{"id":4913,"date":"2010-05-06T16:20:58","date_gmt":"2010-05-06T23:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=4913"},"modified":"2010-05-06T16:20:58","modified_gmt":"2010-05-06T23:20:58","slug":"northern-league%e2%80%99s-new-eight-team-lineup-taking-shape-with-lake-county-hoping-to-build-and-be-home-in-five-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/06\/northern-league%e2%80%99s-new-eight-team-lineup-taking-shape-with-lake-county-hoping-to-build-and-be-home-in-five-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern League\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New Eight-Team Lineup Taking Shape With Lake County Hoping to Build and Be Home in Five Weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Training camps started opening for the expanded Northern League<\/strong> this week as the eight-team circuit zeroes in on the start of its 18th<\/sup> modern day campaign May 20, but the happiest news might well have been one more step toward getting a shovel in the ground on the new stadium for the fledgling Lake County (IL) Fielders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Home owners near the new site for the stadium got to air their concerns with the team president and officials from the city of Zion<\/strong>, which is northwest of Chicago<\/strong>. <\/strong>While two representatives of the Stonebridge Crossing Homes\"\"<\/a> Association<\/strong> were to appear at a City Council meeting Thursday to once again discuss such topics as the effect on home values, parking and traffic, The Lake County News-Sun<\/em> of Waukegan, IL <\/strong>reports there is no indication that a delay in construction will be requested.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The concept, for lack of a better term, is to build a field, let the team play\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6with some temporary (seating) facilities, and then build the stadium around the field,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d one of the architects, Werner Brisske<\/strong>, told The News-Sun.<\/em><\/p>\n

That still is the plan although June 11 is only 36 days away, and we have not heard that a shovel has gone into the ground.<\/p>\n

Indy Grads Stacked in Double-A Lineup<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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How is this for a contribution to affiliated baseball from the Independent leagues?\u00c2\u00a0 There have been instances in this young season when former Indy players have hit in the 4-5-6 slots for Philadelphia<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>Double-A Reading<\/strong>, PA<\/strong> <\/strong>farm club, with at least two others in reserve.<\/p>\n

Tagg Bozied, <\/strong>who started his lengthy career in Sioux Falls, SD<\/strong>, hit cleanup with Brian Stavisky (Lancaster, PA, Atlantic League) <\/strong>and Brandon Pinckney (York, PA, <\/strong>Atlantic) following him with Mike Spidale (Kansas City, KS, Northern League) <\/strong>and Keoni DeRenne <\/strong>(York) also available.<\/p>\n

Lancaster has its own intriguing 4-5-6 parlay this season with the sons of 1988 Minnesota Twins <\/strong>teammates playing together and sometimes hitting back to back to back.\u00c2\u00a0 First baseman Brett Harper <\/strong>is Brian Harper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>son, third baseman Aaron Herr <\/strong>belongs to Tommy Herr <\/strong>and outfielder Joe Gaetti <\/strong>is the son of Gary Gaetti. <\/strong>Tommy Herr also manages the Barnstormers.<\/p>\n

Scheppers Could Beat Strasburg to Majors<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephen Strasburg <\/strong>gets a majority of the ink among players drafted last summer because of his No. 1 ranking and $7.5 million major league contract, but it remains to be seen whether it will be the former San Diego State <\/strong>star or American Association <\/strong>grad Tanner Scheppers <\/strong>who <\/strong>gets to the big leagues first.<\/p>\n

Texas,<\/strong> which could use another good arm in the bullpen, <\/strong>promoted Scheppers, the No. 44 draftee, to Triple-A less than a week ago after the 23-year-old tore through Double-A by striking out 19 without a single walk in 11 innings and limiting the opposition to three hits and a .079 batting average. \u00c2\u00a0I would not stew much over the fact Scheppers gave up a home run, two others hits and, yikes, even a walk in his two-inning debut for Oklahoma City<\/strong>. <\/strong>And, just how far has this onetime Fresno State <\/strong>lad come since his four appearances early last season for St. Paul<\/strong>, MN<\/strong>? <\/strong>American Association hitters drew 11walks and collected 17 hits in 19 innings.<\/p>\n

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* * * *<\/p>\n

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

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

* * * *<\/p>\n

Barnstorming, 2010 Version<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Several Independent teams are reaching out to communities in their area to build more fan interest, and, it would seem, in at least one instance the seed-planting might be just as much to test the waters for locating a new franchise.<\/p>\n

Both the Northern League <\/strong>and the American Association <\/strong>have expressed interest in recent years of possibly adding the Kansas <\/strong>state capitol city of Topeka <\/strong>to their footprint, so it was doubly interesting to see the NL\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kansas City (KS) T-Bones<\/strong> and the AA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Grand Prairie (TX) Air Hogs <\/strong>square off in the first of a two-game series Wednesday night.\u00c2\u00a0 Topeka has not had a professional team since 1961.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is good, especially since there is some interest in getting a team here and hopefully we can do that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Topeka native and former major league outfielder Ken Berry <\/strong>told The Topeka Capital-Journal<\/em> during the game, which drew an estimated 1,400 fans to Lake Shawnee Field<\/strong> and was highlighted by two home runs and a five-RBI night by the T-Bones\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Brian Joynt.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/strong> (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com<\/a>, enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a>, or comment<\/strong> 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":"

Training camps started opening for the expanded Northern League this week as the eight-team circuit zeroes in on the start of its 18th modern day campaign May 20, but the happiest news might well have been one more step toward getting a shovel in the ground on the new stadium for the fledgling Lake County […]<\/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":[6683,7113,7112,2495,7116,7111,7114,7108,7109,7115,6471,756,7118,7110,6464,3416,1139,7119,5809,7117],"class_list":["post-4913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider","category-minors","tag-brian-stavisky","tag-city-of-zion","tag-derenne","tag-fielders","tag-independent-leagues","tag-kansas-city-ks","tag-keoni","tag-lake-county-news","tag-lake-county-news-sun","tag-lengthy-career","tag-mike-spidale","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-pinckney","tag-sioux-falls-sd","tag-tagg-bozied","tag-taking-shape","tag-team-president","tag-waukegan-il","tag-york-pa","tag-zeroes"],"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\n\t\t\n\t\t