Indy Baseball Chatter: JUSTIN HAMPSON IS LATEST TO MAKE CLIMB FROM INDY TO MAJORS WHILE TWO OTHERS ARE RELEASED

Monday, June 25, 2012

JUSTIN HAMPSON IS LATEST TO MAKE CLIMB FROM INDY TO MAJORS WHILE TWO OTHERS ARE RELEASED

How nice to have still one more first-time major leaguer who has played in the Independent ranks. Southpaw Justin Hampson, now with the New York Mets, is the 168th player on this impressive list.

Hampson played for both York, PA and Long Island, NY of the Atlantic League in 2010.

He is the fourth player added to the list this season, joining infielder Mike Costanzo with Cincinnati and pitchers Stu Pomeranz with Baltimore and Tanner Scheppers with Texas. Costanzo is back in Triple-A and Pomeranz is on the disabled list.

THIS PAIR HANDED WALKING PAPERS

Pitchers Travis Schlichting and Clay Zavada, who made the climb from Independent Baseball to the majors, have been released in recent days.

Schlichting, who played for the Kansas City (KS) T-Bones and got to the majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was released out of Triple-A by Oakland. Zavada spent his Indy time in the Frontier League (Southern Illinois) and got to the majors with Arizona. His last stop was with St. Louis's top farm club in Memphis.

Both are young enough they could get more opportunities to pitch.

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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