Broadcaster Gets to Majors; ‘Electric’ Hurler Hopeful

     Almost without exception, the goal of those who get into Independent Baseball is to get out.  The faster, the better.

      This isn’t a plague-on-the-house type of thing.  It is that the major leagues are the goal. 

      Today’s lesson, class, is about the guy who achieved his dream and the one still determined to prove he has the proper ingredients.

      I bring you Kris Atteberry, a major league baseball broadcaster by way of the Indy circuit, and pitcher Steve Delabar,the wannabe who has just gotten a renewed life in the baseball world.

      “The biggest thing the (Independent) league gave us was innings”, said Kris Atteberry, now one of the Minnesota Twinsradio voices.  It actually was two leagues in the 38-year-old’s case, the former Northern Leaguewhen he broadcast games in Sioux Falls, SDfrom 1999-2001 and the American Associationby the time he had finished a five-year stint with the St. Paul (MN) Saintsin 2006.

       “I wouldn’t be here (American League)” without Independent Baseball, said the Montananative, who has an increased role in his fifth season with the Twins.  With veteran broadcaster John Gordonabout to retire, Atteberry will be the lead voice for about 40 games this season, and will continue to take part in all 162 with his pre and postgame duties.  “He’s like our Cal Ripken”, praises Andy Price,Minnesota’s senior director of broadcasting, because “he’s never missed a game”.

      A devastating elbow injury seemed to pretty much erase Steve Delabar’ssix-year professional chase to his dream of being a major league pitcher.  The injury occurred in 2009.

      “I asked them about throwing again, and they kind of just gave me this look,” the Fort Knox, KYrighty recalled to his home state newspaper, The News-Enterprise, this week.  “They never really gave me a straight answer, but you could tell what they thought.”

      It is a good thing the 6-foot-4 Delabar, now 27, did not give up.  He also had the good fortune of finding a training facility in Elizabethtown, KY,which focuses on helping a pitcher build arm strength, flexibility and increase velocity. 

       Seattle signed Delabar this week, will keep him in extended spring training and decide where he goes to play.

      I’m usually a bit reluctant to believe, especially after a severe injury, that someone’s fastball “jumped from the 92-96 MPH range”, as The News-Enterprise story reported.  The Seattle signing and a conversation with Delabar’s last manager, Chris Carminucci,made it more intriguing.  “He had electric stuff,” praised Carminucci, then the manager and now the Chief Executive Officer of the Brockton (MA) Rox. “I thought ‘what is he doing here’”, explained Carminucci.          

       “Most people don’t get one chance and I’m working on my second chance,” the pitcher told The News-Enterprise’s Chuck Jones. “I know the window is very small, but I’m going to jump through it.  The goal is to get to the big leagues.”

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FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE?

www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com

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Two More Possible Indy Sites in News

       The effort to bring an Atlantic Leagueteam to Frederick, MDseems to be non-stop even as the RFP bids to the city for the rights to negotiate a long-term lease have been submitted, with the current tenant, the Orioles-affiliated Frederick Keys, the other hopeful.

      Another market with its eyes on an Independent league team, according to media reports, is Malden, MA, located just north of Boston.  The Malden Patch, part of the network of similarly named on-line news outlets, says a private group is interested in gaining access to a prime piece of real estate to build a $35 million stadium where an Indy team would play.  One can only imagine both the Can-Am Leagueand the Atlantic League would drool to take advantage of such an opportunity.  

     (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.  Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com , enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com , or comment to RWirz@aol.com .  The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)