04/24/24
June 24, 2011
Diary of a Summer League Ballplayer: 70 games in 75 days in the Northwoods League. Andrew Barna, a varsity baseball player at Davidson College during the school year, is spending the summer playing first base for the Madison Mallards. The Mallards are currently a half game back of the Eau Claire Express in the Northwoods League, a summer developmental league where NCAA athletes play for room, board, the adulation of devoted Upper Midwest fans, and the slim hope of making it to the bigs. (Northwoods alums in the majors include Ian Kinsler (Mallards), Ben Zobrist (Wisconsin Woodchucks), and Juan Pierre (Manitowoc Skunks.) Barna's blog offers a look inside the real life of very-minor-league baseball: The best way to sleep on the team bus. Getting caught picking your nose on the field. Welcome back Jumpy Garcia. Signing your first breast (via MetaFilter).
Didn't Jeff Weaver come out of the Northwoods League?
posted by rocketman at 10:43 AM on June 24, 2011
(Wisconsin Woodchucks)
I really wish they would change their name back to the Wausau Woodchucks. I think they were the only Wisconsin team in the NWL at the time but now it just looks silly. /hometown
posted by tron7 at 10:47 AM on June 24, 2011
"Signing your first breast" sounded a lot more exciting before I actually read the link. Just sayin'.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 12:45 PM on June 24, 2011
A guy with a name like Cash Collins has to make it to the majors. Just has to. Even if he can't pitch.
Finding out that Juan Pierre played for the Skunks...that one has Looney Tunes written all over it. C'est l'amour, cherie.