2016 All Star Game Tribute: Montreal

 Oh Canada

The Beginning of the Canadian national anthem starts out, O Canada, our home and native land....Well don't tell that to the province of Quebec, pronounced Kee-bek, to those that live in Quebec. See, they believe they should be their own country and have wanted to secede from the country for years. The language in Quebec is French, while the rest of the country speaks English, and that puts them at odds with the rest of the country. They are looked at as stubborn, stuck up and assholes, quite frankly, and the Quebecer's look at the rest of the country as beneath them, so there his great hostility in the country.

That takes us to 1968, where EWB was being formed and was looking at the Great White North for a potential franchise. The choices of EWB were, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary or Montreal. Vancouver was in the running at the beginning, but geography and lack of financial backing took them out of consideration. Calgary had a central location and financial backing, but lack of enthusiasm from fans and lack of stadium took them out of the running. So it came down to Toronto and Montreal, two cities that hated each other, think of it as Boston/NY time 2. The people of each community hated each other and would do anything to get a EWB franchise and it was more about making sure the other city didn't get one rather than wanting one.

The bid from Toronto was enticing to EWB, they were an "American" Canadian city. Very metropolitan and a good population and in a prime location, being right next to Detroit and not too far from other major EWB teams. Molson Brewing Company wanted a team in Canada and put up big dollars to get one. They had a plan to play at Exhibition Stadium, until they built a new stadium that the public would pass. Molson also knew that Toronto was the perfect city to host EWB and blew away the powers that be at EWB. They had everything that EWB was looking for and more, also they had a major brand sponsor to start the league out with and that would draw a lot of money for the league for advertising. Molson thought they were a show in for the league and even went as far as purchasing land just outside of downtown Toronto to build a new stadium, UNTIL EWB heard the offer from Montreal.

Montreal, true to fashion, didn't want a person/company to own their franchise, THEY wanted to own it. The fucking city. They poo poo everybody other than Quebecer's. They really think that their shit don't stink, those kind of people. So the Mayor of Montreal, Jean Claude Francois, put a bid together that surprised EWB, they had a proposal that mirrored the model of the NFL's Green Bay Packers, in which fans could by shares of the team and that there be a Board Of Governors that run the organization. That idea intrigued EWB and they fell in love with the idea that they could sell to the fans of the new league that you could own a piece of your favorite team. Well Molson got wind that EWB was serious about giving a franchise to Montreal and went apeshit. They committed all this money and thought they had the best bid. Molson thought about suing EWB and put on the full court press of smear ads in Montreal to dis sway any citizens to vote against this proposal. Even Toronto natives were talking trash to Montreal citizens, and of course it came in realm of hockey, calling the Montreal Canadians hockey team a bunch of "faggots" and pussies on ice talk, to which Montreal responded that the Maple Leafs were a under achieving team. Thrilling Canadian trash talk.

The bids were in and EWB chose....Montreal, to the dismay of all of Canada. Frankly, all of Canada was disgusted that Montreal got the franchise, even new Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was quoted as saying, off the record, "Jesus fucking christ, not Montreal"

Montreal started the inaugural 1970 season with a trip to the playoffs, with a 92-70 record, some of the stars on the inaugural team were LF Pedro Nunes, .319/12/96 and 1B Tyler Brewer .309/13/82 and pitchers Joseph Snyder, brother of famed radio and tv star Tom Snyder, 18-8, 2.14, 78.3 VORP...Sean Austin, 15-11, 3.13, 55.3 VORP.

Over the 45 year history of the Knights, Montreal is barely above a .500 team, with a record of 3761-3693 for a .505 winning percentage. Montreal has made the playoffs 13 times, winning their only appearance in the World Series in 2010, over Miami, they have only had 2 players in their history to ever win one of the major awards. in 2012 Dustin Hawkins won the MVP and deservedly so, he hit .312/41/132, BUT in 2009 he came from KC, a perennial All Star and a Gold Glove winner and Montreal coming off a two 5th place finishes dipped into their pockets and signed Hawkins to a 4 year deal worth 88.28 million, a HUGE contract and boy did it ever payoff. In his first season with the Knights, Hawkins single handedly took the Knights from 70-92 in 2009 to an astounding 109-53 record, a 39 GAME IMPROVEMENT !!! Surprisingly he only had a 60.3 VORP, not to say that is low, but for what Hawkins did you would thinks of that number much higher, but numbers don't always define a player of that caliber that season. Hawkins went on to win the World Series in his first season as a Knight defeating the Banditos. Surprisingly he didn't win the MVP in 2010, he lost out to Jonathan Manning, who had a great season, but we will look back on that season and people will wonder how he didn't. Dustin Hawkins is the face of Knight baseball and the most revered sports athlete in Montreal, well behind hockey players.

The other award winner was Corey Gilbert, winning the Bob Gibson award in 2010, the year the Knights won the World Series, somebody won an award for the teams performance. Gilbert was a jack of all trades in 2010, he was 15-4, 6 saves, 180 K's in 149.2 innings, with a 41.2 VORP.

In 2013, Dave Palmer won the Angel Rosa award for the Rookie of the Year. He hit .289/23/86 with a very high VORP for a rookie at 35.2

Montreal has two Hall of Fame inductee, SP Desmond MacGilp '94-'00, CL Victor Rivera '77-'87 while they have hosted a few....

1B Dave Page '03---for 44 games

1B Porter Scott '94-'95

SP George 'Slider' Banks '99 for 3 GAMES

P Mal Collier '70-79---went in as an Irish

CL Mohammed Koigi '04-'05

C Vincent Carter '95-96

Notable draftees...

1B Shannon Townsend---1986---pick 4

P Nelson Rowland---1988---pick 2

RF Albert Perez---1991---pick 5

Apparently in 1998, the Knights only had a first rd pick and that's it !!!

Some notable career stats and players...

Tommy Brown has career batting average high at .310 and for one season at .355, career slug. % .582 and for one season .658, also career leader in OPS .946 and single season VORP at 80.5 in 1996, leads RBI for single season in 1994 with 152

Albert Perez has record for most HR in a season with 49 in '94

Dustin Hawkins has the record with 383 total bases in 2012

If you had a Mt. Rushmore for hitters for Montreal it would be, Tommy Brown, Pedro Nunes, Dustin Hawkins---Nunes leads most career records for Montreal as he played 15 years with the Knights.

As for pitchers, its a mixed bag of Dave Moss, Victor Rivera, and Sean Austin. Surprisingly HOF'r Desmond MacGlip hardly at all comes up in top ten of career totals for the history of the Knights.

All in all Toronto is still awaiting an expansion team or a relocation team, in 2005 Coors merged with Molson, so maybe Denver would move to Toronto.

Montreal is an average team in the landscape of EWB, not too much interesting history or interesting players.

 

2015 All Star Game Tribute: St. Louis

Since there seems to be a lack of interest in this particular season of EWB, the Tribute to St. Louis is not only appropriate in its tardiness, but also in its content or lack thereof.  However, and I will get to this later, St. Louis is deserving of a better tribute than I am capable of delivering at this particular time.  I am going to go over some of the organizations accomplishments as well as some of the star players to have played predominately in STL or those that have excelled in STL.  I will also briefly do some comparisons with the St. Louis Cardinals, mostly on the ownership with regards to deviation between our reality and EWB reality.

 

As mentioned before, the Savages are deserving of a top-notch tribute as the most successful organization competing in the 6 team Ohio Valley Division.  More than once, various humans have noted that there seems to be a certain lack of identity when speaking referencing the Ohio Valley teams.  In recent history, the OV has been very jumbled with no particular team setting itself apart.  I am not sure if the stereotype is a result of the general boredom that is associated with the Midwest, the lack of a recent dominate organization, or perhaps the similarities in uniform - both Ohio teams are mostly white with red trim, St. Louis, Indy and Pit have some variation of yellow and black (Detroit sets itself apart with the ugliest uniforms in the league).

 

Yet, the St. Louis Savages should distinguish themselves as they have the most playoff appearances in the OV by far with 19 and 1 championship, following them is Pit with 11 appearances but no championship, Detroit with 9 and 1 championship, then comes Cleveland and Indy both have 8 appearances and 1 championship each, and finally Cinci also with 8 Playoff appearances, but no championship.  The Savages amazingly have the third most playoff appearances behind juggernauts Miami and Washington (both have 27).  That is a pretty amazing feat especially considering that St. Louis is rarely ever in discussions as one of the top EWB organizations.  Obviously a lot of that has to do with their inability to capitalize with championships on all of those appearances.

 

Another possible reason that St. Louis has fallen by the wayside in popularity and recognition is the fact that their most successful run was back in the '70's.  St. Louis had 6 playoff appearances in the '70's along with their only championship in 1973.  The Savages topped the defending Champions, Denver Amigos, in the fourth EWB World Series and then returned twice more in '74 and '77 only to be bested by the Admirals in both returns trips.

 

During the '70's, St. Louis had two great leaders in Hall of Fame SS/3B Francisco Mendoza and Aged-Veteran Pitcher Ernest 'Moby Dick' Everhart who started his career in EWB in 1970 at age 33.  Perhaps, Everhart is a possible candidate for late admittance to the EWB HOF with one of the most impressive pitching resumes in what should have been the downside of his career.  Obviously, had EWB started five or ten years earlier, Everhart would have been a shoo-in.  Adding to his impressive regular season stats, Everhart was 6-0 in 6GS during the 1973 Postseason posting a 1.39 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP with a 32/8-K/BB ratio and 4 CGs with 2 Shutouts!  That has to be one of the greatest postseason lines of any SP in the history of baseball.

 

Other players contributing to the Championship run included the before mentioned Francisco Mendoza, OF Cesar Javier, another Aged-Veteran 38-year-old Catcher Wayne Thompson, rookie and future MVP Jason Greene,  Greene added much needed power with 21HRs that year and Everhart's fellow SPs Dan Denton who in his career fell one win short of 200, and SP Roy Kelly.

 

The Savages have four Hall of Fame players retired in Savage Black and Gold: the before mentioned SS/3B Francisco Mendoza; OF Tom Mills who played all 15 of his season in St. Louis, Mills is the current color commentator for the Savages; 3 time Bob Gibson Award Winner, Luis Altagracia; and finally Closer Chris 'Swami' Sykes who claimed his 500th Save as a Savage in '85.

 

St. Louis has only one MVP winner and that was the young Jason Greene in 1974.  Greene rose to prominence and fell just as quickly.  At age 22, Greene was a major contributor to the Savages '73 Championship, but was considered washed up soon after his 27th birthday in 1978.

 

Perhaps St. Louis's most notable Star is 3 time BG winner Luis Altagarcia.  Altagarcia didn't break into EWB until he was 26 years old, but for the next 8 years would be considered the most dominant pitcher in baseball leading the Savages to four division championships in '87, '90, '92, and '94.  Three of those four years ('87, '92, and '94) Altagarcia would go on to win the BG Award.

 

In 1976, Ernest 'Moby Dick' Everhart won the Bob Gibson Award making him the oldest player (at age 39) to receive the award.  I believe that title still holds.

 

Other Savage award winners include Angel Rosa Award winners, Daniel Morgan and Javier Gomez, neither of whom amounted to very much beyond their few seasons in EWB.  Morgan, in particular, has been singled out as one clearcut case of the Steroid Era.

 

St. Louis has also had two Fireman Award winners including Joe Murphy '92 and Bill 'Looney Tunes' Samuels who has found his way back to CL with El Paso after several years as a reliever.

 

Again while most of St. Louis's success occurred in the 70's, they have been very consistent in getting to the playoff 4 times in the 80's, then four more times in the 90's and again in the 2000's.  However St. Louis has fallen off in the 2010's.  Currently they only have one appearance and it doesn't look like a second will occur in 2015.  If they wish to maintain their playoff standard of 4 times per a decade; they need to turn things around soon.

 

The St. Louis Cardinals are clearly a much better organization than the Savages in comparison to what the Cardinals have accomplished in MLB to what the Savages have done in EWB.  However, one similarity is that both organizations have been the best team in their division through the history of their respective league.  A fact that  I believe is not  always at the forefront of EWB fans's minds when considering the Ohio Valley Division.

 

One other difference is that the Busch family has held the reigns of the Savages for 45 years and are still going strong.  Anheuser Busch, who is a genetically modified-being incorporating DNA from both Eberhard Anhuesser and Adolphus Busch, is in ownership of Budweiser in EWB reality and figures to live well into the next century by modern day, scientific innovations such as cryogenically freezing himself in the offseason and eating Aroniaberries which he imports from Omaha, NE.  The real life Busch family's involvement with the Cardinals lasted for about 40 years until they sold out in the mid-90's, not long after they sold out the family business and have little to do with the St. Louis Cardinals other than namesake of the stadium.

 

Management-wise, Mike Scioscia is going to have hard time keeping his position going into the second half.  Scioscia showed promise in 2011 when he guided the Savages to a division win and playoff appearance, but since then has failed to have a winning record and is on his way to his third 6th place finish in the Ohio Valley.

 

2014 All Star Game Tribute: Los Angeles

Los Angeles holds a special place in America's heart. Not only is it the second largest metropolitan area in the US but it's the City of Dreams, it's Manifest Destiny realized. LA combines great weather and an unrivaled glitz and glamour that is home to a diverse population of Angelenos. Most notable though, is LA's designation as the entertainment capital of the world. It's in the entertainment business that the Earl Weaver Baseball Los Angeles Gargoyles were born out of.

Hollywood was dominated by a studio system in it's early days. The studio system was dominated by few large studios that dominated the production and distribution market of films, this, though, is frequently referred to as the Golden Age of Hollywood. Eventually Howard Hughes and the government helped disband the Golden Age of the studio system. Some of the major studios, like RKO did not survive but others like MGM were able to make it through precarious times. In 1969 the movie industry was going through a deep recession and MGM's largest shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian was determined to make MGM not only survive but expand into other areas. Kerkorian is currently LA's richest citizen and is one of the most important people in the shaping of Las Vegas in the early 1960s. Kerkorian decided to slash budgets in the movie making aspect of MGM and build large grand MGM resorts in Las Vegas and also, in a highly risky move, purchase a baseball team in the newly forming Earl Weaver Baseball League. Kerkorian was determined to make MGM into a total and full entertainment company, not just a movie making company. MGM solidifying an early stake in the league and in the 2nd biggest market was a real boon to the founders of EWB and many believe it allowed for the domino effect of others buying in.

By virtue of being the second largest market in the league, LA was rarely horrible in the early years. However, they rarely met expectations either. In fact, from 1970-1977 LA only had one playoff appearance and one pennant, both in 1972. Beyond that they were usually a 74 win team (3 times) and actually had a horrible 58 win season in 1976. What's absolutely amazing about that season is that they still produced the MVP winner, Hoshi Kobayashi. No MVP winner has ever come from a worse team than Kobayashi in 1976! Kobayashi's .334/17/104 looks absolutely modest by today's standards but Kobayashi WAS the dominant player in the league, leading almost every offensive category and especially the metric based ones. The leader in AL HRS that year.....Jose Castillo of MIN with 23. Remember too, 1976 was the year that both the Washington Admirals and Sherwood Johnston hiccuped allowing Carolina to win it all and stumped a three peat and five peat. Hoshi Kobayashi would go on to make the Hall of Fame and to this day is still one of the Gargoyles most popular former players.

 

The late 1970s did see a surge by LA in competitiveness as they aspired to be the counter weight to the powerhouse Admirals in the Mountain West. This period of time was marked by Kobayashi for a bit and Bong-ok Park, but most importantly was the emergence of Geoff McKnight and the return of Marcos Rodriguez. Rodriguez began his career in 1970 with LA until he was traded to Carolina for another HOF player, Willie Thomas. After winning the 1977 MVP, Rodriguez was traded back to LA from Carolina along with Jamie Rees who would also go on to have a very successful career. Marcos Rodriguez has 12 All Star appearances and is considered one of the best catchers to ever play in the league. Before the emergence of Vincent Carter, he was undoubtedly the league's best catcher. His battery mate throughout this period of time was Geoff McKnight, another HOF Gargoyle player. Geoff McKnight won 3 consecutive Bob Gibson Awards from 1981-1983!!!! McKnight's 1982 season was one of the best individual seasons that the league has seen by a SP as McKnight went 23-3 with a 1.78 ERA.

The above players, along with guys like Roy Abbott, Bob Wiederanders, Jeremiah Buckner, Marc Jackson, and HOF'er Charlie Olsen formed the core of the greatest LA team ever, the 1982 Gargoyles. The 1982 Gargoyles were able to rattle off a league leading 95 wins in what amounted to be a relatively tough Mountain West. Washington, although nowhere near their peak of the early 1970s, was still formidable and an 89 win team. Las Vegas was able to win 92 games behind star SP Jesse Quick. And for all the history buffs, 1982 was the year Angel Rosa won the Rookie of the Year in the AL with his amazing 59 Homeruns. It was a great time for baseball, LA, and MGM as they released one of the highest grossing films of the year, Poltergeist. LA would go on to sweep Carolina, defeat Las Vegas 4-1, and then defeat Pittsburgh 4-2 in the World Series. Many EWB afficionados to this day consider the 1982 LA team as one of the strongest in the history of the league.

The 1990s would continue to be gracious to the Gargoyles as they'd win the pennant again in 1983 and 1984 before having two years of missed playoffs. Then they started another run in the late 1980's with 4 straight Mountain West pennants from 1988-1991. This era saw some of the old stalwarts like Geoff McKnight, Roy Abbott, Marc Jackson, and Jeremiah Buckner continue to produce but it also ushered in some of the new notable Gargoyles like Roberto Guevara, Gonzalo De La Torre, Nelson Rowland, and most importantly Caleb Lang. Despite the four straight pennants, LA was not able to turn any of them into a championship. In both 1988 and 1990 LA would lose in the ALCS to Miami. In 1989 LA lost in the Wildcard round to Minneapolis and had to endure watching rival Washington turn the wildcard spot into a World Series Championship.

1991 was a different story though. The Gargoyles had acquired a hard luck reputation much like the Atlanta Braves in real life. Yet in 1991 they added Caleb Lang, who would eventually go on to become the greatest Gargoyle hitter to ever don a uniform. In his first full season Lang led LA to the 2nd best offense in the AL, an Angel Rosa Award, and almost an MVP Award. His offensive force combined with LA's AL leading pitching allowed LA to win 100 games and defeat a 93 win Portland team and a 92 win Las Vegas team in the Mountain West (WAS had a measly 71 wins if you were wondering). LA had a miraculous 4-3 series victory over the Sunbelt champs, New Orleans and then swept Chicago 4-0 to advance to the World Series. Oh what a World Series it was to be! The New York versus LA matchup was a dream come true for the Yugma Network and fans allover the spectrum. NY was led by German Ortiz on offense and former Gargoyle Bob Wiederanders in the pitching department who had just won the 1991 Bob Gibson Award at age 36! Wiederanders would struggle that postseason but NY wouldn't and would end LA's dream season in a 4-1 series victory.

The LA 1991 story was a hit though and all season it seemed as if they had a lucky force on their side, even the players began to believe. MGM capitalized on this and a clever screenwriter wrote a movie script based on this 1991 season and called it "Gargoyles in the Outfield." The premise was that there were Gargoyle spirits helping the baseball players but they were only visible to a boy. The manager Ray Harrington, played by Danny Glover, kept the boy around as a good luck charm. You'll have to watch the rest yourself but as always it had a "Hollywood ending" unlike real life. The 1994 movie was a hit among kids of that generation.

 

The 1992 Gargoyles are most notable for having the highest recorded Algorithm score ever.....and failing to live up to it. 1992 brought the end of the pennant run of the previous 4 years and was a disappointment to all. The Gargoyles finished 81-81 and missed the playoffs. Many blamed the distraction of the Hollywood and celebrity life as Tawny Kitaen was all over the tabloids for marrying and causing the problems of Gonzalo De La Torre. There were also rumours of Alyssa Milano and young star SP Nelson Rowland. The glitz and the glamour of the success of the 4 previous years hurt the focus and morale of this team. Though many will tell you that the resurgence of traditional power Washington, and the emergence of future powers Miami and Omaha were the real reason LA started to fall. In any case, 1992 marked the beginning of a disappointing era in Gargoyle baseball as perpetual underachievers which for the most part continues to this modern day.

LA would return to the playoffs in 2002 as an 83 win Mountain West Pennant Winner! They were knocked out in the first round. The 2003 team would win the Mountain West pennant with 82 wins!!!! They were knocked out in the first round. Needless to say, this was also a bottom for the Mountain West as a whole, not just LA.  Finally in 2005 the Gargoyles were able to summon some magic again by making the Wildcard spot with 89 wins, finishing 2nd behind Washington in the Mountain West. That 2005 LA team had middle of the road AL offense and slightly above average AL pitching. Their top offensive players were an aging Caleb Lang at 38 and a 32 yr old Dan Hicks at catcher. Their pitching staff saw career years by both Adrian Ramos and Bob Tuttle. They didn't even have a true closer, giving the role to journeyman MR Harry Andrew. Somehow though, that team was able to upset a strong Montreal squad in the 1st round 4-3 and then upset the Admirals 4-3 ! Truly a miracle. Yet even an act of Satan could not conquer the 2005 Atlanta Confederates and their amazing pitching. The LA Gargoyles fell 4-2 in the World Series. Since then they've had one additional playoff appearance but have continued the curse of 1992, the curse of the Algorithm and Bimbos, which condemns them as being an underachieving team marked with ineptitude. Current GM Aaron Carrrmmichaell continues to preside over that atmosphere with an iron fist of incompetence.

LA is a proud franchise, no one can doubt that. Their birth into the league was not only crucial but brought with it the Hollywood that the EWB so desperately needed and desired. LA has ushered several players into the Hall of Fame and has been a home to innumerable baseball stars. The 1980s were their decade to be sure and many people in their late 20s, 30s, early 40s remember the eighties with great fondness and no discussion of the eighties is complete without the Gargoyles. It's unfortunate that they were never able to produce a World Series for Caleb Lang who is without a doubt Mr. Gargoyle and one of the most sympathized athletes in any sport, along with Dan Marino, as a great who never won it. The current run of ineptitude is unfortunate and the league as a whole is better off with a strong LA. Here's a toast to the City of Angels and to the Gargoyles that this All Star Game and Ceremony will usher in a new glorious Golden Age of Gargoyles!

 

2013 All Star Game Tribute: Detroit

Detroit All Star Review: Part I: The Bleak Years

Detroit's franchise history can be divided into 3 different eras. To
make sure that this history isn't just one overly long e-mail, I'm
going to divide my write up into parts. This first email covers
1970-1990. We can call it THE TOM MITCHELL ERA

This era is mostly dominated by... nothing much of interest. The
Cruisers managed just 1 playoff appearance in their first 20 years of
existence, ant it happened back in 1970, EWB's inaugural season. (And
so, it doesn't really count. Teams were figuring out their strategies
then, the league's identity was still being shaped, and so on.)

It's not that the team was horrible--if they were another San Antonio
or Memphis or Portland back in the day, well that at least would be
something of interest. But no, these years are filled with many
seasons with 75+ wins, and even a number of seasons over .500. And
never did they lose 100 games.

Their 84 victories in 1972 was only good enough for a 4th place
finish; their 89 victories in 1977 placed them 3rd; and most
remarkably, their 87 wins in 1983 landed them in 5th (!) place, in
what was an ultra competitive division. What this reveals is just how
good the Ohio Valley division was back in the 1970s up to the early
1980s. Think about this: St. Louis went to 3 of the first 7 World
Series in EWB history, while Indianapolis went to 3 of the first 11.
And Pittsburgh went to the first 2. So, in general, Ohio Valley teams
dominated the National League back then, with their top team regularly
being the top in the entire NL. And because the division was filled
with such talent, a middling Detroit team just never got a chance. The
early 1980s recession hit the Midwest especially though, I guess, and
the Ohio Valley never really recovered.

Now, sometimes franchises fail to win or make the playoffs, but still
manage to have some iconic stars. Think about the Cubs with Ernie
Banks and Billy Williams, or even Memphis with Kenny Dukes and Ed
Tuffin in recent years. But really, the Cruisers had very few players
of note during this time. Look at the franchise leaderboards today,
and you find hardly any 1970s or 1980s players.

One important distinction is SP Jesus "Midnight Toaster" Flores, the
winner of the first ever NL Bob Gibson Award back in 1970. Flores went
24-9 with a 2.42 ERA, which was just barely good enough to edge out
teammate Andy Evans for the honor--Evans went 23-5 and 2.69. With two
top pitchers posting stats like that, you can see why those 1970
Cruisers had the best record in the National League. But you can also
see why they fell behind other teams in the years ahead. Flores was
the Cruisers' first pick in the inaugural player draft (that is, the
draft of *everybody* into the league), and while he was very good, he
was also 30 years old, meaning he wasn't a long term cornerstone for
the team. Evans was even older at 33. And so, while the Cruisers were
collecting veterans that paid off immediately, other teams were
drafting players with more long term potential, and as a result the
Cruisers' initial success was short lasting. At any rate, it's because
Flores only had a few good years with Detroit before seeing his skills
erode that he was something less than a full Detroit icon.

In a similar boat is Hall of Famer Eric Armstrong, who spent the late
1970s-early 1980s with Detroit. Armstrong is maybe the greatest player
at drawing walks in the history of EWB, as his .448 career OBP
attests. Nevermind that this isn't the most exciting skill. The real
reason Armstrong is something less than a Detroit icon is that he
really first established himself as a star with Indianapolis, a talent
packed team back in the 1970s that went to multiple World Series,
often matched up against the slightly more talented Washington
Admirals. It was only after making his name in Indianapolis that
Armstrong came over to Detroit, and there he never had quite the same
level of success or reached the playoffs. So again, not a true
Cruisers icon.

The one player who did reach icon status was SP Tom Mitchell, to this
day the franchise leader in career Wins, K's, VORP, Starts, and many
other categories. Mitchell was especially a strikeout specialist, and
his 3,568 career K's rank him 2nd in EWB history. He is the only
player in the top 5 not to be in the Hall of Fame, a point that still
rankles Cruiser fans to this day. Mitchell is something like the Ron
Santo of Detroit: he was a very close borderline case who just didn't
quite make it in, and Cruiser fans are always arguing that there are
worse pitchers already in the Hall.

Beyond the K's, Mitchell had a career ERA of 3.30, which is very good,
although you have to remember that he was playing in much more of a
pitcher's era. He also had a lifetime record of 220-202. That's a lot
of wins, but also a lot of losses. If he had spent his career with,
say, the Admirals or Diplomats (two of the most successful franchises
during his playing days), you figure he would be a good bet to reach
300 wins.

But weighing against his candidacy was this. First, he never won a
Gibson Award, and he was maybe never even in the top 3--always a
candidate, but never somebody you would actually vote for. He was good
enough to be an All Star only *twice*. And he never made the playoffs.
He was the kind of player who year-in, year-out, would give you the
same very solid level of production--which helped make him a hero in
blue collar Detroit--but he just never did anything to make a name on
the national stage.

Speaking of the playoffs, Mitchell had a noteworthy, almost tragic end
to his career. After toiling away with the Cruisers from 1976-1990,
Mitchell realized his playing days were coming to an end. He
calculated that if he ever was going to get a chance to see the
postseason, it would have to be with some other franchise. And so,
although it broke his heart, he approached team execs during the
1990-1991 offseason requesting a trade, with his one demand that it be
to a contending team. Detroit fans were disappointed, but at least
some understood--hell, they even rooted for him to have success
elsewhere. And so, the club sent the now 36-year-old Mitchell to
Denver.

You have to remember, Denver at the time was a powerhouse. The team
had Vincent Carter, possibly the best player in EWB at the time (maybe
even ever), and the organization had made the playoffs in 3 of the
previous 4 seasons. All they needed was some starting pitching to
compliment their offense, led by Carter, and they could rise to a
different level. But thanks to injuries, the team struggled in 1991,
Mitchell's first with the organization, and they actually finished
below .500. At the same time, out of nowhere, the Cruisers had a
miraculous season during that 1991 year. They improved their win total
from 74 in 1990 to 98 in 1991, and amazingly made the playoffs for the
first time in 21 years. If only Mitchell had stayed in place, he would
have both stayed loyal to the Cruisers and finally made the
postseason.

Mitchell came back in 1992, and the '92 Denver Amigos led their
division most of the way. But the team faltered down the stretch, with
both Omaha and Minneapolis gradually catching up with them. On the
final day of the season they were tied with Minneapolis for the
division lead. Denver lost that day while Minneapolis won, and as a
result Mitchell missed the playoffs one last time. Fed up with it all,
Mitchell retired weeks later, even though he was still productive at
38.

Detroit All Star Review: Part II: The Golden Era

So, as of 1990, I think of Detroit as a team without much of a notable
history, and I imagine their fans as being without any special level
of attachment to the team. Think of, say, the Philadelphia Phillies
prior to the 1970s. They had a very long history, but no World Series
wins (and few appearances), very few players of special note, and so
on. If there was a single player who changed all that, it was Jonathan
Rogers. I'll introduce the story of Rogers in the context of the
Cruisers' 1991 playoff team.

So, as mentioned last time, the 1991 Cruisers came out of nowhere,
leaping from 74 victories in '90 to 98 and the playoffs in '91. Team
stars included NL MVP Jose Garza. Garza had a respectable career, but
his 1991 season was really one of those career years certain players
have occasionally: he hit .317/33/123, but would never approach
anything near those numbers again. You might remember that at the
beginning of the season, Jose batted right ahead of his brother, RF
Orlando Garza, who managed 12 HRs in the first 66 Gs of the season.
But then Orlando went down with a career ending knee injury, Jose got
an "OG" tattoo to honor his brother (and made it his official
nickname), and spent the rest of his days trying to honor his
brother's potential. Besides the Garza brothers, the team was led by
some veteran starting pitchers having surprisingly good seasons,
including former Omaha Wolverine Bruce Cochrane.

But then also, there was the aforementioned Rogers. Just 24, Rogers
was in his first full season in the majors, having been acquired via
trade from New Orleans the season before. And in this first full
season, Rogers hit .305/33/111 and established himself as probably the
best third baseman in the game, an honor he would claim for years to
come. Like Tom Mitchell (detailed last e-mail), Rogers would spend
many many years with the Cruisers--looking over their history, Detroit
more than almost any franchise I can think of has players who spend
long years with them. There's a loyalty that you don't see with other
franchises.

Anyway, that Cruiser team had the best record in the NL, and fans were
thrilled to see their first playoff action since the Nixon era. But it
came and went quickly, as the Cruisers were upset in the first round
of the playoffs by the Wild Card New York 5 Points, a team that
eventually went on to win the World Series.

There were hopes that the magical 1991 club could keep things going
heading into 1992, but even at the time it was pretty clearly wishful
thinking. Their starting staff was almost all players over 35, and
their '91 magic collapsed in '92. MVP Jose Garza was a free agent, and
he left Detroit for El Paso, where he would go on to win a World
Series in 1993. Basically, the team had one and only one productive
player for the next several years: Jonathan Rogers. But what a player
Rogers was.

Rogers was, in my estimation, probably the best player in the NL from
around 1991-1995 or so. Every year he seemed to put up MVP stat lines
in the vicinity of .330/40/110, but for several years his MVP
candidacy was hurt by the fact that Detroit was winning only 65-70
games or so. After multiple 2nd place finishes, Rogers finally won
that well deserved MVP in 1995, hitting .322/41/128.

That 1995 team kicked off the Golden Era in Detroit baseball. Between
1995-2001, Detroit made the playoffs in 5 out of 7 seasons, which is
more than half of their overall playoff appearances. They won the 2000
World Series, the only title (or even World Series appearance) in
franchise history. But more than that, they put together a team of
*legends*. More specifically, they put together a lineup that has at
least a claim to being, from top to bottom, the greatest in EWB
history. Basically, all the greatest Cruisers in the history of the
franchise had the good fortune not only to play at the same time, but
to reach their peaks at the same time. Check out the franchise
leaderboards, and it seems like almost every spot is occupied by some
member of that 2000 title team. Let me go position by position.

C: Bob Johnson. With over 2200+ career hits, Johnson is a borderline
Hall of Famer who will appear on his first ballot later this year.
That 2000 season was his best: he hit .330 and had 54 2Bs with a .419
OBP. Basically, he was a doubles and OBP machine his entire career.
Without question one of the best catchers in EWB history.

1B: Brent Clark. Just 23 years old, back in 2000, Clark was in the
news this past Sim for hitting his 500th career Home Run (he's now
with Atlanta). Clark is guaranteed to go to the Hall of Fame once he
retires. In that 2000 season, he hit .310/35/119.

2B: Gustavo Chapa. Okay, so Chapa isn't a Hall of Fame worthy. But
that's only because his career didn't last long enough--his *peak* was
Hall-caliber. In the 2000 season, Chapa led the NL in HRs with 45. How
many other second basemen have led the league in home runs? (Okay,
Alex Davis. But that's the company Chapa is keeping then.)

3B: Jonathan Rogers. Rogers is in the Hall of Fame, and can plausibly
claim to be the greatest 3B in EWB history. In 2000 he was still going
strong at age 33, hitting .279/28/86.

SS: Mike Johnson. Johnson won the Angel Rosa award in 2000, hitting
.319/29/88. He went on to have a very solid career, with 1600+ Hits
and 200+ HRs.

UTILITY: Jorge Ortiz. The Cruisers were too loaded for Ortiz to play
every day, so they used him a bit everywhere. And in his 353 ABs, he
hit .303/20/59! Ortiz also went on to have a solid career, collecting
1600+ hits and 300 HRs+. "A-ha," maybe you're thinking. "If even a
utility man is hitting 20 HRs, that reminds you that 2000 was the
juiced ball era." But no. League ERAs actually dropped almost a full
run from 1999 to 2000 (going from 5.10 to 4.20). Everyone else in the
league was seeing offense curtailed. But not the Cruisers. Continuing
on...

RF: John Aaron. Okay, Aaron is a different kind of story. Injuries
limited him to 85 games in 2000, but he still hit .270/15/37 in half a
season. But the backstory is this. Aaron was the #1 pick in 1994, and
he had 5-5 potential hitting ratings at a time when *no other minor
league prospect* did. He was a legend as a minor leaguer. And when he
made it to the majors, he was an instant sensation, collecting the
1998 Angel Rosa Award for hitting .339/26/78 in less than 100
games--numbers that would project to 40+ HRs in a full season. But
then injuries got the best of Aaron, and his skills eroded. Cruiser
execs at the time viewed him as perhaps the most talented player on
the team, but somebody who never realized his talent.

CF: Roderick Mosley. Mosley was the reigning 1999 MVP, a season when
he hit .365/48/149 and won a Gold Glove. He had probably supplanted
Rogers as the best player on the team, and he was still fully in his
prime. Like Rogers, Mosley had a long career, entirely with Detroit:
he played with them from 1995-2011. He finished his career with 500+
HRs and is destined for the Hall of Fame.

LF: Keith Whitfield. Okay, this one's a bit of a stretch. But the 2
time MVP and Hall of Famer Whitfield did spend all of 2000 (including
the postseason) with Detroit. It's just that he was used more as a
pinch hitter and only occasional starter. But just imagine the lineup
on the days Whitfield did play. Then, that 8 man lineup (leaving 1
spot for the pitcher) included 4 guaranteed Hall of Famers, 1
borderline Hall of Famer, the league HR leader (as an additional
player, besides the Hall of Famers), and 2 very recent Angel Rosa
winners (again, as additional players). If there has ever been a
better lineup in EWB history, I'm not sure what it was.

Detroit ended up "cruising" through the playoffs to encounter Brooklyn
in the World Series. The Knights were led that year by a 24-year-old
Jesse Parks in his prime. In those playoffs, Park hit .417/2/8. Great
numbers. But he was bested by the Cruisers' Jonathan Rogers. The
veteran Rogers realized he might not get many more chances. And so, he
went on to hit an amazing 10 HRs across Detroit's 18 playoff games!
Rogers had always been regarded as a great player, but never was
recognized as a star in the way that other, bigger names were. His
postseason heroics thrust him into the national spotlight, and
solidified his case for the Hall of Fame.

In the years going forward, Detroit continued to have some success,
but their fortunes slipped just as Rogers' talents diminished. More
specifically: Rogers put up another good season in 2001, and the
Cruisers returned to the playoffs. But then injuries and ratings drops
limited him quite a bit in 2002, and the Cruisers dropped below .500.
Rogers was limited to a purely backup role in 2003 and 2004, and even
though Mosley and Brent Clark continued to have good seasons then, the
Cruisers were stuck as an 85 win team, falling just shy of the
postseason.

The way in which the team's fortunes were tied so closely to Rogers
gave him a real aura in Detroit. The team loves Tom Mitchell. And
Roderick Mosley surely makes the Pantheon of Detroit stars--indeed,
Mosley is probably the greatest Cruiser ever. But Rogers has to be the
single player most heroized in franchise history.

ADDENDUM

A couple of comments:

 

1) Midnight Toaster? Is that some reference to pschedelic drug use in the early 70s?

 

2) I'll always count those early 2000 late 90s Brooklyn teams as one of the better teams not to win a World Series. It's a shame that the Brooklyn/Detroit series happened when we simmed through. Looked like a classic battle.

 

3) Finally, here's a repost of what I wrote during the GM Series I was doing. A large part of Detroit's powerhouse era is due to Bill James, though Pedro Sanchez was the reigning GM through all the years.

 

Memphis, Bill James - A lot has already been written on Bill James but let's look at his career as a whole. Though he's thought of as dimwitted now, early in his career he made some great moves that he may not have gotten recognition for except with baseball insiders.

 

Detroit 1993-1996 - In 1993 the Cruisers hired the relatively unknown founder of sabermetrics to become their GM. Unfortunately in this universe, his work was not groundbreaking and most EWB GMs leaned heavily saber anyway. James inherited a team on the decline and loss 101 games in 1993, Detroit's only 100+ loss season ever. Detroit was able to capture a pennant in 1995 and make another playoff appearance in 1997 but was still never able to make a big splash under James and they let him go after 1996. However, as we all know Detroit went on to become a powerhouse in the years to come, winning 3 straight pennants from 1999-2001 and winning the 2000 World Series. So did Bill James set up that foundation? The answer is, in large part YES. Bill James was responsible for the following stars of the turn of the century Cruisers:

 

Drafted John Aaron who peaked early and then declined fast but was integral to the Cruiser run

Drafted Brent Clark

Traded for Emilio Romano

Drafted Bailey Manley
Drafted Gustavo Chapa

Drafted Mike Johnson

James and his successor, Pedro Sanchez, both inherited Bob Johnson, Roderick Mosley, and Jonathan Rodgers. Pedro Sanchez ran Detroit from 1997 until 2001 when he then retired a LEGEND, but the dirty secret is that Bill James laid most of the groundwork. Meanwhile, James was over in KC running things while Sanchez basked in the glow.

 

2012 All Star Game Tribute: El Paso

The El Paso Iron Horse will be hosting the 2012 All-Star game

The El Paso Iron Horses have had a tough time in EWB over the years and have had some memorable times in EWB. In 41 years of playing baseball they have made the playoffs 9 times and won the World Series twice ('86,'93) So that puts a percentage of making the playoffs at about 22 %, so over the last 41 years the Iron Horses have only made the playoffs 22 percent of the time. That is not a great percentage for success over a 41 year history, but it is better than a lot of other teams in EWB, and to have won 2 World Series is still pretty good for a team that has Houston, and Dallas money and San Francisco/Austin in your division it has been a tough hill to climb. San Antonio has their past although they did have a nice stretch there in the late 90's and 2000's. We liken the Iron Horses as like TCU of Texas, Dallas/Texas, Houston,A&M, SF/Austin/ Texas Tech. Ironically as I say that, they, SF/Austin and Dallas all have 2 World Series while Houston and San Antonio have 1.

The Texas Division has always been about politics and the "My dick is bigger than your dick" mentality and the bigger dicks were and are Dallas, Houston, and at the time Austin. Now with Austin moving to San Francisco, San Francisco has basically been shunned by the Texas Divsion elite, basically treated like the Nebraska Cornhuskers were treated in the Big 12. El Paso is higher on the pecking order than San Antonio, but everyone is although the people in the division would rather San Antonio win than those "faggots out west."

El Paso was the 4th team entered in EWB in the Texas Divsion, the last being San Antonio as we all know the history and idea of having a team in every country in North America, but El Paso may have had the hardest time as they had a weak ownership group and a somewhat small population/media market to handle a EWB team. Houston as we know had the Bush family and it's ties and money, Dallas had billionaire Ross Perot and his oil money, Austin had it's oil money and El Paso had to come up with money and a strong ownership to be able to assure the other owners that they would be fiscally sound and not fail them.

Since there was no EWB team to be in Arizona or New Mexico, EWB wanted to gain the viewership/market of those states because the league had to have a team that the southwest part of the country rooted for and identified with and since there was no team in west Texas the only city that made sense was El Paso. The owners of the other Texas teams cringed at the idea because they view west Texas as the shithole of Texas and basically Mexico. Ross Perot was heard saying at the time that he didn't want those "border jumpers" to have a team and that they devalue the organization and therefore not make him money. Austin's owner also had the same type of comments, but basically he was more brash about it when he was heard saying that those people will come over the border and stay and will have no money to go to games and scare the white people away. The worst statement may have come from George HW Bush when he said "Great now we will have n*****s on the east of us and now spics on the west." So the climate in the newly forming division wasn't the greatest and the Texas owners compared this situation when that "fucker" Kennedy pushed blacks on us and now the commissioner is pushing mexicans on us. They had no other option and with the pressure of EWB they had to allow El Paso at least a path to ownership.

El Paso's initial ownership group was a couple of business men from the west Texas area, they thought they had all the finances in order and thought that they were good to go and so they were ready to present their case to EWB and before the meeting one of the potential owners bailed on the deal because of shady finances and therefore the other business owner had no one else to buy the club.

 

El Paso was looking weaker and weaker, hence the skepticism from the other Texas owners, but EWB, wanting a team in the Southwest, found an owner group for the city since the city at the time was unable to find financing. The new owners were the company Old El Paso, yes that's right Old El Paso the company that makes Mexican food. EWB thought it was a great fit, a company that makes Mexican food for a team in the Southwest that borders Mexico and has a high Mexican population. The marketing people at EWB thought this would be a home run financially for the El Paso franchise, city, and EWB. The advertising, the culture, everything about this deal screamed success and they also found it ironic that the company name had El Paso in it even though they were not located in El Paso. 

The city of El Paso, mayor, city council, etc, didn't care who owned it all they cared about was that there was going to be an EWB team in it's city and since there is very good tax opportunities in the state of Texas the Old El Paso company thought it was a great advertising opportunity and they thought how hard could it possibly be to own a baseball team, it couldn't be that hard. 

So the next step would be where we play, what a team name would be and who we could get to fill out our front office and baseball people. Well the first answer is a team name. They originally wanted to name the team the Salsa, because they thought that would be a perfect name for their taco sauce, the El Paso Salsa, they thought it had a ring to it and it was advertising, but EWB said no because they should represent the Southwestern part of the country, so the Old El Paso company looked into it and they thought the railroad was important to that part of the country and decided that it should be called the Iron Horses. They had one of their marketing comapnies design the logo and it came out pretty cool. They decided on grey, red and black pinstripes because it was unique and that no other team had that color combo and that the red letters on the jersey would remind people of their taco sauce. One company exec. stated "It looks like somebody dropped fucking taco sauce on their jersey and it spells out El Paso, I LOVE IT."

Where to play, well they had to play at an Independent League stadium for the first couple of seasons, while their new stadium was being built, it wasn't the best in EWB or had the most seats or alot of ammenities, actually years later the Uni-vision crew that did alot of the Iron Horses games called  Iron Horse stadium "Cagar" which is spanish for taking a shit. The Old El Paso company named the stadium originally Old El Paso Stadium, and later on that was changed in 1986 when T Boone Pickens bought the team, but at the origianl time in 1972 the stadium was named Old El Paso Stadium for 14 years.

Who would be the front man, well since the company had no resources in baseball it turned to a guy named Sully Don Vincent, Sully was a baseball guy who had really no success in baseball but he was a retread guy that held multiple jobs in baseball so he was hired to name everybody in the front office and all the baseball men. Sully Don had ALOT of grudges and enemies in the game so his list wasn't the best so he named all his buddies to all the positions and he named himself the GM for the Innagural season.

 

 

Sully Don named Juan Montoya the franchises first manager, Juan was a happy go lucky guy and he joked with the players and the players liked Montoya but their play suffered in the first year as the team went 78-84 finishing 5th out of 5 teams. Sully Don was fired by the company after Ted Williams left the Omaha Wolverines after one season and the Old El Paso people hired Ted to become GM because of his greatness. Ted didn't like jokesters and was fucking pissed that Juan was a jokester and that was not the way Ted played, Ted was serious and he thought his team needed to be and he told him after the season that since he was a jokester that he had a joke for him, " You are fired, now get your fucking clown act out of here" Ted had high expectations and nobody thought anybody could meet them, and apparently he didn't either so he named himself Manager.

Ted managed from '71 - '74 and the teams success, shitty, Ted went 251-397, he only won about 39% of his games. 3 of 4 of those seasons he lost over 100 games in a season. Not only did the team fail on the field he was the manager/GM, and lets just say his GM duties suffered also so he fled to Pittsburgh to take them over. 

The Old El Paso people were left standing their with egg on their face as Ted left the team shitty and bolted to Pittsburgh so they had a corporate guy run the organization. They figured if a guy with the knowledge and experience of a person in the game couldn't do it than fuck it let some one that is good with numbers do it. The new corp. guy hired Garry Myers to manage the team. Myers had a a good run as the manager of El Paso he went 645-614 a 51% winning percentage and 3 playoff appearances. He did quit after 123 games into the '83 season to where he was quoted as saying "This is the biggest bunch of fucking dumb fucks that run this team, I cannot do it anymore." I would rather coach a minor league team than put up with these fucking assholes, I mean they run this organization like shit, they think that having taco tuesday nights at the ball field is more important than the game, and to top it off we had to wear soft taco shells as hats some nights, what is this a fucking taco picnic or a baseball team, fuck them" Well Garry Myers did leave and did coach Kissimmee mL team for the last 12 games of the '83 season and no one has heard from him since.  Now that's not amazing numbers for Myers, but for what the guy had to take over and the shitty leadership by a food company that's pretty good. Amazingly the San Antonio Aztecas let the Old El Paso company hire away their AA manager, Carlos Alvarez, to finish off the season. Alvarez went 27-12 in the last 39 games. he never got the chance to be the manager for next season because he was let go at seasons end and given a package of Old El Paso mild taco seasoning, and a box of hard shell tacos for his work.

The team hired John McNamara for the '84-'85 season. McNamara went 182-142 for a 56% winning percentage. He made the playoffs in his first season and won the division with a 93-69 record. People were wondering what if Myers stayed around, he had built a good team that was getting better and took them to 3 playoffs, but people kind of got turned off by McNamara because of his attitude. In '85 the team went backwards and finished 3rd and people were wondering if this team would ever get over the hump. 

The big news came in the fall of '85 when the Old El Paso company decided to get out of the baseball business and sell the team. Out of the 16 years Old El Paso owned the franchise they were running in the red 6 of the 16 and one of those years, 1976, they were 17 million in the red, and for 1976 that was an astronomical number. At the end of the day they were not making any money and decided to sell to, you guessed it, another oil man from Texas, T. Boone Pickens.

T. Boone came in and fired McNamara and hired Steve Tracy to be his new manager. Tracy was from Texas and Pickens thought they needed a "Texas Attitude" to get them over the hump, and boy did it ever. In 1986, Pickens and Tracy's first year, they won the World Series beating Chicago. El Paso finished with a 93-69 record and a Texas Division title also. El Paso younger players finally were hitting their groove like hitters, RF Don Kelly .333/34/88, CF Juan Freitas .334/10/80, 1B Jesus Lopez .263/32/125, 3B Francisco Neri .267/21/65, C Adam Taylor .263/21/84, and Pitchers Michael Bowden 18-9/2.70/236K, Robbie Barfield 15-10/3.11/187K, Mark Kirby 16-9/3.13/252K, and closer Ron Taylor 41 saves. They had a good core of players that finally hit their prime. 

In 1987 Tracy went 82-80 and finished 2nd in the division and missed out on the playoffs. Tracy bolted after that season because Detroit's manager's position became available and Detroit threw an ungodly number at him and he left for Detroit. Pickens didn't care because he thought they won because of his leadership ability and not Tracy's managerial decisions. Ultimately get two Texas guys in a room and win and you got 2 big heads and the owner always wins.

In 1988 Pickens hired longtime mL manager Roger Craig. Craig had pretty good success in the mL and Pickens thought Craig would listen to him, but he still had the pedigree to be manager to look go to the public. Craig went on to manage until 1991. Craig went to the playoffs twice in four years and won one division title and finishing 2nd and 3rd twice. Well Pickens blamed it on Craig for his stagnant teams and no championships so he fired Craig after the '91 season. Craig finished with a 344-304 record for a 53% winning percentage.

In 1992 Pickens hired Dale Jackson as manager, a black man from Omaha, Nebraska to manage the 1992 season. The team finished 3rd in the division with a 80-82 record. Needless to say Pickens hired a black man in Texas to run his team, once he failed he heard it too much from the fans and fellow Texas owners and he let him go after one season. He officially said that he wouldn't stand for a losing record and we need a guy that understand's our culture.

In 1993 he hired Eduardo Mendoza away from AAA Dallas affiliate Las Vegas. Pickens was finding it tough to find a good manager with a revolving door in El Paso so he ran out of options and at the last minute friend and fellow Texas Division owner Ross Perot let him hire his AAA manager. Well that didn't last long, Mendoza's tenure in El Paso may have been the shortest in EWB history, for a manager hired at the begining of the season, it lasted all of 34 games, as Mendoza was let go after a 13-21 start. The media started to think Pickens was crazy and that NO good manager would ever want to work under Pickens.

Pickens was out of options and in the beginning of the season it was nearly impossible to hire anyone so he turned to his only option. He hire Marcos Cabral, LA Gargoyles A manager of the Lancaster Investigators. I cannot tell you what a laughing stock Pickens turned into, he paid the LA Gargoyles 5 million dollars to let him hire away their A manager in the middle of a season mind you. This was the biggest joke in sports, Cabral had won a couple of championships in the minors but other than that alot of 5th place finishes over the many years in the minors. El Paso would need a mracle for this to work.......Guess what, it did work, Cabral finished the season with a 76-51 record and 2nd in the division and barely getting into the playoffs. This  team could not lose, they were taking the "Us vs the World" mentality and it worked. The Iron Horses won the whole fucking thing. They beat the Admirals in the World Series, the Admirals were in the Series the year before and ALL the money was on the Admirals. This was one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Not just the Series, but the whole scenario. This team was a team of destiny. The Iron Horses had two of the best hitters in the game batting 3-4 in RF Don Kelly .325/32/108, and 2nd year FA LF Keith Whitfield .369/28/95. Whitfield signed with the Iron Horses in January on '92 for 6/43.35 million dollars from 7 years in Portland. Kelly and Whitfield were called the "Gruesome Twosome" by scribes in El Paso. These two, later HOF's, were 2 of the best players in the game and the Iron Horses "rode" them to a championship. Mark Kirby was the only SP left from the last World Series championship in '86. Kirby ended the '93 season w/ a 13-5/4.22/96 K. That was truly a remarkable season. Oh and by the way, you may be wondering what ever happened to Wally Pip, I mean Eduardo Mendoza, well he didn't find another job until 1999, where he got a job with the Minneapolis Mutiny and managed them until 2003, He did in those 5 years finish 1st 3 years, 2nd once and 5th in his final season where he was let go and got a job managing the Cleveland Rockers in 2004, where he only managed 45 games that year and went 27-18, and No Cleveland didn't go on to win the World Series.

After that it was pretty down hill, 1994 the defending champs went 81-81 and finished 3rd in the division, Cabral just didn't have the magic anymore and Pickens fired him after the '94 season. Which was very controversial and people basically said we have Al Davis as an owner.

In 1995 Pickens hired Glen Gardner as manager. Gardner was a longtime minor league manager who had little to no success. He was another black man, but from Mesquite, Texas. It was getting extremely hard for Pickens to find managers with any quality, so he was relegated to lifelong mL managers. Well once again the Iron Horses were pissing away talent they had and they finished 76-86 and 4th in the division. Well guess what happened, you guessed it he fired Gardner after one season.

In 1996 Pickens hires Martin Bender, a promising mL manager who had finished first in his first 2 years of 3 years of managing the Frederick Sea Eagles the single A team of the then Carolina Colonials. Well the 1996 season ended up like the others before, the team finished 76-86 and dead last in the division. He was let go at seasons end and went to D.C.

In 1997 Pickens hires Javier Collazo, another shitty mL manager with all shitty finishes in his resume. Collazo actually got to manage 3 YEARS, but they were 3 shitty seasons, where they finished 4th,3rd,3rd and ended up being fired after the '99 season. Collazo finished with a 229-257 record.

In 2000 Pickens hires Joseph Reed, who actually comes from EWB managerial ranks. He had stints as manager in Houston and Denver which were not great at all before being hired in El Paso. Reed also got to manage for 3.5 YEARS. and you guessed it again, failure. Reed finished 4th.3rd.3rd,5th and he only finished 87 games of the '03 before he was fired. Ed O'Sullivan was hired for the last 71 games and finished with a horrible 23-48 record. In his 3.5 years, Reed finished with a record of 219-277.

In the early 2000's T. Boone died, probably of a broken heart and lack of any knowledge of how to hire a good manager. Bob Pickens takes over the team and it stays in the family. Hopefully Bob is smarter the T. Boone.

Bob Pickens hires his first manager in 2004 and keeps hold over Ed O'Sullivan. People are shcoked because Bob kept someone who finished the season. Ed actually managed until 2010 where he had some success finishing 2nd 3 years and winning the division and making the playoffs in 2010. 2010 was the first time the Iron Horses made the playoffs since they won the World Series in 1993. Bob Pickens is actually showing signs of patience, something Iron Horse fans have really never seen before, they have had success as of late and with Tweety Bird Lopez and Mango Phillips and other promising starters they have something to build on. Ed O'Sullivan laid some good ground work for the new Iron Horse manager Devin Dean and the draft is finally paying off after YEARS and YEARS of nothing to show for drafts. Remember Don Kelly was NOT DRAFTED period. He signed a one year contract w/ Denver in 1984 and got claimed off waivers by El Paso 2 months later. The only notable draft picks for El Paso over the years is...Vince Dorsey, 10th overall pick in 1999. 2003 SP Butch Johnson, and a little known fact about Tweety Bird Lopez is that Tweety Bird was drafted 2nd overall in 2003 by OMAHA and failed to sign, re enters draft in 2004 and was taken number one overall by El Paso.

So in summation, like I stated in the beginning El Paso Iron Horses have had a tough time in EWB over the years and have had some memorable times in EWB is a pretty accurate statement after going throug their history. T. Boone Pickens and Al Davis are almost identical in their philosophies except Al Davis is still alive in 2011.

2011 All Star Game Tribute: Kansas City All Star Tribute Howler issue #8

The San Francisco Howler
a publication
covering
EWB and SeaWolves Baseball
7/11/2011

SPECIAL ALL-STAR EDITION

Kansas City Wheat Kings: Proud History, Dark Times, and Bright Future
Proud History
The Kansas City Wheat Kings are one of the few dynasties in Earl Weaver Baseball.  Of course, no team has been as dominant as the Washington Admirals and the Miami Banditos stake the claim as the best team in the modern era of baseball, but there are several other teams that have clawed impressive resumes of their own including the Diplomats, Wolverines, and the Kansas City Wheat Kings.

This is a very elite club to be a part of.  One might ask: what qualifies the Kings (as they are oft referred to by "true" fans)?  The answer: 1978 to 1986.  The Wheat Kings not only appeared in the playoffs all but one of those years, they also managed to appear in three World Series and claim two Championships.  The Kings were first in the Plains Division, which is historically the toughest division in baseball, 7 out of those 9 years.  What is even more impressive is that KC managed to claim their dynasty amidst the greatest team in EWB history, the 1978 Washington Admirals.  To say that the Wheat Kings were passed the torch by the Admirals is a complete fallacy.  The Kings clawed, scraped, and bit to take that torch from the Admirals and that torch ultimately would be passed back and forth for several years until lesser teams picked it up while the Admirals and Kings fought for dominance.

The Wheat Kings also developed a rival with the cross league Black Jacks.  Indianapolis is unfortunate to have had their best years when Washington and Kansas City were at the top of their game. Indianapolis had this misfortune of losing with their best team ever in '75 to the Admirals and then being defeated twice by the Wheat Kings.

While the Wheat Kings would appear in one more World Series, it was already apparent that the "other" Washington had begun a dynasty of its own.  The late '70's and early '80's is often regarded as one of the most competitive eras of EWB, for KC to win 2 World Series in 3 years coming out of one of the most competitive divisions amidst the powerhouse teams of the time is a testament to their status as one of the few dynasty teams of EWB.

 

Dark Times
After the stretch in the late 70's and early 80's, the Kings fell into a sort of abyss of true mediocrity.  While they managed a playoff berth in '92, they would not see another until a wild card berth in 2003.  Even the '92 appearance is more of an aberration than anything else.  And even though KC has been better the last few years, they still have yet to win the Plains Division since that '92 season.  Until, perhaps this year, after an interview with his "Air," we will discuss the reemergence of the Wheat Kings as the dominant Plains division team.  On top of our interview with HOF'er Alex Hendrix, we will later discuss Phillip Bennett and current star Kenny Etchells all three are bright stars of KC's past and future.
Alex "Air" Hendrix Interview by SeaWolves GM Joe Mullin

Legendary Wheat Kings Alex Hendrix can be found on a modest ranch encompassing over 100 acres of prairie land just outside Kansas City, Kansas; west of I-635.  As I pulled up to "Air Ranch," I was greeted by a menagerie of farm animals and an endless sea of green fields.  Stepping out of my boxy rental, I was welcomed by that familiar, heavy midwest heat.  The kind of air that you can cut with a knife.  Taking in the panoramic Robert Wood landscape, I duly noted the "Field of Dreams" just behind Hendrix's house.  The familiar sound of a fastball slamming against a wooden boards strapped to a chain-link backstop preceded the jean and t-shirt wearing, 3 time Bob Gibson winner, Alex Hendrix.

 

AH:  Ya gotta decent team this year.  I could come out of retirement with the right offer.  I can still hit 95 when the humidity is down.

JM:  I'll send my scouts out.  How are you doing Mr. Hendrix?

AH:  I'm just fine, but I'm not pulling your leg.  Seems to me that your club still has room for a solid arm.  Happens I still have one.

JM:  Well, I'll make you a deal: Let's do this interview and then I'll catch for you and we can work out the details of the contract after that.

AH:  Deal.

As we move inside, Hendrix's wife puts a beer in front of both us and a plate of cheese, crackers, and deer sausage (Hendrix lets me know that it was his grandson's first buck).

JM:  What is your fondest memory from your time playing in EWB?

AH: '79.  As a team that was our best year.  I think everything after that was myself and Sexton and Sanchez and all the others trying to recreate that year and convincing those that came later that we needed to recreate that year.

JM:  Do you feel like you were successful in that approach?

AH:  Mostly, but we were shortsighted.  Years like we had in '79 don't come around very often and no matter what anybody says, the first is the best.  I think when I finally realized that might opportunity to compete in KC was over, I kind of rethought the belief  that '79 needed to be recreated.  Perhaps if we approached every year separately from the last then we could have won 4 or 5 World Series.  I definitely felt like we could.

JM: Still you won two. . .

AH: That's true.  I am happy with what we were able to do, but like I said I was always chasing '79.

JM:  Did that prompt the trade to Portland?

AH: You bet.  I figured I would have a better chance out there then here at home, in KC.  I regret asking to be traded.   I wish my whole career would have been solely in KC, but at the same time it made me appreciate home that much more.

JM: Do you consider yourself to have been one of the greatest pitchers of all time?

AH: That seems like a loaded question, so I'll try and put it as humbly as I can.  I'm in the HOF; every year that I was a starting pitcher, I had a winning record; statistically I among the greats in nearly all categories and if I didn't waste so many years as reliever, I might have been the best in a lot of those categories; and to top it off I probably could have pitched at least five more years.  I like baseball and I like to win and it's those two things about me that, yes, probably make me one of the greats.

JM:  How do you like the Wheat Kings shot this year?

AH: Well it will be tough, but they have some really good pitchers and they made some good moves in the offseason.  But whenever you have a player like Kenny Etchells playing for you, you are a contender.  I like their chances just as well as anybody and you know I will be rooting them all the way to the World Series.

JM: Maybe you will be playing the SeaWolves. . .

AH: Wouldn't that be something.

JM:  One last question.

AH: Shoot.

JM:  How many years do you want?

 

Hendrix smiles and we go out back to play catch as negotiated.

While the game moves on and young players come onto the scene, you can still rest assured that none of them can live up to one of the Kings.

 

 

Bright Future; and Phillip Bennett Versus Kenny Etchells by Rush Limbaugh

The Howler is very lucky that I agreed to do this piece. Typically I don't write for left-wing biased fish wraps, but since this issue was based on my team, the sensational Wheat Kings, I decided better to be a part than have some pinhead screw things up.

 

Now The Howler has asked me to talk about the future of the Kings and in particular their performance these last few years.  What needs to be said!  It's obvious that the Wheat Kings have been a juggernaut in the making and they are just beginning their steamrolling of the AL and will then flatten any weaker NL team for at least the next five years, at least!  Oh, I know what some of you are saying to yourselves, "Wait Rush, what about the Renegades, Rush?"  Ha, the Renegades are just another whipping boy of the Admirals who are enjoying a little bit of success while their master is taking a nap.  The Wheat Kings are the preeminent team in all of EWB.  And do you know why?  Kenny Etchells, thats why.  I have Etchells and none of you other monkeys do!

The Howler wanted me to do a comparison of Etchells and Bennett, but why waste time.  Bennet was amazing as rookie, but never lived up to the hype again.  KC was brilliant to let him go to free agency.  It allowed our man Kenny to flourish and take the crown he wears now as the best player in the modern era of EWB.  Bennett on the other hand was signed with a giant contract by the Barons, but not more than four months later, the Barons saw the writing on the wall, got cold feet and traded a declining Bennett to you Sorry Sacks of Shit in San Francisco.  Sure Bennett had a couple decent years, but boy when he went south, he went south fast.  So again, what's the comparison?  Etchells a sure fire HOFer versus Bennett, a player with a short career that can attribute his status to a lucky rookie year.  Since I'm not getting paid for this article, I don't feel that I need expound any further.  Point made.  The Kansas City Wheat Kings and Kenny Etchells are true Americans who will kick the shit out of any other team in the league and will continue to do so for an indefinite amount of years.  GO KINGS!

 

2010 All Star Game: San Antonio!

San Antonio Factoids, Anecdotes, History, and Trivia:

**** San Antonio isn't known for many things but two thing that really stand out are their iconic stadium and their managerial history. Let's take a look at the stadium first. San Antonio RiverPark, colloquially known as The Dust Bowl, was originally built in 1961 as a rodeo site. The hope was that the 74,000 capacity stadium would attract the world's finest rodeos, and it did! In fact, San Antonio RiverPark is the site of the North and South America Rodeo Wrangler Cup which is the premier event in rodeo on this side of the hemisphere.

When San Antonio was chosen as an inaugural site for EWB they were moved into RiverPark almost as a side thought and had to work around the rodeo schedules. As a result, it became known as The Dust Bowl around the league because it never had a grass infield OR outfield, the players played on an all dirt field. Finally, in 1973 they were able to put up a movable turf into the outfield which could be removed and replaced depending on rodeo or baseball. Yet the infield, to this present day, remains the only all dirt infield in not only EWB, but all of professional baseball including all of the destitute Puerto Rico League teams.

The 74,000 capacity stadium is nearly 25,000 seats larger than the 2nd highest capacity stadium in EWB. During the height of the Aztecas success they set Attendance records that may never be broken, however, the 1980's and 1990's saw perhaps some of the most pathetic scenes in baseball as only hundreds showed up to the game and were engulfed in swirling clouds of dust while watching a pathetic franchise.

 

**** The San Antonio Aztecas were one of the last teams to be accepted into the newly founded EWB. The league made a point to be inclusive in all areas, including geographically. Initially the idea was to have a team in Canada and one in Mexico. The Montreal Knights gladly stepped up to the plate and with their unique public financing, they became the only publicly owned team in EWB. Finding an investor to put a team in Mexico was much more difficult, yet what really stalled the franchise was the outcry of the other owners in which it was to share a division. Before it was the Texas Division, it was really 4 Texas teams and supposedly 1 Mexican teams in yet to be named division. The other Texas Owners went ballistic, threatening to pull out of the still fragile league and create pure Texas League. With their deep oil filled pockets and arrogant swagger, it was not an idle threat. The Texas owners and Bart Giammati were able to work out a compromise:

• The team would stay in Texas. San Antonio to be exact.
• The team would not be owned by a Mexican or Mexican corporation but instead Univision, the Spanish TV giant. It would cater to the Spanish/Mexican audience and perhaps seem to be owned by the Mexicans but really it was good ol'  Texas capitalism and marketing. Everything from the logo to the marketing strategy was aimed at the Mexican market.

This all worked out great for the Texas owners until illegals started crossing the border to watch Aztecas games.

Did you Know: That because of their Univision ownership that the San Antonio was the first EWB team to have a national broadcast???? And that it is still the longest tenured? Even when other teams are letting Yugma and Yuguu broadcast more and more of their games, Univision still holds rights to all Aztecas games (lots of U's in TV in the EWB universe).

Univision ran the team for several years and ran it very poorly. In 1997 they sold it to an actual Mexican, Carlos Slim Jr., who also happened to be one of the world's richest men. Slim Jr. made the Aztecas his pet project and really their fortune changed when he took over. He was the force behind the late 90's surge that I'll discuss later. He eventually died and his son Javier Slim Jr. is now the owner and unfortunately the franchise has sunk back down with the death of Carlos Slim.

Trivia: How many teams are not owned by Americans and who are they???

Answer: Montreal (City of Montreal), San Antonio (Javier Slim Jr.), Portland (Nintendo Corporation), Miami (Shadowy Cartel from Colombia)

 

**** The baseball history in San Antonio has been bleak, desperately so. However, they started out in 1970 with optimism and a sense of pride. Legendary manager Casey Stengel was able to guide them to 84 wins and a 2nd place Texas Division finish which chapped the hides of the other owners in the Texas Division. The rest of the 1970's were an exercise in futility as they only once placed 3rd (1974) and finished below that every other year. The Aztecas had the 10th overall pick in the Inaugural Draft and chose SP Barry Brown which proved to be a wise choice. Brown led the Aztecas rotation through the 1970s and still to this day has the team record for ERA (2.04) in a single season and is 2nd in Wins for the franchise total, in addition to many other placements on the team record books. This DESPITE sharing a franchise record book with a Pedro Medellin at his peak. Medellin and Brown pepper the Aztecas pitching records everywhere.  On the offensive side, Brian Porcell could make a case for being Mr. San Antonio. Porcell played his entire career (1970-1982) with the Aztecas and is among the names in the offensive record book along with Lyle Price, another 1970s Aztecas star. Price and Porcell were called the P&P Peppers because they played like they always had hot peppers up their ass, or so the anecdote goes. The 1970s were fun times in San Antonio baseball. The crowds were good, the baseball was light hearted, and despite not winning much there was great joy in antagonizing the other Texas teams which took themselves way too seriously.

 

****  Then the 1980s came. A subtle shift occurred in the EWB league in the 80s, probably more a reflection of society than a directive, but things became more serious. The league became more corporatized, the rules more stringent, the prices went up all around, television was changing game times, and the pressure to win increased dramatically. The recent success of the Washington Admiral organization and the star power of Sherwood Johnston showed the rest of the league that they had a goldmine on their hands and that EWB WOULD succeed. The crazy, wild and fun baseball of the 1970s turned into the serious, competitive, profit driven baseball of the 1980s. George Steinbrenner pushed the DC Diplomats by raising the prices of players like Chris Henry and salaries began to skyrocket, investments in minors began to flow forth. The team that was hurt the most by this subtle shift was of course, San Antonio. Not only were they already playing in an ultra-competitive divsion, but they were not financially or executively set up to compete.

Univision had a very hands off approach and was ambivalent to winning. Their only real concern was that they don't lose money and therefore, they must do well in their TV ratings. The Aztecas TV ratings were dynamite in every Spanish speaking country in the Western Hemisphere, especially Mexico. So the fact that they lost and drew no crowds didn't bother Univision....so they continued to lose MIGHTILY.

From 1980 to 1993 San Antonio finished 5th every season but two, those seasons they finished 4th. In 1982 they finished 55-107!!! They perhaps might be most notable for Don Kelly's antics towards them. Every time Don Kelly would play in the Dust Bowl he'd coax his teammates all into pissing onto the dirt field and then throw the piss-dirt clumps at the Aztecas dugout before the game. When the Aztecas took their dugout they were surrounded by clumps of mud-piss all over the walls. This angered many Aztecas but passive manager Wally Reynalds refused to retaliate, instead muttering that it would be taken care of on the field -- but once on the field, Kelly would usually jack 1 or 2 HRs adding insult to injury.

The 1980s and early 90s were almost totally devoid of talent and impact players for San Antonio. There are certain exceptions, like John Hennessy, Robbie Oliver, Dan Jamison, however, most Aztecas fan draw a total blank for that period. The team record book is full of players from the 1970s, late 90s, and 2000s and completely missing the 1980s-early 90s with the exception of negative pitching records. For example, 6 or the tope 10 pitcher season Losses are from the dead period including 3 CONSECUTIVE ('80. '81, '82) 20 Loss seasons by Jimmy Sessoms!!!

Robbie Oliver was a shining point in a dull muddy period of time. Oliver spent almost his entire career on the Aztecas, through the worst periods of time. He pitched extraordinarily well but was never recognized because of his team. Oliver on another team may have been a Bob Gibson winner. The story is incredibly sad when you consider that he was WAIVED by the team that he was so loyal to, right before they reached the World Series in 1997 and then won it in 1998. Oliver stuck with the Aztecas through the worst of times only to be shoved out the door when the team was to reach their pinnacle.  Tragic.

John Hennessy is another player that endured the horrid times but actually got to enjoy the success in the late 90s. Hennessy went on to the Hall of Fame and by many is considered Mr. San Antonio. Hennessy spent his entire career in San Antonio, retiring in 2003.

 

**** The Years of Glory. The Glory Years of the San Antonio Aztecas stretch roughly from 1996 to 2005 and they culminated in 5 Texas Division Pennants, 6 Playoff Appearances, 2 World Series Appearances, and 1 World Series Championship. During this period 2 Angel Rosa Awards, 1 Bob Gibson, 1 Fire Man of the Year, and 1 MVP were won. What was the key to this AMAZING turnaround? This is what happened:

1. After 1992 the GM Bob Riehl stepped down. As a long time baseball man, it was a matter of him getting old and personal pride, he could no longer put his name and face on the front of this horrid team. San Antonio may have gotten the luckiest break in the history of their organization when future HOF GM Pablo Lara accepted the challenge and took over in 1993. Lara, through wise hiring, trading, and drafting, began in 1993 to set the foundation of the Glory Years.
2. In the middle of the 1995 season that would result in 100 losses, Lara pulled the trigger on longtime manager Wally Reynalds. Reynalds with a miraculous 1994 season (84 wins, 2nd in Texas) bought himself some time but was inevitably not going to be Lara's choice, ESPECIALLY with long time collaborator Tom Kelly now free. Lara brought stud manager Tom Kelly in as manager of San Antonio. The two worked together successfully in Chicago.
3. Univision sold to Carlos Slim Jr. in 1996 and Slim made all resources available to Lara.
4. Lara was able to create a core offense of Vince Collins, Andres Renteria, John Hennessy, Heshel "The Hebrew Hammer" Himmelfarb, and Javier Garcia. Lara created a core pitching staff of Tim Fox, David Munoz, Calvin Valentine, and Matt Martin.  Those players were the heart of the teams that lost to the Banditos in the 1997 World Series and that won it in 1998 forever changing the Aztecas franchise.
5. After 1998 the Aztecas remained competitive by adding stars like Pedro Medellin, however they never returned to the World Series despite being close

The Glory Years were....well gloriful for not just fans of the Aztecas but for the league in general. It gave hope to other despondent organizations, with the right management and an ownership with a zeal to win anything can happen.

 

**** With the death of Carlos Slim Jr. and with Lara and Kelly no longer around, San Antonio has quietly faded into their traditional role as the bottom of the Texas Division. However, their no longer the most hated team in the Texas Division, that goes to San Francisco. Instead they've actually earned the respect of their fellow Texas owners and so despite recent failing, their stature is still high.

 

**** Managerial History.  The San Antonio Aztecas have one of the more colourful managerial histories but mostly because of the story of Wally Reynalds who has now become a sports cliche.  Announcers/Analysts/Writers of NBA, NFL, Nascar, whatever all use the well worn "You don't want a Wally Reynald's type of situation to occur..." when they speak or write about apathetic managers or management. Wally Reynalds has become a universal icon for apathy, passivity, inevitability of losing. However, the Aztecas had a proud lineage of managers before and after Reynalds. In their first season they were able to snag Casey Stengel who led them to a 2nd place finish before retiring. He would die 4 years after that but wanted one last shot, especially in the new nationwide league of EWB.

Taking over for Stengel was another legend from old time baseball, Yogi Berra. Berra's one season wasn't too successful and the Aztecas let him go to Boston as a Bench Coach in his old age.

Dane Stover ran the team in 1972 and 1973. Stover was just coming off a stint as the Montreal interim manager. He was mediocre in San Antonio but went off to have lead the Carolina Colonials to the playoffs in 1980.

San Antonio was the first EWB coaching job for HOF manager Sparky Anderson. Anderson had the reigns from 1974-1976. It was his lack of success in San Antonio that really gave him his edge and taught him the ropes.

Bill Forbes managed one year in 1977. That was Forbes one and only year as an EWB manager but he went on to produce a quite amazing mL resume as a manager. It makes on think: What if Bill Forbes would have gotten more of an opportunity and San Antonio did not hire Wally Reynalds????

Wally Reynalds, 1978-mid 1995!!!  17.5 years as manager of the Aztecas! 12 5th place finishes, 4 4th place finishes, and 1 2nd place finish (1994). 1994 was also the only year that he led them above 80 wins (84). Prior to San Antonio, Reynalds appeared to be an up and comer. He had won 2 mL titles and had just finished up as the Boston Irish interim GM in 1977. Of course the rest is history.  After San Antonio Reynalds went to AAA Toledo Black Birds and he actually won a Championship in 1997, the same year the Aztecas were going to their first World Series. So a happy ending for all. Really the blame lays on the organization and GMs, not Wally Reynalds, but that's a modern day whitewash I guess.

Tom Kelly, mid1995-2006. Manager of the Aztecas during the most glorious years of the organization. Probably a future HOF manager. Once again leading the Texas Division but with Dallas now.

Henry Hughes, 2006-present. Disappointment.

 

**** Awards:

• 1981 NL Rookie of the Year Alec Troxel
• 2000 NL Fireman of the Year  Roberto Perez
• 2001 NL Angel Rosa Award  Chris Miller
• 2005 NL Angel Rosa Award  Mike Price
• 2005 NL Bob Gibson Award  Pedro Medellin
• 2005 NL MVP Award   Pedro Medellin

 

 

2009 All Star Game Tribute – Boston

Surprise announcement: the All Star game is in Boston.

History

Back in the late 1960s, the Kennedy family was reeling from the death of two sons, struck down in national tragedies. To help distract himself from his grieving, family patriarch Joseph Kennedy helped put together a baseball organization in the startup EWB. Kennedy was in fact one of the first owners attached to the league, signing on in late 1968. Throughout the year that followed, the elder Kennedy always had a gleam in his eye when it came to talking about the Irish. Kennedy himself didn't do the talking of course; a stroke had left him speechless since the early 1960s. But you could tell he was excited. Unfortunatley, tragedies come in threes, and just months before the inaugurral 1970 season Joseph Kennedy died, aged 81. Some say the fact that he never got to see the Irish play a single game was perhaps the "real" tragedy of his life. After his passing the team was put in control of the entire family, with the lesser known Patricia Helen Kennedy playing an especially large role in day-to-day operations.

The history of the Irish is dominated by a constant theme: a sustained period in which they can't break through a certain level of achievement -- can't get over the hump -- followed by a breakthrough, only to see the same problem occur at the next level.

So for instance, in the early years, between 1972-1974, they finished in 2nd place 3 straight years to 3 different teams, each time coming up either 1 or 2 games short. They just couldn't breakthrough to get to the playoffs. The most memorable figure on those early Irish teams was the almost mythical Kevin "Coyote" Sutherland. Coyote was a rare talent. The 1st overall pick out of high school in the 1971 draft, Sutherland was dominating EWB just 3 years later in 1974, when as a 21-year-old he won the Gibson Award going 21-13, 1.93. A year later in 1975 he threw two no hitters just a month apart; to this day, George Banks is the only other pitcher in EWB history to throw two no hitters in a career. Sutherland was with the Irish until 1982, and although he was a good pitcher during most of that time, he never quite lived up to his initial promise. Despite having 170+ wins by age 30, and looking on track for the Hall of Fame, he fell apart in his early 30s after leaving Boston for Carolina and never made the Hall, despite getting some votes.

After finally making it to the playoffs in 1975, the Irish went on a real run as the 1970s turned into the 1980s, making the NLCS in 1980, 1981, 1984, and 1986. So, they had finally broken through to the next level. But here, they got stuck, losing in the NLCS round in each of those seasons: 4 times in 7 years. In Philadelphia Eagle-like fashion, they just couldn't make it past the 2nd to last round.

These Irish teams were dominated by pitching. Besides Coyote Sutherland, who was in his last years with the organization, there was a young Cesar Martinez (SP) who won 215 games in a career split between Boston and D.C.; humans might remember him from his D.C. days. There was Gerardo Guevera (SP), who won 160+ games in his career; again, humans might remember him from his final days with New Orleans and Portland. And then there was Mal Collier, a relief pitcher who went into the Hall of Fame under the mantle of the greatest middle reliever in EWB history, but in fact spent several seasons closing, especially during this early 1980s run.

After years and years of coming up just short, things changed in 1987. Already a powerhouse, the Irish that season had arguably the greatest rookie crop of any team in the history of EWB. There was 2B Gerald Lewis, who would become one of the better second basemen in the game and just missed out on the Hall of Fame. There was 1B Rafael Valentin, the Angel Rosa winner that year who went .324/45/122 and who eventually did make the Hall behind 580 HRs. And then there was CL Frank "Mounds" Hearn, who also ended his career in the Hall. Add these three to a team that was already near championship caliber and you had something special.

Those 1987 Irish were the heavy favorites in the World Series against the out-of-nowhere Memphis Razorbacks, but the Miracle Razorbacks prevailed, breaking Irish hearts. Incidentally, that Razorbacks team was managed by Sparky Anderson. After one more year with the Razorbacks the team inexplicitly let him go, and Boston was quick to snatch him up and him their manager. They were impressed by what they saw in their series loss to him. Anderson cemented his eventual Hall of Fame career in Boston -- it was here that he perfected the now almost forgotten "Wildcat" strategy with closer Mounds Hearn.

In Anderson's first season at the helm, 1989, the Irish returned to the World Series on the stegth of Frank Hearn's Gibson Award winning season with 48 Saves an a 1.23 ERA -- one of the greatest years ever by a closer. In that series they played the Washington Admirals, a historic franchise, but this wasn't one of their historically great teams -- the Admirals  snuck into the Wild Card spot with 89 wins and were significant underdogs against the Irish.

But once again, the Irish fell, 4-1. Another hump the team couldn't get over. After years of not being able to win the one that gets you to the Big One, now they weren't able to win the Big One itself.

Going back to my own 1990 self, I remember thinking at the point that the Irish were the NL equivalent of the Miami Banditos. The Irish were the best team in the NL in the late 1980s, just as the Banditos were the best team in the AL. And yet neither could pull it out when it mattered most. The two organizations traded off World Series losses: the Irish lost in '87, the Banditos lost in '88, the Irish lost in '89, the Banditos lost in '90.

Between 1990 and 1992, the Irish made the playoffs 3 straight years but lost in the first round each season. They then were able to return to the World Series in 1994 to face the Omaha Wolverines. That Wolverine squad was a powerhouse, winning 107 games -- this was prior to the period when all humans won 100+ games. The Irish were led that year by league MVP Justin Johnston. Still just 24, Johnston was a phenom who hit .329/40/118 and was just one year off winning the Angel Rosa Award with even better stats. Arguably, no player has ever entered the league with more acclaim than Johnston, who was actually ranked by the game as one of the 20 best players in the game prior to his first major league at bat. I remember Omaha inquiring about him at the time, but being told he was untradeable because he was the "LeBron" of EWB. Surprisingly, Johnston's peak was short lasting: he started to seriously decline by 26, and was essentially out of the league by 30. Still, to this day he's the organizational leader in career HRs.

Back to the series, the underdog Irish actually took a 3-2 lead and there was a lot of thought that this was finally Boston's year, now that they no longer bore the burden of being favorites. But Omaha earned a comeback victory in Game 6 and won a close one in Game 7, and Irish hearts were broken once again. Now 0-3 in the Series.

This capped off the Irish's period of greatest dominance. Between 1979 and 1994, the squad made the playoffs 11 times and won their division 8 times -- remarkable for a 15 year span. No other team made the playoffs as often during that time, and only Washington and Miami can match such streaks in the entire history of EWB.

After a few years of wandering in the wilderness thanks to the decline of Johnston, the Irish made the playoffs again in 1999, and returned to the World Series in 2001, now as a member of the American League. That '01 team was an interesting mix of "first" and "second generation" EWB names. There was rookie Woody Allen, an Angel Rosa candidate going .280/21/61; Toichi Baba, another youngster in the outfield who hadn't yet come into his own; Dan Dawson, the veteran catching All Star and legitimate Hall of Fame candidate (he made the ballot, but didn't get in); Ernesto German, another Hall of Fame candidate who had two rings with Dallas (you'll recall German was on the ballot just a couple seasons ago); Lonnie O'Rorke, the team's MVP with a line of .278/39/119; Dan "DD" Parker, the former Omaha Wolverine who won a ring with that team in 1997; John Pittman, the slugging 3B that humans will remember from his time in New Orleans; and a washed up Coy Rollins, who saw the last major league action of his career with the '01 Irish. On the mound there was Deron Jenkins, Gordon Henderson as a 21-year-old closer, and Manny Rodriguez as a setup man, a role he perfected with the '08 champion Admirals. The ace was Billy Wagner, who went 17-8 with a 3.58. Overall this is a huge number of "name" players. Pick an arbitrary roster from 2001 and you won't find nearly as interesting a mix. And to top it off, the manager of the team was Luis "Gizmo" Delgado, perhaps the greatest EWB player ever, and a hot coaching commodity at the time. Gizmo was coming off 2 playoff appearances in 3 years before the Admirals let him go, and now he was succeeding during his first year in Boston.

The Irish faced the Miami Banditos that year, a team led in part by Rafael Valentin, the former Irish great who had been let go to make room for Justin Johnston years ago now. Again the series went a full 7 games and again Boston came up just short, losing 4-3. This now made them 0-4 in Series action while Miami was just starting their 3-peat. No other team has lost as many World Series.

The loss gave Boston a unique distinction. They had now lost a World Series against each of the original 3 human teams: in 1989 to the Admirals, in 1994 to Omaha, and in 2001 to Miami. Given realignment, no other team will ever be able to match this. Boston could add to their mark if some year they lose to San Francisco in the World Series.

The years since have seen some great players come to town, including Alex Davis who put up some of his very best years with the Irish; current star Eric Reed; Clay Vinson; Jonathan Manning; and others. But no Irish team has been a serious contender, let alone made the World Series. It is the longest dry streak in frachise history.

Worse, an organization that for years was among the best run in the league has fallen into confusion and sometimes incompetence, making poor trades and trying inept strategies. Gizmo Delgado is now in the last year of his contract and it's hard to see how he's kept on beyond the year, assuming Boston doesn't make a run.

Marks

The Irish have a .512 franchise winning percentage, good for 6th all time...

1. Washington .549

2. Miami .533

3. St. Louis .531

4. Denver .516

5. Houston .515

6. Boston .512

Notably, every team on the list above Boston has won a World Title.

Their 14 Playoff Appearances are tied for 4th all time...

1. Washington 26

2. Miami 22

3. St. Louis 17

4. Boston 14

4. San Francisco 14

4. Los Angeles 14

4. Denver 14

Again, every other team on the list has won a championship.

Awards

There have been 3 Irish MVPs: Dave "Pony" Tyler in 1984, Justin Johnston a decade later in 1994, and Alex Davis almost a decade later again in 2003.

They have won 2 Gibsons: Coyote Sutherland in 1974, and Frank "Mounds" Hearn in 1989.

They have won an impressive 6 Angel Rosas: Jose Montoya won in 1971, and was arguably one of the worst winners ever going .245/14/43 -- admittedly this was a pitcher's era, but these are bad stats even so. Montoya was out of the league in 3 years. Four years later Gary Glenn won in 1975.Glenn was a classic good average, poor power first baseman who finished his career with 1600+ hits. Sam Daniels won the very next year of 1976, but had an otherwise undistinguished career. Rafael Valentin took it home in 1987, while his successor Justin Johnston won in 1993. Steve Thompson won in 1999. Thompson is one of the most extreme examples of one year wonders in EWB history. After going .294/36/99 his rookie season he hit just .190/21/58 his sophomore year, and was essentially out of the league by his 3rd.

They have two Fireman of the Year Awards: Mounds Hearn in 1989 and Gordon Henderson in 2005.

Overall

The Irish are one of the big name franchises of the league. Given their histry of success and long list of great names, I'm not sure who would rank ahead of them besides human organizations.  Obviously D.C., say, has more championships, but I think Boston at least compares with them in iconic status.

That being said, the story of the team is coming close without ever fully making it. The Fog Devils are something like the Clippers of the league. I was going to say the Cubs, but the Cubs are at least an attractive organization while Portland is just bleak and nothing. The Pittsburgh Crusaders are, I don't know... something like the city of Cleveland. It's not just that the Crusaders haven't won, it's that injuries or bad luck always knocks them off before they get the opportunity to really take their chance. But with Boston, it's a matter of excelling, getting close time after time, and always falling a little short. The obvious analogy is the Red Sox -- prior to 2004. And I think that's about right.

2008 All Star Game Tribute – Indianapolis

2007 All Star Game Tribute – Minneapolis

(Name of Project)

by

(Name of First Writer)

(Based on, If Any)

Revisions by

(Names of Subsequent Writers,

in Order of Work Performed)

Current Revisions by

(Current Writer, date)

Name (of company, if applicable)

Address

Phone Number

EXT. - DAY A HELICOPTER VIEW OF THE METRODOME

JOE BUCK

Welcome to the 2007 Earl Weaver

Baseball Tribute to the Minneapolis

Mutiny. This year’s site of the

EWB All-Star game.

INT. - DAY - INSIDE THE METRODOME

Various angles of an empty Metrodome including the field,

empty stands, the locker room, the infamous roof of the dome,

etc.

JOE BUCK

There it is the Bermuda Triangle of

Fly Balls. I’m Joe Buck joined by

baseball analyst Tony Gwynn and two

time Bob Gibson Award Winner, once

with Dallas and one with

Minneapolis, Steven Ferguson. In

just a few days this stadium will

be packed to the limit and the best

of the best will be dueling it out.

But for now the stadium is empty

and we begin our tribute to The

Minneapolis Mutiny. Tony, Steve

thanks for joining me.

GWYNN

My pleasure, Joe.

FERGUSON

Ditto.

INT. - DAY

Inside of skybox overlooking the baseball field, we see Joe

Buck, Tony Gwynn, and Steven Ferguson. Buck and Gwynn are

dressed in suits, while Ferguson is wearing a wrinkled Black

polo with Reebok prominently stitched on the left breast of

his polo. Ferguson has an overgrown goatee with slicked back

hair.

BUCK

I suppose the first thing we can

discuss is the success that the

Mutiny has had in the first half of

this season.

GWYNN

Ya, Joe. Really unbelievable. A 22-

4 April with I believe a 17 game

win streak in there. This type of

performance in a very tough Plains

Division has to make you think that

it is very likely we could be back

here for the Series.

BUCK

Very true, but I think the

Wolverines in Omaha might have

something to say about that.

Minneapolis has managed to keep

them at bay so far. No disrespect

to the teams in the Mountain West,

but if Minneapolis was in that

division, I think they might have

clinched.

FERGUSON

(laughing)

I could pitch for LA right now and

I ain’t touched a baseball in three

years.

BUCK

This is a team that has really

built an identity. You can’t think

of power hitting without thinking

of the Mutiny. But it hasn’t

always been that way.

FERGUSON

Damn right.

GWYNN

That’s right Joe. Even though

Minneapolis has enjoyed success in

the last eight years, they really

haven’t been one of the more

dominant teams of EWB.

BUCK

Despite their lack of a

championship, the Mutiny have

produced some very good playoff

teams throughout the 37 year

history of the league. One thing

you can say about Minneapolis is

they have had there fair share of

talent.

2.

(MORE)

You are talking about players like

Al ‘Hodge Podge’ Hill, Stu

Macniter, Jim Majors, (emphasis)

Steve Ferguson, Rober Palmer, Hoshi

Kobayashi, and of course the tragic

Angel Rosa.

GWYNN

Ya, and let’s not forget the recent

history of guys like Joe Collins,

Clinton Picot and Jose Watkins.

FERGUSON

You know Watkins nickname is

“Hamburger”? Not a lot people know

that. They used to just call me

Fergie then the Black-Eyed peas got

popular and that kind of muddled

everything up.

BUCK

Really? Fergie?

Now players like Miguel Lopez, Jeff

Day, Dominic Doyle and of course 2

time MVP Ed Moran are really the

meat of why everyone associates

power hitting and Minneapolis.

GWYNN

It’s funny Joe because a lot of

sportswriters were condemning the

Mutiny. Basically saying you can’t

do it with just power, you need

pitching. Well Minneapolis

pitchers have been doing well

enough and the sluggers have proved

the critics wrong so far.

BUCK

Before we get into the Mutiny as

the Sluggers Club, lets go back to

the start. To the story of one of

the great pitchers of the early

history of EWB. The story of Al

Hill as told by long time teammate

and fellow pitcher Jim Majors.

We get the start of a series of short clips of Al Hill

walking around on the field, highlights, occasionally cut

with Jim Majors in previously shot interview. 60 year old

Majors is sitting in a studio chair with a dark gray

background. The clips are shown cut within his narration.

The clips coincide with the events he is telling.

3.

BUCK (CONT'D)

JIM MAJORS

Well, when I got traded to

Minneapolis, the first person to

come and introduce himself was

Hodge Podge. Hodge comes up to me

and says, “hey, you got some good

stuff, but you best learn real

quick this is my team.” Of course,

I just thought he was this grumpy,

insecure jerk and that really got

me to try and out pitch him. That

whole year we never spoke a word to

each other. I pitched the most

wins of my career that year, but

course ol’ Hodgey pitched more

wins. I hated that SOB. It wasn’t

until the playoffs of that same

year that Hodgey finally broke his

silence to me. He says, “Come on

Majors, you go out there and win

won for our team.” Course I want

out and pitched a terrible game,

but after Al comes up to me and

asks if I want to go get a beer.

After that we became the best of

friends, I actually first started

calling Al, Ol’ Hodge Podge cause

he acted like a grumpy old grandpa

even back then. His nickname for

me never caught on cause he was the

only one that could get away with

it and that was Major *Bleep* I

never imagined Hodgey would pitch

all the way into his 40’s. Oh and

you sure bet he was as cranky as

ever. Al is in the HOF, but it

just makes him sick to death that

he is the all-time loss leader.

Hodgy was a competitor like no

other. At 36 he had one of his

best seasons. In the twilight of

his career he got himself traded to

Dallas and he told me, “Jimbo I got

to get back in the playoffs, thats

the only thing I keep playing for.”

JIM MAJORS (CONT’D)

I just always thought it was real

sad that Dallas didn’t make it and

oddly enough Minneapolis did in

‘89. But of course ol Hodgey was

in the stands rootin on his Mutiny.

4.

JIM MAJORS (CONT’D)

Al just loved the game and he loved

to win its just real ironic that he

is often known as the pitcher with

the most losses. And even though

Hodgey gave everyone a hard time,

he had a heart of gold. I remember

when the kid broke on the scene.

Al went up to Angel and told him

that he wished he played for Omaha

so he could take all those

strikeouts he was given out. Rosa

just shrugged his shoulders and

smiled. When Rosa died in that

terrible accident, Hodgey was real

broken up about it. I know Hodgey

was giving Rosa the same treatment

he had given me to inspire him. Al

really liked Rosa and thought Rosa

would take him and the rest of The

Mutiny to its first Series. Ol’

Hodge Podge really bled green and

gold.

INT. - DAY

Back inside the Metrodome skybox.

BUCK

What a great piece. Thanks to Jim

Majors. Of course, Jim talked

about the tragic story of Angel

Rosa which is a large part of the

history of the Minneapolis Mutiny.

GWYNN

The untimely death of Angel Rosa

really shook the Mutiny

organization up. They didn’t

manage to get back on track until

‘89.

FERGUSON

Ya, it really was a horrible thing.

Sometimes it messes with my head to

think that Angel Rosa probably

would have been part of our ‘93 and

‘94 post seasons. We really could

have used him.

5.

BUCK

Now here is former EWBer’s Vincent

Carter, Sherwood Johnston, Joe

Warren and Chris Henry to talk

about Angel Rosa.

INT. SAME STUDIO THAT JIM MAJORS WAS IN

These three players discuss Angel while various clips of

Angel are being cut within their narration.

JOHNSTON

Well, it definitely took us all by

surprise.

CARTER

Rosa just kind of came out of

nowhere.

HENRY

I think the amazing thing is that

he only played in 128 games the

year he set the record. He could

have had twenty more homeruns.

WARREN

I think for me, he really set the

bar and kind of showed everybody

what could be done.

CARTER

Ya, I think I had one of the

highest amounts of homeruns of my

career that year. But Rosa was

definitely pushin me to do so. All

of a sudden 35 homeruns just

wouldn’t cut it for a power hitter.

And no offense to you Joe, but it

is amazing that with all the power

in the game today that your record

of 62 is still the most homeruns.

JOHNSTON

I was glad to be leaving the league

at this time. Rosa just set the

bar too high for a veteran player

like myself.

6.

(MORE)

I remember in ‘81 I had the most

homers of my career and I won the

Triple Crown, but my back was

always sore and then in ‘82 when

Rosa went off, I tried to keep up

and I had another good year but my

body was taking a toll. I came out

in ‘83 and my body finally was

telling me, ‘Enough’!

CARTER

I told you Sher! Slow and steady

wins the race. But Angel just like

Sher, wouldn’t have it. He aimed

for the bleachers everytime and hit

them almost as many times as he hit

the ball. He played the game like

he lived.

HENRY

I was real happy when the league

decided to make the rookie of the

year award the Angel Rosa Award. I

think it was a classy move.

JOHNSTON

Joe Warren here, finished what

Angel started and that was the

shift in the league. Historically

you look back and you can say, okay

the 70’s was a pitching era. And

the 80’s began the transition

especially in the AL to the batting

league. Myself, Carter, and Henry

all had some of our highest homerun

years in the 80’s, but I think you

look at what Angel did and it puts

things in a different light. The

kid was the first of the real

sluggers in this league.

WARREN

I think now that you look what is

going on in Minneapolis it is very

fitting. It’s a sluggers paradise

up there and somewhere Angel Rosa

is looking down and proud of what

he began in Minneapolis.

INT. - DAY

Back with Buck, Gwynn, and Johnston.

7.

JOHNSTON (CONT'D)

BUCK

Truer words have not been spoken.

GWYNN

I think it is worth mentioning that

Minneapolis has won 6 Angel Rosa

Awards. I believe that is more

than any other team.

BUCK

Now to the more recent history of

the Mutiny, we look at the mid 90’s

and that includes you Steven

Ferguson and Closer Stu MacNiter.

FERGUSON

Ya, it was a great time I would

get’em from the front end and Stu

would plow ‘em from the back end.

BUCK

And I think that is all that needs

to be said about that.

GWYNN

Really I think your right Joe.

Most of the success of this

organization as a TEAM resides in

recent history. Bosnian born GM

Kressimir Bukvic took the reigns

from controversial GM Matt Egger at

the start of the new decade and the

Mutiny haven’t looked back.

BUCK

Here is a highlight reel of the

Mutiny from the last five years.

After reel is shown.

BUCK (CONT’D)

I think that says it all. Power,

power and more power. Doyle, Lopez,

Day, and Moran plan on hitting the

Mutiny into the playoffs and even

sooner hit the AL into an All-Star

game victory.

FERGUSON

Hell yeah!

8.

BUCK

Thanks for spending this afternoon

and our special tribute to the

Minneapolis Mutiny. Joe Buck, Tony

Gwynn and Steven Ferguson signing

off.