A sit-down with George Brett

Here is an excerpt from Peter Gammons writing about his interview with George Brett near the end of George's career. This has been referenced a time or two a practice.

GAMMONS: In September 1992, ESPN sent me to the home of one of my all-time favorite players, George Brett, for a Sunday Conversation as he edged closer to his 3,000th hit. "What do you want for your last at-bat?" I asked George.

"I want to hit a ground ball to second," Brett replied, "bust my butt down the line and be out by an eyelash."

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I was a big fan of George's when I was growing up, even though the Twins were my team. Rarely has there been a player that has played as hard as George Brett while enjoying the game as much as he did.

One more to the NYCBL

Former Blue Devil Jordan Basile (2009) has been hired to be an assistant coach in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. He will assist Frank Jagoda III for the Allegany Nitros. Basile is currently the volunteer assistant coach at the University of Buffalo. He played with Jagoda on several Chautauqua county teams over the years. Frank is currently an assistant at Canisius.

Basile joins Matt Bauman (2008) (pitching coach for the Adirondak Trail Blazers) and Sean Larson, who will pitch for the Blazers. Both Basile and Bauman played in Collegiate leagues. Both spent a summer with the Weyburn Beavers in the Western Major Baseball League (in Canada). Bauman also played for the Orlando Hammers of the Florida Collegiate League. Bauman was an all star in both seasons.

Pitchers'Nightmare

An old teammate of mine is also an inventor. My catcher back in the summer of '94, Chance Reynolds, invented the Pitchers' Nightmare. I ran into him a few years back at the ABCA Convention, so I had to buy one of his PNM's. Our team uses it for guys with a long swings and at our clinics. Kos likes it the best.

Chance also has his own blog that talks some hitting. Although some of it is geared to younger players, it is a good resource. He's good people.

Lunch with Dave Winfield

"Hit the cutoffs and heads up on the bases."

Inking deals

This past week has been busy for the Blue Devils as far as signing baseball contracts. Matt Bauman (2008) singed on to be the pitching coach for the Adirondak Trail Blazers in the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL). The Trail Blazers then signed sophomore pitcher Sean Larson. Dozens of NYCBL players have gone on to Major League careers.

Adirondak Trail Blazers website
NYCBL website
FSU webpage story on Lars, Bauman

On Wednesday, the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League announced the signing of Rob Herrmann (2010). Check out the story on their webpage HERE. Hermm is currently playing in Australia. The coaching staff consists of former major leaguers Chris Bando and Lenny Randle. Randle was the first major leaguer to sign with the Italian league circa 1983. I remember there was a big story on him on 60 Minutes. Quite a star and a character back in the day.

Lenny Randle