Leo Pinckney / The Citizen
Auburnian Charlie Wride, astute historian of the New York-Pennsylvania Baseball League, has developed a fantastic new statistic that dates back to 1958 (Auburn's first year in the league).
Every player, manager and coach, who was affiliated with any of the 27 teams that were represented in the Class A circuit during the past 48 years was researched by Wride. He discovered that 312 are still managers or coaches in the majors, minors or Independent Leagues.
Auburn is represented by 38 athletes, of which nine are coaches in the big leagues, including Rick Dempsey, Baltimore Orioles; Mark Connor, Texas Rangers; Greg Walker, Chicago White Sox; Mark Bailey, Houston Astros; Jeff Datz, Cleveland Indians; Glenn Sherlock, Arizona Diamondbacks; Gary Tuck, Florida Marlins; Manny Acta, New York Mets and Bruce Walton, Toronto BlueJays.
Among the early players were Bill Ballou, who played with the Auburn Yankees in 1958 and then coached the Auburn Astros in 1996-97-99. Ballou is the pitching coach for the Greenville Astros of the Appalacian League.
Steve Renko was with the Auburn Mets in 1966 and made his debut in the majors with the 1969 Montreal Expos. He is a coach at High Desert in the California League.Pitcher Steve Leubber had an 8-2 record with a 1.78 ERA for the Auburn Twins in 1968 and joined the Minnesota Twins in 1971. He is currently the pitching coach for the Burlington Royals in the Midwest League.
Charlie also pointed out to me that eight former Auburn Doubledays are on the roster of the Syracuse SkyChiefs of the International League. Six of them are pitchers, one is a catcher and another is an infielder.
Casey Janssen, who pitched at Falcon Park in 2004, was last Thursday's starting pitcher for Syracuse. Southpaw Dave Purcey, who was with Janssen in Auburn, is also a starting pitcher. Josh Banks, who had a great season with the D-Days is 2003, is another starter.
Relief hurlers for the SkyChiefs include Dustin McGowan, a Doubleday twirler in 2001 plus Bradon League, a 2002 pitcher with Auburn, who was with Toronto briefly last season and had a 1-0 record, and Shaun Marcum, a 2003 D-Day pitcher.Syracuse catcher John Schneider was with the 2002 Auburn team that posted a 47-29 season record. Infielder Ryan Roberts of the Chiefs was with the Auburn 2003 team.
DID YOU KNOW?
THAT the five worst-hitting pitchers of all time were: Dean Chance, Mike Bielecki, Dave Wickersham, George Brunet and Josh DeLeon? Chance was the worst, hitting .066 and striking out 420 times in 662 major league at bats.
THAT Two of th best hitters ever to play at Falcon Park were outfielder Charlie Harig and third baseman Bill Homan of the 1938 team of the Class D Canadian-American league. Harig hit .385 and drove in 109 runs and had 20 home runs. Homan batted .389 and had 113 RBIs that included 15 roundtrippers. On the same team first baseman Al Lehman posted a .357 BA and drove in 90 runs while Pete Angel hit .282.
Every player, manager and coach, who was affiliated with any of the 27 teams that were represented in the Class A circuit during the past 48 years was researched by Wride. He discovered that 312 are still managers or coaches in the majors, minors or Independent Leagues.
Auburn is represented by 38 athletes, of which nine are coaches in the big leagues, including Rick Dempsey, Baltimore Orioles; Mark Connor, Texas Rangers; Greg Walker, Chicago White Sox; Mark Bailey, Houston Astros; Jeff Datz, Cleveland Indians; Glenn Sherlock, Arizona Diamondbacks; Gary Tuck, Florida Marlins; Manny Acta, New York Mets and Bruce Walton, Toronto BlueJays.
Among the early players were Bill Ballou, who played with the Auburn Yankees in 1958 and then coached the Auburn Astros in 1996-97-99. Ballou is the pitching coach for the Greenville Astros of the Appalacian League.
Steve Renko was with the Auburn Mets in 1966 and made his debut in the majors with the 1969 Montreal Expos. He is a coach at High Desert in the California League.Pitcher Steve Leubber had an 8-2 record with a 1.78 ERA for the Auburn Twins in 1968 and joined the Minnesota Twins in 1971. He is currently the pitching coach for the Burlington Royals in the Midwest League.
Charlie also pointed out to me that eight former Auburn Doubledays are on the roster of the Syracuse SkyChiefs of the International League. Six of them are pitchers, one is a catcher and another is an infielder.
Casey Janssen, who pitched at Falcon Park in 2004, was last Thursday's starting pitcher for Syracuse. Southpaw Dave Purcey, who was with Janssen in Auburn, is also a starting pitcher. Josh Banks, who had a great season with the D-Days is 2003, is another starter.
Relief hurlers for the SkyChiefs include Dustin McGowan, a Doubleday twirler in 2001 plus Bradon League, a 2002 pitcher with Auburn, who was with Toronto briefly last season and had a 1-0 record, and Shaun Marcum, a 2003 D-Day pitcher.Syracuse catcher John Schneider was with the 2002 Auburn team that posted a 47-29 season record. Infielder Ryan Roberts of the Chiefs was with the Auburn 2003 team.
DID YOU KNOW?
THAT the five worst-hitting pitchers of all time were: Dean Chance, Mike Bielecki, Dave Wickersham, George Brunet and Josh DeLeon? Chance was the worst, hitting .066 and striking out 420 times in 662 major league at bats.
THAT Two of th best hitters ever to play at Falcon Park were outfielder Charlie Harig and third baseman Bill Homan of the 1938 team of the Class D Canadian-American league. Harig hit .385 and drove in 109 runs and had 20 home runs. Homan batted .389 and had 113 RBIs that included 15 roundtrippers. On the same team first baseman Al Lehman posted a .357 BA and drove in 90 runs while Pete Angel hit .282.
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