Bid on Me!!!

Call this some shameless self promotion...The Beach Bums have unveiled online auctions that give you, the fan, the opportunity to bid on several once in a lifetime opportunities...Among those are take batting practice with the team, be a coach for a game, shag balls during batting practice, private lessons with Roger Mason and Gregg Langbehn, and several other totaling 12 in all...

My favorite, and the one I expect you to bid like crazy on, is the opportunity to spend a night with me in the broadcast booth and serve as my color commentator for a night

Bid on Me!!!!

Bidding goes through March 15 so you have plenty of time to drive up my price!! Proceeds from the Beach Bums Online Auctions will go into the Beach Bums Donation Fund which benefits Traverse Bay area elementary, middle and high school athletic programs.

Full List of Auction Items

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Head Coach Wuerfel

Congratulations to Beach Bums Director of Baseball Operations Jason Wuerfel who has been selected to lead a team in the newly formed Prospect League that will include several former Frontier League cities...Wuerfel, who also served as hitting coach last season, will skipper the Butler BlueSox...He will continue to serve in his role with the Beach Bums...

Butler will play at Pullman Park, situated just north of Pittsburgh in Butler, Pennsylvania...The Prospect League is a summer college league with players from college playing with wooden bats...In addition to the former Frontier League cities, the Central Illinois Collegiate League merged to create a 11-team league...The league will field a 54-game schedule in their inaugural 2009 season...Leo Trich, who worked part-time with the Frontier League as the Director of Development will serve as the GM for the BlueSox...

Prospect League
West Division
Huntingburg, Ind. - Former home of the Dubois County Dragons
Danville, Ill.
Springfield, Ill.
Quincy, Ill.
Lisle, Ill.
Hannibal, Mo.

East Division
Butler, Pa.
Chillicothe, Ohio - The Paints
Richmond, Ind. - Richmond Roosters
Slippery Rock, Pa. - Slippery Rock Sliders
Lorrain, Ohio

Full Details on Coach Wuerfel

Santa Wild Thing

I had to post this...The PA voice of the Wild Things, the guy you hear in the background every time the Beach Bums head to Washington introducing the batter and the man infamous for the sound of, "He just entered the Cricket K Zone!", apparently dresses as Santa every year for the Pittsburgh Steelers press conference before Christmas...Well, he got himself a little national publicity today as I found this on espn.com...

ESPN Story

Bringing Brett Back

Brett Bostelman, who made the adjustment from reliever to starter in 2008, will be back with the team this summer...

Bostelman will be an LS-1 in 2009 and will begin his third season with the team...Originally signed following an open tryout in 2007, Bostelman tied for the team lead in starts and was one of the most consistent pitchers on the starting staff in 2008 after leading the team in appearances as a true rookie setup man in 2007...He becomes the third starter to return from the best statistical staff in the Frontier League and joins four relievers to bring the total of returning pitchers to seven...Bostelman finished 6-5 to go along with an ERA of 3.81 in 106.1 innings...

Bostelman posted four starts of eight innings or more and threw a complete game shutout at Wuerfel Park on July 6, blanking the Midwest Sliders 4-0 while allowing just six hits...He was 5-3 at Wuerfel Park...Bostleman's first pro start came at Washington on May 25...Victimized at times by a high walk total (45) which limited his innings, Bostleman allowed three runs or less in 12 of his 19 starts and posted a 23.1 inning scoreless stretch in July...

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Stop Thief: Stolen Base Record Holder Returns

Mike Epping, a Frontier League All-Star Game starter and the Beach Bums single season stolen base record holder has signed to return for 2009...

Epping finished second in the Frontier League with a team record 38 steals in 2008 as the starting center fielder...The former Padre prospect who was in Triple-A during 2007 batted .284 in his first full season with the Beach Bums to go with eight homers and 53 RBI...The 53 RBI tied for the team lead with Kyle Maunus, and the .284 average was the highest among those with over 200 at bats...Epping also led the team in on base percentage at .376 and slugging percentage at .428 while making just one error in the outfield...He led the team with 12 multi-RBI games and 28 multi-hit contests including eight of the season's first 11 games leading to an average of .378 in May...

Epping stole more than one base in a game on six seperate occasions in 2008, taking a season best three at Florence on June 30...He drove in five runs at Wuerfel Park against East Division winner Kalamazoo on May 31...Epping closed 2008 with hits in 10 of the final 11 tilts...

Epping will be a veteran in 2009...

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Changes, Changes, Everywhere Changes...

It has been a busy offseason for the Frontier League, not on the player front, but on the managerial front...

It was announced today that Evansville Manager Jason Verdugo will not return for 2009, citing personal reasons...This on the same day that Washington announced a new, old manager...Former Chillicothe bench boss Mark Mason (Pictured above) will try to start a new streak in Washington after the Wild Things missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history...Mason is one of the winningest managers in Frontier League history and served as the pitching coach for three seasons in Pennsylvania early this decade...Meanwhile, Evansville will name a replacement for Verdugo on Tuesday...

So Traverse City won't be the only team with a new manager this season...In fact, over half the league will see new men in charge including every team in the East Division with the exception of Eric Coleman with the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti and Fran Riordan of Kalamazoo...The full list is below...

Beach Bums
Old Manager - Jon Cahill (50-46 in 2008, 98-98 in two years)
New Manager - Gregg Langbehn

Florence
Old Manager - Jamie Keefe (47-49 in 2008)
New Manager - Toby Rumfield

Lake Erie
John Massarelli (Formerly of Washington) named first manager in team history

Washington
Old Manager - Greg Jelks (48-48 in 2008)
New Manager - Mark Mason

Windy City
Old Manager - Mike Kashirsky (37-14; Took over on July 8, led team to Title)
New Manager - Tommy Thompson

River City
Old Manager - Toby Rumfield (47-49 in 2008)
New Manager - Chad Parker

Evansville
Old Manager - Jason Verdugo (39-57 in 2008)
New Manager - Wayne Krenchicki