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New Managers For Both Rascals, Grizzlies As New Season Starts
BY JIM WIENERS
Frontier League Baseball, An Independent Class A Minor League, will see new field managers in the two St. Louis Area teams as the 2007 season opened May 23.
The River City Rascals, based in O’Fallon, Mo., named Toby Rumfield to be the team’s fifth field manager for the team’s eighth season.
Rumfield, a 1991 draft pick by the Cincinnati Reds, spent six seasons in affiliated baseball in the Reds organization, then spent three more years in the Atlanta Braves organization, was with the Chicago White Sox AAA farm team in Charlotte, N.C. and spent one more year in affiliated baseball with the Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros. Never played a day in the major leagues, Rumfield played for Fargo-Moorhead of the independent Northern League before retiring as a player.
Rumfield became a manager of the San Angelo Colts formerly of the Central League, an independent league; in 2004 then was a scout with the Kansas City Royals organization.
Joining Rumfield on the field is Randy Woodard, who will be the pitching coach. Woodard is the president and founder of Excel Baseball, Inc., and was a scout with the Royals.
Meanwhile the Gateway Grizzlies hired one their former players to be the team’s fourth field manager to begin their seventh season of existence. Phil Warren — who played in parts of six seasons in the Frontier League, the last three with the Grizzlies including the 2003 Frontier League Championship team — was in the Grizzlies front office last year as Director of Player Personnel. Warren succeeds Danny Cox who was the Grizzlies manager for four years including 2003 championship season.
Warren also welcomes Randy Martz to be the Grizzlies pitching coach. Martz was the Rascals manager prior to last year and is the second former Rascals manager to be a Grizzlies coach. Neil Fiala, who was the Rascals’ second manager, is a former Grizzlies coach. Martz and Fiala both are head coaches at Illinois junior colleges (Martz at Lewis & Clark Community College in Godfrey and Fiala at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville).
The Rascals also have new owners for the start of the 2007 season. Steve Malliet, President of PS & J Professional Baseball, became the owner of the Rascals following the 2006 season. Malliet has been Executive Vice President/General Manager of the Joliet (Ill.) Jackhammers of the independent Northern League.
In addition the hand-operated scoreboard in the middle of the 40-foot right field “Big Dog Wall” was painted red. The Rascals new slogan for the 2007 season is; “It’s a whole new animal.”
After playing three exhibitions games this weekend the Rascals open the 2007 season at Evansville, Ind., May 23. The Rascals will watch the Evansville Otters raise the Frontier League Championship banner; they won in 2006, in historic Bosse Field, the third oldest professional baseball stadium behind the Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. The Rascals home opener at T.R. Hughes Ballpark is May 25, also against Evansville.
Meanwhile the Grizzlies, after a home exhibition game last Saturday against the Rascals, opened the season at home May 23 with a four-game home series at GCS Ballpark. The Grizzlies will play a brand new team in the one of the two newest teams in the Frontier League, the Southern Illinois Miners based in Marion. That means the Frontier League will have four teams in Illinois, the Grizzlies, Miners, Windy City Thunderbolts (from the Chicago suburb of Crestwood) and the Rockford RiverHawks. The other new Frontier League team is in Sippery Rock, Pa.
The Frontier League will have three divisions starting this season. The Rascals, Grizzlies, Evansville and Southern Illinois will be in the West Division. The Rascals host the Grizzlies May 27-28 and the Grizzlies will host the Rascals May 29-30.
