Gantner to Manage in Northwoods League

[Mass Haas]

Link, text follows:

 

www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=5549544

 

Woodchucks hire Gantner as manager

 

WAUSAU, Wis. The Wisconsin Woodchucks have hired former Milwaukee Brewers leader Jim Gantner as manager.

 

The Woodchucks are a member of the Northwoods League, a college wood bat summer league featuring players from across the country.

 

The Woodchucks plan a news conference at their office in Wausau on Friday.

 

The infielder played for the Brewers from 1976 to 1992.

 

During the Brewers 1982 World Series appearance, Gantner hit .333 with four doubles and five runs scored. The second baseman is among the Brewers career leaders in numerous stat categories including hits (1696), runs (726), doubles (262), and RBI (568).

 

Gantner is a member of the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame, which also features former Brewers Hank Aaron, Robin Yount, and Paul Molitor.

[patrickgpe]

good for gumby. I know he has done alot of spring training work for the brewers and it is nice to see him get a chance to actually manage a team. Maybe this will be a break to him to get a minor league coaching job if thats the route he chooses to go

[thefutureishere2006]

good luck to jim ...the woodchucks are semi close by to my hometown so thats good.

[bthurley19]

This is pretty cool because not only are the Woodchucks from my hometown (Wausau) but I have worked for them for the past 2 years. I probably will not be working there this summer because hopefully I'll have my degree by that time. I do recall towards the end of the season seeing him at a game and not thinking twice about it. Should be interesting to see if the Chucks pull in some better talent with Gantner as the coach.

[colbyjack]

Hey bthurley, do you know what happened to Coach Barta?

[bthurley19]

I don't have any inside information and couldn't find anything on the web about what happened to Barta but if I had to venture a guess I would say the 26-42 record for the Chucks and several managerial decisions that led me to look into the dugout and see if Ned Yost snuck in there probably led to him getting canned.

 

On a more positive note, I found that the Northwoods league is going to have 3 televised games on ESPNU this next year. Here is the press release:

 

NORTHWOODS LEAGUE ANNOUNCES

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Date: September 13, 2006

 

Northwoods League and ESPNU Announce Agreement

 

The Northwoods League and ESPNU have reached a two-year agreement, with a mutual option on a third year, to televise Northwoods League games nationally beginning 2007.

 

The first year of the agreement (2007) will feature three games, followed by six to seven games in 2008. Following the exercise of a mutual option in 2009, the ESPNU schedule will call for 10 to 11 games.

 

?This is a groundbreaking and unprecedented event for Summer Collegiate Baseball,? said Northwoods League President Dick Radatz, Jr. ?We are extremely excited to be partnering with the ESPN family on this venture.?

 

?We are thrilled to add this category of college sports programming to the ESPNU summer schedule,? said Burke Magnus, vice president and general manager, ESPNU. ?The Northwoods League has an outstanding legacy and we are excited to join them in presenting their talent to college baseball fans throughout the country. This agreement further proves our commitment to serving college sports fans 24/7.?

 

The Northwoods League plays more games, draws more fans, and plays in better venues than any Summer Collegiate Baseball League in North America. The League recently completed its thirteenth season of play in August, and had 96 of its current players or alumni taken in last June?s Major League Amateur Draft.

[brewmann04]

good for ganter maybe if he likes it he can find a job with the Brewers in their system down the road.

 

But Has Ned held any interviews YET?

[colbyjack]

Thanks bthurley, I figured his record didn't help him, but I was just seeing if there was any local perspective.

 

As for Gantner, with all due respect to the managers and coaches of the league, if he took a managerial job in the Northwoods League, I can almost guarantee you that he is nowhere near the running for a job at the big league level, much less the minors. Last year's manager of the Woodchucks, Darin Everson, went on to be the Marlins hitting instructor at high-A Jupiter, and most of the other managers are coaches at smaller D1 and even JC colleges. Again, there's nothing wrong with that, but they're all a long way's away from serving as a coach at the big-league level.

[bthurley19]

Just to expand on colbyjack's last post, last years Woodchucks coach was the head coach at Northland College which is a small division 3 team that belongs to the same conference as the college I'm currently attending. If Gantner has immediate success with the Woodchucks though he could very well get a AA or AAA job as a hitting coach with his background as a former player. Also Darin Everson was probably one of the worst coaches I have ever seen in the game of baseball. He got thrown out of at least 15 games the year he coached and immediately after getting chucked he would come sit in the VIP picnic area where I worked and drink beers for the rest of the night.

[hauser42]

If Gantner has immediate success with the Woodchucks though he could very well get a AA or AAA job as a hitting coach with his background as a former player. Also Darin Everson was probably one of the worst coaches I have ever seen in the game of baseball. He got thrown out of at least 15 games the year he coached and immediately after getting chucked he would come sit in the VIP picnic area where I worked and drink beers for the rest of the night.

 

I lived in the Wausau area for about 5 years and attended a lot of Woodchuck games. I actually got to know Steve Foster through a friend of mine. He was a huge reason they were successful. I think Everson got with the job with the Marlins because of his connection with Foster. It was a guy taking care of his buddy.

 

Barta was a joke of a manager know doubt.

 

I think Ganter's background will help the Chucks once again bring in top talent. Hopefully they can bring talent that will not cause any issues like harming a family's pets for anything of that nature.

[Mass Haas]

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[JoeHova]

I never understood why everyone liked Gantner so much. I just never cared much about him. He was ok to good for the first half of his career, but his last 9 years he was pretty bad. It always was weird to me that the team seemed to market the idea that they had Molitor, Yount, and Gantner as their big star players when Gantner was not half the player that the other guys were.

[NastyTwig]

Bill Shroeder's kid is playing for the Woodchucks this year as well. Just FYI.

[shelmark]

I think the reason everyone liked Gantner so much was that he was a Wisconsin guy who was blue collar and a self-made player. He had nowhere near the talent of Molitor and Yount, yet he managed to make a pretty good career for himself. He no doubt benefited with being linked to Yount and Molitor, but he was a solid 2B who could steal a base. Compare him offensively to today's 2B and he certainly comes up short, but he was adequate in his day. I have fond memories of watching pre-game warmups when Frank Howard would hit popups to Gumby. Highest popups you have ever seen and Gumby would catch them without so much as a wobble.

[dadofandrew]

Gantner never ran much at all, his speed was pretty far below average for a 2B. He was a solid defender who hit just enough.

[shelmark]

Gantner had 137 steals in 17 seasons, including 6 years of double digit steals. Hardly a burner, but as I said, he could steal a base. I never said anything about his speed.

[recte44]

His OPS's were horrendous most seasons. His defense was overrated, though he did turn a nice double play.

 

Gantner was the original "scrapper".