When one looks up the word SUCCESS in the dictionary there is absolutely zero indication of pedigree or size or background being a requirement in order to reach this coveted stature. Of course it does not hurt to come from a long gene pool of standout athletes or to be 6-foot-5 or to be considered best-of-breed when your career begins.<\/p>\n
The lack of fitting into a favorable mold in order to succeed was driven home several times in recent days as I followed the developing stories of Blake Gailen, Darren Bush <\/strong>and Mickey Callaway<\/strong>, all of whom have taken sizeable steps toward baseball glory. Forgive me, if I have overlooked anyone.<\/p>\n Gailen is a baseball giant at somewhere between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10 compared to Eddie Stanky <\/strong>or Phil Rizzuto <\/strong>or Fred Patek<\/strong> and has won back-to-back Independent league batting championships after starting out at one of the lower outposts, the one-and-done South Coast League. <\/strong>Bush and Callaway have worked their way up the ranks after putting in Indy time, and have been rewarded with first-time major league coaching jobs. These are their stories.<\/p>\n Two-Time Batting Champ Gailen Could Succeed ‘If Given a Chance’<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Blake Gailen’s <\/strong>newest opportunity—his second with a major league organization—is in the Colorado Rockies <\/strong>system where he has been told he could start anywhere from a High Class A league to Triple-A.<\/p>\n Could the 27-year-old reach the major leagues, I asked Butch Hobson<\/strong>, his manager this summer at Lancaster<\/strong>, <\/strong>PA<\/strong>, <\/strong>where the left-hander hit a career-high 22 home runs while driving in 89 runs and hitting .338 to become both batting champion and Player of the Year in the Atlantic League?<\/strong> “If given a chance,” was Hobson’s quick reply, who went on to praise the Californian <\/strong>as “a very intense offensive player” with “a great eye” and pointed out he “probably had 12 to 15 assists” while playing leftfield but also could man center.<\/p>\n Gailen has earned praise wherever he has gone since leaving UNLV <\/strong>in ’07 where he was better known for his pitching despite his size. “He wasn’t the hitter then that he is now,” his first professional manager, Kash Beauchamp,<\/strong> told Baseball America <\/em>when it selected the under-sized Gailen as its Independent League Player of the Year. “In 2007, he was a guy that I thought ‘I have to have on my team because of the attitude he sets.'” Gailen hit .365 in 42 games when he and Beauchamp were together at <\/strong>Anderson<\/strong>, <\/strong>SC<\/strong> of the South<\/strong> <\/strong>Coast<\/strong> League.<\/strong><\/p>\n He advanced to hit .355 and .387 for Chico<\/strong>, <\/strong>CA<\/strong> (Golden League)<\/strong> as well as to play for Wichita<\/strong>, <\/strong>KS<\/strong> <\/strong>and Lincoln<\/strong>, <\/strong>NE<\/strong> <\/strong>in the American Association<\/strong>, with a batting championship (.406) for the Saltdogs <\/strong>one summer ago.<\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n ANXIOUS FOR MORE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE?<\/strong><\/p>\n We Have It at <\/span><\/strong>www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n From Indy Player and Manager to Oakland Bullpen for Bush<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Oakland’s <\/strong>newly-named bullpen coach has been managing in the Athletics’ system since ’07, but Darren Bush <\/strong>got both his playing and managerial careers started in Independent Baseball. He was an outfielder and occasional catcher at Zanesville, OH <\/strong>and Springfield, IL <\/strong>for three seasons in the Frontier League<\/strong>, and when his affiliated career topped out in Class A three seasons later he put in a brief stint at Yuba-Sutter (Marysville, CA) <\/strong>of the Western League <\/strong>in ’02. The very next year Bush, only 29 at the time, got his initial managing job in the Northeast League (Berkshire, Pittsfield, MA) <\/strong>and one year later won a divisional championship with Quebec <\/strong>in the same league.<\/p>\n ‘Love of Game’ Impressed New Indians Pitching Coach<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Mickey Callaway’s <\/strong>new opportunity comes as Terry Francona’s <\/strong>pitching coach at Cleveland<\/strong>, but when I tracked him down in Memphis, TN <\/strong>Thursday I found out that while his Independent days were limited to 2008 when he was a player-coach under Dan Shwam <\/strong>at Laredo, TX (United League <\/strong>in those days, American Association <\/strong>now) he came away impressed.<\/p>\n The baseball was what he called “pure”, and the players “were there because they loved the game”, recalled Callaway, who had major league stints in five seasons (1999, 2001-04), compiling a 4-11 record in 40 appearances before surrendering to elbow surgery and time in Korea <\/strong>and Taiwan. <\/strong><\/p>\n It Was Not Easy for Hobson to Shake Off This Season<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n While Butch Hobson <\/strong>says he can usually shake off a loss fairly quickly, “it took me a few days” to put the 2012 season behind him after his Lancaster (PA) Barnstormers <\/strong>lost the Atlantic League <\/strong>championship in the final inning of Game 5 of the championship series to Long Island, NY.<\/strong><\/p>\n “It was a really special group of guys,” the veteran manager said Thursday, and he had taken a rare step (for him) of promising a championship to the fans. One aspect of his life no doubt helped erase the disappointment faster after the Barnstormers had established a league record for victories. That was getting home to Bakersfield, CA <\/strong>to pitch daily batting practice to son Noah, <\/strong>a 6-foot-3 high school sophomore who has decided to concentrate on baseball and basketball. Butch and Noah had taken about a 17-hour round-trip junket last weekend to watch another son, Hank, <\/strong>a sophomore linebacker at the University of Arizona, <\/strong>as the Wildcats <\/strong>upset powerful Southern Cal, <\/strong>39-36. This is not a one-time venture into football for the Hobson clan since both Butch and his father, Clell, Sr., <\/strong>played quarterback at Alabama.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball. Fans may subscribe for 2012 at reduced rates at www.WirzandAssociates.com<\/span>, enjoy his blog, www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/span>, or comment to RWirz@aol.com<\/span>. 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.)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When one looks up the word SUCCESS in the dictionary there is absolutely zero indication of pedigree or size or background being a requirement in order to reach this coveted stature. Of course it does not hurt to come from a long gene pool of standout athletes or to be 6-foot-5 or to be considered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t