Indy Baseball Chatter: HALL OF FAMER GILLICK'S LINK TO THE INDEPENDENT GAME

Monday, December 13, 2010

HALL OF FAMER GILLICK'S LINK TO THE INDEPENDENT GAME

This is a little later than it might have been, but let me say Independent Baseball should tip its fedora to Pat Gillick for his election to the Hall of Fame. Gillick was one who seemed to embrace the Indy game from the beginning when some of his major league brethren were not so certain.

Gillick's closest association, he confirmed at the Winter Meetings last week, has been with Winnipeg Owner Sam Katz. I cannot help but wonder if that relationship had something to do with Seattle purchasing pitchers George Sherrill and Bobby Madritsch back in 2003 when Gillick was general manager of the Mariners.

Both made the majors, and Sherrill, who started his pro journey in the Frontier League in 1999, ranks as one of the very best to climb all the way to the top from a start in an Indy circuit. His last five full seasons have been in the major leagues, with Atlanta the latest to obtain the free agent's services (for 2011). Sherrill hurled in Evansville, IN for two years, then spent 2001 in Sioux Falls, SD and a season and a half with Winnipeg before ever getting a shot with a major league organization. Winnipeg and Sioux Falls, originally Northern League teams, now are part of the American Association.

PENSACOLA TO DOUBLE-A?

We hope to sort it out more before Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider column, but if Pensacola, FL does go dark next season while preparing to launch a Double-A franchise in its new stadium in 2012, as is being rumored, that move likely would get the American Association back to an even number of teams instead of fielding a very awkward 15 next season.

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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