About Bubbie
Tennessee born and currently residing in Austria, Edward "Bubbie"
Buzachero has become one of International Baseball's most popular pitchers, playing
this winter for the Melbourne Aces and Preston Pirates Baseball Club and currently playing for
Kufstein Vikings in Austria.
Kufstein Vikings in Austria.
The history of HOGEYE - Bubbie's School in Tennessee
Willie Beaty, retired after 38 years of teaching, and part of those years was a basketball coach, told me this: The area around Bethsaida was once a place where much oil and gas drilling was going on, and because of this, that community became quite heavily populated. An area that produced a lot of oil wells was called Bob’s Bar. A pipeline was constructed from Bob’s Bar into Kentucky, but was later shut down because Pickett County charged more than the company wanted to pay to transport the oil and gas through their county. This area was also rich in timber resources, and logging was another industry that employed a pretty good number of men, some of which came from other states to find work. Timber was cut and floated down the Obey River for miles to mills for processing. One particular man that came to the area for work was from Iowa. According to Willie, if a person lived in Iowa, that person was known as a "Hawkeye." Everyone knew this fellow as "Hawkeye", and the whole thing got started because his nickname eventually was mispronounced and changed to "Hogeye".
Willie told me how the famous cheer for Hogeye got started. The year was 1945, and the Livingston Academy boys basketball team was playing in a tournament held in Cookeville. At this particular game, they were playing against Crossville. Livingston’s team was made up almost entirely of players from Independence, Free Communion, and the Bethsaida communities. It was during that game, the girls in the crowd made up the cheer that is still used today, "H-O-G-E-Y-E, Hogeye, Hogeye, T-N-T."
Wilbur C. Smith, long-time teacher and ball coach from Independence, gave me this information: During the years 1938-1942, most of the Livingston Academy girls basketball team was made up of players from the area known as Hogeye. Ms. Rose Hart Dale was their coach. Members of the team were: Anna Lee Beaty, Veo Boles, Lottie Boles, Linnie Smith; Clomanza Sells, Elwanda Beaty, Ilene Beaty, Eloise Clark, Daphna Garrett, Mildred McDonald, Anna Glen Speck, Betty Windle, Juanita Reeser, and Helen Franklin. (I apologize if we’ve left someone out.) Because the team had so many players from that one area, that’s how the name Hogeye got started.
Derward Vaughn, retired boys basketball coach of Livingston Academy, shared this story with me: When he was a freshman in high school, students would gather around a radiator in the hall and talk before classes began each morning. That particular year, the Livingston Academy girls’ basketball team was having a very poor season, and was the topic of conversation at the radiator one morning. Willie Beaty was in the crowd, and his comment on the girls’ team was that "they couldn’t even beat Hogeye!" Coach Vaughn’s interpretation of Willie’s comment was that this high school girls’ team couldn’t even win a game playing against a grade school team.
Willie Beaty, retired after 38 years of teaching, and part of those years was a basketball coach, told me this: The area around Bethsaida was once a place where much oil and gas drilling was going on, and because of this, that community became quite heavily populated. An area that produced a lot of oil wells was called Bob’s Bar. A pipeline was constructed from Bob’s Bar into Kentucky, but was later shut down because Pickett County charged more than the company wanted to pay to transport the oil and gas through their county. This area was also rich in timber resources, and logging was another industry that employed a pretty good number of men, some of which came from other states to find work. Timber was cut and floated down the Obey River for miles to mills for processing. One particular man that came to the area for work was from Iowa. According to Willie, if a person lived in Iowa, that person was known as a "Hawkeye." Everyone knew this fellow as "Hawkeye", and the whole thing got started because his nickname eventually was mispronounced and changed to "Hogeye".
Willie told me how the famous cheer for Hogeye got started. The year was 1945, and the Livingston Academy boys basketball team was playing in a tournament held in Cookeville. At this particular game, they were playing against Crossville. Livingston’s team was made up almost entirely of players from Independence, Free Communion, and the Bethsaida communities. It was during that game, the girls in the crowd made up the cheer that is still used today, "H-O-G-E-Y-E, Hogeye, Hogeye, T-N-T."
Wilbur C. Smith, long-time teacher and ball coach from Independence, gave me this information: During the years 1938-1942, most of the Livingston Academy girls basketball team was made up of players from the area known as Hogeye. Ms. Rose Hart Dale was their coach. Members of the team were: Anna Lee Beaty, Veo Boles, Lottie Boles, Linnie Smith; Clomanza Sells, Elwanda Beaty, Ilene Beaty, Eloise Clark, Daphna Garrett, Mildred McDonald, Anna Glen Speck, Betty Windle, Juanita Reeser, and Helen Franklin. (I apologize if we’ve left someone out.) Because the team had so many players from that one area, that’s how the name Hogeye got started.
Derward Vaughn, retired boys basketball coach of Livingston Academy, shared this story with me: When he was a freshman in high school, students would gather around a radiator in the hall and talk before classes began each morning. That particular year, the Livingston Academy girls’ basketball team was having a very poor season, and was the topic of conversation at the radiator one morning. Willie Beaty was in the crowd, and his comment on the girls’ team was that "they couldn’t even beat Hogeye!" Coach Vaughn’s interpretation of Willie’s comment was that this high school girls’ team couldn’t even win a game playing against a grade school team.
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Charlie Lee Smith, a local businessman in Livingston, was always a big supporter of the Livingston Wildcats, and had a sports program on WLIV radio called "The C.L. Smith Sports Report." His broadcast included updates on national games as well as
Recent Press
Kingsley Collins, Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Threatening to develop a cult following in Victorian baseball, Edward 'Bubbie' Buzachero is among a burgeoning group of players - imported and local - who have been able to strike a balance between club commitments and involvement with the fledgling Australian Baseball League.....
“No one calls me Edward,” the 30 year-old Tennessee native and right-armed pitcher told Baseball Victoria this week. It seems his older sister dubbed him Bubbie. “When we were little, she couldn’t say brother. So it turned into Bubba – then Bubbie – and it’s stuck with me since.” “It’s the only name I’ve ever gone by.”
Slightly-built Bubbie Buzachero is based in Melbourne this summer, pitching for Preston Pirates in the domestic competition while suiting up for Melbourne Aces – for whom he has been highly impressive against some of the national league’s most dangerous hitters.
With a ten-year professional career across a range of organisations and leagues – in United States and Central America – crowd favourite Buzachero was a huge pick-up for the Pirates as they seek to consolidate their position back in Division One.
“Justin Huber is the main reason that I had the opportunity to play out here,” Buzachero said. “We have played against each other for most of our careers. I usually go to winterball in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico or the Dominican, but Justin and the Pirates gave me the opportunity to have a change of venue for my experience.” Huber, too, is playing club ball with Preston this summer (as much as his Australian Baseball League commitments will allow), along with quality professional Nic Ungs, who has been a standout with the Aces but is limited – under Baseball Victoria restrictions – to playing in club seconds baseball.
Signing with Toronto in 2002, Buzachero reached AAA level with the Blue Jays, with Cleveland Indians and with the Houston Astros organisation before continuing his career in the independent leagues. “It has been a rewarding and interesting ten years,” said the outgoing bachelor, who has been taken by the laid-back, sociable Australian lifestyle. “I haven’t made it to the big leagues,” he said, “but I’ve had the opportunity to play in so many different places and meet so many amazing people. All because of a game – a kids’ game.
That’s why I am so appreciative of the things I have accomplished – not the things I have not.” “The past year has been one of the most interesting and challenging for me in baseball,” said Buzachero, who even lived in a tent for an extended time – with suitable accommodation hard to come by - while playing in the Atlantic League in 2011. “Yes, I am over thirty, a grown man and I’ve been thrown into the situation of living in a home again, with a family, in a different country.
I’m used to living in my own apartments – in different cities – but playing in Australia has placed me into a living at home situation.” “It’s funny how things work out,” he said, “but I’ve met people who I’m sure I will stay in touch with for the rest of my life.” “I’m having a great time over here. I love Aussie beer, but not a fan of Vegemite. Love the women’s accents. A barbecue with friends, a long walk on the beach - it's all very nice." “The lifestyle reminds me of home in Tennessee.” Early scouting reports described Bubbie Buzachero as having “guts and guile”, with a high level of team loyalty and a strong desire to win games.
One media commentator observed that he always “had the stones to get out of situations because he is not afraid of any hitter.” His enthusiasm for the contest, his intensity and his onfield aggression have impressed teammates and opponents alike during his brief time Down Under. “I guess I am who I am. I can’t change my demeanour,” Buzachero says. “I’m five foot ten, a hundred and nothing pounds, but what I lack in size and talent I hope I make up for with heart and effort. I just love this game – the sport and all its aspects.” “Team loyalty is huge to me – like family,” he said. “A team gives me the opportunity and believes in you when no-one else does. It’s like your family telling you that there is nothing you can’t do.”
Throughout his career, Buzachero has been used as a starter, in middle relief and as a closer. With pinpoint fastball location and great movement on his breaking pitches, he has a clear preference for how he is used and he has a realistic understanding of what might or might not happen on any given day. “I love closing. When the game is on the line between winning and losing, so much of it comes down to the pitcher. I love shaking my catcher’s hand and saying well done,” he said. "The biggest thing is going right after guys, not nibbling," he said. "(Getting) strike one is the crucial thing when you're closing. That, and the first out." “But pitching in general fuels my fire and I can’t say no whenever a manager asks me if I want the ball.” “You have good days in this game and you have bad days.
Just because you feel good with your pitches doesn’t mean you’re going to have a good day. It’s the mental approach to the situation that is important. If you don’t have your best stuff – fastball, curveball, anything – you still have to pitch and you have to ask yourself how you are going to get guys out with what you have today.” Far from being an old man in baseball years, Buzachero has a consistent record of success up to AAA level and a breadth of playing experience that will continue to render him an attractive proposition to potential clubs.
While he believes he could still make the grade at Major League level, his priorities are far more immediate. “My biggest goal is to enjoy the “now” of my life. Right now,” he said. “And to control the things that I can control.” “Could I pitch in the big leagues right now? One hundred per cent, yes. Will I be given the opportunity to prove that? We’ll see. But my main concern is to appreciate and enjoy the opportunities and the doors that open along the journey of it all – like coming out to Australia.” “If I am able, I’d like to show any kid who thinks they can’t achieve - because of circumstances - that no goal is unattainable.”
Aside from his appearances with the Melbourne Aces (where he has a win and a save, with a 1.54 ERA), Bubbie Buzachero has spent half a domestic season with the Preston Pirates, impressing all with his charm, his enthusiasm, his demeanour and capacity to set a positive example for young and not so young players around the club. He has had the opportunity to size up Victorian grassroots baseball and he offers some constructive insights into the role of team sport in people’s lives.
“There is a lot of potential and some good young players around. With the people I’ve met at Preston – like Phil Allen, Mike and Jon Deeble – I can see there is a great deal of information and knowledge that can be passed on to the young talent,” he said. “It’s not just about ability. That can only take you so far. Then you have to listen to people who have been there.” “To kids starting out in the sport, remember first of all that it’s a game! Have fun, enjoy it, that’s what it’s set up for. Baseball has great traditions that are passed on from father to son.”
“My love for baseball comes out in my play,” Buzachero said. “It’s something that overcomes you and you can’t help it and you can’t turn it down or off. I am grateful and appreciative for feeling that way because it was instilled by my father. The enthusiasm I have is not just a love of the game I get to play. It comes also from the appreciation I have of folks who came before that gave me the chance to be here and play baseball.” “I feel the history is just as important as the game itself. The history and the traditions provide the foundation for everything that is good about the sport.”
The Australian Baseball League has continued to attract quality imports during its second season, with Melbourne Aces signing Bubbie Buzachero to an impressive roster that has included terrific players in Japanese superstars Kikuchi and Kimura, Nic Ungs, Jason Hirsh, Kevin David, home-grown Major Leaguers Justin Huber and Brad Harman - all of whom complement an array of local talent. “For young guys like Jarryd Rogers and Darryl George to be getting game time in this league is a great thing,” Buzachero said. “Having them playing alongside veterans and professional baseballers is the best thing you can give them as a growing-up experience.”
Impressed with the professionalism and the overall playing standard of the league, Buzachero believes that the ABL competition is still wide open despite Perth Heat's apparent dominance. “I wouldn’t say that any team is harder to beat than any of the others,” he said. “The greatest thing about this game is that the “worst” team can always beat the “best” team. In baseball, you always have tomorrow.”
2012 AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE'S LONGSHOTS
Rounding off the number six spot on the ABL's list of long shot players to break The Big Leagues is Melbourne Aces hurler, Bubbie Buzachero. Originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2002 out of Tennessee Tech, Buzachero has also played for the Houston Astros organization over the last ten minor league seasons. The 30 year-old pitcher has compiled a 45-31 record, a 3.70 ERA, and 92 saves in 444 games. This guy, who is probably the longest shot in the field was norn to perform and to deliver nothing short of his best effort.
MLB BLOGGER
FOX Sportscaster Jon Deeble, "Its the 11th and he gets better as the night goes on."
Quote from TWITTERStevo-sama @yoshiki8
Is @bbuzachero channeling his inner Mitch Williams here? #ABLCS
