Danny Bomback enters the final weekend of the regular season with a Can-Am-leading .350 batting average.
Title contender
Former Owl Friday: In our final installment of Former Owl Friday we talk with Danny Bomback, who could by the end of this long weekend could be the Can-am League's batting champion.
Originally published on
9/2/2011
by
Chuck King
By the time the holiday weekend ends, Danny Bomback has the chance to give himself a rather unique birthday present.
Bomback, the second baseman for the Pittsfield Colonials of the independent Can-Am League, enters Friday's game hitting .350, tops in the league by one point. The Colonials final game of the season is Saturday, but some teams' schedule extends through Monday.
“(Winning the batting title) would be a good birthday present,” said Bomback, who turns 27 on Monday. “You hope you are there at the top, but you never know. I got off to a good start and was able to keep it up.”
Bomback is succeeding despite playing for a team that at one point looked like it might not even be able to complete the season. Pittsfield had such a dire financial situation during the summer that players heard rumors that the Colonials would finish the final month of the season as a travel team – playing all their games on the road.
The Colonials managed to complete their home slate, but life on the road did become interesting.
To save money, Bomback said the team finished the season by only using a bus to get to it's series in Quebec - an eight hour trip. For the rest of the road games, players piled into cars and drove themselves.
“There was a time we didn't know if we were going go to get paid, but management has been good about that lately,” Bomback said.
Pittsburgh originally selected Bomback in the 42nd round of the 2007 draft, and he played in the Pirates organization through the 2009.
Following his release, Bomback signed with Pittsfield, where he hit .324 in 2010. Bomback's hot start this season made him a prime candidate to return to affiliated baseball, but that call never came.
“I've kind of put that behind me,” Bomback said. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, I'm not going to sulk over it. If somebody wants to sign me, good. But if not, it's not the end of the world.”
Though it's extremely unlikely that Pittsfield will field a team next year, Bomback's success in 2011 has him ready to give his baseball career at least one more season.
“I plan to keep on playing as long as I can – until they take the uniform off my back,” Bomback said.