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The view from the Spaceman - Catching up with Bill Lee (66-67-08R) 

By Jon Goode, Special To Boston.com  |  October 17, 2004

CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — He was one of the most interesting and unique people to play for the Boston Red Sox.

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Nicknamed the “Spaceman”, Bill Lee pitched 10 seasons for the Red Sox (1969-78) and was an integral part of the starting rotation during that time span. Despite his success on the mound, however, Lee received more attention for his eccentric personality.

”I don’t ask questions, I answer questions,” said Lee. “I do things spontaneously and not premeditated. I take things as they come and live my life in the present. What I do everyday is what I want to do. If I want to hunt turkeys I have fun doing that.”

These days Lee, 57, resides on a farm in Craftsbury, Vermont ( which is about 22 miles from the Canadian border) with his wife Diana. They have been married four years.

”I met her in Canada and we settled down and brought her back to the states,” said Lee. “She doesn’t really care for the U.S. too much, but we are close to Canada so it makes it worthwhile. I picked that spot when I came back from Canada because it was close to Montreal and close to Boston.”

Lee has two sons and two daughters - Michael, 34, Andy, 30, Caitlin, 27, and Anna, 10.

His son Andy was signed as a non-drafted free agent by Boston and played in the Red Sox Minor League system. Andy now coaches at Hinds Community College in Jackson, Mississippi.

”I thought he should have been picked up earlier,” said Lee. “With the old regime we didn’t really get along that much. He was a very good pitcher and ended up 2-1 in professional ball. He still plays and coaches in Mississippi.”

Lee has stayed extremely busy. He owns his own bat company in New Brunswick called The Old Bat Company.

“We use slow growing ash, maple, and yellow birch,” said Lee. “We make bats just as good as Barry Bond’s bats.”

In addition to his company, Lee just finished his third book “Have Glove, Will Travel”, which will be out in February. He also works as a broadcaster for Rogers Communications Canada for the playoffs and did radio for the Montreal Expos.

”I’m basically busy everyday of my life,” said Lee. “I answer the phone and people ask me to do things. I just pick my spots and try not to work too hard and get burnt out. I’m busy all the time and continue to stay around baseball. Really, what I want to do everyday is what I want to do.”

As an Expos broadcaster, Lee was not happy with the team’s move to Washington D.C.

“I hated it and I thought it was very poor to take a team out of a foreign country and say it was because of the fans,” said Lee. “They never gave them any support and didn’t get a new ballpark. People will realize no one goes to games in Washington D.C. either.”

When he’s not working, Lee still likes to play baseball for fun.

”I like to play baseball. I like to go play in tournaments and just compete,” said Lee. “I like to stay in shape.”

He played a total of 14 seasons in the Major Leagues including 10 seasons with Boston, and four with the Montreal Expos (1979-82).

Lee was 119-90 with a 3.62 ERA over his career. He posted several outstanding seasons, most notably in 1975 where he went 17-9 with a 3.95 ERA and helped lead the Red Sox to the World Series.

Lee was involved in many moments in Red Sox history, but arguably the most famous one came in 1976 when he was forced to leave a game after hurting his shoulder in a bench clearing brawl with the New York Yankees.

”I have never cared for them [the Yankees] that much,” said Lee. “They are a great come-from-behind ball club and they have a lot of great players, but I have always been a Red Sox fan and will continue.”

One of Lee’s most memorable off-the-field moments came when he protested the sale of former Red Sox player Bernie Carbo to the Cleveland Indians. Lee stormed into the clubhouse, cleaned out his locker, and told the team he was retiring.

Upon returning, the Red Sox fined him $533. In response Lee asked if they could make it $1,500 so he could take the weekend off.

That wasn’t the only example of Lee’s wacky off-field behavior. He jogged from Fenway Park to Belmont on the days he pitched. He rehabilitated a shoulder by hanging from MBTA straps, and he once showed up to a game in Milwaukee in an astronauts suit to protest air pollution.

While Lee was a productive pitcher for the Red Sox, these off-filed antics define his place in Red Sox history.

Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Michael Young Interview for TTG

http://www.touchingthegame.com/alaska/

In today’s high pressure, big dollar world of professional baseball and its accompanying media cyclone, the most poignant and refreshing perspectives are those that portray the unique and committed institutions which keep the essence and purity of our national pastime alive. The Alaska Baseball League is such an institution and offers such a perspective. With roots in the days before the playing of the first Midnight Sun game in 1906, this amateur league has been adding to Alaska’s (and indeed America’s) cultural and historical legacy, defined as much by its Alaskan existence as by its exceptionally high quality baseball.

Many baseball greats like Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Mark McGwire, and Randy Johnson have spent summers in places like Fairbanks, Anchorage and Kenai on their road to the Major Leagues, often thriving, sometimes just enduring, MLB Hall of Famers and journeymen alike have played in the annual Midnight Sun Game, which is played on the summer solstice each year in the middle of the night, with no artificial lights. Numerous National Baseball Congress World Series titles have been won and the league is full of incredible stories of accomplishment and travail. Careers and lives have been shaped in our farthest north state.

Compelling human-interest threads abound in the Alaska league, as do unique traditions such as the annual Midnight Sun Game. And of course, this is Alaska, with its myriad visual opportunities and its own influence on the evolution of the league. This film will integrate all these elements into a compelling, visually powerful, seamless narrative told by the participants themselves, including those famous MLB alums.

To learn more about the film, please use the links below:

• For Investors
• Blog
• View Trailer and Clips

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Bud ShawPlain Dealer Columnist

Winter Haven, Fla. — The long odds of two high school teammates making the major leagues and playing for the same team got stretched even more in Toronto last summer.

That’s when Blue Jays reliever Brian Wolfe retired Ryan Garko and Ben Francisco in a game against the Indians.

All three were seniors at Servite High School in Anaheim, Calif., in 1999. But that’s nothing compared to the odds a team with three future major-leaguers would lead a high school title game, 10-0 and somehow find a way to lose.

“Ask Ben about it,” Garko said in a conspiratorial tone. “He’s still bitter.”

Francisco and Garko dress four lockers apart in the Indians’ spring-training clubhouse. So it’s not too far a stroll to find the embittered Francisco.

“We were two outs from winning by the mercy rule,” Francisco said Monday. “Two outs. The fans had left. Our pitcher [Wolfe] got hit for some home runs. A grand slam. We lost, 18-17.”

A lot of guys relive their high school days because nothing of athletic note happens after graduation. Bruce Springsteen wrote “Glory Days” for that reason.

Garko and Francisco are exceptions. They’ve made Servite’s list of notable alumni, along with former NFL quarterbacks Steve Beuerlein and Turk Schonert, former NFL lineman Blaine Nye and Carolina Panther lineman Ryan Kalil, and pitcher Mike Witt, who threw a perfect game for the Angels against Texas in 1984.

Garko and Francisco grew up a distance apart that Garko calculates as “Beachwood to Westlake.” They didn’t know each other before their freshman year.

“I saw this big guy hitting the ball 500 feet,” Francisco said.

“Ben weighed like 80 pounds,” Garko said.

Garko would hit third in the lineup and catch. Francisco filled out as a senior, hit fourth and played center field. Wolfe, a sixth-round pick of Minnesota, was considered the sure thing.

“Nobody would be surprised he made the big leagues,” Francisco said of Wolfe. “A lot of people wouldn’t be surprised Ryan made it either. Me? I was a shrimp.”

Francisco made his major league and Indians debut last season, batting .274 in 25 games with three home runs and 12 RBI. He was selected the International League’s “most exciting player.”

His chances of making the Indians’ 25-man roster out of spring training are diminished in a crowded outfield (Jason Michaels, David Dellucci, Grady Sizemore and Franklin Gutierrez) and by the fact that he still has options. The Indians will keep four outfielders.

“Ben was impressive last year,” manager Eric Wedge said. “He obviously impacted us at home plate and on the field. He still needs to continue to improve in the outfield.”

“No way you should win a Triple-A batting title and not be in the big leagues,” Garko said. “But the majors are a tough level to break into.”

Garko knows. This time last year, he was a catcher trying to make the transition to first base for a team whose infield defense the year before was your basic butcher shop.

Every day, every ground ball brought scrutiny. Garko handled it well. He finished in the middle of the league defensively among first basemen while hitting .290 with 21 home runs and 61 RBI.

The corners are where teams traditionally find their power numbers. Wedge makes the case a double is as good as a home run if it comes at the right time. Garko had 29 of those.

Garko’s theory is that where home runs are concerned, 30 is the new 40.

“It’s one of the great things about steroid testing,” Garko said. “Every first baseman isn’t hitting 40 home runs every year now. The premium is on being able to handle the bat and driving in runs.

“I’d love to get that 61 RBI up close to 100. Increasing home runs wouldn’t make me as happy as that would.”

Garko’s spot in the lineup is assured. He wishes the same could be said for Francisco.

The outfield is even more crowded when you consider Shin-Soo Choo, who is recovering from injury but also is out of options.

“I saw Ryan go through something like this last spring,” Francisco said. “So he’s a good person to talk to about it.”

To reach Bud Shaw:

bshaw@plaind.com, 216-999-5639

By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — If first impressions are any indication, Joe Szekely is going to enjoy spending the summer in Mercer County.

What could be better than baseball season, and an infinite variety of food?

“You hear about Princeton and it being a town of 6.000 people and in your head you form what it’s going to look like and what the baseball field is going to look like, along with the facilities and the town,” said Szekely, who lives in Marion, Texas. “Then you come here and the first thing I said to Jim (Holland) is, ‘This town is bigger than 6,000 people.’

“The town I live in has got 1,100 people and this looks like it’s like 10 times as big as that. It’s amazing, you people eat very, very well. You’ve got enough restaurants here for a 100,000 people.”

Szekely was introduced Saturday as the new manager of the Princeton Rays, taking the place of Jamie Nelson, who served in the same capacity for five years, setting a mark for most wins by a Princeton manager in what will be the 21st year of the franchise since it was established in 1988.

During Nelson’s tenure, Princeton won the annual Mercer Cup competition with the Bluefield Orioles in four of those seasons, including the last three in a row. Szekely knows the task ahead won’t be easy.

“Jamie was a popular guy, he had been here a long time and he had taken care of the rivalry very well,” said Szekely, entering his 24th year in professional baseball. “Those are big shoes to follow, but hopefully we can continue the tradition on.”

Szekely arrived in Princeton for the first time on Friday, and attended Saturday’s 6th Annual Media Appreciation Luncheon sponsored by the P-Rays. Szekely, Rays’ General Manager Jim Holland and Appalachian League President Lee Landers met with the media and fans.

Holland can only hope that the 2008 season, which begins on June 17 with a visit from the league’s newest team — the Pulaski Mariners — is as successful as last year.

“I’m entering my 17th year here and 2007, as much as any year since I’ve been here, I’ve never seen a year where so much fell into place and went right,” Holland. “Those of you who came to the ball park know the attendance was up, the atmosphere at the park was up, and promotionally, everything that we tried to do went really well.

“It was a great feeling and it was a great year.”

Szekely hopes it can be even better on the field. Princeton last had a winning season in 2000 and won its lone league title in 1994. Szekely knows his primary role is to produce future Tampa Bay Rays, but he also wants to win games.

“You’re never going to let winning get in the way of development, but I think they go hand in hand,” Szekely said. “I think the kids need to have success and need to understand and know what it takes to win.

“Obviously it depends a lot on the players. There’s never been a nag that won the Kentucky Derby, but I think they need to understand what the commitment is and what it’s like and what you have to do to win.”

While Szekely won’t know who his players will be for a while, he does like what he see at Hunnicutt Field, which has undergone a much-needed facelift, from an invigorated playing surface and draining system to the creation of an indoor batting facility that can be used the Rays and the Princeton Tigers baseball team.

“It’s been very, very good trip so far, we toured the baseball field and I was surprised,” Szekely said. “I didn’t know what to think, small town, half-season team and I saw the field and it’s a lot better than some of the fields that I have had at the higher levels and much, much bigger cities.

“I was very surprised with not only the field, but the workout facilities and I’ve already mentioned the eating places. That’s unbelievable. Everything has been far more than I expected from the town of Princeton.”

A second round draft choice by the Kansas City Royals in 1982, Szekely spent 11 seasons playing in the minor leagues with the Royals, Dodgers and Blue Jays and Braves, batting .263 in 815 games.

Once his time on the field came to an end, he didn’t want to leave the game behind.

“I kind of grew up in it, my dad was a professional baseball player, and I was always around it and I just kind of gravitated towards it,” Szekely said. “I played it while I was growing up and I guess the fact that I was around it so much that it just kind of rubbed off on me.

“There’s nothing like it, it’s the one game I think that I would say everybody can relate to because it just seems like everybody you have talked to has played some kind of baseball somewhere.”

The 46-year-old Szekely is entering his fourth season in the Tampa Bay organization, managing Vero Beach to a 59-79 record last season.

His previous two clubs, the Visalia Oaks of the California League and the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays of the Midwest League each made the playoffs.

In seven minor league seasons with the Rays and Royals, he’s posted a 351-401 mark. He’s also been a hitting and catching instructor for both of those clubs, along with serving for four years in the Atlanta Braves system.

“It’s good people you meet at the ball park and I know it’s in my blood,” said Szekely, whose wife, Kim, and their two teenage daughters will stay in Princeton this summer. “I played for all those years, and I got through playing and I knew I wanted to stay in the game.

“I didn’t know anything else and it’s just been that my life has afforded me the opportunity to stay in the game and we’ve just had a lot of fun.”

One of the quickest lessons a prospect learns when they enter professional baseball is that it’s not just a game anymore. It’s also a job. The task ahead isn’t easy, but Szekely said the rewards are definitely worth the effort.

“A lot of these kids are not used to this, some of these kids are coming from high school and college programs where you don’t play every single day as well as work four or five hours a day so it’s quite a change,” Szekely said. “If you don’t absolutely love what you’re doing, it can be the worst job you’ve ever had.

“If you love what you’re doing, it’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding and very fun.”

The latter statement would describe Szekely. He leaves for spring training in Florida on Feb. 29. He’ll return to West Virginia in June accompanied by the 2008 edition of the Princeton Rays. Is he excited?

“Absolutely,” Szekely said. “I’ve got my juices flowing right now.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

Byline: HEATHER GRIPP Staff Writer

Brian Felten gets early bragging rights in the family and in the Mission League.

Loyola of Los Angeles defeated visiting Crespi of Encino 4-3 on Tuesday to not only give the Cubs’ baseball coach a victory over the team for which his younger brother plays, but also lift Loyola into sole possession of first place in the Mission League.

Brian Clark singled in Trey Rallis  for the deciding run in the sixth inning.

The teams, which entered the game tied for first place, meet again Thursday at Valley College.

“With my brother being on the team, I follow Crespi real closely,'’ said Felten, also a former Celt

`I probably know more about Crespi than any other team we play.'’

Paul Felten is a senior outfielder for the Celts (13-6, 6-1). He walked in the first inning, but finished 0 for 2.

Another set of brothers was instrumental in giving Loyola (15-5, 7-0) an early 3-2 lead. Cubs junior Danny Muno hit his team-high seventh home run in the first inning, then doubled in older brother Kevin Muno in the second inning.

A two-out double by Crespi’s Carlos Lopez tied the score in the fifth inning. The Celts had four doubles in the game, including the ones by Sean Camacho and Jeremy Rodriguez that drove in runs in the first inning.

Crespi’s Sean Gilmartin and Travis Forbes finished with two hits each. John Paillet and Danny Muno led Loyola with two hits apiece, and teammate Justin Shepherd was 1 for 1 with three walks and an RBI.

Cubs junior right-hander Patrick Drolet (6-1) got the win with 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief.

Reliever Jeff Warren (0-3) took the loss. Celts starter Matt Wabby had eight strikeouts in five innings, but frequently had to work out of jams because of the six hits and six walks he issued.

Loyola is in a familiar situation, having won a share of last year’s league title, but Crespi is loaded with underclassmen who saw last year’s Celts fail to reach the playoffs.

“It’s fun to play them,'’ Brian Felten said. “It’s fun to complete against the coach I played for. I learned a lot from him, so maybe I can use some of his tricks against him.

“We lost a lot a lot of guys from last year, but guys have been stepping up and we’ve been winning a lot of games late. We did that again today.'’

heather.gripp@dailynews.com

(818) 713-3607

11/08/2007 4:12 PM
River Cats Introduce Todd Steverson as New Manager; Announce ’08 Coaching Staff

West Sacramento, Calif. – The Sacramento River Cats and Oakland Athletics named Todd Steverson as the third manager in River Cats’ history, Oakland Athletics officials announced today. Steverson replaces Tony DeFrancesco, who was named the Athletics’ third base coach in October. Pitching Coach Rick Rodriguez and Hitting Coach Brian McArn will return for their 8th and 4th seasons respectively with the team to round out the coaching staff.  Steverson, Rodriguez and McArn will be joined by Athletic Trainer Brad LaRosa in his first season both with the A’s organization and at the Triple-A level.
Steverson, who spent 2007 as manager of the Athletics’ Double-A affiliate Midland RockHounds and the previous two seasons (2005-06) at the helm of the Single-A affiliate Stockton Ports, has a lifetime managerial record of 214-203. The 36-year-old Los Angeles, Calif. native joined the A’s organization in 2004 as the hitting coach for the short-season Single-A Vancouver Canadians. He spent the previous five seasons in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system at Single-A Palm Beach (2003), Single-A Potomac (1999; 2001-02) and Single-A Peoria (2000).

Steverson had a seven-year playing career that included major-league appearances with Detroit (1995) and San Diego (1996).  He finished his minor league career in 1998 with Triple-A Memphis of the Pacific Coast League. Steverson was originally drafted out of Culver City (Calif.) High School by the Cardinals in the sixth round of the June 1989 amateur draft but elected to attend Arizona State University. Three years later, in 1992, he was a first-round draft pick (25th overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays.

The first two managers in River Cats history, DeFrancesco and current A’s manager Bob Geren, are now on the Oakland coaching staff.  DeFrancesco led the Sacramento River Cats to three PCL Championships in his five-year tenure with the team, capping his run by winning the 2007 PCL and Triple-A Championships in September.

Rick Rodriguez
Rodriguez, 47, will serve his eighth season as Sacramento’s pitching coach in 2008. After three years with the River Cats from 2000-02, he managed the Modesto A’s in 2003 before returning to the Cats in 2004. Prior to his first stint with the River Cats, he was pitching coach for Modesto in 1999. Last year, Rodriguez’s pitching staff had an ERA of 4.19, 3rd best in the PCL and 3rd lowest in team history. 

Rodriguez played parts of four seasons in the major leagues as a right-handed pitcher. In his major league career, he compiled a 3-4 record and a 5.72 ERA in 31 games. He played in the majors with Oakland (1986-87), Cleveland (1988) and San Francisco (1990).

Brian McArn
McArn, 38, is the third hitting coach in the club’s history. Last season, his third with the Cats, Sacramento hitters batted .277 and led the PCL in walks (613).  He replaced Joe Sparks in 2005, who serves the Oakland A’s as their major league advance scout.  Roy White was the River Cats’ hitting coach for their first four seasons, from 2000-03.

This season will mark McArn’s eleventh as a hitting coach in the A’s organization, his twelfth as a coach in professional baseball. Prior to joining the Cats, he served as Hitting Coach for Midland, after six seasons with Modesto (Single-A). McArn began his professional coaching career with the Vermont Expos (Single-A) of the New York-Penn League in 1996.

McArn was selected by the A’s in the 26th round of the 1991 Amateur Draft out of the University of Nebraska and spent two years as a player in the Oakland organization before injuries ended his career. After retiring, McArn coached at American River Junior College in Sacramento for five seasons.

Brad LaRosa
LaRosa, 31, joins the River Cats in his first season in the A’s organization.  For the past 3 seasons, he served as a Minor League Athletic Trainer in the St Louis Cardinals organization.  LaRosa replaces Walt Horn who was named Assistant Athletic Trainer for the A’s in October after spending 30 years as a trainer in the A’s minor league system.

In addition to his athletic training duties, LaRosa, a 2000 graduate of Southern Illinois University who earned a graduate degree in 2003, assists with the team’s travel and equipment responsibilities.
 

By Jim Caple

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Midnight Sun game is like most baseball games … except here the shadows are still creeping across the infield at close to 11 p.m.

“Nobody here knows if the lights have ever been turned on or not,” Alaska Goldpanners manager Ed Cheff said, squinting through the golden sunlight at the light towers at Growden Park. “The rumor is that they might not even work. I know they’ve never been on in the four years I’ve been here. You talk to the locals about the lights and they just laugh and say, ‘Yeah, we don’t know about them, either.’”

Cheff said this Tuesday night around 10 p.m., as his team warmed up for the 100th annual playing of the Midnight Sun game, held in Fairbanks on each summer solstice – and always without artificial lights. The game starts at 10:30 p.m. and has been known to end after 2 a.m. (And just think how long it would last if there were commercials!) While the sun officially sets at 12:47 a.m., it really just dips below the horizon for an hour or so. There’s a rosy glow near the horizon but it never really gets dark enough to stop the game.

Not that you would want to face Randy Johnson in these conditions.

“My guys used to yell, ‘Turn on the lights!’ and I’d say, ‘No way,’” former Goldpanners manager Red Boucher said. “So they would yell, ‘Then how are we going to see the ball?’ And I would say, ‘Listen for it. If you hear it humming real loud, you’re too close.’

“No other city in the world has this tradition so there is no way we’re turning on those lights.”

And just in case someone tried, Boucher said it wouldn’t matter. “I pulled out all the fuses.”

The Midnight Sun game is one of baseball’s greatest and oldest traditions, dating back to 1906, or nearly to Julio Franco’s birth. That was so long ago that they couldn’t sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch because the song hadn’t been written yet.

Or just think about it this way: Alaskans were playing this game 50 years before Alaska even became a state.

Ed Cheff
Here’s Goldpanners manager Ed Cheff just before game time, 10 p.m.
“Baseball was the big thing to do in Fairbanks back then because there was nothing else to do in Fairbanks,” said Bill Stroecker, whose father played in the very first Midnight Sun game. “There were no automobiles here, no planes, no trains, no roadways. The only way to get here was to come up the river by boat.”

Kind of puts a whole new spin on a long weekend in Detroit, doesn’t it?

“I got off the plane to join the Goldpanners in 2001 and said, ‘Where the [expletive] am I?” former Goldpanner pitcher Zak Basch recalled. “Then we won the National Baseball Congress championship in 2002. And I got drafted when I never should have. And I had a minor league career I never should have. And I tell you, winning the NBC World Series for the Goldpanners trumps anything I did in my pro career. I’d give up my entire pro career to get back one second of playing here, that one second throwing the last pitch to win the NBC series.”

Basch is one of the hundreds of collegiate players to have made his way from the Lower 48 to play summer ball with Fairbanks in the amateur Alaska League – following a line that includes Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Jason Giambi, Alvin Davis and Bret Boone. The players live with host families, work the field in the morning and play each night. Some, such as Basch, love the experience. Others, such as Boone, were … well, less thrilled.

“It’s a good experience but it’s just different,” Boone said. “It’s weird. I mean, it never gets dark. It’s like every game is a day game but you’re playing at night. The sun is still above your head at midnight.”

Well, not quite. But Basch insists there was a game a couple years back that was delayed because the sun was shining in the first baseman’s eyes – “And it was 11:45 p.m.”

That’s the way it is when you’re the northernmost baseball team in the world. How far north? North Pole, Alaska is 10 miles to the south of Fairbanks. Of course, that’s not the actual north pole – merely a town that named itself North Pole to generate a cottage Santa Claus industry (the high school team is named the Nicks). But still. We’re talking way up there.

Midnight Sun game
Fans flock to the Midnight Sun game in Fairbanks every year.
Hey, there’s even an Ice Museum smack in the middle of downtown.

Fairbanks is an insane town. The average winter temperature is 12 degrees below zero, and it’s so cold that the temperature somehow actually increases with elevation. “I’m OK up until about 30 below,” Goldpanners pitcher and Fairbanks native Sean Timmons said. “Once it gets to 35 or 50 below, then I start getting cold.”

The record high, meanwhile, is 96.

On the other hand, homes are a lot cheaper than in San Francisco. Plus, each summer Mother Nature takes pity on Fairbanks and provides long days of what Cheff calls “the most ideal baseball weather in the world. In the East and the Midwest, they’re baking in the heat and the humidity. But here it’s perfect.”

The weather certainly was perfect for Tuesday’s centennial. Fairbanks received buckets of rain over the weekend, but the clouds parted and the sky was clear by early evening, with temperatures in the low 70s. It was such an idyllic night that even the mosquitoes stayed away.

The ballpark was so crowded that fans stole the bullpen bench and moved it to a standing-room-only section that had been hastily set up in foul territory down the left field line. Fans also sat on the dugout roofs, and the concession stands were so backed up that there was a long line to pay your money, another long line to get your hot dog, and yet another long line to go to the bathroom.

(But when you consider that the fans at the first Midnight Sun game arrived in Fairbanks by taking the train from Skagway to Whitehorse, then tramping to the Tanana River and boating upstream, the lines don’t seem so bad.)

The field at Growdon Park is unusual, to say the least. The outfield is natural grass, but the infield is lime green artificial turf. The basepaths have been dyed a dusty yellow, but the dirt in the sliding pits is a dark chocolate. It’s as if it were laid out by the same guy who designed the old Astros jerseys.

And yet, the way Basch sees it, this diamond is not only the geographic pinnacle of baseball, it’s the spiritual pinnacle as well.

“I’ve been to Fenway Park. I’ve been to Yankee Stadium. I was at old Tiger Stadium. But there’s nothing like this,” he said. “I’m a purist. I love baseball for what it is. And nothing can compete with this. I know you’re with ESPN and you’ve seen it all. Hey, I watch ESPN and nothing on ESPN can top this.

“These kids on the team don’t know. But in five years they’re going to be sitting around with a beer telling people, ‘One time in Alaska I played baseball at midnight without lights.’”

That’s the thing. It’s easy to lose concept of time when it never gets dark. It just seems like you’re at a regular game until you’re walking home and two 12-year-olds on bicycles ride past with bats and gloves and it suddenly hits you, “Wait a minute – it’s two in the friggin’ morning.”

Go back two decades and Timmons could have been one of those kids bicycling. He grew up attending the Midnight Sun game as a fan and now has played in nine of them.

Red Boucher & Bill Stroecker
Red Boucher (who formed the Alaska League in 1960) and Bill Stroecker (whose father played in the first Midnight Sun game).
He didn’t plan on playing in the centennial, though. He is studying to be a physician’s assistant at a Savannah college and is only home for a two-week vacation. “I was going to call the team up to see whether I could sit in the dugout for this game because I knew how crazy the ticket situation would be,” he said. “But they called me about two and a half weeks ago and asked whether I could throw for them. I haven’t pitched since the end of the season last July but I said, all right.”

He said he began thinking Monday night about how the Midnight Sun game could be his last time on a mound. “I didn’t want to go out and disappoint anyone. I wanted to go out there and have one good last game.”

Timmons did, holding the Omaha Strike Zone to one run in five innings, and the bullpen took over from there. Given that the final innings were played in dusk with the umpire expanding the strike zone, Omaha didn’t have much chance for a comeback. The Panners won 3-1 and Timmons got the win in what may be his final game. The final pitch was at 12:55 a.m. and almost everyone stayed for the end, listening to “Midnight Special” playing over the loudspeaker. The “Alaska Flag Song” was sung at midnight before the start of the sixth inning.

Cheff joked afterward about using Timmons on 364 days rest until he turns 40, but the Hall of Fame has a better idea for preserving the pitcher. They asked for his cap and jersey for the museum. “That was awesome,” he said. “And I get a lifetime pass to the Hall of Fame.”

It’s a great exchange. Not only can Timmons visit Cooperstown anytime he wants, but the Hall will preserve the moment he stood precisely where so many players have lived out their midsummer night’s dreams over the past century – in the sunlight and on top of the world.

By Weston Hodkiewicz

Since he was growing up in Washington, all Elliot Strankman wanted to do was play baseball.
That passion made him a 12th-round selection by the San Francisco Giants in the 2000 MLB amateur draft — ahead of Oakland Athletics’ ace Rich Harden and Pittsburgh Pirates sluggers Jason Bay and Adam LaRoche.
While his journey as a player ended in Class AA Shreveport (La.) a little more than a year later, his passion for the sport never faded.
Strankman, coaching a successful Division III program at Occidental College in California, opted to pick up a summer coaching gig with the Green Bay Bullfrogs’ Northwoods League expansion team last season.
After breaking almost every league record for first-year franchises, the Northwoods’ manager of the year is coming back for more.
On Tuesday, the Bullfrogs announced their charismatic manager will be back in 2008.
“We are very excited to have Elliott back in Green Bay for our second season in the Northwoods League,” Bullfrogs owner Jeff Royle said in a news release.
“Now that we’ve got our feet on the ground here in Green Bay, we are looking to take baseball and the entire organization to a higher level in 2008.”
At the end of last season, Strankman wasn’t sure if he was going to return to Green Bay because of his full-time obligation to Occidental. But after a little contemplation — and a bit of contract renegotiating with the school — Strankman will be pulling double duty again.
“The day I left that place, I started missing it,” Strankman said during a phone interview from California. “I feel like I fell in love with the city of Green Bay and, honestly, with the Midwest.”
The way the Bullfrogs’ season ended also factored in Strankman’s decision.
The Bullfrogs, whose 43-25 record was tops in the league, were unseated by the Eau Claire Express in the South Division playoffs.
“I was thinking about it the day after the season ended,” Strankman said. “I feel like there is a little bit of unfinished business here.”
Rejoining Strankman will be his pitching coach, Willamette University’s Aaron Swick. Due to coaching obligations, though, assistant Roberto Saenz will not be back. He will be replaced by University of Rhode Island assistant Eric Cirella.
When Strankman had to make a decision, it came down to his experience in Green Bay.
His relationship with the Bullfrogs’ organization and fans left Strankman feeling a bit empty when he departed Joannes Park for the last time in August.
“There is something about that organization,” Strankman said. “There’s something about the Green Bay organization that I think is going to breed winning.”
From a kid with a dream to a grown man with a job, Strankman is engrossed in the sport he loves. If one job in baseball wasn’t enough, leave it to Strankman to squeeze in another.
“I wake up and think about baseball,” he said. “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m the most happy when I’m busy.”

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070912/GPG0206/709120611/1239

THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: November 4th, 2007 12:00 AM

It was a story Greg Dobbs didn’t hear until midseason, when he had established himself as the left-handed-hitting half of the Philadelphia Phillies platoon at third base.
General manager Pat Gillick had burst out of his office in Philadelphia with an announcement for his staff.

“We just got Greg Dobbs on waivers!” Gillick said happily.

Only when Gillick returned to his office did the others turn to one another with the same question.

“Who the hell is Greg Dobbs?”

Dobbs laughs now.

A year ago, he was at the end of his career with the Seattle Mariners – a then-29-year-old who’d played 405 games in the minor league system, batting .307, and 100 more in the majors.

Then Mariners needed space on their 40-man roster. Dobbs had been through this before. In the fall of 2005, he’d cleared waivers and returned to Tacoma’s triple-A roster.

Seattle called Dobbs, whose wife Heidi was seven months pregnant, and told him what they were doing.

“It was scary and exciting, and I didn’t know what to expect. Either I would be claimed by another team or go back to the minors,” Dobbs said. “For 72 hours, I waited and hoped.”

Gillick had seen Dobbs play when he was the Seattle GM and put in a claim. The Mariners called to tell Dobbs he was a Phillie. Gillick called to tell him he was wanted.

“Pat called and said he was excited to have me,” Dobbs said. “He said, ‘We’re looking for you to prove your versatility – play a little left field, a little right, a little third and first base. He talked to me about playing at the big-league level, not the minors.”

Dobbs had played in Seattle over parts of three seasons, amassing 222 major league at-bats. He had worked with nearly every minor league manager and coach in the Mariners system, and played under two Mariners managers and three hitting coaches.

From Tacoma, he watched teammates called up ahead of him and tried to understand.

Dobbs could play almost anywhere – but the Mariners had regulars ahead of him at each of those spots. And they already had a man on their bench who played everywhere – Dobbs’ good friend, Willie Bloomquist.

When the Phillies picked up Dobbs, he looked at two former teammates for inspiration.

“I looked at Raul (Ibañez), at how long it took him to establish himself and how hard he worked and still works,” Dobbs said. “And I looked at Willie.”

Bloomquist’s Mariners career has been made by his ability to play any position on the field. Dobbs tried to mirror it.

Last spring, then all through the regular season, Dobbs played for the Phillies. As Gillick had promised, he played the infield and the outfield and added one position to his résumé – second base.

“I’d never played there at any level, but I did OK,” Dobbs said, then laughed. “I made a couple of plays there I don’t know how I made. I sat on the bench afterward and thought, ‘Did I just do that?’”

Dobbs appeared in 142 games for Philadelphia, and in 324 at-bats hit .272. He had 20 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs and 55 RBI. He had a pinch-hit grand slam to beat the New York Mets one game.

“It was kind of a rebirth for me,” Dobbs said.

The Phillies made the playoffs with a marvelous September run, and when they needed a win on the final day of the regular season, they started ex-Mariner Jamie Moyer on the mound – and Dobbs at third base.

For those who know or watched Dobbs work, it was one of the feel-good stories of 2007.

Off the field, it was even better. He and Heidi now have a 10-month-old daughter. Speaking from a California park, Dobbs was on a play date with his daughter and a neighbor’s girl.

“She’s given me a new perspective on life and baseball,” he said.

And yet, he admitted, in the living room of his house at that very moment there was a bat, a ball and a glove.

“I get strange looks for that, but everyone who plays this game is built like that,” Dobbs said. “I don’t take the game for granted.”

Does he feel like a major league regular at last?

“I’d like to think I might have earned it, I’d like to think I deserve it – but I’m not sure,” Dobbs said. “Ultimately, none of us ever makes that decision.”

What he knows is that the Phillies – like the Mariners before him – might pick up a third baseman in free agency. He might show up in camp next spring and find the only job available is one on the bench.

“Whatever happens, I’ve learned to take whatever comes my way and make the best of it,” Dobbs said. “I understand the game. And I still love it.”

Bowa bound for L.A.?

The third-base coaching job offered to Larry Bowa is likely going to go to someone else – Bowa almost certainly is going to join new Dodgers manager Joe Torre in Los Angeles.

Why L.A. and not Seattle? Money. Bowa’s Seattle offer was for more than the average third-base coach makes, but under Torre in New York, he’d been paid even more. Torre wants Bowa back, and the Dodgers shelled out the largest salary paid to a third-base coach.

Expect the Mariners to announce their new third-base coach within the week.

Short hops

Pittsburgh has interviewed former Mariners infielder Joey Cora, now a White Sox coach, about filling its managerial job. … Free-agent pitcher Curt Schilling used his blog to list 13 teams he would consider playing for in 2008. Seattle was not one of them. … Former Seattle closer Eddie Guardado was made a free agent last week when Cincinnati declined his option. … Who knew? Among the hot free-agent catchers on the market is ex-Mariner Yorvit Torrealba. The Rockies want him back, and his agent has talked to the Blue Jays and Marlins. … Anyone notice how when Alex Rodriguez left New York, shortstop Derek Jeter didn’t seem sorry to see him go? That’s become something of the norm in A-Rod’s career: Never leave ’em smiling. … The Texas Rangers are prowling through free-agent lists and – typically – focusing on hitters. They want Torii Hunter in center field.