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Toledo Coaching Staff All Returning For 2007 Season

The Toledo Mud Hens are pleased to announce that all three members of the 2006 coaching staff will return for the 2007 season at Fifth Third Field. This will be the fifth straight season in Toledo for the trio. The Hens are coming off their second straight Governors' Cup Championship season.

The 2005 Sporting News Manager of the Year, Larry Parrish, returns to Triple-A Toledo for his fifth season as the Mud Hens skipper. Parrish's coaching staff remains intact for 2007 as pitching coach Jeff Jones and hitting coach Leon "Bull" Durham return. Matt Rankin will serve as the athletic trainer for the seventh straight season.

In his fourth season with the Mud Hens in 2006, Parrish guided the team to an outstanding 76-66 record and the Governors' Cup championship for the second straight year. Parrish enters his 16th season in the Detroit organization and has a 555-544 (.505 winning percentage) record during that span. The 53-year-old Parrish played 19 seasons of professional baseball including 15 major league seasons. Parrish was named to the All-Star team in 1979 & 1987 and hit 20 or more home runs five times during his career.

Jeff Jones will return for his 13th season as the Mud Hens Pitching Coach and his 19th in the Detroit organization. The 50-year-old was signed by Oakland as their 13th selection in the 1977 draft and spent five seasons with the Athletics from 1980-84. Jones pitched for Bowling Green State University and later played one season for Toledo in 1987.

Leon "Bull" Durham returns for his seventh season as Hitting Coach and his 12th season in coaching. Durham spent the first five seasons of his coaching career with the Angels organization. Selected by St. Louis in the first round of the 1976 draft, the 46-year-old played 19 seasons of professional baseball. Durham was named to the National League All-Star team in 1982 and 1983 and hit 20 or more home runs on five occasions.

The 2007 Home Opener is April 13 Vs. Durham @ 5:30 PM!!!!!!!!!!

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For the last two seasons, Victory Field has been home to one of the most interesting men in baseball -- Hensley Meulens.

Fondly known as a "Bam Bam," the Indianapolis Indians hitting coach acquired his nickname as a teenager while playing softball with his friends. Meulens, a right-handed hitter, was showing everyone up by hitting home runs left handed.

As he drove one long ball after another, his friends decided that Meulens must be as strong as "Bam Bam," the physical prodigy from the cartoon "The Flintstones." The name has stuck with him ever since.

One of Meulens' unique attributes is his proficiency in five languages. He is fluent in English, Spanish, Papiamento, Dutch and has a working knowledge of Japanese.

Born on the island of Curacao, a Dutch Colony in the Netherlands Antilles, Meulens grew up speaking Papiamento. Although Papiamento is the native language of Curacao, Dutch is the considered the national language.

Once children in Curacao enter the school system, they are taught and required to speak Dutch. His mother is Dominican, so Meulens has spoken Spanish from birth. Meulens says the different languages help him coach players more efficiently.

"I am fortunate to speak all the different languages because they help me communicate," he says. "I am able to speak and listen to players in whatever language they are most comfortable. I think you need to have good people skills to be a successful coach, but it always helps when you can lift language barriers."

After eight seasons as a player in the New York Yankees organization, Meulens spent three years playing in Japan - one with the Chiba Lotte Marines and two with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

Meulens was very impressed with the Japanese fans' unconditional dedication and support of their favorite players and teams. During his three seasons, he never heard the crowd boo a player.

In Japan most of the traveling is done by train. A team's fans show their support by gathering at the train tracks to wish the team luck and give the players gifts to bring on the road.

The Japanese do not sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," but they have developed their own tradition. Around the seventh inning, the entire stadium sings their team's fight song before thousands of balloons are released into the air.

Each team has a band that plays throughout the game -- almost like a concert -- and each player has his own rhythm when he steps up to bat. If the player does something productive at the plate, the band will play his rhythm and yell his name until he tips his hat to acknowledge the crowd the next half-inning. The bands go player-by-player until they get to everyone.

"There is great fan support in Japan," Meulens says. "Don't get me wrong, things are terrific here in America. The difference is they never let you down in Japan. Sometimes in the states, fans get disappointed in players because the expectations are so high."

This past summer, Meulens had the opportunity to represent the Pittsburgh Pirates on a scouting trip to Japan. He was accompanied by Louie Eljaua (Pirates special assistant to the general manager) and Kiyoshi Momose (Pirates assistant conditioning coordinator). The group spent two weeks in Japan, looking for professional players who could help the Pirates organization.

"(Pirates General Manager) Dave (Littlefield) and his staff gave us a list of guys to watch," Meulens says. "We also took a list of players -- in our organization -- who will be available to play in Japan next year. There were a couple of our guys who we were trying to showcase and a couple of their guys who we went to look at."

The group identified many promising players during the trip, but the astronomical resources needed to acquire Japanese players can prohibit a trade. Japanese players are required to play nine years in the Professional Baseball Organization of Japanese before achieving free agent status and becoming available to Major League Baseball teams in the United States.

Once a player is eligible for a trade, the cost of obtaining a Japanese player may still be a hindrance. The price just to talk to some of the best players in Japan can be as high as $35 million dollars, and then another $20 to $25 million would be needed to sign the player to a two or three-year contract.

Meulens says, "the Pirates aren't going to spend that type of money on someone who isn't proven in the United States."

Although this was Meulens' first experience scouting for a Major League organization, he has been involved in such activities through his work with the Dutch National Team. He also owns & operates the Dutch Antilles Baseball Academy in Curacao, which has given him lots of contact with scouts over the years.

Meulens attributes his roll as a scout this past summer to his previous experience playing in Japan.

"I know a lot of people in Japan, and I know the league," he says. "People in the United States and Japan thought I could help with the communication between the two sides. Hopefully, I was able to do that."

Meulens says he thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in Japan. He was very upbeat when asked, "if he would consider more international scouting trips down the road?"

"I love coaching," he adds. "I love what I do in Indianapolis, but the trip to Japan was a nice break during the season. It was fun to do something different for two weeks, and then come back to finish the year."

With all of his professional baseball experience -- both in the United States and abroad -- Meulens would be the first to admit how international the game of baseball truly is.

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Dave Brundage, a veteran player, coach and manager in the Seattle Mariners' organization, has been named manager of the Richmond Braves.

Brundage, 42, replaces Brian Snitker, who recently became Atlanta's third-base coach.

Brundage will have a new coaching staff. Guy Hansen, who served as Richmond's pitching coach from 2001-04 before moving to Kansas City, returns to handle the pitchers. Leon Roberts, another former Atlanta instructor returning to the organization, will be the hitting coach.

Hansen replaces Derek Botelho, who was assigned to Class AA Mississippi. Roberts replaces Rick Albert, who will become the hitting coach at Class A Myrtle Beach.

Brundage managed Triple-A Tacoma to a 74-70 mark last year. He was one of several longtime coaches in the Mariners' system fired after the season.

An All-American center fielder at Oregon State as well as a quarterback and punter on the football team, Brundage played one year in the Philadelphia organization before being traded to Seattle in 1987. He has been in the Mariners' organization as a player, coach or manager since.

Brundage was named Baseball America's minor-league manager of the year in 2003 after leading Double-A San Antonio to an 88-51 record. In Brundage's five years at San Antonio, the Missions went to the playoffs four times and won two Texas League championships.

Last year was Brundage's first in Triple-A. He has a 653-605 record in 10 years as a manager.

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Will Charlotte pay for big-league trappings -- luxury boxes and club seats -- for a minor-league baseball team?

The Charlotte Knights' quest for a new stadium uptown is contingent on a complex public-private land swap in the Third Ward. But for the deal to work financially for the AAA team, the Knights say they must sell club seats and naming rights to the stadium and lease considerably more luxury boxes than it has at its stadium in Fort Mill, S.C.

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Stan Cliburn will return for a second season as Rochester Red Wings manager in 2007, and he'll be joined by his entire staff.

Stu Cliburn, Stan's identical twin, will return as pitching coach, Rich Miller will be back for a fourth season as hitting coach and Tony Leo will be the team's trainer for the third consecutive season.

The 2006 Red Wings earned the franchise's first playoff berth since 1997, finishing the season 79-64 and advancing to the Governors' Cup finals, where they lost in five games to the Toledo Mud Hens.

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Dave Brundage still doesn't understand why he was fired after 19 years in the Seattle Mariners' organization. He hopes to prove it goofed after being scooped up by the Atlanta Braves.

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Two months ago, an embarrassing 10-1 loss to Toledo in the decisive fifth game of the Governors' Cup finals was tough to absorb.

But Friday, a rejuvenated Stan Cliburn called the Rochester Red Wings' 2006 season a "great success" and said he's ready to take it a step further in '07.

The veteran manager will get that chance. Cliburn will return for a second season as Wings manager, and his entire staff is joining him.

"I'm ecstatic about coming back to Rochester,'' Cliburn said from his parents' home in Jackson, Miss. "I was impressed by how smooth the whole operation went, and even though we sent a lot of players to Minnesota, we never skipped a beat.''

The Wings finished 79-64 and earned the International League's lone wildcard berth despite losing a number of key players to the Twins.

The Wings eliminated IL North champion Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in four games in the Cup semifinals and held a 2 games to 1 lead in Toledo before the Mud Hens roared back with two lopsided victories to repeat as Governors' Cup champions.

"We lost to a better team,'' Cliburn said. "We were maybe one pitcher short of winning it. But given all the changes we had, it was a great season.''

Pitching coach Stu Cliburn (Stan's identical twin), hitting coach Rich Miller and trainer Tony Leo all will be brought back. It will be the second season in Rochester for Stu, the fourth for Miller and the third for Leo.

"I'm thrilled to have them back,'' Cliburn said. "You're only as good as the people around you. I'm just the conductor waving the wand.''

Cliburn, who turns 50 on Dec. 19, just finished a stint in the Twins' instructional league in Florida and plans to relax through the holidays at his parents' home.

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In Their Words is a weekly feature in The Blade's sports section. Sports writer John Wagner talked with John Keller, who starred in baseball and football at Central Catholic and has been the public address announcer for most if its sports for a number of years.

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