Thieves report with pitchers and catchers
0 Comments Published by Colin Wyers on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 8:21 PM.
Simply bizarre. From the Arizona Republic:
Three Chicago Cubs, including pitcher Jeff Samardzija, a former star wide receiver for Notre Dame's football team, were victims of a thief who hit several central Mesa locations during a five-month period, police said.
Mesa police arrested Todd Robert Smith, 44, on Saturday and accused him of stealing items valued at $10,465 from four locations starting Oct. 19, according to a police report.
The report described Smith as a "well-known transient Mesa burglary suspect." Detective Chris Arvayo, a police spokesman, said Smith has a long history of arrests.
The victims included Cub players Samardzija, catcher Jake Fox and outfielder Tyler Colvin. All three are young players who had reported to the Cubs' minor league facility at Fitch Park early for extra work.
The entire article is worth reading. The biggest shame of it is, all of those guys are still minor-leaguers - Colvin and Samardzija both have signing bonuses, but the salaries in Peoria and Iowa still aren't much to write home about.
Reportedly this means tightened security measures at Fitch Park - worth noting if you plan on visiting spring training.
Happier tidings out of Mesa come from Tim Sheridan, who promises to go get some more pictures tomorrow.
Oh, and Paul Sullivan has reported for duty. In case you needed to know that.
Labels: Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Minor Leagues
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