Miracle to honor veteran scouts
Twelve veteran baseball scouts have been named to the Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame for 2009 induction.
This is the second year of honorees, with the selections announced by The Goldklang Group and sponsored by The Topps Company, who also include eight additional scouts in a trading card set paired with star players they scouted.
With players, executives, umpires, writers and broadcasters honored annually in Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame, this is a unique honor given to those at the very foundation of player development for the Major Leagues.
The inductees’ names will be on the walls at the six minor league clubs operated by the Goldklang Group – Fort Myers Miracle, Charleston RiverDogs, Hudson Valley Renegades, St. Paul Saints, Brockton Rox and Sioux Falls Canaries.
Inductees to be honored at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers are Al Goldis (long time scout), and John Barr (San Francisco).
Inductees include longtime Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Yankees scout Tom Greenwade, the only one of the 12 who is deceased. Greenwade is best remembered for signing Mickey Mantle and Bobby Murcer.
Among the others, the Phillies’ Marti Wolever will be honored this season in St. Paul; at Hudson Valley it’s Joe McIlvane (Minnesota) and Joe Rigoli (St. Louis); at Brockton it’s Rene Mons (Milwaukee) and Roland Johnson (New York Mets); at Sioux Falls it’s Bob Fontaine (Toronto) and Gary Hughes (Chicago Cubs); and at Charleston it’s Tom Burns (Toronto) and Howard McCullough (Arizona).
Formal inductions take place on six different dates to be announced.