Hot Stove Banquet
Feb 1st, 2007 by John Setzler
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
As a brief carryover from yesterday, I did get a snow day out of school today. We have an ever-so-slight dusting of snow and everything shut down. All the local schools and probably most schools in western North Carolina east of interstate 77 took the day off… Now I have extra time to study for a Spanish and Anatomy & Physiology exam that I was scheduled to take today…
I was invited to the Hot Stove Banquet tonight by the Hickory Crawdads. The ‘Dads welcomed a new manager. Gary Green will be holding the reigns of the shellfish this season. Gary came from Lynchburg’s high-A affiliate (Pittsburgh Pirates). He sorta swapped places with Jeff Branson in Hickory. Gary discussed some of the potential players we will have in Hickory this year. I’m a bit concerned, but we’ll see what happens starting in April…
The highlight of tonight’s banquet was our keynote speaker, Kent Tekulve. Kent was a relief pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kent was also a member of the 1979 World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Kent told some intriguing stories about his baseball career, and talked about how important the Hickory low-A franchise is to the Pirates organization. The current Pirates roster has 25 members who started out in Hickory.
The food was good too :)