Southern Leaguers on Final Lap, Best Biscuits Ever?

Matt Krook and Brett Sullivan

The Biscuits return to Riverwalk for a five game tune-up before beginning their playoff push.

The postseason bound Biscuits have 85 wins and need just one more W to equal the '52 and '77 Rebels for Most Victories in a Single Season. A couple more wins will seal the second half title and the claim of Best Season Ever.


The opponent for this tune up is the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, standing in third place in the South Division, inexplicably its their first trip of the year to Montgomery. After having games dropped from the sked due to weather and tragedy, skipper Ensberg will have to get the Biscuits club ramped up quickly.

IN THE OTHER DUGOUT

The Twins two top prospects, Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff, lead the third place Wahoos offense. Other top Twins prospects populate the Pensacola roster - outfielder Trevor Larnach, pitcher Jhoan Duran, catcher Ryan Jeffers, pitcher Stephen Gonsalves, pitcher Griffin Jax, second baseman Travis Blankenhorn.

Second baseman Blankenhorn provides a lot of pop, currently third in the circuit in round trippers.
Stephen Gonsalves has been here before, having been in the Southern League in parts of the three previous seasons with Chattanooga.

STATS DROUGHT

Rosenberg and McClanahan

Numbers-wise, its tough to suss out the Wahoos, due to the second half individual player stats not being available to the public. MLB and MiLB have done a bang-up job pulling stats providers off the internet.

As recently as last season it was easy to find full stats and metrics for double-A players like FIP, BaBIP and swinging-strike data. Not anymore, as evidenced by the excitement when I found a single piece of scrap paper with a Biscuit pitchers spin rate info.

So if you noticed less use of statistical breakdowns on the blog this summer, there is your reason! As such, I have suspended the What To Look For for this series. Who knows what can happen in the last series of the year?

BLAKE BIVENS
This is all I will say: What a horrible tragedy for such a beautiful young family, perhaps the saddest moment in all of Montgomery's long baseball history. It is too painful to discuss any further. Please consider donating to the Emily Bivens fund - https://www.gofundme.com/f/emily-bivens-family-fund


TSHIRTS WIN FANS
The Biscuits front office works hard to bring fans to the ballpark. One thing that has been received well is the T Shirt giveaways. Fans line up early to acquire one of the Thursday wearable keepsakes.

Now if only we can put those to good use -

After so many have been given away, it would be impressive to see people decked out when offered an incentive to wear them. Find a way to reward fans for repping the team. How about a good discount for wearing one of them on a certain night.... Free kids hotdog, maybe? Thirsty Thursday beer price on Tuesdays when you wear a Thirsty Thursday shirt?

ATTENDANCE WOES RETURN
This year the Biscuits have five games to bring in 30K people if they want to equal last years attendance total. Normally between 225-235K annually, this year the announced attendance is at 208K.

Dropping off quickly the past five seasons, Montgomery was usually good for 250 thousand visitors each summer through 2013 but has seen a sharp dropoff since new parks have been built in Birmingham, Pensacola and Biloxi. An uptick last year provided hope the new owners would turn the ship around, but that trend has not continued this season.

So while this has been the best year for Montgomery in terms of victories on the field, it has been one of the worst at the turnstile.

#BULLPENLIFE

AUGUST 28 1906

Mullaney

Montgomery's first baseman and team captain Mullaney goes 4-4 against Little Rock starter Allen

AUGUST 29 1906  
Pitcher Malarkey of Montgomery shuts out Little Rock on three hits

AUGUST 30 1920 
Monday the Knoxville Giants crossed bats with Montgomery Gray Sox. It was one of those games that makes you forget your troubles. Safe hitting of the Giants took the game from Montgomery."

AUGUST 31 1920 
Knoxville, TN
"Tuesday, August 31. - Montgomery tried to overcome her bad luck on Monday. They got Steel-Arm for four clean hits, which only merited them two runs."

SEPTEMBER 1 1867 
Pelham club in Montgomery plays match, married vs unmarried, batchelors winning 25-4 and a silver whistle given to the player of the game.

SEPTEMBER 1, 1906 
Southern Association At Shreveport, LA; Shreveport Pirates 4, Montgomery Senators 0.  Thomas C. Fisher of the Pirates pitched a perfect game. He strikes out 14 Mgm hitters.

SEPTEMBER 1 1909 
In a seven inning game, Montgomery is no-hit by Mobile pitcher Allen, who wins 1-0

SEPTEMBER 2 1904 
The unpaid players of Montgomery go on strike, refusing to play. The matter is settled by the sale of the team to E.E.Winters. Winters is manager of Pickett Spring Casino and manager of Montgomery's Traction Co. trolley car company.
Its the beginning of a grand era in Montgomery, as Winters and later E.B. Joseph both turn the Traction Company and baseball team into successful enterprises.

SEPTEMBER 1 1920 

Steel Arm Dickey

Knoxville, TN
"'Steel Arm' Dickey Wins Another Game - Knoxville, Tennessee, September 1 -
"Steel Arm" Dickey, the phenominal pitcher of the Knoxville Giants of the Negro Southern League, added another shut out victory to his long string of victories here this afternoon when the Giants won from the Montgomery Grey Sox 3 to 0. Mason, who opposed Dickey this afternoon pitched a steady game for the Grey Sox but his team mates were never able to connect with the dazzling offerings of Dickey. Preston did the receiving for the Grey Sox and Smith for the Giants."

SEPTEMBER 2 1895 
"The season of the Southern Baseball League closed on September 2. None of the clubs made any money, but they had lots of fun." report from The Sporting News

SEPTEMBER 2 1910 
Enthusiastic Fan Killed by Foul Tip is mentioned in The Montgomery Advertiser

Wednesday Morning Specials, Biscuits New Guy Joe, Scrap News, History

With the Biscuits in the midst of a five game set against the Biloxi Shuckers, the first place team in the south division, its a playoff preview. The Montgomery roster has seen some shuffles but the new faces are welcome additions to the Ensberg squad. Mo knows how to get guys playing time.

no team photo, but most of the guys at autograph day.

There is a rumor that Jackson may beg off of hosting a playoff game, preferring to let Montgomery host the first round in its entirety. If the season ended today, the Generals would only get to host one game in the division series. Maybe their luck is better on the road? They are 15-9 at home in the second half, so that probly aint it.

The Barons are two and a half games behind the Generals, maybe they sneak into the playoffs and save the Jackson staff the decision.

Fox and Josh Lowe before a game vs Biloxi

Earlier in the year I noticed Lucius Fox jumping before each pitch when playing shortstop. Upon his return from Durham, he no longer did the hop. When I asked him about it he said there wasn't a reason other than "... its August and I'm tired!"

However Lucius said he may bring the hop back any day, so be sure to keep an eye out for it!

NEW GUY JOE

New Guy Joe Ryan is fun to watch.
Ryan works fast, with fifteen seconds on the pitch clock, Joe is ready to throw the ball when there are still double digits. He works that fast. Chris Mason fast.

And his routine sparks memories of The Bird. If not THE Bird at least A bird. Before each frame the California kid receives the ball and goes thru an odd stretching routine.

Joe Ryan stands over the pitching rubber and bends at the waist, placing his glove with the ball on the mound between his feet. He tugs at his pants legs and then starts waving his arms straight out at his sides and then whipping them across his chest.

He's on the mound bent over at the waist flapping like a bird looking straight down at the ground.

And it works, his first home start brought in a pile of nine strikeouts and just two walks. He came up a little short of earning the victory, running out of pitches to count with two outs in the fourth inning.

And we love it! Keep flappin those arms, Joe!



 Next blog I will cover the other new guy, Sugar Shane McClanahan. These two are worth the price of admission when on the bump!

Shane and Joe checking out the pregame bullpen activities

Mo can't stand a bad baby shark

During a between inning break, I noticed Manager Morgan Ensberg doing the "Baby Shark" when it was played. "I have to help I.J. out with it sometimes" he told me when I asked him about it.

If you haven't been getting the $2 tacos on Tuesdays, you have been missing one of the best deals at the ballpark!

Kay and Leonard

Former Biscuit Patrick Leonard is with the Shuckers, though currently on the injured list. I noticed Grant Kay having a chat with Patrick during a lull in play. While they weren't Biscuit teammates, Kay and Leonard spent much time together in the Rays system.


Pitcher Blake Bivens, who has some of the best intro music on the staff, optioned to Princeton, has returned. I inquired about the roster spot that he gets and was told Jason Garcia would be temporarily inactive to clear a spot for the reliever Bivens. Basically a paper move, with the day off after this series Garcia will be good to go for his next start. No injury involved. No need to panic.
 

#BULLPENLIFE

THIS WEEK IN MONTGOMERY BASEBALL HISTORY

AUGUST 22 1905 

Lefty Houtz

In spite of scoring three runs in the bottom of the 16th inning, kicking delayed the game and the Umpire Shuster called it on account of darkness, reverting the score to the previous innings 2-2 tie. No mention from Sporting News of who Montgomery was playing....

AUGUST 22 1907 
Montgomery Outfielder Lefty Houtz goes 4-4 off pitcher Hart of Little Rock

AUGUST 23 1906 
Montgomery Starting pitcher Walsh shuts out New Orleans on three hits

AUGUST 23 1908 
Montgomery manager pro-tem Ed Gremminger, establishes a record in the Southern League with 28 out of 29 possible putouts in a 13 inning game. Both teams pitchers throw one hitters as Montgomery wins.

AUGUST 24 1908 
Montgomery Pitcher Frosty Thomas shuts out Memphis on two hits.

AUGUST 25 1906 
Montgomery and Memphis play 13 innings but end in a 1-1 tie

1920 Grey Sox

AUGUST 25 1920 
Columbus, GA and Anniston, AL
"Montgomery Grey Sox Play Two Exhibitions - After losing two out of three games this week to Atlanta, Manager Staples of the Grey Sox, split the team yesterday, and sent one team to Anniston and one to Columbus, Georgia. Both teams won shut out victories, the game in Anniston being won by the locals 7 to 0, and the Columbus game 2 to 0.

Miles and Williams were the batteries in the Anniston game, and Mason and Preston in the Columbus game."

Thoughts On So Many Roster Changes, The Legendary Josh Lowe Throw

Miles Mastrobuoni aka Mr. Clutch-Skitz

On Sunday the Biscuits return to Riverwalk to face the Biloxi Shuckers. With just ten home games left in the regular season, fans should make their way to the park to enjoy this fine club as it gears up for the playoffs and a run at setting a new season high in wins.

So far this season Montgomery has figured out every team its faced, finally knocking Jackson out of a series on the road. Now if the club can figure out itself, they will be in a fine spot heading into the postseason.

The good news is that there are a couple weeks left to do just that.

Vidal Brujan thinks about it too

THOUGHTS ON SO MANY ROSTER CHANGES
Whoa, who can keep up with all that?

As die-hard as I am, even I will have to take a few minutes to review the roster before Sundays game. Lots of players have been moved around over the past month, its tough to know what roles the players will have over the final weeks.

Did the Durham Bulls pick up two-thirds of the cost of printing the Biscuits poster giveaway?

Highlights from the roster shuffles include:

Kay from 2017 files

Grant Kay returns, his first Biscuits games since 2017
Matt Krook and Ryan Thompson return from midseason injury
Josh Fleming promoted to Durham
Blake Bivens sent to Princeton, the team not the university

Tommy Milone sidelined with injury shortly after returning from a long injury rehab
Lucius Fox bounced back from Durham for one day, returned to Bulls for one day and back to Biscuits
Phoenix Sanders promoted to Durham, Zombro sent back, again.
New Guys Sugar Shane McClanahan and Joe Ryan arrived to join the rotation


2019 Biscuits Roster Flow Chart Image Not Available

Paul Campbell enjoys a pregame trip to the bullpen

WE SEEN IT CAN HAPPEN WHEN WE DONT SEE IT

Rene Pinto

We saw what we needed to see, which is that it can happen when it won't be seen.

By this I mean the series win at Jackson, where fan attendance is dismal and is too far for most Montgomery fans to drive to. Wednesday nights game in Jackson was attended by 622 announced turnstile clicks at the formerly known as Pringles Park.

With the history between the two clubs, its a good sign that these guys can dispatch the rival Generals in a series that has few witnesses. As it stands, if the Biscuits advance past the first round of playoffs, they will celebrate it on the field in Jackson.


Should that happen, the first two games of the league championship would be held in the South Division winners park, with the North Division winner getting games 3-5, giving Montgomery a chance to claim the flag on its own field for the first time since 2006.

BRUJAN AND WALLS
Vidal Brujan and Taylor Walls are fun to watch, worth the price of admission every night.While other teams are hitting tape measure home runs and striking out at record paces, the Biscuits are showing why speed and defense have been the coin of the realm in baseball for over a century.

Vidal Brujan when he knows there is ice cream and cake at third base

Taylor Walls gets his hits on the ground

MY BAD

Jim

Carl

I mislabeled a photo, mixing up Carl Chester with Jim Haley.
 It was of course Jim Haley who hit the homer for free chicken for everyone.

It happens a couple times a year, confusing the names of a couple guys, as you can confirm with Ryan Thompson+Brian Shaffer. Not sure how it happens exactly, usually it involves a new guy.

So.... my bad!

THE JOSH LOWE THROW

Recently Biscuits outfielder Josh Lowe was featured with an #SCTOPTEN for his dynamite throw to the plate to nail a runner. Certainly it was one of the finest displays of the outfield assist seen in Montgomery, an absolute laserbeam to the catcher.

Well, I managed to have the old camera clicking when it went down and can offer a nice three-piece view of the event up close. These are the actual photos of "The Josh Lowe Throw"

locating target....

target acquired

The ball arrived so far ahead of the runner, the throw was already legendary before the tag was made.

#BULLPENLIFE

THIS WEEK IN MONTGOMERY BASEBALL HISTORY

AUGUST 16 1906 
Montgomery pitcher Breitenstein shuts out Atlanta on 3 hits

Steel Arm Dickey

AUGUST 16 1920 
Montgomery, AL
"Grey Sox Win Second From Knoxville Team - Locals Take Advantage of Visitors' Errors and Win Monday's Game - Taking advantage of errors made by their opponents, the Montgomery Grey Sox team defeated the Knoxville Giants Monday afternoon by the score of 5 to 1.

Dickey and Mason pitched good ball, but the former received poor support at critical stages of the game, while the local twirler was given jam up support whenever the visiting team threatened to score."

Bert Maxwell

AUGUST 17th 1906 
Montgomery Pitcher Maxwell shuts out Atlanta on one hit. Montgomery squeaks out just 3 hits themselves, scoring once off Atl pitcher Childs.

AUGUST 18 1906 
Willie Keeler strikes out for the second time in the season.
 Not Montgomery related, but just... wow.
 
AUGUST 18th 1910 
The Birmingham Barons inaugurated Rickwood Field on August 18, 1910, by defeating the Montgomery Climbers in front of more than 10,000 fans.

AUGUST 19 1906 
Pitcher Phillips of New Orleans one hits Montgomery and shuts them out.

AUGUST 20 1968 
The Rebels use five pitchers to beat Bham and maintain the league lead. Lefty Jim Foor, just 19, gets his third win in four days as a reliever. Montgomery has won seven straight games and 13 straight against the Barons.
- Also on this date Satchel Paige is announced as a pitcher for the Braves.