Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for June, 2009

I love this article over at the Press Democrat that was written in light of Randy Johnson becoming what many say will be the last 400 game winning pitcher in Major League Baseball. Bobby Mathews was the winning pitcher in the first professional game in which the Fort Wayne Kekionga’s shutout the Cleveland Forest City’s in a 2-0 contest.

As the article points out:

• 297 wins, 248 losses, 2.89 ERA, 525 complete games and 4,956 innings pitched
• In 1874 Mathews won 42 and lost 22
• He won 30 games for the A’s in three consecutive seasons, 1883-85, going 30-13, 30-18 and 30-17

Even so, he finished his career with 297 wins. Not in the 300 win club.

There’s no way to know, but I get the feeling that if Mathews knew what a fuss would be made over 300 wins, he would have stuck around long enough to notch three more victories.

Former Wizards Pitcher, Jon Huber has signed a deal with the Atlanta Braves and will report to Triple-A Gwinnett County. Huber has some limited Major League experience and had been pitching with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League prior to the signing.

Former Wizards right-hander, Cory Doyne has signed with the Nationals and joins Triple-A Syracuse. Doyne has spent the past two seasons in the Baltimore Orioles organization.

Former Wizards outfielder, Will Venable has returned to the Padres after starting the season at Triple-A Portland. I recently got Will’s autograph. Glad to see him back in the big leagues.

As expected, former Wizards catcher, Chad Moeller was designated for assignment when Matt Wieters was called up. He cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A norfolk.

The TinCaps will have four representatives at this year’s Midwest League All Star game. Congratz to INF James Darnell, OF Sawyer Carroll, and right-handers, Brad Brach and Anthony Bass. If you’d like to help former Wizard Kyle Balnks make the Triple-A All-Star game, you can cast a ballot similar to the MLB version.

This week Fort Wayne Sports Corp President Art Saltsberg will be our in-studio guest to discuss the recently introduced Sports Business Development Grant Program, Fort Wayne’s proposal to host the 2010 IHSAA Girls basketball State Finals and other events assisted by the Sports Corp. Art will also be available to take your calls at 447-8500.

We’ll also check in with TinCaps President Mike Nutter for our weekly segment as the TinCaps continue a lengthy home stand at Parkview Field .

We’ll name our PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week in the 4th Quarter of the show.
Nominations for the PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week can be submitted to this e-mail address or: wkjg1380@yahoo.com.

Have an idea for a show topic or local guest? Let us know.

Tune in Saturday mornings at 9 for Talkin’ Sports on WKJG-ESPN Radio 1380. Phone lines are always open at 260-447-8500.

Talkin’ Sports is brought to you each week by: INdigital Telecom, Perfection Bakeries/Aunt Millie’s, Wise Insurance, PSI/One Eleven Design and Kraft Foods.

Talkin’ Sports. Local Guests. Local Topics. Local Opinion.

Two players who honed their craft in Fort Wayne were honored by the San Diego Padres for their performance in the m onth of May. RHP Mat Latos was named the Padres minor league Pitcher of the Month while OF Mike Baxter took home the honors as Player of the Month.

Latos, 21, made four appearances (two starts) with the TinCaps in May, then was promoted to Double-A San Antonio. He combined to go 4-0 with an ERA of 0.50 (2 earned runs in 36.1 innings). In his second Double-A start, Friday against Springfield, Latos took a no-hitter into the 7th inning before allowing a two-out single. With the TinCaps this year, he went 3-0 with a 0.36 ERA. He is rated the #2 prospect in the Padres’ organization by Baseball America.

Baxter, 24, hit .426 (49-for-115) in May for Double-A San Antonio. He hit safely in 24 of 28 games in the month and was named the Texas League Player of the Month. He was a 4th-round selection in the 2005 draft out of Vanderbilt University. Baxter played for Fort Wayne in 2005 and 2006, totaling a .246 average with 40 doubles, 4 home runs and 57 RBIs in 162 games.

MLB.com takes a look at some of the Padres’ recent draft picks as we near the 2009 Amateur Entry Draft. Those picks include 2009 TinCaps Jaff Decker, Allan Dykstra, Nick Schmidt as well as former Wizards, Matt Antonelli,  Wynn Pelzer and Kyle Blanks.

ESPN’s Peter Gammons notes that Jarrod Parker is one of the up and comers who are going to be the future cornerstones for the Dieamondbacks’ pitching staff. No news flash here, but it’s pretty impressive that Gammons is taking note of a local product.

The Lancaster Barnstormers (Indy League) feature two former Wizards, L.J. Biernbaum and Jon Huber. Both helped the team to recently polish off their seventh straight win.

Speaking of Indy Leagues, former Wizards catcher, Justin Pickett is now playing with the Florence Freedom of the Frontier League. He recently collected his first hit in a walk-off win. pickett played last season in the Texas Rangers’ system. Not like there weren’t a load of other catchers blocking him there!

One blogger is pretty excited about doing some work on an upcoming TinCaps commercial.

Former Wizard, Mike Baxter is emerging as an offensive force. the San Antonio Missions outfielder was awarded Texas League Player of the Week honors

His hitting played a big part in helping the Missions win 13 of 18 games, including a 9-3 victory at Frisco on May 23. On May 22, he went 5-for-5 with a double, driving in four runs and scoring a pair to help the Missions extend their winning streak to five games. The next day, he went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. By week’s end he’d hit safely in 14 of 15 games to elevate is batting average from .308 to .353 (No. 3 in league), having collected 18 RBIs, 10 of his 18 doubles and 14 runs scored in that span. “He’s the guy really doing the damage right now,” manager Terry Kennedy told the San Antonio Express-News.

Freddy Guzman has been signed to a Minor League deal by the Boston Red Sox. he had been with Seattle in Spring Training but was released after not making the team.

In case you missed it, I recently had a letter to the editor published.