For a player who earned 10 championship rings during the decade just ended and has a world of confidence in his ability it would not seem that reporting to spring training would be any big deal.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Jon Weber <\/strong>is not reporting to any ordinary training facility.\u00c2\u00a0 He will be at Camp Steinbrenner <\/strong>in Tampa<\/strong>, FL<\/strong>, the spring home of the New York Yankees<\/strong> as they begin defense of their 2009 World Series <\/strong>championship.<\/p>\n The Yankees will be the 32-year-old outfielder\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fifth major league organization in his quest to play in his very first regular season game in the bigs.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you play with me or against me you will remember me\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, the confident side of Jon Weber was telling me via telephone from his home in Lakewood<\/strong>, CA<\/strong> <\/strong>this week.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, he talked about standing only 5-9 with little hair on top and the trepidation of joining a famed organization where he hardly knows anyone.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m more scared than nervous\u00e2\u20ac\u009d were the words Weber chose.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I have a snowball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chance of making the team.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Still, the World Champs made the best offer the former Independent Baseball star had in the offseason.\u00c2\u00a0 Weber knows he could have gone back to Tampa Bay<\/strong>, but the Rays, for whom he was a tough out in spring training and a Triple-A (Durham, NC<\/strong>) producer the last two seasons, had encouraged him to look around.\u00c2\u00a0 That is not a good sign, nor was the fact he did not even get a September call-up after leading the International League <\/strong>with 46 doubles along with a solid .302 average, 14 homers, 69 RBI and a .382 on-base percentage.<\/p>\n The southpaw knows he \u00e2\u20ac\u0153worked hard and played hard when I had the Tampa Bay or Durham uniform on my back\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. \u00c2\u00a0He convinced many a teammate he belonged in the majors after 11 minor league seasons, including one star who said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153he would fake an injury\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if it helped Weber get his first major league at-bats.\u00c2\u00a0 While still praising the organization from top to bottom, Weber has moved on.<\/p>\n The Yankees are getting a .289 career hitter for 1,083 regular season games, a couple of hundred of which came in the Independent leagues, at Canton, OH <\/strong>of the Frontier League <\/strong>in 2001 <\/strong>and Fargo, ND <\/strong>of the Northern League <\/strong>the next two seasons and part of 2007.<\/p>\n It was at Fargo in 2003 where the onetime Los Angeles<\/strong> Harbor College<\/strong> <\/strong>and Texas Tech <\/strong>athlete started his haul of championship rings, some of which now reside with the family-oriented player\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father, grandmother, brother and a best friend.\u00c2\u00a0 One can bet wife Christy, <\/strong>son Dylan<\/strong>, 5, who wants to be a catcher, and daughter Marin, <\/strong>2 \u00c2\u00bd can count on being included.<\/p>\n Titles soon came along in Colombia <\/strong>in \u00e2\u20ac\u212203 (but rings were not awarded), Sacramento <\/strong>(2004), Jacksonville <\/strong>(2005), Tucson<\/strong>, the Triple-A championship game and the Mexican League <\/strong>(all in 2006), Mexico again (2008), plus Durham and another Class AAA crown (2009).<\/p>\n Oh yes, Weber represented the United States<\/strong> in last fall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s World Cup <\/strong>which was played in Germany <\/strong>and Italy <\/strong>when he hit .417 on a team made up mostly of young, highly-drafted prospects.\u00c2\u00a0 The championship game victory was over Cuba<\/strong>, and along came ring No. 10.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n STILL LOOKING FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE?\u00c2\u00a0 VISIT OUR BLOG, <\/strong>www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a><\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n 438 Days Until Virginia Team Starts Up\u00e2\u20ac\u201dMaybe<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n While all the hurdles have not been cleared before an Atlantic League <\/strong>team launches in suburban Washington<\/strong>, DC<\/strong>, the potential Loudoun (VA) County <\/strong>franchise is giving signs of making progress.\u00c2\u00a0 The team web site, VIPBaseball.net, has a counter showing that only 438 days remain before it starts.\u00c2\u00a0 That would bring it to April, 2011, when the Atlantic traditionally opens.<\/p>\n The team also has selected the three finalists in the name-the-team contest, the Dulles Blue Heron, Virginia Silver Stars <\/strong>and Loudoun Hounds. <\/strong>I would wager a dollar or two than many readers did not know the American Foxhound <\/strong>is Virginia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s official state dog.<\/p>\n From the Can-Am League to Olympic Medal Winner<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, it is a stretch.\u00c2\u00a0 But Bode Miller <\/strong>was a Can-Am League <\/strong>player four years before he earned this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bronze medal in the Vancouver<\/strong> Olympic Games.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Miller, a onetime New Hampshire <\/strong>high school tennis champion, made one of those one-game celebrity appearances with the Nashua Pride <\/strong>back in 2006 to raise money for cycling champion Lance Armstrong\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>crusade against cancer.\u00c2\u00a0 He even made what we were told at the time was a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153leaping leftfield grab\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ending up with a tumble and receiving a standing ovation from nearly 3,000 fans at Holman Stadium.<\/strong><\/p>\n (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his blog, www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a>, or comment to RWirz@aol.com<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For a player who earned 10 championship rings during the decade just ended and has a world of confidence in his ability it would not seem that reporting to spring training would be any big deal. On the other hand, Jon Weber is not reporting to any ordinary training facility.\u00c2\u00a0 He will be at Camp […]<\/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":[104,494,216,489,491,500,493,490,487,492,495,496,444,499,497,379,488,85,498,486],"class_list":["post-2286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-base-percentage","tag-baseball-star","tag-bigs","tag-championship-rings","tag-home-in-lakewood","tag-homers","tag-independent-baseball","tag-jitters","tag-jon-weber","tag-lakewood-ca","tag-league-organization","tag-league-seasons","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-outfielder","tag-season-game","tag-southpaw","tag-spring-camp","tag-spring-training","tag-steinbrenner","tag-world-champs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\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\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