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EI League: Chambana takes on the Royal Giants

For the second Sunday in a row, I took in a Chambana doubleheader at McKinley Field. Here are the photos I took.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Bruce and Leo whose sons were the pitcher and catcher respectively for the first game. Aside from the good company, that had its advantages as they had the inside scoop on everything.

Matt Miller did give up five runs in his start but all things considered didn’t pitch as bad as the stats indicate. He did get the loss when the Royal Giants clobbered Chambana 8-3. Ironically, Chambana outhit Royal 12 hits to 9 but couldn’t capitalize.

Chambana got their revenge in Game 2 with a come from behind 4-2 victory. Unfortunately, all the Chambana took place AFTER I left. I’m a jinx, I’m starting to think.

I did get a chance to chat with Matt Wilke (left), catcher for Chambana. He’s as polite as they come and he not only did he manage to get hit in the first game, he hit the ball hard when he didn’t. He’s posing with his father Leo in the above photo. I don’t know anyone who knows more about the physical game of baseball than Leo. It’s learning experience to listen to him predict a pitch or critique a pitch selection.

Love those Green & Yellows!

Matt Miller on the mound

A subplot during the second game was this foul ball stuck in the backstop. With the dearth of available baseballs, the ump kiddingly said that the game might not be able to continue until it was brought down.

It was still up there when I left.

As I said, more photos in the Photo Gallery. Check them out!

EI League action Sunday

Tomorrow, Chambana will take on the Royal Giants at McKinley Field, home of the Champaign Central High School baseball team. Game time is at 1pm. Both teams are in the Eastern Illinois Baseball League.

I showed up to McKinley Field last week to see Chambana play Effingham. I had a good time but had to leave before Chambana scored their first run halfway through the second game. Maybe I’ll see a little more offense from the home team this time.

Indiana, Michigan winners at Big 10 tourney today

Indiana defeated Penn State 11-8 and Michigan continues their winning ways by defeating Purdue 6-1. You can read my recap of the games at The College Baseball Blog.

Indiana’s Celebration…

Penn State’s Disbelief

I will say that the PSU-IU game was one of the best games I’ve seen at the Big Ten Tournament. Never had I seen such rollercoaster of emotions as I was sitting behind some Penn State fans (including Joe Blackburn’s parents). The top of the ninth their team had come back from a 3-run deficit to take the lead.

The next half inning, a grand slam erases all of that. That’s a lot to take.

more photos of the Penn State-Indiana game and the Michigan-Purdue game.

Update: I saw Tyler Cox’ grand slam and the ensuing celebration on ESPN’s SportsCenter last night. Now, they’ll start paying a little attention to college ball, Brian from Big Ten Hardball told me.

Settling in at Ann Arbor, Tomorrow the Big 10 Tournament

I just rolled into Ann Arbor this evening on the aptly named “Wolverine” Amtrak line. I’m staying at the Lamp Post Inn. It’s a budget motel but it has the important amenity I need. Wireless access.

When I told the motel owner my reason for being here he told me knew a few of Michigan baseball kids and their families. Being somewhat familiar with the team, I asked ‘Which ones?’.

“Zach Putnam”, he said.

Anyway, The tournament bracket is out (here’s the pdf version). Illinois has their work cut out for them. They face defending Tournament champion Ohio State tomorrow. And if they can get by them, they face ranked Michigan. What a difference one game in the standings makes. Seed #3 Penn State is facing Indiana.

Here are a couple other BTT interesting links if you haven’t run across them yet:

Official 2008 Big Ten Baseball Tournament press release (pdf format) …chock full of info.

Info on 2007 Big Ten Tournament from the Big Ten website

The Baseball Zealot coverage of the 2007 Big Ten Tournament

One final thought on the tournament before they get started tomorrow. Last year’s #1 seed, Michigan was eliminated by Friday. I’m not necessarily trying to pick on Michigan (much). My point is that it’s a new “season” now and it’s anyone’s game out there. Let’s not get overwhelmed by regular season rankings or standings.

Oh and one more thing…

Go Illini!!!

Illowa APBA League: 34 years and still rollin’

I spent last weekend at the Illowa APBA League World Series and Draft Convention. This is the 34th year of the IAL’s existence and we’re lucky to have one or two of the founding managers still around.

IAL Commissioner Mike Bunch presents the championship trophy to Rob Moore

First, a big congratulations goes to Rob Moore and his Chicago Highlanders who captured the IAL Championship by defeating Marcus Bunch’s Moline (IL) Upperdeckers in the World Series. This was Rob’s first World Series win after making the playoffs three times. Congrats, Rob!

Todd V announces Ryan Braun as the first pick in the 2008 IAL draft.

After a brief (but not brief enough in most people’s eyes) league meeting, our rookie draft commenced. Two things need to noted: One, we are a continuous ownership or keeper league and draft rookies to replace players that have retired or did not play. Two, since APBA is a replay game based on last year’s statistics, we are drafting 2007 rookies.

That said, here is our the first 15 picks went in our rookie draft:

Braun, R.
Tulowitzki, T.
Pedroia
Upton, J.
Lincecum, T.
Pence, H.
Young, C.
Gallardo, Y.
Moylan, P.
Hamilton, J.
Gordon, A.
Matsuzaka, D.
Soria, J.
Hughes, P.
Garza M.

The pick of Braun, who went to Baseball Zealot Radio co-host Todd V was no surprise. I had pick #2 and the rumor had gotten out that I was hot on Tulo so despite the fact that I took a good portion of my 5 minutes, everyone knew I was taking him.

In all, 38 rookies were chosen, the oldest, I believe being Okajima from Boston. No doubt, Teddy Ballgame will be coming out with his annual draft review sometime in the future. With my sucky performance (Tulo, McGowan, Kendrick, and Pie), I don’t expect a good review from him.

Rolling dem bones. We start the 2008 IAL season.

With the 2007 postseason, league meeting and rookie draft out of the way, we still had 30 games to begin the 2008 season to play. I won’t bore you with the details though we did have one exciting occurrence. One game after C Luke’s Northside Hitmen’s Brad Penny no-hit me, I came right back with Rich Hill who countered a no-hit game of his own. In the 34 years of the Illowa APBA League, no one can remember back-to-back no-hitters.

My record for the weekend?? A pathetic 11-19 due to a lack of hitting and an inflexible bullpen.

Congrats to Rob Moore and congrats to the IAL for 34 years of fun!

Photos of new turf at Illinois Field

I stopped by Illinois Field to observe the new turf for the first time. I had the camera with me and took a few photos. The gates were closed, of course, but I managed to zoom in enough for you to get the idea.

This is a few mounds of Hilltopper Mound & Mound Homeplate Clay waiting to used.

TTI Sports was the firm employed to install the “Field Turf”.

Now, some shots of the field:

First home game for the Illini is April 2!

Check out more photos of the new turf here.

Here is the link for my University of Illinois baseball photo gallery.

2008 Cubs Convention: Wrap-up

I’m back in warm Champaign-Urbana. And by “warm”, I mean it was in the twenties and not in single digits. Practically a heat wave.

Many thanks to my buddy Tyler who I didn’t see all weekend but who lent me his place for the weekend while I attended the Cubs Convention. His place was well within walking distance and had all the amenities I needed (an Internet connection being the primary one).

Sweet Lou getting his photo taken with a fan.

This was my second Cubs Convention and while it doesn’t make me an expert, I did know the ropes a little more and was a little less intimidated by the crowds, lines, and excitement.

Ron Santo during “Storytelling with Cubs Legends”

Last year I spent a good amount of time acquiring autographs. Not this year. I decided to forego this in favor of enjoying the atmosphere, taking in a few talks and hopefully meeting a few people. I didn’t spend a lot of time or money on memorabilia. Just a Divisional Champion ballcap for my son and 3 pins.

These guys were playing all throughout the convention

By the way, something of interest… Al Yellon of Bleed Cubbie Blue caught Piniella in a Q&A and Lou responded with a tentative opening day lineup:

Soriano, lf
Theriot, ss
Lee, 1b
Ramirez, 3b
Fukudome, rf
DeRosa, 2b
Soto, c
Pie, cf
Zambrano, p

I don’t hold much in lineups formulated well before Spring Training but it’s something for us to munch on.

Oh, one last thing. the answer to the trivia question that the Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit (at the Convention) asked and had everyone stumped. The question again:

Which player has played the most games for the Yankees?

A. Yogi Berra

B. Lou Gehrig

C. Bernie Williams

D. Mickey Mantle

Many people in the audience either guessed Berra or Gehrig. The answer: Mickey Mantle with 2410 games. Gehrig is second (2164), Williams 3rd (2076) and Berra is fourth (2116).

The convention was fun and now it’s less than a month till pitchers and catchers report.

Go Cubbies!

See all the photos from the convention at The Baseball Zealot Photo Gallery

2008 Cubs Convention- Day 3

This was the last day of the convention and events weren’t scheduled much past morning. Even as I got there, some folks were dragging their luggage out the door of the Hilton.

In an effort, I suppose, to appeal to the kids, Curious George was on hand. It didn’t work on this kid who was a bit timid to hug a strange man in a monkey suit.

Daryle Ward shares the love during a photo session.

Though the fare was a bit light on Sunday, the autograph hounds were still out in full force. Here the line for Daryle Ward.

The Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit was out today with a video and a baseball trivia contest. Let me run this question by you all and see if you get it without looking it up. Only two people in the audience got this right and I was not one of those two.

The question: Which player has played the most games for the Yankees?

A. Yogi Berra

B. Lou Gehrig

C. Bernie Williams

D. Mickey Mantle

I’ll give the answer tomorrow.

2008 Cubs Convention: Day 2

Today was the second day of the 2008 Cubs Convention. Brrr, it was below 0 degrees this morning as I walked to the Chicago Hilton for another day of fun. On my way out, I got a text message from my nephew, Joe who was going to meet me later.

I Scratched and Won

Friday night I was looking through all the swag and pamphlets I got on my first day and found my Scratch and Win card. The convention uses these for the high demand celebrities when it comes to autographs.

Well, I scratched my card and it said, “You are a winner!”

On the back it said to redeem it at the registration area and that’s the first thing I did Saturday morning. It turns out I won a Derrek Lee autograph and I was supposed to get in line for it at 2pm.

I wasn’t really collecting autographs this year so I sought out a dad and a kid and gave them the ticket. I told them the kid could have it as long as they didn’t sell it on Ebay. The dad emphatically said no, he wouldn’t.

And speaking of autographs:

Andy Pafko was signing autographs. I think Andy is the oldest former Cub to attend these conventions.

…and so was Jody Davis… always with a smile.

Two different players from different eras. Bill Madlock and Bob Feller.

Rich Hill signing a ball towards the end of the day.

Piniella gets thrown under the bus by an older lady

My first talk of the day was “Lou and his Crew”, essentially a Q&A with Piniella and his coaching staff.

The most humorous question was from a seemingly perturbed older lady who asked Piniella why he left his starting pitchers (she mentioned Marquis in particular) in when we were behind by 4 or 5 runs. She explained that sometimes it got her so mad she would throw things at her TV.

Piniella took it all in humor and invited her to sit next to him in the dugout so he could check with her in making decisions. The crowd responded with chants of Looouuu! Louuu!

A visit to the Tennessee Smokies booth

I stopped by the Tennessee Smokies booth and chatted with a nice woman with a terrific southern drawl. I rifled through the Smokies’ baseball card and found Chris Robinson. “Oh, he’s a great guy. He’s real nahce”, she said. I’m not surprised. Most players at or from Illinois have a good head on their shoulders.

I ended up buying the pack.

Storytelling with Cubs Legends

WGN’s “Storytelling with Cubs Legends” was my favorite of the day. With Ron Santo, Rick Sutcliffe, Lee Smith and Ernie Banks, it was fun to just listen their stories. As broadcasters, Santo and Sutcliffe were most talkative. That said, Lee Smith may have an intimidating facade while pitching but he’s quite funny behind the mike.

Looks like Sut is hamming it up for the camera.

Taking a break with the Cubscast guys

The hosts of the Cubscast podcast (well, two-thirds of them, Sneetch couldn’t make it to the Convention) had scheduled an informal get together at the hotel bar. I was due for a break by 3pm anyway so I stopped by. Sheps (right) shared photos of his recently passed kidney stone and Lou (left) and I talked a little shop.

Peoria Chiefs broadcaster Nathan Baliva stopped by the Cubscast table too. I had stopped by the Chiefs’ booth earlier in the day and got the above photo. Nathan was nice enough to do an interview on Baseball Zealot Radio last spring so it was good to see him again. It turns out he’s Sneetch’s brother, too Small world.

Cubs Pitching Clinic

The last event of Saturday was a pitching clinic put on for the kiddos. This was done with the help of Milt Pappas (left), Steve Trout (right) and Lester Strode. Fortunately, Bruce Froemming was not in attendance.

That’s all for now. Tomorrow is a light day at the convention but I do want to get some shopping done at the souvenir shops.

Many more photos at The Baseball Zealot Photo Gallery

Photos of the UI Women’s BB team in action

Uof I’s first year Coach Jolette Law

Yesterday, my daughter and I went to see the University of Illinois Women’s Basketball team with their new coach Jolette Law. They were playing the Salukis of Southern Illinois.

Things were a bit shaky at first for both teams with no points scored almost into the the two minute mark. The Salukis got off to a 8-3 and 11-5 lead. But that’s when the Illini took charge and went on a 20-2 run and never looked back. The Salukis did play respectable in the second half but the writing was on the wall. Final score: Illinois 63 Southern Illinois 53

Jenna Smith dominated with 32 points and 10 rebounds

No doubt who the player of the game was. Jenna Smith, last week’s Big Ten Player of the Week, has a good chance of keeping that title. She dominated the game with 32 of the Illini’s 63 points with 10 boards.

More of my photos of Sunday’s game at The Baseball Zealot Photo Gallery (cool pics of cheerleaders doing their thang, too)