Indy Baseball Chatter: OAKLAND COULD BE THE FINAL STEP FOR GOLDEN LEAGUE FIND JEROME WILLIAMS

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

OAKLAND COULD BE THE FINAL STEP FOR GOLDEN LEAGUE FIND JEROME WILLIAMS

In my initial review of the transactions from last week's Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, I was thinking the Independent leagues had been shut out. Certainly, no one showed up in the draft (Rule 5) of players left unprotected by major league organizations.

But one interesting signing did take place.

Oakland inked right-handed pitcher Jerome Williams, who started last season with Long Beach, CA of the Golden League, then saw his contract sold in late June to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Williams found himself in the Independent ranks after nearly three years of major league service, and he had a torrid finish pitching in Las Vegas, the Dodgers' top farm club. The Athletics obviously were impressed since they have invited him to their major league spring training camp.

We intend to examine the Williams signing in more detail in this week's subscriber-based Independent Baseball Insider column. This story has various implications, ranging from the Golden League's strong record of getting players signed by major league organizations to the fact if the 27-year-old Williams can make it back to the big time in any significant way the Athletics would have resurrected the career of a onetime No. 1 draft choice of the Bay Area's San Francisco Giants and picked up someone the Dodgers did not think enough of to keep, despite a 2.08 earned run average in Las Vegas.

Subscribe now to 2009 Independent Baseball Insider columns

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