Just went up on the roof to say hello to the Roof-man, where he was interviewed by Erin Vogt of Thunder 98.5, Hit 106 and the Breeze Radio. You can here the interviews over the next few days and he’ll appear live on the Thunder 98.5 morning show with Chris Van Zant later this week.

Anyway, Ragan was highly amused by those learning how to drive motorcycles in the parking lot, driving around in circles all day. But got a kick out of those learning how to drive trucks in reverse, leading to a constant “beeeeeeeeep beeeeeeeeep” sound from his perch.

He’s well stocked with all the essentials: Doritos, Fritos, and movies like Old School and The Hangover.

On a more serious note, here are the details on the Saturday blood drive and you can sign up online here.

All donors receive a free BlueClaws ticket voucher and are entered to win tickets to see Broadway Shows including 39 Steps (Tony Award winner, Hitchcock play), The Gazillion Bubble Show, and Stomp, the International Sensation.

The Roof-man is back.

Central Jersey Blood Center COO Ryan Ragan will return to the roof at FirstEnergy Park before the BlueClaws and CJBC host a blood drive on August 21st.

“We’ll go up on the roof, set up the tent and have a little fun. I just hope it’s not windy,” said Ragan, who spent a week on the roof last year leading into the playoffs. “Ultimately, however, we’re trying to raise awareness about the need to donate blood, and raise the blood itself.

“There’s always a shortage, especially this time of year, when it’s the toughest to get donations and we have the highest demand of the year.”

Blood donated to Central Jersey Blood Center helps to treat premature babies, burn and trauma victims, patients suffering from leukemia and other cancers, cardiac disease, and many other conditions that depend on blood products for recovery.

Fans can now sign up for the blood drive by clicking here. The BlueClaws & CJBC encourage fans to sign up early.

Tony Graham recapped the Manager’s Luncheon in today’s Asbury Park Press (click here).

The Howell resident was curious as to who Parent, a former big league catcher, considered his favorite pitcher when Parent was behind the plate.

Parent told Dexidor he hardly had to move his catching mitt whenever he caught left-hander Bruce Hurst when they were teammates with the San Diego Padres.

The event benefited BlueClaws Charities.

The BlueClaws will host a Nine and Dine golf outing at Eagle Ridge Golf Club on August 11th. Full details here.

Essentially, participation includes nine holes of scramble format golf, range balls, locker room usage, a post golf reception, player meet and greet on the course, and a raffle ticket for great prizes. Registration, along with the opening of the range, is at 2 pm and the shotgun start will begin at 3 pm.

All proceeds benefit BlueClaws Charities, and this is the first time they have hosted a golf outing.

He led the BlueClaws to the first-half title and has them at 49-30 on the year. You can meet him on Saturday in a BlueClaws Charities event at FirstEnergy Park.

Admission is just $20 and obviously includes lunch. The event runs from noon - 1:30 pm in the BlueClaws Executive Conference Center.

Mark has some great stories and some great insights, and the event is definitely worth it. He’ll talk about his big league career, 13 years with seven different teams. He’ll talk about the day he caught 24 innings in 100+ degree heat at the Vet in 1998. It was his last year in the bigs, Mike Lieberthal was injured, they were playing a double-header and didn’t learn until right before the game that they would not have Liberthal.

As a manager, Parent led the Chico Outlaws of the Frontier League to the Golden League title in 2007 and was led the BlueClaws back into the post-season already this year.

If you’re a BlueClaws fan, or a baseball fan for that matter, it’s well worth it. To sign up, call Danielle at 732-901-7000 ext 121. More on the event here.

The BlueClaws Challenger clinics, run through the Toms River and Asbury Park Elks, were featured in the New York Post…

The Elks lodges of Asbury Park and Toms River, N.J., sponsored an event last weekend for their local Challenger Baseball teams at First Energy Park in Lakewood, home of the BlueClaws.

The Challenger Baseball program is an arm of Little League and is for children with special needs. The 80 players were treated to a morning of baseball on the field and attended the BlueClaws’ game that night.

“When those children took the field that morning, they all went out there as ballplayers. And for some it took great effort, determination and courage,” volunteer Tom Gardner said.

This was the second year of the new Elks program (elksbatterup@msn.com).

That is all.

I know we’re a week behind here but this is just as important today as it was last Sunday, when, on Father’s Day, we had Ed Randall’s Bat for the Cure at FirstEnergy Park as part of Prostate Cancer Awareness Day. Randall founded Bat for the Cure, which encourages men to get checked annually for prostate cancer, about eight years ago.

Randall joined us on the BlueClaws beat pre-game show and some of his comments are below…

“I was having with somebody about a year after I went into remission, my two favorite words, and this person said ‘You should do something,’ and that was the genesis for filing the 501-c3. Through my years in broadcasting, I got the great fortune to know a lot of people and we started to get men to go to the doctors and save their lives.

(more…)

If you saw a painter on the concourse last night, you saw the beginning of a Craig Mahoney painting for charity. Mahoney, a local artist, will finish the painting soon and we will auction it off with proceeds going to BlueClaws Charities.

Read Craig’s blog here and follow him on Twitter here.

Tonight at Jenkinson’s in Point Pleasant is 105.7 The Hawk’s annual Boss of the Sauce competition. The event:

Roll up your sleeves, let out your belt and get ready to sample till you can’t sample no more. Boss Of The Sauce 2010 is open to all ages and is a great excuse to skip dinner that night—trust us, come hungry. You’ll sample free food from the cream of the crop of Jersey Shore restaurants and help decide who will be 2010’s Boss Of The Sauce: The People’s Choice.

Most importantly, vote for the BlueClaws! The BlueClaws and Any Event Catering will have an entry in the event and we hope that if you’re going, you’ll give us some consideration.

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One other radio note, Mike and Joe from the Shore Sports Report will be broadcasting live on Opening Night at FirstEnergy Park. That’s Friday from 3-6 pm. I am a Thursday afternoon guest on their show, heard on the Shore Sports Network (1160/1310 am or www.shoresportsnetwork.com)

We spotted Anthony in the Brick Target location wearing his BlueClaws cap. He won two Opening Day tickets on the spot.

If we spot you in the community (or at the local St. Patrick’s Day parades), you too will win Opening Day tickets. Good luck!

Back just in time for another round of St Patrick’s Day parades, beginning Sunday in Belmar, is Wear It and Win. Buster and members of the BlueClaws front office will be marching in a series of parades, and if they spot you wearing BlueClaws gear, we’ll hand you FREE Opening Day tickets right on the spot. Parade schedule:

• Sunday, March 7: Belmar
• Saturday, March 13: Seaside Heights
• Saturday, March 20: Highlands
• Saturday, March 27, Keansburg

Today is a special day in BlueClaws history. It’s the 10th anniversary of the unveiling of the name BlueClaws to the general public.

It happened in the Lakewood Town Square 10 years ago today, the unveiling of the name. The first BlueClaws logo (changed after the 2009 season) was unveiled in August.

A total of 49 BlueClaws entries were received. The name was first sent in by nine year old Matt Koscielski of West Belmar and Jan Gualtier of Ocean County.

If you’re wondering, ground was broken on the ballpark April 13th, 2000.

Some news on a popular program…

LAKEWOOD, NJ - The BlueClaws, OceanFirst Foundation, 92.7 WOBM and 1160 WOBM-AM announced that Home Runs for Heroes will return in 2010, after a successful debut season in which $24,000 was donated to local chariteis that provide essential support to veterans and active members of the United States military.

Like last year, the program will tie each position on the field (not including pitcher, but including designated hitter) with a local military-based charity. Each home run by the BlueClaws at home this year will bring a $1,000 donation to the corresponding charity courtesy of OceanFirst Foundation.

Read the rest of the release here (includes information about non-profit grant applications for the program).

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It’s really a great program. Last year, $24,000 was donated by OceanFirst Foundation because of BlueClaws home runs. ARMS (American Recreational Military Services) ended up with the most money ($9,000, seven of the home runs from Jim Murphy).

We’ll have a draft lottery on the field before Opening Day like last year and keep you posted on the program throughout the year. Last season’s results:

To Ocean Twp Elementary School. Proceeds from the eBay auction went to BlueClaws Charities.