Your 2006 Helena Brewers - Latest: First-come Jersey Sale

[Cracked Bat Collector]

We really need to draft a couple of fat guys next year so I can get myself a jersey.

 

 

Hahaha you nailed my thoughts. That's what I always think when I see mainly size 48.

[Mass Haas]

Stumbled onto this July 17th Q&A while visiting the Oregon State site this evening:

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.osubeavers.com/ViewAr...LID=507660

 

Philosopher at The Plate

By Nancy Haught, The Oregonian

 

Bill Rowe will describe the good life when he writes his philosophy thesis. Right now, he's busy living it.

 

Rowe, first baseman for Oregon State University, was key to the team's College World Series victory last month in Omaha, Neb. His three-run homer in Game 2 of the championship series helped force a decisive third game against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Weeks later, the 22-year-old philosophy major is still playing baseball -- and thinking about the difference that studying ethics has made in his life.

 

It began, Rowe says, with a philosophy and literature class that he took at Ashland High School. His teacher, Joel Cicerrella, introduced Rowe and his classmates to some of philosophy's All Stars: Plato, Aristotle, Kant and Spinoza.

 

"My goal was to help students understand complex thought," Cicerrella says. "I used to tell them not to seek certainty but to seek understanding."

 

Cicerrella remembers Rowe vividly -- including the exact spot where he sat in the classroom -- and the enthusiasm that he brought to philosophy. "If you've seen him play baseball," Cicerrella says, "that's the way he engages academics."

 

The Oregonian recently talked with Rowe about his unorthodox major, baseball's steroid scandal -- and the difficulty of cultivating feminist thought in the dugout.

 

So, what are you up to now?

 

I'm playing in the minor leagues, single A, for the Milwaukie Brewers, out of Helena, Mont. I've only been here for a week, we got back from the College World Series so late. But we played four games at home starting the night I got here. Now we're on our first road trip. We only get one day off a month, but it's fun so far.

 

Why did you decide to major in philosophy?

 

I was at the University of California at Santa Barbara for three years, undeclared through my sophomore year. Communications had some things I liked, but ethics got me first. Looking at how people act and think, about the different ways there are to live your life. What is the good life? I like thinking about that. Then I took a feminist philosophy class -- that was the best class I have ever taken in my life. Every class, I learn something that I've never thought of so far.

 

What is so appealing about studying philosophy?

 

I can think of three things that interested me from the very first. One is hedonism, living the good life based on pleasure alone. When I was at UC Santa Barbara, I could see that a lot in the kids in my classes. That's part of the reason that I transferred, when I saw what some people's goals were and contrasted them with my own.

 

Two other theories that were interesting to me are based on an action and a reaction. If your intentions are good, and the reaction is negative, is it still a moral thing that you did? Or, if the reaction is good, and your intentions are not, is that moral? That got me thinking.

 

For me, personally, the good life would be the first one: If your intentions are moral, regardless of the outcome, it's a moral act. Using that idea to find a medium between the two, to find a way to live your life to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number.

 

What did you get out of that feminist philosophy class?

 

Well, when you're hanging around baseball players, you get caught up in a different kind of lifestyle. You never think about how abusive you can be to women, even if it's not a physical action: in the way you talk, in the way you allow others to talk about women. I never thought that was a bad thing, because you don't see the women you are hurting.

 

But listening to different accounts, to people describing situations, I realized it's not an opinion. It's a truth that I hadn't learned yet.

 

And are you a feminist now?

 

My professor said you can't call yourself a feminist until you're surrounded by men and you correct them. I was that guy, the one on the baseball team, and I was correcting them. By the end of the year, no one was using the B-word -- at least around me. They knew I'd bother them about it if they did. That was progress. They'd say, "Come on, Bill," and roll their eyes at me, but they just stopped using it.

 

Will you go back to school one of these days?

 

I've been playing baseball every single season of the year for the past 10 years of my life. I'll probably take the fall off, but I am anxious to go back to school. I'm not sure how philosophy will help me in my career, but it has already helped me in my life.

 

How do you see your studies in philosophy intersect with baseball?

 

A recent example is the steroid scandal. I use some of the same logical ideas as I listen to people talk about it: whether it is justifiable if everyone else is doing it and they aren't getting caught. That can put you in a tough spot. But there are thousands of players who have not done it, and they may never get the chance to play in the majors because they've played baseball the right way.

 

How does it feel to be the exception to the stereotype, that athletes choose the path of least academic resistance?

 

When I tell people that I'm a philosophy major, it gets really weird. "How is that working for you?" they ask. But I'm applying these theories to my life.

 

Do you find yourself recommending philosophy classes?

 

Well, the first class you usually have to take is a logic course, where you are breaking down arguments from what's almost a mathematical point of view. It's almost calculus with words. That turns off a lot of people.

 

Has it made you better when you're in an argument?

 

Maybe with adults, but not with kids. With them, logic doesn't seem to matter. Things get personal or a completely different topic comes into the argument. I try not to argue with kids my own age. They tend to think I'm always right. But I do listen to someone's arguments and, if I think they're right, I'll admit it.

 

Some philosophers see baseball as the perfect playing field for philosophy. Do you?

 

Not while I'm playing. If you're thinking too much, you're not playing too well. Baseball has to be second nature to you, you can't analyze it too much. You have to go out, relax and let your body take over.

 

You have to be completely in the moment?

 

Yes. That's why baseball is so fun. When you're playing it, you don't think about anything else. I don't think about anything else.

 

http://origin.xosn.com/pics6/200/AJ/AJJQJTANVXHKYCL.20060309025838.jpg

[Mass Haas]

No Chapman or Gillespie...

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...;fext=.jsp

 

The Billings Mustangs placed a league-best three players on the Pioneer League's 2006 postseason All-Star Team, including Most Valuable Player Chris Valaika.

 

Valaika, a shorstop who is batting .340 with eight homers and 60 RBIs, had a 32-game hit streak stopped last Sunday. It was the longest streak in the history of the Pioneer League.

 

The Valencia, Calif., native joins his double-play partner, Justin Turner, and Mustangs pitcher Jordan Smith on the All-Star Team.

 

Casper placed two players on the team, including Pitcher of the Year Brandon Hynick.

 

Hynick went 4-3 this season in 12 starts with a 2.39 ERA in 64 innings pitched. The 6-foot-2 right-hander from Ohio allowed 55 hits and 17 earned runs with 70 strikeouts and eight walks.

 

Designated hitter Hector Gomez is also on the squad from Casper. He had a .327 batting average in 50 games with 66 hits and 35 RBIs.

 

Also nominated for Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year were: Chris Errecart of Helena and Chris Carter of Great Falls, along with Sean O'Sullivan of Orem and Billings' Smith, respectively.

 

Other players named to the All-Star Team were catcher Andy Bouchie (Helena); first baseman Chris Carter (Great Falls); third baseman Josh Bell (Ogden); outfielders Gerrardo Parra (Missoula); Chris Pettit (Orem) and Errecart; and pitchers Osbek Castillo (Missoula), Rowdy Hardy (Idaho Falls), Hynick, Smith and O'Sullivan.

 

Rick Burleson of Billings was chosen as Manager for the All-Star squad. His Mustangs won the first-half North title and are ahead of Missoula and Helena for the second-half title as well.

 

Orem's Tom Kotchman, whose Owlz also won the first-half South title and are currently tied for first, was also named to the squad.

[Helena Crew]

Less than 2 days left on the camo jersey auction. 4 jersey's still without bids. Don't miss this chance to own a limited edition, game used jersey. www.helenabrewers.net!

[TracyThom]

Got my #95 Jose Romero jersey. These jersey are much more fashionable than last year's Hawaiian jerseys. Anyone else pick one up?

[DKM4Boston]

I got outbid with under a minute left to go on Cole Gillespie's. Boooooo! I tried to quick make a last second bid, but I just missed. I made a last ditch effort just to get something so I made a bid on JT King, but lost that one too. I guess it's not all that bad considering I probably would've had to borrow money to pay for one. Hopefully I can get one next year.

[jackalope02ca]

I got Mercedes and the pitching coach's.

 

Hopefully Littell's actually fits and it was cheap.

[colbyjack]

Gillespie's was already out of my range by the second day when jackalope and someone else were pushing the price towards $100. Thanks a heap http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

[pogokat]

i also looked at it...and wondered...what if?

 

if it was a regular jersey instead of the camo one, i'd have gotten in on the fray..

 

what did it go for any way?

[DKM4Boston]

Gillespie's was already out of my range by the second day when jackalope and someone else were pushing the price towards $100. Thanks a heap http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

 

That was me.

 

what did it go for any way?

 

It ended up going for $114.

[Mass Haas]

Baseball jersey-shopping fans, be sure to visit this thread in our Trading Post forum (and comment on it there if necessary):

 

p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...=692.topic

[wvpowerblkwel]

I picked up Johnny Narron's jersey for my 5 year old son. They are pretty nice. Johnny and my boy struck up a friendship when he was with the Power last year. He is a really fine man...if he's as good with the young players as he was with my son, he'll help develop a lot of fine ball players.