Daryl Smith- 1990 Kansas City Royals

Daryl Smith played professional baseball for 15 years, making it to the highest level with the Kansas City Royals in 1990!

Daryl let me know recently that he still follows baseball.  His favorite minor league team is the Bay Sox, and his favorite MLB team is the Yankees.  His favorite players include Adam Jones and Bo Jackson!

He also sent some info on some very interesting books he has written and some charities with which he is involved!  Check out the scan!

http://dreamsdoexist.com/

Baseball in Chattanooga by David Jenkins

At first, I was a little iffy on the Arcadia books in general.  They are everywhere!  I love small, local books produced by locals independently.

 

In many ways Arcadia makes that kind of a local book, but they make it on a larger level.  I admire that.  I like the fact that it is easy to find and get my hands on a book about a specific local area.

 

The books pack a wallop.  You can read them in an hour or two, even if you take your time, but they cram a lot of information into a small volume.  Plus, the books have a lot of great photos.

 

Baseball in Chattanooga, for example, is just a great read covering this baseball history rich area of Tennessee.

 

Author David Jenkins does a great job of giving a very easy to understand history of Chattanooga baseball, covering the legendary team owners, managers, and other personalities.  I personally love the stories about the scouting and setting up of Engel Stadium and the newer BellSouth Park (now known as AT & T Field).

 

I also really enjoy the photos of Joe Charboneau, Ron Oester, Trevor Hoffman and others in their Lookouts uniforms!

 

Frontier League president Bill Lee appears in this book too, which is very cool in my opinion!

 

Chattanooga is one of those towns I MUST get to at least once a year.  I love the natural beauty, the history, and the well established minor league baseball team there.

 

A tip of my yellow 21 cap goes to David Jenkins and Arcadia Publishing for this one!

Ryan Nye 1997-1998 Phillies

Ryan Nye pitched in a few games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997 and 1998.

He sent a quick note recently to let me know that he has no stories relating to playing in Kentucky.

He never contributed to any books on baseball but he does tell me that his favorite book is the Bible.

He says that it was nice to play baseball professionally, but right now he doesn't have any favorite teams or players.

Wild Pitches

Sorry for the lack of posts....  I THINK I have resolved the issue with posting photos, and deleting some of the older ones.  If you are looking at an older post and notice a black spot where a photo should be, drop me a line please!  I may have missed one!

Wild Pitches

Thank you for stopping by my blog! I wanted to take a moment to say that I am dealing with some blog maintenance issues at the moment. It seems I have gone over my allowed storage space for photos! I THINK I can resolve this pretty easily but I am tweaking a few things here and there. I notice that I have accidentally deleted a few photos in some of my older posts, but I do have them saved on disks, so they should be replaced and back up in the next couple few weeks.

I might be a bit slow on posting while I am taking care of this.......

League Stadium- Huntingburg, Indiana

League Stadium in Huntingburg Indiana is currently the home of the Prospect League's Dubois County Bombers!

I wanted to stop and see this park recently for the simple fact that it was an former park in the Frontier league! 

The Dubois County Dragons played here from the late 90s until 2002.  This park seems a bit small by the Frontier League's current standards.

So, it is small, but the place packs a ton of dated charm!  Check out those retro signs!  Also, note the mentions of the "Rockford Peaches"!

The park reminds me a lot of Bosse Field in near by Evansville Indiana.  Both made appearances in the legendary film, "A League of Their Own."

I wasn't able to get inside of the Stadium (I was passing through very early in the morning) but I did find a couple of knot holes that allowed me to get a couple of good photos of the signs.

I am so happy that the Prospect League has a team here!  Huntingburg is a spectacular small town with a very cozy feel.  I hate to over use a cliche, but comparing the place to Mayberry absolutely works.

If you find yourself in Huntingburg for a Bombers game, allow an hour or two to hang out at the local coffee shop, "Cool Beans" and hit the great art, gift, and antique shops.

I will have to make a point to catch the Bombers next season.  This park looks great on a non game day.  I can only imagine how lively it must be when in use!

http://www.dcbombers.com/

Ray Soff 1986-1987 Cardinals

Ray Soff spent 13 years playing in professional baseball, including parts of 1986 and 1987 with the Cardinals!  Those same years Ray also contributed to the AAA Louisville team!

I asked Ray about playing in Louisville for the Redbirds and he said he loved his time in the area- "Some of the nicest people I've ever met".

Sandy Wihtol 1979-1982 Cleveland Indians

Sandy Wihtol spent parts of 3 seasons pitching for the Cleveland Indians.  In 1980 he made 17 appearances for the Tribe, collecting 1 win and no losses.

He sent a note recently about Kentucky!

He said that he greatly enjoyed Kentucky, and he just came back from a trip to Lexington and Louisville!

He says that these days the Giants are his team.

Sandy mentions that the fans in the Midwest and South are awesome!

Casey Barnes- 2012 Washington Wild Things

Casey Barnes has spent most of the last 2 seasons pitching for the Washington Wild Things in the Frontier League!  He was originally drafted by the Phillies and played for a couple of their minor league teams.

Casey signed a photo I took recently, and talked a bit about his young career.

He says he is biased, but he loves playing in Washington for the Wild Things because of the great fan support!

He says that if he had to pick another team's park to play in, it would be one of the parks belonging to the Beach Bums or the Miners.

Concerning affiliated baseball, Casey says that he likes the Phillies because they drafted him.  He says that they were a first class organization.

He says that he feels the Frontier League and NYPL are about the same.

West Virginia Power

I realized I didn't put any photos from West Virginia up this year!

I really enjoy catching the Power in Charleston.  Sure, there is a happening mall and other businesses near by, but the team and the park still have a very rural feel.

With the curvy green scenery close by, and the friendly locals, you know you are in West Virginia!

And I love everything that this team is doing.  The park is small, and cozy and the staff is friendly.

Omaha Storm Chasers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While in Omaha, we visited Werner Park, home of the Omaha Storm Chasers!

 

Like the park in Davenport, Werner is a very unique park with some features you can see only in Omaha.

 

The park is out in the middle of a cornfield.  Seriously. 

 

To be totally honest, it is actually a bit of a drive outside of the main Omaha area.  There is a nice shopping area close by though, so you still feel like you are close to the urban action.

 

I do like the trend now of having parks in a downtown area.  In Omaha Nebraska, having the park a bit out in the middle of a field seems more appropriate.  It works.

 

I liked a lot about this place.  The team shop had cool items and helpful staff.  I LOVE the fact that they actually sell lineup cards from previous games!

 

On the day we were there, they had a few players in the dugout signing autographs!  I wish more teams did promotions like this because autographs are cool, and getting to actually walk in the dugout is a bit of a treat!

 

They have a great concession selection!  Lots of variety and good quality!  We had a couple of dogs that we both felt were some of the best dogs we have had this season.

 

The park is AAA and has a AAA feel, BUT, it also has a lower league feel too- and I mean that in a very positive way.

 

The feel is casual and friendly.  You can credit some of that to the cool vibe all of Nebraska has, but it just seemed a lot more casual than a lot of other upper level parks I have visited.

 

The staff was friendly and helpful, and seemed genuinely interested in the fans experience.  I didn't see any ushers chasing people off, or any of that stuff.  In fact, I asked several staff people about seating, food, promotions and other stuff and ALL were very helpful.

 

You can walk all the way around the park, and there is plenty of grass space for kids to run around, and for additional seating.

 

 

 

Bob Feller Museum

On our recent trip through Iowa, we made a point to make a stop in Van Meter, to visit the Bob Feller Museum!

 

As former Clevelanders, we felt like this was a must stop.

 

We were actually fortunate enough to meet the legendary Bob Feller on a couple of occasions while we lived there.  He seemed tough as nails each time, even for the old timer he was.

 

I admired him for the fact that he took time out of his career as a very successful baseball player to VOLUNTEER to join the Navy and help out in WWII!  They don't make ballplayers like that anymore.  Heck, they don't make humans like that anymore.

 

Luckily, the nice little community of Van Meter Iowa has a museum going devoted to their hometown legend.  I hope this museum keeps going forever.  Bob deserves it.

 

The day we went the museum was having a bit of a "garage sale" selling some old signed photos and other items they had around.  I was very excited about this.  My wife was not as excited.

 

Still, I found some bargains, and simply enjoyed checking out the museum.

 

http://www.bobfellermuseum.org/

 

 

 

 

 

Quick Change

 

When it comes to promotions at a park, I have my favorites.  I will pretty much take a bobble head night over anything anytime.  I love leaving a park with one.

There are a few acts making the rounds that I really enjoy.  I think Noodleman is a lot of fun.  The Zooperstars are great.  And the San Diego Chicken is a must see anytime you can.

I read about Quick Change some time ago and just thought that the idea sounded unexciting.

I am not a big fan of dancing, and the whole thing sounded slightly novel at best.

Well, I did get to catch them for the first time at the Quad City game I went to this year.

This is actually a very fun act.

They dance- and during the dancing, there are very quick costume changes.  VERY QUICK!  In fact, I couldn't follow them at times.

They did use a cover a time or two, but there were some moments when a dress literally seemed to change color instantly.  I might compare what they do to a magic show in many ways.  You sort of set and wonder how they did it.

Anyway, this is a MUCH more interesting act than I expected! 

Quad City Wedding

Before the Quad City River Bandits game we went to, there was a wedding!  I think weddings before a game are so cool!

Check out my photos!