July 21, 1993: Spokane manager Tim Flannery ejected, but returns disguised as team mascot

It was an unseasonably cool summer evening in Spokane – in the mid-60s at gametime. But the cool breeze didn’t mean cooler heads would prevail during the final game of a four-game series between two cross-state rivals, the Bellingham Mariners and Spokane Indians.

“We kinda had a little bit of bad blood with [Bellingham],” Spokane manager Tim Flannery recalled.1

Bellingham, a Seattle Mariners affiliate, was leading the Northern Division of the Class A Northwest League with a 22-10 record. Spokane, a San Diego Padres affiliate, was 4½ games behind, in second place with an 18-15 record.

The Bellingham “Baby M’s” had nine future major leaguers on their roster2 and a formidable pitching staff,3 and they were on a six-game winning streak4 that included shellacking Spokane in the first three games of this series, 8-1, 6-3, and 7-2.

“Our guys knew at [this] point that we had to win or [Bellingham was] probably gonna win the league,” said Flannery, then in his first season as a pro manager.5

The starting pitchers, both right-handers in their early 20s, were Greg Keagle for the hometown Indians and Ivan Montane for the Mariners.6 Keagle was only a few weeks into his professional career, having been selected by the Padres in the sixth round of the June 1993 amateur draft from Florida International University.  The Mariners took Montane, a Miami Dade College product, in the ninth round in June 1992. He began his career in the Arizona Instructional League in 1992 before joining Bellingham for the 1993 season.

In the top of the second inning, Bellingham scored the game’s first run. During the bottom of the inning, Spokane’s Chris West hit an unusual inside-the-park homer to right-center. Bellingham’s center fielder, Michael Barger, dived for the ball but missed. While West sprinted around the bases, right fielder Keifer Rackley had trouble locating the ball. Due to soggy field conditions, the ball was “stuck in the ground” like a plugged golf ball, according to Rackley.7 West’s home run tied the score at 1-1.

The Mariners got two more runs in the top of the third. The Indians countered with two runs in the fourth to tie the game, 3-3.

Montane pitched four innings for Bellingham and was relieved by righty Greg Theron.

In the top of the fifth, Bellingham scored another three runs. Third baseman Eduardo Martínez connected for a double, and 6-foot-2-inch, 225-pound first baseman James Clifford came chugging down the third-base line to score the Mariners’ sixth run. Near the plate, he slammed into Indians catcher Leroy McKinnis – but the ball was being relayed to a cutoff man, so no play was being made at the plate.8 Home-plate umpire Jeff Jamieson immediately threw Clifford out of the game.

Clifford,9 a former linebacker for the University of Washington, said, “When I rounded third, [Bellingham manager Mike Goff] told me it was going to be a close play and that I’d better hurry. I was going as hard as I could and he [McKinnis] has his foot on the front half of the plate and I had no idea where the ball was.”10

After Clifford’s ejection, the benches cleared11 and words were exchanged as both teams stood along the third-base line. Flannery – who had played the final game of his 11-season major-league career with the Padres less than four years earlier – disagreed with Clifford’s depiction of the play, saying his catcher was “four feet in front of the plate.”12

The umpires warned both teams. Flannery went to the mound to settle his pitcher, Keagle, whom Flannery described as an occasional “hot head.”13

“Look, we’ll take care of this some other time,” Flannery told Keagle. “’Do not hit him.’ I said it like three times. The very first pitch, he drilled him.”14

The player on the receiving end was Bellingham’s catcher, Johnny Cardenas. Keagle was immediately ejected, and both benches emptied again. Two other Indians were ejected: Flannery and center fielder Earl Johnson.

“What I was mad about,” said Flannery, “and what got Earl ejected, was the Bellingham players were high-fiving Clifford.”15

Flannery stormed off the field and went to his office near the home dugout.

Later, the Indians’ mascot, “Otto the Spokanasaurus,”16 was performing a routine. After the skit, Mike Hynes, the mascot/performer, received an unusual request from team staffers.

“I was asked to come into the dugout after my skit,” Hynes remembered in 2025. “Indians staffers told me, ‘We need Tim [Flannery] out there to coach the rest of the game, and the only way he can do that is to be the mascot.’”17

Hynes/Otto was taken back to Flannery’s office, and the 35-year-old Flannery put on the costume. Dressed as the mascot, the manager went back to the dugout to check out the game.

“I went over to talk to some of the players and they started to recognize my voice,” Flannery said.18

So, Flannery swore his players and coaches to secrecy. “I think [I was only] making $18,000 a year,” Flannery said later. “I couldn’t get suspended.” But Spokane’s manager-turned-mascot certainly pushed his luck when Otto made a sign to “his” outfielders to position themselves in a “no doubles” defense.19

When Flannery was ejected, the score was Bellingham 6, Spokane 3. In the bottom of the sixth, Indians right fielder Brad Dandridge knocked in two runners with a double and Britton Scheibe smacked a single that brought in another run. With the three-run inning, the game was tied, 6-6, much to the delight of the incognito manager.

During the seventh-inning stretch, it was time to fulfill some official mascot duties: Flannery/Otto danced to “Tequila” and “Louie Louie” for the cheering crowd of 2,706.20

Entering the bottom of the ninth, the score was still tied. Flannery might have wondered if he’d have to endure extra innings inside the hot, smelly suit. With two outs and Spokane’s Chris Prieto21 on second, third baseman Dan Zanolla sent a liner to center to score Prieto, who slid into home, beating the tag.22 Final score: Spokane 7, Bellingham 6. The Indians’ reliever, Brad Kaufman, retired the side in order in the ninth and was credited with the win. The Mariners’ Dean Crow was the losing pitcher.

While leaving the field, Flannery/Otto walked past his wife and mother-in-law, who were sitting in the stands near the dugout.

“I said, ‘Hi honey, hi honey,” Flannery recalled. “And she goes, ‘Oh my God!’”23 His wife, Donna, doubled over laughing.

Flannery realized he couldn’t linger on the field because he expected the umpires would come to his office very soon.

“I sprint as fast as I can [to] the office to get that thing off,” said Flannery. “I had [the costume] off, I looked like I was still in my long johns and I played like I was still really mad when the umpires came.”24

The season ended with Bellingham winning the North Division with a 44-32 record, 2 games ahead of the second-place Everett Giants. Spokane finished 35-41 and came in third in the four-team division, 9 games behind Bellingham. The Northwest League championship was won by the Boise Hawks, a California Angels affiliate, who were the South Division champs (41-35). Boise beat Bellingham two games to none in the championship series.

Apparently Flannery and the rest of the Spokane Indians kept the mascot stunt under wraps for the remainder of the season. Flannery did not get suspended for returning to the field. But the story got out after the season ended. In late 1993, writer Tim Kurkjian provided a brief description of the events in an article summarizing the best and worst of the baseball season. In that article, Flannery-as-Otto was named Sports Illustrated’s Mascot of the Year.25

Flannery managed the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (High-A California League) in 1994, winning the league championship. In 1995 he took the helm for the Las Vegas Stars (Triple-A Pacific Coast League). Flannery stepped up to the “The Show,” serving as the third-base coach for the Padres from 1996 to 2002 under manager Bruce Bochy, a San Diego teammate during their playing careers. After Bochy became the San Francisco Giants’ manager, Flannery was asked to come north to be the third-base coach for the Giants. He filled that role from 2007 through 2014. Bochy and Flannery led the Giants to three World Series championships in five years (2010, 2012, and 2014).

Flannery, who began playing music in childhood, was well known for bringing his guitar along on baseball road trips. After retiring from baseball following the 2014 season, he had more time for family, music, surfing, and other interests. His band, Lunatic Fringe, has performed numerous benefit shows for charity. He has played with Jimmy Buffett, Bruce Hornsby, Jackson Browne, Garth Brooks, and others.26

Being a musician and showman may have helped Flannery pull off his caper as an undercover manager while dancing in front the crowd as “Otto.”

While reflecting on that summer night in 1993, Flannery said he would not take on the role of mascot again, saying:

“I swallowed a hair ball in that thing and about choked to death.”27

Author’s Note

Some readers may wonder if the Spokane team is still called the Indians. As of 2025, the answer is yes. Many high-school, college, and professional teams have changed racist names and offensive mascots. So why didn’t Spokane follow the lead of the American League’s Cleveland Indians, who dropped the “Indians” moniker and became the Guardians?

The answer is complex and nuanced, but the short answer is this: In Spokane there is a relationship between a sports organization and an Indigenous community that is similar to the respectful, long-standing relationship between Florida State University and the Seminole tribe.28

In 2006, the Spokane ballclub29 approached the Spokane Tribe of Indians30 and asked if it should change the name. After discussions between the tribe and ballclub, a collaboration developed and ultimately, the tribe recommended that the name be retained.

The club and the tribe have collaborated on youth ball-field improvements, cultural outreach programs, fish conservation efforts, installing permanent exhibits and interpretive signs about the Spokane Nation at the ballpark, and have included the Salish language31 on players’ uniforms. One of those jerseys is on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It is believed to be the first professional baseball uniform that features a Native American language.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Tom Brown and copy-edited by Len Levin. The author thanks John Fredland, Gary Belleville, and Kurt Blumenau for their assistance.

Sources and Photo Credits

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org for general player, team, and season data. Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet do not provide box scores of minor-league games, so articles and box scores from the Bellingham Herald and Spokane Spokesman-Review were referenced.

The baseball card images were downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Matt Monagan, “The Manager Who Got Ejected – Then Returned as the Team Mascot,” mlb.com, December 23, 2024. Accessed February 1, 2025, https://www.mlb.com/news/tim-flannery-gets-ejected-dresses-as-mascot.

The Oklahoma-born Flannery grew up in Anaheim, California. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the sixth round of the 1978 amateur draft from Chapman University (California). Flannery was an infielder for the Padres 1979-1989. His entire big-league playing career was with the Padres; he appeared in 972 games.

2 Bellingham’s future big-leaguers included position players Giomar Guevara and Raúl Ibañez and pitchers Rafael Carmona, Dean Crow, Ryan Franklin, Tim Harikkala, Matt Mantei, Marino Santana, and Bob Wolcott. Spokane had six future major-league players: Chris Prieto, Melvin Rosario, Jason Thompson, Glenn Dishman, Todd Erdos, and Greg Keagle (the last three were pitchers).

3 The Mariners had five pitchers who finished the 1993 season with ERAs under 3.00 (with a minimum of 35 innings pitched): Dean Crow (1.89), Brian Doughty (2.49), Bob Wolcott (2.64), Brian Sosa (2.83), and Ryan Franklin (2.92).

4 “Baby M’s Winning Streak Ends,” Bellingham (Washington) Herald, July 22, 1993: D1.

5 Monagan, “The Manager Who Got Ejected – Then Returned as the Team Mascot.”  The season was nearly half over at this point. The Northwest League was Class A – Short Season and had a schedule of 76 regular-season games.

6 Keagle pitched professionally from 1993 to 2005 (except for the 2004 season). Most of his career was spent in the minor leagues. He first appeared in the big leagues for the Detroit Tigers in 1996. His major-league career stats include: 46 games, 23 starts, a 6.76 ERA, and a 6-16 won-lost record, with 128 strikeouts in 171 2/3 innings pitched. Montane pitched in the minors through 2004, including 16 appearances at Triple-A Tacoma during the 2000 season and 15 appearances for Triple-A Norfolk in 2001. Not including three seasons in foreign leagues, his minor-league career stats include 269 games, 117 starts, a 4.76 ERA, and a 34-56 record. He threw 776 strikeouts over 837 2/3 innings.

7 Jim Meehan, “Indians Grab Wild Win Over Baby M’s,” Spokane (Washington) Spokesman-Review, July 22, 1993: C1.

8 Mike Grady, “Bellingham and Spokane on Collision Course After Incident,” Bellingham Herald, August 8, 1993: D5.

9 The Seattle-born and -raised Clifford was a star linebacker for the Washington Huskies and a member of the 1991 National College Football Championship team. (That year the Huskies were co-national champions with Miami of Florida.) For the Northwest League’s 1993 season, Clifford had the fifth highest OPS (.880), was seventh in slugging percentage (.482), and seventh in home runs (9). Clifford played in 512 minor-league games 1992-1998 (all with Seattle Mariners affiliates). His pro career OPS was .803. Later, Clifford worked as the director of strength and conditioning for the Mariners and the San Francisco Giants.

10 Meehan, “Indians Grab Wild Win Over Baby M’s.”

11 Grady, “Bellingham and Spokane on Collision Course After Incident.”

12 Meehan, “Indians Grab Wild Win Over Baby M’s.”

13 Monagan, “The Manager Who Got Ejected – Then Returned as the Team Mascot.”

14 Monagan, “The Manager Who Got Ejected – Then Returned as the Team Mascot.”

15 Meehan, “Indians Grab Wild Win Over Baby M’s.”

16 1993 was the debut season for Otto. Although it’s unclear exactly what a “Spokanasaurus” is, the Spokane Indians’ “Otto the Mascot” web page says: “He’s Big! He’s Blue! He’s the Reptile with Style!” “Otto the Mascot,” Spokane Indians, milb.com. Accessed February 19, 2025, https://www.milb.com/spokane/team/otto-the-mascot.

17 Mike Hynes, Spokane Indians mascot-performer, phone interview, May 6, 2025. Hynes said Flannery told him after the game that he had gained a new appreciation for mascots, and he found being a mascot was very hard work. Hynes worked for the Spokane Indians off and on from 1993 to 2008.

18 Doug Padilla, “Quakes Name Former Padres Infielder as Manager,” San Bernardino (California) County Sun, October 6, 1993: C3.

19 Monagan, “The Manager Who Got Ejected – Then Returned as the Team Mascot.”

20 John Blanchette, “Magic Moments: Indians Have Played Host to Some Bizarre Events,” Spokane Spokesman-Review, June 15, 2008: C7.

21 Prieto led the Northwest League in stolen bases (36) in 1993.

22 “Baby M’s Winning Streak Ends.”

23 Monagan, “The Manager Who Got Ejected – Then Returned as the Team Mascot.”

24 Monagan, “The Manager Who Got Ejected – Then Returned as the Team Mascot.”

25 Tim Kurkjian, “And What a Year It Was,” vault.si.com, October 4, 1993, https://vault.si.com/vault/1993/10/04/baseball.

26 Bob Webster, “Tim Flannery,” sabr.org. Accessed February 6, 2025, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/tim-flannery/.

27 Kurkjian, “And What a Year It Was.”

28 Florida State University’s sports teams are known as the Seminoles. In 2005 the Seminole Tribal Council unanimously approved FSU’s use of the name. The Seminole tribe of Florida works with FSU to ensure that the Seminole name, and use of logos, etc., are consistent with tribal values. “Relationship with Seminole Tribe of Florida – Florida State University.” Florida State University. Accessed February 21, 2025, https://www.fsu.edu/seminole-tribe.

29 Spokane’s pro baseball history dates back to 1892. The team has been called the Indians since 1903, and has had several different major-league affiliations. “A Brief History of the Spokane Indians,” milb.com. Accessed March 2, 2025, https://www.milb.com/spokane/history/teamhistory.

30 The Spokane Tribe of Indians, known as “The Children of the Sun,” once inhabited approximately 3 million acres in northeastern Washington state. President Rutherford B. Hayes established the 155,000-acre Spokane Indian Reservation in 1881. In 1951 the tribe became federally recognized and adopted a self-governance constitution. The tribe is headquartered in Wellpinit, Washington, about 50 miles northwest of Spokane. “The History of the Spokane Tribe of Indians,” Spokane Tribe of Indians, spokanetribe.com. Accessed February 21, 2025, https://www.spokanetribe.com/history/. Jack McNeel, “10 Things You Should Know About the Spokane Tribe,” Indian Country Today, September 13, 2018, https://ictnews.org/archive/10-things-know-spokane-tribe.

31 The native language of the Spokane tribe is a dialect of Interior Salish. Other tribes that are in the Interior Salish linguistic group include the Coeur d’ Alene, Kalispel, Colville, and Okanagan.