Tag Archives: Washington Wild Things

Independent Ball

15th Anniversary brings 800th win, playoffs for WildThings

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The 2017 Frontier League season marks the 15th anniversary for the Washington Wild Things.

On Friday, the team won their 800th game in franchise history.

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On Saturday, the team clinched a playoff spot.

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All season long, I have struggled with what direction to actually take this anniversary post.

At first, this was intended to be a “Where Are They Now” post highlighting the players and coaches that have been through Washington, Pennsylvania in the last fifteen years. That may still happen, but not today.

Then, I thought I would put a more personal spin on the article… I’ve literally grown up with the Wild Things and have seen it all.

When the team relocated from Canton, Ohio to Washington, I was a 12 year old kid who looked up to the guys on the field and loved being much closer to the action than I could imagine in Pittsburgh with the Pirates.

After awhile, I was the same age as the players, forming friendships that have lasted well after the guys have left this town to begin the next chapter in their lives.

This year, I’m at veteran status. I’ve hit the Frontier League age limit of 27. I’ve been called the “Mama Bear of Indy Ball” although I’d prefer just being called the big sister or something along those lines… I’m not at Mama Bear age status yet!

But yes, I am very protective and proud of these guys on the team here in Washington.

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This year, this team has been something special, and they deserve all of the recognition in this article. On and off the field, this has been a one of a kind group that I’m honored to call “my team.”

The theme for the year has been “unfinished business”, which is really appropriate for the team (this year and over all 15 years) as well as for a lot of the players.

The Wild Things have been in the league for 15 years without ever winning a championship.  In fact, they haven’t even been in the championship series since 2007 and haven’t had a playoff appearance at all since 2014.

Last year, a lot of the pieces were there, but the team just couldn’t finish out the season successfully.

Roster turnover is very high in indy ball. Washington is no different – only five players currently on the roster were with the team last year, but those players have had a huge impact this year. Three returning players are starting pitchers (Trevor Foss, Chase Cunningham, and Brian O’Keefe), solidifying the rotation from the start, and the other two returnees are their backstops (Kyle Pollock and John Fidanza).

The rest of the players have some unfinished business of their own. At mid-season, the Wild Things had 14 players with affiliated experience on their roster (the second highest in the Frontier League).

This season has also brought a lot of records for the Wild Things. In addition to winning their 800th game in franchise history on September 1st, the team sent a record eight players to the All-Star game this July.

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The 8 players:
Pitchers – Trevor Foss, Chase Cunningham, Zack Strecker
Outfielders – Rashad Brown, Bralin Jackson (home run-derby participant)
Infielders – Mike Hill, Kane Sweeney
Catcher – Kyle Pollock
had a big impact on the All-Star game. Bralin Jackson was even named the All-Star game MVP.

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On June 30th, Foss set a franchise record of his own when he pitched his 10th career complete game (and has pitched 2 more since).

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The team also had a Frontier League pitcher and player of the week this season.

Chase Cunningham was the Pitcher of the Week for the week ending on July 2nd and Kenny Peoples-Walls was named Player of the Week for the week ending on August 20th.

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On August 31st, the Frontier League announced their postseason awards which brought four more honors to the Wild Things organization.

Rashad Brown won the Fran Riordan Award. This award is given to one player each year that exemplifies good citizenship off the field and in his respective community.

First baseman, Kane Sweeney,  was also named to the postseason All-Star team. He is currently batting .296 with 15 HR and 61 RBI.

In addition to the player awards, Chris Dugan was named Writer of the Year, and the Washington Observer-Reporter was named Newspaper of the Year.

The WildThings have accomplished a lot in this anniversary season, but as the theme goes… there is still unfinished business to take care of.

The team will begin their playoff run at home on Tuesday and Wednesday. From there, they hope to become the first team to bring a championship to Washington, PA.

And… just like every year for the last 15 years, I’ll be there in the stands.

But this time, I know it’s different. We all have some unfinished business.

To the players, managers, and coaches who have come through here in the past, thank you for bringing us to this point. For fifteen years, you guys have taken over my summer and helped me create memories and friendships that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

To the players from this year’s team, you know how much I love you boys! Thank you for being the amazing guys that you are… on and off the field! I respect and admire you all. Let’s finish this!

(All photo credit (except the Wild Things roster/autographs): Washington Wild Things Official Facebook.)

Independent Ball, My Life

Education Day with the Black Sox

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Usually on this site, I provide information on various leagues and write stories about players – detailing where they’ve played and what their stats look like.

This story is going to be just a little bit different, but it’s educational all the same.

As some of my readers and followers know, I am actually a teacher when I’m not doing this baseball writing stuff!

This past week, I was substitute teaching my favorite 8th grade class.  I have gotten to know these students from my student teaching experience at the end of last year and have also filled in as a substitute for them whenever possible.  My students know how much I love baseball, and some even know about this site and what I do when I’m not in front of their classroom.

Yesterday, I got the opportunity to go with them as their teacher to the Education Day game between the Washington WildThings and the Black Sox.

I’ve known the Black Sox coach, Andrew Rosario, for a couple years, and I have also gotten to know some of the players who happened to be with the team yesterday.

For those of you who don’t know, the Black Sox have a few teams throughout the country with players who are either looking for jobs or looking to get in reps and stay in game-shape until their professional season starts. They travel across the country, paying their own way, just to play baseball.

Their hard work and dedication to the game is inspiring… which is why I got so excited that they were the visiting team for the Education Day game. I knew it would be a perfect learning experience disguised as a field trip for some of my students.

Before the game, I went down to talk to a few of the players as well as coach Rosario and let them know that I’d love to bring some of my students over to meet them and talk baseball. They were more than happy to agree.

During the game, I rounded up a group of boys who play little league, love the game, and definitely look up to the players who get to play the game for a living. As their teacher, I can only hope that they have good baseball role models to follow. I knew these guys were pretty good examples of that.

I took them down to the bullpen and later to the dugout, and the players did exactly what I hoped they would do… they asked them their names, their positions, what teams and players they liked, and then… they just talked baseball. They told the boys where they played, what they were doing, and how they got to be on a team playing in Washington, PA. They talked about the grueling schedule and how they put in the hard work to do something they love. And my students were listening to everything. It may have been only 5 or 10 minute conversations, but those boys talked about it for hours after. The guys even signed countless autographs yesterday for many of my other students as well.

It didn’t matter what the score was.  It didn’t matter what the players’ stats were. All that mattered was that they took the time to talk to some kids who were truly interested in what they were doing.

Some of the Black Sox players have been around professional baseball for years, but some are rookies out of college.  For those rookies, this was one of the first times they’ve ever had kids interested in hearing their stories and getting their autographs. It honestly was a great educational experience for both the players and the students.

Getting to see how excited both sides were when they interacted with each other was an amazing thing that I doubt I’ll forget any time soon. It makes teaching and what I do with baseball so worth it.

To the Black Sox players and the Wild Things players as well who were down by their dugout signing, thank you for making Educational Day and an end of the year field trip so special for so many kids.

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Special shout out to the WildThings’ mascot for coming up and interacting with my students as well!! You are one of a kind! (Future story on this is also in the works!)

If you are interested in playing with the Black Sox, you can check out more information on their official website –  Black Sox: Pro Baseball Road Warriors.