wolff’s forum usually includes a guest who is an expert in a particular area of sports parenting, and listeners are encouraged to call in with their opinions and questions on specific topics.
Recent shows have focused on high school hazing; the enforcement of “Athletic Codes of Conduct;” mandatory sportsmanship training for parents; holding athletes accountable for their deliberately violent acts during a game; and whether Creatine is healthy or hazardous for youngsters.
You can find out more from WFAN’s web site where you can also find the streaming link.
(thanks to Joe for the heads up!)
The Boston Globe has the list of Rule V picks.
Of interest to Cub fans, Randy Wells from the AAA Iowa Cubs was chosen by Toronto. Wells is a righthanded fireballer. He was tearing up single-A Daytona (10-2, 2.74 106 K in 98.2 IP) in ’05 being promoted. Same story in ’06 when he was putting up great numbers in AA Tennessee (4-2, 1.56, 56 K in 63.1) before moving on to AAA.
Wells’ ERA rose a bit in 2007 (4.52) but he continued his strikeout rate (101 in 95.2) at AAA Iowa. No doubt he’s got some stuff.
At least we won’t see him in our division ala Josh Hamilton