New Grip Helps Brock Peterson Slug Eight Homers in Nine Games And Climb to Top of Atlantic League Ladder

Brock Peterson remembers one time when he banged out something like 17 consecutive hits. But that was as an American Legion player, and he was using a metal bat. His latest streak was much more vital to his career because eight home runs in nine games in a 10-day period in the Atlantic League is […]

Willie Upshaw Already Has a Significant Major League Resume, But Bridgeport Skipper Longs for Chance to Lead a Team

Willie Upshaw’s post-playing-days reputation as both a major and minor league hitting guru seems unchallenged and he enjoys the opportunity to be near his home in Fairfield, CT, but he is much like those he manages in the Atlantic League in that he wants a different job. “I get pigeonholed as a hitting coach”, the […]

Mexican Leaguers Give Major Boost to Already Potent Bluefish; York and Somerset Also Go Outside League for Pitching

It appears successful baseball managers such as Butch Hobson, Sparky Lyle and Andy Etchebarren may want to book a little time in Mexico before the next Atlantic League season.  At the least, they should brush up on their Spanish. While the playoffs are far from over with the unpredictability of five-game series, one team has […]

Bob Goughan Already Has Eight Championship Rings, But Another Would ‘Mean a Lot’ to Bridgeport GM

Bob Goughan is anything but a rookie in baseball even though this is his first season as general manager at Bridgeport, and even though he has eight previous championship rings it would have extra meaning if he could add one with the Bluefish. “It (championship) would mean a lot”, says Goughan, who is in an […]

Pitching Helps Optimism for Both Early Second-Half Leaders

A head-to-head series between Lancaster and Bridgeport presented an ideal opportunity to check the pulse of these second-half division leaders.     Both managers, Tom Herr of the Barnstormers and Willie Upshaw of the host Bluefish, believe their starting pitching has gotten better as the 140-game season has progressed, and that fact alone could keep them […]

Atlantic League Managers Provide Wonderful Material For Major League Trivia Buffs

It is probably an understatement of sizeable proportions to say that the eight men who manage Atlantic League teams have quality career baseball profiles.  After all, they have a combined 109 seasons—an average of 13.6—as major league players. The popular nation-wide group SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) took note recently when it made the […]

Two-Time Batting Champ Victor Rodriguez, Wily Mo Pena Could Add Substantially for Bridgeport

York’s worst-to-first dash can only encourage others to keep striving to improve, and that certainly seems to be the case for Bridgeport. The Bluefish, eager to return to the upper ranks of the Atlantic League since 1999 championship Manager Willie Upshaw was available from Day One (he took over in mid-season last year), were stung […]