SPOKANE INDIANS COMMUNITY UPDATE • VERSION 1 • JUNE 29TH 2020 HOME BASE IN THIS EDITION Spokane Indians Through the Decades..........................................................4 Ballpark Crossword....................................8 Spokane Indians and Second Harvest Work Together to Feed Community Members.........................................................10 At Home Opener Recap...........................13 July Calendar................................................15 Welcome to the Infield Cafe...................16 Photos courtesy of Janna Juday and James Snook COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 209 T $83,809 local non-profit organizations 1. $43,883 GIFT IN KIND DONATIONS 2 1 2. $39,926 STADIUM FUNDRAISING & MONETARY DONATIONS $26,213 TICKETS & MEMORABILIA DONATED TO 358 LOCAL NON-PROFITS OVER 200 MASCOT APPEARANCES $24,642 RAISED THROUGH 8 JERSEY & HAT AUCTIONS $17,500 RAISED FOR THE REDBAND RALLY FUND SINCE 2017 $2,290 DONATED TO LOCAL SHELTERS $6,420 Donated in TICKETS TO WITH 458 DOG LOCAL NON-PROFITS THROUGH THE TICKETS SOLD TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME DURING BARK IN PROGRAM THE PARK PROMOTION 3 SPOKANE INDIANS THROUGH THE DECADES 2010 the middle of the pack in most statistical categories. Spokane Record: 43-33 (1st Place in Eastern finished with a solid 43-33 regular Division) season record before sweeping the MLB Affiliate: Texas Rangers Yakima Bears in the first round of Notable Alumni: Jurickson Profar the playoffs. The Indians then took Notes: The 2010 Spokane Indians Game 1 of the NWL Championship are one of the greatest “what- series against Everett before if” teams in recent memory. The dropping the next two against the league’s youngest squad featured AquaSox bringing a sudden end to three first-round picks (Kellin a promising season. Profar has put Deglan, Mike Olt and Jake Skole) together the best MLB career from and a talented international class the 2010 squad, although thus far that featured future number it has fallen short of the immense one overall prospect Jurickson expectations that followed him Profar. The offense, which was through the minors. Olt reached led by NWL MVP Jared Hoying, the majors with Texas before being finished atop the league in batting traded to the Chicago Cubs, but (.273) and runs (410) while the a concussion and vision problems pitching staff, buoyed by strong ultimately derailed his career. performances from Ben Rowen, Skole never got above Double-A Miguel De Los Santos and Tim before retiring from baseball Stanford, ended the season in and returning to the University CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 4 of Georgia to play football, while 1.10 WHIP in 40 IP) anchoring the Deglan finally reached Triple-A bullpen. last season with the New York 1990 Yankees. Hoying and lefthander Record: 49-27 (1st in North Division, Chad Bell reunited last season with Defeated Boise 2-1 for NWL the Hanwha Eagles of the Korean Championship) Baseball Organization and are set MLB Affiliate: San Diego Padres to team up again in 2020. Notable Alumni: Gene Glynn 2000 (Manager) Record: 38-38 (3rd in Eastern Notes: The 1990 squad captured Division) the last of four consecutive NWL MLB Affiliate: Kansas City Royals Championships during a fruitful Notable Alumni: N/A affiliation between the San Diego Notes: The tail end of Spokane’s Padres and Spokane Indians. affiliation with the Royals - aka the Although devoid of noteworthy Tom Poquette years - produced future MLB talent (only five players some truly forgettable seasons, from the squad would reach the starting with a pedestrian 2000 majors, with Matt Mieske the most squad (things only got worse in notable) the Indians won nearly 2001 when the Indians posted an two-thirds of their regular season abysmal 22-54 ledger). It certainly games before topping the Boise wasn’t all Poquette’s fault though, Hawks, who featured MLB All- as the 2000-01 teams would Stars Garret Anderson and Troy only combine to produce five big Percival, for the NWL title. Mieske league players with Kansas City led the Indians with a .964 OPS, struggling to identify talent in the 12 HR, 63 RBI and 26 stolen bases, draft. The 2000 Indians were a bit while Jay Gainer topped the team unlucky, finishing second in the in average (.356) and doubles (21). league in batting and fourth in Future big leaguer Lance Painter ERA, but still ending the season at was nearly unhittable for Spokane, .500 despite scoring 42 more runs finishing the season with 104 than they allowed. Chad Santos, strikeouts in 71.2 IP with a 1.51 ERA who would get all of seven big and 0.837 WHIP. Clarkston High league at-bats with the Giants in School graduate Bruce Bensching 2006, was the team’s offensive star was nearly as dominant as Painter, with an .820 OPS, 14 home runs, posting an 8-1 record and 1.54 ERA and 47 RBI. Justin Cowan (.312) with 10 saves and 78 K’s in 58.1 IP led the squad in average while (Bensching returned to Clarkston speedster Marco Cunningham stole following his playing career and 31 bases - a number no Indians is now the high school’s head player has eclipsed in the last baseball coach). Manager Gene two decades. Ian Ferguson (5-6 Glynn has spent the last three 3.28 ERA, 71.1 IP) and Brad Stiles decades as either a minor league (8-3, 3.78 ERA, 78.2 IP) were the skipper or big league coach, and pitching staff’s workhorses with currently serves as the infield and Mike Natale (1.32 ERA, 43 K’s in baserunning coordinator for the CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 41 IP) and Mark Newell (2.25 ERA, Miami Marlins. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 5 CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE 1980 seasons, held his own as one of the team’s youngest hitters with 60-80 (5th in North Record: a .279 average and 34 extra base Division) hits in 109 games. Right-hander MLB Affiliate: Seattle Mariners Randy Stein (12-8, 3.90 ERA) Notable Alumni: Joe Coleman, was the team’s most consistent Jerry Narron, Dave Henderson, starter with Manny Sarmiento (8- Rene Lachemann (manager) 7, 3.00 ERA, 13 saves) serving as Notes: The Indians struggled the de facto closer. Reliever Joe during their three-year affiliation Coleman (1-0, 1.64 ERA, 22 IP) with the Mariners, posting a won 142 games in the majors but combined 184-243 record during all of them came prior to his time that span, though the 1980 squad with the Indians. Skipper Rene was probably the best of the Lachemann and catcher Jerry bunch at least in terms of future Narron would both spend time as big league talent. It was a long big league managers, although summer in 1980 though, as the neither would post a winning team posted a whopping 4.54 record across 13 combined MLB team ERA and scored the second- seasons. fewest runs in the league, finishing 1970 a woeful 19.5 games behind first place Vancouver. Outfielder Steve Record: 94-52 Stroughter paced the offense with MLB Affiliate: Los Angeles a .307 average and 75 RBIs while Dodgers speedy infielder Kim Allen stole Notable Alumni: Doyle Alexander, an incredible 84 bases—the most Bill Buckner, Steve Garvey, in the PCL in the last 60 years. Charlie Hough, Tommy Lasorda Dave Henderson, who would go (Manager), Davey Lopes, Tom on to post 27.6 WAR over 14 MLB Paciorek, Bill Russell, Bobby Valentine, Geoff Zahn CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 6 Notes: Guess you’d like to see ERA (3.31) and strikeouts (881) the big tamale, huh? The 1970 led by strong performances from Spokane Indians are considered Charlie Hough (12-8, 1.95 ERA), one of the greatest minor league Jerry Stephenson (18-5, 2.82 teams of all time (Baseball ERA), and Bob O’Brien (13-3, America tabbed them as the 3.40). Spokane hurlers Hough, top squad of the second half of Doyle Alexander, and Geoff Zahn the 20th century) and for good would go on to combine for a reason. That year’s team would total of 93.8 WAR and over 500 go on to produce a Hall of Fame big league wins. Amazingly, it’s manager (Lasorda), an NL MVP been half a century since this (Garvey), a batting title (Buckner), team took the field, and their five Gold Gloves, and a combined legend seems destined to grow 21 All-Star selections. It certainly with every passing year. wasn’t hard to forecast future success for the members of this team after they ran roughshod over the Northwest League, finishing with a 94-52 record before sweeping the Hawaii Islanders (who actually finished with a better regular season record at 98-48) for the PCL title. Spokane hit an amazing .299 as a team that year and also led the PCL in stolen bases while striking out at the lowest rate in the league. Bobby Valentine was named MVP after stuffing the stat sheet with a .340 average, 39 doubles, 16 triples, 14 home runs, 80 RBIs, and 29 stolen bases. Injuries would ultimately keep Valentine from enjoying similar success at the big league level, though he would go on to win over 1,100 games as an MLB manager with the Rangers, Mets, and Red Sox. Other offensive standouts that season included Tom Paciorek (.326, 17 HR, 101 RBIs), Garvey (.319, 15 HR, 87 RBI), and Bill Buckner (.335, 33 2B, 74 RBIs) The pitching staff is often overshadowed by the squad’s legendary offensive stars but they finished second in the league in 7 BALLPARK CROSSWORD 3 1 2 3 5 4 5 7 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 across down .