Chat with Lancaster Barnstormers infielder/outfielder/everything-er Bryant “Nelly” Nelson and it’s both impossible to believe that he’s currently playing his 17th season of professional baseball, and very believable.
The ups and downs that he has experienced since being drafted by the Houston Astros in the 44th round of 1993 have left indelible impressions and helped him form some very strong opinions about the game — its past, its presence and, perhaps most notably, its future.
On the other hand, at age 36, “Nelly” still retains the sweet smile, laugh, humor and charm of a guy half his age, especially when he talks about his son. 
If you want the “baseball stuff,” first, here is a basic rundown on Bryant Nelson, the Major League Baseball veteran and Atlantic League fan favorite.
Born and raised in Crossett, Arkansas, a town of 9,000 folks just north of the Louisiana state border, Nelson now spends most of his off-season in the greater Phoenix area since that is where his son — and therefore his heart — reside.
Signed as a “draft-and-follow” by the Astros in 1994, he made his pro debut that summer at short-season Auburn. He has seen time in the farm systems of the Chicago Cubs, Diamondbacks, Pirates, Blue Jays, White Sox and, most notably, the Red Sox, with whom he made his big league debut in 2002, hitting .265 in 25 games with Boston.
He also saw time overseas in Asia and Mexico, including a stint in 2003 with Daiei of the Japanese Central League.
He made his Atlantic League debut in 2006 with the Bridgeport Bluefish and has played for Long Island and, last summer, Camden, where he hit .300 with nine homers and 60 RBI before signing with Lancaster for 2010.
A .277 career hitter in the minors, he’s maintained that impressive consistency with a .279 average in the Atlantic League coming into this season. His remarkable versatility has always been among his biggest assets, as he can play six different positions.
With Lancaster, he has seen most of his time as the club’s starting shortstop, and was hitting .271 with 16 homers and 74 RBI in 119 games coming into Friday’s action, marking his highest single-season power output since he bashed 22 homers with 83 RBI for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights in 2004, when he was a Triple-A All-Star. With a little over two weeks remaining in the 2010 season, he could well surpass both of those numbers. His career-best totals came in 2000 when, between Triple-A Tucson and Monterrey of the Mexican League, he combined for 25 home runs and 103 RBI.
But now, sit back and hit the play button to get to know Nelly, the guy, a little better.
It is almost uncanny how much Delmarva Shorebirds manager Ryan Minor and pitching coach Troy Mattes have shared when it’s come to career milestones.
Though Minor came up through the Baltimore Orioles organization and Mattes through the Montreal Expos system, the two were teammates in 2001 both at Triple-A Ottawa and in the big leagues. For Mattes, the time spent in Montreal marked his lone big league stint, while for Minor, it would be the last of four trips to the big leagues.
The two would share another special season in 2005 when both were members of the very first Lancaster Barnstormers club. Minor would set a club record for RBI which still stands (at least for now). Mattes would appear in 54 games out of the bullpen.
And both would retire from playing after that season.
That is when their paths diverged for five years before being reunited in Salisbury, Md. this past April.
MINOR: 
(Photo via Gene Sweeney Jr., Baltimore Sun)
The life of a professional baseball player — especially one who has moved on to a career as a member of a team’s field staff — is not generally the typical career choice for someone who values stability, security and any semblance of a home/family life.
But in Minor’s case, his current position as manager of the Delmarva Shorebirds is about as close to that pretty picture as you could ask for.
Minor has been at the helm of the Shorebirds, the Orioles’ entry in the Class A South Atlantic League, since this past April. Prior to that, he was the team’s hitting coach since 2008. The club plays its five months of home games at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, Md., which also happens to be where Minor, his wife Allyson and daughter, 4, make their year-round home.
In fact, Minor first met Allyson when he himself was a Delmarva Shorebird back in 1997 on his way up through the Orioles system.
They’d drafted him out of the University of Oklahoma in the 33rd round of 1996 (the same year he was the Philadelphia 76ers’ second-round pick in the NBA draft) and he was in his first full season.
Allyson, a schoolteacher, was at the ballpark that April night helping out her mom, who worked at a local radio station, with a ballpark promotion. The rest is history, as they’ve been together now for 14 years and will celebrate their 11th anniversary in October.
Minor, whose twin brother Damon was also a pro baseball player, came up through the Orioles system rapidly and made his big league debut just two years later, in the late summer of 1998.
Though his arrival in Baltimore was eagerly anticipated by prospect watchers, few could have imagined just how prominently his name would factor in Orioles lore.
But on the afternoon of Sept. 20, 1998, Ryan Minor took the field as the club’s starting third baseman. That brought to an end the 2,632-game “Iron Man” streak of one Cal Ripken, Jr., and put Minor in the Hall of Fame with just a few weeks big league time to his credit.
As the story goes, Minor received word from then-manager Ray Miller that he’d be starting just a few minutes before the game. His response: “Does Cal know?”
Despite his huge power potential, excellent makeup and love for the game, Minor’s big league career never quite took off as anticipated.
When all was said and done, he’d appear in 142 big league games over parts of four seasons with Baltimore and, later, Montreal, to whom he was traded in December 2000 for flame-throwing pitcher Jorge Julio (who, coincidentally, is still active in the Atlantic League this season).
In that span, Minor hit a combined .177 with five homers and 27 RBI.
He signed contracts with the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers and Florida Marlins in the ensuing years but did not return to the big leagues after 2001.
He did, however, stay active professionally in the meantime by playing in the Atlantic League in 2002-03 with Newark and 2004 with the now-defunct Atlantic City Surf, hitting .326 with 16 homers and 45 RBI for the latter.
Prior to 2005, Minor was contemplating hanging it up when he got a call from an old friend, Keith Lupton, who had been his GM in Delmarva. He and his Opening Day Partners colleagues, Peter Kirk and Jon Danos, were launching a new Atlantic League team in Lancaster, Pa., and they wanted Minor to join the ranks.
It would be his last year and, arguably, his best.
Minor hit .268 for the Barnstormers, but added 26 home runs and 99 RBI, the latter stat still standing as a single-season team record (though current Barnstormers third baseman Aaron Herr, the son of manager Tommy Herr, is bearing down on it with 86 RBI and three weeks left in the regular season). 
He collected Lancaster’s first-ever hit and home run on the road, and did the same when the club returned home, May 17 at “the Clip.”
“To be honest, I hadn’t known if I was going to play another year but when Keith called me I knew I would because I’d known those guys for such a long time,” recalled Minor from the visiting clubhouse office in Hagerstown, Md., where his Shorebirds were about to start a four-day series.
“One of the main things I remember is that we started the year on the road, and how many of the Lancaster fans traveled up to Somerset to watch the game,” he said.
After that season, Minor retired and began his coaching career. His first season in that capacity was interesting to say the least, especially in comparison to the wonderful life he is leading now in his adopted hometown.
For a few years, to keep a balanced league during shifts of franchises, the Atlantic League used a “Road Warriors” team as its eighth team — in effect, a team without a home stadium which played all of its games on the road.
In 2006, Minor was the hitting coach for the Pennsylvania Road Warriors before becoming the hitting coach for Opening Day Partners’ York Revolution in 2007.
In 2008 he was slated to return to York but an early-spring shakeup in the Orioles system when a coach left for another job results in the Delmarva hitting coach job becoming available.
After two seasons as hitting coach, he was named manager of the 2010 Shorebirds.
Minor, the hometown hero, has truly appreciated the fact that his home games have really been just that. He has not taken for granted the luxury rarely seen in pro baseball — being able to wake up in his own bed for half of the regular season, spend quality time with his wife and family, and have them come to his games without uprooting them every summer.
“I know some people who have been in the game for 30 or 40 years and have never had that opportunity,” he said.
It was also a no-brainer for the Shorebirds who brought into their fold a man who was already an established and respected member of the Salisbury community not just as a former sports star but as a father, a husband, a resident.
“Being such a small, tight-knit community, pretty much everyone knows who I am,” said Minor, whose big smile and 6-foot-7 250-pound frame also keep him from blending into the scenery anyway. “So when I go out, people want to talk Shorebirds and they want to talk Orioles.”
MATTES:
Originally a 16th-round pick in 1993 by the Montreal Expos, Mattes was one of that system’s shining prospects. When the organization had its South Atlantic League franchise at Delmarva in the Shorebirds’ first season, 1996 (they brought in the Orioles in 1997), Mattes was one of the stars of the team, going 10-9 with a 2.86 ERA in 27 starts including five complete games and three shutouts at age 20.
But injuries would stall that promising career, though not before he got to make his big league debut in 2001 for the Expos, going 3-3 with a 6.00 ERA.
Mattes missed all of 2002, though, and most of 2003 before being released and undergoing surgery on both his elbow and his shoulder.
In 2004, he made his Atlantic League debut with a brief three-start showing at Long Island.
In 2005, though, finally feeling healthy, he contacted Lupton, who had been his GM at Delmarva as well, to see if there might be an opportunity for him to pitch for the new club in Lancaster to get in his innings and show he was recovered.
“I was pretty familiar with the Atlantic League and I knew the level of competition there,” Mattes said. “I knew that if there was a place where I could find out if I was back where I needed to be, how my stuff matched up against quality hitters and quality competition, then it had to be in the Atlantic League.”
That summer, perennial starter Mattes made the shift to the bullpen and posted a 5.57 ERA in 54 games out of the pen, tossing 72 2/3 innings for the Barnstormers.
And, like Minor, after that season he retired and moved into a coaching position with the Orioles. While Minor had come up through the Baltimore ranks, for Mattes this was his first experience with the organization.
After working with short-season Bluefield for a few seasons, Mattes was added to Minor’s staff this past April, along with another former Baltimore Orioles favorite, hitting coach Mike Devereaux (photo from Delmarva blog on MLB.com). 
MINOR AND MATTES
Though the Shorebirds are out of playoff contention, they recently celebrated the franchise’s 1,000th victory. Earning the win in that game was the Orioles’ No. 1 pick from 2009, teenage pitcher Matt Hobgood, whom Mattes has been working with closely.
And both players have very fond memories of that inaugural season in Lancaster, their last as players.
“The brand new ballpark was absolutely gorgeous, the team was a lot of run, and the players were awesome — I just had such a good time,” Mattes recalled. “It was my first experience hanging out in the bullpen for a full season and we had such a good group of guys like Chris Zallie and Cliff Smith and Jeff Hundley.”
So the Lancaster legacy lives on during the summer in Salisbury, Md., and wherever the Shorebirds play on the road. With 14 teams dotting the mid-Atlantic and southeast corridor, it isn’t hard for longtime Barnstormers fans to find a place to go to cheer on these former fan favorites.
MONDAY MEMORIES: Every Monday, since early July and from here on out (or until we run out of stories!) will be “Lancaster Barnstormers: Where Are They Now?” day, where we’ll feature a former Barnstormer player, coach or staffer of the past and fill you in on what he’s been doing.
If you have any suggestions, requests, contact info, photos, etc. you’d like to submit for this feature series, please drop me a line at lisa@lisawinston.com or via Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Queen-of-Diamonds/120015321361528?created
For well over a century, the advice “go west, young man” has been used in countless scenarios.
But for former Lancaster Barnstormers pitcher Ryan Cullen, perhaps the phrase should have been “go east, young man.”
Cullen, 30, has given his pro career new life by traveling halfway around the world, where over the last two seasons he has become a standout closer for the Brother Elephants in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).
The southpaw, who was born in Sayre, Pa., on the northern border of the state, has returned to the northeast to live in the off-season, making his home now outside of Binghamton, an easy drive from Lancaster.
But since mid-2009, his playing days have been spent on another continent and a 12-hour time difference away from home. In fact, just for fun, try checking out “Pennsylvania to Taiwan” (or vice versa) on Google Maps. You’ll find yourself getting recommendations to swim, kayak or jet-ski 4,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean. Makes those outfield laps pitchers run seem pretty easy.
After signing with the Brother Elephants last summer, Cullen quickly collected 20 saves and posted a microscopic 0.56 ERA in 29 games, finishing second in the league in saves despite not arriving until nearly midway through the season.
It was pretty much a done deal that he would return there for 2010, and he’s been effective once again, with 22 saves and a 2.34 ERA in 57 2/3 innings, having walked just six while striking out 55, allowing just two homers in 42 games.
Those numbers should come as no surprise to Barnstormers fans who saw him pitch out of the bullpen in 2008 and 2009.
After signing with the Barnstormers in early 2008, he went 7-6 with a 2.11 ERA and 16 saves in 49 games that summer, striking out 50 while walking 13 in 64 innings.
You might think that numbers like that would bring the affiliated teams knocking on his door in the off-season — especially for a left-hander — but somehow his phone stayed on the hook and he returned to Lancaster to open 2009.
There, he continued to mow down the opposition in the late innings, posting a 2.08 ERA with seven saves in 22 games, striking out 24 while walking eight in 26 innings.
In the early summer, the deal was swung with Taiwan and Cullen was heading east. He hoped that the exposure and experience might lead to a chance to stay east and pitch in Japan, though so far that has not come about.
His first impressions of Taiwan baseball were the difference in the field conditions, as well as a slightly different style of play.
“There was a lot more bunting guys over to try to score runs,” he recalled. “The fields could use a lot of work. And the fans were loud, yelling non stop from start to finish.”
While Cullen has observed that the overall defense is much better stateside, he thinks part of that might be attributed to field condition.
“It’s still the same game over here, you still have to get 27 outs, but they also have there way of doing things which comes from the Japanese style of baseball as well,” he said. “I guess you could just refer to it as Taiwan Style.”
The off-field culture shock hasn’t been that bad, however, especially when it comes to mealtime.
“They have Outbacks here, and TGI Fridays, McDonalds, Subway,” he said. “So it’s really not too bad.”
Though he was born in Pennsylvania, Cullen spent his formative high school years pitching on the east coast of Florida, graduating from Satellite Beach H.S. in 1998. Drafted in the 33rd round that summer by the Texas Rangers, he spent a season at Indian River (Fla.) Community College before signing as a draft-and-follow the next spring and beginning his pro career.
A reliever for most of his career (he’d made five starts through 2009), he was known for his consistently low ERA and excellent control, though he didn’t become a full-time closer until he joined the Barnstormers.
He made his pro debut at 19 at short-season Pulaski, posting a 3.54 ERA and lowered that to a 3.04 in 48 games of relief for Class A Savannah in 2000. Traded the next off-season to Oakland along with pitcher Aaron Harang for veteran infielder Randy Velarde, he spent most of the next three seasons in the Advanced A California League before missing all of 2004 with a torn labrum suffered during spring training.
On the comeback trail in 2005, he inked with the New York Mets and pitched sparingly, returning to the mound full-time in 2006 with a combined 3.28 ERA in 41 games at three levels, fanning 62 while walking 18 in 71 1/3 innings.
In 2007, he split his season between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A New Orleans with a 3.26 ERA in 48 games, but was released by the Mets out of spring training in 2008 and hooked up with Lancaster.
“I ended up in Lancaster because of Von Hayes, who showed the most interest of any of the teams in the Atlantic League that i was talking to,” Cullen said. “I also had a few friends that had played in the Atlantic League before and they said it was a nice place to play and that helped me with my decision as well.”
His memories of Lancaster are all fond ones.
“Some of my favorite memories of Lancaster were being able to get out in the community, going to different schools or whatever there was to do,” he said. “I really enjoyed my time I spent in Lancaster. It’s a good place to play and it has a ton of great fans to play in front of.”
When no opportunities to play in Japan panned out for 2010, Cullen had to decide between returning to Taiwan or coming back to the Atlantic League, where he had offers from both Lancaster and Camden. He finally opted to head back to Asia, and still hopes to get a shot to play in Japan.
“As far as coming back to pitch in Lancaster, I would love to do it, but hopefully not for a few more years, because I would like to play over here in Asia for a couple more years,” he said. “Then maybe my last stop will be back in Lancaster. As long as my arm still works by then.”
Today we return with part two of our video chat with Camden Riversharks catcher Matt Ceriani. Yes, it’s much shorter, I promise.
You can read all about him in the post below this, but here we resume our chat with the reason why he turned down an offer to star in one of the European versions of the reality TV hit “The Bachelor,” and what reality show he’d like to create for the Travel Channel if given the chance: 
By the way, remember when we had our last two-part “Queen of Diamonds” video entry and chatted with York Revs pitcher Corey Thurman here? http://lisawinston.tumblr.com/post/697842504/coming-to-a-movieplex-near-you#disqus_thread
Well, the film “How Do You Know” has now been slated for a Dec. 17 release and the fall movie preview edition of Entertainment Weekly (the TV/film bible IMHO) calls it an early front-runner in the Oscar race. Here is a trailer for it … I’ve already got Dec. 17 circled on my calendar!
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/movies/news/article_1577379.php/New-trailer-for-James-L-Brooks-rom-com-How-Do-You-Know-hits
Let me preface this by saying that normally I would take an 18-minute interview and find a way to cut it down … a lot.
But in the case of Camden Riversharks catcher Matt Ceriani, I decided to simply split it into to segments over two days. He’s just that great. 
No, he’s not a home run champion or a former major leaguer or a top prospect.
He’s just a guy with such remarkable charisma, passion, exuberance, humor and positivity that you can’t help but fall in love with him. Seriously. Okay, if you’re a guy, maybe it will just be a man-crush. But ladies, he is single. Put a ring on him. (And find out why he’s still single at the end of this first segment).
If I had had my act together — and he’d been in the Atlantic League at the time — Ceriani would have been a perfect topic to write about for Independence Day.
When the ink dried on the contacts he signed in mid-July with the Camden Riversharks, the Atlantic League marked the eighth — yes, eighth — independent league in which he’s played.
Like the guy Johnny Cash sings about in the Choice Hotel ad campaign — you know, the one with the catchy jingle that goes “I’ve been everywhere, man” — Ceriani may hold the record for the most independent leagues in which he has brought his catchers’ mitt and sparkling personality.
And, he doesn’t hesitate to say, by far his favorite.
“This has been a treat,” he said of his time in the league. “Going from the worst of the bush leagues (note: that would be the Golden Baseball League, if you haven’t watched the video yet) to the best independent baseball in the world. This league reminds me of Double-A or Triple-A.”
He’s also played in a few affiliated circuits, including a monster season in the short-season Pioneer League with Helena, when he hit .302 and led all league catchers in fielding, and only the .324-10-54 numbers posted by Missoula (Diamondbacks) catcher J.D. Closser kept him from earning All-Star honors in his second season as a pro.
He’s done time in the Midwest League (Beloit), California League (High Desert and Mudville, aka Stockton), Southern League (Huntsville) and Texas League (El Paso) and, though it doesn’t show up in his stats, even the Pacific Coast League when he was with the Dbacks’ Tucson squad as a backup but never got into a game.
The well-traveled Ceriani also saw time over the years playing in Italy, the land of his family’s heritage (his dad’s family hails from a small town north of Milan near Lake Como) as well as FOR Team Italy in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. (Here’s a shot of him with the team)
And while he has devoted his life to baseball, both in season and during the winter months as an instructor, he doesn’t see living that life once he finally takes off the gear for good.
He’s not quite sure what he will do, but don’t be surprised if it has something to do with great food, good wine and/or multimedia — or a combination of all of the above.
His most enjoyable off-season job, though not necessarily the most lucrative, is working for the Oakville, Cal.-based winery (though his most unusual job may have been, in 2006, when he worked in an emergency room specializing in craniomaxillofacial trauma where his first — and last — case was a gunshot wound to the face. He admits he almost fainted and the low pay and long hours of minor league baseball suddenly looked a lot better).
He loves a good meal as much as anything, and can give you the inside scoop on where to find the best hidden restaurants in any minor league town, not to mention which clubs have the best concessions. If any producers from the Travel Channel are reading this, tomorrow’s segment will feature his pitch for a series!
And, as you can tell, Ceriani can more than hold his own as the host of a TV show.
Ceriani has also created and maintains a (www.mattcerianibaseball.com) where, for those of you already intrigued, you can check out his classes and instructional DVDs. It’s the home of West Coast Baseball Productions. In the off-season, among other things, he provides private and group catching lessons and has also produced a series of instructional DVDs.
The 33-year-old Ceriani (he shares his Oct. 9 birthday with the late John Lennon) is the epitome of the defensive catcher who will always be able to find a baseball home as long as he wants one for his combination of defensive tools and smarts behind the plate.
He actually kicked off his professional career in his first of what would be eight (yes, eight) independent leagues, playing for the Evansville Otters in the Frontier League in 1998. After hitting .203 in 23 games there, he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers and headed to short-season Helena in the Pioneer League, where he hit .226 in 45 games.
Ceriani returned to Helena in ‘99 and hit .302 while leading all league catchers with a .984 fielding percentage in 57 games, numbers that would have likely earned him All-Star status had Arizona catching prospect J.D. Closser not topped most offensive stat lists that summer.
Over the next few seasons, Ceriani would slowly climb the Brewers ladder as a backup catcher, seeing time in the Cal League’s Stockton club (then known as the Mudville Nine in honor of the poem “Casey at the Bat”) and briefly with Huntsville in the Southern League in 2000, and splitting 2001 between the system’s two Class A clubs at Beloit and High Desert (having moved south from Stockton).
Most of 2002 was spent back in the indies, with the Solano Steelheads of the Western League before he inked late in the season with Arizona and played briefly for their Texas League squad at El Paso.
The 2003 campaign saw Ceriani back at El Paso briefly before he returned to the independent leagues, this time for good, and where he started what would be quite a tour of the nation’s independent league maze.
Over the next few years, he would play for the Alexandria (La.) Aces in the Central League, the Kansas City T-Bones in the Northern League, the Sussex Skyhawks in the Can-Am League, the Amarillo Dillas in the United League and the Chico Outlaws, Edmonton Capitals and the Yuma Scorpions in the Golden Baseball League.
In between his continental travels, Ceriani also spent time overseas playing professionally in Italy for Nettuno.
In fact, Ceriani was with Yuma earlier this season but when the team’s (now ex-) owner was unable to pay the players for several weeks, players were given the option to sign elsewhere.
Thanks to the recommendation of his former Can-Am compatriot Butch Hobson, now the Southern Maryland manager, Ceriani was able to sign on with Camden and he couldn’t be happier.
TUNE IN FOR PART 2 TOMORROW!!!
MONDAY MEMORIES: Every Monday, since early July and from here on out (or until we run out of stories!) will be “Lancaster Barnstormers: Where Are They Now?” day, where we’ll feature a former Barnstormer player, coach or staffer of the past and fill you in on what he’s been doing. Below, you’ll see a running link of former features in case you’re just coming across the feature now!
If you have any suggestions, requests, contact info, photos, etc. you’d like to submit for this feature series, please drop me a line at lisa@lisawinston.com or via Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Queen-of-Diamonds/120015321361528?created
This week (yeah, a day early!), we bring you an update on the life of original Barnstormer, Jeremy Todd … and he’s not far away!
There are certain “hobbies” that seem almost inescapable for baseball players. If they’re an indoor type, it’s video games. But if they’re outdoorsmen? Chances are if they have a day off and it’s sunny (or even if it’s raining), you’ll find them on the closest golf course.
Yet ironically, former Lancaster Barnstormers favorite, Jeremy Todd, never even picked up a golf club until just over a year ago. However, he’s managed to develop his newest sport to the point where it’s given him a very promising “”life after baseball” story, and one that allows him to thrive in the community he first called home in 2005.
Todd spent most of his last four seasons in the Atlantic League, including parts of 2005 and 2006 and all of 2007 in Lancaster before hanging up his spikes. Since then, he’s settled down in the local area and now works as the assistant manager at the Crossgates Golf Club in Millersville, Pa., right down the road, dealing with the day to day operations of the course and the shop’s retail inventory. This spring, he will also serve as the junior varsity golf coach at Penn Manor High in Millersville.
“I had my first wiffle bat when I was 1 or 2 but I didn’t actually start playing golf until I stopped playing baseball because I didn’t want to mess up my swing,” explained Todd„ who retired from the game in 2007. “I knew it was something I’d take up when I stopped playing to keep the competitive edge, though. It’s hard to stop playing pro ball cold turkey so if I didn’t have golf I might have gone nuts.”
It wasn’t that hard a transition.
“The rotational swing is very similar,” he said. “The difference is that in one case the ball is coming at you and in the other it’s stationery.”
It certainly didn’t take him long to get the swing of it, since his handicap is already down to around a 7 or 8. His current goal is to take the PGA Playing Ability test at the end of 2010 so he can work towards being a Certified PGA Class A member, which would add to his credentials.
Todd’s baseball resume was an impressive one. Aside from his Lancaster stint, Todd was a well-traveled and versatile performer.
Originally signed by the New York Mets as a non-drafted player in 2000, he hit .248 with five homers and 47 RBI that summer at short-season Pittsfield, playing in the cozy confines of historic Waconah Park. The next season saw him split his summer between short-season Brooklyn and Class A Capital City, combining to bat just .171 in 36 games, before his travels began.
The first baseman/third baseman/catcher/outfielder saw time in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization (2006), as well as with the White Sox (2004), Colorado (2003), and Mets as well as making independent league stops with the Yuma Bullfrogs, the Quebec Le Capitales, the Amaraillo Dillas, the Jackson Senators, and in the Atlantic League, the Somerset Patriots and Newark Bears between 2002-2007.
All told, Todd combined to hit a more-than-respectable .283 over eight pro seasons, including two campaigns in which he topped the 20-homer mark, before retiring after the 2007 season.
But, by far, he enjoyed his greatest accomplishments at the plate as a Lancaster Barnstormer.
In 2005, he joined the club for 77 games and hit .303 with 18 homers and 69 RBI. Combined with his 55 games at Newark that summer, Todd hit an overall .298 with 26 homers and 107 RBI in 132 games in the league in ‘05 to earn post-season All-Star honors.
In 2006, he hit .322 with 16 homers and 68 RBI for Lancaster, but also got his final taste of affiliated ball, playing in 20 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Vero Beach squad in the Advanced A Florida State League. When back with Lancaster, he boosted the team to the league title and was named MVP of the championship series.
Watch more from the playoff highlights and Todd’s heroics here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ATNtB5kzio
2007 would be his Lancaster and professional swan song, and he went out in style, hitting .262 but swatting 24 homers and driving in 79 runs with a slugging percentage over .500 in 113 games before hanging it up. He retired after 2007 as the Barnstormers’ all-time home run and RBI leader, and had earned All-Star honors that summer, as well as winning the Home Run Derby at the league All-Star Game which was held in his home park of Clipper Magazine Stadium.
In the two years since then, he’s moved on to other green fields, namely those of local golf courses.
Having earned his degree in sports management from NAIA power Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville (where he broke 12 school records and earned the NAIA batting crown in 2000 when he batted .534, a single-season batting record), the degree has served him well in his off-field endeavors.
Before coming to Crossgates, he held an array of jobs since his college days, including working with the Barnstormers themselves as a marketing assistant and customer service specialist.
“With the Barnstormers I did a lot of customer service, working with them in marketing on good ideas about how to get the name out, going to appearances to talk to fans, going to promotional meetings,” he said. “It was good experience because I could only work a few months a year during the off-season so I wanted to try a lot of different things.”
In 2009, he began his golf career as the assistant to the GM at Tree Top Golf Course in nearby Manheim, before coming to Crossgates this past February.
Todd admits he hasn’t gotten out to any Lancaster games since retiring, since he hasn’t quite distanced himself enough yet from being out on the field.
“It’s kind of hard to cope because I feel like I could still be playing,” said Todd, who turned 32 this past winter. “But I had made a deal with myself that if I wasn’t where I wanted to be professionally when I turned 30, then I’d move on.”
He held true to that vow to himself, but still holds a lot of fond memories of being part of the organization — the excitement of being part of a team launch, the avid fanbase, and the outstanding field staff.
“Coming here with a new team and a new stadium, there was a lot of electricity,” he recalled. “The fans were nuts about the players and the game.”
Todd also loved the guy he played for, current Barnstormers manager Tommy Herr.
“A lot of it had to do with playing for Tommy,” he said of his happy memories. “He was the best manager I have ever played for in my career.”
You can keep up with what’s been going on with Todd at his website:
http://jeremytodd34.blogspot.com/
Our ” Beyond the Boxscore: Getting to Know …” series gives you a chance to learn a little more about some of our players “off the field,” so to speak … what makes them tick, their interests and hobbies, creative outlets and unusual talents. Handled via video interview wherever possible, they bring “the guy” behind the numbers a little closer to the reader/viewer/fan.
In this issue, we chat with York Revolution All-Star first baseman Ian “Blade” Bladergroen.
Though they sit just two games behind the Lancaster Barnstormers in the second half of the Freedom Division race with five weeks to go, it’s still been some tough times these last few weeks for the York Revolution.
The club, which finished with an Atlantic League-worst 53-87 record in 2009, absolutely ripped through the fabric of the Freedom Division this year to cruise to a first-half division title at 40-30 and a spot in the playoffs (you can already get tickets for at least two of their home games, Sept. 22-23, at http://www.yorkrevolution.com).
But the second half has been a little rougher, with temperatures topping 100 degrees on the field more often than not. In the last few days, popular manager Andy Etchebarren has been missing from the dugout due to severe back trouble, and the starting rotation has imploded with the losses of southpaw ace Jesus Sanchez (to Taiwan), Jarod Plummer at least temporarily (his wife is about to give birth at home and he’ll be there for awhile to be a good husband), and recent acquisition Damian Moss as well as relief cog Matt Riley (for family reasons as well).
The responsibility and sense of priority that some of these players departed players have exhibited is a large part of what makes the whole team such a close-knit one — knowing the right thing to do, lack of selfishness, etc.
But it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with the day-to-day action on the field.
Luckily, there has been a big pocket of consistency on York — some pitchers, some players — who have kept morale high and level of play solid.
One such player who has literally cut through the opposing pitching has been All Star first baseman Ian Bladergroen, aka “Blade.”
The native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, originally signed with the New York Mets in 2003 and hit .285 in 74 games at short-season Brooklyn that season. In 2004, he lit up the leader boards the first half of his first full campaign by hitting .342 with 13 home runs and 74 RBI in just 72 games, a .595 slugging percentage, before being sidelined the second half of the season on the DL.
Traded to the Boston Red Sox the following year, injuries derailed what was clearly a promising career and he didn’t return to offensive form, really, until beginning his independent league tenure with the Pennsylvania Road Warriors in 2007. That summer he hit .275 with nine homers and 51 RBI in 76 games.
In 2008, he joined the Lancaster Barnstormers and hit .260 with 15 homers and 51 RBI in 89 games, catching the eye of the Seattle Mariners who signed him and sent him to Class A for the 2009 season, where he hit in the .250 range between Clinton and High Desert, combining for 11 homers and 60 RBI.
Back in the Atlantic League this season, he joined the York club and with six weeks left in the regular season, is on track to enjoy his best season since his Capital City glory days, currently hitting .280 with 13 homers and 59 RBI.
An outstanding defensive first baseman to go with the bat, Bladergroen now lives in Savannah in the off-season with his wife Lauren, whom he met while playing at Capital City (that was a good summer for him in more ways than one).
Our ” Beyond the Boxscore: Getting to Know …” series gives you a chance to learn a little more about some of our players “off the field,” so to speak … what makes them tick, their interests and hobbies, creative outlets and unusual talents. Handled via video interview wherever possible, they bring “the guy” behind the numbers a little closer to the reader/viewer/fan.
In this issue, we chat with Camden Riversharks reliever Beau Vaughan, who is currently on the DL.
One thing you have to know about William “Beau” Vaughan IV. He’s a lot like that game “three truths and a lie.” Only they’re not lies … they’re incredibly dry throwaway jokes. So you can never quite be sure, when you ask him a question, if he’s telling you the truth or pulling every limb you have, so totally deadpan is his delivery.
Did he go to Juilliard? (No.). Does he actually enjoy spending a Saturday night curled up in a hot bubble bath reading “Harry Potter”? (Probably, no). Did he spend most of the signing bonus he received as a third-round pick by the Boston Red Sox (out of Arizona State, not Juilliard) outright on a home down the road from his parents so he’d never have to make another mortgage payment? Yeah, that one is true.
Another one that is true? He would LOVE to go on the reality show “The Amazing Race” with his mom. Not because he’s a huge fan of the show but because he knows it would make his mom the happiest person in the world (tune in at the 5:33 point of the video and let’s see if we can make the “PUT BEAU VAUGHAN AND HIS MOM ON THE AMAZING RACE” a viral trend!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Signed by the Camden Riversharks in July after being released by the Oakland Athletics, who had scooped up the big right-hander from Texas in the off-season Minor League Rule 5 Draft, Vaughan is currently sidelined with arm discomfort that has him on the Riversharks’ 7-day DL.
Odds are that isn’t keeping him from keeping his teammates amused and amazed with his observations and humor.
It might even have given him the chance to pull out his own notebook and do some sideline reporting.
One link worth bookmarking for your reading pleasure is the column, “Beau Knows Diddley,” which he wrote for MLB.com in 2009 (you can find it at http://rangersprospect.mlblogs.com).
Instead of writing about himself, he used the platform to interview his teammates in the Texas Rangers system. To say that some hilarity ensued would be an understatement (and to say a little controversy as well … well, that’s Beau.)
Brilliant and brash, he looks forward this off-season to inching one (or more) steps closer to finishing his degree in history at Arizona State University near his home in Surprise. The 29-year-old still has three classes to go, but two MUST be taken on campus — his required biology and chemistry labs — which is why he has not gone the more common route of finishing it up online during the season.
The 29-year-old Vaughan, who stands a reasonably imposing 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, but is more of a sidearmer/deception guy than a power pitcher, came up through the Red Sox ranks, starting his career in 2003 at short-season Lowell where he posted a 2.32 ERA.
In 2004 at Class A Augusta he shone, with a 7-3 record and 3.30 ERA in 13 starts, striking out 73 batters in 71 innings. But injuries would waylay his climb and he spent the next few years spinning his wheels in Class A ball.
In 2006, the Sox moved Vaughan to the bullpen where he found his niche, moving up to Double-A Portland in 2007 where he posted a 3.34 ERA and lowered that to a 2.12 in 2008, his best pro season, as he collected 16 saves in 39 games for the Seadogs and fanned 55 batters in 46 2/3 innings, walking just 18. He’d finish the summer at Triple-A Pawtucket with a 3.18 ERA in seven more games in the pen.
That winter, the Red Sox dealt Vaughan to Texas for pitcher Wes Littleton, and he split his summer between Double-A Frisco (2.35, 23-3-20 with eight saves in 18 games) and Triple-A Oklahoma City (4.62 in 39 innings).
In December, he was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft and started the 2010 season at Double-A Midland in the Texas League, posting a 1.95 ERA with six saves in 32 1/3 innings, walking just six and striking out 29 through mid-June. Promoted to Triple-A Sacramento, he struggled with a 7.04 ERA and was released a month later, signing shortly thereafter with Camden.
After just two games, though, he landed on the DL with a sore shoulder.
Through his travels, his struggles, his triumphs and his hours in the training room trying to come back from the sore shoulder that is plaguing him, Vaughan’s sense of humor and irony hasn’t flagged. To wit, this personal message to the powers that be that, each year, select the elite prospects who compete in the annual Futures Prospect Game that is played on the Sunday prior to the MLB All-Star Game:
MONDAY MEMORIES: Every Monday, since early July and from here on out (or until we run out of stories!) will be “Lancaster Barnstormers: Where Are They Now?” day, where we’ll feature a former Barnstormer player, coach or staffer of the past and fill you in on what he’s been doing. Below, you’ll see a running link of former features in case you’re just coming across the feature now!
If you have any suggestions, requests, contact info, photos, etc. you’d like to submit for this feature series, please drop me a line at lisa@lisawinston.com or via Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Queen-of-Diamonds/120015321361528?created
TODAY’S FEATURE: 2009 Lancaster Barnstormers Pitching Coach Bill Bliss 
Sometimes, people wonder why baseball talent doesn’t automatically convert to the ability to teach, coach or scout that talent.
It’s a fine line for a person who was born with a special baseball gift — be it as a hitter or pitcher — to also be able to remove oneself enough to also teach that ability, explain the mechanics, or spot the same raw gift in others.
But in 2009, the Lancaster Barnstormers had in their dugout a pitching coach who had possessed a cannon of an arm and a huge upside less than two decades earlier, before a run of bad luck in term of injuries saw his promising career fall by the wayside.
Big right-hander Bill Bliss, though, didn’t throw away his passion for the game when it became clear that his big league dreams were not going to come through.
Instead, he turned his attention to helping other pitchers try to achieve what he could not.
In the intervening years, he’s spent time as a pitching coach and a scout.
Currently an area scouting supervisor for the Atlanta Braves covering several midwestern states, Bliss is spending much of his time in the heartlands of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, scouting pitchers from high school on up through the pro ranks.
It’s only the most recent stop on the map for Pennsylvania native.
The 40-year-old Bliss hails from Franklin, Pa., in the northwest corner of the state. He grew up in the area, is — of course — a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fans and, no matter where the baseball season may have taken him, always comes home each winter to go hunting with his dad.
After graduating from Franklin High in 1988, the 6-foot-6 right-hander moved on to play college baseball in state at Villanova, after being recruited by numerous schools not just for baseball but also for basketball, football and golf.
“I decided to play at Villanova so I was close enough that my parents could come to games,” he explained.
Working as both a starter and reliever, Bliss was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the third round of 1991 (their second pick) and made his pro debut that summer at short-season Geneva, then the club’s affiliate in the New York-Penn League. By the end of the season he was already up at Class A Peoria, combining between the two stops for a 4.58 ERA in 35 games with eight saves, striking out 47 while walking just nine in 39 1/3 innings.
Bliss spent most of the next two summers at Peoria, shifting between starting and relief, but also battled control issues for the first time as he struggled to recover from a torn quad muscle and corresponding knee issues.
From that point on, Bliss explained, he never really returned to his form of old. His last stateside season came in 1995 when he posted a 4.23 ERA in 34 games for the Advanced A Salem Avalanche (Colorado), after which he decided to take some time off and just get healthy.
He was on his way to a comeback season, and looking into some offers to play overseas, when a 1998 car accident ended his mound career for good.
“I was traveling from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and something blew out in the truck I was passing,” he recalled. “It rammed me into a bridge” and off the road, leaving Bliss with severe arm and head injuries.
The healing process began once again and this time, Bliss gave one of his other sports a shot, settling down in Arizona for awhile to become a golf pro. He also ran baseball tournaments and gave private lessons to keep his hand in the game. While out there, he ran into an ex-teammate from Colorado who suggested he look into scouting.
Over the intervening years, Bliss has spent most of his time with two of the local big league affiliates — the Baltimore Orioles and the Philadelphia Phillies. From 2002-2006, he worked with the Orioles as a scout in the “Four Corners” area on the west coast.
But in 2006, the Phillies came to Bliss with an offer to coach and get back on the field, and he couldn’t turn that down. For the next three years he served as the Phillies’ pitching coach for their New York-Penn League clubs, first in Batavia, N.Y., and then in Williamsport, Pa.
“The New York-Penn League was great,” he said. “I had the chance to be a lot of those guys’ first impression in pro ball and I took a lot of pride in that.”
While doing so, he also ran the club’s extended spring training operation and served as a scout for the system.
In 2009, Bliss joined the Barnstormers as their pitching coach, replacing Rick Wise, who had served in that capacity for the franchise’s first four seasons.
“I loved my time with Lancaster because of the great responsibility I was given, and having the chance to help these guys get back to there they want to be, or to just enjoy the game again,” Bliss said of his year with the Barnstormers. “It’s a privilege to play this game and I always respect that, especially now that I can no longer play.”
Working with so many veterans, after three years in the New York-Penn League, also gave Bliss a new perspective on the game and his job.
“Baseball can be harsh but 2009 was just a pleasure,” he said. “I learned so much from (managers) Von Hayes and Tommy Herr. It was a time to close my mouth and open my ears.”
Be it in the dugout or in the stands, Bliss has not forgotten his time on the mound nor does he take for granted the time he spent in uniform. He’d love to eventually manage, and thinks that his experiences over the years have prepared him for that possibility.
“You don’t have to be the best coach or the smartest guy out there,” he said, “but if you honestly care about each and every player and their development as a person as a player, they will play hard for you.”
It would have been easy enough for someone with an arm like his to be bitter, to find another path to take after baseball. Instead, Bliss has been trying to give back to the game he loves and to not be just another “what if?” example.
“I promised myself after not treating my gift of a great arm the right way, and not doing the right things off the field, that I owed this game a lot,” he said. “All I want is to make a difference, either with a kid or an organization. I want to interact and be a role model on how to do things the right way — a ‘do as I say and not as I did’ type of thing. I am hoping that all my failures as a top prospect with a cannon for an arm can benefit someone else someday because I chose to make a difference.”
While he continues to scout the heartlands for promising young arms, don’t be surprised to see Bliss return to the dugout and the backfield mounds before long. It is clear his heart remains on the field, molding young pitchers first-hand.
PAST MONDAY MEMORIES LINKS:
JULY 5: OF Jutt Hileman: modeling and acting in New York City. http://www.tumblr.com/edit/770131089?redirect_to=%2Ftumblelog%2Flisawinston%2F2
JULY 12: OF Matt Watson: back in the big leagues! http://www.tumblr.com/edit/801671776?redirect_to=%2Ftumblelog%2Flisawinston%2F2
JULY 19: OF: Quincy Foster: long time fan favorite living back home in NC http://www.tumblr.com/edit/832140728?redirect_to=%2Ftumblelog%2Flisawinston
JULY 26: LHP: Zack Parker: taking a year off to work in music and film at home in Austin http://www.tumblr.com/edit/861863225?redirect_to=%2Ftumblelog%2Flisawinston
AUGUST 2: 1B Eric Crozier: gone but not left http://www.tumblr.com/edit/891407381?redirect_to=%2Ftumblelog%2Flisawinston
When it comes to our subject for this week’s feature, Lancaster Barnstormers fans don’t actually have to ask where this player is. They get to see him whenever he comes to town with his new team, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
First baseman Eric Crozier, though, began his Atlantic League career as a Lancaster Barnstormer.
After six-plus years in affiliated baseball, including 14 games in the big leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004, Crozier made his independent debut midway through 2006 with Lancaster after being released by the Cincinnati organization.
That summer, he made a good first impression, hitting .291 with seven homers and 42 RBI in just 67 games. He would see time with Lancaster in 2007 as well, hitting .240 with eight home runs and 20 RBI in 39 games.
That off-season, with a new team in Waldorf, Md., entering the Atlantic League, Crozier was left unprotected in the league’s expansion draft and new manager Butch Hobson didn’t hesitate, selecting the soft-spoken left-handed first baseman with the big bat to be an inaugural Blue Crab.
Though he had one more Atlantic League hiatus in 2009, when he became the first (and so far only) Blue Crabs player to sign with the local Baltimore Orioles and play right down the road at Double-A Bowie, Crozier has been a constant contributor and fan favorite with Southern Maryland.
How much of a fan favorite is he there? Enough of one that on Saturday night, when the Blue Crabs celebrated “Paint the Park Pink” as part of a fund-raiser for breast cancer, after which all of the players/staff’s pink jerseys were auctioned off, Crozier’s brought a whopping $2,000.
He earned a spot in this summer’s Atlantic League All-Star Game and ranking among the current league leaders in home runs and several other offensive categories.
Hitting .294 with 14 homers and 49 RBI and coming off a 17-game hitting streak that was snapped Thursday night, he is currently on pace for a season of several potential “personal bests,” after having hit .292 with 21 homers and 69 RBI between Buffalo and Syracuse in 109 games in 2004.
Since being a 41st-round draft pick out of Norfolk State in 2000 by the Cleveland Indians, Crozier has certainly been well traveled. With the Indians, he’s played in Mahoning Valley (Ohio), Columbus (Ga.), Kinston (N.C.), Akron (Ohio) and Buffalo (N.Y.) as well as Syracuse (N.Y.) with the Blue Jays, Trenton (N.J.) with the New York Yankees, Chattanooga (Tenn.) and Louisville (Ky.) with Cincinnati and Portland (Maine) with the Boston Red Sox.
But Lancaster has ranked among his favorite spots to play for many reasons, and he still has a special place in his heart for the Barnstormers fans, even as a visiting player, which he discusses in the attached video. He also explains the difference between the Atlantic League and affiliated baseball when it comes to switching clubs and “local rivalries.”
