First Delawarean in major league baseball

Respected baseball researcher Richard Malatzky made some discoveries on native Delawareans over the past couple of months. He discovered three minor changes to biographical information on early native Delawareans.

George Prentiss is buried at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery

Bill Higgins was born December 4, 1859 in Camden, Delaware.

John Newell died January 23, 1919.

Most notably, though, was his discovery that Flip Lafferty was the first native Delawarean to play major league baseball, debuting eight years before Wes Curry.

I'm always amazed how new information always comes up. So now Delaware has their 49th major leaguer.

Spook Jacobs

Congratulations to Spook Jacobs who was inducted into the Bridgeton (NJ) Sports Hall of Fame.

Jacobs is the oldest living native Delawarean to have played major league baseball.

Robert Bryson

Robert Bryson, who I thought was the best bet to become Delaware's 49th major leaguer, has had his progression to the big leagues delayed. Bryson underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. He is expected to miss most of the 2009 season while he rehabilitates his arm. Best wishes to him on a complete recovery.

Mark Romanczuk

Mark Romanczuk gets more press here than any other non-native Delawarean. Why not? He brought attention to Delaware with his high school and Olympic baseball career while at St. Mark's. He also pitched well while at Stanford. So, hey, why not a mention?

Romanczuk, after a brief time with the St. Paul Saints this season, joined the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League. Actually, the fact he is with the Atlantic League probably excited me the most. Living in the Lancaster area, the Atlantic League is our baseball league (Go Barnstormers!).

Game-ending hit

Kevin Mench singled off of Oakland closer Huston Street in the bottom of the ninth inning last night. The hit plated Brad Wilkerson and ended the game, giving the Blue Jays a victory. This was Mench's third career game-ending hit and the first by a native Delawarean since Mench's two other game-ending hits in 2005. Courtesy of Baseball Reference, here are all the other Delawareans with their career game-ending hit totals (since 1956):

Delino DeShields 9
Dave May 6
John Mabry 3
Chris Widger 3
Randy Bush 2

It's games like last night that almost make me wish I had Tivo (of course I have to start with a television first). Wouldn't it be great to have one of just 23 game-ending hits (in the last 52 years) by a Delawarean recorded so that you could watch it over and over and over again? To actually witness the awesomeness of Kevin Mench every evening? Wow.

The walkoff homer is the most dramatic and talked about type of game-ending hit. DeShields had three of those. Widger had one. Impressively, four of Dave May's game-winning hits were walkoff homers. Mabry, Bush and Mench have won their games with hits of three or fewer bases.

2008 draft

My move to Lancaster County has prevented me from working on this site outside of the weekly updates. Those have been bleak as of late anyway. Wayne Franklin was sold to Tijuana where he struggled through three starts before being released. Ian Snell is on the disabled list with elbow trouble. Kevin Mench was sent back down to Triple-A. Cliff Brumbaugh is having a lackluster season for him over in Korea.

I had a request for more information on Bill Johnson, formerly of the Cubs. I hope to schedule an interview with him, the first for the site. But that is still going to be in the future.

Meanwhile, here's a look at the native Delawareans who were selected in this year's amateur draft. Also, I finally figured out who the other player asked about in the comments was. More on that in a second.

Derrik Gibson, a shortstop out of Seaford High School, alma mater of Delino DeShields was taken in the second round of the draft by the Boston Red Sox. This was the highest a native Delawarean had been drafted since Randy Truselo was taken by the Rangers in the second round of the 2000 draft. Gibson has committed to the University of North Carolina and at this time looks as if he will be going to college rather than signing.

Truselo played a couple seasons of minor league ball for the Rangers before injuring his rotator cuff. He missed two seasons recovering and then tried to come back and play for the independent Lincoln Saltdogs. Unfortunately, his shoulder was not up to the task.

Returning to 2008, Brett Oberholtzer worked the Robert Bryson plan to a T. Both players were drafted out of high school, Oberholtzer in the 47th round by the Seattle Mariners, but went to Seminole Community College in Florida, a top-notch baseball program. Oberholtzer was deemed by many the best left-handed junior college pitcher in Florida this season and the Braves agreed, nabbing him in the eighth round.

Theodis Bowe was the next Delawarean to go in the draft, being taken in the 21st round by the Cincinnati Reds. He, like Oberholtzer, has signed.

Daniel Richardson graduated from the University of Delaware, was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 38th round, and signed.

Dean Laganosky, a 45th round selection by the Cleveland Indians, is a draft and follow. The Indians think he has enough potential to want to keep their eye on him. Laganosky is currently having a tough time, however, playing with the Kutztown Rockies of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.

Lastly, in the 47th round, the Seattle Mariners took Richard O'Donald out of Dickinson High School. O'Donald looks to be attending the University of Delaware in the fall and will likely not sign.

There you have it. Hopefully something to keep you interested until there is more for me to add.

Where have you gone, Randy Bush?

Ian Snell hit a double last night for his first hit of the season. This was the first time since 1981 that the season reached the month of May without a native Delawarean getting a base hit in the major leagues.