Coaching / Front Office Thread: Latest - Frank Kremblas on Brewer Pre-Game

[Mass Haas]

Helena site now updated with their own press release:

 

www.helenabrewers.net/html2/index.php

[Mass Haas]

This article provides background as to how the Brewers came to hire Jeff Isom -- interesting...

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.record-eagle.com/2007/feb/27bums.htm

 

Isom takes a job in Brewers' organization

He went 57-39 in lone season with the Bums

By MARK URBAN

murban@record-eagle.com

 

TRAVERSE CITY (Michigan) ? Independent Frontier League players dream about signing with a team that has a Major League Baseball affiliation.

 

The same is true for the managers.

 

Jeff Isom, who managed the Traverse City Beach Bums in their inaugural season last summer, is leaving to become the skipper for Helena (Mont.) in the Pioneer League, a rookie league team for the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

"When you get an opportunity like this, it's hard to pass up,? said the 34-year-old Isom, who has the best managerial winning percentage in the Frontier League (236-156, .602). "The main goal for Traverse City and Frontier League players is to go do their thing and send them on to the next level.

 

"This has always been in the back of my mind ? that if I had a chance at affiliated baseball, I had to take it. I still have big league dreams and hopefully this is one more path to it.?

 

"It's an amazing opportunity for him, it really is,? said Leslye Wuerfel, general manager and one of the Beach Bums' owners. "More power to him. We're hoping that our players work their way up to affiliated clubs and if our management staff does it to, it speaks to our choices.?

 

Beach Bums shortstop Justin Holmes is happy that Isom will get a chance to prove his worth in organized baseball.

 

"Of course, we're going to miss him, but how can you be angry that he's leaving?? Holmes said. "He's a talented guy and a great communicator. It's a great signing by the Milwaukee Brewers. I'm happy for him.?

 

Isom reports to Phoenix on March 9 and will work with younger players in an extended spring training when the Brewers head north for the season. Helena begins a 76-game schedule on June 19.

 

Ed Sedar, Helena's manager last season, was promoted to first base coach with the Brewers. Johnny Narron, one of the coaches at Helena who was promoted to the job, recently took the position of Major League video and administrative coach with the Cincinnati Reds where his older brother, Jerry, is the manager.

 

To fill the opening, the Brewers asked some of their coaching and scouting personnel to submit possible replacements. Brad Del Barba, who scouts independent leagues for the Brewers, threw Isom's name into the mix.

 

"He was impressed with how I handled my stuff,? Isom said. "He threw my name in and they gave me a call. I sat down for an interview and things went really well. Then I had a second interview and flew down to Phoenix. Then I had a phone interview.?

 

While Isom's stay in Traverse City was brief, he said he'll always look back fondly on his time here.

 

"I absolutely loved my year in Traverse City,? said Isom, who spent several seasons pitching in the minor leagues in the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres organizations. "This was my seventh season of managing and that's right there, probably at the top.

 

"We had great players and a great team and we won a lot of games (57-39). But we also had some great individuals. I enjoyed everyone of those players.?

 

It seems a lot of the players also enjoyed the manager, who has a career record of 319-265 in his seven seasons of professional baseball.

 

Holmes, who was released by the Cleveland Indians organization in 2005, said he was contemplating retirement when Isom called and invited him to play for Traverse City last year.

 

"(At that point) my whole feeling about professional baseball was a negative experience,? Holmes said from his home in Florida. "I felt I never really got to show Cleveland what I could do.

 

"Ice called and said, 'Come up here and play. It's a great city. You'll love it.' It really renewed my faith in the game.

 

"Now I'm really looking forward into coming back and playing this summer, and I have Ice to thank for that,? Holmes said. "To be honest, I'm not the only guy on the team who feels that way.?

 

Who replaces Isom remains to be seen. Current Traverse City hitting coach Jonathan Cahill has expressed an interest in the job.

 

Isom said "if my two cents with the Beach Bums are worth anything? the job should be Cahill's.

 

Wuerfel said Cahill's knowledge of the team and the Frontier League make him the favorite, even though Traverse City will take its time. She said the Bums hope to name a new manager by the end of March.

 

"We're not going to rush into it,? Wuerfel said.

 

Staff writer Jeff Peek (jpeek@record-eagle.com) contributed to this report.

[hauser42]

I would say Larry Hany is semi-retired, and does what is asked of him by Doug Melvin. I'd say he is a cross-checker of sorts.

 

I have to agree I wouldn't think that Haney is part of the daily grind. Send him out when they want a final check on a player.

[Mass Haas]

First off, my apologies, as I realize this "Coaching Thread" carries over from the beginning of the 2006 season, which must be frustrating for newbies reading it from the beginning.

 

We'll be sure to start a new thread after fall 2007 http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

 

At the bottom of the linked page, you'll see a summary of all the Brewer staffs for 2007:

 

milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com...p?c_id=mil

 

Among those not discussed previously in this thread and new to the organization this year are Arizona Rookie Manager Rene Gonzales, 45, a long-time big league infielder:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...ales.shtml

 

Also Arizona Rookie pitching coach Aris Tirado, 43, a long-time Rangers coach, who will assist fellow pitching coach Steve Kline, now in his 12th year with the Brewers, and former Brewer Angel Echevarria, 35, the A-Crew's new hitting coach.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.nashvillecitypaper.co...s_id=55385

 

Amid ballpark distraction, Sounds excited to open season

By Nate Rau, Sports Correspondent

 

The downtown ballpark may be in limbo, but the Nashville Sounds? 2007 season certainly is not.

 

Sounds fans shouldn?t get too bogged down with the gory details of tax increment financing or guaranteed maximum price and in the process forget they are actually going to play baseball this season. And soon.

 

The Nashville Sounds open their season April 5 at good old Greer Stadium against New Orleans. Under the direction of third-year manager Frank Kremblas, the Sounds figure to bring on their aggressive, exciting brand of baseball once again this season.

 

Nashville has won its division the last two seasons and won the Pacific Coast League title in 2005.

 

?I?m going to be aggressive,? Kremblas said. ?That won?t change. We?re going to be aggressive, and run and put the pressure on the other team. It?ll probably take some of the new guys some time to get used to my style. But we?re still going to be the same type of team.?

 

The ?new guys? Kremblas mentioned are headlined by rising star third baseman Ryan Braun and fireballer Yovani Gallardo, who will be making their first stops at the Triple A level this season.

 

Coming off his outstanding 2006 season, outfielder Tony Gwynn is currently in contention for a bench spot with the Milwaukee Brewers, though he figures to begin the season in Nashville.

 

?We will have a good combination of veterans and younger prospect guys,? Kremblas said of his roster, which should be finalized in the next several days.

 

One player who won?t be with the Sounds this season is last year?s top pitcher Ben Hendrickson, who was traded to Kansas City on Tuesday. Hendrickson was an all-star last year and perennial ace at the Triple A level, though he could never manage to stick in the big leagues with Milwaukee.

 

?Last year he just tightened up when he got up there,? Kremblas said of Hendrickson. ?That?s probably the only reason he didn?t last.?

 

Still, Kremblas feels confident about the pitching staff he has returning, led by Zach Jackson, and the defensive alignment Nashville will have to start the season.

 

?I have no concerns about our starters and no concerns about our relievers,? Kremblas said. ?I think if we go out and play defense like we did last year and are aggressive like we were last year, we should be fine.?

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/story/S...assistant/

 

New Power hitting coach making the transition from player to assistant

Jacob Messer

Charleston Daily Mail sportswriter

 

This season promises to be a memorable one for Corey Hart.

 

The West Virginia Power hitting coach and his wife had their first child in the fall and he plans to take his son to work with him as much as possible during the spring and summer.

 

"This is my first season as a dad," said Hart, who will make his debut with the Class A club at 7:05 PM (6:05 Central) Thursday when the Power opens South Atlantic League play at home against the Lake County Captains.

 

"My wife and I are really looking forward to bringing him out to the ballpark and getting him around the game."

 

Appalachian Power Park could provide the backdrop for a couple of Kodak moments for the Harts -- 31-year-old Corey, 34-year-old Stacy and 5-month-old Camden -- this year.

 

"He will probably take some of his first steps at the ballpark," Hart said. "That's exciting."

 

Hart replaced Mike Lum, whom the Milwaukee Brewers promoted to roving hitting instructor after he helped the Power (74-62 in 2006) to a league-leading and franchise-record .277 team batting average last year. West Virginia also scored 5.1 runs per game.

 

That is a tough act to follow. Or is it?

 

"I don't look at it as pressure," Hart said. "If I could go out there and perform for the guys, it would be a different story. I would feel a little pressure. But all I can do is encourage them and teach them and lead them. How they perform is totally up to them."

 

This is Hart's second stop in Charleston. His first was as a player in 1999 with the Alley Cats. He had a .190 batting average with 13 stolen bases, 39 RBI and 43 runs in 92 games that season.

 

"I had a good time playing there," said Hart, a 6-foot, 190-pound, switch-hitting, utility infielder who previously played 58 games with the Class A Spokane (Wash.) Indians in 1998. "I enjoyed it.

 

"It was my first full season. I learned how things worked in minor league baseball. I learned how to deal with the grind, playing 140-some games in 150-some days. It was a good experience."

 

Hart spent 11 seasons in the minors before the Brewers released him during spring training in 2006, the same year they offered him a job as the hitting coach for the high Class A Brevard County (Fla.) Manatees.

 

Making the transition from player to coach wasn't easy, but he enjoys his current role even though he misses his former one.

 

"I miss it everyday," Hart said. "But I'm able to stay in the game. I get to live vicariously through my guys. I feel their joy and I feel their pain. I still get to go through the grind and I still get paid to do it.

 

"It's still the same game," he added. "I love it. I love coaching it and I love playing it."

 

Hart helped the Manatees (64-65 in 2006) post a .262 team batting average against Florida State League pitching last year. Brevard County also scored 4.3 runs per game.

 

"I like to teach the guys how to play the game," Hart said. "(My strengths are) helping them develop a swing and an approach at the plate. I teach them how to think up there, too."

 

* * *

In case you are wondering, yes, Hart's son is named after Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles.

 

Neither Hart nor his wife is -- or ever was -- a fan of Maryland's Major League Baseball team.

 

"We both wanted a name that started with the letter ?C' and we both wanted it to be baseball related," Hart said. "That was the best one that we could come up with that we both liked."

 

The Oklahoma-born Hart and his Wisconsin-born wife grew up cheering for the Chicago Cubs. She also likes the Boston Red Sox.

 

"I wouldn't let my wife name him Wrigley or Fenway," Hart said, apparently only half joking.

 

* * *

Speaking of jokes, Hart often is the punch line to them because of his name, which he shares with the 1980's pop music sensation responsible for the hits "Sunglasses at Night" and "Never Surrender."

 

"I get that all of the time," Hart said, the disgust discernible in his voice.

 

Incidentally, he also shares his name with the Brewers outfielder. That created an interesting scenario when they were teammates with the Class AAA Nashville Sounds two years ago.

 

"In my first at-bat with the organization, I pinch hit for him," said Hart, who started using his middle initial (D) to distinguish himself from his more famous and more successful teammate. "I had to tell the umpire, ?Corey Hart for Corey Hart.' It was funny."

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.suburbanchicagonews.c...S1.article

 

Ed Sedar enjoying first place with the Brewers

By Dave Masterson

Waukegan (IL) News-Sun

 

The early-season success of the first-place Milwaukee baseball team is a point of particular pride for Waukegan native Ed Sedar, 45, the team's rookie first-base coach, who at one point or another has instructed or managed every team member coming through the Brewer's system.

 

"I know just about every one of these guys," said Sedar, sitting in the visitor's dugout at Wrigley Field prior to Monday's game against the Cubs. "I was the outfield and base-running coordinator in the (Brewers) system from 1992-2006 and was responsible for instructing everyone in rookie ball where I took all newly drafted kids from 1998 until last year. So there's a real comfort level here. I see a lot of familiar faces. I've seen everybody come through, right from the start. I know them and they know me."

 

But Milwaukee youngsters like slugger Prince Fielder, 22, can't possibly have the appreciation Sedar has for being in The Bigs. Twenty-six years have passed since the 1979 graduate of Waukegan West High School was drafted in the sixth round by the Chicago White Sox as an outfielder out of the College of Lake County. Only this year has he made it to the majors. Sedar toiled eight years as a player, reaching the Class AA minor league level, before injuries officially halted his career between the white lines.

 

The White Sox organization liked his attitude and knowledge of the game, offering him a player/coach position in his final year as an outfielder at South Bend. By that time, Sedar says, "The thought had crossed my mind that my baseball career would involve coaching more than playing."

 

He said he never once was discouraged or considered any other line of work. Baseball was his future.

 

Sedar excelled at the sport from the very beginning. In 1978 he was MVP and 5-0 as a pitcher on an undefeated North Shore Colt baseball team that won the World Championship. In 1980, he starred on an American Legion team that went all the way to the World Series in Ely, Minn.

 

Sedar was a rare four-sport letterman for the Raiders of Waukegan West, getting his "W" in baseball, football, wrestling and basketball. He wrestled for three seasons before switching to basketball his senior year.

 

"I wrestled every weight from 98 to 130, but by senior year, I was getting pretty big and it was getting harder to lose weight," he said. "And I wanted to try basketball."

 

Every team Sedar was on in high school had good success. He played wide receiver and safety for a 7-2 Raiders team considered one of the best ever to represent Waukegan (Gerald Green was a star running back on that team).

 

"We were the WLS radio team of the week one week," he said. "That was a major deal.

 

"The baseball team my senior year was ranked No. 1 in the state, then we lost our first game in the playoffs," he said, still wincing at the distant memory. "Wrestling at Waukegan is always good. And the basketball team (he played point and shooting guards and small forward) was pretty good too. But toward the end of the basketball season, I was ready for baseball. (Sedar played shortstop, outfield and pitched)."

 

He is a member of the Waukegan Lions Club Hall of Fame and CLC's Sports Hall of Fame and a two-time All-American outfielder/pitcher at CLC where he established a record for stolen bases (70) in one season. In the minors, the self-described "gap hitter who could run and field" batted "anywhere from third to sixth in the lineup."

 

Sedar joined the Brewers organization as a coach in 1992, and by 1998 was managing rookie-level teams in Ogden, Utah (where he still lives). He then managed the Helena Brewers of Montana from 2003-2006. While managing, he also served as a roving outfield and base-running instructor throughout the minors before finally stepping on a big league field in a major league uniform this season.

 

Asked about the differences between the majors and minors, Sedar smiled.

 

"The travel. You have charter flights compared to charter buses," he said. "The (clubhouse food) spreads are way better up here. And the meal money."

 

Sedar said he was getting $20 a day in the minors but didn't know how much he got now. He guessed $70, but said whatever it was for sure it's more than he can spend.

 

Besides the amenities, the consistently high caliber of player stands out.

 

Sedar keeps in contact with a number of old friends from Waukegan. His Dad still lives in Waukegan and he has sisters in Third Lake and Chicago. When the team's in Milwaukee or Chicago, Sedar stays with one of the three relatives. On Monday, one of his sisters was scheduled to be sitting in the vicinity of the Brewer's dugout, all the better to watch brother Ed coach first.

 

Prior to game time, Sedar throws batting practice to "extra players and pitchers," hits fungoes to the outfielders and puts players through base-running paces designed to help them get good jumps off a pitcher's delivery.

 

During the game, he stands beyond the first-base coach's box; closer to first than the white lines would seemingly allow. His manner is undemonstrative, never excitable, even when a Brewer runner slides head first into the bag on a ground ball and is barely out. When a Milwaukee player reaches Sedar's station, the first-base coach has a routine of walking right up to the man between every pitch, cupping his left hand and whispering into the runner's ear as though he is telling a secret. He then retreats a few steps into foul territory.

 

If there is a base runner at inning's end, Sedar hustles to where the runner is and retrieves batting helmets and gloves. At the end of each Milwaukee inning he can be seen offering words of encouragement to the young Milwaukee players, accompanied by a swipe on the rump.

 

"I've always been happy doing what I've done in baseball," he said, reflecting on his career.

 

"Obviously, I'm a lot happier now."

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1

 

Money is finally back at helm of Stars

By MARK McCARTER

Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com

 

BIRMINGHAM - A team he knew mostly by radio broadcasts over the Internet and minor league baseball's nightly Web site scoreboard was finally Don Money's team on Thursday.

 

Money, the manager of the Stars, joined the team for the first time this season after the death of his father, 88-year-old Robert Money Sr., on April 18.

 

The elder Money was hospitalized two weeks earlier, as Money and the Stars arrived in Huntsville.

 

Don flew home to be with his father, then was actually en route to Huntsville last week when his father died.

 

"I hated to be gone, especially with those circumstances," Money said, sitting in his office in the visitors' clubhouse. "It's time to get back in this mode."

 

He admitted he's still doing his homework, though he followed the team many nights through Brett Pollack's play-by-play or on his computer.

 

"I've been going over the stat sheets, to see who's been doing what," said Money, whose club was 9-9 during his absence.

[Mass Haas]

Again, nice job here by the Daily Mail's Jacob Messer...

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/story/S...ors-story/

 

A survivor's story

Jacob Messer

Charleston Daily Mail Sportswriter

 

West Virginia Power hitting coach Corey Hart always thought he was invincible.

 

Why wouldn't he?

 

Hart, 31, was well built and athletic. So much so, he spent more than a third of his life -- 11 years, to be exact -- as a minor-league baseball player in the Kansas City Royals' and Milwaukee Brewers' farm systems.

 

"I thought nothing could happen to me," Hart said.

 

That explains why he ignored a spot on the right side of his chest that was about the size of a 50-cent piece. It had been there all Hart's life. He always assumed it was a birthmark.

 

It wasn't.

 

It was malignant melanoma.

 

Although it is one of the rarest types of skin cancer, it is the deadliest type of the disease. According to the World Health Organization Report, about 48,000 melanoma-related deaths occur annually.

 

Hart might have been included in those statistics someday if it weren't for his wife, Stacy.

 

She had a hunch about that spot, which had changed in appearance. It darkened and a portion in the middle rose above the surface of his skin.

 

"Since the day I met him, he told me it was a birthmark," recalled Hart's wife, 34. "But it didn't look right to me."

 

So, Stacy did what any good wife would do. She tricked him into visiting a dermatologist with her in Nashville, Tenn., where the couple resides in the off-season. She even used their son, 6-month-old Camden, as an accomplice.

 

"After I had the baby, I got a little rash on my upper arm," she explained. "So, I scheduled an appointment when I knew he could go with me. Then, I told him I needed him to help me with the baby. As soon as we walked into the doctor's office, I pulled up his shirt and had my doctor look at it."

 

The doctor didn't hesitate.

 

"Ten minutes later," Hart said, "they told me to take my insurance card to the receptionist."

 

The doctor performed a biopsy and diagnosed the spot as a dysplastic nevus, which is an atypical mole.

 

Dysplastic nevi usually are larger than ordinary moles and have irregular and indistinct borders, according to the National Cancer Institute. Their color frequently is not uniform, ranging from pink to dark brown. They usually are flat, although parts might be raised above the skin surface.

 

That was Feb. 28, about a week before Hart reported to Arizona for the Brewers' spring training. Hart returned to the dermatologist the next day for two more procedures to remove that spot and a cyst on the left side of his chest.

 

A week passed and Hart thought everything was fine until he received a phone call as he was driving into Phoenix. It was the dermatologist, who had good news and bad news.

 

"We didn't get it all," the doctor told Hart, recounting the conversation. "We have to go back in there and get the rest of it. But we don't have to do it right now. You can wait until the season is over if you want."

 

Hart told his wife and they agreed to take care of the problem sooner rather than later.

 

"Had we left it all season, who knows what would have happened," she said.

 

Hart visited the Brewers' team doctor, who eventually uttered the two words that changed the way he looked at himself and his life: malignant melanoma.

 

"My wife was a wreck the whole time," Hart said. "I wasn't worried about it until then."

 

Depressing thoughts of his wife and son's lives without him soon followed the devastating diagnosis.

 

"That," Hart said, "was the thing that got me the most."

 

The Brewers sent Hart back to Nashville, where a Vanderbilt University dermopathologist successfully removed all of the melanoma April 2 during the sixth and final procedure (four for the melanoma and two for the cyst).

 

The eight-hour operation followed a 31-hour drive from Phoenix and preceded a six-hour drive to Charleston, where he played for the Alley Cats in 1999. Hart was at Appalachian Power Park the next evening for a media session and exhibition game.

 

"He didn't complain once," his wife said. "That's just the kind of guy he is."

 

The Christian couple's faith in God provided strength and solace during the difficult ordeal.

 

"I knew it was in God's hands," Hart said.

 

So, the Harts prayed.

 

"We prayed a lot," his wife said. "We called both of our churches that we grew up in and we asked them to pray. We put the word out there."

 

She also believes God brought them together for a reason.

 

"Maybe he would have let it go too long if I hadn't come into his life," she said.

 

"And I let him know that," she added with a laugh.

 

Much like a child eager to remove a Band-Aid and show off a boo-boo, Hart proudly displays the five-inch scar that runs diagonally from the middle of his chest to the area under his right breast. He even lets people look at photos from his operation, which show the exposed opening where the melanoma was removed.

 

Who can blame him? He is a cancer survivor, after all. His experience -- one that taught him not to take life for granted -- is worth sharing.

 

However, Hart knows -- and his wife won't let him forget -- that he hasn't finished his fight with cancer.

 

"I'm more of a risk than normal people," Hart said. "Now that I have had it, it's more likely to come back. The fact that I work in the sun makes me that much more susceptible."

 

Hart has to endure monthly checkups for the next year. He also has to report any suspicious moles.

 

"My wife looks me over head to toe in case something changes," he said.

 

Hart uses sunscreen and wears specially made undershirts. A hat or helmet also is a must considering his shaved head is a flesh-colored bull's-eye.

 

It all is done to protect him from a relapse.

 

"He'll never be free and clear," said his wife, who takes similar precautions with their son because melanoma often is hereditary.

 

"He's a very positive person and he told me not to worry. But I'll always worry. I'll always be the nagging wife telling him he needs to put on his sunblock and his hat."

 

* * *

Thanks in part to Hart, the Power has a .293 team batting average. That is tops among the South Atlantic League's 16 low Class A clubs.

 

West Virginia is on pace to shatter the franchise record of .277. That mark was set last year under Mike Lum, whom Hart replaced after the Brewers promoted him to roving hitting instructor this year.

 

Hart was the hitting coach for the high Class A Brevard County (Fla.) Manatees last year.

[Mass Haas]

Link for Frank Kremblas photo while active, text follows:

 

www.tennessean.com/apps/p...7706060444

 

Timeout with ... Frank Kremblas

Nashville Sounds Manager

 

Frank Kremblas is directly out of Central Casting: The quick-talking, straight-shooting, no-nonsense Kremblas is what you imagine in a professional baseball manager. He is in his third season with the Sounds and comes from a successful athletic background. His father, Frank Sr., who died last year, was the quarterback for Ohio State from 1956-58 and led the Buckeyes to a share of the national championship in 1957.

 

Kremblas carried on the family tradition of winning when he led the Sounds to the Pacific Coast League championship in 2005. Kremblas, 40, who is not married but does have a girlfriend, played his college ball at Eastern Kentucky before playing eight years in the minors. He recently sat down with The Tennessean's Bryan Mullen to talk about the best player in baseball, the crowds on Thirsty Thursdays, Fletch and sushi.

 

On a funny story from his playing days:

 

"I played all nine positions in one game. Jim Tracy was the manager (for Double-A Chattanooga) and he figured out how to do it. It was one of those things where it was the last game of the year and we were out of the playoffs."

 

On his pitching appearance in the game:

 

"Struck the guy out."

 

On the best minor league players he's managed:

 

"Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun for many of the same reasons. They have plate discipline, power and the ability to make contact. I'd also put J.J. Hardy on there as well."

 

On the crowds during Thirsty Thursdays:

 

"They're great because there are a lot of good-looking girls in the crowd (laughs)."

 

On his favorite movie of all time:

 

"Fletch. That's the one I probably watch the most. I was in college when it came out. And I hate the baseball movies. They're not true representations, like Bull Durham. I'm sick of that movie."

 

On the disappointment of not getting a new downtown ballpark:

 

"I think Nashville is missing out on something that was going to be really nice. And obviously it would help the downtown area."

 

On the best all-around player in baseball right now:

 

"There are a lot of good hitters who are just average defensively, but I'd probably say Derek Jeter. He hits for average, plays pretty good defense, and knows how to win games."

 

On his favorite restaurants:

 

"I like sushi. Taste of Tokyo is good, and Rusan's is pretty good, too."

 

On younger brother, Mike, whom Kremblas managed in Double-A Huntsville in 2003:

 

"He lives in Knoxville now and sells BMWs. He has two kids. He told me he got a Wii (video game system) and his daughter, who's 2, scored two runs off of him in the baseball game."

 

On his fondest memory of playing baseball at Eastern Kentucky:

 

"Probably going to the (NCAA) Regionals. One year we played Oklahoma and Tulane and lost the first two games, of course. The other year we played Arizona and then Loyola Marymount. You didn't know what it would be like because back then (the NCAA Regionals) weren't on TV."

 

On his hobbies:

 

"Golf, fishing, that's about it really. I'm probably about a 10 handicap. Scrambling is my biggest strength because I'm not consistent hitting the darn thing."

 

On his reading interests:

 

"Go look at the top of my locker. I have about 12 or 13 books up there. I read all kinds. I like Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell books, anything with special ops or the CIA. I read some of James Grippando, who writes about a defense lawyer that gets mixed up with the wrong people."

 

On his dream vacation:

 

"I've never been on a vacation. I'd probably go somewhere where I could go fishing in the ocean. And it's got to be warm."

[Mass Haas]

This is a lengthy, detailed, quote-filled feature article with classic photos of Frank Kremblas and Stan Kyles. We're going to ask you to click the link below to visit the Nashville Scene's site. However, we will, as usual, paste the text below in order to maintain it for our archives, thanks.

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.nashvillescene.com/St...ndex.shtml

 

A Whole New Ball Game

Sounds manager Frank Kremblas is not your typical baseball man?and it?s making a difference

by Kay West, nashvillescene.com

 

On a recent sun-drenched afternoon, the faded blue seats of Greer Stadium are one shade lighter than the sky. There?s a game tonight, and the Nashville Sounds are taking batting practice, socking balls into the far green reaches of the outfield. Frank Kremblas? angular face is turned in their direction?you can even see the swings reflected in his mirrored shades. But it?s impossible to know exactly where he is looking, or what he is thinking.

 

Kremblas, the Sounds? 21st manager in 30 years of baseball at Greer Stadium, gives nothing away. He?s not much for small talk, and extracting personal information is like squeezing granite for water. He does not suffer fools gladly, or at all. Without the glasses, his eyes can throw a piercing look that bores through steel, scaring the crap out of any player who dares to arrive late. He does not sit still easily, and he has neither the folksy charm nor the gruff but lovable manner of the stereotypical dugout denizen in Hollywood baseball movies. By the way, Frank Kremblas hates Hollywood baseball movies.

 

In fact, don?t get Kremblas started on his beefs. For instance, the Reds organization that drafted him in the 23rd round in 1989?especially Jim Bowden, who?s ?a prick.? (Bowden, now the controversy-stirring GM of the Washington Nationals, once worked in player development for the Reds.) And politicians. The lights at Greer. Tardiness. Country music. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. O?Hare Airport. And United Airlines. Especially United Airlines.

 

?I had paid $400 to fly home early from an away series about a month ago,? Kremblas says, clearly still pissed. ?I had to change airlines to make the connection in O?Hare, the worst airport in the country.? The Sounds may be fielding flies in his sunglasses, summer days don?t get any brighter, but Kremblas is suddenly somewhere else?back at a check-in counter in Chicago, ticking off hassles ranging from delayed flights to an obstreperous clerk who wouldn?t let him check or carry on his luggage.

 

?I asked her what she would suggest I do about my suitcase,? Kremblas continues, spitting out words like the sunflower seeds he chews throughout a game, one leg pumping in place like a piston. ?She says, ?I don?t know. Throw it away?? I looked at her and said, ?Where?s the trash can?? She didn?t look like she believed me, but she pointed one out. I ripped the tags off the suitcase, left it beside the trashcan, and got on the plane. I had to go shopping for some new clothes when I got back because that was pretty much what I had. I hate United.?

 

The harangue confirms what Sounds fans and visiting players have suspected for the past two years: don?t challenge Frank Kremblas unless you?re ready for the consequences. He looks like a human bullet: shaved head, not an ounce of body fat on his streamlined build. A relative whippersnapper among league managers, he is not somebody you?d call ?Pops.? Where his peers often sit nailed to their slice of wood in the dugout, Kremblas fidgets through every game. He?s up and down, up and down, up at the rail or down on the bench. When the Sounds are at bat, he assumes his place on the third-base line, his panoramic vision taking in the batter, the base-runners, the pitcher, the catcher, the officiating crew?and between batters, the women in the stands. He either stands ramrod straight or bent at the waist, hands on his knees, poised like a cat ready to spring.

 

?Other players are always asking us, ?What?s up with your skipper? Is he weird?? ? says Sounds infielder Brad Nelson. ?He is so intense, there?s no way he could get any more intense.?

 

That intensity, though, has given a shot of excitement to a franchise in need of some juice. Since 2005?when Frank Kremblas assumed the helm of an all-new affiliation with the Milwaukee Brewers and an entirely new roster?the Sounds have turned into something more than a good team. They?ve given fans a show on the field. Sure, marketing has helped?the Bible-based bobbleheads, the Thirsty Thursdays. But under Kremblas? Zenlike instruction to play with passion, not emotion, the players have brought scrappy new energy to their games, coming from behind time after time when all looked lost.

 

?Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.? ?Yogi Berra

 

Last Thursday and Friday night against Omaha, for example, the games ended with walk-off home runs by Joe Dillon and Callix Crabbe, respectively?the first time for that feat in Nashville in 10 seasons. Then, on Sunday, Laynce Nix hit a two-run homer in the sixth to take a lead the team would not lose for their fifth win in a row. Those dingers and subsequent wins put Nashville back in first place in the PCL North Division, and in possession of the best record in the entire league. That kind of drama puts butts in bleachers?and as the team rallies support for its still-debated new stadium, it couldn?t come at a better time.

 

?Players take on the face, the personality of their manager,? says Stan Kyles, the Sounds? third-year pitching coach, who worked previously with Kremblas at AA Huntsville in 2002 and 2003. ?Frank has a lot of energy, so his team has a lot of energy. Frank has never, not even as a new guy, been afraid to take chances, but they are informed, educated chances. He instills that in his team. He encourages them to try something, as long as there is some thought behind it, a reason for what they did. And if it doesn?t work, he?s willing to take the heat for it.?

 

?You can always see Frank?s wheels turning, nonstop,? says Sounds first baseman/outfielder Andy Abad, who?s regarded as the locker room?s premier practical joker. ?He?s always thinking of something. This game is mental??here Abad laughs??and he?s about as mental as they come.?

 

Frank Kremblas doesn?t have an iPod, a car (the Sounds lend him one to drive during the season) or a home. ?Basically, I?m homeless,? he says, only half-kidding. ?I live in one of those residential hotels.? Asked what part of town, he answers, ?The airport.?

 

It?s a way of life perfectly suited for a single guy on the go, though not high on the domestic bliss. Good luck to the interviewer who presses him for more.

 

Were you ever married?

 

?No.?

 

Why not?

 

?I?ve never asked anybody.? Do you want to be? Grimace. Stony silence. Never mind. He has a girlfriend, though not the same one the ushers who work Greer?s comp ticket sections knew from last year.

 

Quick as he is to list his dislikes, Kremblas has his preferences. He likes loud music with energy, crossword puzzles, sushi, FreeCell. He likes his steaks bloody and his martinis extra dirty. Mostly, he loves baseball, and he loves coaching.

 

?Why wouldn?t you want to do this?? is the rhetorical question Kremblas poses as he surveys his domain. ?I love this. I love helping guys, moving them along, teaching them things about the game. I love going against other managers, other teams, trying to fool them. I can?t imagine doing anything else. I always wanted to play professional ball, and if you are lucky enough to do that, you want to play at the highest level. I still want to play at the highest level.?

 

Frank Kremblas was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Asked to describe his youth, he shrugs: ?On a road with houses.? His father was a patent attorney, his mother a secretary for the firm. His only sibling is a younger brother, whom he ended up managing for one year in Huntsville.

 

Like most kids of that time and place, he began playing sports for fun. Unlike most kids, he had a tough act to follow. Father Frank Sr., who passed away last year, quarterbacked the Ohio State Buckeyes to a share of the 1957 national championship. ?There was no pressure from him to play sports, though,? Kremblas says. ?But there were expectations from my parents to do your best whatever you did, behave properly and appropriately, and accept personal responsibility.?

 

As a boy, he followed the Cincinnati Reds and began playing Little League baseball when he was about 7. Always, he says, he had a lot of energy. ?I?m sure I was a pain in the ass as a kid,? he says. He excelled academically in high school, earning a 3.8 GPA without much effort. ?School was easy for me,? he says. ?I never had to study.? He also played three sports, and was fondest of football, ?because you got to hit, and I loved to hit.? He played quarterback and safety, but while he spent a lot of time on the field, he didn?t receive any offers to play college football.

 

He did, however, accept an offer from Eastern Kentucky to play baseball. He was All-Ohio Valley Conference in 1987 and 1988. He played second, but his goal was to get behind the plate and catch. ?I bugged the coach about it all the time,? Kremblas remembers. ?I felt like it was easier to get drafted as a catcher than an infielder. I knew I was a better catcher than the one we had, but the coach had never seen me catch. When he did, he saw I was right and I got to be catcher my senior year.?

 

Sure enough, in the June 1989 draft, he was selected in the 23rd round by the team he?d cheered since childhood, the Cincinnati Reds. Playing for the Reds was a dream. The reality was eye-opening.

 

?You feel more insecure than you ever have in your life coming in to play minor league ball if you were not a high pick,? Kremblas says. ?At least that?s how it was in the Reds organization, and that?s all I knew. They treated the high picks better than all the other players, and that?s not right. We were not treated like human beings, we were treated like pieces of meat. But I didn?t know any better, and I just wanted to play ball.?

 

His professional playing career began in the rookie league in 1989 and ended eight years later at Triple-A lndianapolis. In 1993, he spent the entire season in Indy, but began the next two in AA before moving back up to AAA. It was in 1994 that he first began to suspect he might not be in the Reds? plans for the future. ?There were lots of injuries on the Reds that year, and it seemed like I might get a chance to go up,? Kremblas says. ?But I didn?t.?

 

In 1996, the writing was on the wall in spring training. He asked for his release. He was playing ball for the Independent League in Columbia, Tenn., when his manager got a call from the Reds. They wanted an infielder to play on their Triple-A team, and Kremblas was the obvious choice. He went for it, but his dream team burned him yet again.

 

?They are supposed to pay you a $3,000 bonus to sign on,? Kremblas recalls, ?but the bastards made me waive it in order to play. I did, so that?s my fault.? The next year, when the only offer he received to play ball was from the Reds, he turned it down. Instead, he signed on as hitting coach in the Montreal Expos system for their rookie level in Ottawa.

 

?The transition was hard at first,? he remembers. ?I felt like I was quitting, but then I realized I just wasn?t good enough to be a player anymore, so that was easier. I hadn?t given coaching a lot of thought while I was playing, but I liked it right away. And the Expos? organization showed me how bad the Reds? was then, and that there was another way. ?

 

It was after he finished playing that he had the epiphany that has guided his coaching philosophy. ?As a player, you are so results-oriented?results were so important to me then,? Kremblas explains. ?It?s amazing how much easier it is to learn without results clouding your head. When you play, you are looking through a filter of stats and numbers. You can?t see clearly. Look at it as cause and effect. Stats are the effect. What is the cause? The results?the stats?will not change unless you can change the cause. I wish I had known that when I was playing.

 

?I want to take them out of their comfort zone of what they know they can do, and [make them] do some things they can?t,? Kremblas says of his players. ?Maybe they?ll find out they can. To do that, you have to clear your head of result-oriented thinking. Then the results will come.?

 

When you ask ballplayers about Kremblas? method, you get a certain amount of head-scratching. ?I?ve had 11 different managers in my career, and Frank?s the most out-there manager I?ve ever had,? says Andy Abad, now in the 15th season of a professional baseball career that began in 1993 with the Red Sox?s Gulf Coast League.

 

Abad has wound through levels from rookie league to big league and nearly a dozen teams, including a season for the Osaka Kintetsu in Japan. This ain?t his first rodeo: that much is clear one afternoon as he sits on a table in the training room, his left forearm hooked up to a machine, a laptop balanced on his thighs. Yet even the seasoned first baseman says he?s never encountered anyone quite like Kremblas.

 

?He?s weird, but in a good way,? says the prankish Abad, who spent the day before with a mattress-sized ice pack strapped to his back as he razzed his teammates at batting practice. ?When I came to spring training, other players said to me, ?You?ll see some stuff that you don?t see every day come out of a manager.? And they were right. He knows the game better than just about anybody. You just never know what to expect from him.?

 

Stan Kyles says that?s the key to Kremblas? philosophy. ?You play every single day, and it can get stagnant and predictable,? Kyles says. ?But when Frank?s running a ball club, you have to be on your toes. At any given moment, he might ask them to do something they don?t expect.?

 

Just ask infielder Chris Barnwell, who spent two full seasons under Kremblas in Huntsville before being reunited with him in Nashville early in the 2005 season. He hasn?t forgotten being caught off-guard by his teammate during a game in 2004 in Huntsville. ?I was at bat when Brad Nelson tried to steal home,? says Barnwell, ?and I didn?t even see it coming.?

 

Nelson, who weighs in at 250, isn?t exactly a gazelle on the base paths. But he?d been given the go-ahead out of the blue by his third-base coach, Frank Kremblas. And if he lacked anything in speed, he was fueled by heart and one of the Kremblas Rules of Play: give it all you?ve got.

 

?Base running is a big thing with him,? says Nelson, a good-natured, easygoing 24-year-old raised on a working farm in north central Iowa. ?I got tagged out by the catcher, but at least I tried it. You fail a lot more than you succeed in baseball. If you try something and it doesn?t happen, Frank just says, ?Maybe next time.? ?

 

?Frank wants players to think quickly,? says Kyles. ?He allows them to try things without the pressure of being afraid of screwing up. If you try something and it doesn?t work, as long as you had a thought process behind it, then that?s OK. But have a reason for doing what you did. You have to find out what you can do and what you can?t do, but you can?t find out until you try. Frank gives his players the freedom to do that.?

 

While Kremblas? way of thinking pulls players out of their comfort zone and can cause fans to throw up their hands in frustration?or get more vocally aggravated on beer-stoked Thirsty Thursdays?the man gets results, earns the devotion of his players and the respect of his peers.

 

Kremblas began making a name for himself in his three years at the helm of the Milwaukee Brewers? AA team, the Huntsville Stars. In his first year, the Stars just missed the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. The next year, Kremblas led the Stars to the Southern League?s Western Division Championship. He was chosen as the league?s 2003 Manager of the Year. In 2004, his peers named him Best Managerial Prospect in a Baseball America poll.

 

When the Brewers entered into an agreement with AmeriSports Companies (the Sounds? owners) to make Nashville the home of their Triple-A team beginning with the 2005 season, they promoted Kremblas from Huntsville to manage. Kyles, who had been at Huntsville with Kremblas before spending the 2004 season with the arms at the Brewers? AAA affiliate in Louisville, forwarded his address to Music City as well.

 

If the Brewers wanted to see results in Nashville, they got ?em. In Kremblas? first year managing at the Triple-A level, he led the Sounds to the Pacific Coast League championship?the club?s first AAA title, and their first professional championship in the 23 years since the Double-A Sounds captured the Southern Coast League trophy in 1982. Last year, the Sounds captured the Northern Division title in the American Conference, losing the Conference championship to Round Rock in a five-game series.

 

For someone who discourages obsessing over stats, Kremblas? numbers are nothing to sneeze at. Before the start of his 10th season, his overall managerial record read 499-477. On June 13 in Memphis, he ascended to third place on the Sounds? all-time managers? ranking with his 187th victory. The tie-breaking run was scored by Brad Nelson, on pure hustle from second base.

 

But trophies, stats and the wins column only tell part of the story. The Milwaukee lineup tells another. When Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks comes back from the disabled list to rejoin first baseman Prince Fielder, shortstop J.J. Hardy and third baseman Ryan Braun, the first-place Brewers will boast one of the youngest infields in the major leagues, none of them 25 years old.

 

At the same time, the three No. 1 draft picks (Fielder 2002, Weeks 2003 and Braun 2005) and one No. 2 (Hardy, 2001) have another thing in common: all played under Frank Kremblas in Huntsville, Nashville or both. In spite of their youth, each player segued almost seamlessly from AAA into being an everyday player for the Brewers. The team has been picked by several baseball publications as World Series contenders this year. They?ve been in first place in the NL central division since the third week of the season.

 

Before much-heralded 21-year-old right-hander Yovani Gallardo, who made his major-league debut on the mound Monday night, the newest arrival was Braun, who made his Triple-A debut in Nashville on April 5?and was called up to Milwaukee on May 25, just 49 games into the season. Less then a week later, on June 1, Braun homered, doubled and singled in an 8-5 win over the Marlins. Other former Kremblas players on the field that night were right fielder Corey Hart and pinch hitter Tony Gwynn Jr.

 

?The thing about being an affiliate for a small-market team like Milwaukee, as opposed to a major-market team like the Yankees who purchase stars, is the fans actually get to see the parent team?s players of the future play,? notes Kyles. ?All of these players?Fields, Weeks, Hardy, Hart, Gwynn, Braun, and now Gallardo?spent a good amount of time in Nashville, and now are playing every day for the Brewers.?

 

By that measure, Frank Kremblas is doing exactly what Milwaukee wants him to do: get players ready for the big league. For Kremblas, that responsibility goes well beyond the can?t-miss phenom No. 1 draft picks. It burns perhaps fiercest for players working their way up the farm system. Players like Chris Barnwell, the Brewers 25th-round pick in the June 2001 draft; Brad Nelson, who was picked in the fourth round the same year and has bounced between Huntsville and Nashville the past two seasons; and Vinny Rottino, a Wisconsin native who was signed by Milwaukee as a non-drafted free agent in 2003, and was the last player cut by the Brewers at the conclusion of spring training this year.

 

That goes also for solid, reliable players like catcher Mike Rivera, now in his 11th professional season, his third with Nashville. And for journeymen like Abad, and for former big leaguers like pitcher R.A. Dickey, who played high-school ball at MBA, college ball for UT and was a first-round pick of the Texas Rangers in the 1996 June draft, spending parts of five seasons with the Rangers. In January, Dickey was signed by the Brewers as a minor-league free agent. In seven starts, he was 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA. Since moving to the bullpen as reliever, he is 3-0 with a 4.95 ERA. On Sunday night, Dickey took the spot in the rotation freed by Gallardo?s promotion, and responded with a two-run win.

 

Fans at Greer Stadium could definitely use a program?especially since the only part of the guitar-shaped scoreboard that is still (semi)working is the arm that shows the inning-by-inning score, strikes, balls and outs. Positions and batting lineup change on a daily basis, and though the fans may get confused, players understand why. The parent organization wants their top draft picks to play the position for which they were drafted and where they expect to play in the big leagues. Hence Weeks always played second, Fielder played first, Hardy played short and Braun played third.

 

So far this year, though, Nelson has played first base and right and left field; Barnwell has covered short, second and third; and Rottino has been the Sounds catcher, first and third baseman, and left and right fielder.

 

?I always played shortstop, and I would prefer to play shortstop everyday,? says Barnwell. ?But it is in my best interest to learn the other positions. What Frank tries to teach us is that just because the situation in Milwaukee may not be good for your position, you?re playing for every team. There are 30 major-league teams, not one. You never know.?

 

?Winning is not necessarily the goal in minor league baseball, where you are developing players,? Stan Kyles says. ?But Frank and I think you can do both, develop players and win. If you develop players the right way, then you?ll win. We have been fortunate to have some very good ballplayers here. When some of them leave, get called up, other players step in to take their place, and we continue to win. That tells us we?re doing something right, and it?s working.?

 

?It?s my job to get as many guys to the big leagues as I can,? Kremblas says. ?If I can?t find out what they can and can?t do, I can?t help them. Baseball is such a hard game to play?there are so many things you can?t do. Players are aware of what they can?t do, but not everything they can do unless they try.?

 

There is not a single player on the Sounds? roster who doesn?t dream of making it to the big leagues, of getting the call telling him he?s going to the show. Count Frank Kremblas in that club as well. His players and his colleagues believe it is just a matter of time.

 

?I have no doubt Frank will get a chance to coach in the big leagues,? says Chris Barnwell. ?Anyone who has a chance to play for Frank becomes a better player. He is just so smart. He is always showing you details. We?re always talking about stuff; he is right there with his team and he is a great teacher.?

 

Kyles agrees. ?In the time I have worked with him, Frank has grown as a manager, he has matured in his thinking. He is one of the game?s innovators, plus he has accumulated a lot of knowledge and experience that will bode well for him when he gets the chance to run a major league team. I don?t see how he can be denied.?

 

To paraphrase Tom Petty, it?s the way-yay-ting that?s the hardest part. Kremblas, who is just 40 years old, has ascended quickly up the coaching ladder. Several of his peers at the same level qualify for AARP discounts and have been managing since long before most of their players were even born.

 

?The really good players stand out like beacons, you know right away,? says Kyles. ?They?re obvious. It?s the other ones that are harder to find, that you have to look for, stay on them, push them to be the player they can be. Frank excels at that. Where is he of better service to the organization? Is it here, developing young players, getting them ready for the big leagues? Or up in Milwaukee, with the young players he has helped develop??

 

Only Milwaukee can answer that question. What Kremblas does know is that in the past couple of years, there have been five openings for coaching positions on the Brewers, and he was not invited to interview for any of them. ?If they don?t think I can coach at a major league level,? he says, ?then I am not as good yet as they want me to be.?

 

?The thing about Frank is that he is a player?s manager,? says Abad, just six years younger than his skipper. ?He is not that far removed from playing the game himself. Some of the other managers haven?t played in 30 or 40 years. Players have changed a lot and he understands them, he can communicate with them.?

 

Kremblas has no aspirations to best former manager Trent Jewett?s record of 320 Sounds wins, or Rick Renick?s 309. He?s fond of Nashville and thinks it?s a nice place to live, for the time being. But if he gets that call, he?s ready to run.?I can fit everything I own here in one suitcase,? he says. With just the hint of a smile.

[Mass Haas]

Southern League All-Star Coaches (not players) named:

Phil Wellman was the manager who put on quite the tirade a couple of weeks ago...

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c...;fext=.jsp

 

The Southern League has released the list of coaches for its 2007 All-Star Game, which will be held July 9 at the home of the Mississippi Braves, Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss.

 

Braves manager Phil Wellman and Huntsville Stars hitting coach Sandy Guerrero will oversee the South and North Division clubs, respectively, with Guerrero filling in for Stars manager Don Money, who will be unavailable because of a role he has at the 2007 Futures Game.

 

Guerrero is in his fifth season as the Stars' hitting coach, having finished his playing career in 2005 with Tabasco of the Mexican League and Adirondack of the Northern League.

 

Guerrero was a part of the Milwaukee Brewers farm system from 1986-92 and saw action with Class A Advanced Stockton, Double-A El Paso and Triple-A Denver. He will be joined by Stars pitching coach Rich Sauveur and trainer David Yeager in the North Division clubhouse.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/sports/huntsvi...amp;coll=1

 

All-Star experience bittersweet

Stars' Guerrero has his heart in San Francisco

Mark McCarter, Huntsville Times

 

PEARL, Miss. - Sandy Guerrero's phone kept buzzing. All Monday afternoon, it was a torrent of teasing texts. From his brother Mike. From Prince Fielder. Even a message passed along from one of his best friends, Boston slugger David Ortiz.

 

"Wish you could be here," Fielder tapped out a text that leapt onto Guerrero's screen.

 

Fielder, the ex-Huntsville Star and current Milwaukee Brewers first baseman, Ortiz and Mike Guerrero were in San Francisco.

 

Sandy Guerrero's heart was in San Francisco.

 

But Sandy Guerrero was here, in this booming community just a few miles east of downtown Jackson, Miss., and a couple of light-years east of San Francisco.

 

San Francisco has the Golden Gate. Pearl has the golden arches. San Francisco has Fisherman's Wharf. Pearl has a Bass Pro Shops just across the parking lot from the ballpark.

 

San Francisco has the Major League All-Star Game tonight. Pearl had the Southern League All-Star Game on Monday night.

 

Guerrero, the Stars hitting coach, was the manager for the North team. He was subbing for Stars manager Don Money, who was flying back home - from San Francisco, naturally.

 

Money was initially tabbed the All-Star manager, but got a pass when he was selected to coach in Sunday's Futures Game.

 

Part of Guerrero's responsibility on Monday was to pitch to the North stars in the home run contest.

 

That's the most agonizing and cruel irony.

 

Sandy had been invited to San Francisco, to be Fielder's personal pitcher in the majors' Home Run Derby. They have been close since Prince played for the Stars in 2004.

 

"I have such a nice relationship with Prince, and with his wife and kids," Guerrero said.

 

It's a nice testimony that Fielder would offer the pitching role to his Double-A coach.

 

When Guerrero's duties here precluded his trip to San Francisco, Fielder enlisted Mike Guerrero, who manages Milwaukee's West Virginia farm club. "A blessing from heaven," Mike told The Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail.

 

"At least," Sandy said, "it's staying in the family."

 

Fielder did blast three homers, but failed to advance past the first round.

 

It all tastes a tad bittersweet. As Guerrero put it, "Prince is going to be in a lot of All-Star Games, but this is the first one."

 

Guerrero was sitting in the visiting manager's office at Trustmark Park, munching on a sandwich and sipping a Coke. It was nearing time to head toward the field.

 

His phone buzzed one more time. He read the message, then slapped the phone shut with a loud clack and a weary smile.

 

Leaving the clubhouse, a TV set caught his attention. ESPN was showing footage of players loosening up for the Home Run Derby. There was a quick glimpse of Mike Guerrero.

 

"I feel like I lost a leg," Guerrero said. "I feel like I lost and arm and a leg."

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/sports/huntsvi...amp;coll=1

 

Coaches know marked men

From Money's book on Aaron to Sauveur's knowledge of Bonds, insight is interesting

Mark McCarter, Huntsville Times

 

Countless books have been written about Hank Aaron, both before and after his pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record. He even penned an autobiography, "Aaron, r.f.," in the mid-1960s, which begins with his jubilation over signing a landmark $100,000 contract.

 

These days, Alex Rodriguez has that much in the loose change tray on his dresser.

 

Among the other books in the Aaron library:

 

"The man who made Milwaukee famous: A salute to Henry Aaron."

 

You may know the author.

 

Don Money.

 

He's the Huntsville Stars manager, a man who shared a clubhouse (and a beer or two) with Aaron for two seasons - and who is a good sport when you suggest, "I didn't even know you'd ever read a book, much less wrote one."

 

With Barry Bonds now thisclose to Hank Aaron's career record of 755 home runs, a visit to the Huntsville Stars' clubhouse can provide a nice look at the dichotomy between Aaron and Bonds from the perspective of a pair of former teammates.

 

Money was Aaron's teammate with the Brewers in 1975-76. When Aaron hit the final homer of his career, in the seventh inning of a 6-2 win over California on July 20, 1976, Money was in the dugout, having just hit a sacrifice fly two batters earlier. (Playing right field that day for the Angels, by the way, was Bobby Bonds, Barry's father.)

 

Stars pitching coach Rich Sauveur was a rookie with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986, making his debut on July 1.

 

A lean, speedy Barry Bonds was his center fielder, having made his debut only a month earlier.

 

Now, the man who made BALCO famous is bulky, slow - and apparently not much different as a personality than he was two decades ago.

 

The Arrogant One

 

Sauveur and Bonds were first teammates in Hawaii in Triple-A in '86. Even then, Sauveur said, he had a tendency to put himself above his teammates.

 

"He was very arrogant then," Sauveur said. "He knew he was a good ballplayer. He had a dad that was a major league player at the time. He was well-known all over the place. He was touted as a very, very good prospect.

 

"From what I remember, he was very arrogant and the players didn't appreciate it. We were just Triple-A players, guys coming up. That just wasn't part of the game that I was taught, to be arrogant to fans and stuff like that. But you would see it day in and day out."

 

When Sauveur was reunited with Bonds in the majors, there was even more of what people have shrugged off as "just Barry being Barry."

 

"From my time in the big leagues, for other players and myself, when you get called up the first time you keep your mouth shut and go about your business and do what you're supposed to do. But he wasn't like that. He was the same guy in the big leagues as he was in Triple-A," Sauveur said.

 

"Don't get me wrong," Sauveur continued, "he's a fabulous ballplayer. At one time, he was the best all-around player in the game, ever. He's a great athlete. Everybody has their opinion on what happened and what he's done. He made the decision to do whatever he did, if he did anything.

 

"He was a fabulous player. I just wish," Sauveur said, "he hadn't been so arrogant to people, and other players, too."

 

The Gentleman

 

Hank Aaron was "just another ballplayer." That's what Don Money remembers.

 

Not in talent, mind you. But in the way he wanted to be treated.

 

He joined the Brewers in '75 having broken Ruth's record. He had finally achieved the long-overdue recognition he deserved. But he was one of the most humble superstars you'd ever want to meet, as he has remained a humble, gracious man in his retirement.

 

"I never saw him flaunting anything," said Money, who was a teammate of eight future Hall of Famers (Aaron, Jim Bunning, Steve Carlton, Rollie Fingers, Paul Molitor, Mike Schmidt, Don Sutton and Robin Yount.)

 

He was eager to join his teammates socially.

 

"We got along great. We went out," Money said. "We had a beer. We had some good times. He was just like any of the other players. It was probably nice for him to get away from all the hoopla, to go out and have a beer and shoot the breeze with teammates."

 

Before the '76 season, one of Money's friends in New Jersey suggested that he write a book about the upcoming year alongside Aaron. Money approached Aaron with the idea. He even offered to show the finished product to Aaron before it was printed. Aaron gave the go-ahead and said, "I trust you."

 

"I used to just jot some things down during the day, things I saw him do. Nothing special.

 

"What I remember about him was his being a gentleman. He went about his business and did what he's supposed to do."

 

The gentleman's record will soon be topped by the arrogant one.

 

Funny thing, though. With each passing day, it seems their legacies grow even farther apart, Aaron's legacy of class and greatness something that Bonds can never threaten.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.wvgazette.com/section...2007072531

 

Scout?s honor

 

Hank Aaron?s son recalls his dad?s chase of Ruth?s record

By Paul J. Nyden

Charleston Gazette Staff Writer

 

As the nation?s media focuses on the chase of his father?s famous home-run record, Larry Aaron is quietly spending the West Virginia Power?s current homestand behind home plate, sitting below the press box at Appalachian Power Park.

 

With a stack of papers and forms on his lap and a speed meter in his hand, the son of baseball legend Hank Aaron watches every player on both teams, evaluating their potential as major-league baseball players.

 

?As scouts, we look at the fundamentals needed to play the game ? how a player can run, hit and throw, and his power,? he said.

 

Larry Aaron, now 49, is used to being around ballparks. He spent much of his childhood watching his dad?s Hall of Fame career.

 

?He always taught us baseball was just his job,? he said. ?He told us he was no better than the guy fixing the streets or digging a ditch.?

 

Hank Aaron did his job rather well. When he retired from baseball in 1976, he had set 23 major-league records. One came in Atlanta on April 8, 1974.

 

Larry Aaron said that was his ?most exciting moment? ? the day his father hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth?s long-standing career record.

 

Larry also remembers the racist threats directed against his father as he was approaching Ruth?s record more than 30 years ago.

 

?He didn?t even talk about it to us,? he said. ?He probably talked to my mother and stepmother, but we really didn?t find out about it until he was real close to the record.?

 

Larry had one brother and three sisters.

 

?Then, one day, someone called him and talked about kidnapping us,? he said. ?But he didn?t usually talk about those phone calls.?

 

Hank Aaron hit his 755th ? and final ? home run at County Stadium in Milwaukee on July 20, 1976. Like his father, Larry declines to comment on Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants outfielder, plagued by allegations of steroid use, who had accumulated 753 career home runs as of Wednesday afternoon.

 

Larry Aaron, who played professional ball from 1981-83 on Atlanta Braves farm teams in Bradenton, Fla., Anderson, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., began working as a full-time scout for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2000. For 11 years before that, he was a high school teacher in Milwaukee.

 

?Today, I?m on the road between 20 and 24 days a month,? he said. ?I live in Atlanta now. When I?m home, I go out and play golf or just relax.

 

?I evaluate players, do reports on them and send information to the main office. I look at everybody, at all the players on each team and do reports on each player.?

 

During the spring and summer months, Aaron follows players on eight different teams in the Carolina League (advanced Class A) and 16 teams in the South Atlantic League (low Class A).

 

?This is a fun job,? he said. ?I have watched players develop in both leagues over the past two or three years, at the low-A and high-A levels. You see a lot of them make progress.?

 

After helping the Indianapolis Clowns win the Negro League World Series in 1952, Hank Aaron was the South Atlantic League?s first African-American player. Playing for the Jacksonville (Fla.) Tars, he won the league?s Most Valuable Player Award in 1953.

 

Hank Aaron went on to win National League MVP in 1957, when the Braves won the World Series. He appeared in 21 All-Star Games.

 

Today, the Milwaukee Brewers are in first place in the National League?s Central Division.

 

?For years, Milwaukee was a last-place team,? Larry Aaron said. ?Today, the coaches and staff have brought a positive attitude to the players.

 

?Today, the players are closer than they were then. The only way to develop that is to have a good front office. And now the Brewers have an owner who wants to spend more money on the ballclub.?

 

Aaron enjoys his job.

 

?I am with an organization that makes you want to go out and do your job,? he said. ?The Brewers have one of the best minor-league systems in baseball.?

 

Since the Power, successors to the Charleston Alley Cats, began playing three years ago, two of its players have made it to the Brewers: pitcher Yovani Gallardo and third-baseman Ryan Braun.

 

So far this season, five Power players have been promoted in the Brewers? minor-league system: centerfielder Darren Ford, first baseman and outfielder Michael Brantley, starting pitcher Mike McClendon and relievers E.J. Shanks and Patrick Ryan. Brantley plays for the Brewers? Class AA team in Huntsville, Ala., while the others are on the high-A team in Brevard County, Fla.

 

Larry Aaron said his father, now 73, may soon retire from his job in the Atlanta Braves front office.

 

?He has already bought a house in Palm Beach, Florida, so I am not looking for him to stay in Atlanta much longer,? he said.

 

Larry said he always remembers the advice his father gave to his children. ?The first thing he would say to us was, ?Get your education.? ?

 

Charleston Gazette Photographer: Chris Dorst

Larry Aaron, a Milwaukee Brewers scout and son of baseball great Hank Aaron, watches a West Virginia Power game from the stands at Appalachian Power Park.

 

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/images/stories/LARRY1.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Helena Press Release:

 

Helena - The Brewers have made an administrative move on the Helena roster today. The Brewers transferred pitching coach Jose Nunez to the Arizona League Brewers and replaced him in Helena with Aris Tirado. Tirado had been one of the pitching coaches for the Arizona League Brewers.

 

Tirado, a resident of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico is in his 11th season as a professional pitching coach but his first in the Milwaukee chain. He had spent the prior ten years with the Texas Rangers? organization. He had a ten-year minor league playing career with the Mets, Yankees and Expos systems.

[Mass Haas]

Link, text follows:

 

www.helenabrewers.net/htm...s_room.php

 

Isom happy at the helm in Helena

First-year manager has Brewers streaking through July

By Mark Shugar / MLB.com

 

The old saying is that success usually starts at the top, but if you asked Helena Brewers manager Jeff Isom, he may point one hand up and the other down.

 

Isom, who is at the helm of one of July's hottest teams in all the Minor Leagues, is quick to pass credit to his organization and to his players for the Brewers' 18-5 performance this month after a 6-6 start to the season in June.

 

"It helps out a bit when you have decent players," Isom said. "As a manager, you have to have good players to win ballgames and that's what we've got here. The Milwaukee Brewers have done an excellent job with their scouting."

 

But perhaps the Brewers' smartest move was choosing Isom to manage their Short-Season affiliate in the Pioneer League, even if he wasn't their first choice.

 

The Brewers originally named Johnny Narron as the team's manager for the 2007 season, but they had to scramble to replace him when Narron left to take a coaching position with the Cincinnati Reds.

 

Enter Isom, who after seven seasons managing independent baseball clubs, including a 57-39 season with the Traverse City Beach Bums in 2006, seized the opportunity to give managing in affiliated baseball a chance.

 

"You're always interested in getting to the big leagues," he said. "As a player or as a manager, it's your lone goal."

 

Isom gave his best efforts to make it to the Major Leagues as a pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates' and San Diego Padres' farm systems from 1993-95, but he came to the realization that he would have to change his career path in hopes of some day making it to the show.

 

"During my time as a player I realized that I wasn't going to make the big leagues. It wasn't realistic," Isom said. "So that's when I turned my attention toward the coaching and managerial part of [baseball].

 

"I started asking a lot of questions, not necessarily second guessing managers, but to find out why they did what they did, what made them successful and why they were successful."

 

And perhaps Isom's most valuable attribute was his willingness to listen.

 

"I've had some very good managers, and I've had some managers that weren't so good," he said. "But I learned from all of them."

 

It is that curiosity about the game that Isom hopes he is instilling in his Helena club, a generous mix of players in their sophomore seasons and fresh out of college or the First-Year Player Draft.

 

"As a manager you go out there and take the mindset that, 'Hey, they should have made this play,' but I've learned you can't assume anything with these guys," Isom said. "There's always a time where you have to go out there and teach, and these players have to learn."

 

For Isom, his role as manager in the Pioneer League is less about wins and losses, and more about developing players in their first season of professional baseball.

 

The development process involves everything from getting hitters used to using wood bats as opposed to aluminum, or making sure pitchers work the inside of the plate and develop a threatening change-up.

 

"It's just a matter of the players themselves getting the repetition in, learning about professional baseball and making adjustments," Isom said. "That and playing with each other. As the season progresses, you get used to what somebody else is going to be doing."

 

Isom also works hard to make sure his players get a dose of professional etiquette when under his wing. Pro ball is a far cry from high school and college diamonds across the nation.

 

"The hardest thing is teaching these players that, when you have a big lead or you're down by a bunch, to be professional in those situations," Isom said. "Don't run up the score, don't be stealing bases in certain situations -- that's a big adjustment for a lot of these younger players.

 

"We're never trying to show up another team because you don't want to be shown up if you're on the opposite end of that score."

 

Very few teams have gotten the best of Isom's club this season, though. The Brewers are 24-11 and a game ahead of Great Falls in the league's North Division.

 

And with Isom at the helm, chances are good that the Brewers will continue to head in the right direction.

 

Helena's Jeff Isom spent seven previous seasons managing

independent baseball clubs. (Photo by R.Dean Hendrickson)

 

http://www.helenabrewers.net/html2/images/gJZBmer2.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Don Money is the cover story in this month's issue of "Southern Bases" (.pdf document):

 

http://www.gomudcats.com/documents/sb2007_9.pdf

[Mass Haas]

Videos from the Power:

Great job by the West Virginia staff with these --

 

Manager Profile: Mike Guerrero

 

Bull on Baseball with Hitting Coach Corey Hart Part I

 

Bull on Baseball with Hitting Coach Corey Hart Part II

 

West Virginia Power Grounds Crew

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Site:

 

Huntsville Stars manager Don Money has been named the Southern League's Manager of the Year

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Site:

 

Frank Kremblas Named PCL Manager-of-the-Year

[Mass Haas]

Jim Powell's Pre-game interview with Brewers AAA Manager Frank Kremblas