Threshers in the World Baseball Classic

There are quite a few former Clearwater Threshers who will be playing in the WBC representing various countries around the world. Italy leads the way with three ex-Threshers on their roster. Mike Costanzo, who was once the Phillies up and coming 3rd base prospect, will represent Italy, along with Mike Spidale a Phillies minor league journeyman, and Jack Santora who played for the 2004 squad under manager Mike Schmidt. Santora has one of the greatest plays ever in Threshers history, a behind the back toss to start a double play vs the Dunedin Bluejays and plays professional baseball in Italy. Meanwhile, Costanzo and Spidale each have names that sound sort of Italian and they know someone who visited Italy once, so under Italy’s loose rules they managed to qualify as eligible for the team.

Spring Training Starts In…

29 days … in four weeks from tomorrow the team will report on Valentine’s Day. That’s one day before my birthday, so be sure to mark your calenders. Also, if you need my address to mail a card or a gift, drop me an email and I’ll be sure to send it to you.

New look for 2009

Well, 2009 is here, and the baseball season approaches (though not quickly enough.) We’ve reached the time of year where baseball is close enough to taste, yet not quite close enough. In anticipation of the new season I have been working on redesigning the main website for the Clearwater Threshers. I’ve removed the reference to jeff crupper dot com in the main title, and have redesigned all of the pages for a more homogenous feel. I’m working on securing new urls (though your existing links will continue to work, and redirect you) and think it will make for a better user experience from here on out. Thanks to everyone who visits regularly, and to those who discover the site new each season, I hope you have a great time and get the info you need while you are visiting.

A Threshers Fan’s Life Changing Christmas Gift

Torhild Niellsson,  a local man who is a long-time Threshers and Phillies fan, said his life was changed this Christmas when his wife presented him with a gift he will never forget. “When I saw the package under the tree I couldn’t figure out what the heck it was, “ he said. “Sometimes when my wife was gone and I was home alone I would pick up the package and shake it, or feel around the thing to try to figure it out. There was this curly metal thing on one edge of the package. I thought it was a spiral notebook or something, but it didn’t have very many pages and that was confusing.”