Atlantic League Honors Ken Shepard’s Memory And Bridgeport Pays Tribute to Its General Manager

Both the Atlantic Leagueand the host Bridgeport (CT) Bluefishhad already gone to extraordinary lengths to make Sunday’s Ken Shepard Dayan memorable experience.  Extra steps were taken this week in light of the sudden death of the popular Bluefish general manager only nine days ahead of the event when kidney cancer claimed him at the tender age of 49.

Those who turn out at The Ballpark at Harbor Yardfor the 12:30 p.m. Ken Shepard Day pre-game and the home-season finale a half hour later against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabswill hear uplifting tributes from the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Atlantic League President Rick White,all-time Bluefishstar Angel Espadaand Shepard’s staff, whose tributes will continue throughout the afternoon.

The league has already announced the creation of an annual promotional excellence award in Shepard’s name, with the initial award to the Bluefish’s entire administrative staff which carried out his ideas this season, including re-enacting Bill Veeck’snovelty of signing a midget to take an at-bat and bringing in all-time major league hits king Pete Roseas guest manager for a day.  Rose was originally ticketed to return to honor Shepard, who he praised for “the care he put into making every fan feel like they were part of the baseball family.”

Guest Manager this time will be Shepard’s wife of 20 years, Tonya, less than 24 hours after his memorial service in Clark Summit, PA.  “It’s very fitting that I will be able to return to the baseball field again to honor the amazing man who introduced me to the greatest game on earth”, she said in a statement.

Espada, who managed the Miami Marlins’ New York-Penn Leagueteam in Batavia, NYthis season, never reached the major leagues as a player although he emulated Rose at the team level in Bridgeport, leading the Bluefish when he retired in career games (734), hits (817), at-bats (2,641), runs (444), triples (16) and stolen bases (173), playing the infield for them his last nine seasons (1999-2007).  He still has the runs and stolen base marks.

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Crowds to Top 6 Million; Atlantic League, Winnipeg Tops

With six teams averaging more than 5,000 fans per game, Independent Baseball’s regular season attendance will surpass 6,000,000 again this year by the time the Atlantic Leagueseason ends September 21.  The count, reported by the official statistician, Pointstreak, and compiled by this column, stood at 5,912,179 through Wednesday’s games, which trails last year’s final count of 6,630,389.

The Atlantic League has topped two million (2,059,509) for a third consecutive year with an average of 4,135 every time it opens the gates.  American Association crowds dropped to 1,885,998, an average of 3,332 per opening.  Frontier Leagueteams drew 1,444,322, the Can-Am League416,654 and the United League105,696 although some crowds may not have been reported by that four-team league.

Winnipeg(American Association) appears to have repeated with the largest average attendance of 5,618 with the Atlantic League’s Sugar Land, TXsecond at 5,512.

A Lifetime Story:  I Pinch Ran for Derek Jeter

It is impossible to imagine many players can say they pinch ran for Derek Jeter, especially during a postseason chase, but onetime Independent Baseball outfielder Antoan Richardson (Schaumburg, IL,in the Northern Leaguein 2009), will be able to boast of such an undertaking the rest of his life.

The 5-foot-8 switch hitter with well over 300 stolen bases in his 11-year professional career ran for Jeter and promptly stole second base in the ninth inning of a 1-0 loss the New York Yankeessuffered against the Kansas City Royals.  Richardson, 30, was in only his second game for the Yankees and his 11th in the major leagues.

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball.  Thirty-six columns are planned during 2014.  Fans may subscribe for as little as $6.99 at www.WirzandAssociates.com , enjoy added stories on the blog 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.)