Illinois Baseball Report

For all attending the Hot Stove Banquet on Saturday, have a good time! 

As for me , I’m in Pittsburgh for a four-day weekend with friends so I’ll miss it.  If anyone gets some good photos, contact me and we can post them here. 

In related news, Coach Hartleb got some air time with Steve Kelly a couple days ago on NewsTalks 1400 Sports Talk.  You know the Illini Baseball season is getting close when the local media begins covering the sport.  Of course, Hartleb was plugging the Hot Stove Banquet but hit on the prospects of the 2012 season, the tougher 2012 schedule and even some MLB talk.  Note: the Hartleb segment begins at about the 32:00 mark. 

Also, some good news from Hartleb… the Banquet seems to be a sellout. 

You can listen to the full episode at illinihq.com. 

Practice begins today, baseball fans. 

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Filed under: Media on January 27th, 2012 | Leave a Comment! »

Here’s some Champaign baseball-related news from The News-Gazette: 

On January 30th, Mayor Don Gerard’s exploratory committee will begin meeting and discussing the finer points of what it will take to bring a minor league to the Champaign area.  Tony Johnston, vice president of Shelby Solutions, a software firm, will head up the committee. 

"The idea is to put this team together, an exploratory committee together, to come up with a scope and, for lack of a better term, a best practice for the city on what we think can be successful in a town of Champaign’s size," Johnston said on Monday.

Long time Illinois Baseball fans might remember that Illinois Field was home to the Champaign-Urbana Bandits who had a short-lived stint with the Great Central League in 1994.  This time around, there will be a new stadium build most likely.

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Filed under: Community stuff on January 24th, 2012 | 2 Comments »

To say the least, this is a busy week for former Illini infielder Toby Gardenhire. 

For starters, he became the head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils baseball team.  But that’s not the biggest thing happening to him this week.  He will also be getting married on Saturday. 

Congrats to Toby on both counts!

He will also serve as an instructor in the UW-Stout Physical Education Department. 

Gardenhire played his senior year at Illinois in 2005 when they won the Big Ten Championship.  He was drafted in the 38th round by the Minnesota Twins that year. 

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Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on January 17th, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Here in Champaign-Urbana, we’ve just had our first taste of winter.  In the last couple of days, we’ve had high temps in the 20s with a nice blanket of snow on the ground.  Up until this point, it was almost (college) baseball weather. 

On the Fightingillini.com blog, Ben Taylor reminds us that it’s 36 days to opening day.  He breaks down the exciting 2012 schedule for the Illini baseball team.  Exciting because, well, I’ll let Ben tell you:

“But this year’s schedule is stacked with teams receiving quite a bit of preseason buzz, including a pair of teams ranked in the top 15 of Collegiate Baseball’s preseason poll and two more ranked in the top 30. The Illini start the season with their toughest slate in the four years of the Big Ten/Big East Challenge as they face preseason No. 11 St. John’s, No. 15 Louisville and Notre Dame on the season’s first weekend.”

And don’t forget, the Illini will be traveling to Lincoln for the first time ever to play the Cornhuskers.  The good news?  We hold a 3-0 lead on them in the games that they’ve played here. 

Did I mention the opening day is almost a month away??

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Filed under: Analysis on January 14th, 2012 | Leave a Comment! »

FightingIllini.com has more info on this year’s Hot Stove Banquet featuring former MLB star David Eckstein.  The Hot Stove Banquet, sponsored by the Dugout Club, will be held at the I Hotel and Conference Center on January 28.  Festivities will begin at 3pm with the banquet starting at 4pm. 

If you’re interested in supporting the baseball program, you can purchase tickets to the banquet by filling out the registration form (pdf).  The base price is $50 but there are plenty of options to buy a full table (including with an Illini baseball player). 

Don’t forget to bid for the presence of former Illini and current Baltimore Oriole Kyle Hudson at your table.  By the way, that’s a great idea for a promotion, Dugout Club!! 

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Filed under: Off Season Happenings on January 8th, 2012 | Leave a Comment! »

… but that’s what we expect from him. 

Former Illini Kimes played with the Elizabethton (TN) Twins in the Appalachian Rookie League last year. 

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Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on January 8th, 2012 | Leave a Comment! »

Happy New Year everybody! 

It’s nice to go into 2012 knowing that our team is the reigning Big Ten co-champions AND the Big Ten Tournament Champions.  That’s gotta carry some weight and I’m sure help in terms of confidence.  With our new, improved schedule (i.e. tougher) for 2012, we’ll be reaching for higher goals, I’m sure. 

Before we go any further this year, I want to point out a new web site that Illinois baseball fans will want to check out.  It’s called B1GBaseball.com.  B1G Baseball is run by Chris Webb who maintained the Buckeye Nine and Buckeye State Baseball web sites.  Webb has gone on to bigger and better things and is filling the void left by Big Ten Hardball which fell off the map a few years back. 

Chris Webb is no doubt a Ohio State Buckeye fan but he’s a fantastic baseball analyst.  I’m looking forward to reading more of his postings in the future on B1GBaseball.com. 

Here’s to a even better 2012! 

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Filed under: Baseball Blogs and Web Sites on January 2nd, 2012 | Leave a Comment! »

John Santas from the Illinois Dugout Club just sent me an email reminding me that the annual Illinois Baseball Hot Stove Banquet is soon approaching.  He even sent me a pdf registration form with all the details. 

Here’s the scoop: 

Saturday, January 28, 2012

I Hotel

2:30 PM – Private reception with David Eckstein, former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop

(2 tickets included with full table purchase // Additional tickets $20 each)

3 PM – Cocktails

3:45 PM – Banquet

Single tickets will go for $50.  A table of 8 is priced at $400, a table of 9 is $450, and a table of 10 is $500.  You’ll have the honor of an Illini baseball player’s presence if you purchase a table. 

And here’s a new thing… You’ll have the option to bid for the presence of former Illini (and current MLB) outfielder Kyle Hudson at your table. 

Don’t delay.  You can download the registration form here.

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Filed under: Off Season Happenings on December 24th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

After three productive seasons at the Iowa Cubs, former Illini catcher Chris Robinson will be heading on to a different venue.  Robinson has been signed by the Texas Ranger organization. 

In my opinion, it’s a good move for Robinson, who hit .316 with 29 rbis in 2011.  Robbie has done well with the AAA I-Cubs but hasn’t seen any sign from the parent organization that he’ll be moving up in the near future.  He’s 27 now and if wants to see some time in the bigs, a move was necessary. 

Good luck to Chris! 

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Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on December 21st, 2011 | 1 Comment »

The Baseball Cube which tracks MLB and Minor League stats, updated their site so that the University of Illinois Fighting Illini have their own page.  In the past, the Cube has done ok as far as posting college stats when they can but this is the first time I’ve seen a page devoted to college level baseball to this extent. 

Considering that the word “test” is in the web address, I wondering if the project is in beta testing at the moment.  I highly approve. 

The page is interactive so you can click away.  Clicking on a year will bring up the Illini’s roster and stats for that year.  Conversely, clicking on a player will bring up their career stats.   Anyone who’s used Baseball Reference will be familiar with the similar interface. 

Check it out.

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Filed under: Baseball Blogs and Web Sites on December 17th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »