Wirz & Associates, Inc. Sports Consulting, PR and Marketing Specialists ----------------------------------- 665-A North Trail Stratford, CT 06614 203 380-9931 Email:
[email protected] www.WirzandAssociates.com Independent Baseball Insider (Vol. 4, No. 30, October 12, 2006) A Year in the Frontier League Would Have Satisfied Josh Kinney, Let Alone Being Part of Cardinals’ Postseason Bullpen By Bob Wirz A baseball fan never needs extra hype when it is championship time because, well, that is the level everyone is seeking. At the same time, the interest builds even more when you know someone—or at least know something about a certain personality—who is at center stage. I am here to tell you--if you do not already know it--that added bonus for Independent Baseball fans during major league baseball’s League Championship Series of 2006 is St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Kinney. Cheer for whatever team you like, but Josh Kinney deserves attention. He is one of our own; the only one of the 100 players active for either LCS who played in an Independent league. Kinney did not have “star” written across his chest when he finished playing at Quincy (IL) University as a 22-year-old in 2001 and headed for a tryout with the Frontier League’s River City Rascals in the St. Louis-area community of O’Fallon, MO. He had gone undrafted. “I did it (the tryout) because I liked to play,” the 27-year-old native of Coudersport, PA told me Wednesday, a few hours before he and his St. Louis playmates were due to open the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets.