A Ten Day Biscuit Party, The All-Gump Team

The Montgomery Biscuits open a ten game homestand on Monday, hosting visits from the Smokies and Baybears in their final regular season games at Riverwalk. This is a huge ten game set and could open the door to Montgomery making the postseason for the third straight season.

Highlights for fans at this homestand include Craft Beer Fest, a pair of football promotions, Fan Appreciation Night, Hat Giveaway Night, Fireworks, Massive Fireworks, TWO Dollar HotDog Nights, the last Bark in the Park, TWO Specialty Food Fests and - if we are lucky - a Biscuits Clinch party.

The Biscuits could be on the brink of clinching a playoff spot - though the math is murky since they finish the schedule on the road. Winning the series vs the Smokies is first on the list, a five game lead over the Smokies could evaporate quickly when facing off against them. Surely the Smokies know that a sweep of Montgomery would put them holding playoff tickets and leave Montgomery little time to chase them.

A sweep the other direction, with Montgomery beating the Smokies, could launch a Biscuits clinch party - depending on how the Generals fare during their next five games.

Expect the Skitz to offer postseason ticket packages quickly should the team earn a playoff berth. But even the dates are still up in the air. If the Lookouts win both halves, they would have first choice on scheduling options. Biscuits manager Brady Williams, however, has not given up on winning the second half outright.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

The Smokies come to Montgomery fresh from a series loss against the Lookouts. The Cubs affiliate will be glad to be looking at an opponent NOT wearing a Chattanooga uniform.


Look for Montgomery to hit the ball and score runs often. The Biscuits lead the league in both stats and enjoy playing at home with a nice 16-9 record at Riverwalk in the second half.

Smokies pitcher Zach Hedges

Look for the Biscuits to get men on base against Smokies starting pitchers. Smokies pitcher Zach Hedges is third in the league in Hits allowed and teammate Trevor Clifton is second in WhIP, both with twenty starts each in double-A this year.



With the lowest percentage of successful steals in the league, the Smokies are not known to be the best on the basepaths. Look for the Biscuits catchers to cut down errant baserunners.

On the flip side, Montgomery leads the circuit in stolen bases and triples. Look for Brady Williams to use the team speed to keep the Smokies on the defensive.

MIA
Look for Hunter Adkins on a milk carton soon. Last seen August 7th pitching in Montgomery, the righthander made five starts and two relief appearances for Montgomery before disappearing from game action, although no roster move has been announced regarding him we must assume he snuck off to the DL.

SMOKIES PROSPECTS

Duane Underwood

Mostly pitching prospects on this squad, with a pair of top ten guys in Alzolay and Clifton. Many of the great Cubs prospects have graduated to higher levels, leaving these Smokies with more of a blue collar roster.

P Adbert Alzolay, ranked #3 according to MLB pipeline
P Trevor Clifton ranked #9
P Duane Underwood ranked #17
OF Charcer Burks ranked #22

BY THE NUMBERS
Co-Closers Kyle Winkler and Ian Gibaut have combined for 24 saves so far this year. Kyle Bird leads the league in holds with ten.  

Grant Kay's 34 doubles is tied for second in the league with Kevin Cron. Joe McCarthy is third.

Cade Gotta and Joe McCarthy are among the top five in the league in batting average.

Joe McCarthy

Mojo McCarthy is also third in the league in OPS and leads the league in Bases on Balls. Joe has likely played his way higher on the organization prospect list and has become one of the top fifty players in MiLB power ranks.

Smokies cornerman Jason Vosler's 79 RBI leads the circuit and his 18 homers is good for second place in the Southern loop.

Cade Gotta's 28 steals is tops on the Montgomery club and puts him third among southern leaguers.

Biscuits stolen base leader Cade Gotta

ALL TIME MONTGOMERY TEAM

Iron Man Joe McGinnity

I was involved in a great email exchange with a friend who is active in the Bham SABR chapter. They started a discussion on Birmingham's greatest players to form an "All Time" team and asked me to submit my list of Montgomery's finest players at each position.

The restrictions are simply that they had to have played minor league ball in Montgomery, leaving out negro league players and indie ball guys. Also that omits several local-born players, as well as the excellent military teams Montgomery had during wartimes.

Montgomery has hosted a trio future Hall of Famers who rank among our All Timers. Pitcher Joe McGinnity, who began his career with Montgomery, turn of the century era star Fred Clarke and the legendary Casey Stengel. They made the list easily based on their inclusion in Cooperstown. Earl Weaver played for Montgomery and later was inducted in the HOF, but his playing numbers didn't rank among the best IMO.

Like the HOF'ers, most of these guys are on this list due to their stellar careers more than their great Montgomery seasons. However a few, like Goat Walker, Dick Egan and Joe Pepe, were so excellent while in Montgomery that they made the list.

I broke it down into two teams with Pre-WW2 as "Old Timers" and post-war "Modern Era". Its a discussion, not written into stone. I would love to hear your suggestions and opinions, especially for the old timers!

OLD TIMERS ALL TIME MONTGOMERY TEAM

SS Joe Pepe

C Heinie Peitz,
1b Ed Gremminger,
2b Cupid Childs
3b  Kid Elberfeld

ss  Joe Pepe
Rf  Fred Clarke *HOF/ Casey Stengel *HOF
Cf  Harry "The Hat" Walker
Lf  Riggs Stephenson
DH George Whiteman
Old Timers bench: Util Del Pratt, OF Rube Oldring

Old Timers Pitching

P Goat Walker (all time Mgm career wins leader)
P Kirby Higbe
P Luther "Dummy" Taylor
P Joe McGinnity *HOF

1930 Montgomery opening day vs Columbus at Cramton Bowl, pitcher Goat Walker fifth from right

MODERN MONTGOMERY ALL TIME TEAM
C  Lance Parrish
1b Jason Thompson
2b  Lou Whitaker
3b  Evan Longoria
ss  Alan Trammell
Rf  Delmon Young
Cf  Kevin Kiermaier
Lf  Dick Greco
Modern bench: SS Tom Veryzer, C Jim Leyland, Util Jimmy Johnston

Rebels pitcher Mark Fidrych meets Gov. Wallace

Modern Era Pitching
P Dan Petry
P Jack Morris
P Mark Fidrych
P Dick Drago
P Mike Marshall
P Vern Rhule
P Pat Dobson
P Dick Egan (all time Mgm single season K leader)
P David Price



ASSORTED NOTES:

To the person who asked me to look up the Rebels jersey number - I found the number listed but the player it was issued to never appeared with the team. Likely this was made for display and would be considered "team issued" but not "Game Used". Contact me again and I can share more info, I should have gotten your email addy when we talked.

I am having a very tough time finding info/stats on Montgomery area Industrial League teams and players. If anyone has info on such, any help would be greatly appreciated.

For the person who wanted me to look up players on the team signed ball - I think you have a 2011 ball. I havent checked the roster against the uniform numbers yet, but I haven't forgot about you!

I am still open to Nickname The New Guy suggestions, currently "Tony Torpedo" tops the list. Send your nickname in soon, he pitches Monday and I will have to learn to spell it for the next blog!