Indy Baseball Chatter: NON-ROSTER COUNT CONTINUES TO CLIMB, AND FARGO KEEPS ON SELLING CONTRACTS

Friday, January 11, 2013

NON-ROSTER COUNT CONTINUES TO CLIMB, AND FARGO KEEPS ON SELLING CONTRACTS

No sooner had we finished yesterday's Independent Baseball Insidercolumn, in which we discussed some of the recent major league non-roster invitees, when we learned of two more, bringing the impressive count to 26 with several teams still not making their full list public.

Veteran hurler Nelson Figueroa (Long Island, NY, Atlantic League) gets his newest chance of resuming a major league career with Arizona. The Golden League is gone, but first baseman Seth Loman will help keep the circuit in our mind. Loman played at St. George, UT, and will go to camp with the Chicago White Sox.

SIMUNIC KEEPS SELLING

Longtime Fargo, ND (American Association) Manager Doug Simunic has had quite a year--career, in fact--in moving players to affiliated baseball with the latest being young power-hitting catcher Ryan Delgado. The right-handed hitter had reason to celebrate his 25th birthday Friday when it was announced Oakland had purchased his contract after his monster 20 home run, 86 RBI, .312 campaign when he appeared in 93 of the RedHawks' 100 games.

Delgado got less than 80 games over two seasons to prove his value to the Atlanta Braves, who selected him in the 32nd round of the 2010 draft out of Azusa (CA) Pacific University.

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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