Indy Baseball Chatter: MYSTERY HIRE TO MAKE FOR MORE COMPETITION IN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

MYSTERY HIRE TO MAKE FOR MORE COMPETITION IN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

It will not be announced until Thursday, but the fourth attractive managerial hiring in the American Association of this offseason is about to take place. The respected Chad Tredaway, who built powerhouses at Edinburg, TX, has taken over at Fort Worth and onetime major league power king Pete Incaviglia has the reigns at Grand Prairie, one of the new entries for the league. This sets the stage for a major battle for supremacy in the Metroplex.

Down in Louisiana, former major league skipper Terry Bevington is starting his second stint in Shreveport, replacing the competent but lesser known Bob Flori.

The Thursday news will bring another solid Independent Baseball manager back onto the field fulltime.

The competition figures to get mighty stiff in the American Association, with George Tsamis always in the hunt for a title at St. Paul, MN. Onetime Toronto field boss Tim Johnson has had great clubs at Lincoln, NE, too, although he has not been able to get the Saltdogs to championship heaven.

What battles seem to lie ahead.

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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