Tag: summer league

Illini secondbaseman Joe Bonadonna’s summer has been quite tumultuous up north.  The weekend after the amateur draft, Joe signed his release waiver from the Duluth Huskies where he’s been a fan favorite for years.  Huskies management turned in the waiver and despite that Bonadonna had expressed regrets, there was nothing the team could do according to Northwoods League rules. 

Now, Joe Bonadonna has found a second life in the Northwoods League.  Though league rules prevented Bonadonna from going back to the Huskies, there was nothing preventing another NWL team from picking the talented secondbaseman.  And that’s exactly what the Madison Mallards have done. 

Bonadonna has been with Madison for three games now and is off to a decent start.  So far, he’s 3 for 10 with 3 walks in those three games.  The Mallards are batting Bonadonna second in the lineup. 

Bonadonna has quite a legacy at Duluth and unfortunately, his departure from the Huskies has evoked some bitter feelings among a few of the fans who feel he left them high and dry.  Madison’s two game series in Duluth next week should be interesting for Bonadonna.

The Duluth News Tribune has a rather unfortunate news item regarding Illini secondbaseman Joe Bonadonna who was stationed up in the Minnesota town to play for the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods League. 

The upshot of the story:  Bonadonna was so disappointed about not being selected in last week’s baseball draft that he signed his release waiver from the Huskies. 

Apparently, his coaches told him to sleep on it but Bonadonna was adamant. 

Bonadonna has been with the Duluth Huskies for four years.  Not only has been one their best players having broken a few team career records but arguably has been one of their most popular.  It was with the Huskies last summer when Bonadonna caught fire.  He won multiple NWL awards that season.  He never slowed down when he came back to the University of Illinois when he had a breakout year in the Big Ten.

Bonadonna already regrets his decision. 

“I definitely wish I would have been made inactive for a couple weeks to clear my mind, but I wasn’t thinking anything about that at the time,” Bonadonna said. “Now I can’t come back, and that’s too bad because I already miss the guys.”

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot that can be done.  According to league rules, once the waiver is signed and turned in,  Bonadonna cannot return to play for the Huskies for this season. 

“Once that waiver gets sent to the league office, the wheels have already been put into motion,” (Duluth Huskies GM Craig) Smith said. “You can’t just make a phone call and make it go away. Some wars you fight and some you don’t. We’d love to have Joe here, but we don’t want to ask the league president to make a decision that likely wouldn’t go our way anyway. The rules are the rules and we’re going to live by the decision Joe made.”

Bonadonna made a rash decision and he will have to pay for it, there’s no doubt about it.  Joe’s been one of my favorite players and I have no doubt that somehow he’ll get back on his feet and get on track.  He’s too good of a ballplayer. 

I’m two states away and don’t know all of the details.  That said, it’s my feeling that the Huskies’ management could have taken his signed release waiver and sat on it until Bonadonna was thinking straight.  Then just tore it up. 

Good luck to Joey B. 

Thanks to Andrew from Summer Ball for pointing me to the story.