Indy Baseball Chatter: WHO ARE THESE FORTUNATE 12 POSITION PLAYERS TO GO FROM INDY LEAGUES TO MAJORS?

Monday, June 28, 2010

WHO ARE THESE FORTUNATE 12 POSITION PLAYERS TO GO FROM INDY LEAGUES TO MAJORS?

When Daniel Nava joined the Boston Red Sox with the dramatic flare of a grand slam a couple of weeks back we remarked in our Independent Baseball Insider column about him being only the 12th position player in the 18 years of Independent Baseball to start his pro career in a non-affiliated league and eventually reach the major leagues. To satisfy the curiosity of the faithful Indy fans, here are the other 11 who have made this climb with their Independent team(s) and league(s)and the major league teams they later appeared with during their career:

Catcher (1)--Chris Coste, Brainerd, North Central; Brandon, Prairie; Fargo, Northern, to Philadelphia and Houston.

Infielders (7)--Mike Cervenak, Chillicothe, Frontier, to Philadelphia; Stephen Drew, Camden, Atlantic, to Arizona; Bobby Hill, Newark, Atlantic, to Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh; Kevin Millar, St. Paul, Northern, to Florida, Boston, Baltimore and Toronto; Brian Myrow, Winnipeg, Northern, to Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego; Rey Ordonez, St. Paul, to New York Mets and Tampa Bay; Jarrod Patterson, Regina, Prairie, to Kansas City.

Outfielders (3)--Justin Christian, River City, Frontier, to New York Yankees; J.D. Drew, St. Paul, to St. Louis, Atlanta, Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston; Jim Rushford, Dubois City, Heartland; Schaumburg and Duluth, Northern; to Milwaukee.

Twenty-two pitchers have made this climb. If you feel we have missed any other position players we would love to hear from you.

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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.

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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