{"id":13848,"date":"2011-04-28T14:24:03","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T21:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=13848"},"modified":"2011-04-28T14:24:03","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T21:24:03","slug":"some-thoughts-far-away-as-indy-season-launches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/28\/some-thoughts-far-away-as-indy-season-launches\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Thoughts Far Away as Indy Season Launches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 While the Atlantic League <\/strong>inaugurates the Independent Baseball season in its normal Eastern-based cities Friday night, Founder Frank Boulton<\/strong> and his associates must surely have growing thoughts\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand perhaps a little anxiety\u00e2\u20ac\u201dover what is to come 12 months from now.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This 14-year-old league, which always has lofty goals with new stadiums and most of its players coming from Double-A circuits or higher, will have at least one franchise as far South and West as Houston <\/strong>next April.\u00c2\u00a0 Sugar Land, TX<\/strong> is a good 1,500 miles from the established franchises, and, in at least one official\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s belief the newly minted Skeeters <\/strong>will go a long way toward determining how quickly\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand perhaps how well\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe Atlantic League will do in establishing its much-discussed new division.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Sugar Land won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t detract from Opening Night for defending champion York, PA <\/strong>or any of the other current Atlantic League franchises, but if early signs come true the Skeeters will keep everyone else on their toes.\u00c2\u00a0 Consider some developments this week alone, 52 weeks before 7,500-seat StarTex Power Field<\/strong> hosts its first official game, giving the Houston area its first bona fide minor league team in 50 years.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The Houston Chronicle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/em>well known columnist Richard Justice<\/strong> left the Astros, Rockets <\/strong>and Oilers <\/strong>along with all of the Lone Star State\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s colleges out for a day to, in effect, sing the praises of the Skeeters, publicity many Independent teams almost never get.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital<\/strong>, recently lauded as one of the top 100 hospitals in the good old U. S. <\/strong>of A., <\/strong>was announced as a 10-year founding partner with the Skeeters, and in addition to being the official healthcare provider will sponsor a Kids Get in Free program, a children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s play area, youth skills events and at least eight clinics in the area.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In another huge publicity push, Fox 26 <\/em>sports director Mark Berman <\/strong>revealed\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand the team confirmed\u00e2\u20ac\u201dformer major leaguers Terry Puhl, Dickie Thon <\/strong>and hitting standout Gary Gaetti <\/strong>are on the early list of managerial candidates.<\/p>\n

Sugar Land Could Fuel Expansion<\/span><\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Longtime Houston baseball personality Deacon Jones<\/strong>, a 77-year-young team ambassador, helped fill Richard Justice in on the fact the team is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153about families\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while team President Matt O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Brien <\/strong>used the platform of The Chronicle<\/em> to ooze that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the worst seat you can get would be a premium seat at a big league park.\u00c2\u00a0 You feel the game.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Brien, formerly in charge in York, also put a ton of pressure on himself when he told Justice \u00e2\u20ac\u0153we need to do Sugar Land perfect.\u00c2\u00a0 If Sugar Land is great that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how Western expansion will be fueled.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0A TV Commercial, Book and Documentary<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Even when it is self-generated, media coverage can be fascinating.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 At least that is this corner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s take on the Joliet (IL) Slammers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/strong>decision to play off their nickname and the hometown\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two maximum security prisons in their attempt to win attention for the new Frontier League <\/strong>team.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The Slammers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 first television commercial, already on You Tube <\/strong>and set to air on an impressive list of outlets in the Chicago <\/strong>area, has a shadowy figure walking through a prison who turns out to be a player extolling the opening weekend of May 19-21.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 More traditional media coverage which touches on the Indy game includes former Western <\/strong>and Central League <\/strong>pitcher Aaron Pribble\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>book \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pitching in the Promised Land: A Story of the First and Only Season in the Israel Baseball League\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong> and Tony Okun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Time in the Minors\u00e2\u20ac\u009d documentary, which features the passionate dreams of two players, including Tony Schrager<\/strong>, who had a 54-game stint with Long Island, NY (Atlantic League) <\/strong>in 2006.\u00c2\u00a0 The Oh! Show Productions <\/strong>video is now available on DVD.<\/p>\n

Final Tally: 84 Indy Players in Major League Spring Training Games<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Our final count of former Independent players who got into at least one major league spring training game is an astonishing 84.\u00c2\u00a0 This includes 35 who were brought in from minor league camps for one or more contests.\u00c2\u00a0 The other 49 were on 40-man rosters or were non-roster invitees.\u00c2\u00a0 A list of the 35 new names is available at www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans may subscribe at <\/em><\/a>www.WirzandAssociates.com<\/em><\/a>, enjoy his blogs, <\/em>www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/em><\/a>, or comment to <\/em>RWirz@aol.com<\/em><\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 The author <\/strong>has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 While the Atlantic League inaugurates the Independent Baseball season in its normal Eastern-based cities Friday night, Founder Frank Boulton and his associates must surely have growing thoughts\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand perhaps a little anxiety\u00e2\u20ac\u201dover what is to come 12 months from now. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This 14-year-old league, which always has lofty goals with new stadiums and most of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4746,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider","category-minors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}