2003 World Series Champion
Miami Banditos
Owner Cocaine Cartel
GM Jose Bruno
Manager Rory Abrams
2003 GM List
BOS GUILLERMO AYALA 2003 (NR IVAN VILLAREAL 1996)
MON JOHN SCHUERHOLZ 2003 (NR GUILLERMO AYALA 1996)
NY KEN BOWLING 2001
PHI JOHN HART 2001
DC AARON CARMICHAEL 1997
CHI ASHTON CLAYTON 1994
DEN MATT EGGHEAD 2000
KC BILL JAMES 1997
OMA HAMILTON FLOYD 2003 (fired STEVE CURT STONE SHOCKEY 1997)
MIN KRESIMIR BUKVIC 1999
LA KWANG-SUB KIM 2001
LV CHARLES COLLINS 2003 (fired JOHN SCHUERHOLZ 2001)
POR JACOB COLE 1998
WAS LUIS MARTINEZ 2002
ATL ROBINSON FERNANDEZ 1999
BRK JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ 2003 (NR DEWEY DOUGLAS 1998)
MIA JOSE BRUNO 2001
MEM IVAN VILLAREAL 2003 (fired JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ 1994)
NO STEVE GRANT 2003 (retired TIM HILL 1993)
CIN DEWEY DOUGLAS 2003 (retired RON MORSE 1998)
CLE STEVE CURT STONE SHOCKEY 2003 (NR CHARLES COLLINS 1998)
DET CISCO CRUZ 2002
IND RAUL ROBLES 2001
PIT VICTOR HERNANDEZ 2000
STL RONALD ALLSTAIR 2002
AUS BRODY HARVEY 2001
ELP ANDREW GARNHAM 2003 (retired AROGHETTO VALLONE 2000)
SA DAN BANNATYNE 2002
DAL TAKUMA ENDO 2000
HOU STEPHEN WRIGHT 2000
2002 World Series Champion
Miami Banditos
Owner Cocaine Cartel
GM Jose Bruno
Manager Rory Abrams
2002 GM List
BOS IVAN VILLAREAL 1996
MON GUILLERMO AYALA 1996
NY KEN BOWLING 2001
PHI JOHN HART 2001
DC AARON CARMICHAEL 1997
CHI ASHTON CLAYTON 1994
DEN MATT EGGHEAD 2000
KC BILL JAMES 1997
OMA STEVE CURT STONE SHOCKEY 1997
MIN KRESIMIR BUKVIC 1999
LA KWANG-SUB KIM 2001 (nr RAUL ROBLES 1995)
LV JOHN SCHUERHOLZ 2001 (fired BRODY HARVEY 1992)
POR JACOB COLE 1998
WAS LUIS MARTINEZ 2002 (retired WAYNE GORDON 2000)
ATL ROBINSON FERNANDEZ 1999
BRK DEWEY DOUGLAS 1998
MIA JOSE BRUNO 2001
MEM JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ 1994
NO TIM HILL 1993
CIN RON MORSE 1998
CLE CHARLES COLLINS 1998
DET CISCO CRUZ 2002 (retires PEDRO SANCHEZ 1997)
IND RAUL ROBLES 2001
PIT VICTOR HERNANDEZ 2000
STL RONALD ALLSTAIR (fired LUIS MARTINEZ 1996)
AUS BRODY HARVEY 2001
ELP AROGHETTO VALLONE 2000
SA DAN BANNATYNE 2002 (retires TIMOTEO PALGANI 2001)
DAL TAKUMA ENDO 2000
HOU STEPHEN WRIGHT 2000
2001 World Series Champion
Miami Banditos
Owner Cocaine Cartel
GM Jose Bruno
Manager Rory Abrams
2001 GM List
BOS IVAN VILLAREAL 1996
MON GUILLERMO AYALA 1996
NY KEN BOWLING 2001 (fired JOSE BRUNO 1997)
PHI JOHN HART 2001 (retired RON GARRISON 1998)
DC AARON CARMICHAEL 1997
CHI ASHTON CLAYTON 1994
DEN MATT EGGHEAD 2000
KC BILL JAMES 1997
OMA STEVE CURT STONE SHOCKEY 1997
MIN KRESIMIR BUKVIC 1999
LA KWANG-SUB KIM 2001 (nr RAUL ROBLES 1995)
LV JOHN SCHUERHOLZ 2001 (fired BRODY HARVEY 1992)
POR JACOB COLE 1998
WAS WAYNE GORDON 2000
ATL ROBINSON FERNANDEZ 1999
BRK DEWEY DOUGLAS 1998
MIA JOSE BRUNO 2001 (retired DAVE BAKER 1998)
MEM JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ 1994
NO TIM HILL 1993
CIN RON MORSE 1998
CLE CHARLES COLLINS 1998
DET PEDRO SANCHEZ 1997
IND RAUL ROBLES 2001 (fired KWANG-SUB KIM 1996)
PIT VICTOR HERNANDEZ 2000
STL LUIS MARTINEZ 1996
AUS BRODY HARVEY 2001 (nr TIMOTEO PALGANI 1996)
ELP AROGHETTO VALLONE 2000
SA TIMOTEO PALGANI (retires PABLO LARA 1993)
DAL TAKUMA ENDO 2000
HOU STEPHEN WRIGHT 2000
4 Star Admiral – Sherwood Johnston
Sherwood Johnston
Admirals legend Sherwood Johnston will be inducted as the first Four Star Admiral during our home opener on Wednesday, 4/3, against the Portland Fog Devils. In addition to throwing out the first pitch, Johnston will participate in a short ceremony in his honor prior to the game. Here is some of Johnston's bio.
1. As is well known, Johnston won 7 MVPs: 1972, 1974-1975, and 1978-1981. This is the most of any player in the history of EWB, though Don Kelly is quickly gaining on him with 6 *consecutive* MVPs, from 1985-1990. Not incidentally, Johnston has been an outspoken critic of Kelly, accusing him of not doing enough on issues of social justice, particularly those concerning African Americans. Also, Johnston portrays himself as more of a winner than Kelly, noting that he carried the Admirals to 4 World Championships whereas Kelly has won just one with El Paso. Some EWB fans accuse Johnston of being petty -- he's trying too hard to defend his status as the greatest EWB player ever -- while others think he has a point.
2. As is also well known, Johnston was the first player in EWB history to capture the triple crown, which he did in 1981. The only other player to win a triple crown is new Hall of Fame inductee Chris Henry, who did it in 1983.
3. Johnston was a 6th round draft pick in the 1970 EWB inaugural draft by the Austin Marshals. The Marshals released him just 10 days after the draft, before Johnston ever played a single game with them. Washington signed him to a free agent contract 5 days later, and the rest is history. Remember, the inaugural draft was conducted at a time when *no* player was on any EWB team yet. Thus, a 6th round draft pick should, ideally, be the 6th most highly valued player in your entire organization. The point is, Austin was crazy to release Johnston: releasing your 6th round pick in the inaugural draft is much more foolish than releasing a 6th round pick for an amateur draft (which, I know, a number of teams have done). And I say this regardless of the sort of career Johnston went on to have.
4. Johnston led the AL in HR 5 times, in RBI 6 times, and in BA once. His career HR numbers suffered because he was in his prime during the late 1970s "power outage": in 1977 he led the league with just 23 HR; in 1979 he led the league with just 26. If not for the power outage, it's reasonable to think Johnston might have made a run at 500 HR, though I doubt he would have quite gotten there. As it is, his career total was 369.
5. The most money Johnston ever made was a little less than $5M a year, after he signed a 3 year contract worth $14.5M following the 1982 season. Ironically, Johnston fell apart after signing this contract: after going for .295/31/94 in 1982, Johston fell to .249/4/41 in 1983 (in 409 at bats) and .265/5/46 in 1984 (in 420). Embarrassed by his performance, Johnston walked away from the final year of his mammoth contract, retiring after 1984 at the age of 37. That Johston walked away from a guaranteed $5M tells you the kind of proud competitor that he was.
6. Johnston was a solid postseason player, with lifetime stats of .287/14/72. Still, it should be noted that his postseason production was a bit below his regular season production.
7. Johnston was a 10 time All Star, which to my knowledge is the second highest total among position players, after Catcher Marcos Rodriguez, who went to 13 All Star games.
8. Today, Johnston is a senior advisor to the Admirals (which basiccally means he collects a paycheck from us and attends various charity functions) and owns multiple Ford Dealerships in the Seattle area. He continues to be a significant Pacific Northwest celebrity, and you'll see him here and there on television, talking on radio sports shows, attending baseball card signings, etc. You would regularly see television shots of him attending the 1989 World Series, won by the Admirals. And in fact, during game 2 of the series Johnston participated in a notorious interview with NBC color commentator Joe Garagiola, during which he appeared to be drunk and slurring his words. (Johnston denies that he had been drinking.)
1996 All Star Game Tribute – Houston
Houston Black Gold: A Look Back
(Doing the generic fact sheet, if anyone has more colorful writing to add to this year's All Star Tribute then please feel free to do so.)
Houston was announced as the site of the 1996 All Star Game edging out rival El Paso, and in no small part due to the power of Texas Governor George W. Bush. The Governor is part of the Bush family majority ownership and used to run the club as an active President before he followed his father into politics.
George H.W. Bush made his millions after moving to Texas and getting into the oil business.
After graduating from Yale, Bush moved his family to West Texas. His father's business connections proved useful when he ventured into the oil business, starting as a sales clerk[11] with Dresser Industries,[12] a subsidiary of Brown Brothers Harriman. His father had served on the board of directors there for 22 years. Bush started the Bush-Overby Oil Development company in 1951[13] and co-founded the Zapata Petroleum Corporation, an oil company which drilled in the Permian Basin in Texas, two years later. He was named president of the Zapata Offshore Company, a subsidiary which specialized in offshore drilling, in 1954.[11] The subsidiary became independent in 1958, so Bush moved the company from Midland, Texas to Houston.[12] He continued serving as president of the company until 1964, and later chairman until 1966, but his ambitions turned political.[12] By that time, Bush had become a millionaire.[11]
Bush's political desire was high but he was concerned about the liability of his wayward son, W. Bush Sr. was sure as hell not going to hand over the keys to his primary business but when he heard whispers of a new, national baseball league with a division to be in Texas, his ears perked up. This would be the perfect job to stash W. away in. W. was about ready to enter Harvard Business School and the job could be his when he was finished. Meanwhile Bush Sr. went after the best personnel, managers and trainers he could find, a trait W. would also carry.
With the exception of the impotent Aztecas who have never won a pennant or made it to the playoffs, the Texas Division is competitive year in and out. Houston has done well for themselves with 9 Playoff Appearances, 7 Texas Division Pennants and 1 World Series. In the 1970's Austin and Houston were the teams to beat, in the 1980's that probably goes to El Paso and Austin again in the 1990's.
Houston's only World Series in 1980 was a powerful team led by Bob Gibson Award Winner Ramiro Sandoval (Hall of Famer), Billy Martin and the league's best offense, scoring 4.9 R/G. Houston had to take out a 98 win Montreal team and then a 99 win Boston team to win the NL. In the World Series they would face the Dynasty of Washington. In 1980 Washington had won 4 of the last 6 World Series, and had never lost a World Series appearance. Houston was making their first appearance ever. The 1980 Admirals finished with 111 wins and was led by stars such as Sherwood Johnston, Garry Knowles, Charlie Olsen, Gizmo Delgado, Forest Thomas, and Brad Robertson. Johnston would end up winning the MVP and Delgado the Bob Gibson Award. The Admirals offense was impressive but their pitching was out of this world, they were holding opponents to a measly 3.7 R/G. Houston defied the odds and won in 6 games. During this season majority owner, George HW Bush, had ran a strong Presidential Campaign challenging Ronald Reagan before eventually dropping out. Soon after, Reagan had appointed him to run as VP in his bid. It was a good year for Houston's in baseball and politics. It was also at this point that HW appointed W a managing partner and President.
George HW Bush wanted the organization ran by competent ol' boys. Under his directive Houston persued former baseball guys with a reputation. The inaugural manager was Leo Durocher who served until his retirement in 1973. Durocher presided over a strong era in Houston's history and then left in the middle of it, to be replaced by Ralph Houk. Houk too had the name and quite a resume, already managing EWB teams prior to 1974. Houk had success in 1974 but faltered in the next two years and was fired. Felix Tapia, winner of the 1973 World Series with St. Louis came in from 1977-1979.
Perhaps the biggest managerial splash was from the hiring of Billy Martin in 1980. Martin came in and realized that the team was extraordinarily talented but need the proper button pushing. Martin was able to make his magic and led them to the World Series. Martin was the last hiring before W. took over. In the beginning, the two got along great, but things started falling apart in late 1982 and in 1983 W rashly fired Martin 1/4 into the season after Martin pissed on the Yale pennants in Bush's office (allegedly). Since then their public and bitter feud has raged on. Whenever the press needs a quote about W, they know Billy will provide.
W. hired Jack McKeon (mid '83-1987), Luis Serrano (1988-1994) before relinquishing his day to day baseball responsibilities to become the Texas Governor. Joseph Reed is currently the manager.
HALL OF FAME MEMBERS
SP Cesar Olivares - Olivares pitched for Houston in 1970-mid '72 when he was traded away. Olivares was the number 1 pick of the Black Gold in the Inaugual Draft.
SP Ramiro Sandoval - Sandoval was a stud and made his name in Houston and also was a primary part of the 1980 World Series.
TROPHY ROOM
1972 Texas Division Pennant
1973 Texas Division Pennant
1974 Texas Division Pennant
1980 Texas Division Pennant
1983 Texas Division Pennant
1994 Texas Division Pennant
1995 Texas Division Pennant
1980 WORLD SERIES CHAMPION
1972 Rookie of the Year, Christopher Good
1973 Bob Gibson Award, Rafael Ramirez
1979 Bob Gibson Award, Ramiro Sandoval
1980 Bob Gibson Award, Ramiro Sandoval
STADIUM
The Oil Fields of Houston is one the few parks with Artificial Turf, has been recently upgraded to a capacity of 44,000, and is generally considered a hitter's park. It's conducive to extra base hits and lefty HR's but is much harder for righties to hit HR's. The All Star festivities will kick off on Thursday June 20th. The HR derby participants have been named:
AL
Lloyd O'Neal, WAS
Paul Sims, CHI
Phil Bennett, KC
Tom Travis, LV
Rafael Valentin, BRK
NL
Tommy Brown, MON
Clinton Picot, NY
Arturo Borges, DET
Jim Huffman, HOU
Craig Belcher, BOS
1995 All Star Game Tribute – New Orleans
As of end of April 1995 New Orleans Dukes career record 1985-2089 .487 %
Seven years in the playoffs- 71-78-81-83-89-85
One World Series appearance- 1983 (Lost to Washington D.C.)
Record in 1983- 94-68 .580 %
Payroll in 1983- $ 15,405,200
The New Orleans Dukes have some history, but on the most part they are a very boring franchise. The Innagural Manager of the New Orleans Dukes was non other than Whitey Herzog, Whitey was the manager of New Orleans between the years of 1970-72 and with a record of 259-227 .533 %, he left after the 1972 season in which he so famously commented "The city of New Orleans is a beautiful place fun things to do and good fans, but this organization is run like shit and I will not waste my time with them."
Whitey knew something alot of managers came to find out, that New Orleans over the years was run like shit through there front office and ownership. The founding owner(s)of the Dukes were New Orleans own Truman Capote and Jerry Lee Lewis, Capote and Lewis founded the Dukes in 1969 for the innagural 1970 EWB season. The Dukes were named by Jerry Lee Lewis since he has majority ownership. He named the New Orleans franchise after his idol Duke Ellington, the famous piano player. He contiplated other names as the Fire and Flames, and Blues. Capote wanted to name the team the New Orleans Cold Blood, referring to his famous best seller In Cold Blood, but Lewis won out due to his majority ownership.
On a side note I personally think the New Orleans Cold Blood would have been the coolest name in EWB and I might add the number one selling merchandiseing item out there.
Capote and Lewis always clashed on the way to run a franchise and who to hire, also Lewis also didn't like the fact that Truman was homosexual and he always stated that " The only reason that queer is a partner of mine is that he's the only sum bitch that has any money that is from this city,"
"I tried Fats Domino, and Louis Armstrong who are from New Orleans, but they wanted nothin' to do with baseball, so I got stuck with a queer with money."
Jerry and Truman were not really big baseball fans and Truman only saw it as a money making opportunity and to give back to his birthplace city and he stated one time that "Jerry is a pedifile and a disgusting human being and one day I might write a biography on a man who fell in love with his 13 old cousin, oh that happened to Jerry what a travesty."
Like I was saying the 70's as a whole was not good to the Duke's except they made the playoffs in the 1971 season, but for the most part they finished either 4th or 5th in their division, but all that started to change when they drafted a young catcher out of Elk Grove, California in the 1976 EWB Draft, and as the commissioner Bart Giamatti said "With the first overall pick in the 1976 EWB Draft the New Orleans Dukes select catcher Vincent Carter." Things started to look up for the Dukes as most of the draft picks in the 70's and 80's hardly ever saw the majors.
They had a hired Bobby Joe Chevilier,a GM that was not qualified to be a GM, running the organization between 1970-75 and therefore ruined the forseeable future for the Dukes as his draft picks were awful and like I said hardly if any of them made it to the big leagues.
Jerry Lee Lewis only hired Whitey Herzog because, Tom Tiehen (Admirals Owner), suggested to him that Whitey was a good baseball mind. Other than that Jerry or Truman had no clue what to do and just hired Bobby Joe as he was a close friend of Jerry Lee's.
But in 1975 offseason they hired Tim Hill as GM, Tim is still the Dukes GM today, Tim was a coach for a small Community College in California who knew about this kid from Elk Grove, CA that had all the talent in the world, people compared him to Josh Gibson the great negro league catcher and since New Orleans had the first overall pick in the 1976 draft word got around about Tim and New Orleans just decided that he can find talent and he has got to better than Bobby Joe so we will give him our GM position. So in 1976 Tim Hill selected Vincent Carter and the rest is history.
One funny story on Vincent Carter is that Truman Capote came up with the nickname "Eager Beaver" In the middle if the 1983 season word got around that Vincent was a womenizer and had had alot of women over the years and word got back to Truman about this and he made the comment "My god he is eager as ever to get beaver, vagina makes me sick" so hence the nickname Vincent "Eager Beaver" Carter.
So when Tim Hill took over in 1976 he has had some memorable draft picks over the years, but the problem is he never got the financial backing to sign these kids so they never became a Duke, some notable first round draft picks
1976- Vincent Carter 8 years with N.O
1981- Greg Stevens 0 years with N.O
1982- Norman Hopkins 0 years with N.O
1984- Ernie Owen 1 1/2 years with N.O
New Orleans first ever draft pick in the 1970 Innagural EWB Draft was MR Whit "Stupendous" O' Lonegan.
They had some fairly decent years after the 1976 draft in 1978 they came in first and went to playoffs, in 1981 they came in first and went to the playoffs, and they had some 3rd place finishes in between there, but nothing prepared New Orleans for the run they made in the 1983 season.
There top hitters were the ORIGINAL bash brothers...
1B-3B Dave Page 1983 156 games at 1B, 2 at 3B
.289/43/132
C Vincent "Eager Beaver" Carter 1983 136 games at C
.349/45/124
They were the most feared duo in baseball hitting 3rd and 4th in the order. New Orleans got Dave Page from Minneapolis on 9-01-1980, Dave was drafted in 1978 in the 10th round by Minneapolis. Dave a AA mid to upper level prospect was dealt to New Orleans for 1B Alejandro Benvijes. Alejandro was a serviceable EWB player, but Tim Hill saw something in Dave like he saw in Vincent, not overall as good but could be a very good EWB hitter, and boy was he for New Orleans. Dave blossomed in New Orleans in 1982 and took off from there.
New Orleans pitching staff was pretty good, ALL five starters won 10 or more games, starting with their ace Christian Parker.
Parker- 17-10/3.68/115 K/88 BB/ 220. IP
Roberto Castro 15-9/3.94/66 K/35 BB/235. IP
Clinton Conner 15-11/3.70/76 K/83 BB/209.1 IP
Daniel Pena 12-6/4.18/160 K/84 BB/178.2 IP
Doug Peterson 10-7/5.16/53 K/38 BB/169.1 IP
CL- Christian Hall 3.27/28 SV/35K/12 BB/44 IP
Overall not your overpowering staff but they got the job done.
DID YOU KNOW that SP Joe MacGregor was a second year MR on that 83 team making 10 appearances out of the pen.
After the 83 season they made the playoffs in the 1984-85 seasons, but to no avail they could not get over the hump.
A sad note from the 1984 season, on August 25, 1984 Truman Capote died at his home.
Truman was 59 years old. The players overall liked Truman even though they barely knew him, all the players said was the checks never bounced. Jerry Lee still owns the team to date.