Jim Dedrick Signed as New Pitching Coach
Published on February 24, 2004 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Bridgeport Bluefish News Release
Welcome to our new pitching coach, Jim Dedrick, who will be coming here from Portland, OR. We almost had Jim as a pitcher here in our championship season (1999), but he signed instead with the Atlanta Braves organization and ended up pitching that season for the AAA Richmond Braves. A 33rd round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 1990, Jim made it to the "big show" with the Orioles in 1995, and pitched in six games that season. He is a native of Los Angeles and has played professional baseball in Australia, Venezuela, Canada, and the Dominican Republic, in addition to the United States. He has also been a scout with the San Diego Padres, and most recently was a pitching coach at the University of Portland. The 6'0" righthander is 35 years old. He replaces Joe "Crawdaddy" Crawford who is now with the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
Update on Mike Guilfoyle: Mike's beau, Stacie McNulty, reports that Mike is "officially halfway done with the Police Academy." He will graduate on May 10, just after we open our season (on May 6). He will then do 600 hours of field work before he will be on his own as a Fairfield policeman. Last month, Mike and Stacie moved to Fairfield, and she reports that "schedule permitting, we will be at Opening Day" (home opener on May 18). We wish Mike and Stacie well and will miss our ace closer for the past six seasons.
Casey Stengel played his first Major League game on July 27, 1912, and went 4-for-4 at the plate. He commented later in his life, "I broke in with four hits and the writers promptly decided they had seen the new Ty Cobb. It took me only a few days to correct that impression."
Former Bridgeport Economic Development Director Mike Freimuth reports that the working name for the proposed new football stadium (for the New York Jets) on Manhattan's west side is "Hudson Yard". Certainly sounds a lot like our own "Harbor Yard"... And that's not all. Here's the latest form Mike (now with the City of Stamford as its Economic Development Director): "Just got in from Manhattan and was talking with some people about the proposed Brooklyn Nets....guess what?... the working name for that complex is "Atlantic Yards"! It seems that the Brooklyn Nets have more of a chance than the NY Jets (Hudson Yard) do in their proposals...both are banking on Olympic fever to get built......one of the events at the Olympics, should they come to NYC will be at new Staten Island Yankees minor league facility...."
Bridgeport City Librarian Michael Golrick reports that when the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) comes to the Arena at Harbor Yard that the rings and stairs that WWE uses have been manufactured in Bridgeport by MTJ Manufacturing at 127Wilmot Avenue. MJT owner Mark Carpenter, Sr. has been building these items for WWE for a number of years. You go, Mark!
Welcome back to Gregory & Howe, one of our most loyal sponsors over the years. The firm will once again have a tri-vision sign on our scoreboard. Owner George Howe has been a terrific Bluefish fan. His firm provides outstanding drug testing services of Atlantic League players.
Yuk! You gotta be kidding! Not for nothing, but the name for the new Northeast League team playing at Yale Field this season leaves something to be desired. They will be called the "New Haven County Cutters". Its "Name the Team" contest drew 1,250 entries, and this is the name they chose?
Wondering what happened to this Memo last week? For the first time in four weeks, we took a full week off as this editor took an automobile journey with my family to Disneyworld. Ask me anything about Interstate 95. I'm still bleary-eyed, 2,500 miles later. Not complaining though, not after worst January in Bridgeport in the past fifty years. Mickey and Minnie are alive and well.
The Reverend Kevin Ginyard is a loyal Bluefish fan whose daughter, Noel, performed a terrific rendition of the National Anthem for us at a game last year. With his permission, here's an excerpt of an e-mail we recently received from him: "Bottom line, the Stadium is going to see this face an awful lot this season, not to mention my Saturday night 'slip aways' (my favorites) when me and Pat slip away from all the demanding stresses of our daily lives and take in a Bluefish game -- just the two of us. Those are the best! I can't wait!!! Well, take care, sir, and I'll see you soon at Bridgeport's Crown Jewel, that beautiful ball park in the south end of town!" An uplifting message which helps illustrate how vital this ballpark and team is to the City of Bridgeport!
Some time ago this editor wrote about one of the greatest baseball books of all time, "The Glory of Their Times", by Lawrence Ritter. Thirty-eight years ago, Ritter, armed with a reel-to-reel tape recorder, spent four years interviewing twenty-two of the greatest baseball players of the "dead ball" era. The men he interviewed were quite old and Ritter was determined to learn everything he could about them before they passed on. The book, "The Glory of Their Times", is a compilation of these twenty-two stories. Ritter was 43 when the book was published. The book sold over 400,000 copies and Ritter divided the royalties among the players and their families. Ritter wrote other many other books, including several on baseball. This past week, Lawrence Ritter, 81 years of age, passed away in his New York apartment.
Happenings in the âhood: Donette Esposito, permittee with husband Sonny of "High on the Hog", the bistro right next to the Playhouse on the Green, reports that Dr. Henry Lee and Jonathan Benedict, the chief prosecutor in the Martha Moxley murder case were in her restaurant recently. Seems a production company was filming an interview for a series the company is doing for "Court TV". The series is called the "Henry Lee Series". In about six months, expect to see footage of Donette's restaurant with, as she says, window views of McLevy Green.
That's good news of course, but the news from the Pentagon on Monday afternoon was anything but. Our Sikorsky helicopter production plant here in the South End received the stunning news that its vaunted Comanche helicopter was being scrapped by the federal government. It is impossible to sugar coat this news which was all over the national news last night. Whether it's the right decision or not for our country, it sure isn't good for our immediate neighborhood. Fortunately we have powerful U.S. Senators and Congressmen who we hope can blunt or reverse (unlikely) this decision. If the Comanche is discontinued, Sikorsky will almost certainly get the opportunity to produce more Blackhawk helicopters, but whether they would be assembled here in the South End, or in Stratford (where they are currently built) is an open question. We can only hope and fight for the best.
How about the Fairfield University Men's basketball team winning nine of its last ten games to improve its overall record to 18-9, and its MAAC record to 11-5?! Is this the same team that started its MAAC conference record with only two wins in its first six games? Actually, no, since the Stags lost their two top scorers in Terrence Todd and Deng Gai. Despite the loss of these two players, the Stags are now tied for second place (Manhattan has already clinched the regular-season MAAC title) with two road games remaining in the regular season against Loyola tonight and Siena on Saturday night before the MAAC Tournament in Albany March 5-8. Probably the biggest reason for the resurgence of the Stags is the phenomenal play of Senior Center Rob Thomson who earned his second MAAC Player of the Week honors last week.
Meanwhile, the Fairfield Women's basketball team has now won three of its last four games to improve its record to 9-17 overall, and 7-9 in the MAAC. With a home game Thursday night at 7:30 PM against Rider (7:30 PM), and an away game Sunday against Loyola, the women can still finish with a .500 league record as the team prepares itself for the MAAC tournament. For a team picked to finish first in the league, the season has been a disappointment so far, but with the team jelling just as it approaches tournament time, they will be a dangerous opponent for any other MAAC team to draw. What the team would most like, of course, would be to fight its way into the NCAA Tournament by winning the MAAC tournament, and then get assigned to the Eastern bracket. We all know that Fairfield University will be hosting the first round of the Eastern Regional on March 21 and 23 right here at the Arena at Harbor Yard. And with the UCONN Women reclaiming its number one national ranking, it is increasingly likely that UCONN will actually be playing two games here in Bridgeport. How great will that be?
Atlantic League Stories from February 24, 2004
- Jim Dedrick Signed as New Pitching Coach - Bridgeport Bluefish
- Somerset Patriots to host food drive with opening day of ticket sales on March 13th - Somerset Patriots
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
