Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta
I think it was Henry Rollins who said that the memories of pop culture when you were a teenager are the memories that you remember most kindly. And as a child of the Midwest who saw the days of big league baseball’s strike implosion, the Northern League holds a special place in my heart. This is why I was excited to read a tale written by Stefan Fatsis. He grew up to write A...
This week, we will be presenting the 2010 Bus Leagues Postseason Awards in five categories: Independent Pitcher of the Year, Independent Player of the Year, MiLB Reliever of the Year, MiLB Pitcher of the Year, and MiLB Player of the Year. Voters selected their top five finishers for each award, with points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale. In addition to the regular Bus Leagues cast of characters, we invited a few friends to vote...
I spent part of the morning today trying to figure out how to write about the goings-on in the Golden Baseball League this season, from the appearances of players Eri Yoshida (the Knuckle Princess) and Mark Prior to the folding of the St. George Road Runners to the hateful anti-gay tirade of Edmonton Capitals manager Brent Bowers. Then I remembered Luke Holko, and decided to write about him instead. I’ve written about Luke many...
Jordi shared something on Google Reader earlier today, and considering my longstanding love of Bill Veeck, I had to share it with the world. . . . . . . . On Aug. 19, the independent River City Rascals will recreate the famous moment as part of its “Salute to Bill Veeck and St. Louis Baseball History Night.” In honor of the 59th anniversary of the famous stunt where the St. Louis Browns owner...
Earlier today I decided to take a look back at Montreal’s picks in the 2004 draft. It was the organization’s last draft before moving to Montreal and I was curious to see how many of the players chosen were still knocking around in the professional ranks somewhere. (Chances are someone has covered this already, though a little Googling didn’t turn anything up. Someone did do a post earlier this season on the dwindling number...
With all the talk in the sports world about the LeBron James Decision ™, we here at Bus Leagues Baseball would be remiss if we didn’t at least attempt to find some sort of link from LeBron to the minor leagues. Of course, there have been numerous LeBron-themed promotions. There was the “Please Stay LeBron Night“. There was the offer by the Oklahoma City RedHawks to petition the league for LeBron-hit homers to count...
With the Florida State League All-Star Game in the books, it’s time to check out when the next gathering of Bus Leagues stars will be. Logic might suggest a pattern, with the lowest minors playing first and all the All-Star Games leading up to the Major League All-Star Game on July 13th. But that would make too much sense. I am not sure if there is a pattern, it is more like a general...
Words can’t express how much we love it when a reader of the site offers up a travel experience for us to share. There are more ballparks in MiLB and the independent leagues than we’d be able to visit in ten lifetimes, so when one of you attends a game and shares the pics, we know there’s some community feeling going on. Today’s images come from Bus Leagues reader Farhaj Hassan, who went to see...
Jose Lima, a former MLB All-Star, died from a massive heart attack this morning, in his Los Angeles home. He was 37 years old. The charismatic Lima pitched 13 seasons in the majors. His best season came in 1999 when he racked up 21 wins for the Houston Astros and finished 4th in Cy Young voting. Lima was no joke when it came to pitching; he really helped solidify the quality of baseball being...
Now after reading a book like The Bullpen Gospels, one could see how reading a chronicling of a season of a non-prospect might not be completely fair. But the fact of the matter? Steve Fireovid along with Mark Winegardner published their book about twenty years before. That’s right. I’m kicking it old school. The 26th Man is the story of Fireovid’s 1990 season with the Indianapolis Indians. It was back in the days of...
