Indy Baseball Chatter: SIX NEW CITIES ON INDEPENDENT LANDSCAPE IN 2008

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

SIX NEW CITIES ON INDEPENDENT LANDSCAPE IN 2008

At its peak last summer there were 74 Independent Baseball teams spread over 10 leagues. There have been a few cities drop out of the picture for 2008 as always is the case, but it appears there will be at least six cities on board for 2008 that were not included one year ago.

Major additions include two sizeable cities moving over from the affiliated ranks--Wichita, KS in the American Association and Ottawa, Canada, to the Can-Am League. This corner also expects that one new Texas entry, Grand Prairie in the American Association, and Southern Maryland (Waldorf) in the Atlantic League could be two of the best stories of the year. Both will have fancy new digs when they open.

Texarkana, TX has joined the second year Continental League, and various news reports have Jackson, MS re-emerging on the Indy landscape as part of the second-season South Coast League. Either or both of those leagues could still have other changes as they attempt to grow.

ON THE HORIZON in our Independent Baseball Insider this Thursday will be an early look at the former Indy players who have non-roster invitations to major league spring training camps. It is a developing--and impressive--list.

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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