Independent Baseball Insider

Vol. 11, No. 22, July 11, Inc. 2013 665-A North Trail, Stratford, CT 06614 TEL: 203 380-9931 Wirz & Associates,

Email:RWirz@aol.com

Reminiscent of Dramatics of Five Years Ago, Independent Baseball Has Two Major League All-Stars
By Bob Wirz Independent Baseball will never have the marketing impact of the powerhouse major league franchises when it comes to pushing for All-Star votes, but it still will have some bragging rights when the games marquee names gather for their annual mid-season classic at Citi Field in New York next week. For one thing, the American League likely will trot out onetime American Association (Fort Worth, TX) hurler Max Scherzer, a brilliant 13-0 for the Detroit Tigers this season, as its starting pitcher, hoping to get off on the right foot toward winning the game and its prize of home-field advantage for the World Series. And, Toronto reliever Steve Delabar, who had to overcome an excruciating broken elbow in the Can-Am League (Brockton, MA) in 2009 and a subsequent year off to recover before turning into a durable reliever (5-1, 1.74 with 57 strikeouts in only 41.1 innings), will be in the American League bullpen after drawing 9.6 million tallies in the highly-publicized fan vote for the final spot on the team. He also pitched for Florence, KY of the Frontier League. One of Delabars competitors was still another former Independent hurler, Texass Tanner Scheppers (St. Paul, MN, American Association). It would not be a giant stretch to say Boston outfielder Daniel Nava (Chico, CA, Golden League) and relievers Tom Wilhelmsen of Seattle (Tucson, AZ, Golden), Arizonas Brad Ziegler (Schaumburg, IL, Northern League) or Joe Thatcher of San Diego (River City, Frontier League) could just as well have been considered. The last time the non-affiliated leagues had two players in the game five years ago the duo of J. D. Drew and George Sherrillboth more boastful because their very first professional games were in Independent leaguesstole much of the spotlight. Drew, who had played at St. Paul, MN when the American Associations Saints still were in the Northern League and is now retired, hit a dramatic two-run homer with two out in the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium to erase a 2-0 deficit, then walked to load the bases ahead of the winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 15 th. Sherrill, just released by Kansas Citys minor league department as the 36-year-old lefty and onetime stalwart major league closer tries to come back from elbow surgery, was every bit as important to the A.L. by striking out Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded to end the 12th, then worked two more scoreless innings, which is almost unheard of for an all-star reliever. ESPN analyst John Kruk was among those who openly felt the MVP award should have gone to the southpaw, who journeyed from Evansville, IN (Frontier League) to current American Association cities Sioux Falls, SD and Winnipeg for more than

four full seasons before a major league organization (Seattle) gave him an opportunity. He hopes to continue pitching, news reports indicate, as he attempts to add to his 442 major league appearances, which included 31 saves with Baltimore in 2008. The Independent leagues produce some exciting players, a jubilant Miles Wolff, commissioner of the two leagues with all-stars, told us from his summer residence in Quebec. We are excited they are getting these opportunities to show the entire baseball world.
(Bob Wirz also writes about Independent Baseball on www.IndyBaseballChatter.com. Fans may subscribe to this Independent Baseball Insider column, which will be published 40 times in 2013, at www.WirzandAssociates.com or comment to RWirz@aol.com. The author has 16 years of major league baseball experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners, and lives in Stratford, CT.)