May 7, 1976: Tacoma beats Hawaii with forfeit over footwear

Battles on the field and in the standings between the Hawaii Islanders and Tacoma Twins carried over from 1975 and into the following season.

Hawaii, a San Diego Padres affiliate, produced the best record in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1975, finishing 14 games ahead of Tacoma in the West Division, and then beat Salt Lake City in the playoffs for the league title. The Islanders’ 88 regular-season wins included a game against the Twins that had to be finished three times. With Tacoma manager Cal Ermer lodging a successful protest of a June 8 game – and having strong words with Hawaii manager Roy Hartsfield in the process – the game had to be resumed two days later. A mistake in the Islanders’ batting order resulted in another protest upheld by PCL President Roy Jackson and another resumption, this one nearly two months later.1

The rivalry didn’t thaw in 1976, when Tacoma made its first trip to play the Islanders at brand-new Aloha Stadium, built to replace half-century-old Honolulu Stadium.

Before the Twins’ visit, Spokane and Sacramento had come in for weeklong series, and neither team fussed about a rule instigated by Mackay Yanagisawa, the stadium manager. Known as the Shogun of Sports in Hawaii and an organizer of college football’s Hula and Aloha Bowls,2 Yanagisawa barred metal spikes, wanting to get as many years as possible out of the Astroturf surface. He said, “We are taking precautions with the taxpayers’ money. We want this surface to last 10 to 12 years, not five,” referring to the length of the warranty from Monsanto, the maker of Astroturf.3

But the Twins had their own organizational rule regarding spikes, causing a clash for their first game in the new ballpark on a Friday night in early May. The Islanders had scheduled 25-cent-beer night in addition to pregame ceremonies to honor Aiea High School’s state champion baseball team. Rod Ohira of the Honolulu Star Bulletin predicted additional “pre-game fireworks” when he got wind that the Twins would not comply with the no-spikes rule.4

The order had come from George Brophy, farm director for the parent Minnesota Twins, which required all pitchers to wear metal cleats for safety reasons. “Hawaii built a major-league stadium, but it has a bush-league rule,” Brophy told Ohira. “We have a right to protect the well-being of our players.”5

Neither Tacoma nor Hawaii had gotten off to a good start in 1976, both teams under .500 and at the bottom of the PCL West standings. Southpaw Bill Butler of Tacoma and right-hander Jerry Johnson of Hawaii were the scheduled starters for the series opener. The Twins’ roster included Randy Bass, later a home-run champion in the Japan Central League;6 slugger Bob Gorinski;7 and outfielder Willie Norwood.

Besides Johnson, Hawaii had veterans Eddie Watt, Chuck Hartenstein, and Diego Seguí on their pitching staff. Former number-one draft pick Bill Almon, at 23, was an up-and-comer while Joe Pepitone was making a final stab at baseball at 35. After last playing professionally in 1973 with three teams, Pepitone got another shot with the Islanders. Hartsfield platooned Pepitone, using him as a designated hitter against right-handed pitching.

Also trying to revive a career interrupted by injury was 25-year-old Bobby Valentine. A shortstop and outfielder with the California Angels in 1973, Valentine was off to a great start that season before a gruesome broken leg robbed him of much of his promise. The Padres traded for him after the 1975 season and assigned him to Hawaii.

It appears no one tried to resolve the spikes issue before it headed to an on-field showdown. After Johnson retired the Twins without a run in the top of the first, Butler took the mound and began his warm-up pitches. Out came a pair of groundskeepers and Kenneth Saito, head of security for the ballpark. Upon confirming that Butler had metal cleats, Saito signaled the press box, and the center-field lights went out at 7:47 P.M.8 Umpire Bill Lawson gave the Islanders 15 minutes to turn the lights on. The wait was longer than that – during which time a barefoot fan jumped onto the field and ran the bases – and at 8:17 Lawson announced that the Twins had won the game by forfeit.9

League President Jackson sided with the Twins: “Nothing was being done by Tacoma in violation of any baseball rule. Tacoma is perfectly within its rights for a pitcher to wear normal baseball shoes. There is no rule in the baseball book that denies that right.”10

Even Johnson of the Islanders concurred. “It’s a stupid rule,” he said. “You slip and slide too much with the rubber cleats but you’ve just got to do it here. I have to admire an organization that sticks up for its players, though.”11

The 9-0 victory broke a four-game losing streak for Tacoma along with a two-game winning streak for Hawaii, but the question left hanging was how the rest of the series would proceed. The teams had six more games ahead of them.

On Saturday, May 9, Hawaii Governor George Ariyoshi got into the fray. Since Aloha Stadium was owned by the state, Ariyoshi had the authority to settle the issue. The governor granted permission for Tacoma pitchers to wear regular spikes,12 and the series resumed with Hawaii beating Tacoma 5-1 on Saturday night.

The kerfuffle still wasn’t settled, though. Later that night, Ariyoshi and stadium officials amended the rule to allow pitchers to use metal spikes that were no longer than one-quarter inch. On Sunday – another 5-1 Hawaii win – pitchers for both teams wore metal spikes, but the stadium authority said the quarter-inch limit would be enforced starting the next night. Ermer objected: “Shoes with one-quarter-inch spikes are considered to be worn out and we usually throw those away. … They have no traction, no bite.”13

The controversy took a new turn after a phone call to Monsanto, which said conventional baseball shoes with spikes up to a half-inch long could be used without affecting the warranty.14

Monsanto’s assurance that the warranty still applied perhaps allowed the Islanders to save face as they backed down. Earlier, Yanagisawa had been quoted by Honolulu sportswriter Ferd Borsch as saying they wanted the surface “to last 10 to 12 years, not five,” meaning he was looking beyond the standard warranty.15 The Islanders kept the spike restriction in place for nonpitchers, but it was becoming apparent that they would not win this battle. Bobby Bragan, in his first year as president of the National Association, said, “I can tell you this much. Honolulu can forget about major-league baseball ever coming out there if you can’t wear baseball shoes.”16

The series continued with an 11-10 Tacoma win in 10 innings on Monday night in Pepitone’s final pro game (he was released the following Thursday).17 Pepitone had a hit, was hit by a pitch, scored two runs, and even stole a base. The Twins won again Tuesday as Gorinski hit a pair of three-run homers.

The Wednesday game was another extra-inning slugfest. Hawaii had a 6-3 lead in the eighth when Valentine scored from second on a wild pitch. Tacoma catcher Tom Epperly chased the ball to the backstop, barreled into it, and fell through an unlatched gate. Lawson, the plate umpire, let play continue since the ball was still on the field even though Epperly wasn’t.

Though shaken up, Epperly stayed in the game and scored a run as part of a game-tying rally in the ninth. This time, he slipped and hurt his back crossing the plate. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was checked and released. Ermer wasn’t pleased, noting that the stadium policy on cleats had been modified only for pitchers. “He was hurting after the fall but said he wanted to remain in the game,” Ermer carped. “Then he slips on home plate wearing those rubber spikes. The spike thing compounds everything. It’s ridiculous, rubber on rubber. I should have protested the game when he fell just for the heck of it.”18

Ermer didn’t protest the game, which Hawaii won in the 10th inning. The Islanders took the series finale the next night, giving them three wins against the Twins that week. The outcome of the Friday forfeit was pending since Hawaii had filed a protest. It wasn’t until June that Bragan overruled the forfeit, decreeing that the circumstances were “without precedent” and that neither team was at fault. Nearly two months later, however, the executive committee of the minor leagues overruled Bragan, stating that the forfeit was a league matter and should not be appealed outside the PCL.19

The game became significant when Hawaii and Tacoma came down to the wire in the West Division. On the final day of the regular season, the Twins lost and the Islanders won, forcing a one-game tiebreaker. Hawaii won that game and then beat Salt Lake City for the second year in a row to win the league championship.

The Islanders reached the championship series in the next three years and again in 1984, although the mid-1970s titles were the only ones in team history, which lasted through 1987.

Aloha Stadium continued as a football mecca with bowl games and the National Football League Pro Bowl (All-Star Game) for many years. In addition to the Islanders, it hosted an exhibition series between the Padres and Seibu Lions in 1997 and a regular-season series between the Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in 1997.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Joe Wancho and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information.

Notes

1 “Ross in Sticky Situation,” Honolulu Advertiser, June 10, 1975: D1; “Islanders Lose Another Protest,” Honululu Advertiser, June 18, 1975: D1. The initial protest in the June 8, 1975, game came when Ermer had umpires inspect Hawaii pitcher Gary Ross for a sticky substance. Hartsfield found Ermer to be too aggressive in his search and filed a protest of his own, charging that Ermer had jerked the cap off Ross’s head. PCL President Jackson worked out of Pennsylvania, a fact Hartsfield brought up after Jackson upheld Tacoma’s second protest: “I don’t see how a man 3,000 miles away can be so smart while his umpires on the scene can be so dumb.” Regardless of the distance, Jackson ruled correctly on both protests.

2 “University of Hawaii Sports Circle of Honor: Mackay Yanagisawa,” HawaiiAthletics.com, https://hawaiiathletics.com/honors/hall-of-fame/mackay-yanagisawa/97. Accessed August 2024.

3 Ferd Borsch, “Metal Spikes Give Twins Forfeit on Islander Turf,” The Sporting News, May 22, 1976: 40.

4 Rod Ohira, “Islanders Home Tonight,” Honolulu Star Bulletin, May 7, 1976: D1. According to Ohira, the Islanders provided visiting teams with soccer shoes, which have rubber cleats.

5 Rod Ohira, “Islanders Are Innocent Victims” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 8, 1976: B1.

6 Clyde Haberman, “Japanese Protect Oh’s Record,” New York Times, October 25, 1985: 49. Bass hit 54 home runs for Hanshin in 1985, one fewer than the league record held by Sadaharu Oh. Hanshin played Tokyo, managed by Oh, in the final game of the season and Bass was intentionally walked four times. He was eventually inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

7 Larry Batson, Minneapolis Tribune, November 15, 1977: B1. Gorinski had a fan club in the bleachers at Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota in 1977, a group who had one time or another worked in the shoe department of a nearby store and called themselves the Shoe Dogs. The name transferred to Gorinski when he was made an honorary Shoe Dog, described by one member of the group as “your basic underdog with a lot of class.” Gorinski hit three home runs in 54 games with the Minnesota Twins in 1977, his only year in the majors.

8 Sunset in Honolulu on May 7, 1976, was at 6:59 P.M. “May 1976,” SunriseSunset.com, https://tinyurl.com/4syt4cru. Accessed August 2024.

9 “Islanders Forfeit by 2 Feet,” Ferd Borsch, Honolulu Advertiser, May 8, 1976: A1; “Cleats Cut Out Forfeit for Twins,” Tacoma (Washington) News-Tribune, May 8, 1976: B1.

10 “Cleats Cut Out Forfeit for Twins.”

11 “Islanders Are Innocent Victims.”

12 “T-Twins Trail 1-0,” Tacoma News-Tribune, May 9, 1976: F1.

13 “Hawaiian Punch Spikes T-Twins,” Tacoma News-Tribune, May 10, 1976: B2.

14 “Baseball Spikes OK for Aloha Stadium,” Honolulu Advertiser, May 11, 1976: F1.

15 Borsch, “Metal Spikes Give Twins Forfeit on Islander Turf.”

16 Borsch, “Metal Spikes Give Twins Forfeit on Islander Turf.” How seriously Hawaii was being considered for the major leagues is nebulous, but Bragan let them know that the spike rule would be a deal-breaker should the state ever seek a team.

17 “Pepitone Cut,” Honolulu Advertiser, Friday, May 14, 1976: F1. Done with baseball, Pepitone embarked on a career with the American Professional Slo-Pitch Softball League in 1977.

18 “Twins Un-Locked by Hulas,” Tacoma News-Tribune, May 13, 1976: B10.

19 “Bragan Opposes Forfeit in ‘No-Spikes’ Contest,” The Sporting News, July 10, 1976: 34; “Islander Items,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 14, 1976: B1.