Appels Rough Pro Start Drawing Concerns - RealGM Wiretap
Mark Appel has had a rough adjustment to professional baseball Mike Smith
Coyotes Jersey , something that is drawing concerns about his
future ceiling.
The No. 1 pick by the Houston Astros last June, Appel had a solid pro debut
last summer but things have gotten worse since. An appendectomy sidelined him
this spring and he struggled upon his return. He has been shuffled around
Houston's system as the club looks to find a comfortable place for the
right-hander.
"Pro scouts who saw Appel last year and this year have generally come away
disappointed," writes J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. "Appel will show premium
velocity with a fastball that sits 94-95 mph and touches 97-98 mph on his best
nights. But pro scouts who saw him in the Midwest League last year said that he
lacked an out pitch, didn't exhibit much feel for pitching and generally didn't
have sharp secondary stuff to go with his fastball."
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the first aquarium opened in Chicago. The first McDonald's is in Des Plaines.
The first Mormon Temple is in Nauvoo. The first round Silo for farm storage of
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fission reactor was built on a squash court under the football stadium at the
University of Chicago after Enrico Fermi and a small group of scientists and
engineers showed that a simple construction of graphite bricks and uranium lumps
produced controlled heat. The Land and State Illinois got its name from a Native
American word that means "tribe of superior men". Immense winter storms, deadly
annual tornadoes, smothering heat, and bitter cold are the typical and diverse
weather patterns Illinois is known for. Square dancing is the state dance.
"State Sovereignty, National Union" is the state motto. "Illinois" is the state
song and the state nickname is "The Prairie State". Illinois ranks sixth in the
nation for population, third in the nation for interstate highway miles, and has
more units of government than any other state in the union; over six thousand.
"Land of Lincoln" was adopted as the state slogan by the General Assembly in
1955 and the state retains a copyright for the slogan's exclusive use. Chicago
The Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station are the only buildings to survive
the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Chicago's Mercy Hospital was the first hospital
opened in the Prairie State. The epithet Keith Yandle
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York Sun editor because he was tired of hear Chicagoans boast about the world's
Columbian Exposition in 1893. A bear cub was the first animal purchased for the
Lincoln Park Zoo in 1874, thus the name origin for the Chicago Bears. The
original designation of O'Hare airport was Orchard Field, thus the abbreviation
"ORD". Chicago is the nation's third largest city. The Chicago Public Library
has a collection of more than 2 million books making it the world's largest
public library. The Chicago Post Office on West Van Buren is the world's only
postal facility you can drive a car through. Illinois Oddities The ice cream
"sundae" was invented in Evanston because pious members of the town resented the
Sunday soda fountain gatherings. The town government passed an ordinance
prohibiting the sale of ice cream sodas on Sunday. Ingenious confectioners began
serving ice cream with your choice of syrup, but with no soda. They mockingingly
christened the dish the"Sundae". The president of the Chicago Cubs in 1905 filed
charges against a fan for catching a fly ball and keeping it. The world's
largest cookie and cracker factory is in Chicago. Nabisco made 16 billion Oreo
cookies there in 1995. The Chicago River used to flow backward into Lake
Michigan until 1900. Engineers reversed the river flow when they completed the
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. On Saint Patrick's Day, the Chicago River is
dyed green. And Finally, Oh My's! Illinois boasts the highest number of
personalized license plates Joe Vitale
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in a prison camp during the Civil War was at Rock Island. The Chicago Bears'
original name was the Staley Bears. They were organized in Decatur in 1920. In
Mount Pulaski, it is illegal for boys to hit trees with snowballs. Girls,
however, are allowed to hurl tree-bound snowballs all they want. Superman's home
of Metropolis really exists in Southern Illinois. Author's Resource Box Looking
for Illinois real estate? Visit REMAX at
http:www.illinoispropertyillinois-real-estate.aspx for a complete guide to your
new home. Browse online or contact your nearest REMAX Realtor for your real
estate tour of magnificent Illinois. Art Gib is a freelance wr.