Hey, everyone in the Chicago area is comfortable playing with 16" Clinchers, and you don't need mitts.

What a worthless piece of #### this Ehrenreich guy sounds like:

As for the baseball controversy, Ehrenreich said he was compelled to issue a stern letter that was posted in the clubhouses for the teams and umpires before Saturday's game.

Ehrenreich wrote the players and umps needed to search their souls for what's important in life if they believed suddenly ending the game was justified or proper for the fans and community. He said it's likely the crowd included parents visiting children at nearby Great Lakes Naval Station.

“Last night, something tragic happened,” Ehrenreich wrote. “No, not a baseball game that was suspended because some ballplayers thought the quality of the baseballs was subpar. (Thirty) American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in the deadliest day for American forces in the last 10 years.”

CHASS-NUT: FIELDERS' BALLS NOT UP TO SNUFF, MR PRESIDENT!

I'm getting the feeling this team is part of an elaborate reality show by executive producer/owner Kevin Costner.

Umpires suspended the game after 1½ innings, therefore agreeing with the Vipers' protest about the balls. An official box score for Friday's contest was unavailable, so it's not known exactly how many fans were at the city of Zion's temporary baseball stadium.

I had no idea the Fielders were based in Zion. Fail them and they won't forget it.

It's never good when it goes bad. No one likes to feel like they've been had. And it may be okay, but they won't wear your t-shirts now.

What a worthless piece of #### this Ehrenreich guy sounds like:

Is that his version of "Won't someone please think of the children!"

#5 - Holy cow, a Local H shout-out. Even here, I never thought I'd see it. It warms my heart.

Teams typically purchase baseballs in bulk. However, Ehrenreich said, the uncertainty about the Fielders' future is why the team didn't place its usual order for the Rawlings professional model last week.....Ehrenreich said he expected to announce Tuesday whether the Fielders will complete the season. The team is supposed to begin a four-game series in Maui on Wednesday, then return home for the final 25 contests.

An announced crowd of 6,800 attended the Fielders' inaugural home opener on July 2, 2010. The box score from Sunday's home game with the Vipers listed attendance at 149.

The team is supposed to begin a four-game series in Maui on Wednesday . . .

I wouldn't fly over open water in whatever bargain basement cropduster is chartered for this trip.

If you are pitching in an independent league why the hell are you ######## about the baseballs. Fans (the few there were) came out to see the game and they won't play without the "official" baseball? I have no fondness for Ehrenriech, but not playing is bush league even for that bush league

Friday night’s suspended game against the Calgary Vipers prompted an angry response from Fielders owner Richard Ehrenreich.

Shouldn't it have been a forfeit?

If they can't afford to buy balls, they must be about to fold.

Shouldn't it have been a forfeit?

If they can't afford to buy balls, they must be about to fold

Welcome to the new normal; you cut expenses any way you can.

Times like these make me wish Hunter S. Thompson was alive to write The North American Baseball League Is Destitute and Depraved. Someone's going to write a terrific book about this season, maybe Jim Caple?

Ehrenreich continued:

"And then they whined when we replaced the catcher and umpire with a brick wall with a strike zone spray-painted on it. And then they called me every name in the book when I suggested the game be played under a couple of minor rule changes -- pitcher's hand out and balls hit to right field are outs. And the Vipers bullpen refused to man the concession stands for the first five innings. How can they expect me to make money if they aren't willing to help?"