A Baseball Phenomenon on Kauai..." 'Glenn Mickens' (Kaua'i Island Watchdog)

Glenn Mickens has lived on Kauai  with his wife Ruth for the last 26 years. Born July 26, 1930 in Wilmar, California, USA) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched in four games (two of which were starts) for the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers. He also played for five years in Japan, from 1959 until 1963 for the Kintetsu Buffaloes. There, he compiled a record of 45–53 with a 2.54 ERA.  Glenn also  served in the Army for 2 years and coached baseball at UCLA for 25 years. 
Last but not least Glenn would really like to see Kaua'i give the county manager style of Government a chance.
Above photo of Glenn Mickens courtesy of Kauai Garden island news, used with permission...



A Baseball  Phenomenon   on Kaua'i

Mr. Mickens is locally known
as one of Kauai county's
political watchdogs
and Nitpickers...
Mahalos Glenn!
                 

I would like to bring up a phenomenon that happened here on Kauai in regards to my favorite sport(baseball) that has never happened before nor will it ever happen again. 

The odds of a baseball player---youth, high school, college or minor leaguer ever getting to the big leagues are extremely low. But amazingly enough Kauai had 2 brothers, Tyler

Tyler Yates pitching
for the N.Y. Mets.
Check out Tyler's profile
on his Wikipedia page;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Yates

and Kirby Yates from this tiny rock in the Pacific making it to the major leagues, truly unbelievable! The odds of this happening are probably in the millions or greater and, to my knowledge has never happened before nor will it ever happen again. 

And, another "first" for me was to see the 5'11"- 175 lb Kirby Yates put a 90 mph number on my "slow" radar gun whereas his brother, 6'4"- 235 lbTyler

Kirby Yates pitching for
Tampa Bay Rays.
Check out Kirby's profile
on his Wikipedia page;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_Yates

at the same age put 87-mph on this gun. Of course with Pittsburgh Tyler was putting upper 90's on the gun but, to this day no one but Kirby has come close to throwing that hard on my gun.

Check out the KHON-TV story on the Yates brothers below;
http://khon2.com/2014/06/08/kauais-kirby-tyler-yates-talk-big-league-brotherhood/

Congratulations to Gary and Jonna Yates for raising two phenomenal young men who have made Kauai proud for their accomplishments and setting the standards for other young ball players here on Kauai. But, as my friend the legendary John Wooden always said, be the best you can be not matter if it is in sports or any other avenue of life. 

P.S.

Check out Glenn's Wikipedia page;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Mickens

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Aloha, James "Kimo" Rosen---Blogger-n-chief, dakinetalk blog---

Kapa'a  Sunrise

From my lanai

watching the Sunrise!

i-Phone photo by James "Kimo Rosen

Hana Hou, (Encore)