The Rangers vs. The Giants: 2010 World Series. What could possibly be the tie between the Appy League and two teams that don't have affiliates in the league? Well, there are six players on the post season rosters who spent time in the Appy. All of them on the Rangers.
You see before the Pulaski, Virginia hosted the Mariners... before they didn't host a team for one year and caused a 9 team schedule that caused a horrible fuss people are still complaining abut...before they hosted the Blue Jays...they were the Pulaski Rangers from 1997 to 2002. During that time,
C. J. Wilson (2001) &
Colby Lewis (1999) played home games in Calfee Park.
Lewis went 7-3 with a 1.95 ERA as a 19 year old starter. He rode the buses to games with Kevin Mench & Aaron Harang, as the P-Rangers won the Eastern Division crown.
Wilson dominated Appy batters striking out 49 in 24 innings in just 8 starts before being promoted. Riding the bus with Mr. Wilson as 2010 Houston Astro Jason Bourgeois.
That is only 2 of the 6 players. So where did the rest of them play? One famous one played in Princeton; home of the
Devil Rays affiliate.
Josh Hamilton was a young but very rich 18 year old, who hit .347 and knocked 10 HR in his year in Princeton, West Virginia. He shared fast food meals with Carl Crawford and had his mom following him doing his laundry. (Don't think so? There is evidence in
this story It is a lengthy read but worth the time.)
The other 3 players all played for the Danville Braves. Two of them came to the Rangers in the trade with Atlanta for Mark Teixeira. Those two are
Elvis Andrus (2005) and
Neftali Feliz (2007). The last guy took a long route coming through Atlanta, and New York before he landed in Texas this season.
Jeff Francour was a Danville Brave in 2002.
Francour hit .327 in 38 games as a just drafted 18 year old. He rode the bus with Kyle Davies and was managed by Ralph Henriquez, father of former Astro farm hand Ralphie.
Andrus made a short stop (pun fully intended)for just 6 games in 2005. He wasn't the only shortstop making cameo appearances in Danville that season, Yunell Escobar also showed up for 8 games.
Feliz made 8 appearances in 2007; seven of them were starts. He finished with a 1.98 as a 19 year old. He shared road time with Jason Hayward for 4 games during the season.
