ApL Princeton WhistlePigs

P-Rays news update

December 18, 2004 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Princeton WhistlePigs News Release


Are you ready to turn your calendar to 2005 and get Appalachian League baseball in your thoughts? You really do not have a choice as time marches on and the summer of 2005 marches closer to us with each passing day. Without further delay, and to help you fill the cold nights of winter with warm thoughts of summer, we present to you the December, 2004 edition of "Raywatch, the official e-mail newsletter of the Princeton Devil Rays.

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS-RAYS STYLE! : The Princeton Devil Rays played a part in helping to stir up the Christmas spirit for our community by participating in Princeton's annual Christmas parade on November 29. Pictured below are two pictures of the Princeton Rays' float and participants, which centered around the parade's theme of "Celebrating Christmas Around the World. As you can tell from the float, we chose to salute Latin America in honor of the many Latin players who have played in Princeton throughout our franchise's 18-year history. We offer a tip of the P-Rays cap and say "thank you" to all those who worked on the float for us: the Princeton Senior High School Key Club, their faculty advisor Judy Foster, and club members Alese Anderson, Jessica Coburn, Bobby Minnix, Lauren Muncy, Margie Nash, Kathleen Weldon, and Lucas Woods along with fellow PSHS student Elizabeth Linkous. Long-time Princeton baseball fans Bobby Choate and Daniella Hatfield also played major roles in the construction of the float while many thanks for special assistance are due for the efforts of the staffs of Crossroads Cars, Drug Free Mercer (and Mr. John Puckett), and El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant. Oh yes, and then there's that six-foot rooster that runs around in the P-Rays uniform-Thank You Roscoe!! A good time was had by all, and we all look forward to next year's Christmas parade, which will feature the theme, "A Mercer County Christmas-Past or Present." For those of you who would like to see a re-broadcast of this year's parade, it will be shown on Princeton's Charter Communications channel 2 (Network West Virginia) at 9:00 p.m. on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

ANOTHER INTERN...ON HIS WAY UP THE LADDER: You can now add another name to the list of former P-Ray interns who have taken their valuable intern experience in Princeton and parlayed it into an opportunity to enter the world of professional baseball on a full-time basis. Mark Cline, who interned here just last summer, will be starting on January 10 as a group sales and community relations representative for the Missoula (MT) Osprey, an Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate in the Pioneer League. Before everyone runs for their dictionary, an "osprey" is a large hawk that feeds solely on fish.

NOVEMBER TRIVIA REVEALED: Speaking of fish, we had 11 local winners who collected a gift certificate from The Eccentric Fish Restaurant of Princeton as well as a gift certificate from Breadman Bakery for submitting the correct answer to our November "Raywatch" trivia question. To review, the November trivia question was, "Who was the last National League pitcher to win the Cy Young award while winning more than 25 games in the season he won the award?" The answer was Steve Carlton of the 1972 Philadelphia Phillies. The gift certificates mentioned previously were awarded to the following local winners: Kevin Clark, Christie Cook, Daniella Hatfield, David Lawson, Frank Lewis, Marshall Lytton, Ben McGraw, Mark Morehead, Jim Nelson, James Proctor, and Ed Taylor. It is always great to see the input we receive from our out-of-area readers and on behalf of all of our fans here locally, we thank you for keeping up with the happenings of P-Rays baseball and we hope to see you in our ballpark next summer. We now salute our out-of-area readers for their correct answers last month and they are Cy Campbell (Denton, TX), Bryce Casto (Dunbar, WV), Scott Gibson (St. Albans, WV), Rich Hively (Nitro, WV), Rob McNamara (Rockville, MD), Ron Martin (Clemmons, NC), Phil Nicholas (Seth, WV), Jeffrey Smith (Cleveland, OH), Roman Stout (Kingsport, TN, where he is the General Manager of the Kingsport Mets), and Mark Wilson (Clemmons, NC). Your December trivia question will appear later in this newsletter.

PLAYER MOVES: The maneuvering is underway to form the 40-man roster that Tampa Bay will head into spring training with and three former Princeton pitchers have been added to the list: Brian Stokes (1999-Princeton), Chris Seddon (2001), and Jason Hammel (2002). Infielder Luis Ordaz (1993-94) has inked a contract once again with the Tampa Bay organization and appears at this point to be ticketed for a return trip to the Rays' AAA affiliate at Durham. In other news, pitcher Buddy Carlyle (1996) will be going to camp with the Los Angeles Dodgers while pitcher Delvin James (1997) will head to spring training with the Anaheim Angels.

GOING "NATIONAL": The major league Rule 5 draft in Anaheim on December 13 saw two former Princeton players change teams and both will be going to spring training in 2005 as members of the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos) organization. Infielder Edgar Gonzalez (2000), who played last season in the Rangers' organization, was selected in the second round of the AAA phase of the Rule 5 draft. Ironically, he wound up in Texas via a Rule 5 acquisition from Tampa Bay in an earlier draft. Former Appalachian League All-Star infielder Dan Dement (2000) was picked by the Nats in the second round of the AA phase.

DOES SANTA HAVE RED HAIR?: Former P-Ray pitcher Seth McClung (1999) joined fellow TB pitchers Dewon Brazleton and Rob Bell in hosting the Tampa Bay Devil Rays seventh annual children's holiday party for the Boys & Girls Club of Florida's Suncoast on December 17 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL. The players took children on a tour of the major league clubhouse and assisted with supervision as the children were invited to run around the bases at "The Trop." The players signed autographs for all of the children and then joined them for lunch before distributing gifts, which were provided by our major league affiliate's "Rays of Hope Foundation."

NEWEST P-RAY STAFF MEMBER: All readers of "Raywatch" should have received their press release via e-mail on Wednesday, December 15, announcing the 2005 P-Ray field staff of manager Jamie Nelson, pitching coach Rafael Montalvo, hitting coach Manny Castillo, and trainer Kris Russell. Rounding out the staff will be clubhouse manager Shane Rossetti of Concord, NH. Shane has previous clubhouse experience in the Tampa Bay organization with their former AA affiliate at Orlando in 2003. It must run in the family, as Shane's older brother, Erik, is currently the visiting clubhouse manager for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the AA Eastern League affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Shane will be replacing the P-Rays' "clubbie" of the past two seasons, Matt Gallant, who has been promoted to Tampa Bay's AA affiliate in Montgomery, AL.

DECEMBER TRIVIA: With the holiday season fast approaching, wouldn't this be a great time to stock up on some extra pastries and sweets while also for going out for dinner with gift certificates won from "Raywatch" trivia? It's easy enough for the first 15 local readers that submit correct responses to this month's trivia question, as they will receive a $5.00 gift certificate from both The Eccentric Fish Restaurant and Breadman Bakery. Your guesses are to be returned to us via e-mail at raysball@sunlitsurf.com and please do not forget to include your U.S. postal mailing address so we will know where to mail your prize cards. As always, we also encourage our out-of-area readers to participate also so they we may recognize them on our trivia honor roll in conjunction with our next newsletter in January. In the spirit of the Christmas season, we are going to make your question an easy "gift" in hopes of giving away all of these gift certificates and helping to fill you up with some good holiday food. Your question for December is "Who was the last member of the Texas Rangers to lead the American League in runs batted in (RBI's) for a season without having the letter "z" in his last name?" Okay, everybody jump on that question as we are waiting here for your responses with these gift certificates, which need a new home (preferably yours).

DON'T FORGET ABOUT OUR MAJOR LEAGUE BUS TRIP!!: We are starting to receive some payments for our P-Rays' fan bus trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday, June 11, 2005 to see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 7:05 p.m. game at PNC Park. We will be transported in a 55-passenger, air-conditioned Abbott Trailways bus and since this is a major league game that involves reserved stadium seating, we are hoping for a sold-out bus and advise you that seats on the bus will be sold until April 20, 2005 or until the bus is full, whichever comes first. The departure time from Hunnicutt Field is currently scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to allow for at least a one-hour lunch/mall shopping stop to be made in mid-trip while also allowing us to arrive in Pittsburgh well advance of game time. Cost of the trip (which includes your game ticket and transportation costs) will be $75.00 per person. The bus will return to Princeton immediately following the game. How much would it cost you if you drove to Pittsburgh and did this on your own? Come join the fun with your fellow P-Rays fans as we watch several former Princeton players on both teams do battle. For more details (on what could still be a nice Christmas gift for your favorite baseball fan), please contact the P-Rays front office either by e-mail at raysball@sunlitsurf.com or by telephone at (304) 487-2000.

DO YOU STILL HAVE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING TO DO?: Please keep in mind that without the great merchants and corporate partners support that the P-Rays enjoy, you would be spending your summer evenings somewhere other than Hunnicutt Field. Take a moment to look through your 2004 program/yearbook and give some thought to the signs you saw on our outfield wall this year. We hope you will certainly consider patronizing in particular the vendors who make the effort to put professional baseball here for you. Let them know you appreciate them and that we are happy they are part of the P-Rays' family!

"WRAPPING" IT UP": As the calendar year of 2004 draws to a close, members of the Princeton Devil Rays' front office staff, players, and coaches, would like to thank you once again for making it possible for professional baseball to continue to exist in Princeton after 18 years. Only 160 cities in the United States and Canada have the privilege to host affiliated professional minor league baseball teams. Obviously, since Princeton is not one of the 160 largest cities in the United States and Canada, it becomes very obvious that the strength and heart of our advertisers, fans, and followers of the P-Rays is what keeps this train on the tracks. Here's wishing you and your loved ones all the best and we look forward to working together with you to help professional baseball in Princeton flourishing for many years to come. We are indeed your team! Please keep in touch with us as every fan and advertiser is important to us and we enjoy hearing from you in the offseason.

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