Getting on the Back Page of Newsday, Sports Center Clips And Live National TV...
So much has been written already since word came out Monday that Roger Clemens would take the mound for the first time in five years Saturday night in an Atlantic League game to fill another file in...
View ArticleBig Two of Atlantic League and American Association Give Independents Pair of...
When the curtain drops on most every Independent league’s regular season schedule this Labor Day Weekend the one factor that will be increasingly clear is that two circuits have become dominant. Look...
View ArticleColabello’s Record RBI Season Only a Start With European Championships,...
Chris Colabello’s run from being last season’s Independent Player of the Year (Baseball America) to setting a new team record for runs batted in during his first affiliated season to earning runner-up...
View ArticleLew Ford Far From Rookie in September Races, But This One ‘Is Different’ for...
This isn’t Lew Ford’s first pennant race. Far from it. He was part of the Minnesota Twins teams that played in the American League Division Series in ’03, ’04 and ’06, and was a regular outfielder in...
View ArticleMike Ness Keeps Winning as Can-Am No-Hit Hurler Moves Into Heat of Last...
Even though Mike Ness still is pitching in Independent Baseball, the 24-year-old has established quite a prestigious fan club while wearing three different uniforms this summer. It is important to...
View ArticleBrownsten earns a pair of post-season honors
When the Rome Braves opened the 2012 season with six wins in their first twenty-four attempts, making the playoffs seemed far-fetched. Becoming the worst team in minor league looked more realistic....
View ArticleUrckfitz and Lancaster claim California League crown
Patrick Urckfitz knows how to save his best for last. As a junior college player, he came out of the bullpen for Monroe Community College and helped the Tribunes finish third in the 2008 National...
View ArticleLook No Further Than 67 Victories Posted by Pitchers To See How Independent...
Major league baseball does not get any better than it is in October when it is keeping us glued to our seats on a daily basis, but in order to reach this plateau it seems necessary to spend some time...
View ArticleAppreciative Lew Ford Is Major Leaguer Today, But Will Get Championship Ring...
The delightful story of Lew Ford’s journey from the Atlantic League in April and May to the parent Baltimore Orioles in late July to the American League Postseason in October still has, dare we say, “a...
View ArticleWhile Uncertainty Prevails for Many Free Agents, Kris Johnson Has a Date in...
Kris Johnson was playing video games in the basement of his home outside Kansas City when he picked up the phone to hear a voice say he would like to talk to him about his latest news as well as his...
View ArticleMichael Ynoa: High Expectations, 40-Man Rosters, and the Agonizing Burden of...
The legend of right-handed pitcher Michael Ynoa began the moment he signed a then-record $4.25 million contract with the Oakland A’s in 2008 as a 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic. Because of...
View ArticleLatest Rash of Player Sales (10 in Two Weeks) Reinforces Some of Independent...
Even though there is an urge this early to focus on spring training because of so many promotions to 40-man major league rosters and earlier-than-usual non-roster invitations, truth be told the big...
View ArticleIndy Owner Pat Salvi Has Vested Interest in Unbeaten Irish And Colabello’s...
While Notre Dame will not have any shortage of supporters when the Irish go after their first national football title since 1988 in the BCS Championship game January 7, it seems unlikely anyone will be...
View ArticleJournalism Career on Indefinite Hold As Bo Schultz Takes His Power Arm to Bid...
I became intrigued with Bo Schultz some time back, not entirely for his baseball talent because it was said he was not a major league prospect, but largely in that he came out of the prestigious Medill...
View ArticleHow Impressive Is This for Independent Baseball? Two Stars Earn Top Pitcher...
It seems amazing—and likely a first—that Independent Baseball veterans earned Pitcher of the Year honors in two of the four major winter leagues, which are bearing down on starting the Caribbean World...
View ArticleOne More Record Haul With 54 Independent Baseball Players Headed to Major...
The numbers are staggering. A record of at least 54 players who have played in one or more Independent leagues will be in major league spring training camps starting next week. Seventeen of them...
View ArticleGood Guy Octavio Martinez Finally Gets Major League Job Seven Years After...
We have charted more than 200 people from Independent leagues who have earned non-playing opportunities in major league organizations in recent years, and one of the most heart-warming of these stories...
View ArticleUnderdogs, Yes, But Independent-Packed Team Spain Players Are Used to...
Spain seems to be a long shot among the 12 teams remaining in the third World Baseball Classic, but there were plenty of smiles and expressions of hope when I tracked down several of the 13 current or...
View ArticleKevin Pillar: How the Toronto Blue Jays’ Prospect is Raking His Way Through...
The Toronto Blue Jays traded a significant amount of their minor league talent to the Miami Marlins this past offseason in a huge trade that netted Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson among...
View ArticleHow Is This as Handsome Reward for 19 Indy Grads? They Are on Pace to Top $37...
Does it pay for an aspiring major leaguer who goes undrafted or needs to re-energize his career to play in an Independent league? And how! Think about earning salaries totaling more than $37 million...
View ArticleAt 23 and 5-Foot-6, ‘Veteran’ Independent Umpire Takes His Talent to...
Kevin Winn couldn’t be blamed if he popped a few pride buttons these days with three of the umpires he has supervised working major league spring training games and half of the 10-man umpire contingent...
View ArticleMisplaced Minor League Nomenclature
Many fans may not realize that the Frederick Keys, the Baltimore Orioles’ affiliate in the Carolina League who happen to be celebrating their 25th anniversary this season, are named for Francis Scott...
View ArticleThrough the Eyes of a Somerset Patriots Fan
A View from the Press Box Most Somerset Patriots fans are aware of the significance of June 7, 1999. It was the team’s first home opener at their present ballpark. This was after spending their 1998...
View ArticleThrough the Eyes of a Somerset Patriots Fan: From the Press Box, Part II
It is a Thursday evening (4/25/2013) and once again, I am sitting up in the press box of the Somerset Patriots. Tonight is the final game of the series between the Sugar Land Skeeters and the...
View ArticleSo Much Theft He Should Be Arrested
This year Yahoo! leagues have added a new NA spot to their rosters. Much like adding a player on the DL, fantasy owners can pick up Minor Leaguers and set them aside, making zero impact on their roster...
View ArticleMike Augliera: Boston Red Sox Pitching Prospect Talks Baseball
The Boston Red Sox have some of the better-known pitching prospects in baseball with Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster and Matt Barnes all leading most peoples’ lists. It turns out that they are just the...
View Article“Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
There are three songs that put a smile on my face. They are “Happy Birthday,” “It’s a Small World” and “Take me out to the Ballgame.” When you sing or hear “Happy Birthday”, the smile is expected....
View ArticleStash for a Smash
We are now into the Sweet Spot time period starting in May and going through June where impact rookies will get called up from the minor leagues. Guys that will make an impact both for their team and...
View ArticleFrom the Eyes of a Patriots Fan
It was a picture perfect night for baseball on Friday (August 16th). While I realize that statement this is cliché’, it is apropos that evening at TD Ballpark, home of our Somerset Patriots of...
View ArticleThrough the Eyes of Patriots Fan: “Hip, hip, Jorge!”
Not only was it another beautiful evening at TD Bank park (8/17), it was also a game that featured fireworks during and after the game. The Patriots sent veteran, and former major league pitcher Brad...
View ArticleCarroll enjoys staying on his grind
ROCHESTER, NY – More than a decade has passed since Brett Carroll roamed the fields of the New York Collegiate Baseball League. Time hasn’t erased the memories. The veteran of ten years in professional...
View ArticleAn Interview with Boston Red Sox Prospect Nick Longhi
Growing up rooting for a baseball team, and striving to get into position to one day have a professional career are two very different things. However, occasionally, players can have their cake and eat...
View ArticleSuns’ First Pitch Thrown By Suns’ First Pitcher
The Hagerstown Suns of the South Atlantic League asked the retiring sheriff of nearby Franklin County, Pennsylvania to throw out the first pitch for the club’s 35th home opener on April 15th, which may...
View ArticleMax Watt: The Boston Red Sox’s Power Pitching Prospect
Scouting is an integral part of professional baseball. Teams employ and send out hundreds of employees tasked with finding the next great players. Although they monitor first-round draft talent, their...
View ArticlePrincipal Park: Despite City’s Size, Ballpark Has Big Impact
Minor league baseball a Des Moines, Iowa, staple at same location since 1947 Submitted by Steve Dunn Located at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers in Des Moines, Iowa, Principal Park...
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