SAN FRANCISCO, CA. – On Monday, July 8 at 7:00 PM, Fox Sports Net will present Baseball Near The Bay. The 30-minute show will focus on the Western Baseball League as seen through the eyes of the Sonoma County Crushers and the Solano Steelheads. The WBL is a six-team independent minor league with five teams in California and one in Arizona.
Hosted by Chris Gargano, Baseball Near The Bay will feature the players, managers and owners of the Crushers and Steelheads. The program will tell the stories of Steelheads and Crushers players and their dream to make it into Major League Baseball and present the success stories of the former independent players that made it into the Majors.
Other show highlights include an interview with Crushers' manager, former San Francisco Giants player and 1989 NL MVP Kevin Mitchell; a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road with an independent league; stories from the fans and host families of the WBL; and Steelheads' Wayne Weinheimer's personal story of battling Hodgkin's Disease.
Produced by Gargano and Jack Pavelick, Baseball Near The Bay will replay on Wednesday, July 10 at 7:00 PM.
Fox Sports Net Bay Area reaches more than 3.5 million households in Northern California and Northern Nevada. Fox Sports Net Bay Area is owned and operated by Rainbow Sports Networks, a division of Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc.
Fox Sports Net reaches more than 79 million households nationwide and is a service of National Sports Partners, equally owned by Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. and Fox. Rainbow Sports Networks incorporates Rainbow's 50% ownership of Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports National Advertising, and the ownership and management of Fox Sports Net regional networks in five of the nation's largest markets: Chicago, Florida, Ohio, New England, and San Francisco.