All Things Valley League

An Explanation

Ecclesiastes 3:1: "There is a time for everything, and a season for everything under heaven." (NIV)

Maybe you've noticed that the posts on this site have dried up; maybe not.I suppose it's time for an explanation.

Back in November of 2006, I started this blog because I just had to write about something. I love baseball, and I love writing about baseball, and here was this league right in my own backyard- and some of the players went on to the majors! If I was following them anyway, why not start to put some coherant thoughts together for public consumption?

Well, 1,711 posts and over 175,000 visitors later, it seems it's just about time to end the ride.

Back in December, my wife and I received an email from a school in Nairobi, Kenya, called Rosslyn Academy. Both English teachers by trade, we had taught there from 1999 to 2004. Besides the fact that we adopted our children there, we always felt like our years in Nairobi were some of the best of our lives: it was difficult at times, but overall the most enriching experience of our time on earth.

Well, we received an email from the superintendent asking us if we would like to consider returning to East Africa for the upcoming school year. We had to apply within ten days or so, and we had our interview via Skype at 6:00 AM in the morning... and to make an already-too-long story shorter, we were offered jobs just about two weeks ago. We have decided to accept the offer to return to Kenya for a minimum of two years. We will leave the states either in late July or early August, which would give me some time to say goodbye to some of my favorite people and places in the entire Valley.

Following God's call in my life has always been paramount. Writing this blog has brought me into contact with all kinds of people- most of whom I now consider friends. (Not just Facebook friends, either!) Just as important, I've felt like I was a part of something- something fun and exciting. I could go to games, interview players, and hold my little notebook and jot down thoughts. I could hold up my radar gun and pretend to be a scout. I could say hello to broadcasters, owners, and die-hard fans in many of the Valley League towns. But I just can't ignore that call.

I hope very much to do a couple things, even while we're living in another continent: I hope to keep up with my lists of players, both who have played in the league and who has been drafted by major league organizations, and stats of pro players, which is probably my most favorite aspect of tracking players. I may post these on this site, but I may not. I would also like to finish up my lists from the past season, but that may need to be a couple larger posts instead of individual ones.

Thanks so much for supporting this site as its season is coming to a close. And if any of you find yourselves flying into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, drop me a line!

Baseball Takes a Backseat

It's true that my life can be consumed with baseball. I have two game reports to write, for example.

But all I can think about this morning is the news that I heard yesterday morning in church- Glen Lapp, a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) worker in Afghanistan, was one of the ten killed in a "shooting incident" in a rural northeast area of the country.

Glen was... well, I was going to write "a friend." I think that's true. At the very least, he was someone I admired.

Glen was a year ahead of me at EMC back in the late '80's, and we spent two years in the same dorm. Glen had a stillness of spirit- something that I hugely lacked at the ages of 18 and 19. He was kind, quiet, thoughtful, an excellent volleyball player. In fact, in a rather all-consuming two-on-two sand volleyball tournament at EMC back in '88 or '89, Glen invited me to be his partner (we made it pretty far in the bracket, as I remember).

He was also, in later years, a nurse, and an executive assistant at International Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. He wrote of the experience, "Where I was [Afghanistan], the main thing that expats can do is to be a presence in the country. Treating people with respect and with love and trying to be a little bit of Christ in this part of the world."

Glen, thank you for once again being an example to those around you. I'm sorry you're gone.

(Click here to read the news on MCC's site, and here to read a recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Priceless

ATVL Turns Three!

Hard to believe- ATVL turns three years old today!

Three years ago, I decided to scratch an itch by writing about some college guys playing baseball in my backyard. 1,295 posts, 880 comments, over 111,000 visitors and 175,000 page views later, and here we are.

I've met tons of great people, watched a huge amount of baseball, and typed in maybe too many numbers.

Anyway, happy birthday to ATVL!

Phils Win East!

Three in a row! There may be no better time than the present to be a Phillies fan....

(Enjoy it, Bob!)

Here's a Phillies Thought

**The timing here, with a monstrous Lidge blown save last night, might be a little off, but the sentiment remains...**

I stopped by Ted's yesterday, and he said something that I've been thinking about ever since: this might be the best time to be a Phillies fan ever.

Ever.

He went on to explain that the Phils are coming off a World Series championship, leading the NL East by 7 games, and building a strong minor league system.

Let's look at a few of the high points over history, shall we?

Phils went to the series in 1950 (swept by the Yankees). Even though the '50 Whiz Kids were just that- young- they sank right back to 73-81 and 5th place in 1951. (Geez- Robin Roberts was just 23 years old in 1950, and Curt Simmons 21! Richie Ashburn was 23, and Del Ennis was 25...) The team would not finish higher than 3rd place until 1964 (eek!). The Phils would not play again in the playoffs until 1976.

Thirty years later: 1980 World Series Championship against the Kansas City Royals, finished with 91-71 record. The team competed in the strike year of 1981, winning the first half with a 34-21 record. They fell apart in the second half, however, going just 25-27, and then losing to the Montreal Expos in the Divisional Series.

1983: A World Series loss to the Baltimore Orioles (4-1). The Wheez Kids were the anomaly of anomalies, with Pete Rose at 42, Steve Carlton 38, and only one regular (Von Hayes) under the age of 30. An old, old team that would fall back to 81-81 in 1984, and start a string of nine years of futility. (Seven years under .500, over 90 losses three times.)

1993: A World Series loss to the Toronto Blue Jays (4-2; darn that Joe Carter!). This team also came out of nowhere, finishing with a 97-65 record. They right away fell back to 54-61 in 1994 (another cursed strike year), and seven straight losing records. It has been suggested that most of the '93 team was on some major performance enhancers with all the career years (Daulton, Hollins, Dykstra, Jackson, for example).

Then 2008! World Series championship, now 72-51 record the following year. The team just traded for a Cy Young winner, while keeping the team's three best prospects (Taylor, Brown, and Drabek), and JA Happ.

Why was the development of the minor league players so bad for so long? Let's look at those drafts, starting in 1980. Following is the team's top pick listed first, and then any major league contributors after that.

1980: Lebo Powell. Steve Jeltz (9th), Darren Daulton (25th).
1981: Johnny Abrego. Charles Hudson (12th).
1982: John Russell. Lance McCullers (2nd- traded for Sixto Lezcano), Mike Maddux (5th).
1983: Ricky Jordan. Mike Jackson (29th).
1984: Pete Smith. Marvin Freeman (2nd), Todd Frohwirth (13th), Bob Scanlan (25th).
1985: Trey McCall. Bruce Ruffin (2nd), Wally Ritchie (4th), Jason Grimsley (10th).
1986: Brad Brink. Chuck McElroy (8th), Chuck Knoblauch (18th- didn't sign).
1987: Matt Rambo- 2nd round. (Lost first pick for signing Lance Parrish.) Kim Batiste (3rd), Toby Borland (27th)
1988: Pat Combs. Mickey Morandini (5th).
1989: Jeff Jackson (!!). No one else- a completely lost draft.
1990: Mike Leiberthal. No one else.
1991: Tyler Green. Kevin Stocker (2nd).
1992: Chad McConnell. Casey Blake (11th- didn't sign)
1993: Wayne Gomes. Scott Rolen (2nd).
1994: Carlton Loewer. Matt Beech (7th), Wendell Magee (12th).
1995: Reggie Taylor. Marlon Anderson (2nd), Ricky Williams (8th- too bad this isn't football!).

Just look at the above list. This is a pitiful, pitiful draft record. Scott Rolen is the only all-star type player drafted, with Mike Leiberthal and Kevin Stocker the only other regulars. Now, things start to turn:

1996: Adam Eaton. Jimmy Rollins (2nd). (Got lucky with a high school shortstop from California)
1997: JD Drew (didn't sign). Randy Wolf (2nd), Derrick Turnbow (5th), Johnny Estrada (17th).
1998: Pat Burrell. Eric Valent (1st supplemental), Jason Michaels (4th), Ryan Madson (9th), Geoff Geary (15th), Nick Punto (21st)
1999: Brett Myers. Joe Saunders (5th- didn't sign), Marlon Byrd (10th).
2000: Chase Utley. Taylor Buchholz (6th).
2001: Gavin Floyd. Ryan Howard (5th).
2002: Cole Hamels. Scott Mathieson (17th).
2003: No 1st pick (signed Jim Thome), no 2nd pick (signed David Bell). Tim Moss. Michael Bourn (4th), (Kyle Kendrick (7th).
2004: Greg Golson. JA Happ (3rd), Lou Marson (4th).
2005: Mike Constanzo (2nd- no first round pick). Matt Maloney (3rd), Josh Outman (10th).
2006: Kyle Drabek. Adrian Cardenas (1st supplemental), Jason Donald (4th), Dominic Brown (20th).
2007: Joe Savery. Michael Taylor (5th).
2008: Anthony Hewitt. Jason Knapp (2nd).
2009: Kelly Dugan (2nd- no first round pick).

Not great drafts, even with the bolded members of the 2008 World (F) Champions- just enough big scores to hit Utley, Myers, Burrell, Hamels, Rollins, and Howard.

Back to the original thought: yes, I believe that this is the best time ever to be a Phillies fan. The team is leading the division, and still has Drabek, Brown, and Taylor in the wings. From 1883 to the present- this is the time. Now, of course, the team may not play in the World Series this year, but we (we Phillies fans, I mean) need to enjoy this while it lasts!

Goodbye, Harry

I spent hours and hours and hours listening to Harry in my formulative years. His "Outta here!" call for home runs is a classic.

While I'm sad he's gone, I'm glad he got a chance to call the 2009 World Series- he's going out a winner.

Happy Birthday, Beautiful!

It's difficult to believe that it's been almost nine years. It was the end of September, 2000, when I first saw this beautiful little girl, about 6 months old, in New Life Home in Nairobi, Kenya. Her bright eyes followed me around the room; every time I looked back at her, she was watching me.

I went home that day and told my wife that we might have to go check out this little person I saw that afternoon. We brought her home in a little over a month, in November, 2000.

Today, Karen turns 9 years old. Happy birthday, beautiful!

Post 1,000!

My loyal readers know that I love, just adore, numbers. I love average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage, ERA, WHIP, BB/9, K/9... if only I could figure out how to do Win Shares in the Valley League, then we'd really be cooking...

One thousand is a nice round number, so I thought it was appropriate to take a moment to celebrate the fact that this post in the 1,000th in ATVL's history!

We've had some fun ones over the 1,000: here's to another 1,000!

For All That I Do?

Me?

Jerry Carter, from "Around Our Valley in 60 Days," posted two pictures of a sign- "Buena Vista's Charlie Manuel: Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies."

Pretty sweet. Click here to check it out.

And Jerry? Yes, I'm still smiling.

(By the way, we were at a soccer tournament this weekend in Richmond- thus no posts. However, it was the season-ending tournament, so I'll have at least five more hours each week....) (Oh- the girls' team went 2-1. Thanks for asking.)