Indy Baseball Chatter: WBC PARTICIPANTS FROM INDEPENDENT RANKS SWELLS BY ANOTHER EIGHT

Friday, January 18, 2013

WBC PARTICIPANTS FROM INDEPENDENT RANKS SWELLS BY ANOTHER EIGHT

Eight additional names from the Independent ranks can be added to the World Baseball Classic after further examination of rosters by yours truly and others today. This includes Italy's head coach, Tom Trebelhorn. This San Francisco minor league field boss managed at Tri-City in the Western League way back in 1995.

Hoffman Wolff eagle-eyed that current Winnipeg (American Association) infielder Yurendell de Caster is on the Netherlands roster. He had played for Fargo, ND before the RedHawks moved from the Northern League to the American Association. First baseman Curt Smith (Lincoln, NE, American Association) is on that team and another infielder is Hainley Statia, from Milwaukee's Triple-A roster in Nashville. He was once ticketed for Lancaster, PA (Atlantic League), but did not actually play for the Barnstormers.

Spain Independent contingent has swelled to 11 players with the addition of catcher Salomon Manriquez, infielder Yunesky Sanchez and outfielder Rafael Alvarez to those we mentioned yesterday. (See previous post.) Manriquez has played all over the Independent map from York and Lancaster, PA and Newark, NJ, all of the Atlantic League, to Lincoln and Wichita, KS of the American Association. Sanchez has been with Laredo, TX in the Association and Alvarez with Lincoln plus earlier stops at Pensacola, FL and Elmira, NY, the latter in the Can-Am League.

We also had missed LHP Steven Kent with Australia. He has experience with Kansas City, KS of the American Association.

The total pool of players is up to 25 so far.

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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