THE INDY LEAGUES NEED A FORMAL ORGANIZATION; SUNDAY KNUCKLEBALL EXPERIENCE ALSO AVAILABLE

Some of the established Independent leagues have been talking for years about forming an association–the Independent Professional Baseball Association is a prominent name that has been mentioned.

Such an organization would be in position to bargain with sporting goods dealers for better prices on bats, balls and uniforms and perhaps to enter into some joint promotional programs. They might even be able to try to develop better visa arrangements to get foreign players.

The biggest value, to this veteran’s mind, would be to etablish criteria for being considered an authentic Independent league. Minimum number of games, all players getting paid and acceptable standards in such areas as player housing and travel.

Without such an organization, anyone who wants to start a league or run a team without sufficient funding to make it last through a season may do so and call itself an “Independent League.” When there is a failure, everyone gets a bad name. It is not just a failure in one community; it gives the entire industry a bloody nose. It is difficult enough to make a go of it without some underfunded operation hurting everyone.

This subject came to mind again this week when news reports out of the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX area told of employees and vendors of the Fort Worth Cats of the United League not being paid.

“My last paycheck, I took it to the bank Tuesday afternoon (August 20) and it would not clear,” first base coach Mike Ford told WFAA.com. The television station said it talked to some players with similar stories.

The story also mentioned some vendors who said they were not paid for their products.

This type of news should not impact successful, well-run leagues and teams. But it does.

MILLIONAIRE KOREAN BASEBALL OWNER TO TAKE THE MOUND

For anyone in the vicinity of Pomona, NY, an hour or so north of New York City, who wants an enjoyable baseball outing on Labor Day Weekend, I suggest a trip to see the Can-Am League game between the host Rockland Boulders and the Newark (NJ) Bears.

Provident Bank Park is a beauty, as we have told readers previously, and the bonus will be that a 37-year-old knuckleball pitcher from South Korea is going to pitch for the Boulders. Hur Min, who made it big via an online game called Dungeon & Fighter, formed the first Independent team in South Korea. He’s also been working on a knuckler, training under the likes of Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, and he will put his work on display in the next to last day of the Can-Am season.

Will a star pitcher be born? Likely not, but it will be a fun opportunity in a beautiful setting to see the story play out.

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SEE-SAW BATTLE FOR AMERICAN ASSOCIATION HOME RUN RECORD

These last 11 days of the American Association season are going to be fun to watch, if just for the battle for the league home run record.

We wrote in Thursday’s Independent Baseball Insider column for subscribers about C. J. Ziegler of the Wichita (KS) Wingnuts tying the mark of Brandon Sing of Sioux Falls, SD (2010) with his 27th round-tripper. Guess what? Hours later (Thursday night) the newest Sioux Falls strongman, Tim Pahuta, homered twice to move one ahead of Ziegler. Unfortunately, the Canaries took a 5-3 loss to Fargo, ND. Both Sioux Falls and Wichita have 10 games remaining.

Wichita and Fargo have all but wrapped up divisional titles, but the other two playoff berths are very much in question. In the South (which might as well be known as the Texas Division), Laredo has a two-game lead over Grand Prairie and Amarillo. Gary, IN is the wild-card leader, but its bulge is only one and a half games over Winnipeg and two and a half ahead of Lincoln, NE.

10 EJECTED AFTER BRAWL

The American Association office may have its hands full on another front since Lincoln and El Paso engaged in a seventh inning melee in which 10 players and staff members were ejected.

ANOTHER POWER HITTER HAS CONTRACT SOLD TO ROCKIES

The United League season in Texas wrapped up when Edinburg outlasted Fort Worth in the best-of-five championship series, but for several players the season continues. Various Independent teams have been dipping into the talent supply to bolster playoff hopefuls, and Fort Worth first baseman David Bergin has joined the Colorado Rockies’ Class A farm club in Asheville, NC after his contract was purchased.

Bergin, only 23, led the United League in both home runs (19) and RBI (66) for the 80-game regular season. Bergin was drafted out of Tennessee Wesleyan College by St. Louis, joining the Cats this season. He has not yet played for Asheville.

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NEW LEAGUE FOR YOUNGER PRO HOPEFULS MUST WAIT AT LEAST ANOTHER YEAR

It was virtually at the same minute yesterday’s Independent Baseball Insider column went out to subscribers when Frank Boulton announced he would have to push back the proposed start of his newest creation, the Diamond League, at least until 2015.

Reaction?

It certainly was not a shock since finding six or more suitable–and available–ballparks in the East and Northeast is a giant task, even for a man as determined as the Atlantic League founder.

The next steps will be to see whether Miles Wolff can put suitable ownership into Sussex County’s Skylands Park near Augusta, NY or Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field in Worcester, MA–or find at least one other site–to build his Can-Am League up from its current five teams and what Boulton and his Atlantic League partners will do to keep from an awkward nine-team lineup when the Loudoun (VA) Hounds start play next season.

Boulton’s statement continues what he called the belief “in the economic model and the need based in the game of baseball for a circuit like the Diamond League to exist.” That model would offer fresh opportunities for recent college graduates who are not drafted and other early to mid-20s players.

“I’m disappointed,” Boulton told NewJerseyHerald.com. “I don’t like shutting this down, but when I do things I want to do them right and I didn’t think we had everything we needed to go forward next year.”

His patience certainly paid off before the Atlantic League launched.

DAZZLING STRIKEOUTS EARLY IN RETURN

When friend Scott (Skip) Nathanson calls I know he almost certainly will have one or more good tips, probably about players he has managed.

Sure enough, Nate, who loves this game as much as any man possibly can, wanted me to know that Zach Woods was back on the mound and thriving. The right-hander, only 25, pitched for Nathanson with the New York Federals and with Brockton, MA (both then in the Can-Am League) when he was right out of East Carolina in 2011 and with the league’s New Jersey Jackals last season before joining the New York Yankees farm system.

Woods sat out a good portion of this season with an injury (knee, I believe) before putting what Nathanson called a “nasty, nasty slider” to work for Tampa in the Florida State League. All he has done so far is strike out 17 (one walk, eight hits) in 10.1 scoreless innings split over six appearances. “He hides the ball very well,” my friend added, to which FSL hitters would surely agree.

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QUEBEC'S ANDREW ALBERS JOINS TWINS, GIVES CAN-AM LEAGUE FIVE IN MAJORS

The Can-Am League has only five teams these days and now it has the equivalent of one major league player per organization.

The newest major leaguer is left-handed pitcher Andrew Albers, who joined the Minnesota Twins Saturday, and is scheduled to make his big-league debut Tuesday in Kansas City.

Albers will be the eighth former Independent Baseball player to play his first major league game this season, the highest number since nine broke in two years ago. Two of the others also are with Minnesota, Can-Am League first baseman Chris Colabello and American Association southpaw hurler Caleb Thielbar. Albers, a Canadian native, had a brilliant 2010 season as a reliever with the Quebec Capitales of the Can-Am League, saving 17 games and winning his only three decisions while posting a 1.40 earned run average. Colabello played his first seven professional seasons in the Can-Am League, mostly with Worcester, MA, while Thielbar did a stint with St. Paul, MN in the American Association.

Twins General Manager Terry Ryan praised the 27-year-old Albers when he told MLB.com “you can’t overlook what he’s accomplished down there (Triple-A Rochester, NY) every time he pitches. He has a knack of being able to produce quality innings.” Albers, who pitched for Canada in the World Baseball Classic in March, was 11-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 22 starts for Rochester.

“I’m really thrilled to be here,” Albers told MLB.com. “I’m glad I’ve got a couple days to take in the atmosphere, get (acclimated) to the club and those good things.”

The other Can-Am League grads in the majors also are pitchers, Steve Delabar (Brockton, MA) with Toronto, and Luis Garcia (Newark, NJ) and Raul Valdes (New Jersey Jackals and Nashua, NH) both with Philadelphia.

The count of former Independent players on active major league rosters remains at a season-high 25 with the addition of Albers and pitcher Chaz Roe

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IT IS BIG BROTHER'S TURN IN THE CAN-AM SPOTLIGHT; ALSO, LEARNING ABOUT THIS 'FRATERNITY' CALLED BASEBALL

When I spent a day with the Rockland (NY) Boulders earlier this season the talk was centered around Chris Edmondson because he was making an early run with Triple Crown-like numbers against Can-Am League pitching.

Older brother Jerod, also an outfielder, could easily have gotten lost in the glare of Chris’s accomplishments. That is what made it so sweet when Jerod Edmondson went on a offensive splurge of his own and won Rawlings Hitter of the Month honors for July.

Edmondson hit .380 with five homers, but he hit so much in the clutch, driving in 23 runs to grab a share of the league lead (51). He had 14 extra-base hits and went a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen bases.

Chris Edmondson had his contract purchased by Atlanta in June, but he has been limited to only 10 games (7-for-34, .206 with one homer) because of an injury and has spent more than three weeks on the disabled list.

BASEBALL ‘LIKE A FRATERNITY’

St. Paul (MN) Saints newcomer Bryan Henry is writing a journal about his baseball days for Tallahassee.com, and if fans want a glimpse of how players adapt when they join a new team Harvey’s “Life in the Minors” column helps out.

“The baseball world is a small one,” the onetime Florida State hurler wrote recently. “It is a lot like a fraternity. It seems as if everyone is connected by past connections, a.k.a. the six degrees of separation syndrome. This team is no different.” He went on to discuss his personal or second-hand connections he learned about in chatting with his new mates.

Henry, 28 and fresh from seven years in the Arizona farm system, also talked about his perceptions and the realities of visiting new cities, such as his very first junket to North Dakota. He thought visiting Fargo might be much like scenes from the “Field of Dreams” with “farms, cornfields, crops in the middle of nowhere and then boom, a baseball field.”

The right-hander, who has had two stints in Triple-A and took a 30-26 career record to St. Paul, not only learned that the RedHawks have a nice stadium and playing surface, but “the most surprising thing to me was the atmosphere at the game. There were more than 4,000 fans in attendance, and it was an intense game.”

As for his pitching for the Saints, Henry has a 1.68 earned run average after four relief outings although he has suffered one defeat.

FELIX PIE’S SPEED COULD HELP PITTSBURGH

While he did not make the team despite a long look in spring training, it would not be at all surprising to see former major league and Atlantic League (Camden, NJ) outfielder Felix Pie helping the surging Pittsburgh Pirates down the playoff stretch.

His speed alone could be enticing. Pie has 34 steals at Triple-A Indianapolis although his average has tailed off to .245.

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