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]

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]

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]

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 like Tommy Lasorda, a rare interview with Dominic DiMaggio, expanded stories on the players, improved photos and more! [Feature Section]

Mutt's Edge
Sent into the Saint Paul Saints as a character assassin by Rolling Stone Magazine, gunning for Bill Murray and Darryl Strawberry, author Neal Karlin finds a bit of his own character in the characters of indy baseball's most unique Saint Paul Saints. [Article]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Eastern League All-Star Game 2006
Brett Roneburg steals the show at the Eastern League All-Star game. Will this be the building block that he needs to put his career back on track to the majors? [Article]

Royals Splash
It was a Royal night at the MLB Futures game, the premiere showcase of top minor league talent as Alex Gordon and Billy Butler demonstrate why Kansas City picks are USDA prime. [Article]

Lockdown
The International League plays with a vengeance in the 2006 edition of the Triple-A All-Star classic in Toledo. [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 Devil Went Down to Durham

People worried that Bulls baseball might get a tad dull with ol' Bill Evers gone. The team has had a rough year, but between star prospects Delmon Young and BJ Upton's mishaps, it's anything but dull.

Do the Bulls' bad boys have what it takes for a major league career? [Opinion]

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]

Some Strange Umpiring

If the replacement umpires in the Triple-A are the best that Minor League Baseball has to offer, fans in the Class A leagues should be truly worried. Dan Hickling, the Guerrilla Stringer, calls 'em like he sees them. [Blog]

MLN Top Ten Minor League Ballparks

Where are the best places to watch a baseball game? 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]

When the Message Owns the Media

Leagues and teams that cover themselves are often covering themselves in ways that protect them from an independent media. Is it money, spin control, or something more? [Blog]

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]

Hall of Fame
Billy Hall may not make an impact on the majors, but he has made a major impact on the minors. [Article]