Minor league baseball tales

 In the last two years I've been reading short books on the history of minor league baseball in the USA. I'm reading 

I came across some interesting first names:  

Judy Cline , a dude who hit a 457' homer out of Merchants Park in Denver, CO. His legal name was William Cline Jr

Ed (Bears Track) Green played in the Western Association.  While doing a deeper dig on this  the searchh engine kept taking to me Ed  Bearss, Chief Historian of the National Park Service.

So much information is not on the internet because it hasn't been entered into any data system.

I'll keep having fun.

Nov 17, 2025

Marty Marion, the Cards SS won 1944 NL MVP the award for the St. Louis Cardinals for mostly his  defense. He hit .267  with 6 HR , 63 rbi.

He played  his minor league baseball in Huntington, WV of the Middle Atlantic League, then a few seasons in the International League for Rochester,NY, before moving up to the Cards.

Nov 27, 2025

OKC Indians had purchased a pitcher named Collins for the 1927 season, but he was playing as FayThomas  for NY Giants(NL). Commish Landis punished him with fines and an MLB ban . He didn't return to the MLB until 1931.

Dec 20, 2025

I noticed Earl Weaver, a 2B, had some decent stats for  Omaha, the Cardinals A team in the Western League, and wondered why he never got a shot to play in the MLB. At that time A ball was the highest minor league level. The levels were A, B, C, & D. 

I did some research  and  the Cardinals new manager, Eddie Stanky, chose himself over Weaver for the final roster spot on the 1952 opening day roster.

Jan 7, 2026

Spades Wood was a left-handed pitcher for Wichita, Tulsa, and St Joseph in the Western League in the 1930s . I wonder if his nickname came from playing cards.

Older blog disturbing july5

Week 12 Mackin early

 In 2026 the NIU football team will join the MWC, while all other sports will move to the Horizon League.  They 're going out on a weak note , but perhaps they can get their second MAC win of the season at UMass(0-9, 0-5). NIU's only win is vs Ball St.

 Chavon Wright and Telly Johnson Jr. combo will do enough rushing the ball to give NIU a road W tomorrow night at UMass. 

NIU 19 UMass 13. other four picks later in the week.

Nov 13, 2025

Correct on NIU,but UMass barely showed up. Late FG saved them from being shutout.  NIU 45 UMass 3

AAC: Houser has tossed  for 2469 yards and14 TD passes . I smell a home upset for ECU. ECU 28 MEM 27

CUSA: Odom avoids tossing INTs and leads KENN to road win over Jax St . KENN 24 JaxSt 20

MWC: Rebs eke out a 23-20 win over Utah St

SBC: CCU escapes with a 31 -27 win @ Georgia Southern. Collier ,once again , is the man for the Chanticleers.

Nov 16, 2025

L. Montgomery rushed for 102 yards and 2 TDs in ECU's upset of MEM

KENN lost 35-26 to Jax St

UNLV needed OT to defeat USU

GASO prevailed over CCU.

Wrong on KENN  & CCU. Correct on UNLV & ECU 3-2 for the weekend.

TXST  got its first conference win of the season in a 41-14 rout over USM.  B. Jackson  tossed for 192 YDS, 3 TDs for the Bobcats. 

Week 11 MAC Tuesday etc

 It's crowded atop the MAC. Two (5-3) teams, MOH & Ohio, meet tonight in Athens, OH. I'll go with Bangura having a good game running the ball for the Bobcats. Ohio 27 MOH 21.

Other 4 picks later in the week.

Nov 5, 2025

Ohio 24 MOH 20: Bongura rushed for 102 yards and a TD for the Bobcats.  1 for 1 this week. 

Nov 7, 2025

AAC: Retzlaff will put up good numbers  again, but it won't be enough at MEM. MEM 34 TUL 28

CUSA: LA Tech 24 DEL 20  Thevenin  gets 100 yards rushing for  the Bulldogs in a road win.

MWC: Aztecs slow down Alejado, the Hawaii QB , and win a road game. SDSU 21 HAW 16

SBC: USM goes on the road and wins a close one at Ark St. Another solid game for Braxtion, the Eagles QB. USM 31 Ark St 30

Nov 8, 2025

Wrong on Memphis. My gut  was screaming Tulane , but I didn't think Retzlaff was enough. He was. 4TDs, 3 passing. TUL 38 Memphis 32. 1 -1 for the week.

Nov 9, 2025

Wrong on La Tech, Wrong on SDSU, I thought Hawaii would give them a tough game and lose , but the Rainbows blew out the Aztecs 38-6, wow. Hawaii QB :M. Alejado 22/34, 256 YDS, 3 TD. MWC regular season title is wide open

Right on USM, but Ark St gave them a scare late.

2-3 for the week

November peek at non-power hoops 2025/26

Gonzaga: Graham Ike, 23, is the highest-ranked non power conference player. Zags are in their final season in the WCC  . Tough  November: Creighton, OK,  MD, and Bama.  Next season they play in the PAC12

Dayton of the A10 faces Cincy and Marquette this month. Flyers will need Nate Santos to score more than 14 points a game

Memphis is counting on 7'1  Aaron Bradshaw.  @ Ole Miss on Nov 11

NTX is counting on  Cahmal Crosby.  @ St Marys on Nov 14

St Marys will rely heavily on Paulius Murauskas . Gaels are in their last WCC season before joining the PAC12.

More to come

Nov 3, 2025

Ok, HC Billy G  can your Tarleton team start with an upset @ SMU(ACC). Is Chris Mpaka  progressing?

Nov 4, 2025

Tarleton(WAC) got crushed 96-76 by SMU. D. Johnson scored 23 for the losers.

UNO (Southland)Privateers upset Big12 member TCU, 78-74 

Nov 5, 2025

Only bad WCC loss so far is Wazoo losing to Idaho 

UNLV(MWC) lost to to UT Martin last night.

Nov 6, 2025

USC Upstate(Big South) upset FRES(MWC) 67-66. KGregory led the Spartans with 15 points. USCU lost its opener to Cal Baptist(WAC)

USCU is in South Carolina.

Nov 10, 2025

Close game MEM (AAC) 76 SF(WCC) 70 . M. Cook was solid for the Dons. Zags edged OK(SEC)

Boise St(MWC) blew out UVU on its road to recovery from  its loss to Howard Payne 

J Speer and the Herd outscored TOL 55 to 33 for an 85- 73 W in an SBC/MAC matchup.

Nov 12, 2025 

Wow, rough OT loss for UAB. Alabama St (SWAC) 77 UAB 73(AAC)  A.Anderson  20 pts 7 ast for the Hornets.

Nov 14, 2025

Olsen scored 21  for USA(SBC) in a 66-64  nail-biter over CMU(MAC). Wichita St(AAC) had no problem with LOYCH(A10).

Nov 17, 2025

UNLV handled MEM. Fleming (25 pts, 12 reb) for the Rebels.

D. Gillespie (26 pts, 17reb) for Kent St(MAC) in an OT win over Wright St(HOR)

Nov 21, 2025

Memphis hung close to Purdue but lost 80-71.

In the Trojan battle Troy(SBC) hung with USC but fell in OT-107-106. C. Campbell(32, 12,8) for Troy

Nov 25, 2025

Tulane(AAC) edged BC(ACC) C Williams scored 32 for TUL

USU(MWC) crushed DAV(A10) M Colins scored 40 for the Ags.

Nov 27, 2025

WCC yesterday. Zags were blown out by 40 by Michigan. WSU lost to Seton Hall. PEPP was rolled by Fresno(MWC)

SMC beat Wichita St(AAC). T. George(19pts, 6 reb) led Portland to a 93-73 win over LBSU(Big West)

Dec 1, 2025

MWC : L Walker (28pts) and the Cowboys gave TT quite a scare.  TT 76 WYO 72 .  D. Smith(30pts) led CSB(Big West )over Fresno St

USA routed UTSA 82-58. Jags are off to a 7-1 start. Only loss was to UAB

Week 10 Tuesday SBC etc

 TX St has stumbled  through a rough season with plenty of O and less D. Brad Jackson , the QB, (1,786 YDS 9 TD 2 INT) is capable of big games. I'm going to go with TXSt beating the odds and pulling out a squeaker at home .  TXST 31- JMU 30.

Other four guesses will be made later in the week.

Oct 29, 2025

When TXST closed to 28-20 to end the first half, I thought I had a shot, but JMU blanked them in the second half. JMU 52 TXST 20. Zero for 1

Oct 30, 2025

AAC: Memphis 28 Rice 24.  Owls will give the Tigers a scare  with Quentin Jackson rushing for 100 yards.

CUSA:  LIB 23 DEL 20. Flames have re-grouped after a shaky September.

MAC: Only two  games on the schedule. Tossup so I'll go with WMU the home team WMU 20 CMU 17

MWC:  UNLV gets back on track after the spanking by Boise St. J Glover , UNLV RB, is worth watching. UNLV 31 UNM 27

Nov 1

Correct on Memphis but wrong on Rice making it close.  QJack only rushed for 22 yards for the Owls.

Nov 2, 2025

1-1 going into yesterday.

Wrong on ULNV who lost to UNM 40-35. Both QBs tossed 3 TD passes. Lobos are hot ,but the Aztecs are hotter in the MWC.

Correct on LIB  & WMU. 3-2 for the week. 

E. Dickens ,22 CAR 217 YDS, 4 TD, for the Flames

Week 9 Tuesday O5 time and picks

 Ok I"m not going to ignore the CUSA this week.

Kennesaw St has been surprising and will  win at FIU. Dexter Williams will toss two TD passes for KENN  in a 27 to 20 win.

Other four O5 conferences will be picked on Thursday.

Oct 22, 2025

KENN couldn't stop Owens but  the Odom/William QB tag team were too much. for FIU D. 

KENN 45 FIU  26.  1 for 1, so far

Oct 23, 2025

Memphis is coming off a bad  loss to UAB. USF has been rolling since they lost to Miami(FLA). Another good game for B. Brown and the Bulls this week. USF 35 MEM 24

UMass has struggled , as expected in in the MAC, but showed some improvement in a 28-21 loss to BUFF last week.  CMU is 2-1 in conference play with a loss to Akron. CMU 20 UMass 17

SDSU is right there with BSU in the MWC standings. LUcky Sutton will have another solid rushing game for the Aztecs. SDSU 24 FRES 17

Troy is tied with USM in the SBCW.  Kilcrease will toss two TD passes for the Trojans. Troy 31 ULL 20

Oct 26, 2025

wrong  on  USF. MEM outscored USF 17-0 in the 4Q for a 34-31 W

right on CMU who handled UMass

right on SDSU who blanked Fresno

right on Troy. Kilcrease didn't toss any TD passes, but J Lovett led the Trojans in rushing:21 CAR 113 YDS, 2 TD in a 35-23 W over ULL

4 of 5 for the weekend

Oct 27, 2025

Blake Horvath, the Navy QB, makes the Campbell Trophy list and gets a little  Heisman chatter.

Week 8 already in the O5

 AAC: Temple is showing improvement . E. Simon has tossed 13 TD passes.  TEMP 24 @ CHAR 17

CUSA: Four games are over, rest of the league is on bye.

MAC: MOH is in the thick of  the conference race with BUFF and WMU and will edge EMU 20-19 at home this weekend.

MWC: I'll pick two games to make up for no CUSA pick.

Colandrea(UNLV) and Madsen(Boise St) should have a QB duel. Rebs win on the roadd. UNLV 35 BSU 34.

M Davis will  rush for 100 again this week for the Ags at home USU 27 SJSU 23.

SBC: CDRW is playing well for the Herd. TXST keeps falling short. Burrell rushed for 136 yards last week for the Bobcats. I smell a road upset TXST 34 MU 31.

10/18/25

M. Davis only rushed for 50yards, but USU beat SJSU. 1-0 , so far.

10/19/25

Temple romped over CHAR 49-14. Simon  threw 4 TD passes.

MOH  44 EMU. Brunson rushed for 122 yards and a TD for the Red

BSU kicked it into gear and rolled over UNLV

TX St is not looking good as it makes it way to the Pac12. MU 40 TXST 37

CDRW provided most of the O for the Herd.

3-2 Correct on TEMP, MOH, and USU. Wrong on UNLV & TXST

!0/20/25

Herd are 4-3, nearly bowl eligible. Never saw that coming. Barbie 2TDs in the OTs.

Doug Martin, ex NFLer and BSU RB, dead at 36 while in Oakland CA police custody Some reports claim there was a struggle.