Two Of Tacoma’s Wildest Franchise Records

Thanks to those of you who tuned in for our replay of Anthony Misiewicz‘s no-hit bid last weekend. It was fun to re-watch the game and participate in the chat.

Looking forward, we are seeing more reports of optimism about the start of some form of a Major League Baseball season. Looks like late June or early July is being targeted for a to-be-determined shortened schedule of real games – details are all just speculation at this point, because the situation changes daily, but it’s nice to hear positive reports.

As for Minor League Baseball, including the Pacific Coast League, we can’t do anything until the major leagues figure out their plan, so it’s more wait wait wait. Are you guys tired of waiting yet? Sheesh.

—

OK, let’s get to some baseball dorkery. I was entertained by a recent ESPN article identifying one wild franchise record for each of the 30 major league teams. It caused me to think, what is the “wildest” franchise record for the Tacoma?

Tacoma has several franchise pitching records that fall into the category of “never going to be broken,” because the team has been around since 1960. Pitching was different then, when starters were expected to frequently complete games. The 17 complete games pitched by Ron Herbel for the 1963 Tacoma Giants is a record that is not going to be broken. Neither is the 239 innings pitched by Eddie Fisher in 1960.

How about sacrifice bunts? Gil Garrido had 18 of them for the 1961 Tacoma Giants. The entire 2019 Tacoma Rainiers team had 11 sacrifice bunts. Nobody really bunts any more – especially since we have the designated hitter, which the 1961 Giants did not have.

For “wildest” record, let’s ignore the unattainable records and look at ones that are feasible in today’s game. I like these two:

On August 17, 1971 Tacoma Cubs pitcher Burt Hooton struck out 19 batters against the Eugene Emeralds. That’s also the PCL record (done three times – last in 1974). Pitch counts are monitored these days, but strikeout rates are at an all-time high, so is this an impossible record? Maybe some day we’ll get a phenom who makes a run at it.

Here’s another one: it is currently the most home run friendly era in PCL history, yet Tacoma has only had a player hit two home runs in an inning twice in franchise history – and they both occurred within a two week period in 1978. Garry Smith did it on April 21 against Spokane, and Roy Staiger performed the trick on May 4 against San Jose. It’s wild that this was done twice in 13 days and hasn’t been done in 42 years since. It should happen again one of these days.

Two that aren’t records, but are fun oddities from the record book: Tacoma was involved in five no-hitters during the 2001 through 2003 seasons and has not seen one since, and the last triple play involving the Rainiers (turning one or hitting into one) occurred way back in 1995.

OK, putting the record book back on the shelf. Hopefully it won’t accumulate too much dust before we need it again.

Links:

• With increasing hope that baseball will be played this summer, Seattle Times columnist Matt Calkins allowed himself to get excited.
• Mariners catcher Tom Murphy verbalized the thoughts of many who work in baseball when he summed up the quarantine as “kind of like the start of a lousy retirement.”
• Lauren Smith has a story on Mariners coach Jared Sandberg, checking in on what the Olympia native is doing during the shutdown.
• Baseball America has a Mariners draft preview. There is still no date set for the 2020 draft, which will be the oddest ever, since the players being drafted haven’t been, um, playing.
• Larry Stone remembered the day Roger Clemens struck out 20 Mariners, setting a new (at the time) MLB record.
• If you have Mariners tickets, the team has figured out it’s refund plan.

Advertisement

No-Hit Bid: A Rainiers Replay, This Sunday

You’re not going to believe this, but we are going to watch a Rainiers game on Sunday.

Online, anyway.

Sunday at 1:35 we are revisiting Anthony Misiewicz‘s eight innings of no-hit pitching against Iowa last August, which we will be streaming on the Tacoma Rainiers Facebook page. An event page has been set up right here.

Anthony has already participated along with manager Daren Brown in the preview video, which was very well done by our creative staff.

I’ll be involved in the Facebook event on Sunday, commenting and answering any questions in the chat. There will be other guests and giveaways, as well.

Hope to see you there!

Links:

• Mariners infielder Dee Gordon is the winner of the 2020 Fred Hutchinson Award. Here’s the story from The News Tribune, and the release from the Fred Hutchinson Center.
• The Times caught up with Mariners coach Manny Acta, who provided some insight into how the Latin American players are coping with the stoppage.
• A story on MLB teams and their most common trade partners reveals that the Mariners and Tampa Bay are not the most prolific trade partners of recent history – but are swiftly moving up the list.
• Steve Dalkowski passed away this week, at age 80. Once considered the fastest pitcher of all-time, Dalkowski was the real-life embodiment of the hard throwing minor leaguer with no control.
• Someday we’ll be thankful that this quarantine gave a man named Eric Chesterton at MLB.com the spare time to compose an article on the back story of each MLB team’s mascot.

The Wait Goes On, And Other News

We’re still in a holding pattern throughout baseball – and especially in minor league baseball.

Leagues are making all kinds of plans to prepare for many different contingencies, any of which may or may not happen. There is absolutely no way of knowing when baseball will start up again in the minor leagues.

It is especially frustrating for leaders in the sport, because it’s completely out of their hands. Even with a rain situation at Cheney Stadium there is a decision making process that ends with a result. Not in this case – we are in charge of nothing.

So all we can do is wait, follow our local government’s lead and stay safe, and hope for the best.

It’s also comforting to remember that it is only April 17th, and there is plenty of time to get baseball going again this year if our situation improves enough to allow it.

—

Damaso Garcia passed away the other day, at the age of 63.

Garcia was a two-time American League All-Star second baseman with the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1980s, typically hitting for a strong average with lots of stolen bases.

Prior to that, he was a Pacific Coast League Co-Champion with the Tacoma Yankees in 1978.

Tacoma was a New York Yankees affiliate for just one season, and it was a memorable one for those who were here to see it. The major league Yankees were defending World Series champions going into the season, and they won it again in 1978.

Meanwhile, the Tacoma club went 80-57 and was named PCL Co-Champions along with Albuquerque when rain washed away the playoffs in one of the stranger episodes in league history.

Garcia missed the PCL playoffs drama, because he was in New York for the MLB drama. Garcia spent most of the 1978 season in Tacoma, appearing in 102 PCL games at the ripe age of 21. He was blocked in the Yankees organization by Willie Randolph, so they eventually traded him to Toronto.

—

Speaking of the late-1970s Yankees teams, I recently watched another of those old World Series games on MLB Network. This time it was Yankees-Dodgers from 1977, and the national TV broadcast team was Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell. That was a duo!

Links:

• The Seattle Times has a two-part series on the upcoming MLB Draft, how it will be different this year, and how the Mariners are adjusting. Here’s the first part and here is the second part which includes names of potential first round picks.
• M’s new pitching coach Pete Woodworth talked about what the pitchers are doing during the break, and remains optimistic about his staff.
• The Mariners PR blog caught up with a few of their minor league pitchers to see what they are doing right now. Potential future Rainiers Aaron Fletcher, Wyatt Mills, Brandon Williamson, and Penn Murfee chime in.
• Wednesday was Jackie Robinson Day. The Seattle Times has a brief history of the event, and the Mariners put out a video of a roundtable discussion featuring several of their players along with host Dave Sims.
• ESPN has a story on the passing of Damaso Garcia, which includes the details of the 1979 trade of Garcia from the Yankees to Toronto.
• Baseball America lays out the worst case scenario for Minor League Baseball. Gee, thanks a lot guys.
• In the PCL, the Rainiers were supposed to be the visiting team for Sacramento’s home opener on Tuesday. The River Cats had some fun with it, setting up a drive-thru ballpark concession stand in the parking lot and simulating the game via MLB The Show. Sacramento claims they won, 5-4, although we are officially protesting the results due to what had to have been excessive cheating.
• Here’s a story from Omaha detailing how the Storm Chasers are handling the financial problems caused by the shutdown.
• It snowed in Albuquerque the day before their previously scheduled home opener but hey, no one cared. They’re just waiting to see what happens like everyone else.
• Here’s a feature from Oklahoma City on the Dodgers groundskeeper and his dog. It seems that at many PCL ballparks the groundskeeper is the only person there.
• Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski wandered around outside the ballpark on what should have been the Grizzlies home opener.
• And we have a story from one of the Salt Lake City newspapers on the Bees cancelled home opener.

No Opener Yet, So We’ll Revisit A.J. Zapp’s Big Day

Normally this is the most anticipated day of the year, but here we are on our previously scheduled Tacoma Rainiers opening day doing… not much. At least it is beautiful outside, so hopefully you can get outdoors for a walk or something.

Eventually we’ll have a real opening day, complete with baseball and everything. I can’t wait – but we are all going to have to.

—

In looking at the responses to the last post about most memorable Rainiers games, the most-mentioned game was what we will now call the A.J. Zapp Game. Surprisingly, this is not the game in which he homered over the giant wall in center.

On August 20, 2004 the Rainiers were tied with Fresno, 7-7, and had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. At the time Tacoma was in first place by a half-game over Portland.

A left-handed hitter, Zapp faced Fresno closer (and future Tacoma Rainier) David Aardsma and worked a full count. He then pulled a pitch to right field for a walk-off grand slam, giving the Rainiers an 11-7 win.

Already a memorable moment right there – a walk-off grand slam isn’t exactly common – this salami gave Zapp nine RBI in the game. That’s right: he drove in nine of Tacoma’s 11 runs.

Nobody has had that many RBI in a single game since – Chris Herrmann came close with a seven RBI game against Albuquerque in 2018. The nine RBI is believed to be a single-game Tacoma franchise record (this is where we insert the disclaimer that many individual single-game franchise records are unknown due to a lack of record-keeping from 1966-1990).

Zapp would finish the season with 29 home runs and 101 RBI. As for the Rainiers, the rest of the season was a bummer: a stretch of nine straight games against Portland began the very next day, and the Beavers won six of the nine to overtake the Rainiers, eventually winning the division title by four games.

—

There are ongoing discussions about possibly starting MLB in May, with all teams playing in Arizona. Games would be played in empty stadiums, bringing the rest of America some much needed TV sports. Everything is all in the initial planning phase and is very tentative, with health safety being the No. 1 consideration.

We don’t know how this would impact the minor leagues, but there is one huge item to keep in mind: MLB can play in empty parks because it generates big TV money. Minor League Baseball teams generate most of their revenue from ticket and concession sales. In the minors we need the ballparks open. That being said, the major league teams will want their minor league prospects playing in games, getting reps, and improving as players as soon as possible.

There are just a ton of moving parts in all of this, with safety being first and foremost. It’s impossible to project what might happen.

Links:

• Mariners beat reporter Ryan Divish presents a balanced take on the possible Arizona plan for MLB.
• Columnist Larry Stone shares his opinion on the plan: he thinks it is bonkers.
• Right before the roster freeze the Mariners parted ways with pitcher Cody Anderson, who reportedly asked for his release. We had him listed as a possible member of the 2020 Rainiers.
• The Times caught up with Mariners hitting coach Tim Laker.
• You, too, can do the coronavirus workout plan of Mariners catcher Tom Murphy. I, however, will continue doing nothing.
• Fun story from Larry Stone on modern artists getting to design their own versions of classic Topps baseball cards, including Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro.
• In the PCL, we have an article from Iowa that explains how difficult the current situation is for minor league teams.

 

Most Memorable Rainiers Games

I don’t know about you, but all of this down time with no sports on TV has led me to the MLB Network’s Greatest Games series, which I have been enjoying much more than I expected.

It started with the replay of the Mariners 1995 ALDS game against the Yankees, with Edgar’s double. We’ve all seen/heard that one hit countless times, but watching the entire game was a different experience.

Then I watched the Yankees – Red Sox “Bucky Dent Game” from 1978, which spurred me to re-read one of the favorite baseball books of my youth, “The Bronx Zoo” by Sparky Lyle.

It has continued… Marlins – Indians Game Seven when Edgar Renteria comes through in the 11th inning, and then the Jack Morris goes to the Hall of Fame game. Apparently the Kirk Gibson game is coming soon.

Remembering the old players is a big part of the fun. I saw Rafael Belliard get a hit in the last game of the World Series for Atlanta, had the “oh yeah I remember him” moment, and one google search later learn that he spent 17 years – seventeen years! – as an infrequently used utility infielder.

It all leads me to the most memorable Tacoma Rainiers games, and whenever I ponder that question two games immediately come to mind – for very different reasons. There is the Scott Savastano game, and the Tommy Everidge game.

Scott Savastano was a utility infielder who never reached the majors, but on July 18-19, 2012 he won the longest game in Tacoma history by pitching a scoreless top of the 18th inning, and then hitting a game ending home run in the bottom of the 18th. The game is etched in the minds of all who made it to nearly 1 AM at Cheney Stadium that night/morning. Here’s the post from that one.

Tommy Everidge was a Sacramento River Cats player when he became part of Tacoma’s franchise history in 2010. Playing first base in the decisive Game Five of the Pacific Conference Championship Series, Everidge unwittingly tossed a live ball into the stands allowing the go-ahead run to score in the seventh inning. Tacoma went on to win the game, 4-1, and then sweep Memphis in the PCL Finals. More on that here.

Those two games are just unforgettable for me. Do you have an most memorable Tacoma Rainiers game?

Links:

• With MLB facing an obvious cash flow problem, the teams are going to cut down their draft expenses – which could mean a lot of top high school talents go to college instead. Baseball America has a look at the situation.
• Last Thursday on what would have been Mariners Opening Day, Larry Stone caught up with Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims of the broadcast team.
• Ryan Divish posted a Mariners opening day lineup and roster, just for fun.
• Marco Gonzales was supposed to be the Mariners opening day starter. The Times checked in on him. Would like to add that I enjoyed it the one time I drove Highway 93 through Nevada – sorry, Marco.
• Projected Rainiers multi-position player Sam Haggerty was the subject of an interview by an Albuquerque TV station (he played at the University of New Mexico).
• Fangraphs has an article on anticipated Rainiers reliever Sam Delaplane and his wipeout slider – which Delaplane considers to be more of a curveball.
• Potential Rainiers corner infielder Nick Zammarelli told his hometown newspaper what has been doing during the shutdown.
• MLB has decided to pay minor league players a weekly stipend through the end of May, and will re-evaluate at that time.
• Former Rainiers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo – who is paid very well by the Texas Rangers – is assisting by giving $1000 to each of the Rangers 190 minor league players.
• Fun stuff: ESPN.com selected a “one-year wonder” for each major league team. They identified a player who came out of nowhere, had a huge season, and was never able to replicate it. It’s two different clicks: National League and American League. You’ll have to be an older fan to guess the Mariners player.
• The Austin, TX paper has a good story on the Round Rock Express and how the franchise is coping with the shutdown.
• PCL slugger A.J. Reed quietly retired earlier this month. Just 26-years-old, Reed must have decided he didn’t want to pursue a career overseas.
• Scary stuff: Josh Mauer – the Pawtucket Red Sox broadcaster who called the Triple-A All-Star Game from Cheney Stadium with me in 2017 – almost certainly has Covid-19 but can’t get tested in Rhode Island. His story serves as an example of how quickly and unknowingly it can spread.