Brian Wilson...Fear the Beard

The closer for the World Champion San Francisco Giants, not bad for a 24^th round draft pick from Londonderry NH.   Brian attended High School at Londonderry High and was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 30^th round.  He decided to attend Louisiana State University  where he worked as a starting pitcher and the Keene Swamp Bats during the summer.  He was drafted in the 24^th round by the San Francisco Giants.  He quickly worked his way through the minor leagues making his major league in 2007.  In 4 short years Brian has made himself into one or the premier closers in the game.

Sporting a Mohawk haircut and a black beard, Wilson has not only become the most effective closer in baseball, but also one baseball’s true characters.  During the Giants march to the championship, fans would call for Brian with chants of “fear the beard”.   On November 1^st 2010 he was on the mound to close out the World Series, not bad for a New Hampshire guy. 

Best of the NECBL

I was wondering who is the best player to ever play in the NECBL?  So I pulled up the league web site and took a look at the alumni in the Pros.  Four names jumped out at me immediately, Joe Nathan, Andre Ethier, Brian Wilson and Stephen Strasburg.  Today let’s look at the career of Joe Nathan.

Joe Nathan was a shortstop, not a pitcher when he played for the Fairfield Stallions back in 1994.  He didn’t switch to pitcher until he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 6^th round.  Well kind of, he played his first year in the minor leagues as a shortstop and refused to try pitching.  He left the game and returned to college at Stony Brook for a year and graduated.  He returned to the Giants minor league team the following year as a pitcher.  He worked his way up the ladder to the Major leagues arriving in 1999. 

In November of 2003 he was traded to the Twins and they made him their closer for the start of the 2004 season.  He was the only Twin to make the All Star team that year, striking out Bobby Abreu and Miguel Cabrera in one inning of work.

Joe has been one of the best closers in Baseball year in and year out since.  Every year he has been among the league’s leaders in Saves, ERA and a perennial All Star.  So you may not remember the Fairfield Stallions but I am sure you have heard of Joe Nathan.