I’ve gotta stop blogging and get on to vacation stuff. The “trouble” with Disney World is it’s just too big to try to tackle without a plan - and because it’s constantly evolving, plans from the last trip (2005) aren’t always useful. Combine all of this with the logistical challenge of hooking up with a group of friends who will be meeting us down there and well - you get the picture. 
Nice win for the Peoria Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League, with FLP Joe Bisenius pitching two innings of relief and picking up the win. The line on Joe:
2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3K.
(Photo credit: Patrick Shanks)
Here’s another article I missed from much earlier in the 2007 season - although, to be fair, it’s from a paper in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and it deals with the blog’s favorite player:
Ex-Clemson standout
learns lessons of money management in minors
By Matt Cobbs
Published: Monday, July 2, 2007 | Updated: 6:58 am
ARTICLE OPTIONS
Gary Burnham has played for three major league organizations: Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Toronto.
Gary Burnham learned the hard way how easy it is to blow through a checking account in minor league baseball.
An 11-year veteran down on the farm, the former Clemson outfielder says the key to surviving the minors is money management.
“It took me a few years of being broke at the end of the season and hardly able to make it in the offseason to learn that,” Burnham said.
“After 11 years in the minors, basically you learn how to live frugally — as cheaply and conservatively as possible. You learn how to maximize your resources.”
Now a first baseman for the Triple-A Ottawa Lynx, Burnham is as seasoned in watching his bottom line as he is strapping on cleats. First of all, Burnham said, never rent an apartment or hotel.
At the beginning of every season, he seeks out a host family — preferably one with a finished basement that he can stay in for $300-400 a month.
“I can save a lot of money that way, as opposed to hotels and apartments which can run you $1,500 a month,” he said. “I talk to a lot of season-ticket holders, and it’s helped me build a lot of relationships and keep up with a lot of people in different towns.”
The salary system in minor league baseball is standardized and fairly simple to understand, Burnham said.
A first-year player earns $1,000 a month and then goes up by $200 a month with each additional season.
Each player is under contract with his major league organization initially for six years — at the end of which most players are earning around $2,100 a month.
After six years, players can become free agents and that’s when it becomes much harder to be signed, Burnham said.
At that point, each player’s salary is set by his experience level and, if he has been in the majors, the cost to sign him is much higher.
“Guys who have been in the majors for two or three years can earn as much as $60,000 for a five-month season,” the 32-year-old Burnham said. “That’s why it’s not easy to get a free-agent job.”
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, Burnham said.
The Rochester Red Wings, another Triple-A organization, set a cap of $8,000 per month — no matter who you are or how long you’ve been playing.
That would hardly stop a guy looking for work from signing, though.
“Unfortunately, beggars can’t be choosers,” Burnham joked. “My definition of rich is being ahead of my bills for two years.”
He even started building his retirement fund two years ago.
“My goal is to make $250,000 by the time I’m 35,” Burnham said.
Burnham, a member of the Philadelphia Phillies organization, has never been called up to a big-league team.
He’s also played in the Cincinnati Reds’ and Toronto Blue Jays’ systems and “has been to about every city” on the Eastern seaboard, he said.
The Hartford, Conn., native loves playing in either Pennsylvania or New York.
“Everybody back home gets to see me play, it’s easy to drive over,” Burnham said.
The best place to play in the minors? Reading, Penn. (Photo credit: Zechariah Kiiffner)
“That’s by far the top of the food chain,” said Burnham, a former member of the Single-A Reading Phillies. “(The stadium) is always packed with 10,000 people, and the whole place is first-class.”
Burnham, who’s enjoying a productive season with a .309 average and 37 RBIs, said he’ll keep playing until he’s 35. At that point, if he hasn’t made “the show,” he’ll put his glove and bat away.
“Several times I’ve asked myself if getting to the major leagues is a possibility,” he said. “I still say yes.
I’ve just got to continue pushing myself and keep putting up numbers.”
“Eventually a team will need you. Do well and be lucky — that’s the bottom line.”
More information
The Burnham File
Born: Oct. 13, 1974
Team: Ottawa Lynx
Affiliation: Philadelphia Phillies
Level: Triple-A
Position: First baseman
Ht: 5-11 Wt: 219
Bats: L Throws: L
School: Clemson
By The Numbers
.348
Batting average in 90 Double- and Triple-A games last season.
1
Number of runs scored in four Major League Spring Training games.
15.75
Career earned-run average as a minor league pitcher.
A trip
to forget
In 1998, Gary Burnham, a left fielder for Clemson, committed the most infamous blunder in the history of the College World Series.
Pursuing a sharply hit ball he thought was foul, Burnham picked it up at the warning track and casually tossed the ball to fans sitting beyond the third-base line — only to realize seconds later that the third-base umpire had ruled the ball fair while, in horror, Burnham watched a Miami runner score.
When Burnham came to bat the next inning, he drew a loud ovation. And before the end of the game, fans in the outfield presented him with a poster that included about 100 signatures and slogans like ‘The Gary Burnham Fan Club’ and ‘We love you Gary’ and ‘Omaha is behind you.’
– (New Orleans) Times Picayune, 2005
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