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This is our cyberspace soapbox. Here is where you can throw your bouquets and brick bats. Something you like about the baseball program? Something you don't like about the program? Something you would like to see changed in the program? This is the place to let it be known. So, step right up and take your turn on the soapbox. You can e-mail me Frank Bacon
A Look Back at the 2001 Major A Baseball Season and a Look Forward to 2002
by Frank Bacon
Congratulations to Regions Bank and Head Coach Pat Watson who won the American League last year with an outstanding 18 - 0 record. Look for Regions to go all the way again this year. It is extremly difficult to go undefeated in this league. Pat is an exceptional coach. We will miss him at the Major level, but he will still be around since he is moving up to Dixie Boys.
Congratulations to the Dutch Fork Optimist team and Head Coach Frank Bacon the National League last year. Coach Bacon and his great assistant coaches turned a turned a 6-11 team in to a league champion with a record of 13 -5.
We welcome the new coaches to the league - JL Martin, Larry Lott, Jim Clary, and John Orck and and we say good-bye to some old friends. Peter Green, Pat Watson, Bob Graczyk, and Steve Devitte. They will be missed.
This year we're going to have Minor League All-Stars for the third year. This years draft was loaded with 19 players from last years 10-year old all-star teams. Their experience will go a long way to improving their skills and should be great additions to their new Major team. I'm betting that Minor League All-Stars will be as big a success again this year.
My four favorite days of the season are:
1. Try-out day. If you're like most of the Major A coaches, you spend alot of the winter looking over your scouting reports from last season, looking over the notes you took when you talked with the minor league coaches, and you can't wait to see the kids out there trying-out.
2. Draft day. You know who you want to get going in but many times your plans change when the team right in front of you picks the player who really wanted. It's exciting, exhilarating, and nerve-wracking for the hour and a half it takes to complete the draft.
3. First practice. It's just like Christmas Day when you unwrap the presents of draft day.
4. Opening Day. There's just something special about Opening Day in baseball. That first hot dog at the Park, I can almost taste it already!
This season should prove very interesting now that we're down to nine teams with two divisions.
