IndependentBaseball.net

In order to give you, the baseball fan, more information pertaining to the independent minor league professional baseball industry IndependentBaseball.net has added a few additional pieces of information:

• More posts on the right-hand sidebar from Bob Wirz’s Indy Baseball Chatter blog column.  If you like his work then consider subscribing to his terrific weekly (during the season) column at Wirzandassociates.com
• The latest  posts from Bob’s Atlantic League Notebook blog on the right-hand sidebar
• More posts from MLN Raw News’ independent baseball coverage on the right-hand sidebar
• The latest posts from Atlantic League Independent on the right-hand sidebar

As more information continues to be added then IndependentBaseball.net will notify you.  In the meantime, should you find this post and website to be useful and helpful then please share it with your email lists, Twitter friends, Facebook and MySpace friends, and on any blogs or other baseball-related forums on which you participate.

Thank you for helping spread the word about the independent professional minor league baseball industry and those who do what they can to offer quality baseball and entertainment in the respective markets.

Resources for those involved with baseball at any level:

If you, or someone you know, is a youth baseball parent and frustrated with the experience then click here: Youth Baseball Parents

If you, or someone you, want guidance from actual independent minor league baseball executives on how to succeed in the independent minor leagues then click here: Independent Baseball Advice Interviews

If you simply want to find out about independent minor league baseball tryouts then click here: Independent Minor League Baseball Tryouts Notification List

If you, or someone you care about, want to improve the mental game of baseball then click here: Improving Your Baseball Mental Game

If you, or someone you know, need to improve your 60 yard dash time then click here: Click Here

Click this link if you, or someone you know, need baseball equipment which occasionally is on sale and/or offers free shipping (check the site for any such incentives):

Fans of this site have e-mailed me and asked how they can keep up to date with independent minor league baseball:

• transactions
• players who get signed to affiliated teams
• wins and losses
• other team-specific news

I am glad to help!  The site which is the best for this type of information is Oursportscentral.com because they get daily news releases from the teams and league offices.  They also search websites of local newspapers, radio, and TV stations for reports on independent baseball teams. 

Since IndepenendentBaseball.net cannot do a better job than they can, I decided to add their news feed to this site.  At the time of this post (Feb 2010), the left-hand sidebar will list OSC’s 6 most-recent news items for each league.  You can click the article of interest and it should open a new window; and from there you can search around by team or league.  Other minor league sports industries receive similar attention like the independent baseball industry does should they be of interest to you.

This blog will help filter and alert you to the most prevalent news, including exclusives on occasion.  The day-to-day transactions, news, wins/losses, player signings, player releases, and other news will best be served by OSC’s news feeds.  That is why this website is the “starting point” (or “portal”) for everything to do with independent baseball.

Hopefully this clears up any questions and allows you and fellow independent baseball fans (or even curiosity seekers!) the flexibility of selecting what you wish to know regarding professional independent minor league baseball.  Please bookmark, share, Tweet, Facebook, and help promote this blog/website; and be sure to come back every day for news on the blog and to get all of OSC’s independent baseball-related news in one location.

Thank you for supporting this site with your loyalty; and, most importantly, thank you for supporting the players who barely earn a living to entertain baseball fans across North America.

Resources for those involved with baseball at any level:

If you, or someone you know, is a youth baseball parent and frustrated with the experience then click here: Youth Baseball Parents

If you, or someone you, want guidance from actual independent minor league baseball executives on how to succeed in the independent minor leagues then click here: Independent Baseball Advice Interviews

If you simply want to find out about independent minor league baseball tryouts then click here: Independent Minor League Baseball Tryouts Notification List

If you, or someone you care about, want to improve the mental game of baseball then click here: Improving Your Baseball Mental Game

If you, or someone you know, need to improve your 60 yard dash time then click here: Click Here

Click this link if you, or someone you know, need baseball equipment which occasionally is on sale and/or offers free shipping (check the site for any such incentives):

With the independent professional baseball industry about to enter its 18th year as we know it (starting in 1993), the industry has reached some tangible achievements:

• Many independent baseball teams, for one reason or another, have been featured in publications like Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, and other publications with national recognition
• Independent baseball teams have been featured on national television channels, such as CNBC, for unique promotions, food items, player trades, and other stories
• Dozens of independent baseball players have been signed by affiliated Minor League teams, including dozens who have made it to the Major Leauges.  This includes several players whose first professional baseball experience was with an independent team
• Over 8 million fans (announced) attended independent baseball games in 2009

With all of these accomplishments, the industry still has a significant challenge for which you, the independent baseball fan, may be able to help.  Since IndependentBaseball.net is in contact with several team owners, league executives, and general managers across the independent baseball industry, we have an open communication about problems which are common regardless of the team or geographic area.

One of these problems is the ability to build “hype” regarding a particular game or series.  The problem is that most fans in a team’s area do not follow the team’s players and stats.  For most teams, 90% of their attendance will attend one or two games a year with no specific incentive to attend a game other than “Thirsty Thursday”, “Free T-shirt Night” or Fireworks Night.  Other than Opening Night, the 4th of July home game (with post-game fireworks), an All-Star Game and/or Home Run Derby, and the playoffs/championship most teams cannot generate enough incentive for fans to feel the “urgency” to attend a particular game or series.

The leagues and teams get approached all the time by people thinking that they can solve selected problems, but none has the impact of guaranteeing improved attendance AND increasing interest in the actual on-field play.  Therefore, IndepednentBaseball.net wants the opinion of you, the fan, to give your thoughts on what would compel you to care more about the on-field play where you feel that you MUST attend a specific game, regardless of the promotion.

The question for you, the independent baseball fan, is what gets your interest from other sports and entertainment alternatives?  For example, fans may have an actual increased interest in the on-field action from other sports marketing tactics like these:

• Professional wrestling uses “promos” and “hype videos” to get you to tune in and/or attend matches
• Boxing uses the pre-fight press conferences
• UFC uses video vignettes about the fighters’ backgrounds.  It uses “The Ultimate Fighter” to generate hype for upcoming pay-per-views
• NFL has NFL Films (for history), dozens of talk radio shows, ESPN’s NFL-related shows, etc.
• College Football uses the “Heisman watch” shows and pre-game interest shows like College Football Game Day
• Major League Baseball used to used “This Week In Baseball (TWIB)” as a hype show/lead-in to the weekend television games

Please take a few moments, share this post with your friends and other independent minor league baseball fans you know, and contribute your thoughts to what teams and leagues can do to generate hype, interest, and urgency about attending an independent baseball game regardless of the promotion that night.  Please keep in mind that the teams and leagues have limited budgets and manpower which can be allocated for “hype” purposes; but several teams are interested in no-cost/low-cost solutions which have high likelihood of making their local fans care more about the on-field performance rather than just the promotions.

Thank you for your contributions to help the industry evolve as the new decade of independent baseball begins in the coming months.

In yesterday’s post, we asked for your feedback on new content for IndependentBaseball.net.  Please leave your comments/votes for which type of new content you would like to see on this site.  IndependentBaseball.net will do its best to offer consistent content on your desired topics of interest.

• Recap of Bob Wirz’s Indy Baseball Chatter blog and weekly column
• Information regarding independent baseball tryouts (videos, advice, etc.)
• Compiled information about Player/Pitcher of the Week from all of the leagues
• Historical review about independent minor league baseball (e.g. a funny promotion, unique human interest story, why a team failed, etc.)
• Interviews with current and former players, managers, front office staff, announcers, owners, and league officials
• Fan-related information such as a “Fan Of The Week” from the leagues (if they provide it)
• Awards
• Quizzes
• Predictions
• The business side of independent minor league baseball
• Videos, photo-sharing,and other multimedia
• Equipment review (what is actually used by players, managers, front offices, and leagues)

Please leave your feedback and preferences for what is desired for future content in order to have you and your friends come back to visit this site often.  Thank you for your input.

This website serves, primarily, as the centralized resource for independent minor league baseball.  Throughout this site you will find information about all of the leagues, teams, online radio coverages, tickets, and numerous other subjects. 

News feeds from other websites covering the industry are found on the sidebars of the site; and they will keep you up to date with daily news updates.  They will offer scores, transactions, and other day-to-day information separated by league.  Other news feeds will keep you up to date with human interest stories and tracking former independent baseball players now in the “affiliated” minor leagues and Major League Baseball.

This post represents the “updates” portion of the website like a traditional blog.  Going forward for 2010, IndependentBaseball.net wants to offer you unique information; and we want your opinions on what you would not only like to see but are also willing to send to your friends and social network lists.

Tomorrow’s post will cover the types of subjects which IndependentBaseball.net can offer.  Please feel free to leave your comments on tomorrow’s post regarding which subjects you would like to see; and we ask that you let your friends know about tomorrow’s post as well.   Thank you.

Bob Wirz runs his independent baseball blog at IndyBaseballChatter.com.  IndependentBaseball.net wants to thank Bob for his hospitality last week in Connecticut when meeting for lunch before the Christmas Holidays.  It is always a great time to get together with those who genuinely care about the independent baseball industry.

Bob writes a for-pay extensive column which frequently gives often-overlooked players and front office members recognition for their accomplishments.  This column is much greater in detail, covering all 8 of the independent baseball leagues and information on some of the Winter League action as it relates to independent baseball players.  He also tracks the former independent baseball players who have subsequently played in the affiliated organizations, including the Major Leagues.

If you are a fan of independent minor league baseball then take a moment to look at Bob’s website regarding his extensive column at: 

http://wirzandassociates.com/

You will enjoy the coverage and any back issues you get as his work is not just “recycled” news, but based on talking to those in the independent baseball industry on a regular basis.  You can stay up to date with the snippets of his column by looking at the news feed on the sidebar of this site which links directly to his blog.  To get the full information then be sure to click the link provided earlier in this post.

The independent minor league baseball should given acclaim by women’s interest groups around the country being the premier sports industry niche to give women some degree of equality regarding on-field performance.  Not only are there women owners, general managers, and other high-ranking front office executives, the past 2 weeks have offered two stories of interest:

• http://www.checkswing.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2099111%3ABlogPost%3A76665&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post
• http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3941177

While some may consider these signings to a winter league to be nothing more than promotions designed to increase attendance, they should note that 2009 also had another first for women in professional baseball:

• http://baseballdeworld.com/2009/05/29/first-pro-female-baseball-coach-makes-debut/

Since these women will always be under tremendous scrutiny, if the specific situation does not work out then the women (and the team) risks being derided.  Unfortunately, most people forget that situations “don’t work out” every day with coaches, players, and managers across pro baseball.  Here’s hoping that whatever happens that it revives interest in professional baseball and the independent minor leagues in particular.

In addition, here is an interview with Tiffany Brooks:  http://busleagues.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/bus-leagues-qa-tiffany-brooks-of-the-arizona-winter-league/

Finally, no blog post on the subject of women in independent baseball would be complete without some reference to Ila Borders.  Here are some links of interest regarding her playing career in the independent leagues:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ila_Borders
• http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=ila+borders&rlz=1R2TSNA_enUS358&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ydYrS53uJ9HTngfP47mECQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQsAQwAA
• http://www.stariq.com/Main/Articles/P0000875.htm

Here is a blog post with a video featuring a reporter from Sioux City on his “day in the life” of a professional independent minor league baseball player:

http://independentminorleaguebaseball.com/blog/2009/01/15/reporters-day-in-the-life-as-an-independent-professional-baseball-player/

In case you had not seen this before, it shows how the media gains a new respect for players in the independent leagues.

Many of today’s independent baseball players and new front office staff members are not aware of independent baseball’s history across North America.  IndependentBaseball.net believes that the lack of understanding the industry’s history hurts everybody, including the players themselves.

The reasons for this are plentiful:

• Sports which are popular today have to thank their historical recordings for helping keep a team’s (or league’s) popularity high, especially during the off-season.  For example, NFL Films does a fantastic job of preserving the NFL’s history as well as helping people create comparisons to previous players and teams.  Having the historical basis of comparison allows fans to talk about which team, and which era, was “greater” or “tougher.”  This fuels conversation, popularity, and ultimately profitability for the industry
• Many independent players today would be hard-pressed to name any Major League player (current or retired) whose career STARTED in the independent leagues.  While dozens of players could name former Major League players whose careers continued in the independent leagues, they are not even aware of those who were like them:  starting pro careers in independent baseball before making it to the Major Leagues; and this prevents them from learning the successful habits of the  successful players who achieved the “holy grail” of those on independent league rosters
• Executives and front office staff risk not learning from independent baseball’s history, thereby jeopardizing profitability
• Fans are not aware of the other leagues and players on other teams, especially previous teams.  This lessens the overall experience for those fans who want to go a ball game and get more than “just escape for a few hours while letting the kids have fun for a cheap price”
• Leagues and teams lose out on possible sponsorship opportunities from the larger, national sponsors because those companies may see the industry as being “fragmented” or “disjointed” with no continuity.  While this is not the case, many decision makers at prospective sponsor companies could gain that perception.  Having a more formalized history could be a part in helping the industry gain greater credibility in the eyes of those firms which could help keep these baseball teams and leagues profitable through sponsorship dollars

Yes, baseball at the professional level is foremost an entertainment business.  While we at IndependentBaseball.net wish that the industry’s success was primarily about wins & losses, performance on the field is not the benchmark for success and longevity of a team or league.  Ultimately, it comes down to how profitable these businesses are.

Nonetheless, independent baseball is unique and has its own history.  While many baseball fans and historians may believe that failed independent leagues (and the players associated with them) should be forgotten as they were not with affiliated leagues, IndependentBaseball.net begs to differ.

The history of the industry as a whole is important, and it should serve to complement fans, players, current executives and team staff, baseball historians, and those who were part of independent teams regardless of whether or not those teams and leagues still exist.  Those studying sports marketing and the sports business industry need to know the history of an industry that fielded over 250 professional teams since 1993.

If you ever get to talk with industry insiders who have been involved with the independent leagues in one way or another for many years, you will get a perspective on the sports business unlike that you will find elsewhere.  Several of the stories are hysterical, and many of the tales have a lesson to be learned from them.

In conclusion, the purpose of this post is to encourage those of you who have access to historical/archived information about independent league baseball to contact IndependentBaseball.net so that we can help all parties associated with the industry to better understand its history and give further legitimacy to what we do as a whole.

Should you have access to accurate, authoritative history on the independent baseball leagues then please contact us here so that we can begin to formalize the industry’s history in a way that everyone can benefit as we go into the 2010 season.  The contact information is on the bottom right column of this website or you can leave a comment on this post.

Finally, here are some next steps whether or not you have access to historical industry information:

• If you are (or were) a part of the independent baseball industry in any form then be sure to join the Independent Baseball Alumni free membership site at http://www.IndependentBaseballAlumni.com
• If you want a quick start at looking at all of the folded teams (or teams which relocated) since 1993 – and the 1987 Empire State League – then be sure to look at this link:  http://independentbaseballalumni.com/blog/information-on-all-previous-independent-baseball-leagues-and-teams/
• Be sure to look at Bob Wirz’s blog posts as he covers the human interest stories in independent baseball.  His for-pay column has even more information which can be helpful to fans, players, teams, and leagues as he also tracks those players which have gone onto affiliated baseball and the Major Leagues after their stints in the independent leagues.  His blog is:  http://indybaseballchatter.blogspot.com
• Look the list of historical independent baseball champions since 1993
• Take a look at the stadiums of current and former independent league teams starting at this site:  http://independentbaseballalumni.com/blog/independent-baseball-teams/former-independent-baseball-teams/independent-baseball-stadium-photos/
• Follow the archived news on independent baseball at OurSportsCentral.com
• Let us know of video clips, newspaper archives, and photo albums of independent baseball teams, leagues, players, logos, stadiums and more – especially from those teams which played in the 1990′s.
• Here is a starting point for historical independent baseball statistics:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/league.cgi – just know that many of the teams from specific years are not included

Thank you for any contributions you can offer and IndependentBaseball.net looks forward to helping everyone benefit in some way from a more formalized history of professional independent minor league baseball.

The Arizona Winter League, a developmental winter league run by the Golden Baseball League, announced the managers and instructors for their teams recently.  Former MLB names include:

• Mike Marshall
• Gary Templeton
• Cory Snyder
• Les Lancaster
• Tim Johnson
• Brooks Carey
• Boots Day

More information can be found here:  http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3920384