Odds and ends
July 30, 2007 by Jason Guarente
Here are some off day musings …
* Zack Parker was with the team in Newark Sunday and, obviously, will be in uniform when the Barnstormers 
play the Bears Tuesday. Initially, Parker will be placed in the bullpen.
“In talking with his agent, he made no bones of the fact he’d like to start,” said BASA executive director Adam Gladstone. “He understands they have five guys already in play. He’s going to have to come in and prove to Rick (Wise) that he can get guys out.”
The Barnstormers will carry 12 pitchers and 24 players for the time being. No one will be released to accommodate the addition of Parker, whose arrival gives Lancaster three lefty relievers.
* Reggie Taylor’s Mexican League team — Tabasco — has qualified for the playoffs, which will delay his arrival in Lancaster. Gladstone said the Barnstormers haven’t determined if they’ll carry 25 players at that point. A lot can change between now and then with injuries or players leaving for other reasons, so we’ll have to wait and see.
* Former Atlantic City Surf star Lincoln Mikkelsen has talked to Gladstone and expressed interest in returning to the Atlantic League. Mikkelsen authored the greatest game in the history of Clipper Magazine Stadium — a no-hitter on June 16, 2006. If it happens, it will be fun to see him pitch in this league again. Mikkelsen went 15-5 with a 1.85 ERA for the Surf last season.
* Quincy Foster has not been in contact with Gladstone about a possible return. Foster’s team in the Mexican League, the Yucatan Lions, is also postseason bound, so the former Barnstormer won’t be available for a while. Foster hit .384 in 32 games for the Lions. Assuming Taylor joins the team as expected, the Barnstormers have four left-handed hitting outfielders under contract. It’s difficult to see how Foster would fit.
Speaking of off day musings….
The boys at the stadium have had plenty of time, nothing’s happened, no one’s called and I’ve run out of patience. So….
As you may or may not know, I bought Jeremy Todd’s All-Star jersey via the ebay auction. It showed up on my credit card bill, it’s paid for. It’s also missing. As I understand it, out of roomful of All-Star jerseys, his is the only one that’s missing. As I understand it, not even a handful of people have keys to the room where these things were supposively kept, but the “game plan”, as I heard it, was to sit back and see if it shows up. No police, no investigation, no sense of urgency or wondering how the den in my house where I keep two other jerseys are more secure than a freaking stadium, no promised follow-up phone calls….nothing. Dead silence. It was expensive but as anyone who’s ever been a fan of anything knows, it’s not about the money. Todd is a man I’ve met and admired as a stand-up guy and a hell of a competitor since he came here in 2005. He gave me a signed ball this past April that’s the centerpiece of my paraphenalia display that also includes jerseys from Steve Van Note and Quincy Foster. I tried and wasn’t able to snag his jersey last year so I made it a point to get it this year almost regardless of the cost. That’s how much I wanted it. I wasn’t sure what the plan was…give it back to him, trade him for a game jersey, keep it if he didn’t really care one way or the other…whatever, I hadn’t put much thought into it yet. And now it seems I won’t have to.
I’m posting this because there isn’t anything else I can do and no one who might be able to help seems the least bit interested in doing so and I don’t really feel like dealing with police and lawyers quite yet. Who knows, maybe someone who knows something about it will see this. If so, say something to Scott at the stadium, he’ll get it to me.
I know you’d rather have the Jersey but will they refund your money if they don’t find it? As a nice gesture they should also give you something for your troubles even if they refund you since you put your own time into following the auction.
They can’t take your money without giving you the item you purchased. Set a dead line for the team to find it… then demand a refund. Actually, I’m sure all you would have to do is ask for the refund. Maybe for all your trouble they could give you a regular game day jersey… no $$$ from you.
Just a quick correction …
Taylor’s team has also made the playoffs, so his arrival won’t be Thursday or Friday as noted earlier. It’s going to be roughly two days after Tabasco is eliminated. I thought only division winners qualified, but making the playoffs in Mexico isn’t nearly that difficult.
Playoff system: Twelve teams qualify. Six First round winners and two “best losers” advance to second round. All playoff series are best-of-7. Second Round winners meet in Division Finals. Winners advance to best-of-7 series for Mexican League championship.
Translation: It could be a while until this is over for Tabasco and Yucatan.
Is there only one Mexican league?
Mark…sorry to hear about your problem….I would have thought the front office would have tried to help you more. Or at least provide a substitute until they can find your real prize.
Another off day musing….I buy the Monday New Era….love the Barnstormer articles in it. BUT what disappoints me is the Sunday News. This Sunday’s paper has a abbreviated article about the game on Saturday. No articles about the team. No article about upcoming dates. No article about how the team has changed in the last 2 weeks. No interviews about anybody on the team, in the office, your average joe at the stadium.
I think the Sunday News should have at least as many articles as the Monday paper does (sorry, to steal your specialty, Jason.) By why isnt there more to read about the Barnstormers on Sunday. The Barnstormers win 19-9 and we get an abbreviated article.
I know, I know…only we really care about the Barnstormers and few others.
Well, I guess Lincoln Mikkelsen didnt piss Gladstone off when he left. I wonder what team (that begins with Lan and ends in caster Barnstormers) wont get him. Who needs him.
just kidding..it will be great to watch him no hit the opposition. We will just have to bring back Denny Harriger back to stop him.
I’d have to assume that the frontrunner to get Linc would be a team that begins with Cam and ends with den Riversharks, based on past history.
Raul Marval is also in play too, but apparently nobody wants him…
As for the Mexican League playoffs…uhhh, so you can lose in the first round, and still make the second round? No, totally not at all a joke. Nope.
Anybody but Long Island for Mikkelsen is cool with me.
In theory, a Mexican League team could have the 12th-best record, lose in the first round and still win the championship. That’s just tremendous.
Come to think of it, don’t the Ducks technically hold Mikkelsen’s rights?
Hey Everyone!
I am finally making it to a game tonight! It has been a while. Too many things to do and so little time.
Jason… Are you sure about the Mexican league playoffs?? I know you are in position to know more about it than me right now but the playoffs were not like that a few years ago. It use to be just four teams. You have the first half champion play the second half champion in the north and the same for the south.
I thought it was Monterry vs Saltillo (English spelling) in the north and Mexico City vs Yucatan (Quincy’s team) in the south.
I know the Mexico has a winter league that has there champions play in the Caribbean World Series.
Hi Ultimate, I try to find you
Is any one else having their post not coming up on the web site? I found more information about the mexican league playoffs and have posted it twice and it did not show up.
I will post it one more time.
I found out that from their website that it is 8 teams that make the playoffs. Four from the North and four from the south. They take the winning of the first half and the second half and then the next two best teams by record per division. It is best of 7. Taylor’s team did make the playoffs as the 4th seed in the south. This playoff format is different from a couple of years ago when it was just 4 teams.
Again, I’m not 100% sure about the playoffs so I am not saying Jason is wrong. It is very hard to understand how they do things in Mexico but I did read the best I can the Mexican League web site and they only list the 8 teams making the playoffs.
James,
I got the information here.
It’s possible that it’s wrong or outdated. Either way, Taylor won’t be here for at least a week and possibly two to three weeks depending on how his team performs.
Jason, the one quote from the paper on Zack that concerns me is:
“But he mysteriously lost his control last year at Triple-A Colorado Springs and never regained it after returning to Tulsa last July. ”
I hope Rick can help him like he did when Lira was struggling. If not, we could have another pitching experiment gone bad.
Jason.. I went though the same minor league baseball link that you do. I go first to Minor league baseball and then go to Mexican league. It takes me to their homepage (Mexican league) and if you can read Spanish then it is easy. If you are like me and don’t know Spanish(I know very, very little Spanish), then I just use Babel Fish and do the best I can to read from there. It listed 8 teams in the playoffs schedule. Also, I do know that they only allow 4 outsiders (that’s what they call players not from Mexico).
It really does not matter because Taylor’s team is still in the playoffs so it will be some time (Even though it says they play Mexico City and I see them losing in the first round) before we see him here in Lancaster.
Sorry Jason, I just wanted to make sure more for myself than anything. I try to keep up with all these leagues (I am a baseball nut) and I thought it was only four teams in the playoffs. Things change so fast in some of these leagues.
storming… I may be wrong on this also but Colorado Springs will mess up a pitchers real fast. I grew up in Albuquerque as a kid and it was the same for the Albuquerque Dukes (Dodgers AAA team before they moved). It has to do with altitude in both those place. You sit so high in altitude that the ball just fly out of the park. Most of the time, the home run leader would come out of one of those two teams. Many pitchers change how they pitch when they go to one of those two places. Zach is a spot pitchers and maybe he was more worried about the altitude and giving up the long ball, that he started aiming the ball and not just throwing ball. This is only a guess but I seen many pitchers do real well and then fall apart when they go to Colorado Springs or Albuquerque.
I have been to Albuquerque several times. Went to Old Town one time and then went skiing on Mt. Sandia. Great place. Also did some hiking around there. It was about 25 years ago. It was a great place to visit, probably has changed now.
It is growing real fast. I just was out there in April. Took a vacation to Albuquerque and then Houston. I loved it as a kid. I still miss it sometimes. My Parents and Sister still live in Albuquerque. It is a lot different than up here but both place Lancaster and Albuquerque) have a lot going for it. The only real problem with Albuquerque is crime. They have a big problem with Gangs out there but overall it seems like it is still a pretty safe place to live. I was always in the mountain as a kid. If I ever would moved away from Lancaster area, I would go back to Albuquerque. My wife likes it out in Albuquerque but she from up here and always wanted to come back (She moved to Houston when she was 10).
I’m sure all Zack Parker needs is some of Rad’s brownies and all his pitching problems, if any, will be history.
Well, it would be in really poor taste to demand my money back when it went to the Janus House. That’s like chapter 1 of “How to be a Tool”. Their deadline, the one they set, was last thursday. Someone was supposed to contact me thursday and we could work something out. I’m still waiting.
The thing is, this is how my wife and I have been treated all year. From showing up at Fan Fest to find we had no tickets to being notified late, if at all, about various other events to not being able to attend the All-Star thing because it’s hard to put a deposit on seats you’ve already paid for in full. And this is our first year as season ticket holders. Is this what we have to look forward to year after year? I had to contact them about the jersey. If it were up to them, I’d still be sitting here waiting for the UPS truck. Then they blow off their own deadline for getting an answer to me. Am I seriously supposed to believe anything they tell me?
Go team.
This doesn’t really help Mark’s situation, but a couple weeks ago, they took all the All Star Jerseys off of ebay due to ebay and paypal account difficulties. The Barnstormers have posted a notice on their website here….
http://lancasterbarnstormers.com/news.cfm?newsID=266
Wow Mark, you’re in a tough spot! I didn’t realize that it’s for a charity. They HAVE to then be just as charitable and hook you up with something. Maybe even season tix for next year since I’m sure you spent a butt load.
I have season tix for next year. And the year after that. All paid in full. Maybe I’d have done better to pay a year at a time so they’d have a reason to treat me at least like a paying customer. No matter what I do with this, I come out as the bad guy because I tried to do something nice for myself and a charity. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess. Never again.
A bit of comic relief: No one could pick up a phone and call on Thursday, as they said they would, but I did get a letter on Friday begging for $100 to reserve my seats in 2010.
Well maybe a player is reading this and will reach out to you. Actually, it could be a great story for Jason and nice PR move for a player!
Headline: Player X Bestows To The Giver
Yesterday Mark sat on his front porch playing with a sad looking Praying Mantis that resembled one of his old neighborhood friends “Stick” Bobby Reynolds. But no one could be more sad than Mark who earlier in the week was told he would not receive the Jersey he won in an online auction where the proceeds go to charity. Discouraged with his situation and sitting on his regular stoop, he was startled to see a white quarter horse ride up to his house carrying none other than Player X holding a game used bat, his old little league jersey and a warm tuna casserole. The horse was borrowed from the players neighbor……
Isn’t Reggie Taylor using the white horse and Excaliber to save the team this week?
I don’t want to bother the players. They have enough on their minds, I’m sure, and it’s not their fault it’s “missing”. I especially don’t want to bother Jeremy. He already had to give up his All-Star jersey.
“Is this what we have to look forward to year after year?”
Actually, our experience is that each year it has gotten worse. So hang on for the ride. Sit back, enjoy the games, and belief it only when you see it.
Mom and I have been told several things over the past three years as season ticket holders that have never come true. You are now one of us…
Not to jump on anyone here, but those jerseys should not have been sold in the first place. Just a personal feeling. They should have been given to the men who earned them. By selling the jerseys, the front office waits a month or two, then releases a press release that they made a contribution to a place or whatnot. They get the tax deduction and get a thumbs up from the community who doesn’t know any better.
As for your season ticket woes, Mark, good luck. Right after we got home from Fanfest, I sat down and e-mailed a letter straight to John Danos and told him what a horrible customer service department he had. I am self employed. I’m sure if I ran my business the way they do, I would be out of business. Oh well, I worked there when they built the stadium and I’ll be there when they demo it because no one shows up anymore. needless to say, we WILL NOT be renewing our season tickets for next year. Also Mark, it’s nice to see that the thought of giving JT his jersey, if he wanted it, had crossed your mind. A sign of a good fan.