Sean Marshall tossed 4 scorless innings tonight in a 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers. Marshall who is fighting for the 5th starters role has now pitched 9 innings of ball this Spring and has only given up the single run, Sean Marshall and Aaron Heilman are battling it out on equal footing right now.

Milton Bradley singled in his first AB against his former team, Micah Hoffpauier had a hit in his only AB, and has a Spring BA of .303. A-Ram is batting .316 after having two hits in two AB’s tonight. Koyie Hill who is battling for the back up catcher spot had two hits in 2 AB’s.

Discussions involving the sale of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley field are moving forward according to Bud Selig.

Aaron Heilman continued to impress yesterday as he tried to convince Lou that he is the right man for the 5th starters

Making a case for the 5th

role. Heilman who is in competition with Jeff Samardzija, and Sean Marshall for the roll tossed 3 scorless one hit innings as the Cubs fell to the White Sox 4-3 Thursday afternoon. This will be Heilmans second concecutive scorless outing to start his Cubs career. Heilman is a lock to make the Cubs roster, but it remains to be seen if that is as a starter which he prefers or as a reliever.

Sean Marshall was said to have the edge going into the Spring, but after back-to-back impressive starts by Heilman that edge may well be fading:

“My mind-set coming in was that I was going to get an opportunity to start and show them what I could do,” said Heilman

Jeff Samardzija has struggled early this Spring, and it is looking like it may well turn into a two horse race between Marshall and Heilman. Although there is still a lot of Spring Baseball to be played.

Carlos Zambrano faced six hitters in Mondays game against Arizona and he struck out three of them. Zambrano looked in mid-season form in his first cactus league game, by not allowing any hits, or any runs in two innings of work. Carlos Marmol struck out 2 of the 3 batters that he faced in his inning of work. Marmol looked a lot sharper in his second appearence of the Spring.

Cubs batters were a little bit quiet in this one, Andres Blanco plated the only Cubs run with a RBI double. However it was the defense that sparkled the most. A day after a defensive nightmare, there were two highlight reel defensive plays, Joey Gathright made a diving grab in the 3rd inning, and Mike Fontenot threw a runner out at the plate in the 7th inning.

Cubs lose 9-1 to the D-Backs but the pitching and defense looked good.

The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs 4-2 today, the first team to do so this Spring. However 3 of the 4 runs the

Theriot hot with bat but cold with glove

Padres plated were of the un-earned variety. Jake Fox and Ryan Theriot each commited a error, then Theriot commited another for his 3rd error of the Spring.

The two runs the Cubs did plate came from unlikely sources, Doug Deeds and Ritchie Robnett who was recently acquired. Ryan Theriot fared better with the bat than he did with the glove, Theriot had 2 hits in 3 AB’s to send his Spring BA to .600. Mike Fontenot also collected 2 hits in 3 AB’s to send his Spring BA to .417.

Ryan Dempster was presented with poor defense, he pitched 2 innings of 2 hit, 3 run ball, all runs un-earned. Mike Stanton and Kevin Hart each pitched a scorless inning, both players are hopefull of making the major league club come opening day.

Brad Snyder hit a grand slam to put the Cubs as the only National league team to start the spring unbeaten. The Cubs used a 9 run 7th to beat the cross town rival White Sox 13-0. Micah Hoffpauier continued his strong spring with a RBI double, giving him 8 RBI’s in 4 games. Koyie Hill who is battling for the back-up catchers role also knocked in a pair with a 2 run double.

Aaron Heilman made the most of his spring start, striking out 4 of the 7 hitters that he faced. Heilman will battle Marshall, Guzman and Samardzija, for the 5th starters role in the Cubs rotation heading into the new season. Kevin Gregg who is batling Carlos Marmol for the closers role gave up one hit and struck out one batter in one inning of work.

The Cubs sit atop the cactus league standings after starting a perfect 4-0.

In other news:

Carlos Marmol has decided that he wil pitch in the WBC. Lou has told Marmol that it will not effect the battle for the closers role, and he will still be able to compete when he returns.

Corey Koskie and the Chicago Cubs agreed to a minor league contract today. Koskie will join the Cubs when team Canada are finished playing in the WBC. Koskie might be that cover for 3rd base the Cubs have been looking for all spring.

The Chicago Cubs continued there perfect start to Cactus League play by beating the Texas Rangers 10-4 Friday afternoon. Micah Hoffpauier, Mike Fontenot and Sam Fuld all homered for the Cubs as they moved past the Rangers in there first away game of the Spring.

Hoffpauier continued his strong spring by sending a 3 run shot in the stands, he now has 7 RBI’s this spring. Mike Fontenot who will be hoping to get more than 400 at bats this season for the first time in his major league career helped his cause by hitting a 2 run homer and also driving in two more runs.

Ted Lilly in his only cactus league start before leaving to join the USA camp, pitched two innings of scoreless ball. Rivas and Johnson knocked in the other runs as the Cubs continued there preperation for the new major league season.

Players line up before the Brewers game

Any time we beat a NL Central opponent i get a good feeling, yes i know its spring training before you all start mentioning that it is pointless. We saw our first glance of Milton Bradley, even if it was a fleeting one, Milton worked a walk in his first and only AB and then was lifted as a precautionary measure after feeling some tightness in his quad.

Jake Fox who is trying to find a position with the Cubs helped his cause by belting a 3 run shot in the third inning, Joey Gathright had 3 singles, a RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.

Sean Marshall who is battling for the 5th starters role gave up 1 run on 4 hits over 2 innings of work. Chad Gaudin hit a double while pitching one inning. Carlos Marmol gave up one run in one inning of work, and Angel Guzman picked up the save.

The Cubs move to 2-0 this spring. We now head to face the Texas Rangers with Ted Lilly getting the start.

Micah Hoffpauier picked up where he left off last spring hitting a grand slam to lift the Cubs past the Dodgers 5-3 on Wednesday. Micah will likely be counted on to be the main left handed power threat off the bench, and he did his chances of making the club a world of good in the first spring game of the new season.

Jeff Samardzija pitched 2 innings for the Cubs giving up 2 runs and 3 hits. Mitch Atkins pitched 2 innings and gave up one run on 3 hits.

Sean Marshall will take the ball today for the Cubs as they play host to NL Central rivals the Milwaukee Brewers.

I don’t know what it is that interests me about the AAGPBL, maybe it’s the fact that as a young boy I was shown the film A League Of Their Own, really it was my first introduction to baseball, and definitely my first introduction to the history of the game. Ever since those early days I have watched the film many times with a passing interest. As you can see by my earlier blog posts I’m a keen spectator of history, but until now I have never thought to look in more detail. Even though I have never looked at the Girls Professional league before I did learn one thing very early:

‘ There’s no crying! There’s no crying in baseball’

Lets look back to the year 1942, the world was shoulder deep in a global conflict, men were needed. The Americans had joined the war and men from the baseball diamond were being sent to the European battlefields to preserve democracy.
With the lack of male players to play the games the clubs faced crisis, major league ballparks were faced with years of abandonment and this is where the Chicago Cubs connection is established.

Phillip K. Wrigley a chewing gum merchant, the son of William Wrigley Jr and owner of our beloved Cubs. Phillip K. Wrigley was given the job of finding a solution to this developing problem. Phillip enlisted the help of Ken Sells who was assistant to the Cubs General manager, Ken Sells along with others made the suggestion of a girls baseball league to be established.

In the spring of 1943 the League was formed and trials were held at historic Wrigley field. The official name at the establishment was not the baseball league but a softball league, this was due to underhand pitching, a larger ball and shorter distances from the pitching mound to the plate (40 ft instead of 60ft). When the name of the league was changed to baseball the disgruntled media were not impressed so the owners were forced to change the name to simply the All American Girls Professional Ball league.

Mary Baker, Catcher for the South Bend Blue Sox

The Chicago Cubs not only financed and help establish the league, but they also played a prominent role in establishing the rules of the league. Jack Sheehan a scout and past player of the Cubs worked with Ken Sells and Vern Hernlund to establish the set of rules by which the ladies would play by. As the only form of the game for women at the time was softball, Jack Sheehan tried to encompass aspects of both Softball and Baseball into the game.
There were already established female softball teams in urban centres around the United States and Canada with players of a high quality. So it seemed logical to Jack Sheehan that they should keep aspects of the game, they stayed with the 12 inch softball and the underhand pitching but, they decided that they would lengthen the base paths and encompass professional baseball running game (Leading off and stealing bases). Softball had 10 players but it was decided that they would go with the conventional baseball rules of just 9 players.

Jim Hamilton, 30-year veteran player, manager, owner and Chicago Cubs’ scout was given the task of finding the players that were to make up the league, he would travel all across the United States trying to find capable women to play the game that would draw the crowds. Phillip K. Wrigley already had scouting networks placed all over the country thanks to his ownership of the Chicago Cubs.

Hundreds of women flocked to regional try outs to try to prove to scouts that they had what it took to play in the first professional girls baseball league. Of the hundreds that tried out for the teams only 280 were invited to Wrigley field for the final tryouts, and of these 280 only 60 made the cut.

Phillip K. Wrigley envisioned making money from the league, he approached other major league owners about the possibility that the women’s league would play in the major league parks while the major league team was away. ( We must remember that during these years, teams did not just disappear, but most of the big names were fighting in the war) He argues that this would maximise profit and maximise the use of ballparks that by this time were only being used 50%.
Despite what seems to me to be a logical suggestion my Mr Wrigley it was not received well by other major league owners so 4 non major league city’s were approached instead. The cities chosen were Racine and Kenosha Wisconsin, Rockford, Illinois, and South Bend, Indiana, a budget was drawn up and Phillip K. Wrigley agreed to sign up to paying half the budget for each team, with the city of the teams completing the payment on the other half.

There were 4 teams consisting of 15 players to a team, a team manager, a business manager and a female chaperone. On top of this the managers were one of the most important decisions that the owners had, some thought that the league was not enough to bring the crowds, and so high profile managers were thought to be a priceless way to attract crowd attention. .Johnny Gottselig; Bert Niehoff, former Major League player and minor league manager; Josh Billings, former Major League player; and Eddie Stumpf, former Milwaukee Brewers catcher were the first managers selected.

Spring training was scheduled for May 17th 1943 at Wrigley field, and players were scrutinized much like they are today. Scouts say that a player is assessed based on speed, hitting, hitting for power and range well scouts in 1943 were assessing the girls on similar criteria, the girls were accessed on Playing there position, running, catching and sliding as well as obviously hitting.
The girls that were successful were signed to pro contracts and were obliged to not take any other employment during the season, the wages were good and some players earned more than there parents.
Like the film a league of their own it was true that every lady who played in the league had to be just that. A lady. There were moral standards and rules of conduct that every player had to adhere to.
All players after training had to attend evening etiquette classes, Helena Rubenstein’s Beauty Salon. They were taught the right etiquette for every situation and were given a beauty kit and instructions on how to use it.

Mrs Wrigley, Wrigley’s art designer and Ann Harnett combined to design uniforms for the new league. Ann Harnett would become a model of these uniforms, she would also be the first player to sign a professional contract. The costume was designed in coherence with the hockey and tennis costumes of the time.

Lilly to pitch before heading out to WBC

With the opening game in the cactus league just 2 days away, pitchers are starting to be designated games to pitch over the coming week. As i stated in my last post, Jeff Samardzija will pitch the opening Cactus League game on Wednesday at HoHoKam park against the team that swept the Cubs out of the play-offs last season. Mitch Atkins, who impressed at AAA last season will also pitch two innings in the game against the Dodgers.

Sean Marshall who like Jeff Samardzija is battling for the 5th starters role will pitch Thursday against the NL Central division rival Milwaukee Brewers. Marshall who many believe to be the early favorite for the rotation will have stiff competition, and will have to watch one of the competition perform first in Jeff Samardzija before he takes the mound.

Ted Lilly is slated for his only cactus league action Friday against the Texas Rangers. Ted Lilly will join team USA ahead of the WBC. The 17 game winner is one of the few Cubs players sill participating in the event.

Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster are not slated to start in the first round of rotation starts, pitching coach Larry Rothschild said that there were no problems with the pitchers. Rich Harden continued to throw off a mound with no problems, however he is a week behind other pitchers. Andrew Cashner impressed cubs management with his smooth arm action, and asked Cus hitter David Lee about his change-up that he has been working on, positive feedback was given.

Two day’s to go ladies and gentlemen.