Mack's Apples - 11-5-17 - Tim Tebow, Camden N.J., Cuban Smugglers, Ethan Hankins, Myron Noodleman

Good morning.

Former NFL quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner  Tim Tebow will visit Parsippany –

Former NFL quarterback and current New York Mets baseball prospect Tim Tebow will be a featured speaker on Nov. 12 at the second week of Sunday services inside the new 125,000-square-foot "Broadcast Campus" of the Liquid Church in Parsippany.

Liquid Church has more than 3,500 members among several churches in the northern New Jersey area. Sunday, it will open to the general public and live stream 9 and 11 a.m. services from its converted commercial building in an office campus at 299 Webro Road.

They’re Going To Demolish This  Gorgeous Baseball Stadium -

Christine Whitman was governor of New Jersey, and she knew just what could fix the ailing city of Camden: A baseball stadium.

It was December 14, 1999. The Delaware River Port Authority would vote the next day on whether to authorize the construction of a baseball stadium on the waterfront. The new stadium would be just to the south of the Ben Franklin Bridge. Directly to the north was a prison.

Cuban baseball player smugglers face sentencing in  Miami -

A sports agent and a baseball trainer are facing prison time at a sentencing hearing in Miami after their convictions for illegally smuggling Cuban players into the U.S.

Court documents show prosecutors will ask a judge Thursday to exceed the nine-year maximum sentences recommended by federal guidelines for agent Bartolo Hernandez and trainer Julio Estrada. Attorneys for both men are seeking more lenient prison terms.

Hernandez and Estrada were convicted by a jury in March after a six-week trial.

 Ethan Hankins

           

Ethan Hankins, RHP, Forsyth Central High, Cumming, Ga. - 

Scouting amateur baseball players is just as much about projection of the players being looked at as it is about the present skills of those players. While scouts dream on players like Rocker for their current skills that would take little refining, Hankins, on the other hand, appeals to evaluators because of what could be.

The most potent weapon in Hankins' arsenal is his fastball. He has a heater that sits in the mid-90s and occasionally touches 97 miles per hour. While many Tigers' prospects boast this ability, what separates this particular pitcher form the rest is his ability to harness the vicious offering. He is able to spot it on the corners, down in the zone, and challenge hitters up and in on the hands. It is often more than enough to overwhelm any who face him.

Myron Noodleman –

           

One of the kings of comedy in the minor leagues is gone.

 Myron Noodleman  , whose real name is Rick Hader, died on Wednesday after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer. The disease kept him from performing in ballparks as Noodleman and away from his day job as a high school teacher.

Longtime scout Roland Hemond dubbed Noodleman as the minor leagues’ “Clown Prince”—a title once held by such titans as Max Patkin, Arlie Latham and Al Schacht—at a Mike Veeck-led seminar in 2004. At his peak, he was among the elite entertainers in the minor leagues along with acts like the Zooperstars, Birdzerk and the San Diego chicken.