Fans in Anaheim are celebrating this week. And fans in Salinas, Sonoma Valley, Nashua, St. Paul, Sioux Falls and every other city with an independent minor league team should pat themselves on the back as well. This World Series was a testament to the importance of the independent leagues.

	Brendan Donnelly was one of three relievers plucked from the independent leagues to make solid contributions in last week's World Series.

Independent baseball leagues had disappeared decades previously, along with guys nicknamed Rube, until 1993, when Miles Wolff, Mike Veeck and others figured there were a lot of capable players out there who had been overlooked by major league organizations. It wasn't a popular notion at the time -- Twins general manager Andy MacPhail infamously chided the Northern League as "Veeck's Beer League'' -- but it turned out they were right. There was a lot more talent out there than "organized baseball'' rosters could hold.

Obviously, there are plenty of fans for independent ball -- the St. Paul Saints have sold out almost every game they've played for 10 years while the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks draw similar crowds to a beautiful facility. And this World Series provided proof there is plenty of talent as well. There were three veterans of independent leagues in the series, including the winning pitcher of Game 5, San Francisco's Chad Zerbe, and the winning pitcher of Game 6, Anaheim's Brendan Donnelly.

"There are so many ballplayers in independent leagues who have great arms and they're just getting overlooked. It's unfortunate,'' Anaheim reliever Ben Weber said. "Anytime you go to independent ball, it's like the last leg of your career. I thought it was the last leg of my career in 1996 and I just got lucky. And that's what it takes a lot of the time. Luck.

"It just goes to show you that as long as you have a great arm and you can get guys out, it doesn't matter what league you're in.''

Weber pitched for the Western League's Salinas Peppers in 1996 after the Blue Jays released him during spring training. He led the league with a 12-6 record, but even so, he was so convinced his career was over that he spent the last game of the season dressed up as the team's mascot, a giant red pepper.

Baseball doesn't get any lower than that.

"I thought it was my last game and I said, 'If I'm going to go out, then I'm going to dress up in that costume and cause chaos,'" Weber said. "And I did. I caused it on the field and in the stands. The fans didn't know who I was and my own teammates didn't know, either.''

Weber wound up receiving an offer to pitch in Taiwan, which kept his career alive. Two years later he signed with the Giants and pitched at Double-A Fresno, where his roommate was Zerbe. Two years earlier, Zerbe pitched for the Western League's Sonoma Valley Crushers.

	“	It just goes to show you that as long as you have a great arm and you can get guys out, it doesn't matter what league you're in. ”
		— Ben Weber

"Believe me, when I was at Sonoma Valley, the last thought in my mind was the World Series,'' he said. "I just wanted to get back into organized ball. And when I got back with an organization, I still had no dream of the World Series, I just wanted to get back in the majors.''

Donnelly pitched for two independent teams -- the Atlantic League's Nashua Pride and the Frontier League's Ohio Valley Redcoats, where, he said, it was so bad that "I didn't know if I was supposed to retire if I lost, or what.'' Several releases and years later, he finally reached the major this season as a 31-year-old rookie.

"I don't know if it says as much about the independent leagues as it does about the players,'' Donnelly said. "The independent leagues are there to give you a chance, so it says more for the players who don't give up. You're down there at the bottom of the ladder and you just don't give up.''

Life in the independent leagues isn't easy. Two teams -- the Atlantic League's Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds and the Northern League's Gary South Shore Railcats -- recently played their entire seasons on the road. The leagues don't pay very much either, with the salaries beginning at $700 a month with $15 per day in meal money. Players often live with families who take them in for free or cram several players into an apartment to make the paychecks stretch.

And remember, those paychecks end with the season in September. Players spend the offseasons working whatever jobs they can while trying to line up gigs with another team for the following year. Weber worked on an assembly line in a job so boring he can't even remember what he assembled. Donnelly dug ditches, exterminated pests and delivered subpoenas. Zerbe delivered and set up Christmas trees for the wealthy.

"It's not easy. You're lugging around 200- to 300-pound trees with the sap dripping all over you and your hands getting all scratched up,'' Zerbe said. "But the tips were good.''

In spite of the difficulties, they kept at it. As long as there was a team somewhere willing to give them a uniform, they were willing to wear it.

"It's a shame that guys fall through the cracks,'' Weber said. "Hopefully, we three pitchers can give guys in that same situation inspiration that the independent leagues aren't the end of the line.''

Far from it. Those leagues are vital, providing opportunities, preserving careers, drawing fans and sewing another needed stitch in this great game we call baseball.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at cuffscaple@hotmail.com.