Jim Goulart

Stars get creative with new GM By MARK McCARTER Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com There was, according to official team documents, a "pie-ro-maniac" loose at Brevard County's Space Coast Stadium last August. Various employees were being attacked by getting a pie in the face during games. There was a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich eating contest. A competition was held to give away a new car. The Manatees set the world record for most honorary first pitches thrown before a game. Buck Rogers, the creative mind behind those promotions and countless others, has been hired as the new general manager of the Huntsville Stars. Rogers, general manager of the Brevard County Manatees in the Class A Florida State League since 2004, replaces Tom Van Schaack, who announced his resignation Friday after three years at the helm. Rogers will have to hit the ground running. The Stars open their 24th season April 3, hosting Mississippi. The move, reported in Saturday's edition of Florida Today, has a strange coincidence. Brevard County is the Single-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. Huntsville is the next step up the ladder in the Milwaukee organization. However, this is not an official "promotion," since the two teams have different owners and the Brewers are not involved in the local operations. The Stars are owned by a consortium headed by Miles Prentice, a New York-based attorney. Prentice did not return messages left by The Times, nor did Rogers, who was in meetings much of Saturday with his Brevard staff. Rogers has been with Brevard since 2004, having previously worked as general manager of the Daytona Beach Cubs. While at Daytona, Rogers offered lifetime passes to games to any fan getting a tattoo of the team name. Seventeen fans took him up on the offer. "He's a good guy, full of energy," said Jim Cawley of Florida Today. His wife, Babs, also works with the Manatees and is expected to serve in the Stars' front office. Recently, the Stars hired Kylee Hanish, 23, from the Brevard staff to serve as director of community relations and sales.

We are hopeful our readers will enjoy our five-part series of Q&A sessions we are conducting with the five Brewer affiliate radio announcers, all to be posted on the Brewerfan home page over the next several weeks, one update per week. The series kicks off with Nashville's Chuck Valenches. It will be followed by similar interviews with Huntsville's Brett Pollock, Brevard County's Kirk Agius, West Virginia's Andy "Bull" Barch, and Helena's Steve Wendt. All will be back for another go of things in 2008. Within our Daily Link Reports, we have always prided ourselves in being a quick and easy resource for fans to tune in to the affiliate broadcasts. Within these interviews, we will discuss the expanding (for the better) role of MLB's Advanced Media (MLBAM). We'll talk about what may be new or different about this season's broadcast packages. But most of all, we'll talk about the prospects you love to follow, their coaches, routines, and share an off-field story or two. You'll appreciate the depth and clarity these gentlemen had in answering our questions. I will be honest, I'm a Milwaukee Brewer fan first and foremost, and if the big league Brewers are playing, I'm listening / watching. But there are plenty of Brewer day games (too many weekday games for my liking as I sneak following in the office), but that allows for more opportunities to pick and choose which affiliate broadcast you might listen to when the big league schedule allows. Maybe you're following a particular starting pitcher, or maybe a big league Brewer is on a rehab assignment, or you're tuning in to see if a hit streak (think Mat Gamel's 33) can be extended. You might even get a "hint'" on our forums to flip over to a potentially historic game (see "Manny Parra"). We'll continue to link to pre-game interviews (looks like more often this season) and specific game highlights -- "Jack-Jackety-Jack!". Whatever the case, we hope Brewerfan can continue to expand the base of fans who listen to the affiliate broadcasts from time to time. Just remember, Brewer TV's Brian Anderson was the play-by-play man at AA San Antonio, took a Golf Channel detour, and ended up in Milwaukee. Like the Brewer farmhands, these play-by-play men have their own aspirations. We can honestly say that each puts together a fine broadcast experience. We thank them for their time and insights. Here's to a great 2008 season, in Milwaukee, and "on the farm". Here's Chuck Valenches' profile page at the Sounds site.

Huntsville Stars name new GM Posted by Mark McCarter , Huntsville Times, February 02, 2008 5:15 PM Buck Rogers, with a reputation as a promotional wizard, has been hired as the new general manager of the Huntsville Stars. Rogers comes to the Stars from the Brevard County Manatees, where the club held a competition to win a new car, set a world record for most ceremonial first pitches thrown before a game and holds off-season treasure hunts. Rogers replaces Tom Van Schaack, who announced his resignation on Friday after three years with the team. Coincidentally, the Manatees are the Class A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Stars are the Double-A Brewers' team. In the natural progression through the minors, players move from Brevard to Huntsville. However, this is not a similar promotion, since two franchises have separate ownership and the Brewers are not involved in the day-to-day operation of clubs, only in providing players.

Tom Haudricourt, in conjunction with his work at Baseball America, reveals and comments on the Brewers Top 30. For fun, in parentheses, I included each player's end-of-season 2007 ranking on our Power 50. 1. OF Matt LaPorta (2) 2. LHP Manny Parra (1) 3. SS Alcides Escobar (8) 4. RHP Jeremy Jeffress (3) 5. 3B Mat Gamel (4) 6. OF Cole Gillespie (7) 7. SS Brent Brewer (10) 8. C Angel Salome (5) 9. OF Lorenzo Cain (11) 10. OF Caleb Gindl (14) 11. RHP Rob Bryson (35) 12. RHP Mark Rogers (20) 13. LHP Zach Braddock (18) 14. RHP Luis Pena (unranked on a P50 technicality) 15. RHP R.J. Seidel (25) 16. C Jonathan Lucroy (13) 17. 3B Taylor Green (12) 18. RHP Cody Scarpetta (unranked) 19. RHP Nick Tyson (45) 20. RHP Alexandre Periard (33) 21. OF Darren Ford (6) 22. OF Lee Haydel (38) 23. 2B Eric Farris (43) 24. OF/1B Michael Brantley (9) 25. OF Stephen Chapman (16) 26. 2B/OF Hernan Iribarren (15) 27. LHP Steve Hammond (30) 28. OF Charlie Fermaint (29) 29. 1B Chris Errecart (21) 30. OF Brendan Katin (24)

http://www.620wtmj.com/home/ondemand/7442381.html

Here's your lineup for the show 3:00 - 5:00 Central 2/2/08: - Ned taking your calls for the first half-hour - Rick Schlesinger - Jason Kendall - Chris Capuano - Ford Frick Award-winning (2000) broadcaster Marty Brennaman

It's a shame so few shows have theme songs nowadays. I guess you don't remember the F-Troop influenced "Go-Go Gophers" from the Underdog / Tennessee Tuxedo series of cartoons. Of course, both shows are just insanely politically incorrect in 2008.

Mark McCarter's Blog Entry Stars keep fading Posted by Mark McCarter February 01, 2008 1:39 PM When Tom Van Schaack called Friday morning, telling me he was resigning as the Stars' general manager, it struck me as still another sad note in the Huntsville Stars' history. Perhaps some new blood in that position will be good for the franchise. Things had grown stale, with the same old promotions, with some little things that needed to be tended to that us "regulars" saw, with a lack of professionalism in some corners of the operation. That said, it's sad at a number of levels. First, if owner Miles Prentice felt the need to make a change -- and Van Schaack noted the decision was "mutual" -- it shouldn't have taken him until Feb. 1 to act upon it. For fairness to Van Schaack, the move should have been made soon after the season ended, to give Tom a chance to shop around, especially at the winter baseball meetings, where so much hiring is done. Second, it would have given a new general manager more than the nine weeks remaining until the first pitch to get things in order, to push for more season tickets and ads and become more visible in the community. Few franchises in the league have been better on the field than Huntsville recently. The Stars have won back-to-back division titles. They were one out away from a league title last year. They have sent a boatload of great players to the majors; six members of the Milwaukee Brewers played here within the last seven years. Off the field, it's been a downhill slide. Some of that can be blamed on the absentee ownership that hasn't been accessible or active as it should be. Some can be blamed on Joe Davis Stadium. It's become a Catch 22. It's tough to draw fans to that dreary ballpark. And it's tough to justify the city making the necessary $15- $20 million investment to bring it to the level of the other nine parks in the Southern League if no fans are coming out to watch. Van Schaack's parting words to me Friday morning were "I share (Prentice's) sentiment that this can be a good baseball town. I hope the new guy, whoever he is, can get enough people to support and support it well." Amen.

The Huntsville Times will have it's update on Buck Rogers soon enough -- for now, they're not commenting on the new hire, but they do discuss the current state of the franchise -- Stars general manager resigns Van Schaack steps down after three seasons with team By MARK McCARTER Times Sports Staff markcolumn@aol.com Nine weeks before the 2008 season opener, and the Huntsville Stars are in the market for a new general manager. Tom Van Schaack, the GM for the past three seasons, announced his resignation on Friday. No replacement has been named and Miles Prentice, the majority owner of the team, did not return calls from The Times. Van Schaack, 44, is a native of Oswego, N.Y., and has been in pro baseball for 22 years, coming to Huntsville after working as general manager of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, a Triple-A club. Last summer, he missed nearly two months after undergoing heart surgery. He said that he is now in good health. He has no specific plans for the future and whether he will remain in baseball is "up in the air." He called the resignation "a mutual decision between ownership and me." Prentice, a New York-based attorney, flew into Huntsville on Tuesday and held a 2 1/2-hour meeting with Van Schaack at the airport. According to Van Schaack, Prentice and his group are "concerned with the bottom line." The Stars have lost money in recent seasons and were ninth in the 10-team Southern League in attendance last summer. However, Van Schaack and his staff received the Southern League's "Award of Excellence" following the 2005 season for an attendance boost. Prentice has lobbied in recent years for a new stadium in Huntsville to replace city-owned Joe Davis Stadium, the oldest in the Southern League. Van Schaack noted that the amenities at the park make it difficult to draw fans and increase revenue, with the lack of quality skyboxes and antiquated concession facilities. "But I share (Prentice's) sentiments that this can be a good baseball town," Van Schaack said. "I hope the new guy, whoever it is, can get enough people to support it, and support it well."

I am very hopeful that MLB.com will archive the audio, although they always seem to miss a few weeks each spring, often the first one. So if anybody is able to summarize later on, it's always appreciated, thanks.

Adam McCalvy with a nice feature on the camp -- Jeffress, Rogers and Salome all in attendance.

Catcher Paul Bako a minor league deal with the Reds (spring training invite).

Well, this is certainly an interesting development: Manatees general manager gets new job Florida Today Brevard County Manatees' general manager Buck Rogers has announced that he will leave the Viera-based team to take a similar position with the Huntsville Stars, the Milwaukee Brewers' AA franchise. "I thought long and hard about it. I prayed about it too, went to breakfast with our (the Manatees') chaplain, Donnie Legg . . . and we talked for a long time. So we put it in God's hands . . . . I kind of feel like we will be leaving unfinished business here, but this really is an opportunity we couldn't pass up," Rogers said. Rogers' wife, Babs, who managed group sales for the Manatees until last postseason, is expected to join him in the Stars' front office, where former Manatees' staffer Kylee Hanish also now works. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ If anybody, and I mean anybody, can energize a lackadaisical fan base in Huntsville, it's Buck Rogers, and that's not meant to take anything away from Tom Van Schaack. We're thrilled that Buck's going to remain in the organization, he's one of our favorite people and biggest supporters here at Brewerfan. Rock on, Buck!

Yes, you are correct. GM's of independent league teams get to "put together" their squads, but GM's in affiliated ball are caretakers and have no say in on-field player personnel decisions. But their staffs help oversee the care of every other aspect that goes into a baseball organization, so we offer Tom well as a courtesy and an FYI to you folks.

Huntsville Stars' GM Tom Van Schaack resigns Posted by Mark McCarter, Huntsville Times Tom Van Schaack, the general manager of the Huntsville Stars for the last three seasons, has resigned his position, he told The Times Friday morning. Van Schaack informed the team's staff of his decision in a noon meeting. He will stay on with the club through next week. Van Schaack, a native of upstate New York, endured a trying season last summer when he was forced to miss nearly two months after undergoing heart surgery. The Stars then finished ninth in attendance in the 10-team league. "It was a mutual decision between the ownership and me," Van Schaack said of the resignation. Team owner Miles Prentice did not immediately respond to calls from The Times. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Brewerfan.net wishes Tom well.

Yes, I had the biggest crush on F-Troop's Wrangler Jane, Melody Patterson, when I was a kid. Here's her website, whcih hasn't been updated since '05, but is still very cool. http://www.wranglerjane.com/images/mp01.jpg "Mornin' Wilton". Indeed....

The picture with the curly hair best represents her facial features as she was in the show. If you just kind of cover up the hair, clothes, etc., and just look at the face, maybe that will help someone.

The show was a classic sit-com.

This actress wowed the casting crew when she won this role, although unbeknownst to them, she was only 16 years old. She kept that a secret. The role was written for an actress who would have been, at minimum, 18. It would surprise many folks to find out she was only 16 if they were to think back now. I think that's it for hints until tonight. Either I went too obscure with this, or there are fewer fans of classic TV than I thought. Maybe I'm just boring you now, sorry if so...

It's not Cathy Rigby, the character she played has lived on for re-runs since forever, although I can't say it's in the current TV Land or Nick at Nite rotation. So even if you're only a 30-something, you should know the character, and thus, the actress. Couple more hours before the next hint.

She would be known for her work in television, and would be known primarily for one specific role only. Since you don't recognize the pictures, which are probably 15-25 years old, then you'd have to assume that she was much younger when she had the role. This final picture is from 2001 with a random fan -- disregard him, he's not a clue at all. I would expect an answer pretty quickly, but if not, another clue at lunchtime. http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/c72157968c5a5c236550b514eedc82e96c4df64.jpg

I really like that mirror idea for pre-season commercials, you could have Sheets and Suppan driving to Maryvale, talking about how excited they are, when Jeff, sitting in the passenger seat, glances at the view you've placed here and smiles. As clever as that is, for a T-shirt, not so functional.

I really like that mirror idea for pre-season commercials, you could have Sheets and Suppan driving to Maryvale, talking about how excited they are, when Jeff, sitting in the passenger seat, glances at the view you've placed here and smiles. As clever as that is, for a T-shirt, not so functional.

I really like that mirror idea for pre-season commercials, you could have Sheets and Suppan driving to Maryvale, talking about how excited they are, when Jeff, sitting in the passenger seat, glances at the view you've placed here and smiles. As clever as that is, for a T-shirt, not so functional.

I really like that mirror idea for pre-season commercials, you could have Sheets and Suppan driving to Maryvale, talking about how excited they are, when Jeff, sitting in the passenger seat, glances at the view you've placed here and smiles. As clever as that is, for a T-shirt, not so functional.