What a joke

If you live outside of Southwestern Pennsylvania, you might might not be aware of the latest stunt by Wild Things public address announcer Bill DiFabio. The following is the Associated Press story about the incident at Mike Tomlin's weekly press conference and there is a link below to the video. At least Bill pronounced Casey Hampton's name correctly:

Visit from fake Santa doesn’t amuse Steelers coach
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Santa Claus’ visit to Mike Tomlin’s weekly news conference Tuesday didn’t elicit a “ho, ho, ho” from the less-than-amused Steelers coach.

Bill DiFabio, a sports announcer from Washington, Pa., traditionally dresses up as Santa for the pre-Christmas press gathering and often pokes fun at the Steelers coach for a few moments. Former coach Bill Cowher often went along with the gag.

Tomlin also played along initially, asking, “What have you got for me, Santa?” and inviting DiFabio to join him at his desk in front of the room.

But when DiFabio commandeered the news conference for more than five minutes, passing out gifts and cracking jokes about fellow sportscasters, the Browns and Cowboys, nose tackle Casey Hampton’s weight and the woebegone Pirates, Tomlin became impatient.

To end the unrehearsed skit, Tomlin — who could be heard sighing several times throughout the comedy bit — grudgingly agreed to toss a football to the fake Santa.

“If that will get you out of here,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin repeatedly emphasized the Steelers (11-4) would not treat Sunday’s meaningless game against the Browns (4-11) like an exhibition, and he apparently did not appreciate a comedy skit interfering with his message.

Later, the Steelers said there would be no future appearances from Santa at any of their news conferences.

The video.

More turf talk

Because of the Wild Things' announcement of a new manager last week, this was one of two stories I pushed to the back burner:

Florence (Ky.) City Council unanimously approved spending $750,000 to $1 million to replace the grass at Champion Window Field, shown above (click on image for larger view), with artificial turf.

The city owns the field, which is home to the Florence Freedom, and rents the ballpark to the team.

Apparently, the ground is settling unevenly and the grass is unsuitable for the Northern Kentucky climate (it's Bermuda grass - apparently they couldn't find any Kentucky Bluegrass in Kentucky). I know players from other teams often complained about the playing surface, which was bad when the park opened and hasn't gotten any better.

Freedom owner Clint Brown said it would cost $250,000 to fix the field. Brown said the Frontier League has banned play on the field unless something is done before the 2009 season.

"It is, right now, unsafe to play on the field," Brown said.

A guy named Butch Rankin collected a petition opposing the spending for artificial turf.The petition had 230 signatures, but his plea was rejected by City Council.

"When going door-to-door, I only found five who were in favor of this," Rankin said.

Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee told City Council in September that the league recommends that all fields switch from grass to artificial turf because it’s a better, safer playing surface. All new Frontier League fields are now built with turf instead of grass.

With Florence switching to fake grass, there will be only two ballparks in the East Division with an entirely grass playing surface: Washington and Kalamazoo. The Midwest Sliders, who will be playing their home games at Eastern Michigan University, will be playing on a field that has an artificial turf infield and grass outfield.

Managerial musings

To put it in baseball terms, the Wild Things' announcement earlier this week that Mark Mason will be the team's manager for the 2009 season was the equivalent of a squeeze play.

It was a surprise offering, like every well-executed squeeze play. With Mason's contract with the Chillicothe Paints expired after last season, you had to expect that the Prosperity resident would be back with the Wild Things in some capacity. Pitching coach seemed the likely position.

Still, the announcement seemed to catch many off guard, like a perfect bunt down the third-base line.

As recent as seven weeks ago, the Wild Things were saying they expected Greg Jelks to return for a second year as manager. In the only season under Jelks' watch, Washington finished with a 48-48 record and missed the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. Jelks worked on a one-year contract.

I found it odd that Jelks would return after the season to his home in Australia without having signed a contract for 2009. When asked about Jelks' status, a Wild Things official said Jelks was expected back for a second season but a contract had not yet been sent to him. It was only a matter of time until a deal would be put in writing.

At an informal press conference Monday, general manager Ross Vecchio was asked what had changed in the last few weeks to lead to Mason's hiring. Vecchio said it simply made more sense to have Mason as manager. In other words, Mason is a local guy, he's managed for three years in the league under some less-than-ideal circumstances (Ohio Valley as a road team in 2005 and Chillicothe last year when the Paints had one foot out the Frontier League's exit door), and he can be available at any time.

Jelks had to know there was always the possibility he could be squeezed out of the organization and replaced by Mason. It's just like the squeeze play is always a possibility, though a remote one, when a runner reaches third base.

One area having Mason as manager helps the Wild Things is in scouting college games. In the Frontier League, you need a manager who is more like a college recruiter than pro baseball coach. You need to talk to college players and sell them on your team. Jeff Isom, the Wild Things' first manager, had a connection to almost every major college program in the country. His successor, John Massarelli, knew and scouted the Mid-American Conference and some NAIA leagues.

With Jelks in Australia, it was impossible for him to watch Pitt, West Virginia, Ohio State and several Division II teams play in one week. Now the Wild Things can, if needed. This is one benefit of the hire.

Mason also is well-connected with scouts in places like Texas and the West Coast, two areas the Wild Things have rarely pulled players from. And, Mason is one of the most well-liked and respected people in the league.

While Jelks did fall victim to having the weakest Washington team to start with (the lack of pitching depth was obvious as early as the exhibition games), the injuries and poor relief pitching were his undoing. With a little luck and a reliable bullpen, Washington could have made the playoffs.

It's interesting to note that Mason could have been the Wild Things' manager as early as 2005. Here's how:

When Isom left following the 2003 season to manage Joliet in the Northern League, Kent Tekulve (above with Mason) wanted to take the manager's job for only the 2004 season and "groom" a manager to take his place the following year. That person was to be Mason.

As it turned out, Tekulve lost, for the lack of a better term, a power struggle for control of the baseball operations. He left the organization and Massarelli was hired.

Mark of discipline

The Wild Things announced Monday afternoon that Mark Mason will be their manager for 2009, replacing Greg Jelks, who had a one-year stint. The announcement came at a low-key press conference held in the Wild Things' clubhouse.

I was stunned that one of the the first two questions asked - and it wasn't by me - was about readers of this blog being upset with some of the on-field antics of players last year and how would Mason handle such things. Here is Mason's response:

"I will discipline that. I disciplined that in Chillicothe. We won't have any part of that. ... I tell my players that I'm not going to babysit you. I'm not afraid to make an example of anyone. I never had problems with any of my teams, though I did suspend two players while at Chillicothe when we were on a road trip. The were late. If I didn't suspend them, then it wouldn't have been fair for those guys who were sitting on that bus on time.

"That was embarrassing. The players know what I expect of them - play hard and be on time. They know where I stand."

Mason went on to tell the story of how a Chillicothe player, after making an out, threw his batting helmet off the bat rack. The helmet bounced back and hit Mason in the leg. Mason didn't immediately say anything to the player. He waited until the Paints took the field for the next inning and, just as the first batter was stepping into the box, Mason jumped out of the dugout, got the umpire's attention and called the helmet-throwing player off the field. Mason then sent out a substitute.

And the winner is...

The winner of the name-the-team contest for the new franchise in Avon, Ohio is ...

OK, there's no drama here. You probably looked at the logo above and know the team will be called the Lake Erie Crushers.

News of the name was leaked last week but it became official today during a media event at Avon City Hall. According to the team's press release, there were more than 800 name-the-team entries. Approximately 1,500 people voted after the final list of seven names were revealed.

"Our goal was to select a name the team and the communities in our region could be proud of, a name that resonates with fans and reflects the best characteristics of our area," said team owner Steven Edelson, "The new ballpark will draw fans from Lakewood, Rocky River, all of Western Cuyahoga County, as far west as Sandusky, Lorain County and all the cities in between. It was vitally important to us that each of these areas play an active role in the process."

The winner of the name-the-team contest receives a 12-game mini-season-ticket plan. No word on if parking fees are included.

"To us Crushers demonstrates toughness, hard work and resilience. This is an apt description of the character of our region," said Edelson, "Our goal will be to live up to this description both on and off the field."

The Crushers' team colors appear to be red, black and white with a bit of brozne or gold (based on the logo). You have to wonder about that decision. The Crushers are the fourth team - Washington, Florence and Kalamazoo are the others - with red and black as their dominant colors.

On Wisconsin

Former Wild Things manager Jeff Isom (2002-03) will be the manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Milwaukee Brewers' affiliate in the Class A South Atlantic League, in 2009.

This will be Isom's third year in the Brewers' system. Last summer, Isom guided the West Virginia Power of the Class A South Atlantic League to an 80-59 record, a second-half division title and spot in the league championship series. West Virginia won its first-round playoff series before losing in the best-of-three finals 2-1, dropping the decisive game by one run.

The West Virginia Power will be a Pirates farm team next season as the Brewers moved their low-Class A affiliate to Wisconsin.