Sunday, July 16, 2006

And A Final Round Of Applause For...

Earl Bartholomew, Brooklyn 1B
Earl was never a superstar, but yet, he was always able to hold his head high and maintain that he did his best in the league. Earl will be hanging 'em up this year - 39 is just too old to be going out there every day and banging out the hits.

Earl started his career as the Wolves first baseman back in the league's inagural season. He even got to play in the All Star game that year. He played all 162 games for Brooklyn, hitting .281 while smacking 14 homers and driving in 80. 2003 was his best season, going .295/17/81. He also had a 20-game hitting streak. While he was still the Brooklyn first baseman for the next three seasons, it became clear that his skills were declining. He lost his starting first base job in mid 2007 to Beau Manning. Bartholomew was going to call it quits when Zev Steinhardt, owner of the Wolves, coaxed him into coming back for one more season. Playing for Kensington, Brooklyn AAA team, he hit .344, good enough to earn a trip back to Brooklyn to finish his career. In fact, with the injury to regular catcher Willy Guzman, Bartholomew will likely get to start at first for the remainder of the season.

Hobert Hagerty, Denver SP
On June 28, Hobert knew it was time to leave. He had just pitched three innings against Seattle, giving up six runs and taking his seventh loss in a row. He finishes the year with a 2-10 record and a 5.59 ERA. But it wasn't always like that for Hobert Hagerty.

Hobert started his career in Kingston, as their fourth-round draft pick in the initial draft. After going 13-7 in 2002, he put up an 8-15 record in 2003 for the awful Kingston team that year. Nonetheless, he had a 3.55 ERA and struck out 189 batters. Despite the unfavorable record, Seattle gave Hobert a then-record $20 million per year for the next two years. The deal paid off - Hobert went 40-28 over the next two years, striking out over 500 batters and kept his ERA at around 2.45, pitched a no-hitter and won the Adams League Outstanding Pitcher Award both years. Seattle won the Adams League Pennant in 2005, although Hobert took the loss in his only Cecil Cup game that year. Seattle brought him back for 2006 where he went 16-7 and pitched respectably in the Cecil Cup (1-0, 2.40). The 2007 season was a poor season for Hobert. He went 9-12 and failed to earn an All Star spot for the first time in his career. Denver brought him in to help out for the 2008 campaign, but after his June 28th performance, he hung 'em up for good.

Alexander Fulp, Hickory, LF
Fulp was one of the league original speedsters. Like Hobert Hagerty, he spent the first two years of the league's existance in Kingston. While there, he hit about .260, hit 32 out of the park, swiped 59 bases, scored 185 runs and played in two All-Star games. In 2004, he followed the Kingston franchise to Walla Walla. He lost his starting job in 2004 and only served as a backup outfielder in Walla Walla. In 2006, he saw a chance for a starting job in Hickory, and grabbed it. Unfortunately, his batting average plummetted to .228. In 2008, he's again a backup player and realizes that it's time to go.

Steve Jurgens, Houston SP
Many thought that Steve Jurgens would be the first pitcher to get 100 wins in the league. It's true that Craig Barmore was the better pitcher at first, but everyone realized that Barmore was too old when the league started and that he wouldn't get to 100. Jurgens, most people figured would be the first. At the start of the 2008 season, Jurgens was only three wins away from the century mark. Unfortunately, he didn't get that third win until July 19 - and by then Richard Pimental had left him far behind.

Jurgens started his career in Seattle, as the first player selected by the Monarchs in the initial draft. In 41 games that year, he put up a 13-10 record. However, it wasn't until 2003 that he became recognized as one of the best pitchers in the game. That year, he posted a 21-7 record with a 2.93 ERA. That effort earned him the Outstanding Pitcher Award. Shortly after the All-Star break in 2004, he was traded to Virginia for John Okane and then-minor leaguer Johnny Cowherd. He finished the year with a 17-10 record and a 2.98 ERA.

Taking a page from Seattle's playbook the previous year, Stockholm ponied up $20,000,001 per year to sign him to a three year contract. During those three seasons, Jurgens was a valuable member of the Stockholm (and later Florida) rotation, earning two All-Star berths and three Cecil Cup Championships. His four Cecil Cup victories remain a record to this day. After the 2007 season, he received an offer from Houston to get his 100th victory in the Deep South. He finally did get #100.

Joel Ertel, South Bay RP
"Joel Ertel, closer." He'd always dreamed of hearing those words. This is the story of a dream come true.

Joel started out with Saskatoon as a member of their bullpen in 2002. He got a chance to save some games in 2003, but his 5.94 ERA was quite high. He finally got his chance in 2004, when he saved 37 games for the Cossacks, leading the league. Ignoring his meltdown in 2003, River Cities gave him a $16.5 million, 1 year contract. At the trading deadline, Seattle acquired him in an eight player deal. However, he did poorly in the Cecil Cup that year, giving up three hits and two runs in one and a third innings.

In the offseason, he switched to the other side, signing a one year deal (for quite a bit less) with Stockholm. He was no longer the closer, but he spent the next two seasons with Stockholm/Florida, putting up an 11-10 record while winning two World Championships.

Once the 2008 season started, it was apparent that this was the end for Joel After pitching in 16 games, he posted a 2-4 record with an ERA of 11.48 before being released by South Bay in July.

Justin Rhea, South Bay RP
Justin Rhea isn't being forced out - he's stepping down voluntarily; his 3-2 record and 2.53 ERA this season are ample evidence of that. It's just that at age 40, Justin wants to spend more time with his family.

Rhea is another orignal Kingston Canadian retiring this year. As the Kingston closer in 2002, he posted 41 saves. He continued as the Kingston/Walla Walla closer for another two years after that. In 2005, he was no longer closing, but still pitched well enough to earn his second All-Star selection. River Cities brought him in to close in 2006, where he picked up another 41 saves. Florida brought him in in 2007 to shore up the bullpen, where he won seven games and won a World Championship. In 2008, he may have a chance for one more with South Bay before he calls it quits.

Scott Mayhew, Walla Walla SP
Ernest Delamora, Danville SP

2 comments:

  1. Jurgens has the Cup wins record? Actually, Troy Nelson also has four. He was always my ace come playoffs time.

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  2. I remember the amount of crap I took over signing Hobert Hagerty to that two year, $20 million per year deal. But, that deal really launched my team. I knew that I had the salary space to accomodate him and didn't really have anything better to do with the money. Instead of having cash go to waste because of the $10 million cash cap, I got the best pitcher in the game. Hagerty won the AL outstanding pitcher of the year award both years, led the league in wins both years, was second in the league in ERA both years, threw over 260 innings both years, and struck out over 500 batters combined. He pushed the Monarchs into Cecil Cup contention in 2004 and into the Cup itself in 2005 (although he didn't pitch well in Michael's sweep).

    I then resigned him for two more years at $7 million per. He was good, although not great the first year of 2006 and tailed off in 2007 before I let him walk.

    We're going to have a celebration of Hobert Hagerty's contributions to the Monarch franchise at Crown Stadium in Seattle on the last day of the year. I hope everyone finds the time to attend or to send a personal representative.

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