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

Sunday, August 04, 2013

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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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