Chat Session of March 27th with Guest - Mr. Steve Selby

[BleacherBum593]

Following is the edited chat room session of Tuesday, March 27, 2007. The guest was Mr. Steve Selby, one of the announcers for the Memphis Redbirds The Redbirds are the triple A farm club of the St Louis Cardinals. Mr. Dave Chase, the President/General Manager was scheduled to appear, but he was unable to attend.

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List of Activities in Memphis on Friday, March 30th and Saturday, March 31st.

Friday 4-6 PM - Civil Rights Movement Roundtable at the National Civil Rights Museum
Friday 7:10 PM - St. Louis Cardinals vs. Memphis Redbirds
Saturday 11 am - Beacon Awards Luncheon, The Peabody Hotel
Saturday 4:30 PM - Cleveland Indians vs. St. Louis Cardinals, ESPN

For more information, call 901.721.6000

A limited amount of single-game tickets for both exhibition games (March 30/31) will go on sale this Wednesday morning, March 28th. Tickets may be obtained by calling the Memphis Redbirds office at 901.721.6000 or by going to the Memphis Redbirds online web-site and clicking on the Tickets button.

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Kyle Parkinson Hey Mike

Mike Hobson Hi Kyle. I take it you made it back safe and sound from Jupiter.

Mike Hobson Hi Steve (Selby). Welcome to FanHome.

Kyle Parkinson Dave (Chase) had something come at the list minute so Steve will be sitting in for him

Mike Hobson Designated Hitter?

Steve Selby Starting line-up

Mike Hobson How was your trip down to Jupiter?

Steve Selby Too short. I think Spring Training is baseball in its purist form. All the young guys wearing Cardinals uniforms, naive and pursuing that dream.

Mike Hobson I agree. I just got off the phone with a good friend of mine, who's on the back 40 of Jupiter today, and he was giving me
a Play by Play of everything going on. I really miss not going.

Steve Selby It's also a time of year that can be very sad. Many players will be released this week and it's a real dose of reality.
Tough time to be a farm director or manager.

Mike Hobson I was very surprised by some of the cuts yesterday - Jordan Pals, Kevin Estrada, and Mark Michael to name a few of the players who were released. I would have thought they would have found a spot somewhere for them.

Steve Selby I think what these moves might indicate is that the farm system is improving. There are more young players on the rise that haven't been there in recent years. The tough thing is that it comes late in camp and it will be tough for them to find jobs in April.

Mike Hobson Since your leading off today Steve, do we want to discuss the upcoming exhibition games in Memphis (as Dave was scheduled to do) or do we want to discuss your trip down to Jupiter?

Mike Hobson Okay. Let's talk about the upcoming weekend in Memphis first and then we can move into your trip to Jupiter.

Mike Hobson BTW. Sitting in with us today is Ryan Van Bibber -- the creator of Cardinals Diaspora - a Cardinal Blog site. Ryan is coming aboard here at FanHome to help us host some of the Cardinals chat sessions in the future.

rvanbibber Howdy.

Steve Selby Big weekend here, for sure. Nothing like having the defending champs in town for a pair of games, not to mention the inaugural Civil Rights Game that will be televised on ESPN.

Steve Selby For those who are interested, MLB has just returned some tickets to us, so there are, as they say "plenty of good seats available." (Note: individual tickets for this weekend's exhibition games will go on sale Wednesday morning. See the notice at the top of the transcript on how to place an order)

Mike Hobson Can you give us a rundown on the activities that are planned for the rest of this week, leading up to the Civil Rights Game
on Saturday between the Cards and the Indians?

Mike Hobson As part of the day's events on Saturday, the annual Major League Baseball Beacon Awards will be introduced at a fundraising luncheon and will honor various individuals for their efforts on behalf of Civil Rights throughout the world. Are tickets still available for the luncheon and if so, how can they be purchased?

Steve Selby There is a panel discussion late Friday afternoon from 4-6 at the Museum and that is open to the public. Participating in the panel are: Peter Gammons, Lou Melendez of MLB, Branch Rickey III - our beloved PCL President, Bill white, Ken Williams, Dave Winfield and others. There is also a Beacon Awards Luncheon Saturday afternoon. Those being honored include: Buck O'Neil; Vera Clemente and Spike Lee. Keynote speaker will be Julian Bond.The luncheon will be held at the Peabody and tickets are also available. Gates for Friday's game will open at 5:00 PM and 2:00 PM Saturday. There will be an invitation-only program for kids Saturday morning at AutoZone Park, featuring C.C. Sabathia and the Cheetah Girls. You can call (901) 721-6000 for tickets to the various events.

Mike Hobson Major League Baseball also announced its collaboration with filmmaker Spike Lee in the creation of a documentary that will showcase the efforts of legendary civil rights pioneers as well as Major League Baseball's role in supporting the rights of African Americans. The five-minute documentary will air for the first time during Civil Rights Game festivities. Have you seen a preview of Spike’s work yet?

Steve Selby We have not seen it.

Mike Hobson In future years, will the Civil Rights game be held in Memphis or will they rotate it to other cities in the USA?

Steve Selby We hope it continues in Memphis in the future. The deal right now is for one season, but we look forward to hosting it again in 2008.

Mike Hobson The game on Saturday begins at 4:30 PM CST and will be broadcast by ESPN. Adam Wainwright will be on the mound for the Cards. What time are you opening the gates?

Steve Selby The gates open at 2 PM. We're opening them earlier than usual so the fans get a good look at batting practice, which to me, is the highlight of any exhibition game.

Mike Hobson On Friday night, game time is 7:10 PM CST, with Anthony Reyes going for the Cards and Troy Cate for the Redbirds. What type of pre-game festivities do you have planned for the fans?

Steve Selby Basic pre-game activities. There should be some interactive activities out in the plaza area.

Mike Hobson Minor league baseball is known for its promotions. I didn’t know this, but one of our posters told me about one of your promotions - Tell us how the "free haircuts" on Sunday got started?

Steve Selby I don't know that we can take credit for that. Lots of minor league parks do that and I think the White Sox used to do it
during the Veeck era.

Mike Hobson The Master of Promotion - Bill Veeck. For those of us who will be making their first trip to Memphis (like me) - What's some of the Memphis food’s that we can be looking forward to tasting this weekend?

Steve Selby The Rendezvous is where everyone from out of town goes for BBQ. It is located almost immediately behind the stadium and if the wind blows in the proper direction, the aroma encompasses AutoZone Park. If the wind blows from the opposite direction, you get the Wonder Bread plant. Not bad, either. Huey's has the best burger in town and is only a block away. The Blues City Cafe on Beale St. has excellent local fare with true Beale St. atmosphere. Plenty of options and you don't need a car to get to any of them. If you like a more formal, but small, quiet restaurant, try McEwens on Monroe, only a block or so away. A little different menu and the owner is a big Redbirds fan.

Mike Hobson We're planning on having lunch on Sat at the Rendezvous. It came highly recommended by one of your season ticket holders. Let's talk briefly about your trip to Jupiter. Any players in particular that stood out in your eyes?

Steve Selby Well, one inning of Dennis Dove Sunday was enough to tell me I'd like to have him around. Best fastball going and based on what the Cardinals brass have been saying, may not be that far away from the big leagues. They have not said where he will begin the season. Brendan Ryan has had a solid camp and the hope there is that he can stay healthy. He showed well with the Cards before being sent down. Travis Hanson looks stronger and everyone hopes he returns to 2005 form. Another pitcher to watch this season is Jaime Garcia. He's only 20, but has the complete package. Again, we're waiting for the Cardinals to announce the minor league rosters. I don't think he'll be here at the beginning of the season, but we could see him before the year is out.

Steve Selby Chris Perez is another who wowed some people Sunday against Baltimore. I suppose I should mention Rick Ankiel. He's had a good spring and will be here to start the season.

Mike Hobson A good friend of mine called earlier today from the back fields and told me that he met the parents of Chris Perez, who decided early Sunday morning to drive over from Tampa. At the time they had no idea that Chris was going to pitch. What a surprise they got upon arriving at the stadium and finding out that their son was going to pitch that afternoon. Then they had to scramble for tickets to the sold-out game, but were lucky when one of the ladies working in the Cards office at Jupiter was able to get them tickets.

Mike Hobson We've been discussing on the
Cardinal FanHome board who we think will make up the opening day roster for Memphis. It looks like on paper that you'll have a good mix of players. Both players who the Cards may need - Ludwick, Gonzalez, Bozied - and some good prospects in Ankiel, Ryan and Hanson. Plus, your pitching should be something to follow with guys like Hawksworth, Cate, Dove, and Cavazos.

Steve Selby The big thing is that we will have some younger guys here and that's a breath of fresh air. With the veterans, it's always crucial that they are a positive influence on the young guys. Sometimes the vets are on the negative side thinking they should be in the Major leagues. In being around most of these guys last week, it would seem the Cardinals have done a good job in bringing in good guys who play hard. Makes a manager's job a lot easier.

Mike Hobson Couldn't agree more Steve. At this time, lets take some questions from the audience before we let you get back to the routine of being back in the office.

ArRedbird How has SS John Nelson looked? For a shortstop, he's got
pretty good power potential. What will his role be this season at Memphis?

Steve Selby Nelson has been playing some third and first this spring with Ryan getting the bulk of work at short, so I'm not sure what his role might be. He did hit a tape measure home run of Rincon in Sunday's intrasquad game.

Coop Thanks for being with us Steve. You got it right on the restaurants, as I was sure you would. McEwens has good home cooking. When I mentioned to you at an internet Cardinals group at an Autozone event a couple years ago, this was the group. Good people and the discussion is Cardinals organization baseball. I hope you get with us often.

Steve Selby Thanks. Anything else?

Mike Hobson Could Nelson also see some time in the OF this summer. Possibly preparing him for a “Scott Spiezo-type” of role player?

Steve Selby I know last year there was some talk about him returning to his original position, but the outfield looks pretty crowded at this point. I think the move to the outfield is on the back burner.

ArRedbird Thanks for answering questions! One more Q from me: How
does Troy Cate size up to you -- starter or bullpen?

Steve Selby There is a good chance he opens in the rotation, but nothing is set in stone. Narveson has to get his arm stretched out after doing a lot of sitting with the big club.

Mike Hobson Steve - I want to thank you for pinch-hitting today for Dave. We really appreciate you stepping up and doing a great job
today. That should wrap it up.

Coop Great information from you about the players, Steve. Thank you.

Steve Selby Thanks, gang. Let's play two.

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If you would like to make a comment or ask a question, please click on the post reply button.
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Links to previous chats:
John Vuch
John Vuch (followup questions)
Cody Haerther
Mike Lindskog
Kyle McClellan
Dave Chase
David Kelly




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[BleacherBum593]

I'd like to try something new with our chat transcipt threads. I've let this one open, instead of locking it down. If you have any comments, thoughts, questions, etc on our discussion here, please feel free to add them on here.

I'd also like to give a VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to Kyle Parkinson of the Memphis Redbirds for helping us setup the past few chat sessions with personnel of the Redbirds. I'm looking forward to working with him to bring quite a few more sessions here throughtout the summer.

BB593