Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for June, 2008

Former Fort Wayne Daisies player, Ruby Heafner will be inducted into the Gaston County (Ohio) Sports Hall of Fame during a September 8 ceremony at Cramer Mountain Country Club.

Heafner played in the short-lived All-American Girls Professional Baseball League immortalized in the 1992 Hollywood movie “A League Of Their Own” that starred Geena Davis, Tom Hanks and Madonna. A catcher who was often compared to Detroit Tigers’ Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane, Heafner was nicknamed “Rebel” and played for Rockford, Fort Wayne, Racine and Battle Creek over a six-year career lasting from 1946 through 1951 – or shortly after Heafner served two years in the U.S. military.

After the women’s pro baseball league folded, Heafner returned to her native city where she worked for the city recreation department, helped coached girls softball and served as a volunteer at Gaston Memorial Hospital.

Source: Gaston Gazette

• Eddie Bonine Works Quick, Might Stick Around: Last night, former Wizard and current Detroit Tigers pitcher posted the best outing of his short career and made quick work of the Colorado Rockies. “Colorado put the ball in play on Bonine 27 times. Eleven of the 27 came on the first or second pitch of the at-bat. Eighteen of the 27 were ground balls, and 17 of those were outs”. Tigers’ left fielder called it “classic Eddie Bonine right there.”
• LaTroy Hawkins Disappointed with Mop-Up Duty: Latroy Hawkins thought he would be the late inning reliever to set-up Mariano Rivera when he signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Yankees last winter. Instead, he’s trudging out of the bullpen to pitch in mop-up game situations. “Is it eating me up? Yeah . . . You like competing and you like to be at your best all of the time. You want to succeed. When you go out there and you don’t have the success that you’re looking for, it eats you up. This is the big leagues, and you’ve got to keep fighting.”
• Javiar Valentin Makes First Career Appearance at Third Base: Typically a back-up catcher, former Wizard, Javier Valentin made his first career appearance at third base late in Sunday’s game at New York and made a similar cameo there on Tuesday vs. the Blue Jays. Reds manager Dusty Baker informed Valentin on Tuesday he would be starting on Thursday. Valentin thought Baker was joking. He wasn’t.
• Chase Headley Doesn’t Walk This Way: The rookie Padre’s slugger is still looking for his first walk of the season, having not drawn one in 24 at-bats. In 2005, between his junior year at the University of Tennessee, short-season Eugene and Class A Fort Wayne, Headley walked 98 times in 128 games.

Interesting. Four former Wizards headlines. Four different Big League clubs.

Fort Wayne native and current Oakland A’s catcher Rob Bowen, posted a double to deep center field and guided Canadian-born Rich Harden through a dominant start in his 10th start of the season. With fewer days off in the second half, Bowen looks to get more playing time according to Oakland manager Bob Geren.

Bowen joked about his role in Harden’s success Thursday, saying, “I get along real well with Canadians.”

Bowen went on to explain that after being drafted by the Twins in 1999, he lived with Minnesota’s Canada-born 2006 American League MVP, Justin Morneau, for several years in the Minors.

“It was awesome . . . [a]ll our furniture — couches, beds — was inflatable so we’d have more room to play floor hockey. If we weren’t at the yard, we were playing hockey in our apartment” [source: MLB.com]

The San Diego Padres, parent  club of the Fort Wayne Wizards will start something “new” in July in an effort to bring fans to their brilliant and beautiful ballpark.

When the “July Dollar Days” get started, fans can purchase $1 hot dogs, $1 soft drinks and get $1 off all beer during July home games.

“We are excited about this program, which is based in part on input from our fans,” said Padres CEO Sandy Alderson. “We hope July Dollar Days will provide some relief to all our fans from higher gas prices and the current overall economy” [source: MLB.com]

While a month of “Dollar Days” seems like a grand gesture, the Padres have just nine home games during the month of July. And, if you’re looking for something a little closer to home, the Wizards have a Dollar Day on Monday June, 30th, two Dollar Days during July and two in August.  $1 Hot Dogs, $1 Soft Drinks, $1 Beer (that’s $1 . . . not $1 off, like the Friars). Don’t forget about Thirsty Thursday’s either.

The Bowie Baysox, Class AA Minor League Affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, are hosting a “Women’s Weekend” during their three game homestand this weekend. Tomorrow, the festivities include a tribute to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball Players League. It marks the second year that the Baysox have honored this special group of ladies.

Among those that will be honored is Ruth Hartman (Kramer), a pitcher and infielder who played with the Daisies and took part in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum’s 2006 dedication of “Diamond Dreams: Women in Baseball”, an updated version of an exhibit on the history of women in baseball that has been on display in Cooperstown since 1988.

Also being honored are former AAGPBL players; Jean Faut, Gloria Elliott (Cordes), Sarah “Salty” Ferguson, Joanne McComb, Gertrude “Gertie” Benner.

All six former AAGPBL players will be honored in ceremonies prior to the game. Following the National Anthem, all six players will be positioned at meet and greet locations around the stadium concourse level. Players will be available for autographs and photos with fans throughout the game.

One blog I have been passively following for about a month is that of San Diego Padres’ Special Assistant of Baseball Operations, Paul DePodesta. He has been maintaining his blog, “It Might Be Dangerous…You Go First” for about two months now and I have found it fun to follow some of his musings and ramblings about former Fort Wayne Wizards.

Here is a brief sample of some:

•  AA Rotation: DePodesta talks about a quartet of talented pitchers at AA San Antonio. Among them is former Wizard, Matt Buschmann.
• The Past Week: A review of the progress of three former Wizards; Matt Antonelli, Nick Hundley and Will Venable. You Will Venable doubters out there better wake up!
• Calling Up Headley: DePodesa tells his readers to let him have it by asking any questions about the decision to call up uber-prospect, Chase Headley. Interestingly, he had to answer very little because other commentors answered for him. But still, quite insightful.
• Baek for Wells: Insight into the trade that sent Jared Wells to Seattle.

Jared will be out of options next season, meaning that he has to be on the Major League roster for the entire year or be placed on outright waivers. Though we like Jared quite a bit, there were three elements in play: 1) given our current injuries, the need for immediate help at the Major League level, 2) the impending lack of roster flexibility with Jared, and 3) our other internal bullpen options going forward. Those three elements combined helped us to make this deal. It’s not as though we don’t think Jared Wells is a good pitcher – we do. Remember, when you make trades, you have to give up something of value – you don’t get something for nothing.

Left handed starting pitcher, Allen Harrington is enjoying a quality season with the Fort Wayne Wizards. On the season, he’s 3-2 with a 3.59 ERA in 13 games; which includes 8 starts and three saves. He also has 53 strikeouts in 57.2 innings pitched and has a 1.13 whip.

But his stats on the field only begin to tell the story, for his brother, Eric, at least.

Before he was a Wizards pitcher, Allen Harrington was on the Lamar University baseball team, and like Allen, the 18-year-old Eric Harrington  has plans to pursue a baseball legacy at Lamar University, like his brother.

The two converse almost daily on the phone and the younger of the siblings receives tutelage from his big bro.

“He keeps me working my butt off,” Eric Harrington said. “Maybe I’m not doing something I should be, and he says ‘You really need to pick up the pace.’ He pushes me to the limit. He’s almost like a coach” [source: The Beaumont Enterprise]

So far, Eric has followed in the footsteps of his brother Allen every step of the way. Wonder if that means there might be another Harrington pitching on the mound for a Fort Wayne team in the next few years.

Photo by Chad Gramlin

The All-Star game will be coming to Fort Wayne.

Wizards general manager Mike Nutter confirmed Wednesday that the 2010 Midwest League All-Star Game will be at the new ballpark at Harrison Square.

“It was a draft a few years ago which was a random draw of when the game would be and we drew 2010, but the caveat for everyone in the league was if a new stadium came in or a major renovation happened, that person would go up to the front. We got pushed back for Midland. Because of the new deal, we’ll have it in 2010,” Nutter said. “… Because of the beautiful facility we are going to have, we got bumped back up.

“It will be tremendous. We’ll have it the second year like they had it (in Midland, Mich.), and we can’t wait. … They had it here in 1994. Alex Rodriguez, Billy Wagner, there was some big guys that made it. Our fans can look forward to the same thing.”

Clinton, Iowa, is the site for next year’s game.

[course: LaMond Pope]

Kudo to WhatsGoingDown(town) for finding this and pointing it out. Good stuff.

http://www.whatsgoingdowntown.com/2008/06/18/conan-presents-baseball-team-examples/