Month: March 2008

Minor league team plans "Eliot Spitzer Night"

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 Music will give away a trip to New York and a one-night stay at the Mayflower Hotel.
    • The ninth fan – or Client No. 9, as Spitzer was known in the prostitution ring – into the ballpark will receive a free Music prize pack.
    • Fans with the name Eliot, Spitzer or Kristen, along with any fan from New York, will receive $1 off admission. Any fan who has ever resigned a position will also receive $1 off admission.
    • The Music will play Frank Sinatra songs throughout the night.
    • Wire taps will be placed around the stadium.
    • Fans will be able to use ATMs in the ballpark available for cash withdrawals not to exceed $5,000 per hour.

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. 

Illinois Baseball News Tidbits

A quiet news week on the Illini front since they weren’t able to find anyone to play ball with last weekend due to the weather in Dallas.  That said, there are a couple tidbits worth passing along.

 

Assumption (Davenport, IA) High School star Willie Argo seems to be ready to play for the Illini when the time comes.  The prep outfielder is currently a senior at Assumption and has connections to Illinois.  His father knew U of I coach Eric Snider when playing at Iowa. 

Argo certainly has some good numbers.  From the Quad City Times:

In baseball, he batted .486 with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs in helping Knights to the Class 2A state title as a sophomore and then batted .508 with five homers and 39 RBIs, in addition to stealing 31 bases, for last year’s state runner-up team.

 

Illinois firstbaseman Ryan Hastings has been named a semi-finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.  This award is annually given to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in NCAA Division I in the sport of baseball. 

This isn’t the first time that Hastings has been recognized for his academic achievements.  Last year, he and teammate Ryan Snowden were named first team Academic All-District by ESPN magazine.

 

Finally, I wanted to let everyone know that Zealot friend and consummate college baseball blogger Brian Foley from The College Baseball Blog was interviewed by Oregon Public Radio’s Think Out Loud talk show.  Take a listen. 

Tim Kuda takes on the Minor Leagues

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.

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:

  1. Braun, R.
  2. Tulowitzki, T.
  3. Pedroia
  4. Upton, J.
  5. Lincecum, T.
  6. Pence, H.
  7. Young, C.
  8. Gallardo, Y.
  9. Moylan, P.
  10. Hamilton, J.
  11. Gordon, A.
  12. Matsuzaka, D.
  13. Soria, J.
  14. Hughes, P.
  15. 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!

THAT’S TWISTED

Felix Pie Cubs outfielder Felix Pie is missing today’s game with the Milwaukee Brewers with a twisted testicle. OUCH! We’ve all heard the term, “Play Ball”, but this gives it all a new meaning.

Pie is having a procedure today to straighten things out down there and should be back with the ballclub later in the week. Felix has been having a pretty good spring so far and looks to have the inside track on the starting centerfield job with Chicago. The fans in the bleachers at Wrigley Field yell out different types of pie when Pie (pronounced pee-AY) is in center.

Illinois series with Texas Tech canceled

No word on the FightingIllini.com site which still headlines the Texas Tech series preview but according to the Texas Tech Athletics website, the Illinois series with them has been canceled due to bad weather in Chicago:

Texas Tech’s weekend baseball series with the Illinois Fighting Illini has beeen cancelled due to weather conditions in the Chicago area that is preventing the team from making the trip to Lubbock. The series opener was scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon and was set to be a four-game series.

Interestingly, this is the second cancellation for Tech.  They canceled four games against Northern Illinois two weeks ago. This week, Texas Tech will join Texas State and Northern Illinois, who have allowed the schedule change. 

Update:  Over the weekend, we found out that it was the weather in Dallas, not Chicago that canceled the baseball team’s trip to Texas. 

Baseball Zealot Radio chats with Shawn Roof from Detroit Tigers Spring Training Camp

Anyone who knows me that I’ve followed Shawn Roof since he and I met during his Illinois days.  It seems so long ago but it was only a year ago when he entered his senior year as Illinois shortstop.

Since then, he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 2007 draft and entered their minor league system.  Now he’s down in Lakeland, Florida in the Tigers camp.

Shawn took some time for an interview for Baseball Zealot Radio.  He talks about life in the minors, his daily routine in spring training and even talked a bit about his alum, the University of Illinois and their chances for 2008.

Time: 16:33

Date Recorded: 3/6/08

 

Listen to Episode 42 Listen to the show via iTunes!
Listen to other Baseball Zealot Radio episodes BZR Podcast Feed

WELCOME BACK STONER

steve-stone.jpg

A little take off on Welcome Back Kotter, I’ve been singing it ever since I heard the news that Steve Stone is back on the Southside of Chicago, the baddest part of town. I’ve got to shake this medley of bad music rolling around in my head.

I was so excited to learn that Stoner would be back, until I learned he was replacing Chris Singleton on radio. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad to see Steve come to the Sox to help their most pathetic broadcast team, but why couldn’t he have replaced DJ?

DJ & the Hawk are the worst baseball announcers in the business, and I’ve got the MLB Direct-TV package so I know what I’m talking about (and that includes Tim McCarver & Vin Scully, would somebody please tell Scully to put a sock in it?).

Chris Singleton wasn’t all that bad, but Ed Farmer could make anybody look good, he’s pure genius! I’m really looking forward to hearing the Dynamic Duo of Farmer & Stone on radio. But even more than that, I look forward to having Steve replace DJ, I know it’s coming.

I know I haven’t mentioned anything about the blowhard ego maniac that is the Hawkero, but we know he ain’t going anywhere. And with Stone joining him (sometime in the future), Harrelson might be okay. Never thought I’d say that.

Blackberry Access to 2008 MLB News and Scores

bbpearl_mlbmobileiconWith the new season almost upon us, we all need ways to keep up with our favorite sport. Some ways are more instantaneous than others. 

For those with Blackberrys, MLB has offered a way to put a icon to the mobile version of the MLB web site on your Blackberry. 

There are two ways to do it:

Wirelessly

With your Blackberry, go to this URL and follow the instructions.

http://wap.mlb.com/blackberry

Via USB

Download the PC client from MLB.com and install it on your desktop computer.  Make sure your Blackberry is connected via a USB cable.

I honestly don’t know if this doesn’t do more than just put a link on your Blackberry screen but it does look nice so give it a try.

 

More info from mlb.com