WestEddy Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 (edited) When researching the MLB amateur draft on Baseball-Reference, I'd always run into Bend, Boise and Miami on the franchise list. I never really gave it a thought, figuring it was some leftover place-holder when the site was being created, or something. Turns out, independent minor league teams used to be able to participate in the Rule 4 draft. Only 4 teams ever took advantage of this. I ran into Bend's draft picks while looking at the White Sox 1971 draft, where they took Bill Sharp in the 2nd round, instead of George Brett or Mike Schmidt. (Some things never change.) Turns out, Hawaii was trying to become an expansion franchise, and started building a team ahead of the next round of expansion. Hawaii contracted an independent team in Bend, Oregon to be their minor league franchise. The following is a SABR article some here might find interesting. https://sabr.org/research/article/the-next-pick-goes-to-the-miami-miracle-independent-minor-league-teams-in-the-amateur-baseball-draft/ Sorry is this seems way off what the focus of the board is. Please feel free to delete. It is baseball related, and I'm being driven nuts by refreshing MLB Trade Rumors.com, SoxTalk and Twitter. I figured somebody else might want a break. Edited January 11 by WestEddy 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 1 hour ago, WestEddy said: When researching the MLB amateur draft on Baseball-Reference, I'd always run into Bend, Boise and Miami on the franchise list. I never really gave it a thought, figuring it was some leftover place-holder when the site was being created, or something. Turns out, independent minor league teams used to be able to participate in the Rule 4 draft. Only 4 teams ever took advantage of this. I ran into Bend's draft picks while looking at the White Sox 1971 draft, where they took Bill Sharp in the 2nd round, instead of George Brett or Mike Schmidt. (Some things never change.) Turns out, Hawaii was trying to become an expansion franchise, and started building a team ahead of the next round of expansion. Hawaii contracted an independent team in Bend, Idaho to be their minor league franchise. The following is a SABR article some here might find interesting. https://sabr.org/research/article/the-next-pick-goes-to-the-miami-miracle-independent-minor-league-teams-in-the-amateur-baseball-draft/ Sorry is this seems way off what the focus of the board is. Please feel free to delete. It is baseball related, and I'm being driven nuts by refreshing MLB Trade Rumors.com, SoxTalk and Twitter. I figured somebody else might want a break. I think that's Bend, Oregon. I live in Idaho and never heard of Bend, Idaho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestEddy Posted January 11 Author Share Posted January 11 48 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said: I think that's Bend, Oregon. I live in Idaho and never heard of Bend, Idaho. Thanks. Had Boise on the mind, and wasn't thinking. Had you ever come across this in your writings? One of those weird things where I'm amazed I never heard of it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 1 hour ago, WestEddy said: Thanks. Had Boise on the mind, and wasn't thinking. Had you ever come across this in your writings? One of those weird things where I'm amazed I never heard of it. Never had. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 39 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said: Never had. Surprised you hadn't since hasn't there been a recent documentary about Mike Veeck that spent some time talking about his ownership of the Miami Miracle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dam8610 Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 4 hours ago, WestEddy said: When researching the MLB amateur draft on Baseball-Reference, I'd always run into Bend, Boise and Miami on the franchise list. I never really gave it a thought, figuring it was some leftover place-holder when the site was being created, or something. Turns out, independent minor league teams used to be able to participate in the Rule 4 draft. Only 4 teams ever took advantage of this. I ran into Bend's draft picks while looking at the White Sox 1971 draft, where they took Bill Sharp in the 2nd round, instead of George Brett or Mike Schmidt. (Some things never change.) Turns out, Hawaii was trying to become an expansion franchise, and started building a team ahead of the next round of expansion. Hawaii contracted an independent team in Bend, Idaho to be their minor league franchise. The following is a SABR article some here might find interesting. https://sabr.org/research/article/the-next-pick-goes-to-the-miami-miracle-independent-minor-league-teams-in-the-amateur-baseball-draft/ Sorry is this seems way off what the focus of the board is. Please feel free to delete. It is baseball related, and I'm being driven nuts by refreshing MLB Trade Rumors.com, SoxTalk and Twitter. I figured somebody else might want a break. This is honestly a refreshing change of pace from most of what's going on here lately. Thank you for posting this. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said: Surprised you hadn't since hasn't there been a recent documentary about Mike Veeck that spent some time talking about his ownership of the Miami Miracle? Never saw the doc with Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 27 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said: Never saw the doc with Mike Not the doc but interview with Brian Kenney about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.