Indy Baseball Chatter: 45 Former Indy Players In Major League Baseball

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

45 Former Indy Players In Major League Baseball

The story keeps getting better for Independent Baseball.

When Toronto Blue Jays added right-hander Chris Smith to its roster Wednesday the record number of former independent players to wear a major league uniform during the regular season climbed to 45. That is four more than the previous high established two years ago, according to records maintained by IndyBaseballChatter.com.

Yes, two of the 45 are named Chris Smith and both are righties. The other Smith is with Oakland A's. Toronto’s Smith, a 28-year-old native of Louisville, started his professional career in the Frontier League in 2010. He is the second pitcher who threw his first professional pitch in a non-major-league-affiliated circuit to reach the majors in recent weeks. The other is Boston lefty Robby Scott.

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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