Looking back, 1987 was one of the most remarkable seasons in EWB history.  It's fitting that the World Series that year was won by the Memphis Razorbacks, a truly remarkable team.

Back in 1970 when EWB was forming, Memphis was not on anyone's short list to land a franchise.  Rather, the original plan was for there to be a 2nd team in California -- probably San Francisco, although San Diego was also mentioned as a possibility -- and leave the Sunbelt as the 4 team division, giving the Mountain West 5 teams instead.  The problem with this plan was that the old California Baseball League, unlike other regional leagues, was trying to put up a fight.  They refused to bow down to the upstart EWB; they wanted to compete instead.  They had a ton of resources, a huge media market all to themselves, and a storied history -- you'll remember that back in the 1940s, Joe DiMaggio of the San Francisco Seals was the face of baseball.  Anyway, through a series of lawsuits and clever maneuvering involving stadium leases, the California League was able to make things extremely difficult for the Los Angeles Gargoyles franchise, and to completely block a 2nd California team from being added to the EWB.  Now, in the long run the EWB would win this competition: the California League was poorly managed in the early 1970s, and was forced to shut down prior to the 1974 season.  But, their efforts explain why there is no 2nd California team in EWB to this day.

Forced to alter their plans at the last minute, EWB was scrambling in late 1969 to figure out where their 30th team was going to play ball the following spring.  Always looking to make a splash in P.R., league executives put in a number of calls to various entertainers and celebrities to see if they would want to head some team of financiers to bring a team to their city.  They landed a coup when on a lark, none other than Elvis Pressley agreed not just to head such a team, but to put all his own money in and buy a franchise outright.  The league wasn't overly thrilled that this would require the franchise to be set up in Memphis, a smallish market, but the publicity which would be attached to having The King as an owner was impossible to resist, and so they gave in.  Looking to get over racial tensions during the tumultuous 1960s, the city of Memphis immediately took to their Razorbacks, and there continues to be an especially close link between these fans and their team.

The Razorbacks have made only two playoff appearances in franchise history: 1983 (when they made it to the ALCS) and the 1987 Championship year.  Don't let this fool you, though.  The Razorbacks are a proud franchise, not an Azteca-like laughing stock.  They have generally played around .500 in their history -- except for the last few years (1990-1992), which have been an abomination -- and have a remarkable number of second place finishes.  Specifically, they've finished 2nd 6 separate times, including a 4 year stretch from 1979-1982, and the 1987 season itself, when they got into the playoffs via the Wild Card.  This long run of 2nd place finishes shaped a tragic sensibility in their fan base.  If you were a Razorback supporter at the time, you were convinced that you were doomed to be always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

To understand the 1987 Razorbacks, you need to get your mind back into the framework of the 1987 season.  And to do this, you need to get a sense for the ways in which 1987 is continuous with the EWB of today, and the ways in which it's wholly different.  Start with some of the continuities.  For one thing thing, the top 3 batters in the AL that year were faces that are still familiar: at the top was Mike Robinson (then for Portland) at .356, then Luis Carranza at .344, and then Vincent Carter at .343.  The ERA leader list included Carlos Pena, George Banks (just 21, in his first All Star year), Jamie Rees, and Shawn Price.  The NL MVP was Don Kelly while the HR leader was Joe Warren, who socked an EWB record of 62 for Austin (while his teammate Will Lund added another 51 for the last place (!) Marshalls).  The Angel Rosa in the NL went to newcomer Rafeal Valentin, who put up triple-crown-like numbers for Boston; and the Gibson Award winner was Luis Altagracia, who had just signed a free agent deal with St. Louis out of the Mexican League and won the honor without pitching a single game in the minors (he was already 26).  These are all familiar names; 1987 wasn't so long ago.

But now, consider the discontinuities.  First, and most significantly, 1987 was the year of the "juiced ball," and offense was way, way up.  The AL league ERA was 4.87, the highest it's ever been.  4 different players reached 50 home runs: Warren with 62, Carlos Perez of Denver with 54, Will Lund with 51, and Michael Long (then with Cleveland) with 50.  Only one starter in the whole AL had an ERA below 3.00 (Carlos Pena), and only 4 had an ERA below 3.60: Pena, George Banks, Shawn Price, and Wolverine Scott Allddritt.  Speaking of Alldritt, this was his Gibson Award winning year for Omaha, going 22-9 with a 3.14 ERA.  There were, though, some worrisome signs in his season: he had a remarkable 17 Complete Games, well more than anyone else in the league, and threw an astonishing 286.1 IP, when no one else had over 260.  So, he worked a lot for a 23-year-old, and it doesn't seem especially surprising in retrospect that he broke down shortly thereafter.

In this year of the long ball, two offenses stood out above all others: the Denver Amigos, who averaged 6.4 runs per game and won an EWB-high 103 games, and the Memphis Razorbacks, who averaged 6.2 and made it to the playoffs as a Wild Card.  Here's a run down of the Amigos offensive leaders, together with their stat lines: Vincent Carter .343/30/108 (still slugging away in 1993); Carlos Perez .298/54/154 (now with Carolina, and all washed up); Ben Barnard .327/33/98 (now all washed up and getting paid a ton by Detroit); Len McGinnis .333/21/76 (in just 384 AB, presently an un-signed free agent after spending 1992 with D. C.); Jesus Reyes .326/23/93 (Angel Rosa Award winner in 1987, now with Kansas City and continuing to have success); and Roberto Reyes .291/21/93 (the "quadriplegic" who played sparingly with Washington back in 1990, due to injury problems).  That's a lot of players putting up some gaudy numbers.

Memphis was almost as good.  To start off, you had league MVP Martin Diaz patrolling LF and going .314/44/139.  Diaz is a legend in Memphis, a Razorback from his rookie year back in 1982 all the way to today.  Diaz, now 35 (29 back in 1987), is out for all of 1993 with a fractured skull, and there's a lot of discussion among Razorback fans about whether he will be re-signed after the season (at much less than his present $8M price tag) -- their hearts say Yes but their heads say No.

If Diaz isn't the greatest Razorback of all time, then that honor must go to second baseman Ivan Quinones.  Quinones was a monster in 1987, going .333/39/139/22 and winning a gold glove, one of 10 in his career, the most all time.  Like Diaz, Quinones was a lifetime Razorback: from his debut in 1976 all the way up to 1992.  Presently sitting out as an un-signed free agent, the best way to get Razorback fans' blood boiling is by even raising the question of whether Quinones deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame once he officially retires.  Of course he does, they'll insist.

The Razorbacks had another solid bat in veteran 1B Richie Farrell.  After first making a name for himself with Austin in the early 1980s, Farrell came over to the Razorbacks in a one-sided trade prior to the 1984 season.  In the magical year of 1987, he would his .290/23/75 for the Razorbacks, and give the team a big boost in the playoffs with 5 HR and 18 RBI.  Later in his career, Farrell is known for playing with Kansas City (back in 1990-1991), and then heading over to the Washington Admirals for the end of the 1991 campaign (at which point he retired).

At DH, Memphis had the notorious slugger Jose Rodriguez.  Known as much for his strikeouts and low average as for his prolific home runs, Rodriguez batted .245/23/93 in just 469 AB for the team. However, despite being just 26 years of age, 1987 would turn out to be Rodriguez' last productive year, and he never got more than 187 AB a season from then until his retirement just a few months ago (1/1/1993).  Also known for spending time with the Banditos in 1991, Rodriguez never lived up to his extraordinary minor league hype: he hit 74 HR and and 205 RBIs in 1981, in time split between A and AA in the Razorbacks system.  I mean, he had some nice ML years -- 41 HR in 1984, 38 HR in 1985 -- but he never managed to be the second coming of Angel Rosa that fans anticipated.

On the mound, the 1987 Razorbacks were notable for having probably the worst pitching staff for a World Series winner in EWB history.  Their staff ERA was 5.00, which was high even for the time.  Their nominal ace was Rich Jones, a member of the 1978 Washington Admirals Championship team and a 4th or 5th starter for the Admirals in the early 1980s.  In his first year with Memphis in 1987, Jones posted a 4.08 ERA, which was able to get him a 17-10 record behind the powerful Memphis offense.  No other starter had an ERA below 5.00 (well, that's not quite right: Brandon Hutchins had one of 4.99).  Closing out games, the Razorbacks had Antonio Cruz, still in his prime then (29 years old) but having a comparatively down year (4.09 ERA).  Today, you might know Cruz from his time in the Chicago Samurai bullpen as a set up man.  He had a pretty good career as a closer though with Mempmhis, putting up 387 Saves.  One more notable thing about the Memphis staff: a young rookie named Adam Hamilton made a couple of starts for them during the year, before moving on to Omaha and then Houston.

Finally, let's talk playoffs.  It was an interesting field, especially in the AL.  In the Sunbelt Division, Miami won the pennant for the first time in the decade (and what would be the first of 4 straight pennant titles).  The Banditos were filled with very, very young stars with lots of potential: 23-year-old Luis Carranza, 26-year-old Ken Hamilton, 25-year-old Jose Ortiz catching, 21-year-old George Banks, 22-year-old Julio "Punk" Perez, 22-year-old Joe Murphy, and 25-year-old Mauro Medina.  You will rarely ever see a team filled with so much talent in their early and mid 20s.  This made Miami an especially popular team across the country -- think Devil Rays -- and their 96 Wins made them a serious contender.  Not far behind Miami was Memphis, whose 91 wins assured them the Wild Card.  In the Plains Division you had Denver (already described above), whose 103 wins gave them the title by a whopping 24 games over 2nd place Chicago.  (Omaha finished in 3rd at 77-85.)  And finally, in the Mountain West division you had a great 4-way race, where all 4 teams were within 3 games of one another.  After the final day of the season Washington and Las Vegas had identical 85-78 records, and so a one-game play-in game was scheduled, which Washington won.

The first round of the AL playoffs were fascinating.  In one series, you had Memphis pitted against Denver, two of the greatest offenses in all of EWB history.  The Razorbacks pulled off the upset, 4-1.  In the other series, you had the youthful, up-and-coming Miami Banditos pitted against the veteran Washington Admirals, who were still being led by 40-year-old Luis Delgado, 38-year-old Forest Thomas, and 33-year-old Brad Robertson.  (At the plate, the Admirals were led by Dave Tyle, Reggie Phillips, George McFarland, and Oliver Cole.)  Age triumphed over youth, and the Admirals took the series in 6 games.

In the ALCS, you had pretty much all of American rooting on the Razorbacks -- everyone was sick of Washington.  Despite falling behind 3 games to 2, Memphis was able to pull of the come back, taking the series in 7.  Memphis, and not Washington, was going to the World Series.  Razorback fans couldn't quite believe it.

Once there, the Razorbacks would face the Boston Irish, probably the most talented NL team of the late 1980s.  On their roster they had players like Valentin, Gerald Lewis, and Jordan Tamblyn.  They had a bullpen which included Hall of Famer Mal Collier, Jovan Simic, and Frank "Mounds" Hearn.  Oddsmakers regarded them as the favorites over the Wild Card Razorbacks.  The city of Memphis ended up willing their Razorbacks to the Championship though, and they toppled the Irish in 6 games.

In some sense, Memphis has been paying for it ever since.  On the one hand, Memphis seems to be an especially loyal franchise -- as noted above, both Quinones and Diaz have spent their entire careers with the team.  On the other hand, given how good the players on this team were, loyalty was bound to cost money, and it took big contracts to keep Quinones and Diaz.  This made it impossible to keep some of the other key members of the 1987 team, and they eventually had to trade off Richie Farrell and let Kyle Gregg depart via free agency (where, again, he landed an astronomical contract).  After trailing off to 86 wins in 1988 and 88 wins in 1989 -- both years, narrowly failing to miss the playoffs -- the bottom really fell out in 1990, and the Razorbacks could manage just 58 wins against 104 losses.  With their aging nucleus and bloated contracts, things haven't improved much in 1991 or 1992, when they won 69 and 68 games respectively.

The Razorbacks have one of the smallest budgets in all of baseball.  Despite having a player payroll of just $25M in 1993, they're still $1.1M over budget.  They should have some money this offseason, as the contract for legend Martin Diaz expires.  But they will need to use their money wisely.  Even if the team isn't playing all that well this year-- they're 28-38 -- the horrible state of the Sunbelt Division leaves them just 4 GB.  Razorback fans will surely take it, given how bleak things had been the last few years.

Jose Machado (1970-1978) - Machado is one of the more well known managers of EWB.  In 1970 Machado was appointed to manage the Razorbacks.  Only 35 years old at the time, Machado was one of the youngest managers but very well respected.  Machado had torn his knee so bad as a Catcher in the Ohio Valley Independent League that he could no longer function on the baseball field.  He took his knowledge of the game and calm demeanor to the bench of the Razorbacks.  Machado struggled in Memphis, his best record was in 1975 going 85-77.  After 3 bad years from '76-'78, Memphis let him go.  Memphis was loyal to Machado giving him ample time, finally at their split they also gave him a glowing recommendation to other clubs.  Since his part with Memphis, Machado has been employed as a Manager in EWB every year, including this year, except for '90-'91.  He is now currently the Manager of the Carolina Colonials.

Gabriel Barrios (1979-1982) - Replacing Machado was Gabriel Barrios.  Barrios had an undistinguished minor league managing career in the early '70's and had spent most of the '70's as a hitting coach in the minors.  Barrios had a reputation as a player's manager although his baseball acumen was sometimes challenged.  Barrios kept the chain of mediocrity continuing in Memphis, never winning more than 80 or losing more than 88.  After he was let go by Memphis in 1982, St. Louis hired him.  It was as the Savage's manager that Barrios made a name for himself.  He led the Savages to 3 straight 90+ win seasons and 3 playoff appearances from 1983 to 1985.  He was let go in 1986 and returned to the minors where he coached on and off.  He retired at the end of last year.

Esteban Diaz (1983-1984) - Diaz came to Memphis fresh off managing 3 years in Miami and 2 in Dallas.  Prior to that Diaz had 8 years experience in the minors, winning a Southern League Championship in 1975.  In his first season Diaz took Memphis to a 96-66 record and more importantly, their first Sunbelt Division Pennant.  The next year, with expectations set so high, the team fell back into reality.  The high expectations Diaz created also cost him his job.  Diaz never got another EWB job and headed back to the minors, he won his 2nd Championship in 1988 with the Fort Myers Killers of the Florida State League.

Sparky Anderson (1985-1988) - Memphis knew that they had a talented group of youngsters in their organization, now it was a matter of finding the right manager to cultivate them and create a winner.  They settled on Sparky Anderson.  Prior to 1985 Anderson had managed the pitiful Aztecas and the sorry Cleveland Rockers.  However, in 1983 he took the Rockers to a 90 win season, their best season since the start of the league.  Anderson's reputation grew and by 1985 Memphis was able to lure him away from Cleveland.  Anderson had two mediocre years, but during that time he was able to implement his systems and baseball ideology and garner the respect of the young Razorbacks.  1987 was the year of the Razorback and Anderson was immortalized.  Greener pastures called him in 1989, unable to turn down the large dollars and the allure of a big market team, Sparky Anderson went to Boston where he currently manages.

Domingo Salas (1989-mid 1990) - Salas was appointed to replace Anderson, a near impossible task.  Salas has a reputation among the league as one of the top hitting coaches around.  He spent 1972-1975 managing the NY 5 Points and doing quite bad, never finishing above 4th.  Salas went back to the role he excelled, hitting coach.  In 1989 with the '87 fresh in everyone's mind, the Razorbacks appointed Salas.  Salas was under pressure from the moment he took the job.  Used to the anonymity of hitting coach, Salas developed a confrontational relationship with the Memphis media, which heaped constant criticism on Salas.  Salas still managed to guide the Razorbacks to an 88 win season and a 2nd place finish, however, 1990 saw a 8-24 start and Salas was canned.  Today Salas serves as the hitting coach of the Cincinnati Rebels.

Pete Rose (mid 1990-Present) - It's always better to "be the guy after THE guy."  Rose is a former star in the Great Lakes League and his charisma made his hire an instant hit.  Gritty and hard assed was what he was to bring to Memphis.  Rose has had a tough go so far.  He's had 3 straight last place finishes and is loaded with veterans.  Many think 1993 is do or die for Rose.

MINORS

AAA Syracuse Chimpanzees (IL) - Syracuse is perenially bad, their .467% is the worst in the International League.  They've had 3 playoff appearances and 0 championships over the course of their history.

AA New Hampshire Envoys (EL) - On the other hand, AA affiliate New Hampshire has really been a great franchise.  They have the highest W% in the Eastern League at .523, 12 playoff appearances and 3 Championships.  They made the playoffs every year from 1981 to 1989 and won 3 Championships.  Not surpisingly this run corresponds with Memphis' 1987 success.

A Dunedin Sandtigers (FSL) - They have the 3rd highest W% in the FSL however they have the most Championships (5).  11 playoff appearances and they too have a great streak from 1980-1986.

A Elkhorn Antlers (NEB) - Elvis made sure to secure a Nebraska League spot as well.  The Elkhorn Antlers are one of the better organizations in the league.  They had most of their success in the mid-late '80's.  They have a .521%, 5 playoffs and 3 championships which is tied with several others for most in league history.

SA Auburn Zebras (NYPENN) - 3rd winningest organization in the New York Penn League with a .554%, 9 playoffs, 3 Championships.  From '84 to '89 made the playoffs every year but one.  Won the Championship last year, 1992.

R Pulaski Copperheads (APP) - Extremely mediocre, but not necessarily horrible.  .481%, only 1 playoff appearance ever (1991), and one pennant (1991).  Burlington (R KC) dominates the league.

R Dunedin Tempest (GCL) - 2nd Dunedin affiliate in the organization.  .541%, 7 playoffs, 2 championships.  Most notable is their first to worst years, in 1988 they went 112-50 and in 1989 60-102.  That has to rank up there among most dramatic drop offs.

HALL OF FAME

**** Memphis is not represented by any member of the Hall of Fame.  No HOF member ever played in Memphis.

TROPHY ROOM

1983 Sunbelt Division Pennant
1987 Sunbelt Division Pennant
1987 WORLD SERIES
1972 Angel Rosa Award, Bob Smith - Smith had a great 1972 and then slipped into mediocrity.
1987 MVP, Martin Diaz

MISCELLANEOUS

- Memphis has never had a 20 game winner in its history.  However, they have had two 20 game losers.

- Thomas Richmond is the all time best Razorback pitcher but still had a below .500 record at 174-179.  His 149 CG's ranks 5th All Time.