When the
final out is tallied in the Labor Day game between the Redbirds and Nashville
Sounds, Memphis will have put a complete decade into the Triple-A record books.
As this 10th summer of Redbirds baseball winds down, the time seems right for a
year-by-year reflection on names and memories that should stand the test of time
(perhaps with a gentle reminder now and then). We’ll look at 1998 through 2002
this week, with the more recent half-decade on the board next week.
1998 — Who
better to lead off a game that married Memphis to the Cardinals than Vince
Coleman himself? Attempting a comeback at age 36, the former base-stealing demon
singled and scored the game’s only run in front of 8,637 fans at Tim McCarver
Stadium. (The AstroTurf infield, if not the crowd size, must have felt familiar
to Coleman’s legs.) Unable to land a promotion, Coleman retired after 20 games,
but those Redbirds — with future big-leaguers like J.D. Drew, Adam Kennedy,
Placido Polanco, Braden Looper, and Joe McEwing — went on to a record of 74-70.
Brady Raggio — where have you gone? — led the PCL in ERA.
1999 — The
Summer of Ankiel, Part I. Between stints at Double-A Arkansas and Memphis, the
Next Sandy Koufax went 13-3 with 194 strikeouts in 138 innings pitched on his
way to being named Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America. Not
quite a month after his May 21st promotion to Memphis, Ankiel struck out 14
Iowa Cubs at McCarver. Not many curveballs are visible from the third-base box
seats, but Ankiel’s made your jaw drop. This is going to be hard to explain to
my grandchildren (see the 2007 remarks, next week).
2000 — The
first game ever played at AutoZone Park would be the seminal highlight of the
2000 season . . . were it not for the last game played that year. On April 1st,
the grand ballpark’s ribbon-cutting was followed by an exhibition game between
the Redbirds and St. Louis Cardinals (with one Mark McGwire in uniform, though
unable to play because of a back ailment). The minor-leaguers came out on top,
10-6, in front of 15,000 red-clad fans. The Cards’ Eli Marrero (a former
Redbird) hit the stadium’s first home run.
It was
the final home run of 2000, though, that now has a seat in the rightfield stands
painted red in its honor. Wearing number 6 and playing in only his 12th Triple-A
game, Albert Pujols hit a 13th-inning home run just inside the rightfield foul
pole to win the Pacific Coast League championship (three games to one) over the
Salt Lake Buzz. Big-league glory was a few months away for El Hombre, but for
those of us there on September 15th, 2000, the birth of a legend won’t soon be
forgotten.
2001 — This
was the first sub-.500 Memphis Redbird team, and they were pretty lousy. The
names Luis Saturria, Bill Ortega, and Dave Zancanaro aren’t often mentioned at
Third and Union before the third beer is drained. But Bud Smith was fun to
watch. The slight lefty couldn’t approximate Ankiel’s dominance on the hill, but
he was good enough to start the Triple-A All-Star Game, and later hurled a
no-hitter . . . for St. Louis. Traded the next season to Philadelphia in the
Scott Rolen deal, Smith hasn’t seen the big leagues since.
2002 — The
season opened with an indecisive 3-3 tie in an exhibition game against the
Cardinals, and it ended with a perfectly mediocre record of 71-71. First baseman
Ivan Cruz led the entire minor leagues in home runs with 35, and Chad Meyers
topped the PCL with 43 stolen bases. (Only one Redbird has stolen as many as 20
in the five years since.) Let’s not forget the late Mike Coolbaugh’s
contribution either. Playing third base every day, Coolbaugh slammed 29 home
runs.
Check in
next week for 2003-2007.
