Aging With Grace
The 100th year of PCL Baseball
is proof that some things do get better with age.
Jonathan Roybal
MinorLeagueNews.com
The 2003 season marked the 100-year anniversary for the Pacific Coast
League [PCL] and according to league president Branch B. Rickey, “It
is a landmark milestone such as this that allows us to embrace our past,
and at the same time, appreciate how far we’ve come.”
This year the
PCL had a season-long celebration of its illustrious past with numerous
events that commemorated their Centennial.
Many legendary
players, as well as exceptional achievements, were all recognized.
Many casual fans
probably didn’t know that Ted Williams started his career with
the PCL’s San Diego Padres in 1936-37. Nor do most people realize
that before he became the ‘Yankee Clipper’, Joe DiMaggio
had a 61 game hitting-streak with the San Francisco Seals in 1933.
Then there were
the great teams, for instance, the 1934 Los Angeles Angels, who won
137 games while leading the league in practically every offensive category.
During the season,
fans were also given the opportunity to vote for the league’s
All-Centennial Team [1958-present], with ballots being handed out at
every PCL ballpark.
The end result
was a team managed by Tommy Lasorda with a mix of current and future
hall-of-famers such as Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt, and Mike Piazza,
which would rival any all-star team ever assembled.
Perhaps in another
hundred years folks will be talking about the 2003 campaign with the
same great reverence, as Branch had plenty of things to be proud about
this season.
The Perfect
Start
Nashville Sound’s
hurler John Wasdin had a perfect start in the first week of the season,
literally.
On April 7, Wasdin
fired the first perfect game in the team’s 26-year history in
a 4-0 victory over the visiting Albuquerque Isotopes at Greer Stadium.
It was only the
second nine-inning perfect game thrown in Pacific Coast League history.
“It hasn’t
even hit me yet,” a humble Wasdin said to a group of reporters
on the field following the game. “I’ll try to enjoy it but
I have to get back to work tomorrow.”
Wasdin matched
a Nashville individual-game record with 15 strikeouts in the contest;
including the final two batters he faced, to etch his name in the record
books. Seventy-two of his 100 pitches were thrown for strikes.
A Whole New Ballgame
On the losing end of that game was the Albuquerque
Isotopes, the PCL’s newest team, who relocated from Calgary after
the 2002 season.
Obviously getting nailed with a perfecto in only the
5th game in franchise history was not the foundation the Isotopes had
planned to build on, although that game would soon be forgotten.
This was no more evident than when almost 13,000 fans
showed up four days later to the grand opening of the state-of-the-art
Isotopes Park and watched as the first pitch in over three years was
thrown in Albuquerque.
Baseball was back in ‘Burque in a big way. More
than 576,867 fans have gone through the turnstiles since the gates opened,
good for third place in the league attendance.
“The fans, the attendance, everything has exceeded
expectations,” stated Isotopes spokesman David Bearman. “The
community has really come out to support the Isotopes, and we couldn’t
be happier.”
The fans in Albuquerque were awarded for their loyalty
as their team remained competitive and in a pennant race for the whole
144 game regular season.
The ‘Topes were able to clinch first place in
the Central Division, as well as the first playoff berth in franchise
history, over the second-place Colorado Springs Sky Sox on the final
day of the season.
A Rivalry Brewing??
Albuquerque faced off against the Nashville Sounds
in the PCL’s American Conference Championship.
Nashville ended the season as the Eastern Division
Champions, sporting an 81-62 record, finishing 10.5 games ahead of New
Orleans.
In addition to throwing the perfect game against them
earlier in the season, Nashville defeated the Isotopes in the15 inning
regular season finale.
The ‘Topes will have to wait until next year
to get revenge, as the Sounds ended their inaugural season, winning
the American Conference Championship Series 3 games to 1.
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