To Contact the president of the Tracy Jones' Fan Club at: president@tracyjonesonline.com
Here is a recent e-mail I received from Tom Wallace
1990 Seattle Mariner Team - The Best Fighting Team in The history of Baseball
Between the 1989-1990 seasons, the Mariners had picked up a bunch of new players along the way... and these guys would best be described as "scrappers." This would become important later on, but little did we know at the time that the 1990 Mariners were possibly one of the greatest fighting teams of all times. And by a great fighting team I don't mean "Guys who were big and scary looking." No, the definition I would use is "Guys who were little and mean and all had chips on their shoulders." We suddenly had a team full of frustrated part-time players with tempers. It was like we had a whole team made up of Tanner Boyle from the Bad News Bears.
Hothead number one was Jeff Schaefer. He was a 30-year old middle infielder with 10 lifetime at-bats. He's also one of my all-time favorite Mariners because he probably had the highest ratio of fights to at bats of anyone I ever saw play the game of baseball. A first ballot member of the Tanner Boyle Hall of Fame.
Hothead number two was Mike Brumley. A 27-year old middle infielder with 300 career at bats. He was also short (5'10"), tiny (165 pounds) and frustrated (.200 lifetime average). This guy had Napoleon complex written all over him.
And hothead number three was a guy named Tracy Jones. Tracy was a guy who had once been very highly touted out of Loyola Marymount University. He was the number 1 pick in the first round in 1983, had a few decent years in Cincinnati and Montreal. The guy showed flashes of brilliance and was a very streaky player. One day watching Tracy, you would swear you were witnessing the play of a future hall of famer, the next day he would look like an average utility player coming off the bench. He also had a very powerful physique, he was no guy you would want to cross in a dark alley, especially if he was pissed, and boy could he get pissed off! But the greatest thing about Tracy Jones was that he was intense. He was possibly the most intense player I ever saw play for the Mariners. Not to mention the fact that he was insane. Mind-numbing gloriously insane. It was great to have him aboard.
So the M's and Brewers played a few games in 1990 and things were as tense as ever. There were a lot of brushbacks, a lot of near-fights, and a whole lot of words exchanged between the players on the field. Things hadn't changed a bit since last year. But we still hadn't had an all-out war yet...
At least not until June 30, 1990.
June 30 was the second game of a three-game series in Seattle. The Brewers were in town and it was a pretty big deal. There had been an incident between the two teams the night before (I forget the specifics, but it probably involved Tracy Jones mouthing off) so over 25,000+ fans packed the Dome waiting to see what would happen in game two. And though 25,000 doesn't sound impressive now you have to remember that the M's never drew over 20,000 for a non-giveaway game back then. If they weren't handing out neon caps or Bill Caudill funny-nose-and-glasses you weren't going to get more than 15,000. So 25,000 looked kind of strange when you were used to seeing so many empty seats.
I was at all three games of that series so I remember the specifics of game two very well. We had Erik Hanson pitching against the Brewers midget lefty, Teddy Higuera. I was sitting behind first base and I remember the M's scored four runs in the first. Jeffrey "Penitentiary Face" Leonard hit a 2-run homer and basically the game was over right from the start. The Brewers were down 4-0 and oh do I remember the fans starting to taunt them. It was a very hostile environment and we were loving it.
There were a few minor incidents along the way (like Erik Hanson headhunting Bill Spiers leading off the third) but nothing major happened until the bottom of the 8th. That was when World War III started. That was when the fireworks finally began.
The M's were up 5-2 and the game was pretty much well in hand. Jeffrey Leonard led off the inning and he hit a moon shot to left off of Bob Sebra. It was his second homer of the game and he did his patented "one flap down" home run trot slowly around the bases. This meant he kept his left arm completely stiff by his side and trotted as slowly and deliberately around the bases as he could. It was great if you were a Mariners fan (it was a Leonard trademark) but it pissed the hell out of the opposing team, because it was done solely to show the pitcher up. Hac Man was basically giving a great big middle finger to the opposing team.
Next up was Edgar Martinez. The fans were still going crazy over the home run and Edgar slammed the first pitch deep to center. It hit off the wall for a double and now the fans were even louder. The fans in the Dome were going crazy.
Well obviously Sebra wasn't particularly happy about all this. So when Tracy Jones came up next, Sebra drilled him right in the back. BAM. And the fight was on.
Jones ran out after the pitcher and both teams poured onto the field. And when I say poured, I mean everybody. The bullpens came running in, the coaches came running out and it was a full on melee. I remember specifically the Brewers trying to protect Bill Spiers because he was one of the prime targets. But everybody was involved at some point or another.
The first brawl took place at the mound, and lasted about 10 minutes. Tracy Jones was going absolutely crazy and he had half the Brewers team on top of him. And then when the first fight was finally broken up...
... ANOTHER one began. Now the Brewers manager (Tom Trebelhorn) was being chased by our hotheaded backup shortstop, Jeff Schaefer. And the thing I remember most is that Schaefer was trying to kick Trebelhorn with his metal spikes. This wasn't just a typical baseball fight, this was a guy actually trying to impale the opposing team's manager with his cleats! So Schaefer had to be restrained from killing Trebelhorn and now a THIRD fight broke out!
The umpires had completely lost control of this game. Now a fight had broken out down by the Brewers bullpen. I don't remember the participants of this one but I vaguely remember Gary Sheffield going after some Mariners pitchers.
Once the third fight was broken up, a FOURTH fight broke out back at the mound. And by this point it was like watching a pro wrestling match. Players were running in from everywhere, the umpires had no idea what to do and it was just total chaos. It was absolutely the most entertaining brawl I ever saw firsthand at a Mariners game. The whole thing must have lasted over 30 minutes (including fights #1 through #4) and basically about half the players involved got ejected. Jones got tossed, Sebra got tossed, Sheffield got tossed, BJ Surhoff got tossed, I think Brumley and Trebelhorn got tossed, it was just a mess. And my absolute favorite ejection was Jeff Schaefer, who got tossed later in the inning for mouthing off to the umpire from the on-deck circle.
The M's ended up winning the game 6-2 and they swept the series by winning the next night too. The next night was a lot of fun. Both teams had been heavily warned and fined by the league but alas, there were no incidents. We came out to the Dome wanting to see more fights but everyone was on their best behavior. Pity.
The bad blood between the M's and the Brewers lingered through all of 1989, all of 1990 and most of 1991. Yet ironically, Dave Valle and Bill Spiers never really factored into any of it after that first fateful incident. Oh sure, Spiers was still booed in Seattle like he was the devil, but the guy eventually made people forget about him as a hated Mariner villain. If he came up to bat in Seattle today, I bet people wouldn't even know who he was. Nobody would boo him and it would just break my heart. Mariner fans have such very short memories indeed. Oh well.
I thought you might like my Tracy Jones experience. Thanks Jim. Great web site. I am a member for life.
Cordially,
Tom Wallace
If you would like to contact the president of the Tracy Jones Fan Club, have any comments about the site or Tracy Jones send them to: president@tracyjonesonline.com
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Big Red Machine: Underachievers?
How to Make a Case that The Big Red Machine of the 70's were Underachievers.
The Atlanta Braves are often thought of as a great baseball organization but an underachieving one also. They have made the playoffs every year since 1991 yet have won only one World Series. I'm here to make a case that the Big Red Machine of the 70's also underachieved.
First off, I grew up in the Greater Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky area in the 70's. I was a HUGE Reds fan and had every baseball card I could get my hands on. In a way I was spoiled early. The first game I ever attended in my life was game 5 of the 72 NLCS. Don't remember much about the game other than the crowd. I vaguely remembered Johnny Bench's homerun to tie it up and the wild pitch that sent them on to the World Series. What I didn't know at the time, being only 7, was that it ended up being the last game played by Roberto Clemente (he was killed that winter in a plane crash). The second game I ever attended ended up being game 7 of the 72 Series against the Oakland A's, in which the Reds ended up losing. So growing up watching the Reds, I always had the chance to follow very good teams.
I got a little curious about the Reds of the 70's when people started calling them the team of that decade. The team consisted of three would be Hall of Famers; Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez, and should have had a forth if it weren't for that scum sucking degenerate Pete Rose. Looking back I thought, well, yes they did win 2 World Series but there were many years they didn't win it when they were expected to. The Reds of the 70's started to grow in the previous decade of the 60's. The Reds in that decade had an overall record of 860 wins - 742 loses. They had a World Series loss to the Yankees in 1961. From 67-69 they had some decent teams but just couldn't get over the hump. When 1970 came around the Reds hired a young manager named George "Sparky" Anderson. In Anderson's first season he guided the Reds off to a 70-30 record in their first 100 games. The Reds went only 32-30 the rest of the year and did win the NL West and NL Championship Series but were overwhelmed by the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series 4 games to 1.
In 1971 the Reds had just a horrible season and finished 79-83, obviously not making the playoffs.
1972 was a great year for the Reds. They finished the regular season again with a NL West title and then as stated earlier, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3 games to 2 to send them into the 72 Series. The Reds had acquired Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo and Jack Billingham for the 72 season and each would be important players for the Reds for years to come. Morgan even may go down as the greatest Red ever on those teams. The Reds were heavy favorites to win that series against a bunch of long hair, undisciplined, funky mustached Oakland A's. The A's were a bunch of misfits that fought with each other, hated their owner and sported some of the wildest looking uniforms to ever hit sports. What made the odds even tougher for the A's, is that in their playoff series against Detroit, their main superstar Reggie Jackson broke his ankle (I believe that's what it was) and would miss the World Series altogether. The 72 series turned out to be a classic with 6 of the 7 games won by one run. With the series tied 3-3, game seven was played in Cincinnati. As fate would have it. the Reds took it on the chin 3-2 to send the A's on to their first of three straight World Championships.
In 1973 the Reds won 99 of the 162 games played. Very impressive. When the 1973 National League playoffs started, no one thought that the New York Mets would be much of a match for the Big Red Machine. The Mets had won only 82 games that year and entered the series with baseball's all time worst record for a playoff team. The Reds must have went in looking ahead at a possible rematch with the A's because the Mets shocked them and the baseball world by winning the series 3 games to 2. The Reds got so frustrated that Pete Rose had to try and start a fight with little Bud Harrelson (Mets SS) just to fire up the team. It failed and I'm not too sure Bud didn't get the best of Rose (it wouldn't be the last time a guy named Bud kept Rose in his place). The Mets went on to lose to the A's in the 73 WS.
1974 the Reds won an impressive 98 games but fell 4 games short of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West title. The Dodgers went on to win the NL but lose to, yep, those crazy Oakland A's.
FINALLY!!!!!! In 1975 everything fell into place for the Big Red Machine. They won a whopping 108 games during the season and manhandled Pittsburgh to win the NL title. They faced a Boston Red Sox team that had knocked off the A's (It was about time) in the AL series. In a classic seven games series, the Reds were able to win in Boston (thank you Bill Lee) to bring their first World Championship title to the city of Cincinnati since 1940. It took everything the Reds had to hold off Boston. The Red Sox had to play the series without their young star Jim Rice who was injured. I wonder what might have happened if he was able to play.
1976 - 102 regular season wins, swept the Pirates 3-0 in playoffs, swept the Yankees 4-0 in World Series. Even I am not foolish enough to argue anything about this team. One of the greatest ever and every piece fell into place.
But that was it. The Reds traded one of their main players, Tony Perez in 1977 and it made a huge difference. It ended up being the beginning of the end. They won only 88 games that year and again lost the division to the Dodgers.
78 faired no better. It what would be Sparky Anderson's last season, the Reds won 92 games but the Dodgers proclaimed the NL West theirs once more.
The 1979 team ended up being just a shell of the Big Red Machine. They still had Bench, Morgan and Foster, along with Tom Seaver, but had lost Pete Rose to free agency and were now managed by John McNamara. They did win 90 games to win the NL West but were easily taken care of by the Pittsburgh Pirates 3 games to 0 in the playoffs ending a decade with an unbelievable amount of success, yet looking back on it, there could have been so much more.
Fans that grew up in the 70's watching the Montreal Expos or Milwaukee Brewers would most probably like to smack me right now for sounding like a spoiled kid whose parents gave him a brand new car for his 16th birthday, but then complained that it wasn't a Corvette. And I can't blame them. But it sure would have been nice if the Big Red Machine could have won 4 World Series in that decade. Or even just three would have been nice. But as fans in Oakland know (as they give a wink of the eye and a sly little smirk) that doesn't always get you respect either.
Marvin Wright
E-mail of The Week
