Minors

Minor League Podcast: Bowie’s Gary Kendall on his career, his club and Sisco

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Bowie Baysox manager Gary Kendall, a Baltimore native, is the winningest skipper in team history and the only person to lead the club to an Eastern League championship.

He also has one of the better stories in the Orioles’ minor league system. A Sparrows Point High School graduate and college baseball player, Kendall is one of those rare baseball men who have carved out a career in the minors without playing the sport professionally.

Kendall coached for Johnny’s Used Cars, the legendary amateur team that was run by longtime scout Walter Youse. Through Youse, Kendall made some connections in the game and ended up throwing batting practice at Memorial Stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins when they visited Baltimore. Ultimately, he landed part-time roles as a scout and batting practice pitcher for the Orioles and his career took off from there.

He’s now become a mainstay here – this is his 17^th season in the organization and sixth season managing Bowie.

Kendall took some time this week to talk with Adam Pohl, the voice of the Baysox, about his career and about his current club, including the professional maturation of Bowie catcher Chance Sisco.

Also in this week’s “Minor League Podcast,” Pohl and BaltimoreBaseball.com minor league expert Dean Jones Jr. discuss potential September call-ups and some names to watch such as right-hander Parker Bridwell and some other players who have already been to the majors such as relievers Donnie Hart and Oliver Drake.

Jones also highlights some under-the-radar players who are making noise in the system.

Give it a listen.

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Dan Connolly

Dan Connolly has spent more than two decades as a print journalist in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Baltimore native and Calvert Hall graduate first covered the Orioles as a beat writer for the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record in 2001 before becoming The Baltimore Sun’s national baseball writer/Orioles reporter in 2005. He has won multiple state and national writing awards, including several from the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2013 he was named Maryland Co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. And in 2015, he authored his first book, "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." He lives in York, with his wife, Karen, and three children, Alex, Annie, and Grace.