He's Back

One of my great pleasures over the last couple of seasons was watching Jon Weber play baseball. Overlooked in the “National Championship” hoopla is the fact that for three years running the Durham Bulls won the Southern Division of the International League and went to the playoffs every year. Jon had a lot to do with that.

And besides it was just plain fun to watch him play the game. He was obviously having a good time (mostly, except when tossing bats into the first base side of the stands). He was a master of the Blue Monster. Only rarely would a runner make it to second if Jon was playing left field.

We here at WDBB failed in our attempt to get him called up to the Rays in September of 2009. However, Jon did play in the World Cup for Team USA. He had a lot to do with bringing home the trophy to the United States.

He played winter ball in Mexico and, apparently getting no love from the Rays, signed with the Yankees for 2010. He had an extraordinary spring with them, but was left off the 40-man and sent to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at the end of spring training. He’s had a terrible start in the regular season, probably the worst of his professional career. Particularly odd is his lack of extra base hits, a category he excelled in last year. On the other hand, he hit his first double Tuesday night in Norfolk.

All of this is a long preface to noting that Jon will be back in the DBAP Thursday morning. He deserves a cheer from all of us for the pleasure he has given us for years. And he should take with him our hopes that sometime after next Sunday he gets his batting eye back and has a great season, (except for May 31 to June 3 when the Bulls play the Yankees in their home park). Maybe he will even get some time on the field in Yankee Stadium. We sure hope so.