 |
The Masters of Minor League Media
The 2006 MLN Ralphie Awards™
The movies have Oscar®. Television has Emmy®. Broadway has its Tony®. For media relations people in sports, there is only one coveted honor: The Ralphie™. MLN presents to you the top five out of more than 800 minor and major league media relations people in baseball, hockey, basketball and football who make their corners of sports shine. [Feature]
|
 |
MLB Rule V Draft 2006
Results from the Major League Baseball Rule 5 Draft that concludes business at the Winter Meetings. Round by round and (exclusive) by minor league club. [Chart]
|
 |
218 Flavors of Vanilla - To BAM or Not to BAM - That is the Question of the Minor League (MiLB) Winter Meetings
The biggest buzz at the Minor League Winter Meetings was about Baseball Advanced Media (BAM), the folks behind MiLB.com. Are they helping prop the minors, or promote MLB? [MAJOR BLOGS]
|
 |
Pacific Coast League
Hall of Fame 2006
MLN, in concert with the PCL, brings you the expanded Hall of Fame, with first-hand interviews by author Jim Mandelaro with Pacific Coast League legends Dom DiMaggio and Tommy Lasorda, expanded stories on the players, improved photos and more! [Feature Section]
|
 |
Minor League Baseball
Winter Meetings
from
Walt Disney World
MLN brings you the interesting tidbits from the minor league side of the 2006 Winter Meetings.
A Tale of Two Hotels at the Major League Baseball (MLB) Winter Meetings
The Swan and Dolphin hotels host different sides of the event. MLN Sr. Editor Brian Ross checks in from the 'media bench' on the minor side at the Swan. [MAJOR BLOGS]
The Details are in the Devil Rays
Vero Beach Will Host the Return of the Devil Rays to the Florida State League, but will they be the Port Charlotte D-Rays in 2009? [Article]
Fishwrap Pyschoses - The Season is Lost if the Big Dollar Players Don't Get Signed
If you want to know why MLB owners spend insane amounts of money on players that aren't worth it, meet the press that drive them to do it. [MAJOR BLOGS]
|
 |
Tucson Sidewinders Take A Bite Out of the
Bricktown Showdown
At the inaugural Bricktown Showdown, the Pacific Coast League takes the first bite out of the new Triple-A championships. A look back at the 2006 debut. [Article]
|
 |
Mud of Victory
Backs to the wall, the Toledo Mud Hens dig in to surprise the Rochester Red Wings in the 2006 International League Governors' Cup Finals. [Article] |
 |
Prosperity in Portland
An unlikely club brings home Portland's first Eastern League championship, and establishes a player who had given up on baseball as one of the Boston Red Sox prime pitching prospects. [Article]
|
 |
Longoria
Tampa Bay Devil Rays prospect Evan Longoria blew through the minors to AA Montgomery this season. Is he that good? Damn straight. [Article]
|
 |
Fenway Unbelievable
Tommy Watkins may never get to stand on the grass of Fenway Park in a major league uniform, but for a day with the Rochester Red Wings, his season to shine is showcased in front of a sellout crowd on his field of dreams. [Article]
|
 |
Hand-Me-Down Mound
Joshua Papelbon and the Lowell Spinners, along with the Pawtucket Red Sox, get their day at Fenway a bit early in an unusual double-header. While the major leaguers are away, the minor leaguers will play... [Article]
|
 |
Ka'aihue
Kila and Kala Kaaihue are two brothers from Hawaii who have some interesting sibling similarities, not least of which is the drive to make a major league roster. [Article]
|
 |
MLN MAJOR Sports Chat Debuts
Want to get a take off of your hairy chest? Let 'er rip... MLN debuts its new sports discussion group at Gather.com
[mlnsportschat.gather.com]
|
 |
Game Card
An air tragedy brings a Major League baseball scout back to a spring evening in 1997. A rememberance of pitcher John Hooker. [Article] |
 |
Off With Their Heads!
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays put Durham Bulls skipper John Tamargo and his first mates under the blade, but the last laugh may be on the executioners as the Bad Boy Bulls become the real Devil Rays [BLOG]
|
 |
Talk Your Heads Off
MLN MAJOR Sports Chat Debuts
Want to get a take off of your hairy chest? Let 'er rip... MLN debuts its new sports discussion group at Gather.com
[mlnsportschat.gather.com]
|
 |
A Minor League Momento
Jon Hooker pitched for the indy Fargo-Moorhead and the Joliet Jackhammers and died in a tragic airplane crash on Sunday August 27th. Joe Thurston spent this weekend breaking into the Philadelphia Phillies lineup. Stephen Drew breezes through the Diamondbacks organization. What do these three players all share in common? [MAJOR BLOGS]
|
 |
Kid in the Candy Store
The
MLN FAB50 Baseball 2006 - A Tribute to Minor League Fans
Sure, August may be hot enough to melt Pam Anderson's rack, but the new rack of top shelf baseball players flaunted in the FAB50 put the 'pop' in the pop stars that will be the future of pro baseball. MLN senior editor Brian Ross comments. [MAJOR BLOGS].
|
 |
Minor League News
MLN FAB50 Baseball 2006
The most powerful list in baseball presents top performers to mid-season with the means, motivation, and opportunity to make their moves to the majors. Now with Ones2Watch™ up-and-comers and even bigger photos!
[Feature Section]
|
 |
The Futures Is Now
Is the Major League Showcase for Minor League Talent Killing Off the Minor League All-Star Game? [Article] |
 |
Twins' Twins
Stan is the man with the plan. Stu powers up the pitchers. The Cliburn brothers ramp up Rochester's run to rule the International League North. [Article] |
 |
Pot Holes on the Road to Enlightenment
He's baaack. Is Delmon Young a changed man, or will the D-Rays phenom be a phenomenal headache for Tampa in a bad-boy-infested Bulls clubhouse? [Article]
|
 |
The Doubleday Code
So Dark the Con of MLB
Luke Hochevar's No. 1 pick in the June MLB Draft 2006 exposes an old, dark secret of Major League Baseball. If the independent pro leagues outside the MLB system can be home to the draft's top pick for a season and a half, who is a pro, and who is an amateur? Will there be more? [Article] |
 |
The Dead Brain Era
For future historians seeking a name for this whacked-out period in baseball history, MLN's senior editor Brian Ross has come up with the perfect moniker: The Dead Brain Era. [Blog]
|
 |
MLB Draft 2006
Kansas City has the first pick. From there, it's 50 rounds of fun. Once the big pubs have left behind the first few rounds, MLN and our draft analysts dig down into the lower depths of the draft to show you the interesting picks for this year and years to come that may spark as tomorrow's MLB superstars. [Article]
|
 |
Line Call
As the minor league umpire strike continues, Major League umpires make a stop on the minor league picket lines to show their support. [Article] |
 |
Over Friggin' Nickels
In a world of $3.00 gas and $10.00 burgers, can minor league umpires live on $25.00 a day? While the Minors burn, with stats dropping and fights causing teams to be pulled from the field, Minor League Baseball and the umpires union try to make a line call on what's a living wage.
[Article]
|
 |
MLN Top Ten Minor League Ballparks
The Triple-A tops the top ten parks. Who had more, the PCL or the IL? MLN takes you to 10 great places to watch a ballgame, along with places to stay, and eat while in town. Pack your bags! [Article]
|
 |
Marte Marches on the Majors
Andy Marte is a generational talent, one of the best players in minor league baseball. So why was he traded twice in the off-season?
[Article]
|
 |
The Blind and the Damned on Reality TV
The spontaneous combustion of Delmon Young's career is part temper, part second-rate officiating, and part the age of television finally percolating down to the growing fan base of the minor leagues. [Opinion]
|
 |
33
The longest game in baseball history featured rising stars Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr., and one for the record books that the Rochester Red Wings' Dallas Williams wishes wasn't in his name. [Article]
|
 |
Round Up The Usual Suspects
The latest ritual of baseball is not the World Baseball Classic - It's the annual serving of a few unknown faces to the media to prove that the steroids testing is really working. Yet no one who makes any jack is being jacked for 'roids. [Opnion]
|
 |
Devil Ray
Delmon Young is one of the top ranked players in minor league baseball. He's also got an attitude and a temper that flared up in an unfortunate incident with an International League umpire. Will he become a liability? [Article]
|
 |
The Green Cap
What screws up Major League Baseball most? It's not steroids. It's not the "dilution of talent" because major league baseball has more teams. It's the officially licensed product of moneyball... Sr. Editor Brian Ross examines how the Green Cap keeps mediocre players in the majors, and traps talented newcomers in the minors.
[Blog]
|
 |
Nomah.
Nomar Garciaparra kicks off our new photo section of big glossy MAJOR MOMENTS from the 2006 season.
[Photos]
|
 |
MLN Spring Training Report 2006
As Spring Training draws to a close, MLN begins a series of reports from around baseball on the players to watch both on the fast track to the majors, and the developing talent on their way to new home towns in the minors. [Feature]
|
 |
On the Radar
High School Star. MidWest League All-Star. In 2006 Twins prospect Anthony Swarzak hopes to go from a blip on the radar to the fast track.. [Article]
|