Things are sailing along nicely with the recently-announced Montgomery Baseball History and Legends Conference on tap for May. We are getting interest from all over and have gotten confirmation from a couple of speakers lined up already!
There will be a highlight presentation from Clarence"Skip" Watkins, a leading baseball author who literally wrote the book Baseball In Montgomery, the finest collection of local baseball info available to date!
Also I am very happy to announce that we will have a presentation on one of Montgomery's unsung great Negro League players by noted SABR biographer Joseph "Jeb" Stuart, who will speak about the life of one of the Montgomery Gray Sox. I will keep that players name a secret for now!
My own presentation will be on the 1954 Montgomery Rebels, the first integrated pro team in Montgomery and the fascinating story of how it all went down!
Ahead of the conference, I have been invited to help the State Archives fashion a new display of never-before seen baseball collections. I recently got a sneak peek at their tobacco cards and was picking my jaw up off the floor! There are some wonderful old cards that rarely get a chance to be seen, hopefully we can include a few for the upcoming events.
And yes we are planning ballpark tours of Cramton Bowl and Paterson Field for conference attendees, a rare look at the citys diamonds that have hosted Major League teams!
BISCUITS BACK TO THE BASKET! PLAYER ALUMNI REUNION
Also, we are inviting all former Biscuits players to the first Biscuits Alumni Reunion! Any player, past or present, who has donned the Montgomery togs is invited as part of the pre-conference festivities. Stay tuned for more info!
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
Currently we have an open call for speakers to give a fifteen to thirty minute talk on baseball history, with a preferred focus on Montgomery and the surrounding area.
If there is someone you would like to suggest, we are open to that as well.
We would also be interested to hear from those who have related items to exhibit, several collections will be on display for the conference.
IN OTHER NEWS
I have spoken with a couple contacts at the ballpark about having a baseball card trade day. There used to be one at the local card shop but since the shop closed there isn't much support for the sports card hobbyist. There was some interest and its likely there will be at least one effort made this year to get a trade day going. Feel free to reach out if this interests you!
BISCUITS ON THE MOVE
Who can keep up with all the guys the Rays send away? Blake Hunt, Mike Mercado and Vidal Brujan were all recently dealt to different teams, all on the same day. It will be nice to see them succeed with their new clubs, as the Tampa team is unwilling to part with anyone on their 40 man roster to give these guys a chance.
Oh, we have seen been a
few! Players and fans alike enjoy a good laugh and there have been some moments at Riverwalk that have
been worth the price of admission even if they weren't the stuff of
promotional legends. I want to know how many of these were you there for?*
THAT NAME THO'
The cringes started even before the
first pitch was thrown. In spite of its later popularity, when the team
name was first announced in front of a local crowd, Montgomery fans were underwhelmed and many
were forced to use their thinkers to decide if they were being made the butt of some obscure yankee
joke.
original Biscuits concept art
That
feeling didn't get erased when it was later learned that the name was
suggested by the spouse of a front-office staffer who later became the
team GM. Which kind of made the whole "Name the Team Contest" a sham and was the opposite of a good first impression.
MISS GRAVY
Owner with 1st Miss Gravy
The
pig mascot was a bad idea from the get-go. If there were any doubts
about that they were removed amid the opening day ballyhoo as Miss Gravy
was brought onto the field and introduced to the sellout crowd - where she proceeded to drop a large, steamy poo at home
plate right between the team owner and league president.
After one season the original pig was placed on waivers, replaced with a non-similar pig due to "being too
large". Biting staffers and fans wasn't among the listed reasons for either of the Miss
Gravy's eventual DFA, though she certainly built a reputation for such. The Duchess of Pork had plenty of cute factor but the aroma was simply too "fairground" for the ballpark.
Miss Gravy 2
Sweet Lou meets the Dr.
They
say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I am not sure if that
applies to pigs and their owners. Yet that kind of approach-ability was
the norm for Montgomery's new his-and-hers ownership, which
originally featured big names like Lou Piniella to lend credibility.
However,
it seems Sweet Lou divested himself of Biscuits shares quickly after
the initial burst of excitement. Maybe he realized he had a little too much...
SHERRIE
The
Biscuits owners Tom and Sherrie from Michigan, a husband and wife team
that had turned around the Low-A Lugnuts in Lansing and were now stepping into
Montgomery to help make Double-A become reality. That the Meyers felt they
were doing the city and its population a huge favor was always the impression given and in
the beginning it appeared to be a good relationship between team
ownership and city managers.
The first three or four seasons
saw the Biscuits handily become the most popular minor league brand, but
soon after that things changed as the husband and wife team split up.
Sherrie got the Biscuits in the settlement and handled Montgomery like an
unwanted stepchild. The Biscuits were reduced to a laughingstock for
the shoddy treatment of players, coaches, umpires, employees and city
liaisons. To say nothing of the fans, who bore the full brunt of rising costs and sinking standards at the ballpark.
How bad was it? Here are a couple highlights from the cringe files:
LET EM BE HOT
During
one summer the Biscuits team bus had trouble with the air conditioning.
Team owners were said to have turned down paying for repairs,
forcing the club to travel in hot southern weather on a bus to places as
far as Zebulon, North Carolina simply because the owner was too cheap
to fix it.
WANT SOME CANDY, COACH?
If that
wasn't bad enough, during the All Star game, instead of complimentary
meals coaches were given small bags of assorted candies. Two coaching
staffs of former MLB players assembled from across the league, with each
coach paid just $25 for the honor of skipping their All Star break to
visit Montgomery and instead of dinner they are given a handful of
starburst candies.
You can be sure at least one of the coaches loudly
voiced their opinions.
NOT GOING AWAY OKAY BUH BYE
Personally,
my cringe-worthy moment with Sherrie came when I asked her
about the possibility of the Southern League teams expanding or relocating ahead of what would become the new Biloxi franchise. She shot me a look, then talked to the table about regional MLB television rights before
saying "IF Biloxi gets a team, it won't be any time soon, not in the next few years" and dodged any
follow up questions. A few weeks later at the league owners meeting,
Sherrie voted in favor of the sale of the franchise and its location, which indeed doomed Mobile's double-A team and brought Biloxi into the league.
After that I
referred to her mostly with references to the team owner in the movie
Major League. It became obvious in her interviews that she had little love for the team or city and indeed it turns out we probably were the butt of some yankee joke.
with Lou DiBella, we love that guy!
Not
too long after that I successfully predicted the sale of the Montgomery
baseball club and Sherrie's much anticipated departure. It was obvious she wanted no part of Montgomery and the running of the baseball team had become a burden.
Since the sale,
fans have embraced the new ownership headed by the very down-to-earth Lou DiBella, who has been
a fantastic steward of the franchise and works hard to be a good
neighbor in his role as Biscuits owner.
NO! BAD DOG!
A
couple seasons ago the Skitz clinched after a rain delay ended the
final game of the year. As the rain took hold and the crowd dwindled to
the hearty few, umpires waved off the season finale and players
celebrated their playoff berth. As a couple of the guys came back up the
tunnel to the dugout with a few beers in tow.
Then, to the amazement of
all around, a team staffer took umbrage and shouted
angrily at the players to return to the clubhouse with "NO! NO!
Go BACK!! ABSOLUTELY NOT! NO!" in the manner of an aggressive master
who has caught his dog pooping on the carpet in front of company.
After
the team had its nose rubbed in their celebration, Montgomery was
quickly swept in the playoffs and did not get any more chances to party.
MEET JOE MADDON CRINGE
When
the Tampa Rays came to town to face the Biscuits in a pre-season
exhibition game, fans were invited to ask Rays skipper a question.
Unfortunately there was no way for most of those who had intelligent
questions to submit their query, as the questions were skimmed from "exclusive VIP" season ticket holders by word of mouth only.
Which meant
attendees sitting in sun-drenched bleachers with real questions were ignored as Joe
Maddon, architect of some of the best big league teams in recent memory
and one of the leading analytics minds in the game, was quizzed about
"Which is your favorite hoody?".
Seeing disgusted fans stand up and
walk out on that train wreck in progress, with the Rays skipper Maddon alongside Biscuits owner Sherrie,
the Montgomery Mayor and other dignitaries seated on the top of the dugout, was as
cringe-worthy a moment as Riverwalk ever knew.
DOUG MIENTKIEWICZ'S CRINGE
When
ol' Eye-Chart skippered in the Southern League as the Lookouts manager,
I am sure he had already heard his name butchered in every possible way. Yet, as the clubs lined up for the All Star Game,
Riverwalk PA Announcer Rick Hendrick, who to his credit is excellent
with pronunciations, absolutely murdered that last name.
Doug
didn't love Riverwalk and made no exceptions when playing in Montgomery,
doing everything he could to annoy and frustrate Riverwalk staff during
Lookouts visits. Yet hearing his name hacked to bits in front of the
packed house induced a beautiful big-league cringe from the former Gold Glover.
But
it wasn't like Rick didn't know how to say it. Doug hadn't exactly made anyone feel warm and
fuzzy about him. Rarely do I hear criticism of visiting team staff from
those around our park, though Mientkies reputation surely preceded him. Be that as it may, few in the ballpark were
thrilled to see the Lookouts show up and even Rick Hendrick made sure to
get a dig in. You da man, Rick!
DELMON YOUNG BJ UPTON FIGURINE GIVEAWAY
Delmon
was a touted prospect hammering his way up the ladder when he was with
Montgomery in 2005. He banged out twenty homers and hit to a .336
average before being promoted to Durham. Delmon was seemingly on his way
to big league stardom and indeed would make his MLB debut in late 2006.
So
that set the stage for the Biscuits popular annual figurine giveaway.
Delmon, a first-round pick and B'ham born Biscuit was the perfect
choice. However Delmon scuttled the deal when he was suspended for
tossing a bat at an umpire (see Replacement Umps Cringe below!) who had just called him out on strikes in an
April game in Durham, earning a hefty suspension.
So the Biscuits
had to make a late decision to adjust for the bad Delmon press, swapping
over to BJ Upton for the giveaway. This meant a new head for the figure and explains why
the speedy Upton, who weighs 185 soaking wet, is sporting the physique
of a 240 pound slugger!
10th ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Of
course everyone knows when you have an anniversary, you celebrate! And
boy did the Biscuits party it up to get ready for 2013, the Biscuits tenth year in Montgomery. They must have partied hard, because when fans got to the park that April they saw the stadium emblazoned with a logo
created to commemorate having baseball for ten straight seasons. However
folks realized, you don't have your tenth anniversary until your
eleventh year... so... tenth anniversary?
This
reporter found and interrogated the artist who designed the logo, who
informed me the use of the word "anniversary" was in order to please the
client who had specifically requested the change.
HEADSHOT CRINGE
The
gameday headshot for Andrew Liberatore in 2013 was cringe as it gets.
Years later I shared it on twitter and got a reply from him, thanking me
for posting it because it was so epic and he didn't have it saved!
THAT PITCHER IS REALLY LOCKED IN
When Brett Butler was managing the Mobile BayBears in 2007 he had a cringe moment like no other after his starting pitcher surrendered a few big runs to the homestanding Biscuits.
The angry pitcher went into the mens room near the visitors dugout and slammed the door viciously behind him. The door jammed. When he didn't appear to take his place on the mound for the next half inning, a search party was dispatched.
Finding said hurler stuck in the john for the rest of the game, complete with sirens to signal the firemen arriving to axe the hinges from the door, the flustered Mobile skipper tried to explain the situation to the home plate umpire, who required Butler to bring in a reliever when the trapped moundsman could not be sprung.
Later in that series, Butler would be admitted to the hospital with a stroke. Seriously.
This vid 2007 Longoria vs Baybears is from the series that was the last for Butler as Baybears skipper and are likely to be the very runs that drove the Mobile pitcher to his sealed fate!
BOOM BOOM - OUT GO THE LIGHTS!
A great song indeed. And one evening it came to pass at Riverwalk, as the stadium lights went dark in the middle of the July 2008 contest. The who an why of the event were never revealed but for about half an hour players, officials and fans alike waited for the lights to come back on.
Lights out in Biscuitville!
REPLACEMENT UMPS CRINGE
Back in 2006 the minor league umpires went on strike. Replacement umps were chosen from college and high-school levels and for two months chaos reigned. Awful call after awful call frustrated even the most patient players, coaches and fans alike.
In one instance during a game in Jacksonville, Barons manager Chris Cron pulled his team off the field in protest, giving the forfeit to the Suns due to the officiating, or lack thereof. In Durham, a replacement ump made yet another terrible call on Delmon Young, who reportedly tossed his bat in disgust, hitting the ump and earning a hefty suspension (see above).
The replacement umps were so bad, their names were kept secret even from the media.
SHOT AND ROBBED
Biscuits pitching coach Bill Maloney was headed home to his apartment after a long game one evening when approached by a thug who demanded "Give it up". Things went south, shots were fired, the pitching coach lost his wallet and cellphone but soon gained a new awareness of the Montgomery emergency room and a cool scar on his leg.
Needless to say, Maloney did not return to the Biscuit coaching staff.
RHYNE HUGHES TAKES ONE FOR THE TEAM
Rhyne Hughes
In the face. In an attempt to lay down a bunt during a mid-season afternoon contest, the Biscuits first baseman sacrificed more than just his at-bat to advance the runner, he gave up his natural-born teefs when the pitch ran up and in. Struck in the mouth, Hughes landed on the injured list for the rest of the year but later appeared the following season with a great store-bought smile and apparently no fear of stepping back into the batters box at Riverwalk.
It paid off, Rhyno later appeared in more than a dozen bigleague games with the Orioles!
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL... AND LEAKS OUT EVERYWHERE
Fans were sent home disappointed one evening in 2015 when the contest between the Biscuits and Braves was suspended due to unplayable conditions. The weather was warm and the sky was clear and there hadn't been a drop of rain in days, but the Riverwalk field was soaked around first base. Players, coaches, fans and front office staffers could only watch as crews dug up the turf to determine the source of the water, a leak in an underground pipe. The lost game from the sked cost the team a first half championship.
Biscuits and Braves attend annual ceremony at the gravesite of first half hopes
BRAX EJECTED/TRADED IN SAME GAME
Braxton Lee
Braxton Lee covered every blade of grass in the outfield at Riverwalk Stadium, so great was his range. Fans marveled at his ability to quickly glide under flyballs that were destined for extra basehits, turning them to easy fly outs. During his second summer in Montgomery, Braxton was showing off his usual outfield prowess on a daily basis when it got weird one day.
On a Sunday afternoon, a routine fly ball settled into Lee's open glove. Brax squeezed it for the out but then it dropped to the ground as he transferred it to his throwing hand. Umps called the hitter safe. Braxton argued and was summarily ejected for his protestations. Brady Williams, always known for his calm demeanor, was also sent to the showers. Lee heads up the tunnel to his locker, sits down, gets out his phone and finds a text from a friend in triple-A saying "You've been traded!" with a screenshot of the info.
Sitting in the nearly vacant clubhouse as Genesis Cabrera makes his Biscuits debut, Braxton Lee has been told nothing about any trade and goes right over to manager Brady Williams. Asking "Have I been traded?" skipper Williams knows less than Lee and has to call the Rays to learn that yes indeed the Biscuits had just lost their star centerfielder.
WIN A DATE WITH A BISCUIT Pt. 1
Popular Biscuits first baseman Henry Wrigley was the subject of a 2010 promotion that had way more going on than met the eye.
Simple in design and a basic minor-league level production, HenWrigs was well liked by the Montgomery crowd and garnered plenty of ooh's and aaah's for his defense and long home runs, especially on Thirsty Thursdays when the college crowd was turning out in force. After a few libations the ladies loved to catcall the handsome first baseman, which did not go unnoticed by the front office.
Wrigley went along with the promotion, but there was a catch involved - Henry already had a girlfriend. So a plan was hatched for Wrigley's squeeze to be slipped into the contest and win the promotion to earn a nice date with her beau for playing along. Nobody felt the need to even bother telling Henry Wrigley about it.
The fix was in!
The best laid plans of Biscuits... on the appointed evening the Win A Date promotion was thrown into chaos as Henry's girlfriend didn't show up. They looked, they called, they texted, yet could not get in touch with the pre-chosen winner. But with a big crowd on hand, the show must go on!
Three random female fans were chosen from the volunteer entries to participate in mid-inning feats of dexterity and their ideas of romantic dates.
At the close of the seventh inning the Biscuits first baseman was asked to choose a winner. Wrigley admitted he should have paid better attention to the mid-game contest.
When I followed up on the story, Wrigs told me his actual girlfriend got the promotions day mixed up and that the winner did have a very nice dinner date with Henry.
No reports on how it went with the absent girlfriend!
WIN A DATE WITH A BISCUIT Pt. 2
Determined that the promotion just needed some fine tuning, the Biscuits tapped pitcher Chris Archer in 2011. The cringe was aided by Joe Davis hosting and Big Mo's desperate efforts to be cute, with a classic Monte Meyers appearance!
WIN A DATE WITH A BISCUIT Pt. 3
Alex Koronis was deemed the most eligible bachelor on the squad in 2012 for the third go round of Cupids contest, and was featured shirtless in this pure cringe promo vid that drove all females from the ballpark on the appointed day.
There will be a highlight presentation from Clarence"Skip" Watkins, a leading baseball author who literally wrote the book Baseball In Montgomery, the finest collection of local baseball info available to date!
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