[ayaghmour2]

Well, in pretty much one fell swoop, I completely overhauled the coaching staff that was left to me. Only one spot was open, that was for Assistant GM, as the rest of the moves replaced incumbents. Filling that role is a guy I actually wanted to higher as our scout (Dixie would then get promoted to AGM), but despite being an elite scout, he had absolutely no interest in signing with us, and I'm guessing any other FABL team. That would be 49-year-old Tommy Byerly, who spent the last two seasons scouting for the independent Denver Bruins of the Century League. A former 13th Round pick of the Gothams back in 1930, his pro career consists of 31 games off the bench for the Class C Rock Island Steamboats. After flaming out, he went back to school in Florida, and turned into a top baseball mind. His advice will be taken under consideration at all times due to his excellent scouting abilities, and he'll serve in an advisory capacity as I reacclimate with the organization.

The next move actually reunites us with someone I hired, but never got the benefit of using, as way back in 1951 I signed Joe Clark to be the Rockford Wildcats, our brand new Class A club, and he did a great job in his three seasons with the organization. For some reason, that's all he got, as either he didn't want to stay or the new regime wanted one of their own guys, so he spent 1955 in the Dallas Centurions organization. He spent just one year t here, as he caught the eye of the Chicago Chiefs, and signed on for the 1956 season. While he was there, the Chiefs seemed to have no issues scoring runs, and they finished top three in three of his five seasons. There wasn't a sixth, which is much to our benefit, as he's a huge upgrade over my old draftee Cy Howard, who spent the past two seasons in Chicago. He's really just average, and here in Chicago we strive for more then that. That's where Clark comes in, as he's "outstanding" at teaching hitting and influencing mechanical improvement in his students. He's "excellent" when it comes to aging and "good" with development, so he should be a positive influence on the young guys while improving the conditioning of some of our vets. As you might expect, he prefers offense and hitting to defense and pitching, but somewhat surprisingly he prefers speed to power. He preaches patience while still preferring to put the ball in play, with selectiveness leading to better batted ball outcomes. With plenty of minor league experience and 10 games with the Kings in his mid 30s, he brings a wealth of knowledge that should help spark this 7th ranked offense to score the runs they should.

Next up is what can be considered a coup, as we'll add a former FABL manager to be our first base coach. That would be John Wilson, who took a year off from coaching in 1961, but managed the LA Stars the two seasons prior. Before that, he had one year as a hitting coach, before managing the Tulsa Roughnecks (1951-1953) and the Salt Lake City Stars (1954-1958). A long time member of the Stars organization, they drafted him in the 12th Round of the 1939 draft, but he spent far more time with them coaching then playing. More of his playing time came with the Gothams organization, where he got all the way up to AAA before his retirement. A former infielder, he's show a knack for improving defense on the dirt (legendary), while being "outstanding" in the outfield if needed. The plan for now is just infield, but he's also "excellent" in teaching running and in influencing in-game decisions. Same goes for development and mechanics, giving us a really well rounded base coach to help the utility types.

Rounding out the staff is a new bench coach, Elmer De Gray, who spent 9 years as the Kings first base coach and 4 as the Sailors bench coach. Like Wilson, he took a year off coaching, and the league's loss is certainly our game. The new bench coach at Cougars Park, De Gray is "legendary" when it comes to teaching outfield defense and "outstanding" for catchers and infielders. The same goes for his influence on aging, and he's "excellent" for development and teaching running. Now 55, he's put together a respectable coaching career despite not playing in the minors, and he's going to be a key member of our organization. Expected to handle outfield and catching defense, he'll do much better then whoever the old group wanted, and with a revamped coaching staff I expect to see a lot of improvement in the squad. We already had a strong option at third base in Bob Harris, who's "outstanding" at teaching all four aspects of the game, and he's "excellent" with development, mechanics, and in-game running. He's really the only guy on the squad I had interest in keeping, so I'm really glad we were able to quickly fill the rest of the roles. The only real weakness now is pitching coach, and the guy I want doesn't want us. I do have an offer out for there and trainer, but I wouldn't be too distraught if we don't get either.