Indy Baseball Chatter: NEWCOMER IN BOSOX BULLPEN

Monday, April 17, 2006

NEWCOMER IN BOSOX BULLPEN

It is Patriots Day in Boston, and I cannot help but think about what a happy day it must be for two former Independent Baseball faces who are new to Red Sox Nation. John Blake, who was the Northern League's Chief Operating Officer for a couple of years, was recently named Boston's Vice President of Media Relations. The move gets the able Blake back to the northeast where he grew up.

The other new face is sitting out in the Red Sox bullpen waiting for his first American League appearance. Righthander Jermaine Van Buren, who pitched for Fort Worth (now in the American Association) when it was in the Central League (2003) got the call from Pawtucket over the weekend. We told you in our February 16 Independent Baseball Insider column some people were saying the Red Sox considered Van Buren a "sleeper". He got into his first six major league games last season (Chicago Cubs, 0-2, 3.00). At 25, let's hope this is his time.

Bob Wirz

Former chief spokesman for Major League Baseball Commissioners Bowie Kuhn and Peter Ueberroth. Six years as publicity director for the Kansas City Royals, and a background in newspaper, radio and television. Started Wirz & Associates, a sports PR and consulting firm, in 1985. Has written extensively on Independent Baseball since 2003.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About 'My Nebraska'

It seems almost universally accepted that Nebraskans are friendly, hard-working people.

A native son, who eventually transitioned to the East Coast because it was the best avenue to follow his passion of continuing to work in major league baseball, has published a book to share a lifetime of memories of growing up in the Cornhusker state.

You may have guessed it when you saw the title: My Nebraska. Yes, Bob Wirz, now a youthful 85, is sharing his "rich memories of growing up in rural Nebraska" in the 1940s and 1950s in a delightful 136 pages in the book produced by Dorrance Publishing in Pittsburgh, PA.

Wirz, who got to live his passion of working at the highest levels of baseball and later developing his own sports public relations and marketing company, lovingly empties out his memories of everything from counting millions of tiny trees to playing grass-roots baseball where the age of teammates might run from the early teens to the 50s.

The colorful cover of My Nebraska, which features two paintings from Dunning, NE rancher/artist Laron McGinn that depict the beautiful landscape of rural Nebraska and the ranching lifestyle, sets the tone for the 5 x 8 book also filled with meaningful pictures.

It is "a wistful and endearing love letter to Nebraska filled with memories shared by generations raised in small towns throughout the Midwest", praises Shari Veil, who heads up the journalism and mass communications department at the University of Nebraska.

My Nebraska, a 5x8 paperback, is priced at $19.95 plus $4.00 for handling and shipping. Autographed copies may be ordered at www.WirzandAssociates.com