Indy Baseball Chatter: FORMER INDY SKIPPERS ONE STEP FROM MAJORS

Thursday, June 22, 2006

FORMER INDY SKIPPERS ONE STEP FROM MAJORS

When we featured former Independent Baseball personalities who now earn their paychecks from major league organizations in last week's Independent Baseball Insider column we overlooked a few more minor league managers, including two who are handling Triple-A teams.

Credit Can-Am and American Association Commissioner Miles Wolff with bringing our list up to date, starting with the addition of Stan Cliburn at Rochester, Minnesota's top farm club, and Ken Oberkfell, who guides the New York Mets' Triple-A shuttle from Norfolk. Cliburn spent time in the Texas-Louisiana League at Alexandria, LA and Oberkfell managed in the Northeast League.

Other current affiliated managers we overlooked with their 2006 team and affiliation with the Independent background in parenthesis: Jay Gainer, Yakima for Arizona (Northeast League); Rouglas Odor, Mahoning Valley for Cleveland (Texas-Louisiana); Bill Plummer, Tennessee for Arizona (Western League); Duffy Dyer, Erie for Detroit (Bridgeport in Atlantic League); and Daren Brown, San Antonio for Seattle (Texas-Louisiana).

A Full Summer of the Independent Baseball Insider…Only $35

Request a Free Week of the Independent Baseball Insider

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