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