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ApL Princeton WhistlePigs

Princeton Devil Rays update

March 19, 2005 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Princeton WhistlePigs News Release


Here in southern West Virginia, it is hoped that the snow is finally moving out and will be replaced by the sound of bat meeting ball and that the spring training games that we are watching in our warm living rooms will soon be replaced by us moving to the bleachers of our local diamonds as we get psyched up for the fast approaching 2005 Appalachian League season. Far away in Florida, all levels of players for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are working out and getting ready to report to their respective cities to place another summer of family oriented entertainment in front of you. Thus, that also includes us, the loyal followers of the Princeton Devil Rays. With that said, let's keep the feeling of moving toward summer in gear by diving into this latest edition of "Raywatch," the official monthly e-mail newsletter of the Princeton Devil Rays.

LAST LOOK AT WINTER: Everyone remembers the big splash outfielder Jonny Gomes made here as an outfielder for the 2001 Princeton Devil Rays, where he garnered MVP honors for the Appalachian League that season. Well, he still was making a big noise over this past winter as he was selected by Baseball America magazine as their "Player of the Year" for all winter leagues, which were in operation. He concluded his winter as a key player for the Mexican League All-Star team which captured this winter's Carribean World Series crown.

YOU NEVER KNOW IN BASEBALL: Two of the bigger names of the 2004 Princeton Devil Rays team, Jake Ritchie and Josh Touchstone, were both released by Tampa Bay prior to the beginning of spring training.

MARCH 16 WEBSITE WEDNESDAY WRAPUP: The last four weeks have been exciting for our readers that have been participating in our four-week mini-promo called "P-Rays' Web site Wednesdays." The contest highlighted our "new look" website at www.princetondevilrays.com for those of you who still need to pay it a visit. The contest ran for the past four Wednesdays and asked trivia questions whose answers could be found on the P-Rays' site. March 16 marked the end of the contest by asking the question "What player in the history of professional baseball in Princeton, has appeared in the most career games for Princeton without ever being named to an Appalachian League All-Star team?" The answer was infielder Salvador Paredes and we had eight local readers who submitted the correct answer and they were Keith Bailey, Rick Ball, Heather Bailey, Sally Collins, Christie Cook, Daniella Hatfield, Will Horton, David Lawson, Frank Lewis, and Rodney Mayberry. They all received gift certificates from both the Blarney Restaurant of Princeton, and Mountain Fresh Cleaners of Princeton. The April edition of "At the Yard" magazine was sent their way also. We had heavy participation from our out-of-area readers during this four week stretch and our winners for March 16 received several different prizes for submitting the correct Paredes answer. Winners of the April edition of "At the Yard" magazine were Byron Brown (Cool Ridge, WV), Cy Campbell (Denton, TX), Ron Martin (Clemmons, NC), Jeffery Smith (Cleveland, OH), and Aaron Watson (Palm Harbor, FL). We had winners of a very special major league baseball collectible "head bopper" candy dispenser and they were Cecil Blauser (Karns City, PA), Kevin Clark (Radford, VA), Bryce Casto (Dunbar, WV), Scott Gibson (St. Albans, WV), Grant McKay (Cincinnati, OH), and Rob McNamara (Rockville, MD). To cap off the contest each week, two names were drawn to receive a fitted P-Rays baseball cap from New Era and the March 16 winners were Rick Ball of Princeton and Mike Judge of Fishersville, VA. We thank everyone for their participation over the past four weeks and invite you to visit our website often to keep up on the happenings of your team...the Princeton Devil Rays!

STILL MANAGING: Two names from our past showed up with other major league organizations in managerial positions for the upcoming 2005 season. The all-time leader in career managerial victories for the Princeton franchise, Edwin Rodriguez, who chalked up 79 victories here from 2000-2002, will be managing the Marlins' entry in the Gulf Coast League in Jupiter, FL while Trent Jewett, who played for our early Princeton Pirate teams in the late 1980's will be managing the Pittsburgh Pirates AAA club at Indianapolis this summer.

ALREADY LOOKING FOR P-RAYS' TICKETS? Even though we will not put our "season ticket" books out for sale in public venues for about another six weeks, we are pleased to inform you these books are available for purchase now either at the stadium or from several members of our community Princeton Baseball Association board of directors. These books contain 30 general admission tickets, which may be used in any quantity at any time for any P-Rays regular season home game during the 2005 Appalachian League season. The books are an outstanding value at $50.00 per book, which breaks down to a microscopic $1.67 a ticket to attend a P-Rays' home game. Please contact our front office at (304) 487-2000 for details or see any of the following people who have ticket books to sell you: Joe Allen, Linda Alvis, Junior Billings, Ted Boggess, Bob Edwards, John Groseclose, Jimmy Hillyer, Marshall Lytton, Charles Pace, Dewey Russell, Bob Spencer, John Stafford, Will Stafford, Bud Tolley, Ed Whittaker, and Mori Williams. Also, we are now assigning seats for 2005 box seat holders, both renewals and new seat buyers. Do not delay in contacting us concerning box seats for 2005.

HE'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER ST. PADDY'S: Jason Pridie, who accumulated an astronomical 105 hits for the 2002 P-Rays, will never forget this past St. Patrick's Day as a career milestone. Inserted as a late addition by TB manager Lou Piniella to the Tampa Bay major league lineup for their March 17 exhibition game, Pridie proceeded to pound out three hits and make a diving catch in the contest.

2005 HOME RUN DERBY: Some exciting changes have been made for the tenth annual STAR 95/P-Rays Home Run Derby in 2005. More age categories have been added to increase everyone's chances of taking home a prize this year. The Derby is going to be a one-day event on July 9 at Hunnicutt Field with the top two home run hitters in 12 different categories receiving trophies. The contest enables everyone to see how far they can hit a baseball and "home run" distances are tailored for each category. On that date from 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m., the divisions hitting will be T-Ball 6 & under (boys and girls in one group), age 7-9 boys, age 10-12 boys, 7-12 girls, 13-19 girls, and ladies 20-over. The 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. session will feature the categories of boys 13-16, boys 17-20, men 21-30, men 31-39, men 40-49, and men 50-over. This is still a while away but we hope you will start thinking about it now and make this year for you to play on the same field as your Princeton Devil Rays. For more details, please contact the P-Rays front office at (304) 487-2000.

FEBRUARY TRIVIA: With all the excitement surrounding "Web site Wednesday" now over, we now return to our regular monthly installments of "Raywatch" e-mail trivia. In last month's "Raywatch," we served up a question for you and 20 of you stepped up to the plate with the right answer. To review, the February trivia question was "What player hit the most home runs in the American League for the decade of the 1970's?" The answer was Reggie Jackson, and six local readers turned that answer into gift certificates for themselves from both the Eccentric Fish Restaurant of Princeton and Breadman Bakery. These six trivia gurus were Christie Cook, Daniella Hatfield, David Lawson, Marshall Lytton, Jaimie Morehead, and Bob Redd. Our out-of-area readers as always answered the call with 14 of them being able to say they could not be stumped by this question and they were Cecil Blauser (Karns City, PA), Cy Campbell (Denton, TX), Bryce Casto (Dunbar, WV), Leo Finkelstein (Lima, OH), Scott Gibson (St. Albans, WV), Frank Hoard (Windham, OH), Mike Judge (Fishersville, VA), Ron Martin (Clemmons, NC), Grant McKay (Cincinnati, OH), Rob McNamara (Rockville, MD), Jeffery Smith (Cleveland, OH), Roman Stout (Kingsport, TN), Aaron Watson (Palm Harbor, FL), and Mark Wilson (Kitty Hawk, NC). Stay tuned as our trivia question for March will be coming up shortly in this newsletter.

ENCORE, ENCORE: Did you know that pitcher Chris Seddon (2001-Princeton) had some outstanding numbers at other stops in the Tampa Bay farm system last year that he hopes to duplicate in 2005? The stat that says it all is that in 19 of Seddon's 28 starts last year, he allowed two or fewer earned runs. We wish him luck for another season of this caliber as he quickly continues his climb towards Tropicana Field.

MARCH TRIVIA: As we turn the corner toward sunny weather, let's get another "Raywatch" trivia question underway for you to solve and prove that you too have your sights set straight ahead for another great year of baseball. For our local readers, the first 15 of you who submit the correct answer, there will be a $5.00 gift certificate for both the Eccentric Fish Restaurant of Princeton and Breadman Bakery sent to you. We also invite our out-of-area readers to submit answers in hopes of being listed with the winners when we publish the April edition of "Raywatch." Once again, we remind you that all guesses must be submitted to us by e-mail at raysball@sunlitsurf.com and also please remember to include your U.S. postal mailing address. Here is your question:

What active major league pitcher has the most career "saves" without having 300 career "saves.?"

MAJOR LEAGUE BUS TRIP UPDATE: The number of seats now sold on the 55-passenger, air-conditioned Abbott Trailways bus for the June 11 major league bus trip to Pittsburgh is now 44. Please do not speculate too long and get shut out. If this is new information to you, the one-day trip is to see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays play the Pittsburgh Pirates at Pittsburgh's PNC Park for a 7:05 p.m. game. The bus will depart the area in front of the Hunnicutt Field ticket office at 10:30 a.m. with a 1-1 ½ shopping/mall stop in mid-trip to Pittsburgh. The bus will return to Princeton immediately following the game. Cost of the trip is $75.00 per person and includes all transportation and game ticket fees. We remind you once again that all fees for the trip are due to the Princeton Devil Rays no later than April 20.

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