Indy Baseball Chatter: THE MANAGER GETS MARRIED AT HOME PLATE ON OPENING NIGHT

Monday, May 07, 2007

THE MANAGER GETS MARRIED AT HOME PLATE ON OPENING NIGHT

My wife has a little pillow on our couch that reads: "We interrupt this marriage to bring you a baseball season". I hope it is because she has a sense of humor.

Julie Corliss of Tampa, FL must have an even greater sense of humor.

While it is not exactly new for a wedding to take place at home plate prior to a baseball game, Ms. Corliss is the first I can recall who is going to marry the home team manager in a ceremony minutes before his team launches a new season.

This ceremony will occur at Harlingen Field in Harlingen, TX Tuesday evening before bridegroom Eddie Dennis's Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings take the field against Amarillo, TX in one of the three games inaugurating the United League's second season.

I cannot help but think the visiting team manager, former major league shortstop Buddy Biancalana, will be the most relaxed of the two skippers at game time.

By the way, Julie, I suggest you wait for a honeymoon. The same two teams meet in a Kid's Day game the next morning at 11:05 a.m.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OPENS THURSDAY

The newly-formed American Association starts its second season on Thursday, but as far as I know the opening day jitters will be because of baseball, not because of anyone saying "I do" before the first batter steps up to the plate.

Good luck to everyone. Most of all to Julie and Eddie.

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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