When you look beneath the surface, however, the details reveal that this game was not just another in the yearly run of major league baseball playoff games, and these teams were not typical playoff combatants. The team names themselves are revealing, as Bobby Tolan skippered the St. Petersburg Pelicans and Dick Williams managed the West Palm Beach Tropics. Additionally, the game was played on February 4, 1990, at the neutral site of Terry Park in Fort Myers, Florida. Finally, Elias Sosa and Lamar Johnson were both 39 years old, Ivan De Jesus was 37, and Toby Harrah checked in at 41.

GETTING STARTED

The Senior Professional Baseball Association (SPBA) may have had roots in nostalgia, but it was organized for a less esoteric reason: to make money for real estate investor Jim Morley.1 At the time of his inspiration, reportedly on a beach in Australia in the winter of 1989, Morley was aware of the fan interest (and dollars) such golfing legends as Chi Chi Rodriguez, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus were generating on the Senior PGA Tour. Why wouldn’t the recently retired legends of baseball generate similar interest if fans got another opportunity to see them ply their craft?

Morley decided to find out. He approached the task of organizing a league using a decidedly different approach than other alternate sports leagues have utilized. Morley decided to line up players first. He obtained a list of all players who had ever played in a major league baseball game, highlighted players who had debuted between 1969 and 1978 as a proxy for age, and mailed cards to those players asking of their interest in playing in a league for “players over thirty-five, catchers over thirty-two.”2 Responses far exceeded his expectations, as he ultimately received positive responses from over 700 players.

With players lined up, Morley’s next order of business was to find places to play. He decided Florida offered potential in the form of spring training ballparks that sat empty during most of the winter months. Assisted by his brother, he toured the state to meet with the city officials who ran those parks. He found a receptive audience.

By now, the 1989 major league baseball season was fast approaching. Morley had succeeded in creating a buzz in the baseball community. He began to field calls from people interested in owning teams in the new league, and recruited famous reserve clause challenger Curt Flood as league commissioner. Morley selected seven owners from among the 73 inquiries he received, and the Senior Professional Baseball Association was announced with an eight-team lineup (Morley himself owned the eighth).

Morley had accomplished the unlikely, if not impossible, task of creating a baseball league from a crazy idea and his own drive and ambition. He had found players, parks, and owners. Could he find fans?

The initial divisional alignment of the Senior Professional Baseball Association was as follows:

Northern Division

• St. Petersburg Pelicans
• Bradenton Explorers
• Orlando Juice
• Winter Haven Super Sox

Southern Division

• West Palm Beach Tropics
• Fort Myers Sun Sox
• Gold Coast Suns
• St. Lucie Legends

The seven other owners, by and large, were thirty-something men with backgrounds similar to Morley’s.3 They each (Morley excepted) committed approximately $1 million for the privilege of joining the Senior League, with the money allocated to franchise fees ($175,000), player salaries, stadium leases, and league expenses.4 Two of the original seven owners, Joe Sprung of the St. Lucie Legends and Philip Breen of the Orlando Juice, would have a significant impact on the league’s fortunes. The league elected to hold an inaugural draft to allocate talent. Each team selected 15 players in a draft on August 9, 1989, with the remainder of the rosters filled out by undrafted free agents.5 League opening day was set for November 1, 1989, with 72 games scheduled from November through January.

Each team’s salary was capped at $550,000 for the season, with individual player salaries ranging from $2,000 to $15,000 per month.6 The league signed a three-year television contract with Prime Network, a cable provider, to provide additional revenue and exposure.7 The contract with Prime stipulated a minimum of six teams in the league, a fact that would loom large in the association’s second season.8

SEASON ONE

The SPBA kicked off Opening Day with a full schedule on November 1. Opening day crowds ranged from 3,304 at West Palm Beach to 1,242 at Orlando, an average of 2,069 fans per game. Morley believed that average attendance of 2,000 per game represented a break-even point, so things appeared on track after Day One.9 However, the next day’s figures dropped ominously to an average of only 639 for the four scheduled games. It remained to be seen whether fans would support the league to a sufficient degree.

After one week of play, the St. Petersburg Pelicans stood in first place in the Northern Division with a 4–1 record, followed by the Orlando Juice at 3–2 and the Bradenton Explorers at 2–3. Winter Haven struggled from the start, winning only one of their first five. Remarkably, the first week effectively foreshadowed the season in this division, as St. Petersburg, Bradenton, and Orlando would fight for the division crown all season while Winter Haven would ultimately slide to irrelevance.

In the Southern Division, Dick Williams’s West Palm Beach Tropics started a perfect 5–0. The Fort Myers Sun Sox also started well, going 4–1. The St. Lucie Legends and the Gold Coast Suns, conversely, did not, with the Legends going 1–4 and the Suns 0–5. The opening week was representative of the Southern Division seasons well, as West Palm Beach would end the season with the league’s best record at 52–20. Fort Myers would battle the Tropics for first place throughout the month of November, but lost 11 of 13 after November 28 to fade to a distant second. They finished a nonetheless respectable 37–35. Gold Coast and St. Lucie remained also-rans, with the Legends the league doormat with a final record of 20–51. The Northern Division pennant race did serve up season-long excitement, despite the fact that the Pelicans ultimately led wire-to-wire. The most serious challenge to the Pelicans came from the Juice, who ultimately fell to third place after a late season surge from the Explorers, who won 10 of their last 14 games.

The end of season standings looked like this:

The league faced a dilemma as the regular season wound down; major league training camps were scheduled to open across Florida. Thus the home stadiums for the most of the teams were unavailable. The only exception was in Fort Myers, as Terry Park was not a training site for a big-league club; the end-of-season tournament would be held there.

It was originally announced that the playoff format would consist of games between the Northern Division first place team and the Southern Division second place team and vice versa, with the championship game a matchup between the winners of the first two games. After the announcement, the league decided to revise that plan. The one-game-and-out format had already diminished the importance of the regular season, and the neutral site for the playoffs denied the league’s elite the benefit of home field advantage. The revised plan called for a one-game playoff between Fort Myers and Bradenton (the two second place teams), the winner of which would take on St. Petersburg (the first place team with the worse record) in one game. The winner of that second round game would face the West Palm Beach Tropics in the championship game.10

Bradenton defeated Fort Myers 4–3 on February 1 to advance to the second round. St. Petersburg handled the Bradenton Explorers 9–2 to set up the championship game between the league’s two best teams. St. Petersburg jumped out to a 9–0 lead and would ultimately triumph 12–4, setting up the scene that opened this article.

What follows is a team-by-team capsule summary of Season One:

WEST PALM BEACH TROPICS

• Manager: Dick Williams
• Team Performance: Finished 1st in Southern Division, 1st in Runs Scored, 1st in Runs Allowed
• Most Recognizable Players: OF Mickey Rivers, DH Dave Kingman, RP Rollie Fingers, RP Al Hrabosky
• Offensive Highlights: SS Ron Washington batted .359 with five homers and 73 RBIs (led league), and was named league Most Valuable Player. OF Mickey Rivers finished second in the league in BA with a .366 figure. 3B Toby Harrah led the league in OBP.
• Pitching Highlights: Juan Eichelberger went 11–5 with a 2.90 ERA, placing second in the league in wins. While Fingers and Hrabosky were ineffective, lefty Will McEnaney had a 1.67 ERA out of the pen.
• Fun Fact: Dave Kingman had a lifetime average of .236 in the majors, but batted .271 in the senior league. However, the league BA was .303, so contact hitting still wasn’t “Kong’s” game at age 41.

FORT MYERS SUN SOX

• Manager: Pat Dobson
• Team Performance: Finished 2nd in Southern Division, 2nd in Runs Scored, 3rd in Runs Allowed
• Most Recognizable Players: DH/OF Amos Otis, P Dennis Leonard
• Offensive Highlights: 42-year-old Amos Otis hit 11 homers to go with 52 RBI and a .332 average. SS Tim Ireland led the league in BA with .374. 2B Kim Allen led the league with 33 SB and chipped in a .330 BA.
• Pitching Highlights: No pitcher won more than five games, but Rich Gale was the most effective starter (4–5, 3.39 ERA). Dave LaRoche and Steve Luebbers anchored an effective relief corps.
• Fun Fact: Tim Ireland pulled off the hidden ball trick three times.

GOLD COAST SUNS

• Manager: Earl Weaver
• Team Performance: Finished 3rd in Southern Division, 4th in Runs Scored, 7th in Runs Allowed
• Most Recognizable Players: SS Bert Campaneris, OF Cesar Cedeño, P Mike Cuellar, P Joaquin Andujar
• Offensive Highlights: 47-year-old Bert Campaneris stole 16 bases to lead team. 1B Orlando Gonzalez and OF Cedeño both hit .331 to share team lead.
• Pitching Highlights: Most of the staff struggled, as team allowed over seven runs per game. Andujar was very effective (1.31 ERA) but in only eight starts.
• Fun Fact: Mike Cuellar was oldest pitcher in the league at age 52. Of course it showed, as he allowed 58 base runners in only 25.1 innings in his combined efforts with Gold Coast and Winter Haven.

ST. LUCIE LEGENDS

• Manager: Graig Nettles (2–9), Bobby Bonds (18–42)
• Team Performance: Finished 4th in Southern Division, 7th in Runs Scored, 8th in Runs Allowed
• Most Recognizable Players: 3B Nettles, OF Bonds, OF George Foster, P Vida Blue
• Offensive Highlights: While with St. Lucie, 1B Willie Aikens had 12 HR, 58 RBI, and batted .345 to mount serious challenge for league MVP. George Foster finished third in the league with 11 home runs, giving St. Lucie two of the top three (Aikens was second).
• Pitching Highlights: No pitchers were very effective. Blue had a 4.87 ERA in 11 starts. Reliever Al Holland allowed 90 base runners in only 47 innings for a 7.74 ERA.
• Fun Fact: As the worst run-preventing team in the league, St. Lucie gave significant innings to pitchers with seriously high ERAs. Roy Branch had a 10.22 ERA in 24.7 innings, Tommy Moore 9.82 ERA in 40.3 innings, and Ed Ricks a 14.47 ERA in 32.3 innings.

ST. PETERSBURG PELICANS **LEAGUE CHAMPIONS**

• Manager: Bobby Tolan
• Team Performance: Finished 1st in Northern Division, 3rd in Runs Scored, 5th in Runs Allowed
• Most Recognizable Players: OF Ron LeFlore, P Dock Ellis
• Offensive Highlights: OF Steve Henderson (5 HR, 55 RBI, .352 BA) and OF Steve Kemp (.329 BA) paced the offense. 1B Lamar Johnson hit six HR with 22 RBI and a .372 BA in only 86 AB.
• Pitching Highlights: Twin aces Milt Wilcox (12–3, 3.19 ERA) and Jon Matlack (10–2, 4.10 ERA) led team’s staff. Swingman Elias Sosa had a 2.90 ERA. 44 year-old Dock Ellis had a 1.76 ERA in 30 innings and served as team pitching coach.
• Fun Fact: Pelicans defeated the West Palm Beach Tropics in seven games out of 10. They led the Northern Division wire-to-wire.

BRADENTON EXPLORERS

• Manager: Clete Boyer
• Team Performance: Finished 2nd in Southern Division, 6th in Runs Scored, 2nd in Runs Allowed
• Most Recognizable Players: OF Ron LeFlore, 1B Graig Nettles
• Offensive Highlights: 3B Jim Morrison led league with 17 HR to go along with 55 RBI. 1B Graig Nettles came over from St. Lucie in a trade to bat .330. OF Al Cowens batted .390 in 82 AB.
• Pitching Highlights: Starter Mickey Mahler went 8–7, 3.49 ERA. Swingman Danny Boone had a 4–3 record and one save with a 3.16 ERA.
• Fun Fact: P Danny Boone became one of three former Senior League players to play in the Major Leagues after the inaugural SPBA season. He appeared in four games for the Orioles in 1990.

ORLANDO JUICE

• Manager: Gates Brown (9–12), Dyar Miller (28–23)
• Team Performance: Finished 3rd in Northern Division, 5th in Runs Scored, 4th in Runs Allowed
• Most Recognizable Players: OF Jose Cruz, P Vida Blue, DH Bill Madlock
• Offensive Highlights: OF Jose Cruz hit .306 with 10 HR and 49 RBI. OF Jerry Martin hit .326, in 227 AB had 5 HR, 39 RBI. 1B Randy Bass had five HR and a .393 BA in only 107 AB.
• Pitching Highlights: Bob Galasso was most effective starter at 9–2, 2.67 ERA. Pete Falcone was 10–3, 4.41 ERA. Forty-year-old Vida Blue had a 7.20 ERA in 25 innings.
• Fun Fact: As the 1989-90 season ended, owner Philip Breen disappeared as the FBI pursued him on charges of embezzlement.

WINTER HAVEN SUPER SOX

• Manager: Bill Lee (1–6), Ed Nottle (16–17), Leon Roberts (12–20)
• Team Performance: Finished 4th in Northern Division, 8th in Runs Scored, 6th in Runs Allowed
• Most Recognizable Players: P Ferguson Jenkins, P Bill Lee, P Bill Campbell
• Offensive Highlights: OF Gene Richards (.326), Al Bumbry (.340), and Tony Scott (.360) all hit for high average. Player-Manager Leon Roberts hit eight HR to lead team.
• Pitching Highlights: RP Bill Campbell led the league in ERA with a sparkling 2.12 in 72 IP. Forty-six-year-old Fergie Jenkins could only manage 5.55 ERA in 86 IP.
• Fun Fact: Playing at the Red Sox former spring training site, the team attempted to appeal to fans by employing former Red Sox players such as Butch Hobson, Bernie Carbo, Cecil Cooper, Bill Lee, and Rick Wise. It didn’t work, as the Super Sox continually struggled with poor attendance.

SEASON TWO

As Opening Day for the next season approached, it was apparent that the league was in trouble. Franchise instability, always a challenge for fledgling leagues, had reared its head in a big way. St. Lucie and Orlando were history given their issues late in the first season. Winter Haven and Gold Coast similarly folded operations. This left only four of the original eight franchises in place: St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, and Bradenton (who relocated to Daytona Beach).

The league countered this attrition by adding two teams in the west. Following the spring training site concept, the Sun City Rays were added in Phoenix, Arizona. Another team was added in San Bernardino, California. The San Bernardino Pride would play on the field utilized by the Seattle Mariners’ California League team. The divisional structure of the first season was eliminated, as two divisions of three teams each would not have been a workable setup.

Each of the returning franchises could carry over 15 players from season to season. The minimum age for non-catchers was reduced from 35 to 34, the salary cap was reduced from $550,000 per team to $350,000, and maximum player salary was dropped from $15,000 per month to $10,000. The regular season schedule was reduced from 72 games to 56, and a weeklong break was added at Christmas.11

With its Season Two lineup nominally in place, the league was confronted with another challenge. The West Palm Beach Tropics, who had been the winningest, best-attended team in the first season, were unable to reach agreement on a lease for Municipal Stadium. This proved to be too much for Don Sider, Tropics owner, and he folded the team. The SPBA had now dropped below the six-team minimum required by the Prime TV contract. In response, the league elected to keep the Tropics, now renamed the Florida Tropics, as a traveling team without a home field. The Tropics would be formed from the pool of players not signed or retained by the other teams.12

The league opened its second season on November 23, 1990, and reached the Christmas break without any major faux pas. However, the financial red ink had continued unabated from the first season. During the Christmas break, a dispute between Fort Myers owners over responsibility for operating expenses resulted in the disbandment of that team. This proved to be the deathblow for the SPBA, as the league no longer met the terms of its television contract. Jim Morley announced the cessation of league operations on December 26, 1990. Morley discussed plans to reopen operations the next season with a mixture of Japanese League players, rehabilitating major leaguers, and senior players, but the words had to ring hollow to all but the most committed (or delusional) league devotees. The Senior Professional Baseball Association was dead.

WHY DID THE LEAGUE FAIL?

There were several contributing factors to the failure of the senior league. Among these were poor franchise location decisions, the lack of a viable financial plan, and the failure to implement a vetting process for prospective owners.

Other than visiting potential team sites personally in the summer and fall of 1989, Jim Morley did not appear to perform any real analysis of the Florida markets where he would base his teams. As time would prove, some of the cities that served as franchise bases did not demonstrate enough fan interest to support a team due to population and/or stadium location and condition. Additionally, it is questionable whether even with better decisions on franchise locations the Florida market could have supported eight teams.

Morley also lacked a solid financial plan for the league. He frequently referred to a break-even point of 2,000 fans per game, but a simple analysis reveals that number to be insufficient. Each team had a salary cap of $550,000, and television and merchandising revenues of $60,000. That means that just to cover salaries, each team would have to generate $490,000 in revenue from their 36 home games. The Tropics’ ticket prices ranged from $3 to $5.50. Using that top figure, a 2,000-person crowd would generate $11,000. For 36 games, that would equate to $396,000, or nearly a $100,000 gap between revenues and player salaries. When management salaries, transportation expenses, per diem allowances, and league overhead are included, it appears even 2,000 fans per game would have been woefully insufficient to approach financial solvency.

The original ownership group also contributed to the league’s problems. St. Lucie owner Joe Sprung routinely struggled to generate sufficient cash to pay his team’s expenses. Orlando owner Philip Breen’s disappearance while being pursued by the FBI at the end of season one also contributed to league instability. Finally, the dispute between Fort Myers’ owners became the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

In the end, though, the league’s failure was in all likelihood not due to any of the above factors. The concept of a senior league for baseball players may be fundamentally flawed. Baseball is a younger man’s game. Per renowned baseball forecaster Ron Shandler, “age never regresses.”13 Fay Vincent similarly opined in a 1990 Sporting News interview, “I’m always skeptical whether competitive baseball is compatible with the human body at that age (40).”14 Jim Morley based his premise for the Senior League on the success of the Senior PGA Tour. However, as Peter King of Sports Illustrated pointed out in a 1989 article, senior golfers play on easier courses, with shorter holes, wider fairways, slower greens, and thinner rough.15 Adjustments like this, such as shortening the base paths or bringing in the fences dramatically, are not possible in baseball without noticeably altering the game. Therefore, the idea that a significant population of aged players can play at a level of baseball comparable to, and reminiscent of, their years as major league regulars doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Despite the marked success of some of the senior league players, the idea that the senior league would play a brand of baseball that would resonate with a fan base nostalgic for another glimpse of their heroes on the diamond was probably doomed from the start.

SUMMARY

Jim Morley took the SPBA from concept to reality in only about ten months. By any test, this stands as a remarkable achievement. In so doing, however, he failed to conduct detailed analysis of financial prospects, potential fan interest, qualifications of ownership candidates, and likely standards of play by an aged player population. Each of these omissions contributed to the league’s ultimate failure. Ironically, had Morley conducted the aforementioned analyses, it is likely the senior league would never have become a reality. The players who got one last chance to play the game professionally, the fans who followed the teams, and those (like this writer) who continue to revisit this fascinating footnote to baseball history can be glad that Jim Morley energetically (and, yes, foolishly) pursued his crazy vision.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER has been a baseball fan since receiving his first pack of baseball cards in 1974. An engineer by profession, Bill recently began writing about baseball in addition to avidly reading about and watching the game. He has a particular interest in the strategic aspects of team building and roster construction.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks are due to Jay Walker, who graciously provided access to The Senior League Encyclopedia. The comprehensive statistical record documented in this work greatly facilitated the research for this article.

Notes

1. David Whitford, Extra Innings, Harper Collins Publishers, 1991, 5.

2. Ibid., 10.

3. G. Jay Walker, The Senior League Encyclopedia, Baseball Press Books, 1998, 5.

4. David Whitford, Extra Innings, Harper Collins Publishers, 1991, 139.

5. G. Jay Walker, The Senior League Encyclopedia, Baseball Press Books, 1998, 6.

6. Ibid., 7.

7. Ibid., 7.

8. Peter Golenbock, The Forever Boys, Carol Publishing Group, 1991, 10.

9. Ibid., 2.

10. Ibid., 366.

11. G. Jay Walker, The Senior League Encyclopedia, Baseball Press Books, 1998, 9.

12. Ibid., 9.

13. Ron Shandler, Ron Shandler’s 2016 Baseball Forecaster, Triumph

Books LLC, 2015, 18.

14. The Sporting News, February 12, 1990, 10.

15. Peter King, “Seniority Run Rampant,” Sports Illustrated, July 17, 1989, www.si.com/vault/1989/07/17/106780446/seniority-run-rampant (accessed online February 25, 2016).

Edgar Renteria started the Marlins’ walkoff “tradition” with the game-winner off Roberto Hernandez in the first game of the 1997 NLDS. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

The Marlins won the World Series both times they qualified for the postseason in 1997 and 2003. This was not accomplished without a little drama: Five of the Marlins 22 postseason victories were walk-offs.1 Remarkably, they did not allow a walk-off in any of their 11 losses.2

National League Division Series

Edgar Renteria
September 30, 1997
Game One versus San Francisco off Roberto Hernandez3,4

Neither team did much offensively for the first six innings. Kevin Brown retired the first 14 hitters before allowing a Stan Javier two-out, infield single to short in the top of the fifth inning. Javier was caught stealing second to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first, the Marlins put together a two-out rally against Giants starter Kirk Rueter. Gary Sheffield walked and Bobby Bonilla’s line drive single to left moved Sheffield to third. However, Moises Alou flied out to center fielder Daryl Hamilton to end the inning.

In the top of the sixth, Rueter helped himself with a two-out single to left. “[Jeff] Conine made a diving stab of Daryl Hamilton’s ground ball down the line, saving a run and preserving a scoreless tie” wrote Steve Gietschier. Edgar Renteria hit a line drive single to center and Sheffield walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth. However, Bonilla lined out to Hamilton and Alou and Conine flied out to Javier to end the scoring threat. Both teams scored on leadoff seventh-inning home runs. Bill Mueller hit one to right off Brown and Charles Johnson to left-center off Rueter.

Sheffield lined a double to left and Bonilla was intentionally walked by relief pitcher Julian Tavarez with one out in the bottom of the eighth. Alou grounded into an around-the-horn double play to third baseman Mueller to end another Marlins opportunity.5

Tavarez started the bottom of ninth inning. Conine singled to left and Johnson was hit by the first pitch. Tavarez was replaced by Roberto Hernandez. Rookie Craig Counsell’s sacrifice bunt to Mueller moved Conine and Johnson up to third and second, respectively. Jim Eisenreich, pinch-hitting for Dennis Cook, was intentionally walked to load the bases. Devon White’s fielder’s choice, Jeff Kent to Brian Johnson, reloaded the bases with two outs for Renteria. The second-year shortstop got ahead of Hernandez 2–1 and singled to right to score Charles Johnson to end the game.6 It was Renteria’s first career postseason walk-off and the Marlins won its first postseason game in franchise history.

According to SFGATE’s Henry Schulman, “Hernandez came in with a fastball for strike one, then threw another sinking fastball on the outside corner. Renteria, a fine clutch hitter, slapped the other way into right field.” Schulman added, “Renteria hit a fastball from Roberto Hernandez, who is paid to blow pitches by hitters like Renteria. But Hernandez fell behind Renteria in the count, tilting the odds in the hitter’s favor. Hernandez knew he had to throw the ball over the plate with the bases full. ‘I’m not thinking about giving up a hit,’ he said. ‘I’m thinking about not giving up a walk. Normally a guy like that is somewhat aggressive and he tries to pull it. Then you get a ground ball to third. But he did the right thing and went with the pitch.’”

Charles Nobles wrote in The New York Times: “Ahead in the count, Edgar Renteria shut out the mushrooming delirium around him and decided to guess. With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game, the Florida Marlins shortstop simply looked for a fastball on the outside part of the plate.” Renteria said to Nobles that “He got me out on sinkers the last time I faced him. But after he threw two of them for balls, I thought it was a good time to gamble.”

Moises Alou had the second walk-off hit in a row off reliever Roberto Hernandez, becoming the hero of NLDS Game Two in 1997. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

Moises Alou
October 1, 1997
Game Two versus San Francisco off Roberto Hernandez7

Game Two was a slugfest compared to the first, with four lead changes. Marlins had led 2–1 after the first inning, but the Giants tied it in the second. Both teams scored in the third. They took a lead in the top of the fourth before the Marlins retook it in the bottom half on a Kurt Abbott ground-ball double play to shortstop Jose Vizcaino. The Marlins left the bases loaded at the end of the fourth. Sheffield extended the lead to 6–4 on a sixth inning, two-out solo home run to left off Tavarez. Barry Bonds’s one-out, seventh-inning double to right off starter Livan Hernandez scored Vizcaino and narrowed the margin to 6–5.

The Marlins’ ninth-inning defense deserted Florida closer Robb Nen. Hamilton reached on Conine’s fielding error as the latter was trying to flip a ground ball to Nen (and bobbled it) to start off the ninth. Javier’s infield single to Renteria moved Hamilton into scoring position. Nen recovered, striking out Javier looking and getting Bonds to force Javier at second. However, Counsell’s throwing error on the double play attempt allowed Hamilton to score and tie the game.

Giants manager Felipe Alou made numerous changes for the bottom of the ninth, starting the inning again with Roberto Hernandez on the mound. Rookie Dante Powell entered the game, playing center field. J.T. Snow also entered the game, playing first, and Kent moved from first to second, replacing Mark Lewis.8 Sheffield managed a leadoff single off Hernandez and stole second with Bonilla at the plate. Bonilla walked and Moises Alou was due up for the Marlins. On a 1–1 pitch, Alou lined a single to Powell.9 The center fielder’s throw hit off to the side of the pitcher’s mound and Sheffield scored.10 This was Alou’s first postseason walk-off.11 The Marlins led the best-of-five series, 2–0.12

Alou said to SFGATE’s Bruce Jenkins: “The guy throws so hard, you’ve got to think fastball. But he threw me a breaking ball that stayed over the plate.’ He added to SFGATE’s Nancy Gay that, “This was pretty big, but I think there should be a few more big hits coming in the postseason, hopefully. It just felt great to deliver at the right time.” Alou was quoted by The Times’s Nobles: “Those last at-bats didn’t mean anything. My thought was ‘I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.’”

Ivan Rodriguez
October 3, 2003
Game Three versus San Francisco off Tim Worrell13

The Marlins scored first on a one-out, two-run Ivan Rodriguez home run off starter Rueter.14 The Giants tied the score in the sixth. Bonds and Edgaro Alfonzo reached on consecutive singles to start the inning. Bonds scored on Jose Cruz Jr.’s fielder’s-choice groundout to third baseman Mike Lowell. Pinch-hitting for Rueter, Pedro Feliz singled to left, scoring Alfonzo to even the score. Giants also had opportunities to take the lead.15

The Giants took the lead in the eleventh off of Braden Looper. Rich Aurilia walked on five pitches start the inning. Bonds reached on Alex Gonzalez’s error on a force attempt. Alfonzo singled in Aurilia for the go ahead run. Neifi Perez was intentionally walked with one out to load the bases. Cruz Jr. forced Bonds at home and Snow grounded to second to end the inning.

The Marlins also took advantage of the Giants’ defense in the bottom half. Conine reached on Cruz Jr.’s error on a fly ball to start the inning.16 Alex Gonzalez walked facing Tim Worrell. Cruz Jr. said to SFGATE’s Ray Ratto, “I should have caught it, and I didn’t.” Schulman wrote, “[Conine’s fly] ball hit the heel of Cruz’ glove as he closed it too soon.” Rookie Miguel Cabrera sacrificed to Worrell, moving the runners up one base, and Juan Pierre was intentionally walked to load the bases. Luis Castillo forced Conine at home, reloading the bases. Worrell got ahead of Rodriguez 1–2, but he lined a single to right, scoring Gonzalez and Pierre to win the game.17 This was Rodriguez’s first postseason walk-off.18 According SFGATE’s Henry Schulman, “Worrell got ahead 1–2 before I-Rod lined a fastball into right field. Gonzalez jogged in with the tying run. Cruz Jr. fielded the ball quickly, but any hope of a redemptive throw home was dashed by the sight of the mercury-quick Pierre rounding third with on his way home with the winning run.” The Times’s Angel Hermoso wrote: “Rodriguez batted next, aware of Worrell’s slider and control. Rodriguez said later that when he fell behind in the count, 1–2, he reminded himself to hang back and try to slap a single. He did, hitting a line drive single to right.” Hermoso added, “Cruz’s throw had a high arc and was off-line.”

World Series

Edgar Renteria
October 26, 1997
Game Seven versus Cleveland off Charles Nagy

The Marlins had an opportunity against Indians rookie starter Jaret Wright in the first inning.19 Renteria hit a ground-ball double to right and Sheffield walked with one out. However, Darren Daulton grounded to second baseman Tony Fernandez, and Sheffield was automatically called out for running out of the baseline, ending the scoring threat.

The Indians opened the scoring in the third off of Leiter. Jim Thome’s full-count walk and Marquis Grissom’s ground-ball single opened the inning. Wright’s sacrifice bunt to Daulton moved Thome to third and Grissom to second. Fernandez’s line drive single to center scored Thome and Grissom to give the Indians a 2–0 lead. Right fielder Manny Ramirez’s walk moved Fernandez into scoring position, but David Justice struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Indians had another opportunity in the fifth. Omar Vizquel reached on an infield single to Renteria with one out and stole second. Ramirez was intentionally walked and Vizquel stole third with two outs. Justice ended another Indians scoring chance looking at a called third strike.

Meanwhile, the Marlins went hitless off of Wright between the second and sixth innings. Daulton reached third on Ramirez’s error with two out in the sixth, but Alou flied out to Grissom to end the inning. The Marlins knocked out Wright in the seventh. Bonilla hit Wright’s first pitch of the inning to right-center to cut the lead in half, 2–1. Indians manager Mike Hargrove pulled Wright from the game after a one-out walk to Counsell.

The Indians opened up the ninth with Antonio Alfonseca walking Matt Williams. Catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. forced Williams at second. Marlins manager Jim Leyland brought in left-handed pitcher Felix Heredia to face the left-handed hitter Thome. Thome singled to right, advancing Alomar Jr. to third. Leyland replaced Heredia with Nen to face Grissom. Grissom hit a ground ball to Renteria, who threw Alomar Jr. out at home. Nen retired rookie pinch-hitter Brian Giles on a flyout to Alou end the ninth.

Hargrove went to Jose Mesa for his second straight save opportunity and a chance to clinch the Indians’ first World Championship since 1948. Alou led off the inning with a line-drive single to center and Johnson’s single to Ramirez advanced Alou to third with one out. Counsell’s sacrifice fly to Ramirez scored Alou to tie the game.

Renteria and Sheffield reached on consecutive singles with one out in the tenth. However, Mesa struck out pinch-hitter John Cangelosi looking and Charles Nagy induced Alou to fly out to Ramirez to end the tenth.20

In the eleventh, Williams led off the inning again with a walk, but Alomar Jr. bunted into a fielder’s choice to pitcher Jay Powell. Thome ended the inning with a double play ground ball to Counsell.

Bonilla singled up the middle to Grissom leading off the bottom of the eleventh. Gregg Zaun popped up a bunt to Nagy. Counsell reached on Fernandez’s fielding error with one out and advanced Bonilla to third. Replays showed that Bonilla was trying to avoid getting hit by Counsell’s ground ball and it may have shielded Fernandez. The Times’s Jack Curry wrote, “Fernandez declined to blame Bonilla for screening him and said that the ball did not take a bad hop. He just missed it.” Fernandez said about his eleventh-inning fielding error: “I didn’t want to make the error, but the Lord allowed it to happen” (Cleary 1997). Eisenreich was intentionally walked to load the bases. Center fielder Devon White’s ground ball to Fernandez forced Bonilla at home for the second out and reloaded the bases with Renteria due up for the Marlins.

After taking a called strike to start the at-bat, Renteria lined a single to center field past Nagy’s glove to score Counsell and dramatically end the World Series.21,22 It was Renteria’s second career postseason walk-off.23 Indians broadcaster Herb Score said: “Line drive, base hit, game over. And so that’s the season for 1997” (Terry Pluto).24 The Times’s Murray Chass quoted Hargrove: “I thought Charlie had good stuff tonight. He made a great pitch to Devon White to jam him and get a ground ball out at home plate. He made a great pitch to Renteria and he hit it where nobody was standing. Those are the breaks of the game.” Renteria said, “I have been in those situations before so I wasn’t nervous.” He added: “’I felt relaxed” (Perrotto 22). Renteria also said, “that Nagy made a tactical mistake in the fateful 11th: ‘He threw me a slider on the first pitch. I took it for a strike. I knew he was going to throw me another slider and I hit it. Too many breaking pitches’” (Carter and Sloan 198). “‘The [Edgar] Renteria line drive,’ [Nagy] said. ‘It tipped off my glove. I really wish I could have caught it’” (Pluto).

Alex Gonzalez
October 22, 2003
Game Four versus New York Yankees off Jeff Weaver25

The Marlins took the early lead in the first inning off starting pitcher Roger Clemens, scoring three runs on five hits.26 Cabrera hit a one-out, two-run home run, scoring Rodriguez. Derrek Lee’s two-out single to right scored Conine.

The Yankees responded in the top of the second with three straight singles off starter Carl Pavano. Aaron Boone’s two-out sacrifice fly to Pierre scored Bernie Williams. The Yankees got Jason Giambi into scoring position with two outs in the third and the Marlins got Lee to second in the fourth with two outs, but neither scored. Neither team had any scoring opportunities between the sixth and eighth innings.

Marlins manager Jack McKeon called on Ugueth Urbina for his second save opportunity of the series. Williams singled to Pierre and Hideki Matsui walked on six pitches with one out. Jorge Posada forced Matsui at second and moved Williams to third with two outs.

Yankees manager Joe Torre made a pair of moves. He had Ruben Sierra pinch-hit for Karim Garcia and David Dellucci pinch-run for Posada. Torre’s moves paid off for the Yankees. Sierra’s line-drive triple to right easily scored Williams from third and Dellucci from first base to tie the game at three. Pierre led off with a walk and moved to second on a Castillo sacrifice bunt to pitcher Jose Contreras in the bottom of the tenth. However, Contreras struck out Rodriguez and Cabrera swinging to end the threat.

The Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eleventh on a Williams double, Matsui walk, and an intentional pass to pinch-hitter Juan Rivera. Looper relieved Chad Fox, struck out Boone swinging, and induced catcher John Flaherty to pop up to Lee to end the inning.

Yankees pitcher Jeff Weaver was in his second inning of relief in the bottom of the twelfth and Gonzalez was leading off the inning, entering the at-bat 1-for-13 (.077) in the series with six strikeouts.27,28 Gonzalez worked a full count and lined Weaver’s eighth pitch of the at bat, curving into the left field corner for a home run.29,30 This was Gonzalez’s first postseason walk-off. Gonzalez was quoted by the Associated Press after the game: “I had a feeling” (Wilkins 2003). Gonzalez said in Jack Curry’s Game Four recap for The Times: “When I hit the ball, I said, ‘Get up ball, get up ball.’” The Times’s Dave Caldwell wrote that “Gonzalez worked a full count against Weaver, who then tried to throw a sinker, down and away. It caught too much of the plate, and Gonzalez sent it down the left-field line and over the fence.” Weaver said in Caldwell’s article: “He did what he was supposed to do, I guess. I feel like I was making good pitches. One just got away.” Weaver added: “I felt fine. After not throwing to a lot of hitters for a long time, it was nice to get in there.” Curry also wrote that Weaver, “was in the game because Manager Joe Torre wanted to use a long man for extra innings.” Caldwell also noted that “Torre had to use Jeff Weaver, the seldom-used right hander who had such a disastrous regular season that Torre had not used him in a month.” Caldwell added, “Weaver is—present tense—his long man, Torre said after the game.” Torre himself said afterward, “If he is not in the game there, he shouldn’t be on the roster.”31

STEVEN GLASSMAN has been a SABR member since 1994 and regularly makes presentations for the Connie Mack Chapter. 2016 will be his 11th SABR convention. “Walking it Off—Marlins Postseason Walk-Offs” will be his third SABR published article. “Philadelphia’s Other Hall of Famers” and “The Game That Was Not—Philadelphia Phillies at Chicago Cubs (August 8, 1988)” were published for the SABR43 and SABR45 online journals, respectively. The Temple University graduate in Sport and Recreation Management is currently the volunteer Director of Sports Information for Manor College. He has attended Phillies games since the 1970s. Steven serves as first base coach/scorekeeper for his summer league softball team. He currently resides in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

Sources

Books

Gietschier, Steve, 1998. “Year in Review: Marlins Win World Series.” In The Sporting News Baseball Guide: 1998 Edition, edited by Craig Carter and Dave Sloan, 155–56. St. Louis: The Sporting News.

______, 1998. “Year in Review: Marlins Nip Indians In Seven.” In The Sporting News Baseball Guide: 1998 Edition, edited by Craig Carter and Dave Sloan, 158. St. Louis: The Sporting News.

“N.L. Division Series: Florida Vs. San Francisco.” In The Sporting News Baseball Guide: 1998 Edition, edited by Craig Carter and Dave Sloan, 174–77. St. Louis: The Sporting News.

Perrotto, John, 1997. “World Series.” In Baseball America’s 1998 Almanac, edited by Allan Simpson, 17–22. Durham: Baseball America, Inc.

______, 2004. “World Series.” In Baseball America Almanac 2004, edited by Allan Simpson, 25–30. Durham: Baseball America, Inc.

White, Paul, Bill Koenig, and Pete Williams, 1998. “‘Break up the Marlins!:’ Game 7: Florida’s Dramatic 11th.” In USA Today Baseball Weekly 1998 Almanac, edited by Paul White, 55­ –56. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

“World Series: Game 7.” In The Sporting News Baseball Guide: 1998 Edition, edited by Craig Carter and Dave Sloan, 197–99. St. Louis: The Sporting News.

Online Articles

Caldwell, Dave. 2003. “Baseball; Playing His Hand, Torre Wins Once But Loses Later.” The New York Times, October 23. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/sports/baseball-playing-his-hand-torre-wins-once-but-loses-later.html.

Chass, Murray. 1997. “’97 World Series; Marlins Win World Series.” The New York Times, October 27. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/27/sports/97-world-series-marlins-win-world-series.html.

Cleary, Dennis. 1997. “The Week in Quotes: October 20-November 2.” Baseball Prospectus, November 10. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ article.php?articleid=23.

Curry, Jack. 1997. “’97 World Series; A Bitter Ending Frustrates Fernandez.” The New York Times, October 27. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/27/ sports/97-world-series-a-bitter-ending-frustrates-fernandez.html.

______. 2003. “Baseball; Gonzalez Homers and Marlins Walk Off.” The New York Times, October 23. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/sports/ baseball-gonzalez-homers-and-marlins-walk-off.html.

Dickey, Glenn. 1997. “Glenn Dickey – Heartbreaker Likely Dooms The Giants.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/GLENN-DICKEY-Heartbreaker-Likely-Dooms-The-2803642.php.

Gay, Nancy. 1997. “Crushing Loss for Giants/Marlins win tight Game 1 in 9th inning.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/ Crushing-Loss-for-Giants-Marlins-win-tight-Game-2826961.php.

______. 1997. “Giants Confident They Can Bounce Back.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/GIANTS-NOTEBOOK-Giants-Confident-They-Can-2826381.php.

______. 1997. “Giants in Real Trouble/Marlins seize upper hand.” SFGATE, October 2. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Giants-in-Real-Trouble-Marlins-seize-upper-hand-2803766.php.

Hermoso, Rafael. 2003. “Conine and the Marlins Relive the Past.” The New York Times, October 4. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/04/sports/baseball-conine-and-the-marlins-relive-the-past.html.

______. 2003. “Baseball; Two Unlikely Heroes Save the Marlins.” The New York Times, October 23. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/sports/ baseball-two-unlikely-heroes-save-the-marlins.html.

______. 2003. “Baseball; Unsung Penny Lifts The Marlins.” The New York Times, October 24. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/24/sports/baseball-unsung-penny-lifts-the-marlins.html.

Jenkins, Bruce. 1997. “Unassuming Players Have a Banner Year.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/MARLINS-STARS-Unassuming-Players-Have-a-Banner-2803944.php.

______. 1997. “Marlins, Miami Giddy About 2-Game Lead Over Giants.” SFGATE, October 2. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/

Marlins-Miami-Giddy-About-2-Game-Lead-Over-Giants-2826174.php.

Keown, Tim. 1997. “Tim Keown – Postseason The Time to Second-Guess.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/TIM-KEOWN-Postseason-The-Time-to-2826842.php.

______. 1997. “Page One – Backs Against the Wall/An unlucky bounce – Giants face elimination.” SFGATE, October 2. http://www.sfgate.com/ sports/article/PAGE-ONE-Backs-Against-the-Wall-An-unlucky-2826225.php.

Knapp, Gwen. 1997. “Lemke clones add panache to postseason.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/knapp/article/Lemke-clones-add-panache-to-postseason-3329153.php.

______. 1997. “A bitter taste of their own medicine.” SFGATE, October 2. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/knapp/article/A-bitter-taste-of-their-own-medicine-3328894.php.

Manoloff, Dennis. 2009. “Ex-catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. reflects on joy, heartache of time as he enters team Hall of Fame.” cleveland.com, July 31. http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2009/07/excatcher_ sandy_alomar_jr_refl.html?FORM=ZZNR3.

New York Times. 1997. “’97 World Series; Wright Was a Well-Taken Risk, October 27. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/27/sports/97-world-series-wright-was-a-well-taken-ris.k.html.

Nevius, C.W. 1997. “C.W. Nevius – One That Slipped Away/Tough loss in the 9th – a must-win today.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/C-W-NEVIUS-One-That-Slipped-Away-Tough-

loss-3317864.php.

Nobles, Charles. 1997. “Division Series Playoffs; Renteria Outguesses The Giants in the 9th.” The New York Times, October 1. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/01/sports/division-series-playoffs-renteria-outguesses-the-giants-in-the-9th.html.

______. 1997. “Division Series Playoffs; Alou’s Bat Wakes Up Just in Time.” The New York Times, October 2. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/02/sports/division-series-playoffs-alou-s-bat-wakes-up-just-in-time.html.

Pluto, Terry. 2009. “Team to honor old friend and ‘neighbor’ Herb Score: Terry Pluto.” cleveland.com, April 10. http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2009/04/team_to_honor_old_friend_and_n.html.

______. 2014. “Former Tribe pitcher Charles Nagy always felt at home in Cleveland.” cleveland.com, June 22. http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2014/06/former_tribe_pitcher_charles_n.html.

Ratto, Ray. 1997. “The Plot Thickens.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/THE-PLOT-THICKENS-3098063.php.

______. 2003. “A defeat that was properly earned.” SFGATE, October 4. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/A-defeat-that-was-properly-earned-2584298.php.

Schulman, Henry. 1997. “Renteria’s heart at home plate, not home in the

9th inning.” SFGATE, October 1. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/ Renteria-s-heart-at-home-plate-not-home-in-the-3239768.php.

______. 1997. “Marlins have solved mystery of Hernandez.” SFGATE, October 2. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Marlins-have-solved-mystery-of-Hernandez-3098077.php.

______. 2003. “Giants drop the ball, face elimination/Cruz error,

blown chances doom them in 11 innings.” SFGATE, October 4. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Giants-drop-the-ball-face-elimination-Cruz-2584219.php.

______. 2003. “Giants Notebook/Nathan Unhappy with short appearance.” SFGATE, October 4. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/GIANTS-NOTEBOOK-Nathan-unhappy-with-short-2554750.php.

Sheehan, Joe. 2003. “Prospectus Today: Give it Away.” Baseball Prospectus, October 4. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2375.

______. 2003. “Prospectus Today: Game Four.” Baseball Prospectus, October 23. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2437.

Verducci, Tom. 1997. “Happy Ending.” Sports Illustrated Vault, November 3. http://www.si.com/vault/1997/11/03/234198/happy-ending-the-marlins-stirring-11th-inning-come-from-behind-defeat-of-the-indians-in-game-7-redeemed-an-otherwise-lackluster-series.

Wilkins, Ryan. 2003. “The Week in Quotes: October 20-26.” Baseball Prospectus, October 27. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2436.

Online Box Scores

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO199709300.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO199710010.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO199710260.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO200310030.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO200310220.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1997/B09300FLO1997.htm

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1997/B10010FLO1997.htm

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1997/B10260FLO1997.htm

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B10030FLO2003.htm

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B10220FLO2003.htm

Online Videos

http://m.mlb.com/video/v25557593/nlds-gm1-marlins-win-first-playoff-game-on-walkoff/?c_id=mlb

http://m.mlb.com/mia/video/v25550193/sffla-alous-walkoff-single-gives-marlins-20-lead/?c_id=mia

http://m.mlb.com/video/v37184415/ws1997-gm7-renteria-nails-alomar-at-home-in-9th/?c_id=mlb

http://m.mlb.com/video/v3251279/bb-moments-97-ws-gm-7-marlins-take-title-in-11/?c_id=mlb

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/54053166/v36896173/ws1997-gm7-fish-win-first-ws-on-renterias-walkoff/?c_id=mlb

http://m.mlb.com/video/v13062983/97-ws-gm-7-renteria-wins-it-for-fish/?c_id=mlb

http://m.mlb.com/video/v20852253/2003-nlds-gm3-pudge-lines-walkoff-single-in-extras/?c_id=mlb

http://m.mlb.com/mia/video/topic/54053166/v20081227/2003-ws-gm4-gonzalez-wins-it-with-a-walkoff-homer/?c_id=mia

Notes

1. Most National League Postseason Walk-Offs (Five or more):

St. Louis Cardinals 7, Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves 6, Brooklyn-Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Cincinnati Reds 5, Marlins 5, Houston Colt .45s-Astros (National League) 5, and New York Mets 5. In the American League, the Yankees have 19 walk-offs and the Boston Red Sox have 11.

2. Most NL Postseason Walk-Offs Allowed (Five or more):

Brooklyn-Los Angeles Dodgers 11, Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves 9, St. Louis Cardinals 9, New York-San Francisco Giants 7, Philadelphia Phillies 6, and Houston Colt .45s-Astros (National League) 5. The Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers are the only NL franchises who have not allowed a postseason walk-off. The Yankees have allowed 14 walk-offs and the Red Sox have allowed eight. The Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays are the only AL teams who have not allowed a postseason walk-off.

3. The Giants’ first postseason appearance since 1989.

4. The Marlins’ first-ever postseason appearance.

5. Altogether, the Marlins had runners in scoring position in the first, sixth, and eighth innings.

6. The last time Renteria faced Hernandez, he walked and scored on a Sheffield home run on September 14, 1997. He never struck out in six regular season plate appearances against Hernandez.

7. The Marlins led the best-of-five series, 1–0.

8. Powell came in because Hamilton “hurt his left groin muscle running the bases and had to come out” (Schulman 1997).

9. Alou was hitless in eight at-bats in the series before the hit.

10. The Marlins came back from three one-run deficits (1–0, 3–2, and 4–3).

11. Hernandez became the first Giant since Jack Bentley (1924 versus the Washington Nationals) to allow multiple walk-offs in the same postseason. Hernandez also was the first to do it since Twins relief pitcher Ron Perranoski in the 1969 American League Championship Series versus the Orioles. Hernandez also joined Bentley, Dennis Eckersley (1988 WS and 1990 ALCS), Tug McGraw (1978 and 1980 NLCS), Tom Niedenfuer (1981 NLDS and 1985 NLCS), Alejandro Pena (1991 and 1995 WS), Perranoski, and Jeff Reardon (1981 NLDS and 1992 WS) with multiple postseason walk-offs allowed. This group was later joined by Steve Kline (2001 NLDS and 2002 NLCS), Dan Miceli (2004 NLDS and NLCS), and Rick Porcello (2013 ALDS and ALCS). Eckersley is the only one so far who was inducted in the Hall of Fame (2004).

12. Marlins won game three, 6–2, to sweep its first postseason series in franchise history.

13. Best-of-five series tied, 1–1.

14. The Marlins left runners in scoring position in the third and sixth innings. They also wasted a Castillo lead-off walk in the eighth and left the bases loaded in the tenth.

15. The Giants were unable to convert lead-off singles in the seventh

(Grissom) and the eighth (Benito Santiago).

16. Cruz Jr. won the 2003 Rawlings NL Gold Glove as an outfielder.

17. The Marlins led the best-of-five series, 2–1, and won Game Four, 7–6, to advance to the NLCS.

18. Rodriguez also contributed defensively in the series. He threw out Grissom trying to steal third with one out in the seventh inning and Alfonzo at the plate in a tie game. In game four, he tagged Snow out at home plate (on a Conine throw) to preserve a 7–6 win and end the series.

19. Nagy, the Game Three starter, was scheduled to start Game Seven, but Hargrove chose Game Four starter Wright instead, after game six. Wright was also working on three days’ rest. Nagy received a no decision in Game Three, allowing four walks, five runs (all earned), and six hits in six innings. He also had started five September games with a 5.18 ERA.

20. Nagy’s first relief appearance since September 1, 1990, versus the Blue Jays.

21. At the time, the second NL Game Seven World Series walk-off (Mazeroski in 1960) and the fourth Game Seven Series walk-off (first since Gene Larkin in 1991). Furthermore, it was also, at the time, the fifth Game Seven postseason walk-off (first since Larkin in 1991) and the first Series-ending walk-off since Joe Carter in 1993.

22. The Marlins won its first world championship in franchise history and became the first Major League expansion team since the 1992 Blue Jays to win its first World Series on its initial attempt. They were also the first overall, expansion, and NL team since the 1969 Mets to win the WS in its first postseason. The Marlins were the first Wild Card team to win a WS.

23. Renteria became the first NL batter with two walk-offs in the same postseason. At the time, he was second player with multiple walk-offs. Tigers’ Goose Goslin accomplished this feat (one in 1934 and another in the 1935 WS). Renteria and Goslin were later joined by Bernie Williams (one in 1996 and another in the 1999 ALCS), Alfonso Soriano (one each in the 2001 ALCS and WS), and David Ortiz (one in the ALDS and two more in the 2004 ALDS). Goslin is the only one so far who was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (1968).

24. It was Score’s final radio call for the Indians after 35 seasons.

25. The Yankees entered the game, leading best-of-seven series, 2–1.

26. This was Clemens’s final game prior to his announced retirement, however he returned to pitch for the Houston Astros in three additional seasons—2004, 2005, 2006—and then appeared in 18 games for the Yankees in 2007.

27. Weaver made two relief appearances (September 22 and 24 versus the White Sox), pitching one inning since September 14. Altogether, he made seven appearances (one start) since August 19).

28. Juan Encarnacion pinch-hit for him in game three. Gonzalez was 1-for-16 (.063) in the NLDS with one walk and three strikeouts. He was 3-for-24 (.125) in the NLCS with two doubles four RBIs, and six strikeouts. Altogether, Gonzalez was 5-for-53 (.094) in the postseason with two doubles, four RBI, one walk, and 15 strikeouts before this at-bat.

29. This was the first Yankees walk-off allowed since Bill Mazeroski’s Game Seven home run in 1960.

30. The best-of-seven series was tied, 2–2 and the Marlins won the next two games to win its second world championship in franchise history.

31. Weaver pitched in his first and only 2003 postseason game. It was also his last Yankees’ appearance. He was traded with pitcher Yhency Brazoban and minor league pitcher Brandon Weeden to the Dodgers for pitcher Kevin Brown on December 13, 2003.

Florida has long been a hotbed of baseball activity.3 Today, the state is home to two MLB teams, 26 minor league teams, 15 spring training sites, both of the schools that train future big league umpires, and numerous college, high school, and youth teams.4 As a result, its case reporters are filled with baseball opinions that stretch back more than a century. Collectively, these judicial opinions chronicle the significant impact that Florida’s bench and bar have played in the development of America’s pastime.

The First Baseball and Law Cases

“Just as the common law derives from ancient precedents, judges’ decisions, rather than statutes, baseball’s codes are the game’s distilled mores. Their unchanged purpose is to show respect for opponents and the game. In baseball, as in the remainder of life, the most important rules are unwritten. But not unenforced.” — George Will

On June 5, 1905, the Florida Legislature passed a law that banned the playing of baseball on Sunday.5 The ban on Sunday baseball was not just a Florida issue, it was a national issue designed to encourage church attendance (for the non-religious, the prohibition was justified as ensuring there would be at least one day of peace and quiet each week).6 When the ban was challenged in Florida, the Florida Supreme Court acted swiftly, and before the year was over, upheld the newly enacted law against multiple constitutional attacks.7

However, with local municipalities putting political pressure on legislators to repeal the law banning the playing of baseball on Sunday, the Florida Legislature on June 3, 1911, enacted a compromise and passed a law delegating to cities the power to pass ordinances superseding or repealing the ban on Sunday baseball.8 The City of Pensacola immediately repealed the Sunday ban, and before the year was over the issue of whether the city could repeal the Sunday ban was in front of the Florida Supreme Court.9

The Florida Supreme Court upheld the right of City of Pensacola to repeal the law, and Sunday baseball became a routine activity across the State of Florida. But it would take 64 years after the original statute banning baseball on Sunday for the Florida Legislature to finally repeal the original law.10

Judges and Baseball

“An umpire is in control of the decorum and behavior of those on the field of play. A judge is in control of the decorum and the behavior of those in his or her courtroom, including themselves.” — Judge David Denkin

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first commissioner of baseball, is usually the first judge that comes to mind when there is a discussion of the important role judges have played in baseball.11 After being named commissioner (with an annual salary of $50,000), Landis, to the surprise of many, refused to give up his federal judgeship (with an annual salary of $7,500), leading to a bitter campaign calling for his impeachment.12 In 1922 Landis finally agreed to resign from the bench, and as a result, in 1924 the American Bar Association (which in 1921 had censured Landis) formulated its Canons of Judicial Ethics (now the Code of Judicial Conduct), which sets ethical standards for judges and warns them to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and forbids outside full-time employment, but allows such activities such as teaching and writing, to name a few.13

Discipline of the Florida judiciary rests in the hands of the Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission.14 When a judge is found to have violated the Code of Judicial Conduct, the judge will face consequences which range from a public reprimand to removal from office.15

Judge Landis was a lifelong baseball fan and he often left the courthouse early to attend White Sox or Cubs games.16 However, a judge must be sure that his or her attendance at a baseball game does not lead to ethical violations. Florida jurists are not immune from judicial misconduct when it comes to our national pastime.

The Florida Supreme Court gave a public reprimand to a judge who accepted free Florida Marlins tickets approximately 15 times from 1994 to 1997 from a firm whose lawyers appeared before him on at least two cases.17 The court concluded the conduct of the judge violated several canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct and was “so egregious to require a public reprimand.”18

At a 2008 charity auction, Florida Marlins president David Samson jokingly announced he was putting the team up for sale and in jest accepted a bid of $10 million for the sale of the team. After the “sale” Samson refused to transfer ownership of the Marlins to the winning bidder, the winning bidder filed suit to enforce the sale.19 During the pendency of the litigation, the trial court judge informed the lawyers he was a Marlins fan and regularly attended Marlins games, however, he told the lawyers he paid for his own tickets. The plaintiff sought to have the judge removed by filing a motion for disqualification.20 The judge denied the motion, and the case was later dismissed by the plaintiff for reasons not in the public records. The denial of the motion for disqualification was never appealed, and in an unrelated matter an appeals court ruled the case should remain closed after the plaintiff filed the dismissal.21

The Baseball Rule

“Beware of objects leaving the field of play! ¡Cuidado con objectos que salgan del torreno de juego!” — sign posted at Marlins Park in Home Plate Box Section 9, Row 1 (behind the visitor’s dugout)

The “Baseball Rule” was first announced more than 100 years ago in Crane v. Kansas City Baseball and Exhibition Co.22 A fan filed suit after being struck and injured by a foul ball. The appeals court ruled that foul balls are a fundamental part of baseball; being struck by a foul ball is a well-known risk of attending a baseball game; and the plaintiff chose to sit in a part of the stadium that was not protected.23 Thus, the invention of the Baseball Rule. The rule immunizes stadium operators and owners from liability for injuries caused by baseballs and bats so long as they provide an adequate number of screened seats.24

Over the years, courts have narrowed the meaning of the Baseball Rule, but the rule still stands. In Martinez v. Houston McLane Company, the court points out that the following jurisdictions have adopted the rule since 2000: Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, and Virginia.25 MLB is considering a uniform policy on netting in ballparks for the 2017 season, but for the 2016 season it is allowing clubs to make their own decisions.26

Surprisingly, the Florida Supreme Court has not had to construe the Baseball Rule. However, there is a case pending in Miami-Dade County by a woman who has sued the Miami Marlins claiming that she was injured by “Bob the Shark” (a Marlins mascot in the Great Sea Race) during a 2013 baseball game.27

Antitrust Law

“Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules, they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.” — United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts

In 1922, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the nation’s antitrust laws did not apply to Major League Baseball, thus granting MLB an immunity and exemption from the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890.28 Since Fed. Baseball Club of Balt., Inc. v. Nat’l League of Prof’l Baseball Clubs, the United States Supreme Court declined to say the nation’s antitrust laws apply to Major League Baseball.29 The Eleventh Circuit of the Florida Federal Court followed Fed. Baseball on two occasions. The first was in a case involving the scheduling of minor league baseball games.30 The second was a case filed by the Florida Attorney General who was investigating the proposed contraction of MLB by eliminating and disbanding the Minnesota Twins and the Montreal Expos in the early 1990s.31

In contrast the Florida Supreme Court has read the exemption as applying only to player contracts, and therefore the Florida Supreme Court is the only state Supreme Court not to recognize Fed. Baseball as it was intended.32 The Florida Supreme Court has held that baseball’s antitrust exemption extends only to the reserve system and not the sale and purchase of the teams, such as the San Francisco Giants.33 Accordingly, a Florida appeals court reinstated a lawsuit in which the plaintiffs claimed that numerous parties had conspired to keep them from buying the Minnesota Twins and moving them to Florida.34

In 2012, an umpiring school owned by former major league umpire Jim Evans filed an antitrust action against Minor League Baseball (MiLB) in state court, claiming that MiLB eliminated competition of his minor league umpiring school when MiLB began its own training school thereby shutting down his school.35 MiLB claimed they ceased doing business with Evans and his school after they learned that some of the employees of the school attended a party wearing costumes that were offensive.36 MiLB filed a motion to dismiss the suit, but the state trial court judge denied the motion and wrote the court did not have to, “blindly follow the opinions of the lower federal courts, when the Florida Supreme Court believes the federal decisions to be poorly reasoned.”37 The parties reached a confidential settlement.38 In November, 2014, MiLB hired Evans as Umpire Advisor, a position created by MiLB to serve as a consultant and advisor to the president of MiLB on umpiring-related matters.39

The Raiford Prison Baseball team in 1939.

Contract Law and Civil Fraud

“Baseball has the largest library of law and lore and custom and ritual, and therefore, in a nation that fundamentally believes it is a nation under the law, well, baseball is America’s most privileged version of the level field.” — former Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti

The game of baseball has led to many disputes involving a breach of contract and civil fraud. The five cases in this section span Florida case law for over 60 years.

In 1949, the City of Miami opened Miami Stadium and hired Florida Sportservice to run the concession stands. For the next five years, the Miami Sun Sox, a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team, called the field home. In 1954, the Sun Sox folded. Following two seasons without baseball, Sidney Salomon Jr., the owner of Sportservice, bought the Syracuse Chiefs and moved them to Miami, where they became the Miami Marlins.40

Before Salomon sold the Marlins, he had the Marlins sign a one-sided concession agreement with Sportservice. He then sold them to media mogul George B. Storer. When Storer found out about the sweetheart deal, he filed a lawsuit to void the agreement. The trial court dismissed the suit brought by Storer, but the appeals court reversed, agreeing with Storer that the deal should be set aside because the original contract was not approved by the board of directors and that the Miami Baseball Company had no knowledge of the agreement.41

When the engineering company building the Florida Marlins’ original spring training complex was fired, that company sued Brevard County to recover the cost of various oral change orders. Because the orders were oral rather than written, the Florida Supreme Court found the change orders unenforceable, and therefore collection on them was barred by sovereign immunity.42

In 1997, the Marlins won their first World Series. As a result, a marketing company purchased premium stadium seats and advertising for the 1998 season, not knowing the club was about to hold a “fire sale” of the players. The Marlins finished last in 1998. The marketing firm believed it was duped, so they sued for a refund. The trial court said there could be no guarantee of how well the team would do the year after winning the World Series and there was no promise of future winning years. The appeals court per curiam affirmed the trial judge.43

In a twist of the 1998 lawsuit, before the start of the 2013 season, the Miami Marlins threatened to sue a full-season, $25,000 a year, front row ticket holder for not renewing his seats.44 The Marlins never followed through on their threat to file suit.45

The book The Card exposed the corrupt and criminal underbelly of the unregulated baseball memorabilia industry.46 Florida courts have been presented with issues regarding fraudulent baseball memorabilia. In one case, the plaintiff accused an out-of-state defendant of selling him a fake Joe DiMaggio jersey. The defendant moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction but the appeals court held that because he was conducting an auction over the Internet and he had a highly interactive website, his company could be sued in Florida because it had sufficient contacts with the state.47

In another case involving baseball memorabilia, a baseball autograph’s owner was in need of a $203,000 loan, and approached a private lender to use his autographs as collateral for the loan. The prospective lender then took the memorabilia and paid to have it appraised, where a professional appraiser valued it to be worth $300,000–450,000. Relying on the appraisal, the private lender made the loan, and shortly thereafter the borrower defaulted. Using the collateral, the lender attempted to sell the autographs to satisfy the borrowers’ debt. The lender discovered the appraised autographs were worth no more than $3,000, and so he brought an action against the appraiser. The appeals court found in favor of the lender, placing upon the appraiser the duty to use reasonable care to ensure the accuracy and validity of the appraisal.48

Criminal Justice and the Bench

“Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can’t get you off.” — Baseball Hall of Fame member Bill Veeck

Judges are required to ensure that trials proceed in a timely and fair manner. At times, justice is delayed or the courts err.

Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams was a silent partner is a sports souvenir shop owned by Vincent Antonucci. Williams alleged in a civil lawsuit that Antonucci swindled him out of thousands of dollars. While the civil suit was pending, the State of Florida filed criminal charges seeking to convict Antonucci and send him to prison.49 The trial court judge in the criminal case unilaterally continued the case so the civil case could finish first. The state objected to the court-imposed continuance, arguing that Williams’s advanced age would deny and delay justice.50 On appeal, the trial judge was told he abused his discretion in continuing the matter and was ordered to immediately try the case.51

In another case, former Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain asked the court to overturn his federal racketeering convention because McLain alleged the prosecutor and trial court judge denied him of a fair trial. The conviction was overturned by the federal appeals court.52

The Best of the Rest—If You Build It, They Will Sue

“You can’t grow up in the South Bronx without knowing about baseball.” — United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

In 1966 the Florida Supreme Court ruled the City of Deerfield Beach could not build a spring training facility for the Pittsburgh Pirates.53 Thirty-five years later, with public sentiment regarding such projects having shifted, the Florida Supreme Court held that the City of Clearwater could build a spring training for the Philadelphia Phillies.54

When it looked like Orlando would get an MLB expansion team, Orange County pledged to build a new stadium using a 1% tourist tax.55 A group of hotel owners filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the tax, but the action of the hotel owners was dismissed. The matter became irrelevant when in 1995 Tampa Bay was awarded with a franchise.56

After the City of Miami agreed to build a new stadium for the Marlins, two taxpayers sought a temporary injunction stopping the city from selling bonds to pay for the project.57 In dismissing the appeal of the taxpayers as immaterial, the appellate court pointed out that the failure of the taxpayers to request an emergency stay had resulted in the bonds being issued.58

Bob the Shark, pictured here with the author and his wife Leslee.

The Future of Baseball and Law in Florida

“Every lawyer should learn about baseball. If litigation is the nation’s real pastime, then baseball comes in a close second.” — Law professor Roger I. Abrams

What sorts of baseball cases can Florida courts expect to handle in the future? Gazing into a crystal baseball and forecasting the winner of the World Series during spring training is an impossible task, and so too is predicting what is ahead for the Florida courts. But picking the winner of the World Series during spring training, and predicating the course of future legal issues, is a time-honored tradition.

First, with the Baseball Rule under attack, it seems likely that actions involving injured fans will continue.59

A number of lawsuits may arise if the Tampa Bay Rays make good on their threat to abandon Tropicana Field for a new stadium in Hillsborough County, as at the current time the Rays and the City of St. Petersburg appear to be at a stalemate.60 This has led some to predict the Rays will remain in Pinellas County.61 Indeed, if past lawsuits can gauge the future, it is almost certain that a group of taxpayers will challenge whatever funding mechanism is used to finance the project. Moreover, if the negotiations are not transparent, an open-records lawsuit might also be considered. And, of course, at least some Pinellas County residents may seek to force the club to honor its existing lease, which requires the Rays to play at the Trop until 2027.62 There is also a growing concern about the future of spring training in Pinellas County.63

The current litigation in California between minor league players and MLB has enormous potential ramifications for Florida. In two related suits, the players contend they are being grossly underpaid in violation of federal law.64 If the players prevail, the continued viability of one or more of Florida’s minor league teams could be in jeopardy.

Just before the start of the 2015 season, MLB punished Miami Marlins pitcher Jarred Cosart after published reports that he had bet on baseball.65 Concluding he had gambled on other sports but not baseball, MLB fined Cosart an undisclosed amount of money.66 Nevertheless, MLB and the country’s three other major sports leagues are getting closer to dropping their longstanding opposition to sports gambling.67 The position of Commissioner Manfred may conflict with that of the Florida Attorney General and may force this issue into state courts.68, 69

President Obama’s decision at the end of 2014 to normalize relations with Cuba and his trip to Cuba in early 2016 will have important consequences for baseball in general and Florida in particular. Already, there is talk of holding spring training games in Cuba.70 Many baseball fans (especially those in South Florida) will probably travel to such games, and it is not difficult to imagine some of these road trips ending in lawsuits if something goes wrong.

Lastly, baseball seemingly is a topic of conversation every time Florida lawmakers meet. During the 2015 Florida Legislative Session, the legislature helped advance construction of a joint-use facility for the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals in West Palm Beach by approving a needed zoning change.71 The Atlanta Braves are interested in moving back to West Palm Beach starting with 2018 spring training.72

Baseball and the law will continue to be intertwined in Florida. As long as there are new laws, new issues and lawyers filing new lawsuits, Florida courts will be faced with making rulings off the diamond which will affect the play on the diamond.

LOUIS H. SCHIFF has served as a Broward County (Florida) Court Judge since 1997, and has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1981. He is the co-author of the first baseball and law textbook, Baseball and the Law: Cases and Materials (Carolina Academic Press, 2016). He serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching baseball and law courses for The National Judicial College (University of Nevada: Reno); Mitchell | Hamline School of Law (St. Paul); and the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies (Tallahassee). He regularly gives baseball and law presentations to various bar associations and community groups. He is full-season ticket holder for the Miami Marlins. He has been a SABR member since 2013. You can contact him at: Schiff@baseballandthelaw.org

Author’s Note

This article originated as a paper written by Judge Louis H. Schiff and Professor Robert M. Jarvis and a program presented by Judge Schiff and Judge David Denkin at the 2015 Conference of County Court Judges of Florida called “Florida’s Judiciary at the Plate: Baseball Cases in the Sunshine State.” This article is also adopted from a law review article written by Judge Schiff and Professor Jarvis, “A Survey of Florida Baseball Cases,” 40 Nova Law Review (2015). Nova Southeastern University Law Review has allowed material used in the law review article to appear in this paper. The last component of this article is additional research which was not part of the original paper, program, and law review article. The author is extremely grateful for the assistance and guidance of SABR Publications Director Cecilia Tan, the staff of SABR, Alaska District Court Judge David L. Zwink, and the members of the South Florida Chapter of SABR.

Notes

1. Lexis and Westlaw databases.

2. This article is a survey of Florida judicial decisions. It would take an encyclopedia of Florida Baseball Law to cover every aspect of this topic.

3. Kevin M. McCarthy, Baseball in Florida (Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, 1996).

4. Florida’s Grapefruit League is Home to Major League Baseball’s Pre-Season, Fla. Grapefruit League, http://www.floridagrapefruitleague.com (hover over “Teams”); Team-by-Team Information, MLB.com, http://mlb.mlb.com/team/index.jsp; Teams by Geographical Location, MiLB.com, http://www.milb.com/milb/info/geographical.jsp; Umpire School Information, MLB.com, http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/umpires/camp/schools.jsp.

5. Act of June 5, 1905, 1905 Fla. Laws ch. 5436, § 1.

6. Bill Kelly, “Arrested for Playing Baseball! How the National Pastime Became a Church and State Battleground in Nebraska,” NPR, June 6, 2013, at http://netnebraska.org/article/news/arrested-playing-baseball- how-national-pastime-became-church-and-state-battleground.

7. West v. State, 39 So. 412 (Fla. 1905).

8. The mayor and the city council of Pensacola had, by ordinance, repealed or superseded Chapter 5436 of the Laws of Florida. Nickelson v. State ex rel. Blitch, 57 So. 194 (1911).

9. Ibid. The court found the Petitioner Blitch, a local minister, lacked standing to bring such an action in “the name of the state.”

10. Act effective July 1, 1969, ch. 69–87, 1969 Fla. Laws 322.

11. Louis H. Schiff and Robert M. Jarvis. Baseball and the Law: Cases and Materials (Durham: Carolina Academic Press), 3.

12. Ibid. 104.

13. Ibid.

14. http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/jqc.shtml#Information.

15. http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/ethics/index.shtml.

16. J.G. Taylor Spink,  Judge Landis and 25 Years of Baseball  (St. Louis: The Sporting News Publishing Company, 1974).

17. In re Luzzo, 756 So. 2d 76 (Fla. 2000).

18. Ibid. 79.

19. Pomeranz & Landsman v. Miami Marlins Baseball Club, L.P., Fla. 17th Cir. (CACE 12-003405).

20. Ibid.

21. Pomeranz & Landsman Corp. v. Miami Marlins Baseball Club, L.P., 143 So. 3d 1182 (Fla. 4th Dist. Ct. App. 2014).

22. 153 S.W. 1076, (Mo. Ct. App. 1913).

23. Louis H. Schiff and Robert M. Jarvis. Baseball and the Law: Cases and Materials (Durham: Carolina Academic Press), 576. For a further discussion of Crane, see J. Gordon Hylton, A Foul Ball in the Courtroom: The Baseball Spectator Injury as a Case of First Impression, 38 Tulsa L. Rev. 485 (2003).

24. Coomer v. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corporation, 437 S.W.3d 184 (Mo. 2014), an excellent discussion on the history and origin of the rule.

25. 414 S.W. 3rd 219 (Tex, Ct. App. 2013).

26. Ron Jenkins, Major League Baseball Approved Extended Netting for 2016 Season, November 19, 2105; http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article45507555.html.

27. Fedornak v. Miami Marlins, L.P. Fla. 11th Cir. (2015-013360 CA-01).

28. Fed. Baseball Club of Balt., Inc. v. Nat’l League of Prof’l Baseball Clubs, 259 U.S. 200 (1922).

29. Federal Baseball was reaffirmed in Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc., 346 U.S. 356, reh’g denied, 346 U.S. 917 (1953),  and then in  Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972)  the Court gave MLB an exemption to antitrust laws that the Court now felt applied to baseball.

30. Prof’l Baseball Sch. & Clubs v. Kahn, 693 F.2d 1085 (11th Cir. 1982).

31. Major League Baseball v. Crist, 311 F.3d 1177 (11th Cir. 2003).

32. Butterworth v. Nat’l League of Prof’l Baseball Clubs, 644 So, 2d 1021 (1994).

33. Ibid.

34. Morsani v. Major League Baseball, 739 So. 2d 610 (Fla. 2d Dist. Ct. App. 1999).

35. Jim Evans Academy of Prof’l Umpiring, Inc. v. The National Association of Prof’l Baseball Leagues, Inc., Fla. 9th Cir. (2012-CA-013001).

36. Gil Imber, Umpire School Receives Baseball’s Death Penalty for Racist Party Joke, February 12, 2012; http://bleacherreport.com/articles/ 1062999-umpire-school-receives-baseballs-death-penalty-for-racist-party-joke.

37. Jim Evans Academy of Prof’l Umpiring, Inc. v. The National Association of Prof’l Baseball Leagues, Inc., Fla. 9th Cir. (2012-CA-013001).

38. In person interview with Scott Poley, Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs and General Counsel, MiLB; June, 2015.

39. Major League Baseball, Evans to Serve as MiLB Umpire Advisor, November 24, 2014; http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd= 20141126&content_id=102507214&fext=.jsp&vkey=pr_milb.

40. This squad, which played in the International League, should not be confused with the present-day MLB Miami Marlins. Sam Zygner, The Forgotten Marlins: A Tribute to the 1956–1960 Original Miami Marlins (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2013).

41. Storer v. Florida Sportservice Inc., 115 So. 2d 433 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 1959).

42. County of Brevard v. Miorelli Eng’g, Inc., 703 So. 2d 1049 (Fla. 1997), appeal after remand, 721 So. 2d 1223 (Fla. 5th Dist. Ct. App. 1998).

43. CFI Sales & Mktg., Ltd. v. Florida Marlins Baseball, Ltd., 837 So. 2d 423 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 2002).

44. Tim Elfrink, “Miami Marlins Threaten to Sue Long-Time Season Ticket Holders,” Miami New Times, Mar. 28, 2013. http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-marlins-threaten-to-sue-longtime-season-ticket-holders-6391398.

45. Craig Davis, “Marlins at Odds with Fans as Second Season at Marlins Park Begins,” S. Fla. Sun Sentinel, April 7, 2013, http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-04-07/sports/fl-marlins-home-opener-0408-20130407_1_marlins-park-marlins-president-david-samson-season-tickets.

46. The story of the Honus Wagner baseball card. Michael O’Keeffe and Terri Thompson, The Card (New York: William Morrow, 2007).

47. Pathman v. Grey Flannel Auctions, Inc., 741 F. Supp. 2d 1318 (S.D. Fla. 2010).

48. Blumstein v. Sports Immortals, Inc., 67 So. 3d 437 (Fla. 4th Dist. Ct. App. 2011).

49. Ben Bradlee, Jr., The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams (New York: Little Brown and Company, 2013).

50. In person interview with Jim McCune, who was the assistant state attorney who prosecuted Antonucci, June, 2015.

51. State v. Antonucci, 590 So. 2d 998 (Fla. 5th Dist. Ct. App. 1991).

52. United States v. McLain, 823 F.2d 1457 (11th Cir. 1987).

53. Brandes v. City of Deerfield Beach, 186 So.2d 6 (Fla. 1966).

54. Roper v. City of Clearwater, 796 So. 2d 1159 (Fla. 2001).

55. Tamar 7600, Inc. v. Orange County, 686 So. 2d 790 (Fla. 5th Dist. Ct. App. 1997).

56. Ibid.

57. Solares v. City of Miami, 23 So. 3d 227 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 2009).

58. Ibid.

59. Fedornak v. Miami Marlins, L.P. Fla. 11th Cir. (2015-013360 CA-01).

60. Matt Baker, “Rays Talks on Hold for Now,” Tampa Bay Times, April. 7, 2015, at 1B, available at 2015 WLNR 10119939.

61. Roy Cummings, “Naimoli Tosses First Pitch, Says Rays are Staying in St. Pete,” Tampa Tribune, April 6, 2015, available at 2015 WLNR 10086313.

62. Noah Pransky, Shadow of the Stadium, at http://shadowofthestadium. blogspot.com/. Last checked February 21, 2016.

63. Ibid.

64. Miranda v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, 3:14-cv-5349 (N.D. Cal.), and Senne v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, 3:14-cv-608 (N.D. Cal.). In May 2015, the court refused to transfer Senne to the Middle District of Florida. See Senne v. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp., 2015 WL 2412245 (N.D. Cal. 2015).

65. Craig Davis, “MLB Fines Cosart but Finds No Baseball Bets,” S. Fla. Sun Sentinel, April 4, 2015, at 5C, available at 2015 WLNR 9889375.

66. Ibid.

67. Barry Svrluga, “Unafraid of Change, Rob Manfred Steps to Plate, Faces Pitches on Pace of Play, Gambling,” WashingtonPost.com, Feb. 5, 2015, available at 2015 WLNR 3589207.

68. Maury Brown, Grading MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred After His First Year, January 26, 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/01/26/grading-mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-after-his-first-year/#2ac532052001.

69. Dustin Gouker, Florida Set to Introduce Daily Fantasy Sports Bill, Nov. 10, 2105, http://www.legalsportsreport.com/6042/florida-dfs-legislation.

70. Craig Davis, “Manfred Foresees Teams Visiting Cuba,” S. Fla. Sun Sentinel, Mar. 11, 2015, at 1C, available at 2015 WLNR 7371030.

71. Joe Capozzi, “Scott’s Pen Clears Way for Stadium,” Palm Beach Post, June 11, 2015, at 1B, available at 2015 WLNR 17218341.

72. Tim Tucker, “Braves Eye Palm Beach Again in Search for New Spring Home,” Atlanta Constitution Journal, Feb. 17, 2016, http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/baseball/braves-eye-palm-beach-again-in-search-for-new-spri/nqRwK.

Packaging from the video release of Long Gone.

Had Henry David Thoreau been a baseball fan, his signature quotation might read, “The mass of minor leaguers lead lives of quiet desperation.” Such is the wont of the Tampico Stogies in the 1987 HBO TV movie Long Gone. “Now the Tampico Nine always has been and always will be an aggregation that knows it’s about to suffer another ignominious defeat,” declares Cletis Ramey to Cecil “Stud” Cantrell, the Stogies’ player-manager.1

Starring William Petersen, Virginia Madsen, and Dermot Mulroney, Long Gone takes place in the fictional town of Tampico, Florida—home of the La Madera Cigar Company. It is more than a story about baseball, though. It is a tale of corruption, hope, and love.

Stud—played by Petersen—leads the Stogies of the Class D Alabama-Florida League in 1957 through the stagnant labyrinth of the owners’ frugality, the team’s mediocrity, and the Deep South’s racism. Pushing 40, Stud tells rookie second baseman Jamie Don Weeks—played by Dermot Mulroney—that he rivaled Stan Musial for a spot on the St. Louis Cardinals. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Stud signed up with the Marines, fought on Guadalcanal, and suffered a mountain of shrapnel in one of his legs; he persuaded the doctors not to amputate. “I never made it, kid. But I would’ve. Goddammit, I would’ve.”2

“I think he’s a flawed character,” explained Petersen in a telephone interview. “Stud has a tremendous amount of talent. Things came easy, then a bad break happened and he was bumped down the ladder. He’s trying to make the best of it. There are analogies in the acting world where the breaks don’t go your way. You find yourself making compromises, maybe for your talent and integrity. At a certain point, the light goes off and the world is what you make of it. He’s a regular guy who could be any man.”3

While Stud has experience in the harsh realities of life, Jamie oozes naïveté. With an attitude of sexual indifference that would make Lothario blush, Stud coarsely instructs Jamie that all women have sex—even the religious ones. But Stud lands in an unintended romance that begins as a one-night stand whose name he can’t remember the morning after—Dixie Lee Boxx, Miss Strawberry Blossom of 1957, played by Virginia Madsen. A platinum blonde with the looks of Marilyn Monroe and the street savvy of Lauren Bacall, Dixie Lee is 20, almost half Stud’s age. “I’m old enough to like Jax for breakfast,”4 she explains to a bartender in the glow—or haze—of her dalliance with Stud. (Jax beer was a regional brew manufactured by Jax Brewing Company of Jacksonville from 1913 until it went out of business in 1956.)

Long Gone details Stud’s resumé of romance, or lack of it. An aura of cockiness buttressed by crudeness gives the impression that the Stogies’ manager is carefree about life and careless with women. In Paul Hemphill’s eponymous 1979 novel, Stud got a “Dear John” letter from his wife. While he was arguing with doctors to save his leg, she was cheating on him with a coworker at her plant. With visions of a major league career in the rear view mirror, Stud would play for a Class B team in Corpus Christi. “So began a wallowing odyssey that carried him all over America in that limbo called the ‘lower minor leagues’: Mountain States League, Cotton States, Evangeline, Itty, Big State, West Texas-New Mexico, Ardmore, Eastman, Hopkinsville, Amarillo, Pocatello, Hazard, Thibodaux,” the novel reads. “Bad lights, rutted infields, rickety grandstands, swampy dressing rooms, ancient buses, hand-me-down uniforms, drunken fans. Still smarting from what his wife had done to him, he began to drink and to gorge himself on women, as though repeated conquests might blot the memory that he had once been cuckolded by a 4-F. He hit an umpire at Big Stone Gap, contracted gonorrhea in Galveston, and was run out of Waterloo for knocking up the club owner’s teenage daughter.”5 There is no mention of a Mrs. Cantrell in the TV movie.

Southern-style racism confronts the Stogies, who mask their black slugger Joe Louis Brown as José Brown, a Venezuelan; Larry Riley plays Brown. On a road trip, Klansmen block the road, brandish whips, and burn a cross. Wise to the Stogies’ scheme of protecting Brown, they call for him. Stud orders him to stay on the bus and, in turn, guides his teammates, each one holding a bat, to chase the Klansmen off the road.

After the tumult, Brown gets off the bus to finish the job, metaphorically. When he gets a nod of approval from Monroe, the Stogies’ elderly black equipment manager, Brown takes a vicious swing at the cross—when it hits the ground, the flames are extinguished. A bond is forged, eliminating the awkwardness seen earlier when the white players look at Brown in the locker room without talking to him.

Full of optimism, Stud believes that the Stogies can win the championship, a far cry from the dismal 12–23 record the team had before Jamie and Brown showed up. A slow-motion montage of Stogies highlights against the backdrop of the gospel song “I Don’t Believe He Brought Me This Far (To Leave Me)” reflects the inspirational tone that seems to be a prerequisite for sports movies featuring an underdog taking on a superior opponent—in this case, it’s the Dothan Cardinals.

Here, Long Gone presents an obstacle for the fearless protagonist who sacrificed his baseball career for his country. A native Missourian, Stud never lost his desire to work in the Cardinals organization. When the owner of the Dothan Cardinals presents an opportunity to manage the team next season, Stud grabs it. But the job comes with a catch—he can’t play in the Stogies-Cardinals championship game.

Dixie Lee leaves him and then deconstructs Stud’s hero image for Jamie, who has lately embodied the swagger of the Stogies’ skipper. Jamie suffers a letdown with the impact of a Gulf Coast hurricane, consequently. It comes on the heels of a personal dilemma—his girlfriend Esther is pregnant. Following Stud’s love-them-and-leave-them philosophy, Jamie abandoned Esther emotionally as she went to Mobile, Alabama, to stay with an aunt.

Publicity still from Long Gone showing actors Dermot Mulroney, William Petersen, and Larry Riley as Jamie Weeks, Stud Cantrell, and Joe Louis Brown.

For solace, Stud heads to the bar, where he finds Brown. Immediately, Stud realizes that the Cardinals bought Brown’s absence as well. Without Tampico’s star duo, Dothan will be assured a victory.

“What’d they give you?” asks Stud

“What’d they give you?” responds Brown.

“I get the privilege of managing Dothan next year.”

“I guess they know what they gotta pay for white trash, huh?”

“Come on, what’d they give you?”

“I guess they know what they gotta pay for a nigger, too.”

“It’s just so damn sad. Baseball ain’t nothing but a little boy’s game played on some grass,” mourns Stud. “It shouldn’t matter who the pitcher’s daddy is or how much money he makes. It shouldn’t matter what color a fella’s skin is. You just go out there with a bat in your hands, you hit the ball, and you run like hell. That’s all. It’s just a shame.”6

When Brown leaves the bar, he takes a bat to his Cadillac—his price for sitting out the game. It’s the latter part of a setup-payoff literary device, common in films—Brown eyed the car when he first came to Tampico.

Stud has more than a job in the Cardinals organization at stake. Through the Buchmans, Stud learns that failure to accede to their demands that he not play in the championship game will result in the Cardinals owner, J. Harrell Smythe, informing baseball’s power structure about every peccadillo, big and small, resulting in Stud’s permanent expulsion from the game.

But Tampico’s manager and slugger renege on their deal to sit out the game. In another setup-payoff, Stud faces Dothan hurler Dusty Houlihan with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. Bad blood exists between the two because of Stud’s relentless insults about Houlihan’s sister. Stud admitted, earlier, that he’s only 2-for-68 against Houlihan in his career.

And so, when Houlihan comes in from the bullpen to face Stud, the ante is raised. A taunt that is vicious at worst and inflammatory at best enrages Houlihan, who beans Stud. After being knocked unconscious, Stud stumbles to first base. The Stogies are Alabama-Florida League champions! Tampico exorcises the ghosts of failure underscored by Cletis earlier in the story, consequently.

William Petersen and Virginia Madsen as Stud and Dixie Lee.

“I think Stud had become a lost cause, but only to himself,” says Petersen. “Dixie Lee is the one who is straightening him out. When he looks across at Joe Brown and they ask themselves who they are and talk about what they should be, I think Stud saves himself.”7

Stud marries Dixie Lee, Jamie marries Esther, and the Stogies, for once, have pride.

Notably, two performers known for comedy appear as the father and son owners of the Stogies—Henry Gibson and Teller play Hale Buchman and Hale Buchman, Jr., respectively. They’re greedy for money, giddy for victory, and garrulous for explanations about their nickel and dime management. In lesser hands, their characters could have been caricatures.

Long Gone resonates three decades after its premiere, largely because the joy in making the movie comes across in the performances. “I have fond memories of working with Virginia and Dermot,” recalls Petersen. “The 1986 World Series was going on while we shot the movie. We’d go back to the hotel after shooting and watch in the bar. I also had friends from Chicago who were in the movie. You have to be close. You can’t do a baseball movie and not have the guys be a team. We were just very fortunate. It was like falling off a log.

“Baseball reminds me of my childhood and a time and place when things were more fun and simpler. For many of us, baseball will always be that type of memory. It will always be reflective.”8

DAVID KRELL is the author of Our Bums: The Brooklyn Dodgers in History, Memory and Popular Culture (McFarland, 2015) and the co-editor of In the Arena: A Sports Law Handbook (New York State Bar Association, 2013). David has spoken at SABR’s Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference, Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, and Annual Convention. He has also spoken at the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, Queens Baseball Convention, Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, and Hofstra University’s New York Mets 50th  Anniversary Conference. David’s writing has appeared in Black Ball: A Negro Leagues Journal, Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game, the Baseball Research Journal, The National Pastime, and the New York State Bar Association’s  Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal, and thesportspost.com.

Notes

1. Michael Norell, based on the 1979 novel Long Gone by Paul Hemphill, Long Gone, directed by Martin Davidson (HBO Pictures, Landsburg Company, 1987).

2. Ibid.

3. Telephone interview with William Petersen, March 4, 2016.

4. Long Gone (HBO Pictures, Landsburg Company).

5. Paul Hemphill, Long Gone (New York: The Viking Press, 1979).

6. Long Gone (HBO Pictures, Landsburg Company).

7. Telephone interview with William Petersen.

8. Ibid.

The cover illustration to the Amigos program shows the distinctively cantilevered roof of Miami Stadium, later known as Bobby Maduro Stadium.

Ever since the 1963 minor leagues realignment, the leagues that have held the Triple-A classification have been fairly consistent. The International League and Pacific Coast League have been fielding teams annually since then, with the American Association joining in 1969 before being disbanded in 1997 and having its teams absorbed by the other two leagues. Astute fans of baseball being played in other countries will be aware that the nonaffiliated Mexican League has held the Triple-A designation since 1967. What many may not realize is that for several months in the spring and summer of 1979 that there was one other Triple-A league, the Inter-American League (or IAL). The league was the dream of Roberto “Bobby” Maduro, a Cuban exile who was working as Coordinator of Inter-American Baseball for Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.1 This ambitious league had six teams in three different Latin American countries (the United States, Venezuela, and Panama) with its flagship franchise being the sole team based on the mainland United States, the Miami Amigos.

Maduro had been the owner of the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League since 1954. He had to relocate the team to Jersey City in 1960 due to Fidel Castro nationalizing control of American businesses in Cuba.2 At the end of the 1961 season Maduro moved the franchise to Jacksonville, Florida, where they became the Jacksonville Suns.1 In 1963 Maduro sold his 51% ownership stake of the Suns in a sale of stock to the people of Jacksonville but remained with the team acting as it’s General Manager.2 Maduro resigned from his position following the 1965 season but he stayed involved in professional baseball, taking a position in the major league office while working toward his goal of establishing professional baseball league in Latin America.

On December 31, 1978, Maduro resigned in order to prep for the inaugural season of the Inter-American League which was to begin four short months later on April 11, 1979.3 The Miami Amigos were organized prior to the teams located in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.4 The owners were established South Florida baseball men: Ronald Fine and Joe Ryan who owned the Class-A Miami Orioles of the Florida State League. The cost for the franchise was $50,000.

The duo announced to the public the creation of the team at an event in September of 1978 that also featured Miami mayor Maurice Ferre as a speaker. The mayor stated, “This is one of the most significant developments to happen in Miami in recent years,” which proved to an overly enthusiastic prediction of the importance of a baseball franchise that would be defunct before July of the following year.5

The team was to play its games at Miami Stadium, the home to Fine and Ryan’s other team, the Miami Orioles. The stadium was opened in 1949 in the Allapattah neighborhood and had been used as a Spring Training home for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, as well as various South Florida minor-league and college teams.6 When it opened, baseball commissioner Happy Chandler declared that he knew of “no more beautiful park anywhere.”7

Miami Stadium was no longer in its original splendor but was still a serviceable stadium for a Triple-A team. The stadium had a seating capacity of 9500, down from its original 13,000, when the Amigos began play in 1979. This made it the smallest of the stadiums in use by the teams in the IAL by nearly 5000 seats.8 Despite this smaller size, the team was second in attendance for the league behind the Caracas Metropolitanos in Venezuela.

The Amigos’ uniforms reflected the Latin American influence that was a significant part of both the city of Miami and the IAL. The team’s colors were green with red and yellow trim. While the home uniform was a basic white jersey with white pants, the road jersey was a garish bright green V-necked pullover with the team city and name written across the chest in bold yellow letters with red trim. The logo had Miami written above Amigos with the two words sharing a large A. The team’s cap was in a pinwheel style that was popular during the time with a red bill, a white front panel with a large red M joined with a pointed green A, and a green back.

The players wearing these uniforms were a motley bunch of ex-major leaguers, young Latin talent, and other assorted players and characters thrown in. The highest-profile person affiliated with the Amigos was future world champion manager Davey Johnson.

The scrappy three-time Gold-Glove-winning infielder had finished his 13-year major league playing career the previous season as a pinch hitter and third baseman for the Chicago Cubs. Johnson was 36 when Fine and Ryan hired him for his first managing job. Even though he was hired to manage the Amigos, he also got 25 at bats for the team playing in limited use. Johnson would later say that his time as Miami’s skipper was difficult but when asked to reflect on the experience he stated he learned important skills such as, “putting a team together from scratch, judging talent, putting a lineup together, putting a pitching rotation together…all of that helped.”9

Johnson described the roster as “probably the best Triple A club in existence.”10 Of the 30 different players who wore the Amigos green and red over the course of the team’s 72 games, 17 had at one time played in the major leagues and pitcher Porfi Altamirano would later debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1982.

The Amigos featured several players with circumstances that were unique to say the least. Oscar Zamora had pitched parts of four seasons in the big leagues with the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros. By 1979 he owned a successful shoe factory located in Miami and due to the obligations of that job, the 34-year-old could only travel to away games on the weekends.11 Despite these restrictions, Zamora was tied for second on the team in wins with eight.

Another player with restrictions on when he could play was outfielder and one-time Milwaukee Brewers top prospect Danny Thomas. Thomas earned the nickname the Sundown Kid due to his affiliation with the Worldwide Church of God and his adherence to their belief of not working between sundown on Friday and sundown on Saturday.12 His season was cut short following a suspension for an “unnecessary” argument with an umpire which also brought his pro career to an end just three seasons after he had been the Eastern League’s Triple Crown winner.13 The following year he committed suicide in an Alabama jail cell he was in due to allegations of sexual assault of a minor.14

The team’s top pitcher was Mike Wallace who earlier in the decade had a strong season with the New York Yankees. Wallace would lead both the team and league in wins with a dominant record of 11–1 while also posting a strong ERA of 2.27. The team also featured the Tyrone brothers, Jim and Wayne, who starred as the top hitters in the IAL.15 Jim, a one-time Cub and Athletic, lead the league with a .364 batting average. His younger brother Wayne hit a league-leading eight home runs that season. His most high-profile moment would come in 1983 when the Texan would appear on The Price is Right and win a new car.16

Difficulties faced by the Amigos during the season-opening road trips were indicative of the mixture of offbeat snags and serious problems the team and the league would face in its three-month existence. The season began on April 11, 1979, with a game in Panama City against the Panama Banqueros, followed by a series against the Caracas Metropolitanos. However, the team did not get to don their memorable bright green uniforms for these games, nor did they even get to play wearing uniforms with the actual team name on them. Pitching coach Oscar Pena explained, “We got these beautiful new uniforms and somebody stole them out of Miami Stadium so for the first few games we had to wear uniforms that said Miami Marlins.”17

The trip from Panama to Venezuela revealed the visa complications that would play a part in the downfall of the IAL. The league was playing in four different countries and had players from even more, and the teams would encounter hassles as they traveled from country to country. As the team arrived in Venezuela, the authorities refused to admit a player from Nicaragua and Cuban catcher Jorge Curbelo.18 In addition to Curbelo not being allowed to play the series, the Amigos faced another problem after their series with the Metropolitanos was complete, the team could not find the backstop. After finally reaching his mother on the telephone, Amigos officials found out that he was at his home taking a nap.19

Despite these early setbacks, the Amigos immediately proved to be the top team in the league. The talent that team officials assembled and Davey Johnson led went on to finish with a season (and franchise) record of 51–21 and include the IAL’s pitching and hitting leaders.20 The next best team had 14 fewer victories. The atmosphere at Miami Stadium for Amigos games was just as festive as the jerseys the team wore, with the crowd bringing conga drums and other percussion and beating out Latin rhythms throughout the game.21 In another departure from the staid world of major league baseball, the team had their own cheerleaders that went by the name of the “Hot and Juicy Wendy’s Girls.”22

Their winning ways and party-like vibe in the stands was not enough to bring folks out to the Amigos’ games. Despite strong early attendance and a showdown between one-time Cy Young winner Mike Cuellar with the hometown shoe industry businessman/part-time pitcher Oscar Zamora that attracted over 3,000 spectators, the average attendance for the games at Miami Stadium was only 1,350 people.23,24 Fine and Ryan even offered a promotion where fans could purchase a joint season ticket with Ryan’s Miami Orioles for all of the two teams’ combined 130 home games for $250. However, this did not draw out South Florida’s baseball obsessives. A major problem that the Amigos and other teams in the IAL faced were lack of both television and radio broadcasts, which cost them a major source of revenue, as well as the opportunity to draw fans to the ballpark. Only one IAL game was broadcast in Miami, and that was on the radio.25

And while operations in Miami were run like a Triple-A team, not all franchises were run to that professional level. In Panama, the Amigos had to play one afternoon game without a scoreboard as the operator was only hired to work night games.26 That game was called early due to rain despite the team having a modern tarp just for any potential rain delays. The problem was the grounds crew consisted of children that had not been instructed on the proper way to cover the infield. One game the Amigos played in Venezuela had to called early when the stadium’s lights went out and never came back on.27

Another significant problem not just for the team but for the entire league was the cost and scheduling of the air travel between the Caribbean countries. DC-10 planes were grounded following an American Airlines crash which made the already problematic logistics even more difficult.28 The Amigos had few flights in their entire existence that were less than an hour late.29 Other problems included the team having to take separate flights, with one of the flights arriving only minutes before game time, games starting at 10:00PM, and others being called early so the teams could reach the airport in time.

By June, the league lost two of its six franchises, San Juan and Panama. The league then divided the schedule into halves and awarded the first half pennant to Miami with their 43 wins in their first 60 games. The Amigos would only play 12 more games following this split. Following two other teams announcing they wanted to suspend operations for a year, Bobby Maduro announced on June 30 that he would be shut downing the IAL. He promised that it would return in 1980, but those plans never came to fruition.

The season began with the team not wearing their own uniforms and ended with the Amigos playing their final games without their manager guiding them. Johnson was still suffering from an injury that occurred from a home-plate collision during his time as a Phillie in 1977 and was in traction following the removal of two disks in his back.30 This experience managing the Amigos helped Johnson as in 1981 he took a position as the manager of the Mets Double-A team in Jackson, Mississippi, and by 1984 he was manager of the big league New York Mets. In 1986, he skippered that team to a World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox.

For a number of the Miami Amigos, this was their last stop playing professional baseball. Fine and Ryan continued to be involved in Florida baseball. Bobby Maduro never was able to start his dream of a Latin American professional baseball league and when he passed away in 1986 from brain cancer it was still too early to see the Florida Marlins expansion team. He did receive a lasting posthumous honor when in 1987 Miami Stadium, the one-time home of the Miami Amigos, was renamed Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium as a tribute to his being a friend to baseball in the Miami region.31

ERIC ROBINSON is an educator and writer in Denton, Texas. He has presented his research on Central Texas Negro League history and other topics to groups ranging from the SABR National Conference, regional SABR conferences, elementary schools, Nerd Nite, and on Central Texas NPR. He can be contacted at ericrobinson1776@gmail.com and his website can be visited at www.lyndonbaseballjohnson.com.

Notes

1. John Cronin, “When a Dream Plays Reality in Baseball: Roberto Maduro and the Inter-American League,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring 2011), 88–93.

2. “International League in Cuba:50 Years Later,” The International League Historical Scrapbook (2010), 8-9. http://www.milb.com/documents/2010/08/06/13100514/1/Cuba.pdf Date Accessed February 25, 2016.

3. Cronin, 88–93.

4. Bill Colson, “The Over the Hill League,” Sports Illustrated, June 4, 1979.

5. “Triple A Team Set for Miami,” St. Petersburg Times, September 15, 1978.

6. Robert Andrew Powell, “Rough Diamond,” Miami New Times, August 15, 1996. http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/rough-diamond-6361494. Date Accessed February 25, 2016.

7. Powell, “Rough Diamond.”

8. Cronin, 88–93.

9. Gary Long, “For Johnson, Mets a Snap After Amigos,” Miami Herald, March 28, 1987.

10. Colson, “The Over the Hill League.”

11. Long, “For Johnson, Mets a Snap After Amigos.”

12. Long, “For Johnson, Mets a Snap After Amigos.”

13. Bruce Markusen, “The Short, Wild Life of the Inter-American League,” The Hardball Times, July 8, 2014. http://www.hardballtimes.com/the-short-wild-life-of-the-inter-american-league/. Date accessed February 25, 2016.

14. Markusen, “The Short, Wild Life of the Inter-American League.”

15. Cronin, 88–93.

16. Cronin, 88–93.

17. Sam Jacobs, “A Vanishing League,” Miami Herald, July 4, 2004.

18. Long, “For Johnson, Mets a Snap After Amigos.”

19. Long, “For Johnson, Mets a Snap After Amigos.”

20. Baseball Reference, http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/ league.cgi?id=b950ed7f. Date accessed February 25, 2016.

21. Colson, “The Over the Hill League.”

22. Markusen, “The Short, Wild Life of the Inter-American League.”

23. Colson, “The Over the Hill League.”

24. Cronin, 88–93.

25. Jacobs, “A Vanishing League.”

26. Jacobs, “A Vanishing League.”

27. Jacobs, “A Vanishing League.”

28. Markusen, “The Short, Wild Life of the Inter-American League.”

29. Colson, “The Over the Hill League.”

30. Long, “For Johnson, Mets a Snap After Amigos.”

31. Cronin, 88–93.

Dennis Martinez had just lost a heartbreaker of a game, 1–0, tossing 10 innings against the United States, losing to future major-leaguer Rich Wortham.

Martinez, only 17, was hardly displeased with his effort because he had pitched before some 25 major-league scouts in his homeland of Nicaragua against a team of older players in the Federación Mundial de Béisbol Amateur World Series. And not long before that tournament, Martinez had been impressive, too, coming out of the game in the seventh inning in a tournament in the Dominican Republic when Nicaragua beat world-class nemesis Cuba 4–3.

Following the loss to Wortham and Team USA, Baltimore Orioles scout Ray Poitevint sidled up to Martinez and asked him if he wanted to sign with the Orioles. The date was December 10, 1973.

“I signed for $3,000,” Martinez said in a phone interview from his home in Miami.1 “I was looking to come to the US. I was not a homesick kind of kid. It was the last time people in my country would see me pitch.”2

Earlier in the tournament, Poitevint was told that Martinez wouldn’t likely pitch because he was a youngster on a team laden with senior players.

“I was sitting in the first-base dugout and I saw Dennis warming up on the pitchers’ mound in left field,” Poitevint, 86, recalled in an interview from Palm Springs, California.3 “I watched him throw a breaking ball. A scout down there by the name of Tony Casanto said it was a hook pitch. Not many people called it a hook. It was a breaking ball like a slider, a little bit stronger than a slider, like an overpowering slider.

“Someone with the Nicaraguan team said I wouldn’t have a chance to see him pitch. I then asked if I could work him out. But toward the end of the tournament, one of their starting pitchers got hit in the groin area by a batted ball so they went to another pitcher and it messed up their starting rotation so they put Dennis in.”4

And it opened up an opportunity for Martinez to pitch three innings. Of course, what Martinez did in the 1–0 matchup with Wortham blew Poitevint away.

“Dennis pitched outstanding,” Poitevint said.5 “I loved his composure. His natural talent was green as grass but it was there. You could see that he had a chance to be something special. There were 25 scouts there that night and they all were checking to see if I could sign him. When he finished his pitching, I took him from the home-team dugout underneath the stadium to a hotel and I asked his mother to attend.

“In those days, Dennis could be signed by anybody. His mother was a great woman. I tried to do what I could. We didn’t have a lot of money to give. The maximum was $3,000. It wasn’t very much but the main thing is that I signed a lot of good pitchers and Dennis has done the best. He had two strong attributes I look for in any kind of athlete: mental toughness and emotional control.”6

1973 was also the year the Orioles signed high draft pick Eddie Murray to a $20,000 contract, as well as the year Martinez got married to the same woman he’s with now.

“This girl moved into our neighbourhood across the street from where we lived,” Martinez recalled.7 “She was a little girl. I said to myself, ‘Oh, oh, that looks pretty good.’ I was like a good scout, I had good eyes. That’s my girl. I picked the right woman. I was lucky with Luz.”8

Martinez was born May 14, 1954, in Granada, Nicaragua, the youngest of seven children raised by his father Edmundo, a farmer, and his mother Emilia, a housewife.

“My dad was a farmer who owned a lot of land,” Martinez said.9 “I was the only one of us born in Granada and my three brothers and three sisters were born in the country. They were joking around that I was the golden boy, that I was born in the city, that I was able to go to a school. We had moved to Granada before I was born.

“We were a poor family but we were able to survive. I helped my parents on the farm. We lived on rice and beans, plantain, vegetables, some meat, some chicken.”10

A year after signing with the Orioles, the organization decided to place Martinez on the roster of its Class A team in Miami and he was a resounding success with a 15–6 record. In 1975, although his walk ratio worsened, his record improved to 16–5 during stints with Miami, Double-A Asheville, and Triple-A Rochester. The Orioles kept Martinez in Rochester for most of the 1976 season when he went 14–8, prompting a call-up for his major-league debut September 14.

By 1977, Martinez was in the big leagues for good. He was a mainstay of the Orioles’ pitching staff until 1986 when he was traded to the Montreal Expos.

Back in 1972, Martinez had been introduced to booze by an amateur teammate in Nicaragua. That started a relationship with the demon alcohol that for many years wouldn’t allow him to concentrate.

“I was 17-years-old,” Martinez said.11 “I was 6–0 my first year in amateur baseball. I was undefeated. One day, we went to another town to play a game and we lost 1–0. The catcher, he saw that I was down because we got beat. His name was Roque Zavala. All of a sudden Roque came back to the back of the bus and said, ‘Hey man, drink this.’”12

The substance was the Nicaraguan specialty rum Flor de Caña, one of the country’s most famous exports. Martinez had one, then another and then more. There was no Coke or ice to go with it. Next thing you know, he was drunk and passed out on the two-and-a-half-hour-long trip back to his home.

“We were drinking shots of this rum,” Martinez said.13 “I don’t remember how I got home. It got me. Roque really loved me. He always motivated me, always pushed me. He made me feel good. He was the kind of person who was like a mentor to me. He didn’t mean to hurt me by offering me the rum. He tried to make me feel okay. From that day onward, I was introduced to alcohol but not every day.”14

And that introduction spilled into his major-league days, but only on road trips, never at home in the presence of his wife and children. There was always beer in the clubhouse and then he would get invited out to bars by teammates to continue drinking. Funny thing, he didn’t develop a passion for rum and was never the big drinker his father was. Ironically, his drinking problem started when he became a regular in the majors in 1977.

“There was beer available after a game and then you would go out for dinner and all of a sudden, it was the lifestyle,” Martinez said.15

Martinez stopped drinking beer and switched to white wine, which over time got boring, too.

“Beer? I was not a big beer drinker. Somebody told me that beer would get you fat and you would get a belly,” Martinez said, chuckling.16 “I started drinking wine but it gave me a headache. I wouldn’t feel good the next day. I changed to amaretto, just with ice. I liked it because it was fruity. Then I went to Grand Marnier, pretty much like amaretto. I liked its sweetness. It was less sugary than amaretto and it was something strong.”17

What really threw Martinez for a loop, prompting him to quit drinking, was a late-at-night incident after the Orioles won the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies in 1983. It just so happened to follow his worst season ever in the majors: he was 7–16.

Martinez’s drinking and mental deterioration had prompted manager Joe Altobelli to exclude him from use in the American League Championship Series against the Chicago White Sox and the World Series against the Phillies. Altobelli just didn’t have the confidence in him.

One night shortly after the World Series ended, Martinez had gone to a gym to work out and ran into a friend coming out of the building. They decided to go for a drink, which turned into several drinks.

“It was five in the afternoon when I came out of the gym,” Martinez said.18 “My friend asked me if I wanted to go for a drink and I said, ‘Why not?’ I had the first one, the second, the third one and six or seven more. They didn’t have amaretto or Grand Marnier at that bar so I drank beer and white wine.”19

Martinez figures it was nine o’clock when he and his buddy decided to leave the bar. When he was driving toward the expressway to go home, his car had a flat tire. So he pulled over and soon, a state trooper also pulled over, noticed Martinez was under the influence and charged him with intoxication.

“By the next day, it was all over the news,” Martinez said.20 “I was feeling so bad, so shameful, so humiliated, so devastated. When my kids came home from school, I talked to them. Their reaction was, ‘Dad, we already know that.’ They told me they had heard I was stopped for drinking and driving. I saw the hurt in their eyes. That’s what got me. They had a right to be upset.”21

Martinez knew it was time to quit drinking. He entered rehab and hasn’t had a drink for 32 years.

“I turned to God for help,” he said.22 “I was either going to kill somebody or kill myself drinking and driving. I’d become two different people: I didn’t drink at home but I drank on the road. It was time for me to overcome my drinking problem and pray with the rosary for the rest of my life.

“I’ve gone to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Miami two or three times a week since then. It’s the only way to stay sober. And when I go back to Nicaragua, I go almost every day if I can.”23

In the three years following sobriety, Martinez was a changed man on the baseball field, not for the good, but for the worse. By 1986, the Orioles gave up on Martinez and traded him to the Expos on June 16, 1986.

The decision to quit drinking took a toll on Martinez’s pitching, rather than improve it. In 1984, he was 6–9. In 1985, his record improved to 13–11 thanks to improved run support, but a look at his FIP (fielding independent pitching) he worsened from 4.96 to 5.22. In 1986 prior to the trade, the slide continued.

“I dedicated myself to sobriety, I just focused my mind on not drinking, to change myself and to train myself not to drink,” Martinez said.24 “When I tried to play, it wasn’t the same. I wasn’t the same pitcher, not the same before I stopped drinking. And it’s true, you can’t concentrate on the game and on sobriety at the same time. You have to concentrate on one or the other.

“The Orioles were not patient enough. I don’t blame them. They didn’t see the fire in my eyes anymore. When I heard in the clubhouse that I was traded, I was crying like a baby. One of the players came up to me and said, ‘You’re hurt and you have a right to feel this way but don’t forget this is a business. This team was your livelihood. They may not want you but another team wants you.’ That’s what I wanted to hear. He encouraged me. I stopped crying and I moved on.

“The Expos had great scouting people and they saw something in me. I was grateful to them. I wanted to prove them not wrong, I wanted to prove them right.”25

And he proved them right, even though he got knocked around early on. During one particular game when he was being bashed by the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitching coach Larry Bearnarth came to the mound to make him feel better.

“‘Okay, kid.’ Those were Larry’s words,” Martinez recalled.26 “He said, ‘You are a veteran, kid, you have been successful, do what you love to do.’ He helped turned my life around. That game against Pittsburgh, I got hit so bad. They were hitting the ball hard and I wanted to come out of the game. Larry came with the right things to say. At the end of the season, I started showing signs of pitching better. I won three games [for Montreal], including a shutout.”27 The shutout came on August 5.

After a rough 3–6 stint in 1986 with the Expos, Martinez made progress and more progress. By 1987, after a stint in the minors, he would emerge as the ace of the Expos’ pitching staff. This is what he did during his tenure with the Expos: 11–4, 15–13, 16–7, 10–11, 14–11, 16–11, and 15–9.

The highlight of his career came July 28, 1991, on a scorching hot day in Chavez Ravine at Dodger Stadium when he threw a perfect game against the Dodgers: 27 up, 27 down, including shutting down former Orioles teammate Eddie Murray three times.

Martinez did it at age 36 in his fifteenth season as a major-leaguer. It was done in the midst of trade rumours that suggested he was going to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Québec native Denis Boucher.

When the twenty-seventh batter, pinch-hitter Chris Gwynn, hit a long fly to center, Martinez turned around and saw right away that outfielder Marquis Grissom had lots of time to get under the ball.

“He didn’t hit it that hard. He’d gotten it on the big barrel of the bat and the ball stayed in the air so it gave Marquis a chance at going after it,” Martinez said.28

As the ball landed in Grissom’s glove, Martinez was whooping it up and turned toward third baseman Tim Wallach. They may have been teammates but they were adversaries, too. Wallach never cared much for Martinez’s style of popping off to the media if he felt the team was playing poorly. That day, though, Wallach forgot the past to hug Martinez.

“Eli was showing his emotions,” Martinez said.29 “There was that bond between us despite the past. He hugged me and I hugged him, too. I was happy but my emotions took control of me. I started to cry.”30

There were some hair-raising moments that put the perfecto in doubt. The closest call came in the seventh when Juan Samuel tried to leg out a hit with a drag bunt down toward the first-base side. Martinez moved in quick, picked up the ball with his bare right hand and threw to first baseman Larry Walker, who had to sprawl in the dirt for the ball and keep his foot on the base at the same time.

“It was risky doing it barehand,” Martinez said.31 “It could have rolled off my finger or something like that. I have a video of the game and it shows I had plenty of time to throw him out.”32

What Martinez didn’t know was that Samuel was unaware that Martinez had a perfect game in the works.

“We were down 2–0 and I thought I’d try to get something going,” Samuel recalled.33 “Then when I got to the bench, I looked up at the scoreboard and noticed that Dennis had a no-hitter going. I didn’t know that. I said, ‘What if I had gotten a hit on the bunt?’ I sat at my locker after the game wondering.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to break up the no-hitter that way. If I’d known he had a no-hitter, I wouldn’t have bunted. I would have just swung away. I live in Miami like Dennis does and I’ve helped to raise money for the people in Nicaragua like Dennis does. I told Martinez that it was the biggest play of the game. I told him that he looked like a shortstop the way he sprinted off the mound for the ball.”34

Martinez said he threw 80 percent fastballs that day. Of the 96 pitches he threw, only 30 were balls. Prior to hitting to Grissom to end the game, Gwynn had hit a line drive foul past third, causing a few hearts to flutter.

“I made no bad pitches. I’ve watched every single pitch on the video. It was remarkable,” Martinez said.35 “When I went out to the mound for the ninth, I was shaking. The crowd [more than 45,000] was clapping and giving me ovations. I said, ‘Please, God, help me.’”36

Funny thing, in the fourth inning, Martinez experienced some soreness on his right side and he was tended to by trainers Ron McClain and Mike Kozak. During the course of the game, the trainers also doused Martinez with ammonia to keep him cool in the scorching heat.

“He had such good control,” said Dodgers second baseman Alfredo Griffin.37 “He had good command of his pitches. He had a nasty slider. When you have command, you have a lot of confidence in anything you throw.”38

When all of the hullabaloo after the game ended, Martinez found his way to a spot in the dugout. He wanted time to himself. His head was in his hands or his hands were clasped as he bowed to the floor.

“There were tears in my eyes because of the joy, what God allowed me to do. I thought of the people in Montreal who treated me so good,” Martinez said of his time alone.39 “I was just praying to me. I was kind of numb. I was dreaming. I was biting my tongue.”40

The next day, Martinez appeared on NBC’s Today show at 4:45AM Pacific Daylight Time with Bryant Gumbel. A few days later, he sent his uniform top, a ticket stub and an autographed ball from the game to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

At the first game back in Montreal at Olympic Stadium, Expos brass gave him a Chevrolet Blazer and a framed photo of himself. Three weeks later, accompanied by reporters from the Montreal Gazette, La Presse, and Le Journal de Montréal, Martinez travelled to his birthplace in Granada to be feted by his countrymen.

What he remembers more than anything from that time was not so much the perfect game, but that day of recognition in his homeland. It was special because he was the first player from Nicaragua to play in the majors.

“I pitched that game in LA, but to share it with my people in Nicaragua is something I will never really forget,” Martinez said.41 “It was an unbelievable feeling, a great day I will never forget. Every time I look at the video of the game, I’m living a dream. It happened 25 years ago but it feels like yesterday.”42

When he returned to Montreal from Nicaragua, Martinez arranged to spend over $7,000 with the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa to obtain Canadian Maple Leaf coins for his teammates, other uniformed personnel and Expos’ staff members to commemorate his special day.

Martinez would stay with the Expos through the 1993 season but not before turning down an August trade that year, a proposed transaction that would have sent him to the Atlanta Braves. Martinez would go on to sign a multiyear deal with the Cleveland Indians and later played for the Seattle Mariners and the Braves.

By nixing the trade to Atlanta in 1993, he missed out on playing for the pennant-contending Braves. He wanted to finish the season with the cash-strapped Expos. In what seemed like a bizarre decision on Martinez’s part, he used his power as a 10-and-5 (10 years in the majors, at least the last five with the same team) player to veto the trade.

“I had a lot of discussions with my lawyer [Ron Shapiro] to see what was best for me on the field,” Martinez told the Globe and Mail that day.43 “We decided on the Expos as the most reliable situation for me because I’d be able to pitch every five days. Going to Atlanta, it sounds like I was going to be more of the insurance man for them. Being the fifth man in the rotation there wouldn’t allow to me to pitch as often as I would here. They have the best pitching staff with four solid starters. I didn’t want to be in that situation. I don’t want to be there just for the hell of it.”44

Martinez had also used his 10-and-5 power to obtain financial compensation from both the Expos and Braves to make the deal possible.

“We didn’t want to give him any compensation because we felt that by sending him to a team that might make the playoffs and the World Series was compensation in itself,” Expos GM Dan Duquette said.

“The Braves made it clear right from the start that they would not do anything about a contract extension and that there would be no compensation of any sort whatsoever for going there,” Martinez said.45 “I didn’t like that. It’s not right. It’s not fair.”46

Both Martinez and Shapiro believed the Braves claimed Martinez to prevent a trade to the San Francisco Giants.

“They were blocking San Francisco on waivers,” Shapiro said at the time.47 “They haven’t a darn use for Dennis. They weren’t going to put him in a role to win a game because they had guys who could do it. If there was going to be no compensation, it didn’t make sense to approve the trade.

“Dennis has 96 National League wins and wants to be a 100-win man in both leagues. That’s what it’s all about from here on in. With Atlanta, maybe he would have had three or four starts. In Montreal, he might get seven or eight.”48

Sure enough, Martinez did get his 100th  win before the end of the 1993 season. That offseason, though, Duquette and the Expos decided Martinez was too expensive to sign to a new contract so they let him go.

Along the way in his career, Martinez boasted two friends whom he cherished in the majors: Eddie Murray and the late Mike Flanagan.

“Eddie, Mike, and I all came through the Orioles’ farm system to the big leagues,” Martinez said.49 “I was able to show them as a Latin kid that I had no preference for any race. I chose a white boy and a black boy. I had good eyes. And here I was a Latino. I was in the middle. You can’t go wrong that way.”50

Since 1989, Martinez has lived in Miami, including the last 24 years in the same house. It didn’t hurt that he had lived there briefly in 1974-75 when he played Class A ball.

“I’ve always liked Miami. First of all, there’s the atmosphere, the environment,” Martinez said.51 “There are a lot of Spanish people there. My wife and family, my brothers and sisters, all wanted to stay in Miami. The weather is nice and warm and we’re closer to Nicaragua.”52

Martinez would stay out of baseball for years after his retirement following the 1999 season but he eventually resurfaced as a minor-league instructor for several teams and was bullpen coach for the Houston Astros in 2013.

As a token of appreciation for what he did with the Expos, the voting members of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ontario, elected Martinez on February 2, 2016, as one of its new members. In 520 major-league bats, Martinez had gone homerless, but two days prior to his induction on June 18, 2016, Martinez, 62,  stunned onlookers when he lined a home run over the left-field fence in the second inning of a celebrity slow-pitch softball game in St. Marys. One inquirer asked Martinez on the conference call what it was like to be swapped to the Expos, a move that turned his career around.

“I was so grateful to be traded to the Expos, to a different country, to a different culture,” Martinez said.53 “That was my second chance in baseball. They treated me so good in Montreal. I was so happy to play there. People took me under their wing.”54

Martinez finished his big-league career with more than 100 wins in both the American League and National League.  His 245 wins, 104 in the NL and 141 in the AL, are the most of any Latin American pitcher, eclipsing the 243 won by Hall of Famer Juan Marichal. Martinez also finished with a 3.70 ERA, 122 complete games, and 30 shutouts in a career that fell just short of 4,000 innings pitched.  

Poitevint, a pioneering baseball scout, who spent close to six decades in the game and still remains active as a consultant, just loves Martinez.

“I don’t like to broadcast it but Dennis was always first class,” Poitevint said.55 “He’s something extra special. He went through a lot of hardships, a lot of problems. He did it on his own. Of all the people I signed, he was the best person and the best pitcher.”56

DANNY GALLAGHER of Bowmanville, Ontario, started covering Major League Baseball in 1988 when he became a Montreal Expos’ beat writer for the Montreal Daily News. Since then, he has written four books on the Expos, including two he co-authored with Bill Young, the latest of which is Ecstasy to Agony about the 1994 squad. He won a Saskatchewan Baseball Association award in 1985 for a series of stories on that province’s contributions to the big leagues. He also played competitive sandlot, adult baseball from 1968–94 in various Canadian provinces.

Notes

1. Dennis Martinez, telephone interview, January 22, 2016.

2. Martinez interview.

3. Ray Poitevint, telephone interview, January 27, 2016.

4. Poitevint interview.

5. Poitevint interview.

6. Poitevint interview.

7. Martinez interview.

8. Martinez interview.

9. Martinez interview.

10. Martinez interview.

11. Martinez interview.

12. Martinez interview.

13. Martinez interview.

14. Martinez interview.

15. Martinez interview.

16. Martinez interview.

17. Martinez interview.

18. Martinez interview.

19. Martinez interview.

20. Martinez interview.

21. Martinez interview.

22. Martinez interview.

23. Martinez interview.

24. Martinez interview.

25. Martinez interview.

26. Martinez interview.

27. Martinez interview.

28. Danny Gallagher, You Don’t Forget Homers Like That (Scoop Press, 1997), 36.

29. Gallagher, 36.

30. Gallagher, 36.

31. Gallagher, 36.

32. Gallagher, 36.

33. Gallagher, 36.

34. Gallagher, 36.

35. Gallagher, 37.

36. Gallagher, 37.

37. Gallagher, 37.

38. Gallagher, 37.

39. Gallagher, 40.

40. Gallagher, 40.

41. Dennis Martinez, telephone conference call, February 2, 2016.

42. Martinez conference call.

43. Danny Gallagher, “Martinez nixes trade to Braves,” Toronto Globe and Mail, August 16, 1993.

44. Gallagher, “Martinez nixes trade to Braves.”

45. Gallagher, “Martinez nixes trade to Braves.”

46. Gallagher, “Martinez nixes trade to Braves.”

47. Gallagher, “Martinez nixes trade to Braves.”

48. Gallagher, “Martinez nixes trade to Braves.”

49. Martinez interview.

50. Martinez interview.

51. Martinez interview.

52. Martinez interview.

53. Martinez conference call.

54. Martinez conference call.

55. Poitevint interview.

56. Poitevint interview.

Since the early twentieth century, Florida has offered the “enchanted reality” of spring training, with players and fans annually migrating to the Sunshine State for salubrious weather guaranteed to banish winter and welcome a fresh start. Dreams abound: a sharper curve, a quicker bat, fleeter feet, fewer aches and pains, a little bit more luck, making the team, a higher finish in the standings. Sportswriters, too, hear this suggestive call, the time when prose contracts the occupational disease “superlativitis,” as described by Sport magazine.2 The air tingles with possibility.

In February 1971, it seemed that Houston Oilers star receiver Jerry LeVias sensed that possibility even though he was at the pinnacle of a standout NFL career. The Beaumont, Texas, native had excelled as quarterback for his segregated high school. Upon graduation in 1965, he had blazed a trail as the first black scholarship athlete in the Southwest Conference, joining Southern Methodist University as a receiver in an era of racial turmoil. While there, he had lived alone and experienced racism from opponents and teammates in the form of hate mail, death threats, and on-field racially-motivated beatings. “My trademark was not to get tackled by more than one person so as not to end up under the pile. I tried to survive because I knew the things that would happen,” the 5-foot-10, 175-pound speedster later recalled.3 Encouraged during a brief meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., LeVias graduated in 1969, racking up All-SWC and All-American honors, and most SWC receiving records. Considered the “Jackie Robinson of the Southwest,” he was drafted by the American Football League’s Oilers, where he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie wide receiver and kick/punt returner. When the AFL merged with the National Football League in 1970, he joined the league of his Detroit Lions cousin, Mel Farr, and finished fifth in all-purpose yards.

LeVias hadn’t played baseball since he was an SMU sophomore, but he had been a .305-hitting second baseman. And he had stolen 52 bases in part-time high school ball, which had prompted the New York Yankees to offer a $30,000 bonus and a $12,000 annual contract.4 San Diego Chargers star halfback Mike Garrett had just cancelled a well-publicized plan to try out for the Los Angeles Dodgers, so the idea of an NFL star contemplating a career change to baseball was not unheard of at the time.

Detroit Tigers farm director Hoot Evers and chief scout Ed Katalinas began to receive calls in February from LeVias about a spring tryout, introducing himself as Farr’s cousin, explaining he loved and wanted to play baseball instead of football, which, “wasn’t really his game.”5 Katalinas procured an old scouting report on LeVias and conferred with Evers, who told LeVias he was welcome at the Lakeland Tiger Town training site if he could obtain the Oilers’ permission. LeVias quickly agreed. Katalinas told the press, “Our club is always looking for speed. He’s got two items on his side: unadulterated speed and great body control. He has what we call an infielder’s body. We have to find out if he has major league potential. After three weeks or so, he’ll know and we’ll know.”6

After obtaining Tigers infielder/pinch hitter Gates Brown’s phone number from the club, LeVias contacted him to advise that he was leaving football and would be reporting to Lakeland. Shortly thereafter, he showed up at Brown’s Detroit west-side bar under adversity, asking for a $300 loan for the round-trip airfare to Florida to help cover luggage lost on his flight to Detroit, a marriage to a woman in Atlanta, and funds tied up in Houston. Brown loaned the money and the two of them flew together with little additional conversation to Tiger Town on Friday, February 19.7

The Tigers team awaiting their arrival was undergoing its own regeneration. The 1968 World Series champions were recovering from a 1970 ordeal beset by more clubhouse drama than wins. To jumpstart success, Billy Martin had been signed to manage a revamped roster. This was the same diminutive but fiery Martin who would be hired and fired with clockwork regularity over his managerial career, as his brawls, alcoholism, and combative personality would repeatedly wear out his welcome.8 It was also the same Martin who was peerless as a tactician and who would rejuvenate every team he inherited, including the Tigers. He met with every player during the offseason to address problems and boost morale. “I’d play Adolf Hitler nine innings every day if he was the best man I had for the job,” he proclaimed, warning during the offseason, “I won’t put up with liars, alibi Ikes, or con artists.”9

William Douglas Street Jr., shown here in a recent mugshot, has racked up multiple convictions for fraudulent impersonation. (Washtenaw County Sheriff)

In this atmosphere of high expectation, the Tigers rolled out the red carpet for LeVias. He was housed at the team’s newly built, three-story Fetzer Hall dormitory.10 A press release was issued. Potential snags were quickly averted. When LeVias explained that his Oilers’ written release was in luggage lost on the flight in from Detroit, along with Brown’s luggage, the team relaxed their rule and issued him a gray second-string uniform.11 Showing up without spikes equally proved inconsequential: a travelling sporting goods salesman handed over a pair of shoes with no payment due until their next meeting.

As LeVias donned his uniform, media, team officials, and players orbited about. In reports that would circulate nationwide, LeVias detailed his disappointment with football: “I’ve just lost all my feeling for football. I don’t ever want to go back. I’m just a little thing, you know, and I’m a little tired of getting belted around all the time. It was a mistake to play in Houston those two years. The players there didn’t give it all they’ve got. It’s tough to play when you’ve got a quarterback who won’t throw the ball to you because he’s jealous of all the attention you’ve received. And when I’d get hurt, the people wouldn’t believe me. I’ve been disenchanted with football ever since I got to Houston.”12

LeVias estimated he needed a half to a full season in the minors to move up to the Tigers and considered returning to school if he failed to make the cut. With camera snapshots exposing his face under a Tigers cap rather than concealing it behind an Oilers facemask, the man the Detroit News had dubbed “Speediest Rookie” headed for the field.13 When he strode toward the plate, the Tigers regulars stepped aside to let him bat.

As LeVias finished his swings and commenced fielding drills under veteran scout Bernie DeViveiros’s supervision, however, his skills appeared rawer than expected. “I wasn’t too impressed with the way he threw. Once in a while he would pop the ball a little with something on it, but right away I had my doubts. I watched him run and I wasn’t at all impressed. I just couldn’t see the speed that I was supposed to see,” DeViveiros recalled.14 “Something was clearly wrong with all his fundamentals,” added Katalinas, also in attendance.15 Once the 40-minute workout concluded, DeViveiros left the field muttering, “The fellow doesn’t look like an athlete to me.”16 Overall, he looked like “horse feathers,” observed another coach.17 Amidst swirling disappointment, LeVias remained undeterred, announcing he would issue a formal statement about quitting football in a day or two, and even asking for a monetary advance to tide him over.18

Meanwhile, an ominous cloud was heading toward his prospects. Once UPI picked up Detroit media coverage, the press contacted Oilers publicity director Jim McLemore for comment. Unaware of LeVias’s career change, McLemore called LeVias via the team’s contact information. The LeVias he reached was in Texas, though, where he was training for the upcoming football season. “This is a hoax,” McLemore quickly claimed to UPI after the workout.19 “Me quit football?” chimed in LeVias from Texas. “I don’t know where a thing like this got started. Biggest hoax I ever heard of.”20

Despite a tightening noose, the Lakeland LeVias insisted he was genuine to Detroit News beat writer Watson Spoelstra over two interviews, claiming papers to prove it were in his lost luggage. Finally, during a third interview with Spoelstra, nine hours after the tryout, LeVias came clean. News flash: His real name was Jerald Lee LeVias, not Jerry LeVias. Born in Detroit, the 23-year-old had graduated from Detroit Central High School where he was an All-City high school football player, and had recently gotten out of the Army and married when the imposter idea came to him. As for his raison d’etre at Tiger Town, the self-proclaimed lifelong Tigers fan offered, “I love baseball, that’s all. I figured I’d get a better chance if I were somebody.”21 Although of similar build to the receiver and having read about him in a magazine, Jerald Lee had only been to Houston once and had never seen Jerry play.

After quickly being contacted by Spoelstra and conferring with LeVias, and later general manager Jim Campbell, Evers announced, “The boy misrepresented himself and I’m sending him home. I don’t fault him that much if he wants to play baseball. But he went about it in a very wrong way. He seems like a very nice young man. He got some publicity he wasn’t deserving of and I’m certainly sorry.”22 Evers confessed he was “red-faced” and had erred in relaxing rules regarding the Oilers’ permission. “He said both his and Brown’s luggage had been lost at the airport…If one suitcase was lost we might have suspected something. But, when he said both were lost, it sounded right.”23 Katalinas was likewise embarrassed, oversold on LeVias showing up to camp with Brown. LeVias, meanwhile, retreated to a darkened room, refusing photographs. “I feel like a heel now…I had no idea the other LeVias was that popular. I just wanted to work out for a few days to show them what I could do. I was going to tell them the truth.”24

Gates Brown was the first Tigers player to be drawn in by Street’s scam when he lent the impostor $300 and accompanied him on an airline flight to spring training. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

The next morning, LeVias was flown back to Detroit. He recalled, “I began to feel a little guilty when they started taking all those pictures. I just didn’t expect to get all that attention. But, things were happening so fast, I didn’t know what to do. So I just went along with it.”25 With questionable self-analysis that as a “celebrity” he “shouldn’t have any trouble getting a tryout somewhere else now,” LeVias boarded with two airline- provided servings of Cutty Sark “hooch” for luggage to “get me a little drunk tonight” on the Tigers’ dime.26 Or, rather, on a $93 first-class departure ticket, which combined with Friday’s $72 team-covered coach arrival fare meant the Tigers paid $165 to be hoaxed and Brown was $300 lighter for an “airfare loan.”27 “Live and learn,” Brown lamented. “I’ll have to chalk it up to experience. I didn’t even know who Jerry LeVias was. Somebody in the front office gave him my phone number and that’s why I thought he was okay.”28

Before, during, and after departure, Jerald Lee’s hoax deepened. With his story publicized in Detroit, he was identified as William Douglas Street Jr. by a friend who recognized his picture. The “nice young man” man in actuality was a 20-year-old west-side Detroiter, the son of a bus driver and homemaker, who “couldn’t hit or pick up the ball” and was “equally as bad” at other sports, according to Central High’s baseball captain.29 Recently married to a local woman, not Atlantan, he’d decided that a life like his father’s was for “chumps,” but spent too much time “partying and goofing off” to obtain a profession.30 “I guess you can say I was always a man who believed in shortcuts,” he later admitted.31 A 1970 larceny conviction while posing as a Ferris State College student had been one of those short cuts.

Via enchanted reality and despite poor high school baseball skills, Street envisioned being a professional baseball player, his marriage certificate’s listed occupation, if given the opportunity. In 1969, he had finagled a summer workout with the Boston Red Sox when they visited Detroit. The following year, he had appeared at the team’s Winter Haven camp, fabricating that he had been called for a tryout. His skills were so poor, however, the Red Sox “got him off the field before he got killed” and paid for his return home.32 Later that summer, Street had appeared in Boston as a Time magazine writer covering Carl Yastrzemski, asking for and obtaining a uniform to work out with the team to get a “real feel for the story.”33 He was eventually tossed out after being caught warming up in the bullpen and shaving in the dugout during a game. Over subsequent months, Street had continued pestering the Red Sox, highlighted by receiving $50 while impersonating a Boston farmhand on a Detroit television show.34

Once Street’s full history hit the light of day, Campbell admitted, “We were taken by a real pro…I’m glad we didn’t get hurt more than we did.” Detroit News reporter Jerry Green, who had not bitten on the phony LeVias since he had seen the real LeVias in action, was amazed that Campbell had been so thoroughly hoodwinked since he was “such a straight-laced guy when it came to rules and regulations.”35

Street’s shenanigans fit perfectly with the Grapefruit League’s history of dreamers and schemers, some of whom even progressed to the Cactus League for more action. As Tigers coach Charlie Silvera recalled after Street’s escapade, some spent a few weeks drifting from club to club, getting a “sandwich and a coffee” for their efforts, the lucky few obtaining a recommendation letter from one general manager to another club.36 “You’d get a note saying the player was 6-foot-2, 190 pounds and when you’d get him, he’d be sawed off to 5-foot-1 and 110. Some really think they can play, but what they want most is to go to spring training. We used to have a lot of them, but not so much anymore.”37 “Dippers” who would “steal anything—dip into anything—wallets, clothes, rings, watches” also made the rounds.38 By 1971, however, sophisticated scouting and the free agent draft had virtually guaranteed that an unknown phenom making a team—like Billy Martin had while working out in unappreciated obscurity in Oakland after his high school graduation—were in history’s dustbin.

Street’s baseball-related impersonation efforts failed to find that same dustbin. On March 3 he was arrested at an Orlando hotel for passing a bad check on its manager under the guise of being with the Minnesota Twins. Returning to Detroit, he concocted a scam for “easy money” while drinking with friends.39 Knowing that Tigers slugger Willie Horton was in Florida, just past midnight on March 9, Street delivered a letter to Horton’s wife at the couple’s Detroit home. Horton’s wife recognized Street from his newspaper picture and refused to open the door. Identifying herself as Mrs. Horton’s sister, she instructed Street to leave the note. It demanded she withdraw $20,000 from her bank and turn it over to “this man.”40 “This man,” in turn, would hand over a briefcase of “pictures, tapes, and records of your husband’s criminal dealings,” warning her she would be killed if she contacted anyone and that her husband’s and children’s lives were at stake.41 Mrs. Horton immediately contacted the police. Shortly thereafter, Street was arrested and sentenced to 20 years’ probation for extortion. “That was some troubled times. We had to get security for my kids to go to school. What he put us through, I never wanted to see him again,” Willie Horton recalled.42

From 1973 onward, Street’s schemes veered toward surrealism. After violating his parole, he was sentenced to Southern Michigan prison, from which he escaped. By 2015, his lengthy confidence man resumé featured impersonations of a Michigan football player, a lawyer for the Detroit Human Rights Department, a medical student at Yale University, an Annapolis graduate, and a doctor at an Illinois Hospital, where he came close to performing an emergency appendectomy. He had totaled 25 convictions, 11 prison sentences, and numerous aliases, including one as a woman.43 In July 2015 the Plymouth township resident, living with a wife and special needs step-daughter, was sentenced to 23 months in state prison for issuing falsified checks. On February 8, 2016, he was sentenced to a consecutive term of 36 additional months on federal charges of mail fraud and aggravated theft of a Maryland-based Defense Department contractor’s identity used to pick up women and obtain a job. His lawyer describes him as “doing okay” and prepared—in the jailhouse phrase for serving time—to “go lay down for a while.”44 “I’m tired of this nonsense,” his client offered in court, “each day we choose who we will serve…and I chose incorrectly.”45

Later in spring training, Tigers slugger Willie Horton became entangled with Street when the con artist delivered a letter to his Detroit home demanding $20,000 and threatening murder if the police were contacted. Undeterred, upon receipt of the letter, Horton’s wife contacted the police and Street was quickly arrested. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

Street’s life has been dramatized in Chameleon Street, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival. Its director, after meeting with Street extensively, observed, “When he meets someone, he susses out within three minutes exactly who they want him to be, who they are, what hopes and aspirations they might have, how they digest the black persona and he becomes whatever is most advantageous to him.”46

In a current film industry beset by uninspiring sequels, Street’s life more deservedly calls for an updated Chameleon Street, or better yet a well-produced documentary. If Street participated in one, he would likely cite, as he did in a jailhouse interview, his impersonation of LeVias as, “the first time I found out how easy it was to get people to believe whatever you said, so long as you said it right.”47 Asked today the reason for his behavior, he might answer as he did in that same interview: “I don’t think of myself as an average guy out to prove something to the world. Sometimes, I think I’m just trying to prove something to myself.”48 

DAN VanDeMORTEL became a Giants fan in Upstate New York and moved to San Francisco to follow the team more closely. He has written extensively on Northern Ireland political and legal affairs, and his Giants-related writing has appeared in San Francisco’s Nob Hill Gazette and The National Pastime. An investigation into the shooting of a spectator at the Polo Grounds will be published in 2017 in a Polo Grounds anthology. He is currently writing a book and related articles on the 1971 Giants and welcomes feedback at giants1971@yahoo.com.

Acknowledgments

Heartfelt appreciation goes out to baseball writer/editor Gary Gillette, SABR-Detroit chair, for his assistance with this article.

Notes

1. Gary Mormino, Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2005), 2–3.

2. Jonathan Fraser Light, The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005), 872.

3. Pro-Football-Reference.com (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LeViJe00.htm) lists LeVias at 5’9″, 177 pounds. However, 1971 press accounts and his 1971 Topps and Kellogg’s football cards list him at 5’10”, 175 pounds; consequently, this measurement is relied on.

4. “LeVias Decides to Quit Football,” Wilmington Morning Star, February, 20, 1971, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19710220&id=FStkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sQkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5018,3426816&hl=en.

5. “The Amazing Mr. Street Goes South Again,” Pittsburgh Press, February 22, 1971, http://tigerlore.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-amazing-mr-street-goes-south-again.html?view=classic; “Tall Tale Grabs Tiger by Tail,” Jet, March 11, 1971, https://books.google.com/books?id=tjcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=tall+tale+grabs+tiger+by+tail&source=bl&ots=DTHsehWd0E&sig=vA2shwEEtvklZOnAkluoHikzb9o&hl= en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijvbOG0KTKAhVK-2MKHVeGCvoQ6AEIHTAA#v= onepage&q=tall%20tale%20grabs%20tiger%20by%20tail&f=false.

6. Jerry Green, “Baseball’s Great Imposter,” Sports Scene, September 1971.

7. LeVias used a portion of the $300 to pay for Brown’s ticket. Brown slept through most of the flight.

8. In true fashion, Martin would guide an improved Tigers team to 91 wins in 1971 and one American League Championship Series win short of going to the World Series in 1972. Despite this success, by 1973 his relationship with general manager Jim Campbell had deteriorated so badly that he was fired in September while the team had a 71–63 record. His repeated etiquettorial remark, “Excuse me, I’ve gotta go take a Jim Campbell” when he used the restroom likely encouraged that development. Mike Shropshire, The Last Real Season (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2008), 59.

9. Ed Linn, “Billy Martin: A Foreign Body in the Tigers’ System,” Sport, June 1971; Watson Spoelstra, “Martin Warns His Tigers: ‘I Hate Alibi Ikes,’” The Sporting News, January 30, 1971.

10.. Watson Spoelstra, “Tigers Are Red-Faced on Dead-End Street,” The Sporting News, March 6, 1971; Bill Rufty, “Tiger Town Dorm Getting $1 Million Renovation,” The Ledger, December 30, 2007, http://www.theledger.com/article/20071230/NEWS/712300465.

11. Brown later explained that his luggage was never lost; LeVias picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport. Once this error was discovered, they drove back and gathered the right one.

12. LeVias Decides to Quit Football,” op. cit.

13. Spoelstra, “Tigers Are Red-Faced on Dead-End Street,” op. cit.

14. “Tigers Fooled,” Hendersonville Times-News, February 22, 1971, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19710222&id=a8AmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TiQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5208,3447286&hl=en; “Tiger Imposter Feels Like Heel,” Oakland Tribune, February 22, 1971.

15. Richard Willing, “Will The Real William Douglas Street Jr. Please Stand Up,” Detroit News (Sunday Magazine), July 14, 1985.

16. Spoelstra, “Tigers Are Red-Faced on Dead-End Street,” op. cit.

17. Joe Falls and Jim Hawkins, “How a Kid With a Lot of Guts Pulled a Big Hoax on Tigers,” Detroit Free Press, February 22, 1971.

18. Jim Hawkins, “Our Man Jim Was Sweet-Talked, Too,” Detroit Free Press, February 22, 1971.

19. Watson Spoelstra, “‘Unitas’ Next for Tiger Tryout,’” Detroit News, February 22, 1971.

20. “Tigers Are Red-Faced on Dead-End Street,” op. cit.; “Tall Tale Grabs Tiger by Tail,” op. cit.

21. Spoelstra, “Tigers Are Red-Faced on Dead-End Street,” op. cit.

22. Watson Spoelstra, “‘Unitas’ Next for Tiger Tryout,” op. cit.; Green, op. cit.

23. “The Amazing Mr. Street Goes South Again,” op. cit.

24. Green, op. cit.

25. “Tiger Imposter Feels Like Heel,” op. cit.; Green, op. cit.

26. Joe Dowdall, “‘Tigers ‘Foul Ball’ Strikes Out Here, Too,” Detroit News, February 22, 1971; Green, op. cit.

27. In 2016 currency, the Tigers paid $967 for LeVias’s flights and Brown’s loan was $1,758.

28. Spoelstra, “Tigers Are Red-Faced on Dead-End Street,” Green, op. cit., see also, Joe Falls, “The Gator Believed ‘LeVias’—And He’s Out 300 Skins!,” Detroit Free Press, February 22, 1971.

29. Dowdall, op. cit.

30. Willing, op. cit.

31. “Professional Imposter Poses as Yale Student,” Daily New London, November 30, 1984, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19841130&id=2y1SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CDYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2180,6989111&hl=en.

32. Bill Halls, “Imposter Hit Others,” Detroit News, February 23, 1971.

33. Ibid.

34. $293 in 2016 currency.

35. Jerry Green, telephone interview, January 14, 2016.

36. Jim Taylor, “No Place for Dreams,” Toledo Blade, June 20, 1971, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19710620&id=DvNOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1QEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7173,4827973&hl=en.

37. Ibid.

38. Ibid.

39. Willing, op. cit.

40. “Warrant Is Sought Against Imposter in Threat to Hortons,” Detroit News, March 17, 1971; “Arrest Man Who Tricked Tigers for Threatening Horton’s Wife,” Ludington Daily News, March 17, 1971, https://news.google.com/ newspapers?nid=110&dat=19710317&id= bbpNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FkoDAAAAIBAJ&pg= 1480,4151883&hl=en; “Willie Horton’s Wife Gets Imposter’s $200,000 [sic] Note,” Jet, April 15, 1971, https://books.google.com/books?id= jjcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=willie+horton%27s+wife+gets+imposter%27s+jet&source=bl&ots=1boACmZsyw&sig=USz3dc6BJ53u1obiskPMi5PMjNQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJy7nC56TKAhUY32MKHW9sBHIQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q= willie%20horton%27s%20wife%20gets%20imposter% 27s% 20jet&f=false.

41. “Willie Horton’s Wife Gets Imposter’s $200,000 [sic] Note,” op. cit.

42. Robert Snell, “Game May Be Up for ‘The Great Imposter,’” Detroit News, June 5, 2015, http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2015/06/04/epic-con-artist-chameleon-strikes-feds-say/28515197.

43. Ibid.; Willing, op. cit.

44. Joseph Arnone, telephone interview, January 15, 2016.

45. Jennifer Chambers, “‘Great Imposter’ Who Inspired Film Gets Prison Time,” Detroit News, February 8, 2016, http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2016/02/08/william-street-sentencing/ 80010360.

46. Robert Snell, “‘Great Imposter’ Pleads Guilty, Faces Almost 3 Years,’” Detroit News, September 30, 2015, http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/09/24/longtime-impostor-inspired-film-back-court/72726470.

47. Willing, op. cit.

48. Ibid.

After their on-field exploits of 1961, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were sought by film producer Tom Naud for a Hollywood feature. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

Occasionally, baseball films spotlight sequences or storylines that are Florida-centric. Not surprisingly, they primarily are linked to spring training—and some even have real-world connections. Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927), for example, features the New York Yankees working out in Delano—and highlights guest appearances by Mike Donlin, Bob Meusel, Irish Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri. Big Leaguer (1953), starring Edward G. Robinson as ballplayer-turned-talent evaluator John B. “Hans” Lobert, is set in a New York Giants tryout camp in Melbourne. In Fear Strikes Out (1957), Boston Red Sox rookie Jimmy Piersall (Anthony Perkins) heads for spring training in Sarasota.

Others are fictional. Kill the Umpire (1950) stars William Bendix as an ex-ballplayer, loudmouth, and die-hard fan who resides with his family in St. Petersburg, where he sneaks off to Grapefruit League contests between the New York and St. Louis nines. Strategic Air Command (1955) toplines James Stewart as a B-29 bomber pilot-turned St. Louis Cardinals all-star third sacker who trains in St. Petersburg; in the film’s first shot, a car pulls up outside Al Lang Field, the designated “Winter Home (of the) St. Louis Cardinals.” In Major League (1989), a menagerie of has-been and never-were ballplayers shows up for Cleveland Indians’ spring training (albeit in Arizona, rather than Florida). But there is a Sunshine State connection: The snooty ex-showgirl who has just taken over team ownership schemes to move the Tribe to Florida. The city of Miami has promised her a new stadium, a Boca Raton mansion, and a Palm Beach Polo and Country Club membership. So how can she refuse?

In Fever Pitch (2005), the following dialogue is spoken between Ben (Jimmy Fallon), a Boston Red Sox fanatic, and Lindsey (Drew Barrymore), his new girlfriend:

Ben: “… every year during Easter vacation … uh, me and my friends, we go down to Florida.”

Lindsey: “You and your buddies go down to Florida for spring break? At your age?”

Ben: “No, no, no, not spring break. Spring training with the Red Sox.”

Lindsey: “Oh, you get to train with the Red Sox? Are you allowed to do that?”

Ben: “Well, we don’t actually. … We watch the games.”

Lindsey: “Aren’t those just practice games?”

Ben: “Yeah, yeah, but there’s more to it than that. We scout the players. We … we say which players they should keep … which they should get rid of.”

Lindsey: “And the Red Sox ask your opinion?”

Ben: “Well, not yet …”

Ben heads south and, later on, Lindsey tells him: “I saw you on ESPN.” He responds: “Oh! We looked like morons, didn’t we?” And his excuse: “Well, it’s very hot, you know, it’s Florida.”

Of all baseball films with Sunshine State/spring training connections, however, the one that most typifies the Grapefruit League world is not one of the first-division sports yarns. Far from it. For indeed, the best that can be said about Safe at Home! is that it is an innocuous kiddie film—and despite its spotlight on the New York Yankees, one need not wrap oneself up in pinstripe pride to savor it. The film (which was released in 1962) is a must-see if only because it stars the M&M boys themselves, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. The previous season, of course, Maris had whacked 61 dingers to top Babe Ruth’s single-season record, while Mantle chimed in with 54 round-trippers. Unlike Slide, Kelly, Slide and countless other films which feature real-life ballplayers in cameo appearances, these genuine American heroes not only shag flies and smash fastballs but also are called upon to act.

Safe at Home! is the saga of Hutch Lawton (Bryan Russell), a motherless, baseball-mad ten-year-old Little Leaguer who has moved to Palms, Florida, with his father, Ken (Don Collier), a struggling charter boat operator. Henry, a fellow Little Leaguer and patronizing banker’s son, harasses Hutch because the elder Lawton is immersed in his work and unable to watch the team practice. Hutch responds by bragging that his dad not only is more baseball-savvy than any other parent but is best buddies with New York Yankees players—and specifically Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. The youngster even claims that Ken Lawton is “Roger Maris’s best friend in the whole South.”

Hutch of course is dumbfounded upon being pressured to bring the ballplayers to a league dinner. What will he do? “I’m gonna go see ’em,” he declares. “That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna ask ’em to help. They just gotta say yes.” So the youngster sneaks off to Fort Lauderdale, then the Yankees’ spring training home, by hiding in the back of a fish truck operated by a friend’s father. Upon his arrival, he sneaks into the Mick’s hotel room and Fort Lauderdale Stadium; showers in the same stall where the ballplayers clean up; falls asleep in the team’s locker room while garbed in Maris’s jersey and employing Mantle’s as a blanket; and is confronted by Bill Turner (William Frawley), a quick-tempered yet sympathetic Yankees coach. As any young fan might, Hutch imagines himself a flychaser who is cheered on as he smacks base hits and makes circus catches. Plus, he endlessly sighs, “Mickey Mantle…Roger Maris…Gosh…Gee….” In the tradition of happy-ever-after Hollywood finales, Hutch realizes that fibbing is bad business, Ken learns that his son requires attention and understanding, and Hutch and his teammates get to visit Fort Lauderdale and spend quality time with Mantle, Maris, and their teammates.

Robert Creamer, writing in Sports Illustrated, observed that Safe at Home! “was designed for cheap, quick filming, a [spring training 1962] release date and a fast buck.” The previous summer, as Mantle and Maris were smashing dingers, Tom Naud, the film’s eventual producer and story co-author, conjured up the idea of starring them onscreen. He contacted Frank Scott, the ballplayers’ agent, and a deal quickly was struck. In the original storyline, Mantle and Maris were to play deaf-and-dumb siblings—perhaps because they could not read lines believably—but the concept was nixed by Scott. What then emerged was the scenario that was used in the film and, by November 1961, all was in place for the spring shooting schedule.1 The New York Times added that Safe at Home! was produced by Columbia Pictures “on a comparatively modest budget” of “about $1,000,000,” with Mantle and Maris “dividing a guaranty of $50,000.”2

On February 7, 1962, the Times reported that the duo was “heading for Fort Lauderdale … but not for baseball. For the next few weeks they will be here strictly as actors, appearing in the Columbia picture ‘Safe At Home!’ Scenes will be shot at the ball park and at the club’s quarters in the Yankee Clipper Hotel.”3 A week later, it was announced that star hurler Whitey Ford and skipper Ralph Houk had been added to the cast. The paper also noted a bit of off-camera drama: “…during the filming of the preliminary shots at near-by Pompano Lake, there was quite a to-do when one of the camera men, Irving Lippman, lost, or thought he had lost, a valuable ring. Mantle sailed right in and spent some fifteen minutes trying to find it in the loose dirt. When the cameraman returned to his hotel, he found the ring on top of his dresser. He was all apologies but Mickey assured him he should ‘think nothing of it. The exercise did me good.’”4

On February 15, the Times ran a feature on the production. “The Yankees went Hollywood today, and for more than four hours, Manager Ralph Houk’s well-regulated training camp became a merry shambles,” wrote John Drebinger. The scribe noted that the otherwise “obliging” Houk, certainly a novice at moviemaking protocol, gave the film’s director, Walter Doniger, full control of the ball park. However, “by the time the field was well-cluttered with sound trucks, cameras, ladders, wires and whatnot, Houk felt he had obliged enough.” The manager also was ill-prepared for the presence of the make-up artist, who was to groom him for his on-camera emoting. “For the Major is still a rugged military man,” noted Drebinger, “and the rouge and powder made him squirm. Especially when he found himself in the center of the astonished stares of the players.” Adding to Houk’s frustration was that his few lines with Bill Frawley had to be re-shot eight times.5

Ten days later, Drebinger penned another piece on the progress of the shooting. He observed that, according to Doniger and Tom Naud, Mantle and Maris “are not performing as actors but as themselves. Their lines are what they would say as ballplayers.” Drebinger was quick to disagree, however, given that “the jargon of the dugout could be a trifle rough.” But he added: “Mantle and Maris are doing well, so far. Mantle, in particular, seems to be enjoying himself. He laughs easily and takes everything in stride. Asked whether he preferred being an actor to a ballplayer he replied: ‘Why, this life is a breeze. Shucks, in this business when you make a mistake you do it over and over and over until you do it right. Around the ball field when you misjudge a fly ball or let a third strike whiz by they don’t give you another crack at it.’”6

Drebinger reported that Doniger “insists that Mantle, Maris and the other Yanks in the picture, including coach Johnny Neun and some twenty rookies who provide background, have been a most agreeable surprise. ‘They’ve really amazed me,’ he says, ‘by their poise and the relaxed manner in which they handle themselves, especially in the outdoor scenes with spectators gaping at them from all sides. Even professional actors sometimes feel a bit self-conscious working under such conditions. But ballplayers, I guess from the nature of their business, are so accustomed to playing before a crowd that it doesn’t bother them in the least’.” (Drebinger also noted that one of the junior ballplayers in the cast was none other than “freckle-faced David Mantle, Mickey’s 6-year-old son.”)7

In retrospect, it is no surprise that Mantle and particularly Maris do not give Oscar-caliber performances in Safe at Home! What matters is who they are: clean-cut all-American champions being marketed as models for young American boys. And they are not the sole Yankees spouting dialogue. Whitey Ford speaks a line: “Hey Rog, Mickey. Houk wants to see you right away.” Ralph Houk has several interchanges: “Hey, Bill, can I see you for a minute. … What’s that youngster doing on the bench? … Keep on running. Run harder than that …” (For sure, the Safe at Home! screenplay was not penned by Ernest Hemingway.) And as the Yankees train, the names “Tom” and “Phil” are detectable. Could they be “Tresh” and “Linz”? When somebody cries “Pepi,” he has to be citing Joe Pepitone.

Actor William Frawley, far left, is shown in this publicity still with various members of the cast and crew of Safe at Home, including Mantle and Maris.

Also of note in Safe at Home! is the presence of Frawley, a lifelong baseball fan whose Coach Bill is a variation of the crabby but endearing characters he played on I Love Lucy and My Three Sons, his hit TV series. In one scene, the coach and Mantle and Maris pass the hours away from spring practice by playing Scrabble in a hotel room—and M&M gently tease him on his ineptitude at spelling. “Who says so?” Bill growls. “Webster,” is Mantle’s answer. “What club’s he with?” the coach responds. At one point, Bill dubs Mantle and Maris (who then were as celebrated as any big leaguer) a “bunch of mangy rookies.”

Less than two months after its filming, Safe at Home! was released theatrically to coincide with the start of the 1962 season. Its premiere was no star-studded Hollywood event; the film opened on a double bill with Chubby Checker’s Don’t Knock the Twist, another Hollywood product attempting to cash in on the era’s zeitgeist. Both were combined in their advertising copy, which was headlined: “2 GREAT HITS ON ONE GRAND SLAM TWISTIN’ PROGRAM,” with Safe at Home! featuring “The great M&M playing themselves! Big Buddies to the luckiest kid in the world!” Given Frawley’s popularity, he was spotlighted for playing “the tough, gruff, lovable coach.”

Unsurprisingly, the film’s reviews were at best tepid. New York Times critic Eugene Archer summarized the majority opinion by declaring: “Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris came up to bat in unfamiliar surroundings yesterday and went down swinging,” adding that Safe at Home! was “a whimsical little children’s film” and “minor league production.”8 Additionally, in order to be cast in Safe at Home! Mantle and Maris were afforded membership in the Screen Actors Guild, which made them eligible to garner Best Actor Academy Award nominations. But they were not members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which barred them from voting in the Oscar race. “They must achieve distinction as actors,” explained an unnamed Academy expert, adding: “It is not felt that their distinction is in the field of acting.”9

Almost four decades after the release of Safe at Home!, I interviewed a number of the film’s participants while researching Meet the Mertzes, a double biography of William Frawley and Vivian Vance, his I Love Lucy co-star. One was Tom Naud, who explained that Frawley “loved being cast in (the film). He loved calling Ralph, Mickey, Roger, and Whitey by their first names.” At the same time, Frawley only palled around with the stars. “I wouldn’t have been invited to talk baseball with him,” recalled Jim Bouton, then a Yankees rookie, who was one of the extras. “That was for Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris and the big guys, like Whitey Ford. I was just happy to be asked to be an extra in the movie, for which I got paid the munificent sum of $50.”10 (According to the New York Times, the rookies “had [each] received $100 for romping on the field.”)11

As for Mantle and Maris, Walter Doniger offered a take on the ballplayers that was far-removed from what he told the press during the shoot. Doniger described them as “pretty arrogant and ego-driven.” To convince them to respond to his directorial cues, he determined that “the best thing I could do would be to pretend total ignorance of baseball, and not know who they were. One time, I said to them, ‘I’d like in this scene for you to run not counterclockwise but clockwise around the bases. ‘They looked at me and said, ‘You can’t do that in baseball.’” Doniger added: “I would deliberately get their names reversed, so that they kept trying to prove to me that they were important. I thought the best thing to do would be to make them ordinary people to me, and not big league stars and world heroes. So I did that, and it seemed to work.’”12

Whether the M&M boys were model citizens during the shoot, or haughty superstars, or something in between, what matters today is that Safe at Home!, while no Pride of the Yankees or 61*, does offer a nostalgic snapshot of a moment in time. (And speaking of 61*, wouldn’t Billy Crystal—famed Yankees fan who celebrated his sixtieth birthday by DH-ing in a 2008 spring training game in Tampa—have made a perfect Hutch Lawton?)

ROB EDELMAN teaches film history courses at the University at Albany. He is the author of Great Baseball Films and Baseball on the Web, and is co-author (with his wife, Audrey Kupferberg) of Meet the Mertzes, a double biography of I Love Lucy ’s Vivian Vance and famed baseball fan William Frawley, and Matthau: A Life. He is a film commentator on WAMC (Northeast) Public Radio and a contributing editor of Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide. He is a frequent contributor to Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game and has written for Baseball and American Culture: Across the Diamond, Total Baseball, Baseball in the Classroom, Memories and Dreams, and NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture. His essay on early baseball films appears on the DVD Reel Baseball: Baseball Films from the Silent Era, 1899–1926, and he is an interviewee on the director’s cut DVD of The Natural.

SAFE AT HOME!
CREDITS

DIRECTOR: Walter Doniger.
PRODUCER: Tom Naud.
SCREENPLAY: Robert Dillion, based on a story by Naud and Steve Ritch.
MUSIC: Van Alexander.
A NAUD-HAMILBURG PRODUCTION.
CAST: Mickey Mantle (Himself); Roger Maris (Himself); William Frawley (Bill Turner); Patricia Barry (Johanna Price);
Don Collier (Ken Lawton); Eugene Iglesias (Mr. Torres); Flip Mark (Henry); Bryan Russell (Hutch Lawton); Scott Lane (Mike Torres); Charles G. Martin (Henry’s Father); Ralph Houk (Himself); Whitey Ford (Himself).

NOTE: Approximately twenty Yankee rookies and other team personnel appear unbilled. Cast as one of the young ballplayers, also unbilled, is David Mantle, Mickey’s son.

Notes

1. Robert Creamer, “Mantle and Maris in the Movies.” Sports Illustrated, April 2, 1962, 96–108.

2. John Drebinger, “Teamwork on the Citrus Circuit.” New York Times, February 25, 1962, X7.

3. John Drebinger, “Toothpick Bat: Weighty Topic in Yanks’ Camp.” New York Times, February 7, 1962, 59.

4. John Drebinger, “Two Infielders Figure in Plans.” New York Times, February 14, 1962, 29.

5. John Drebinger, “Houk Gets Some Coaching, Hollywood Style.” New York Times, February 15, 1962, 32.

6. John Drebinger, “Teamwork on the Citrus Circuit.” New York Times, February 25, 1962, X7.

7. Drebinger, “Teamwork on the Citrus Circuit.”

8. Eugene Archer, “Double Bill at Neighborhood Theatres.” New York Times, April 14, 1962, 14.

9. Murray Schumach, “Mantle, Maris in Oscar Race.” New York Times, February 16, 1963, 5

10. Rob Edelman, Audrey Kupferberg. Meet the Mertzes (Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1999), 204–205.

11. John Drebinger, “Houk Gets Some Coaching, Hollywood Style.” New York Times, February 15, 1962, 32.

12. Rob Edelman, Audrey Kupferberg. Meet the Mertzes. (Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1999, 204–205.)

Young Forry stayed active driving a truck and making deliveries for the family’s dry cleaning business, running a paper route, attending church, and playing baseball whenever he could find the spare time. Jerry remembers his older siblings fondly, and how they seemed more like parents to him than brothers. “We were middle-class and both of the boys were in school and working jobs to help out.” He added, “I think they were both highly active in church and we had some people in our church that were professional athletes, or had been.” Mound City has always been a hotbed for baseball and the boys naturally gravitated to the sandlots to compete in pick-up games throughout the city.2

After finishing high school at University City High, Forest figured there were limited opportunities for him staying in the area, so he focused on two choices for his future: pursue a career in baseball or join the military like his older brother had. During World War II, Pete served in the Army in France.

Reggie (Forest’s son), remembers family stories about fate stepping in and how it changed the course of his father’s life. “He wanted to go into the Army, but dad was not allowed to go into the service because of a kidney infection.”3 Ultimately, he chose to play baseball. Jerry said of his brother, “Forry was pretty independent. He was driven and goal-oriented. Baseball didn’t find him; he found it.”4 With that, he began a journey that defined him the rest of his life.

Forest launched headlong into his new vocation and lifelong passion. He was originally signed as a pitcher by scout Jim McLaughlin to his first professional contract in 1946 with the St. Louis Browns organization.5 The wiry nineteen-year old was assigned to the Wausau Lumberjacks of the Class-D Wisconsin State League.6 Although his beginnings were inauspicious with a 4–3 record and a less than stellar 6.44 ERA, the Browns saw potential in the youngster. He made a dramatic improvement his sophomore season with the Ada Herefords of the Class-D Sooner State League, dominating the opposition, leading the league in wins (23–7), and ERA (2.00). He also batted .286 in 140 at-bats.7

The 1948 season proved to be one of both frustration and great joy. Not only was Smith reassigned four times that year, bouncing between Aberdeen, Hannibal, Muskogee, and Springfield, having worked 265 innings the year before in Ada, he came down with a sore arm and spent considerable time off the field with a bum wing.8 Nevertheless, away from the playing field he presented another type of diamond to the joy of his life, his bride-to-be, June A. Oswald. They exchanged nuptials on September 24 in St. Louis, the beginning of 56 years together.9 In 1949, rested and ready to return to full-time play, Smith was designated for assignment to the Gloversville-Johnstown Glovers of the Class-C Canadian-American League. There Forest met new player/manager and regular third baseman James Cullinane, who would have a profound effect on his career. His new skipper immediately assessed Forest’s hitting and fielding abilities and saw that his career path was better suited at the far corner of the infield versus toiling on the mound. Cullinane, known for his fielding prowess, would set a Can-Am League record that same year by collecting 308 assists.10 Smith continued to take the mound for the Glovers while Cullinane took him under his wing and tutored him in the finer points of hitting and fielding. Smith struggled (10–7, 4.99, 128 IP) on the mound, yet despite his inconsistencies on the hill, under the tutelage of his mentor he began to learn the intricacies of playing third base during off time, while playing outfield and first base part-time between pitching assignments. He impressed Cullinane by batting a glossy .324 and collecting 29 RBIs in 216 at-bats.11

By 1950, Cullinane was in the midst of his last season of professional baseball and yielded his playing time to Smith who took over as the Glovers’ regular third sacker. Not only was his performance at his new position extraordinary, Forest was effective with the bat, hitting .288 with 13 home runs in 137 games.

From 1951 to 1955 Smith continued to climb up the minor-league ranks. He was acquired by the independent Class-B West Palm Beach Indians of the Florida International League in the spring of 1951, and his performance caught the eyes of several major-league organizations. Serving as the club’s everyday third baseman, he bashed an impressive .320 and finished the year only 12 points behind league-leading hitter, Ted Cieslak.12

It was with the Indians that his new nickname “Woody” appeared in the press. In interviews with family members it is unclear how he acquired his nickname, but his brother Jerry surmised it most likely derived from his middle name of Elwood, or in connection with his first name.

He once again found himself changing organizations, having been acquired by the New York Yankees prior to the 1952 campaign. He was assigned to the Beaumont Roughnecks of the Double-A Texas League where he turned heads with his flashy glove work all the while batting .281 in 117 games. He earned a promotion to the Kansas City Blues of the Triple-A American Association in 1953 and led all third basemen in the league in double plays turned with 31, and tied for the league lead in assists with 288.13 In 1954, the Yankees were high on 23-year old prospect Kal Segrist Jr., so there was little playing time for Smith. Yankees brass decided to assign Woody to their other Triple-A affiliate in Richmond, Virginia, and after a very brief stay he was optioned to the Philadelphia Phillies Triple-A affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs of the International League, where he regained his everyday position.

Infield anchors of the 1956–57 Marlins: Smith, Micelotta, Tompkins (left to right). Woody Smith receiving his 1959 Rawlings Silver Glove Award and shaking hands with team owner George B. Storer. (Miami News Collection, HistoryMiami)

Smith returned to the Yankees in 1955, this time with the Denver Bears of the American Association. Finding little playing time again, he was sold to the Charleston Senators. Although Smith excelled with the glove and bat, the Senators struggled to a league worst 50–104 record. Woody would soon find himself packing his bags again, and in December of 1955 was sold to the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League. However, his stay would be brief. The newly minted Miami Marlins, a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate owned by Sid Salomon Jr. and headed up by baseball maverick Bill Veeck, were looking to make a splash in the minor-league market. Veeck had already made a blockbuster move when he signed the ageless wonder Leroy “Satchel” Paige not only as a gate attraction, but as an effective swingman on the mound. With the goal of winning a pennant in their inaugural season Veeck sought to improve his team by any means. One of the team’s glaring weaknesses was at third base where 38-year old Sid Gordon, a 13-year major league veteran famous from his days with the Boston/Milwaukee Braves, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates, held down the job at the hot corner. Although Gordon was adequate with the bat, he had slowed down to the point of having very little range at his position. On July 26, 1956, Veeck, who had his eye on Smith since the beginning of the season, pulled the trigger and purchased the slick gloveman from the Sugar Kings for $15,000. According to Greg Mulleavy, manager of the Montreal Royals, Smith “didn’t like Havana and told me at the all-star game in Toronto that he wasn’t going back there next year.”14 In an interview with Luther Evans of the Miami Herald, Smith enthusiastically said, “…golly would I like to play for this club.” Woody found a new home and would settle into his position for the next four and half seasons.15

Smith debuted on the night of July 26, 1956, in front of 5,658 rabid fans at Miami Stadium, and it was a night to remember. When his name was announced for the first time the crowd answered with thunderous applause. The evening was an auspicious beginning as he accepted four chances at third without an error and collected four singles and a base on balls in five plate appearances, helping the Marlins defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3.16,17

Woody’s presence solidified the infield, teaming up with shortstop Mickey Micelotta, second baseman Benny Tompkins, and first baseman Ed Bouchee. This combination would stay intact through the end of 1957, with the exception of Bouchee who was replaced by Francisco “Pancho” Herrera in 1957.

Spurred by Smith’s arrival, Miami surged into first place temporarily on July 29, when they split a twin bill with Montreal, while the Toronto Maple Leafs dropped a nail-biter to Havana, 2–1. On the day Smith went three for five in the first game helping Paige earn the victory, and three for four in the second tilt, including two doubles. One double seemed to be Smith’s first home run for the Marlins, but it was overruled by the umpiring crew. This drew the consternation of Marlins manager Don Osborn, who felt the ball had deflected off the light tower in left-center field, not the fence, making it a homer.18 The Leafs escaped the inning unscathed and won a game they would have lost with a different call.

Smith’s season continued to be eventful. He played in one of the most famous games in minor-league history, the Orange Bowl Game on Tuesday August 7, 1956. The Marlins squared off against the Columbus Jets and played inside the world-famous football stadium. The field was especially configured to accommodate baseball. Veeck, with the intention of breaking the minor league record for attendance, arranged to use the Orange Bowl and surrounded the event with special promotions, pomp, and circumstance including performances by singers Cab Calloway, Margaret Whiting, and the Russ Morgan Band, among others. He called on Satchel Paige to take the mound in front of 57,713 fans.19 For his part, Smith had one base knock in three at-bats and drove in one run on a sacrifice fly in the 6–2 Marlins win.20

Although Miami (80-71) ultimately faded to a third place finish in 1956 and were eliminated in the first round of the Shaughnessy playoffs by the Rochester Red Wings, Smith’s year was a successful one as he finished with 19 home runs, 83 RBIs, and a .267 batting average.

Over the next four seasons the “Fish” as a team failed to put together another winning campaign, yet Smith held down his usual position with aplomb, batting .277 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs in 1957, .291 batting average, 13 home runs, and 79 RBIs in 1958, and .274 batting average, 16 home runs, and 78 RBIs in 1959, before slumping in 1960 to a mere .213 batting average with only 49 RBIs, though with 11 home runs.21 Smith was named team’s most valuable player from 1957–59 and was widely regarded as the team’s most popular player. In 1958, he was awarded a Rawlings Silver Glove for his defensive prowess, one of the awards he was most proud of during his career.22 The trophy was given each year to nine members (one at each position) comprising every team and its players in the National Association based on their official final fielding average.23 That same season he broke the International League record for consecutive games without an error at third base, 86 straight, smashing the old record of 56 set by Irvine Jeffries of the 1937 Montreal Royals.24

Woody Smith receiving his 1959 Rawlings Silver Glove Award and shaking hands with team owner George B. Storer. (Miami News Collection, HistoryMiami)

Although the inaugural season in Miami, under the guidance of Veeck, had been a successful one, interest in the club soon waned. By 1960 the third owner of the Marlins, Bill MacDonald was taking heavy financial losses that were attributed to a less than satisfactory stadium lease agreement and sagging attendance. On September 11, 1960, Miami played their last game against the Richmond Virginians on the road. In the abbreviated game that was ultimately called after five innings due to a torrential downpour, Woody homered in his last at-bat as a Marlin in what proved to be the game winner.25 Just as he had come in with a bang, he left in the same way.

For all his outstanding efforts, one of the great mysteries to fans and teammates was why the Philadelphia Phillies never called Woody up to the big leagues. In a 2010 interview, Tommy Qualters reminisced about his teammate and how he was mishandled by the Phillies, “Yeah, Woody Smith, I’ll tell you a little story about him. He was probably the best defensive third baseman you could ever see. He was unbelievable.” He added, “So he had come to spring training…We just needed a body and there was no chance he was going to make the team. And it was just obvious. I don’t know what the hell they were thinking. They just didn’t treat him right. They just didn’t show any interest in him at all and he just packed his stuff and went home. Well, Roy Hamey was the General Manager and he black-balled Woody.”26

The Baltimore Orioles took over the Miami affiliate prior to the 1959 season, and ended their working agreement at the close of the 1960. In 1961 Miami did not host a minor league team, and so Smith was signed by the Minnesota Twins and assigned to their Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, New York. It was the 35-year old veteran’s last season as a regular player before he closed out his career with the Rochester Red Wings, appearing in 10 games in 1962.

In 1969, Smith made a triumphant return to the city where he was so esteemed. Miami, now a member of the Class-A Florida State League, was being run by general manager Bill Durney Jr., under the tutelage of his father Bill Durney. The elder Durney worked for the club in various capacities dating back to the original Marlins in 1956, Bill Jr., had learned the ropes starting out as a ballboy, then pitched batting practice, and eventually was promoted to a front office position. The youthful GM had been mostly compliant with the Baltimore Orioles when it came to who was assigned to the club as its manager, but when he saw the opportunity to bring Smith back to Miami, he was insistent with the parent club’s vice president Harry Dalton that Woody was their man for the manager’s vacancy. Durney Jr. exclaimed, “Since Woody was certainly the acquisition we wanted, and it came down to the very end when they hired him, because we were really pushing for him. And I think they had someone else in mind.”27

With Smith at the helm the Miami Marlins/Orioles reeled off the most dominating stretch in Florida State League history.28 From 1969–72, the club won four straight division titles and four straight league championships, compiling a combined record of 335–201.29 Going back to 1919, no other FSL city has won more than two consecutive league titles.30 Under Woody’s watchful eye, players like Don Baylor, Rich Coggins, Jim Fuller, Kiko Garcia, John Montague, Mike Reinbach, and Tom Walker, just to name a few, climbed the ladder to the big leagues.

During the fall of 1972, after four years of unprecedented success, Smith got a phone call from Baltimore Orioles Director of Player Development, Don Pries at his home in St. Louis to set up a meeting at the airport. June, his wife remembered, “So, Woody was all excited…he just thought oh gosh he’s getting a promotion…And so he went to meet Don and after about an hour or two he came back, he walked in, and I said, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘I got fired.’ According to June, the reasons given by Pries were that they did not have any place for him to move up or down since managers Cal Ripken Sr. and Joe Altobelli were at the higher levels and they hated to ask him to come back for a fifth season. It was a shock to Smith who had done everything the Orioles had asked of him.

Woody remained resilient despite his disappointment. “He was never bitter, or that upset over being let go that year,” declared June. “He was at the very first when he was let go after four years after he won four pennants. People would think he would be terribly upset, but he went right on.”31

And move on Woody did, managing the Key West Conchs during the 1973 season. He gained some measure of satisfaction by beating his old team on opening day in the Keys, 7–6. He and his team traveled the next night to Miami’s home opener in Miami Stadium to what the Miami Herald described as being like “Woody Smith Night.” The 1972 championship banner was raised and Smith was honored by the North Shore Kiwanis Club with a plaque for outstanding achievements. He was met with wild applause from the 4,177 fans that turned out to honor their hero. It must have felt odd to the many in attendance to see Smith sporting a big KW on the front of his ballcap.32

After the close of the 1973 season, Woody was hired by the Cleveland Indians and moved on to manage at San Antonio of the Texas League for two years (1974–75), Waterloo of the Midwest League (1977–78), and Chattanooga of the Southern League (1979–81). In his first year in San Antonio, Woody managed Dennis Eckersley, who went on to a Hall of Fame career.33 He also served as the Midwest Scouting Director for the Tribe from 1981 through 1987, and also worked in the same capacity with the California Angels from 1988–90 before retiring that same year.

Sadly, later in life Smith struggled with dementia. Although physically he was still a strong man, his mind deteriorated to the point that many of his baseball memories would no longer come to him. Finally, On February 4, 2005, Forest Elwood “Woody” Smith succumbed to natural causes leaving behind his wife June and sons Woody Jr. and Reggie, and daughter Gale.

Woody’s greatest legacy was not only that he was a great player and manager, but also a person who left a positive impact on his friends, family, teammates, and players who had the opportunity to share the playing field with him. Lenny Scott, a pitcher who played under Smith from 1970–72, described his skipper:

Oh, he’s the manager’s man…He knew how to talk to you. You know he didn’t talk at you…He knew how to bring things to the table. He had a lot of hardship. You know Woody would be out on the field practicing while we was out there practicing taking ground balls, and he would talk about the opportunities. And doing whatever you got to do, and take the opportunities and take advantage of it, right. But, he never got that opportunity and I could never understand it. He was a very delightful man. Very knowledgeable about the game and he was a very knowledgeable guy.34

June remembered Woody always saying, “I was their manager, their teacher, and a father to those 25 kids. They would bring me all of their troubles into my office and I would talk to them.” Then he said, “I had to go on to the field and instruct every one of them. I mean you had to know everything.”35

Earl Hunsinger, pitcher and teammate of Woody’s on the 1957 Miami club, put it best: “Woody was not only the favorite of the players but of the fans too. Woody was very outgoing, hustled all of the time, and never slacked up. He was a third baseman and I’ll never forget, you know after each groundout you used to throw the ball around the infield. The third baseman always throws it back to the pitcher. And Woody, when he threw the ball back to you, always had something good to say. He was quite a gentleman.”36

SAM ZYGNER is the author of the book The Forgotten Marlins: A Tribute to the 1956–1960 Original Miami Marlins. He has been a member of SABR since 1996 and is the Chairman of the South Florida Chapter of SABR. He received his MBA from Saint Leo University. His writings have appeared in the Baseball Research Journal, The National Pastime, NINE: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture, and La Prensa de Miami. A lifelong Pittsburgh Pirates fan, he has shifted some of his focus to Miami baseball history.

Acknowledgments

My sincere appreciation to the Smith family; Jerry, Reggie, Gale, and June for sharing their experience. Thank you to HistoryMiami for providing photographs. I am grateful to Bill Durney Jr., Earl Hunsinger, Tom Qualters, and Lenny Scott for imparting their thoughts on Woody Smith. And last, but not least, I am indebted to my wife Barbra who supports me in all my writing endeavors and who always inspires me.

Notes

1. Ancestry.com and Jerry Smith, phone interview, January 6, 2016.

2. Jerry Smith, phone interview, January 6, 2016.

3. Reggie Smith, phone interview, December 4, 2015 and March 2, 2016.

4. Jerry Smith, phone interview, January 6, 2016.

5. Information located by son Reggie Smith in family records.

6. Baseball-Reference.com.

7. Peter G. Pierce, Baseball in the Cross Timbers (Oklahoma Heritage Association, Oklahoma City, OK 2009) 205, 341.

8. Baseball-Reference.com. Reggie Smith passed on personal information given to him by his father who told him that the 1948 season was disappointing because of his struggles with an arm injury.

9. Ancestry.com.

10.. John L. Halpin, “Steve Salata Top Fielding Catcher In Cam-Am,” Oneonta Star, January 20, 1950, 10.

11. Sporting News Baseball Guide and Record Book, 1950, 286–89.

12. Baseball-Reference.com.

13. Ibid.

14. Jimmy Burns,” Marlins Deaf to First-Year Pennant Warning by Betzel,” The Sporting News, August 8, 1956, 28.

15. Luther Evans, “Marlins Buy New Infielder: Smith,” Miami Herald, July 26, 1956, 1-D.

16. The Sporting News, August 8, 1956, 27.

17. Luther Evans, “Marlins Chill Leafs on Walk in 9th,” Miami Herald, July 27, 1956, 1-D.

18. Eddie Storin,” Marlins Split, But Grab Lead,” Miami Herald, July 30, 1956, 1-D.

19. Norris Anderson, “Marlins Claim Record 51,713 See 6–2 Victory,” Miami News, August 8, 1956. The official record was noted by The Sporting News as 57,713, which was acknowledged as the minor league record that the Denver Bears broke in 1980.

20. The Sporting News, August 15, 1956, 30.

21. Baseball-Reference.com.

22. Clifford Kachline, “Rookie In Class D Crashes All-Star Minor Glove Team,” The Sporting News, December 10, 1958, 14.

23. The Sporting News, October 1, 1958, 51.

24. Norris Anderson, “Smith’s I.L. Fielding Record Verified,” Miami News, July 18, 1958.

25. “It’s All Over Now for Marlins,” Miami News, September 12, 1960.

26. Tom Qualters, phone interview, March 5, 2010.

27. Bill Durney Jr., phone interview, July 19, 2014.

28. The franchise was referred to as the Marlins in 1969 and 1970, and the Orioles in 1971 and 1972.

29. Baseball-Reference.com.

30. Milb.com. Florida State League Champions. The cities that have won back-to-back championships are DeLand 1951–52, St. Petersburg 1966–67, Lakeland 1976–77, and Tampa 2010–11.

31. June Smith, phone interview, September 22, 2014.

32. Luther Evans, “7–2 Home Opening Win,” Miami Herald, April 19, 1973, 1-C.

33. Baseball-Reference.com.

34. Leonard Scott, phone interview, August 25, 2015.

35. June Smith, phone interview, September 22, 2014.

36. Earl Hunsinger, phone interview, March 15, 2010.

Satchel Paige, shown here in Miami uniform, was brought to the team by executive vice president Bill Veeck, for whom he had pitched in the major leagues with Cleveland and St. Louis. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

At the end of the 1956 season, writer Oscar Fraley observed that Satchel Paige was “a rounders robot who reportedly inspired Abner Doubleday to invent baseball.”1 That was after Paige had—at age 50—gone 11–4 with two shutouts, 13 saves, and a 1.86 ERA for the Miami Marlins of the International League.2 Paige spent three seasons with the Marlins, which were both successful and controversial.

The story of how, quite by accident, the International League wound up in Miami was recounted by Bill Veeck some years ago. In 1955, Syracuse had drawn 85,191 fans, by far the least of any Triple-A team. Their owner wanted out. One night, at a restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, the owner heard Sid Salomon say, “If I could buy a club, I wouldn’t hesitate to move it to Miami.” Soon thereafter, Salomon had himself a ball club, and hired his close friend Veeck to run the organization.3

Veeck, as the Marlins’ Executive Vice-President, signed Satchel Paige to pitch for the team. Satchel had first pitched for Veeck with the Indians in 1948, and had also pitched for him with the St. Louis Browns from 1951 through 1953. When the Browns moved on to Baltimore in 1954, both Veeck and Paige had joined the ranks of the unemployed. For two years, Paige pitched in exhibitions and did a stint with the Kansas City Monarchs, but was out of Organized Baseball.

The hiatus ended on Opening Day 1956, as 8,806 fans came to Miami Stadium to see the new team in town complete with the usual Veeck trimmings. Paige was supposed to arrive at the mound via helicopter prior to the first pitch, but things got a bit disorganized. He arrived in a cloud of dust after the first inning, when the helicopter landed on the infield dirt near second base, and Paige assumed a seat in a rocking chair by his team’s dugout.4 The experience resulted in Paige concluding, “Veeck better think up something new, cause I ain’t gonna ride in no more of them things.”5 Although he did not appear in the first game, it was not long until he did see action and start contributing to his team’s success.

His first appearance was on April 22, the sixth game of the season, and he needed a wakeup call. He came in to relieve in the seventh inning of the second game of a doubleheader. The first game had gone 18 innings and more than seven hours had elapsed, leaving very few of the announced crowd of 3,486 around to see Paige. His wild pitch advanced runners to second and third, but then he bore down and got the game’s final batter Mel Nelson to hit a comebacker for the final out.6 The 3–2 win broke a string of four losses for the Marlins.

After three successful relief appearances, including two saves, he had his first start of the season on April 29. Against the Montreal Royals, in front of a crowd of 5,536, the largest since Opening Day, he pitched a seven-inning complete game shutout in the second game of a doubleheader for his first win of the season, allowing only four singles. He threw only 83 pitches, but was not allowed to use his hesitation pitch.7 Subsequently, league President Frank Shaughnessy ruled that Paige could throw the pitch in the International League. The complete game was the first of the season by a Marlins pitcher.

He was pitching mostly out of the bullpen and sometimes in bad luck. On May 26, he entered the game in the seventh inning after three Miami hurlers had not been able to solve the bats in the Richmond lineup. As noted by Shelley Rolfe in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “They laughed when Ol’ Satch shuffled to the mound but after a while the (Richmond) Vees and the crowd discovered Paige was no laughing matter. It wasn’t that the Vees failed to threaten Satch, it was just that Paige knew what to do every time they did, and he did it in his own good time.”8 The game went into the 13th inning. Paige struck out eight batters in his seven innings of work, but Richmond pushed across a run in the bottom of the 13th for the win, bringing Paige’s record to 1–2 with three saves.

A big crowd of 6,895 came to the Miami ballpark on Memorial Day and got a double-dose of Satchel. In the first game, he entered the game with two outs in the fifth inning and allowed neither a hit nor a run over the balance of the seven-inning game for his second win. In the second game, he recorded the final out for his fourth save of the season.

Signed on initially to help the attendance figures, Paige was quickly becoming the pre-eminent reliever in the league. On June 24, in the second game of a doubleheader against Toronto he played the stopper role. The Maple Leafs had started the series in Miami by defeating the Marlins 13–1 and 12–0, and Miami starter Frank Snyder had yielded three runs in the first inning. Paige came into the game with two outs and went the rest of the way. The Marlins came from behind to win, Paige’s record stood at 5–2 with seven saves, and the Marlins were four games above .500. His ERA stood at 1.50, and he even had contributed with a single in three at-bats on June 24.9

Veeck was always quick with a promotion to spur attendance, and on July 11, old age was on the program as the ageless Satchel (four days past his 50th birthday), was matched up against Connie Marrero, the 45-year-old former Washington hurler, now pitching with Havana. Close to 6,000 spectators looked on as Paige pitched the first six innings, striking out eight, and Miami won, 1–0, for Satchel’s sixth win of the season.

Top-flight entertainment in the form of Clay Poe’s Greater Miami Goodwill party brought a record 11,836 through the turnstiles three days later. The Vagabonds, Dagmar, Micki Marlo, and Pat Manville took center stage during the 45-minute extravaganza.

Satchel was thriving in the warm weather of Miami and pitched his best ball on Sunday afternoons, capturing six of his first eight wins on Sundays. After being sidelined by a bad cold in the early part of July, he made sure that on subsequent trips to the northern stretches of the International League, he would be prepared. He would wear four sweatshirts and a rubber shirt beneath his uniform. “I’m never going to be cold again when I pitch in Buffalo, Toronto, or Montreal.”10

The Marlins were in first place for a brief moment on July 29, after Satchel hurled six scoreless innings in relief as his team won 5–4 in 13 innings against Montreal, but hit a tough stretch in August.

On August 7, the Marlins moved their show to the Orange Bowl and packed in an all-time minor league record 57,713 fans to witness Paige’s fourth start of the season. Paige not only was the pitching star that night, but his long double to deep left-center field scored three runs as Miami defeated Columbus 6–2. Proceeds from the contest, which featured four bands in an entertainment extravaganza, went to charity.11 Satchel struck out five batters and scattered seven hits in 72⁄3 innings of work for his ninth win of the season. Having lost five straight, Miami was in danger of dropping out of contention before Paige stopped the losing streak.

Paige’s finest performance came on the evening of August 13 when he defeated Rochester, yielding but one hit for his tenth win of the season. He struck out three batters and walked none in his seven-inning masterpiece. The only hit of the game was a fourth-inning single off the bat of Tommy Burgess. In his first 31 games, Paige was 10–3 with 10 saves and had a 1.50 ERA. In 90 innings, he had struck out 64 and walked only 20.

His longest outing of the season came on August 19 against Buffalo. He started but was not very effective, yielding three runs over the first six innings. But he was able to put his team up 5-3 with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth. After the sixth inning, there was a two hour and eleven minute rain delay, but Satch remained in the game, lasting 82⁄3 innings as the Marlins won 5–4.12

Satchel led his team in appearances with 37 as they finished third in the league with an 80–71 record. In games in which Paige appeared, the Marlins were 27–10. The third-place finish earned the Marlins a place in the playoffs against Rochester. Down two games to none, the Marlins staged a come-from-behind rally to win the third game of the playoffs. Paige set the side down in order in the eighth inning and was credited with the win. Miami lost the series to Rochester in five games.

When 1957 rolled around, Satch showed up for spring training in Stuart, Florida, ready to go. On arrival, he said, “I’ve already contacted my Indian friend who makes my special snake oil. And I hear Stuart is a fine place for spring training…good fishing, I mean.”13 It was still 1957 and still very much the Jim Crow South. When he showed up, he was informed that the Marlins were a bit short-handed in the pitching department and he might need to be used as a starter on Opening Day. His response was vintage Paige. “I’ll be ready to pitch if I don’t have any miseries between now and then. So don’t you go running me and getting my feet tired.”14

Satchel Paige would spend three seasons with Miami. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

One year in Miami was enough for Veeck and he arranged the sale of the team to Miami media mogul George Storer prior to the 1957 season. Showmanship was still on the agenda for the April 17 opener against Toronto, courtesy of impresario Ernie Seiler. Entertainment was provided by, among others, Preacher Rollo and his Dixieland Saints, and during the National Anthem, bombs burst in air as fireworks illuminated the sky beyond the left-field fence. And then the teams took to the field and engaged in a marathon that lasted well into the night before being halted at 12:50AM by curfew. After 16 innings and four hours and 49 minutes, the score was tied 3–3.15

Paige did not pitch in the opener, but he had developed a new pitch for his noted arsenal. He called it the Hum Bug Pitch. “It hums and makes the batters buggy. It has nothing to do with my dipsy-doodle pitch, my hesitation pitch, or any of the others.”16

A well-rested Paige pitched for the first time on April 28 in the second game of a Sunday doubleheader. He went the entire seven innings, scattering six hits and striking out nine as Miami defeated Buffalo and Luke Easter, 7–1. The Marlins were in first place and would stay there through the first two weeks of May. Then the wheels fell off. The team’s bats went to sleep and each of the pitchers suffered. By June 18, Satch’s record stood at 3–3. In his three losses, he had allowed only eight runs in 22 innings, losing by scores of 2–0, 3–0, and 3–2. The team had fallen to seventh place and was 10 games below .500.

By the time Satch’s 51st birthday rolled around, the team had risen to sixth place and they were playing in Columbus. It was the fifth inning on July 7 and the Marlins were clinging to a one run lead. Starting pitcher Earl Hunsinger was tired and reliever Dick Bunker had been ineffective. In strolled Paige and he went the rest of the way to record his fifth win of the season.

The team could not establish anything in the way of momentum and during the last week of August, the bats went into the deep freeze again, and once more Satch was the victim of shutout pitching. On August 29, he was on the short end as the Marlins lost to Columbus 3-0. He went all seven innings in the first game of a doubleheader only to be shut out for the fourth time in his eight losses. His record stood at 8–8 with six saves.

On Labor Day, games were scheduled for both morning and afternoon and Paige took to the mound in the opener. In the bottom of the fifth, Miami scored three runs but nobody was really noticing. By then 15 Havana batters had come up, and 15 Havana batters had been retired. Satchel had a perfecto going and he kept it going until the eighth inning when with two outs, Elio Chacón singled for the first Havana hit. Paige went the whole nine innings, giving up three hits while striking out eight for the 3–0 win, his ninth of the season.

The Marlins went into the last week of the season challenging for a playoff spot. They won 10 of their last 14 games, including two wins by Paige to edge out Rochester for a playoff berth. In the playoffs, the Marlins won the first round, defeating Toronto in six games, but fell to Buffalo in five games for the league championship. Against Buffalo, Paige pitched seven innings in the opener, losing 2–0, and in the finale, he lost 7–1.

Nevertheless, it was another good season for Paige who went 10–8 during the regular season with a 2.42 ERA in 119 innings.

Early in the 1958 season, Paige was on the wrong side of the law when he was arrested and convicted for speeding and having an improper driver’s license. Satch found the judge, Charles H. Snowden, to be a fan. The Judge deferred the 20-day jail sentence until after the season, and put forth some criteria that could lessen the sentence. Paige would receive one day off for each win, be credited for one day off for each run scored, and be credited for one day off for each time he struck out Luke Easter.17

That season, the Marlins got off to a bad start, losing 18 of their first 27 games before putting together a seven-game winning streak. Paige tossed a three-hitter against Columbus to win the final game of the run.

However, Satch was losing more than he was winning in the early going. Through June 8, he was only 3–4 with two saves and the way he was going, it looked as though he would be the guest of the City of Miami at season’s end. The team was not doing well either. At the close of business on June 11, they were in seventh place, nine games behind the league leaders, and Paige found himself on the disabled list. He missed 14 of his team’s games but came back to win his fourth decision of the season, defeating Montreal 4–1.

As June turned into July, the Marlins made their way toward the first division and Paige saw more action. He made seven appearances between June 29 and July 13, going 4–1 with one save as the Marlins climbed over .500. On July 10, he entered a game with two on and one out in the eighth inning. He recorded the final five outs to save a 5–2 win over Havana.

As good as Satchel was on the field, his off-the-field behavior was irking management. He missed flights and was unreliable in terms of showing up for work. On July 27, he had shut out Toronto 3–0, in a nine inning complete game. But less than ten days later, things took a turn for the worse as Paige feuded with management, mostly over money. The pitcher was suspended indefinitely on August 5. At the time, his record was 9–7 with three saves and an ERA of 3.09.18 Indefinitely was 12 days. He came back to defeat Buffalo 6–1 for his 10th win, but the Marlins were left fighting for the last playoff spot going into the last two weeks of the season.

Sometimes, one’s reputation can cause problems and such was the case late in the season when the Marlins were flying back to Miami from Havana at the end of August. Satchel showed up 15 minutes before takeoff only to find out that his seat had been sold to someone else, the airline thinking he would be a no-show. He went back on a later flight.19

On September 1, Miami played the first of a four game set against Columbus. They needed to sweep Columbus and Havana in their last seven games to move past Columbus in the standings for the final playoff spot. Paige started for Miami against Columbus and allowed only two runs, but his teammates were unable to score and there would be no more starts for Satchel Paige. He pitched a scoreless inning in relief in his team’s finale on September 6 to end the season with a 10–10 record and a 3.04 ERA.

He didn’t quite get the credit he needed to stay out of jail for the preseason traffic violation, but the judge was in a forgiving mood and gave Satch credit for effort.20

At season’s end, Paige hung up his spikes, and it was made official when he was released by the Marlins in April 1959. Although there would be barnstorming and brief appearances, often as publicity stunts, over the next several years, including a five-game stint with Portland of the Pacific Coast League in 1961 and his last major-league appearance with Kansas City in 1965, it was over. As Satchel said, “I’m not runnin’ out of baseball. It’s just that mabba baseball is runnin’ out of Satchel.”21

ALAN COHEN is a retired insurance underwriter who has been a member of SABR since 2011. He has written more than 30 biographies for SABR’s BioProject, and has contributed to 13 SABR books. He serves as Vice President-Treasurer of SABR’s Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter and contributed to the chapter’s recently published “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman—Mike Sandlock.” His first game story, “Baseball’s Longest Day – May 31, 1964,” has been followed by several others. His ongoing research into the Hearst Sandlot Classic (1946–1965), an annual youth All-Star game which launched the careers of 88 major-league players, first appeared in the Fall 2013 Baseball Research Journal, and has been followed with a poster presentation at the SABR Convention in Chicago. He serves as the datacaster (stringer) for the Hartford Yard Goats of the Class-AA Eastern League. A native of Long Island, he now resides in West Hartford, Connecticut, with his wife Frances, two cats and two dogs.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the endnotes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and the following:

Fraley, Oscar. “Ageless Satchel Paige Called ‘Most Wondrous Performer,’” Panama City Herald, August 15, 1956:10

Paige, Satchel with David Lipman. Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever (New York, Grove Press, 1961).

Notes

1. Oscar Fraley, Panama City News, November 14, 1956, 8.

2. Saves were not an official statistic at the time. Total based on author’s calculations.

3. Bill Veeck with Ed Linn, Veeck as in Wreck (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1962):311.

4. Jimmy Burns, “8,806 at Marlins’ Game See Fireworks and Delivery of Satchmo by Helicopter,” The Sporting News, April 25, 1956:27.

5. Oscar Ruhl. “88-year battery—Satch and McCullough,” The Sporting News, December 19, 1956:15.

6. George Beahon, “Wings Top Miami, 10–6, In 18 Innings, Then Lose,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, April 23, 1956:18. (The Sporting News recorded a passed ball rather than wild pitch.)

7. “Ol’ Satch Hurls Miami to 3–0 Shutout Victory,” Boston Traveler, April 30, 1956:24.

8. Shelley Rolfe, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 27, 1956:B1.

9. Burns, “Satch Aging, He has 1.50 ERA and He’s Still Hittin’,” The Sporting News, July 4, 1956:30.

10.. Burns, “Satch Miami’s Sunday Ace—Enjoys Afternoon Work,” The Sporting News, August 8, 1956:28.

11. Burns, “Marlins Set 57,713 Gate High at Orange Bowl Show,” The Sporting News, August 15, 1956:17.

12. Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 20, 1956:19.

13. Burns, “Satchel Checks on Snake Oil, He’s all Set for Spring Drills,” The Sporting News, March 13, 1957:36.

14. Burns, “Miami Marlins All Smiles—Satchel Paige Shows Up,” The Sporting News, April 3, 1957:31.

15. Burns, “Seiler Whips Up ‘Spectacular’ at Marlin Opener,” The Sporting News, April 24, 1957:27.

16. The Sporting News, April 24, 1957:27.

17. “Satch Can Pitch Himself out of Jam,” Fort Pierce News-Tribune, April 24, 1958: 1.

18. Burns, “Paige Suspended by Miami to Climax a Hectic Interlude,” The Sporting News, August 13, 1958:36.

19. Burns, The Sporting News, September 3, 1958:32.

20. The Sporting News, January 7, 1959:27.

21. “Legendary Satch Turns to Movies,” Fort Pierce News-Tribune, September 30, 1958:5.