live blog

hi from the press box. We are currently in our 16th inning of baseball tonight here at the den. Although the Bears dropped the first game, all of the High School Musical activities were a blast and it seemed as if the crowd had a great time. You can never get enough baseball. See you here again tomorrow!

Cory the Composer

At Bears Blog, we receive a lot of questions in regards to the player's introduction music. Well, 3 new songs that were added to the rotation yesterday for Matt Smith, Cory Willey, and Andy Shibilo were actually composed by Cory Willey himself. Be sure to keep an ear open for these musical works at your next Bears game!

Interview With Bobby Hill

Check out this great interview with Bear's infielder Bobby Hill that ran on WBGO Sports Jam with Doug Doyle. Click HERE to listen.

Happy Birthday Little Bobby!

Over the weekend, Bears infielder Bobby Hill celebrated his son's (little Bobby) 1st birthday. Many of the Newark Bears players went out to celebrate the milestone. Happy Birthday little Bobby!

Updated Batting Music List

We are just past the half way mark in the Atlantic League season. With that being said, here is an updated list of the songs the players have been using as their walk up music:



Mike Bumstead - Take My Life, Jeremy Camp
Ramon Nivar - Calabria, Enur
Mike Just - Self Esteem, The Off Spring
Gerard Haran - Everybody Nose, N.E.R.D.
Ruben Mateo - It's Going Down, Young Joc

Congrats are in Order!

Big weekend at the ball park and many congratulations are in order. First, Bear's Pitcher Rich Scalamandre proposed to his girlfriend on the field after Friday's game. In case you missed it, Rich put together a special slide show for the video board, and then got down on one knee. Don't worry..she said yes!

After the June 18th game, Manager Wayne Krenchicki secured his 1,000th managerial win. 661 of those 1,000 wins have come in the Atlantic League. Finally, special congrats to former bears player Val Majewski - he was picked up by the Astros organization, and is now a member of the AA Corpus Christie Hooks. Congrats to all!

Rumor Has It..

Atlantic League Champion pitcher, Carlos Mirabal (#31) pitched a simulated game during batting practice this afternoon. Could he be making a return to Newark?

Now Batting...(cue the music!)

Now that we have completed 2 homestands, the players have settled into their personal batting (or pitching warm up) music. We get a lot of inquires from fans about the names and artists of some of these songs. Ask and you shall receive...

Randall Simon - Low, Flo Rider
Mike Just - Self Esteem, Offspring
Tim Sweeney - Take You There, Sean Kingston
Keith Reed - You Know What It Is, T.I.
J.J. Truillo - Low Rider, War
Rich Scalamandre - Bleed It Out, Linkin Park
Corey Aldridge - Clap Back, Ja Rule

Jerson Ravelo Stops By!

Jerson Ravelo, an Olympic Boxer who currently lives in Newark, NJ, stopped by the Den for last night's game. Jerson will be boxing undefeated Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward in the Cayman Islands on Showtime, June 20th. Jerson was a 2000 Olympian for the Dominican Republic. Ravelo is 18-2 as a professional and looks to gain steps to a Super Middleweight Championship bout.

Jerson is active with the youth of Newark and assists them daily letting them know that there are people out there that do care.

Jerson, thank you for stopping by, best of luck next month!

Castro Arrives!

Ladies and Gentleman, Ramon Castro has returned to Newark. Ramon arrived at the ballpark yesterday from Venezuela. Everyone is super excited to have Ramon back - not only because his crazy antics keep all us of entertained, but because Ramon finished off the season last year batting .343 - the 3rd highest in the Atlantic League! Ramon has been working out since he has arrived, and is looking forward to joining his teammates during the upcoming home stand. Welcome back!

First Game in the Books!

Thanks to all the fans who came out to last night's home opener - it was a great success, and we hope that it is the first, of many great nights at The Den.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the evening:

Starting line ups

Joanne Borgella singing the national anthem.

Rally & Ruppert

Let the season begin!

...and they're off!

The bus just left The Den taking the players to their first game of the 2008 season vs. The Long Island Ducks. Tonight's game in Long Island starts at 7:05 PM. However, you can listen to the Bears game on the radio by tuning into 89.5 WSOU or on-line radio by clicking here. Don't forget, the Bears open at home on Tuesday April 29th vs the Bridgeport Bluefish at 7:05.