JackHammers manager featured in TV series
Published on May 16, 2008 under Northern League (NL)
Joliet JackHammers News Release
JOLIET, IL-Independent film maker John Fitzgerald wanted to do a film about minor league baseball and contacted every single independent league in the country prior to the 2007 season. He received a response from the upstart South Coast League and chose to follow around the South Georgia Peanuts and manager Wally Backman during their 2007 championship season. The result was the 12-part series entitled "Playing for Peanuts" that debuted nationally on Sunday night.
"It was a fun experience and it was kind of a perfect story the way everything happened from spring training to winning the championship," said Backman. "If that means we're going to win a championship, I'd be willing to do it again."
Backman, current hitting coach Larry Olenbeger, who served in the same capacity in South Georgia in 2007 and six current JackHammers (catcher Nick Prosise, infielders Joey Hooft and Steve Garrabrants, outfielder Doc Brooks and pitchers Drew Shetrone and Dustin Taylor) were part of the team that Fitzgerald and his crew followed all of last season. While the premier episode last Sunday (seen locally on Comcast SportsNet in approximately 14,000 households in the Chicagoland area) focused on Backman in his two years away from baseball, the show will predominately deal with the day-to-day affairs of an independent minor league baseball team.
"I didn't know what to expect," said Fitzgerald, a New York based filmmaker who won critical acclaim for his film "The Emerald Diamond" about the Irish National Baseball Team. "Wally had a great clubhouse and that made our job much easier."
Fitzgerald financed the project using his own credit cards and relied heavily upon volunteers who helped him shoot the project. He took great pains to allow the players to have fun with the project, sometimes granting them access to a hand-held camera to shoot footage. During long road trips, Fitzgerald and his crew would follow the team bus in separate vehicles.
"We're always looking for quality programming to provide our viewers and this entertaining reality mini-series certainly showcases the love of baseball from JackHammers manager Wally Backman and a number of current JackHammers players," said Greg Bowman, Senior Director of Programming for Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
Loose Gravel: This is not the first time a current JackHammer player or coach has appeared on national television. In August 2003, ESPN aired a feature story about then current JackHammers infielder Pete Rose, Jr.
The JackHammers currently have full season seats, mini-plan packages, group outings and individual tickets on sale. The JackHammers 2008 home schedule opens on Friday, May 23 at 7:05 p.m. against the Winnipeg Goldeyes for Harris Bank Opening Night at Silver Cross Field. To invest in tickets, or for more information, please contact the JackHammers Ticket Department TODAY at 815.726.2255 (BALL), stop by the Silver Cross Field Box Office during normal business hours or visit the JackHammers website at www.jackhammerbaseball.com.
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