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March 23, 2009
16
Sweetest Memories/Moments
Of Professional Baseball In Chillicothe
(Editor's Notes –
With the imminent passing of the Paints as a professional
entity, two former TV commentators Doug Kimsey and Scott Graham,
decided to mark the end of an era by offering fans an historic
retrospective, compiling the 16 Sweetest Memories/Moments of
Professional Baseball in Chillicothe. Also, a big thanks to
John Wend, the club's Director of Sales and Marketing for all of
his input. He continues to be a valuable repository of all
things Paints.
As you might imagine given the vibrant history of this team's
existence, it is no small feat to whittle an initial list that
included more than 50 possibilities down to 16. Why 16? Well,
the professional Paints played 16 seasons, from 1993 through
2008. And besides the compilers quickly learned, offering a Top
10 Sweetest Memories list was impossible. We leave such lists to
the Letterman writers. Sweet 16 just felt right.
The project of ranking the stories was equally daunting and by
its very nature, largely subjective with elusive, impossible to
define parameters. Favorite Paints' memories often are very
personal, perhaps remembering big Mitch House flipping a foul
ball into the bleachers to the utter delight of a young,
moon-faced fan attending her first ball game. Or Perry
Cunningham chatting and signing autographs for 30 minutes after
the game. Or the comical, but touching memory, of a
cotton-topped Roger Hanners sprinting from the dugout to argue a
call and stand up for his beloved players.
We miss you, “Raj.”
With that in mind, we offer you our list. Your feedback is
welcomed.)
By DOUG KIMSEY
Paints Historian
No. 16 Sweetest Memory – DK and PC –
Models of Consistency, Class Acts On, Off The Field
Team owner Dr.
Chris Hanners and his dad, Roger Hanners, had one guiding
principal for putting Paints players in a uniform – they wanted
men of character, men of integrity, men who know how to play the
game and how to carry themselves in all walks of life.
Direct from central casting, ladies and gentlemen, we
give you two such young men.
Darin Kinsolving and Perry Cunningham.
Doubtlessly, hundreds of others could be listed here,
but if only two could be Poster Boys of the Paints – DK and PC
get our nod.
Kinsolving, an easy-going, slow-talking southern
Missourian, ranks in the Paints' Top Ten in eight offensive
categories career wise. Further, DK is in the Top 5 in four of
them – 3rd in HR with 40; 3rd in RBI 196;
5th in hits 282; and 5th in doubles with
54.
Kinsolving ranks No. 6 all-time in the FL with 56
homers and 7th all-time with 248 RBI.
His defensive work around first base was often
overlooked. Plus, Kinsolving was durable, once playing in more
than 120 straight games over two seasons.
After his playing days ended in 2005, DK re-invented
himself as a coach, working for friend and ex-Paints teammate
Phil Warren for the Gateway Grizzlies. He remains a class act.
Perry Cunningham, a native of Steubenville, Ohio, is
the closet thing the Paints have to Cy Young in terms of a
career body of work. Second all-time in the FL with 37 victories
and 497.2 innings, PC ranks 11th all-time in the loop
with 325 strikeouts. He and Rick Blanc are the only Paints
pitchers to appear in four different seasons.
Cunningham leads all Paints pitchers in history in wins
(37), innings (497.2) and starts (78). He is 2nd
all-time in whiffs, 325, trailing leader Rick Blanc with 334.
The rock-steady right-hander never missed a start in four
seasons.
Off the field, Cunningham lived in Chillicothe,
offering pitching lessons, and working as a substitute school
teacher – a “sub” who actually taught and didn't
babysit. PC and his wife Pam recently moved to Pennsylvania
where he is working for a utility company.
No. 15 Sweetest Memory – “He's A
Mitch... House!”
Mitch House, all
6-foot-2, 220 pounds of him, bestrides the memory of the
earliest Paints fan as the “big bat” we needed. A prized
recruit of Roger Hanners before the 1996 campaign, 24-year-old
Mitch House, hailing from Dante, VA., brought his big, powerful
swing to Chillicothe in June, 1996, bursting onto the scene as
one of the FL's earliest superstars.
House's impact on the Paints' record book is impressive
– 2nd all-time in homers (50), 4th in RBI
(181), 5th in Runs (181) and 1st all-time
in most Walks. And besides Paints fans, Lionel Ritchie also
appreciated every time big Mitch came to the plate.
A quick anecdote about House. After a four-game sweep
of the Johnstown Steal to open the second-half in 1997, House
and his teammates were riding on the team bus back home,
somewhere along the dark, dark Pennsylvania Turnpike when a
booming voice rings out from the back of the bus... “Skip,
I gotta go to the bathroom... and I ain't goin' on this bus.”
Manager Roger Hanners, jarred
from an uneasy slumber, quickly directs driver John Hall to
expedite finding the next exit. “Mitch's gotta go the
bathroom, and he ain't goin' on this bus,” Hanners
instructed.
Please note, since this a family website, the language
has been cleaned up.
No. 14 Sweetest Memory – Paints
Outfielder Performs The National Anthem... On His Violin!!
New York-native
Jason “Sweet Music” Baker enjoyed a very solid season on the
field in his only summer with the Paints, in 2000, with a .315
batting average, a team-best 20 doubles, 17 steals and eight
homers while playing a flawless outfield. He also pitched a
handful of games.
But the ex-Dodgers farm-hand who spent five seasons in
the minors before joining the Paints, is best known for his
musical prowess, an ability to play concert-quality violin.
Picture this. A balmy, summer night in 2000, still
pre-9/11 and the world is a different place, and onto the green
infield grass of VA Memorial strides a trim, athletic
26-year-old Jason Baker, wearing the Paints' uniform with pride,
a bow and four-stringed violin tucked under his arm. He
proceeds to deliver a spell-binding rendition of the Star
Spangled Banner. Watching in absolute rapt silence is the
Paints' crowd, not sure if this moment is really happening.
At the conclusion of his performance, Baker finishes
with a flair – an energetic bow and wave to the fans. The
stunned crowd erupts into a thunderous applause.
No. 13 Sweetest Memory – Andy Lee's
No-Hitter
More than 1,300
times in the 16 years of professional Paints baseball, a pitcher
has taken the baseball to start a game. Only once in all of
those starts, on June 8, 2000, did a Paints' pitcher achieve one
of the greatest feats in the sport – pitching a no-hitter.
Left-handed Ohio State product Andrew Scott Lee tossed
– at that time – only the second no-hitter in the eight-year
history of the Frontier League, blanking the Richmond Roosters
8-0.
No other Paints pitcher has accomplished the feat
since, or even come close. Uniquely, Lee's gem comes on the
three-year anniversary of the very first no-hitter ever in the
FL, recorded by Richmond's Christian Hess.
Lee – nicknamed “Ugh” – fanned 13 and walked only one
in a game witnessed by 1,832.
To top it all off, Richmond turned the first triple
play in the eight-year history of the league in that very game.
With the bases loaded and none out, the Paints' Mike Horning
lined out to Roosters' shortstop Jason Guynn, who stepped on
second base and threw to first to end the inning.
Think about it – how often does a triple play happen
and how often does a no-hitter happen? And how often might they
both happen in the same game!
No. 12 Bitter-Sweetest Memory – The
Death of A Ball Player
Paints fans awoke
on the morning of July 6, 2006 shocked to learn of the tragic
death of talented
24-year-old outfielder Steve Martin in an early-morning
single-car crash on County Road 550, near his host family's home
in Frankfort. Martin left behind grieving parents and siblings
and countless admirers who followed his Frontier League career.
The previous season, his first as a Paint, Martin
batted .376 with four homers and six steals in 100 at bats after
being traded from Evansville. Overall, he batted .312, slugged
12 homers and stole 23 bases in an all-star campaign.
Martin, a native of Honolulu, HI, was memorialized in
emotion-racked ceremony 10 days later at VA Memorial, attended
by hundreds. League-wide, FL cities observed a moment of
silence to remember Martin.
No. 11 Sweetest Memory – FL Pitcher
of the Year Johnny Martinez
John Martinez's
16-win season in 2005 remains a Frontier League record that
could very well stand the test of time. To put 16 wins over an
85-game season in perspective, consider that the laid-back
Californian would have won 30 games in a 162-game major league
season, at that pace. No one has won 30 in the majors in more
than 40 years. Detroit's Denny McLain won 31 in 1968.
Tireless Martinez finished 16-4, working an astounding
159 innings in 23 appearances – another FL record – posting a
fine 3.11 earned run average. He completed seven games and
authored two shutouts. Martinez walked only 20 batters while
fanning 91.
No other pitcher has ever won even 15 games in the
league. Martinez accounted for a remarkable 28 percent of his
team's 53 victories. And for good measure, he tacked on a 17th
victory in the post-season as Chillicothe came within a win of
the Cup title, falling in five games to the Kalamazoo Kings.
And now... the Top 10
Sweetest Memories of Professional Baseball in Chillicothe...
No. 10 Bitter-Sweetest Memory – Six
FL Cups That Got Away
This one is
painful, but worthy of Top 10 status – the Paints' uncanny
ability to get to “The Dance” but unnerving inability to close
the deal. In 16 seasons, Chillicothe fans witnessed their team
making – and losing – the FL Cup Finals six times. Again, using
the major leagues as a comparison, that would be like Cincinnati
Reds fans seeing their club play in the World Series 39 TIMES
in the team's 106-YEAR HISTORY and NEVER WINNING! Instead,
Redleg fans have witnessed only nine trips to the Fall Classic
since 1903, winning the title four times.
For those scoring at home, the Paints' played second
fiddle as league runners-up 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005 and
2006. As a side note, five of those Cup-clinching wins came as
suffering VA Memorial crowds looked on. FL champs to pop corks
at the VA include '96 and '98 Springfield Capitals, '01 Richmond
Roosters, '05 Kalamazoo Kings and '06 Evansville Otters.
No. 9 Sweetest Memory – FieldTurf
Comes To VA Memorial
While you may not
consider granulated white sand and a mountain of pulverized used
tennis shoes and car tires very romantic or appealing, the truth
is, FieldTurf saved the Chillicothe Paints in the spring of
2006. The very existence of Paints' baseball hinged on a
community decision to help finance $1 million to renovate the
playing surface at VA Memorial. Thirteen seasons of constant use
and pounding during spring and summer finally rendered the
playing field withered and timeworn.
It was this dire, owner Chris Hanners said, either fix
the field, or close the gates and go home. The Grand Dame of the
Frontier League, VA Memorial, circa 1954, was on Death Row.
Ultimately, Ross County Commissioners, through a local
tax measure, ponied up the cash to fund FieldTurf and once
again, as the Paints' organization is known for, a cutting edge
approach to doing business became reality. VA Memorial got its
11th hour reprieve.
FieldTurf has transformed VA Memorial into a nearly
year-round venue, hosting hundreds of youth, high school,
college and professional baseball games each year, not to
mention concerts, a fall softball league and numerous soccer
games.
For the record, the Paints' win-loss record the
first three years on the new surface is 94-57 (.623) including a
first-game 2-1 win over the Washington Wild Things on May 24,
2006. Further, Chillicothe won 69 of the first 100 games played
on the new turf, a .690 clip.
No. 8 Sweetest Memory – See Ya Later!
Paints Win!
Ohio
University product Andrew See thrilled a huge VA Memorial
post-season crowd in 2001 with a pinch-hit, walk-off 10th
inning, bases-loaded single to beat the Canton Crocodiles and
advance to the FL Cup Championship series.
See, a double-threat as a pitcher and a hitter, was
summonsed from the bullpen to grab a bat and try to win the game
with a hit. It was a particularly sweet victory for rookie
Paints' skipper Jamie Keefe because his club owned a league-best
51-33 record and breezed into the post-season as the favored
team.
To lose to the arch-rival Crocs on your home field in
the opening round would have been intolerable for the Paints.
But See, a .242 hitter in 91 at bats that season,
delivered.
How the game got to the 10th
inning is quite a tale, too...
Down to their final out and trailing 6-5 in the ninth,
the Crocs reached ace Paints reliever Matt Hampton for
back-to-back run-scoring singles to take a 7-6 lead to the
bottom of the ninth.
Facing elimination, the Paints got a one-single by
Darrin Kinsolving. Pinch-runner Jason Graham moved to
second on a wild pitch, but Rusty Swackhamer grounded out for
the second out. Dave “Clutch” Dalton’s RBI single forced extra
innings.
Hampton mowed the Crocs down in order in the tenth.
Vinny Cerni was hit by a pitch to open the Paints’ tenth.
Connacher singled, Matt McCay laid down a sacrifice, moving
runners to second and third and Colameco was intentionally
walked, to bring See to the plate.
See delivered the game-winner scoring Cerni and
Chillicothe was headed to its fourth FL Cup championship series
since 1996.
As
a painful postscript, only days later the Paints went on to lose the
FL Cup crown to the Richmond Roosters. The Roosters exploded for 10
first-inning runs and gave manager Fran Riordan the first of
back-to-back Cup titles.
Still winless in five tries at VA Memorial in Cup
Series games, the Paints slunk into another off season, along with
an America that would forever be changed less than 96 hours later.
No. 7 Sweetest Memory – The 2000-2001
filming of “A Little Inside”
The independent movie
“A Little Inside” told the emotional tale of a professional baseball
player trying single-handedly to raise his young daughter after the
death of his young wife (played by former Paints' skipper Jamie
Keefe's wife Kelly) while pursuing his own dreams.
The film, shot partly at VA Memorial Stadium and The
Dock at Water, featured many locals as extras as well as bigger
parts by Jamie Keefe, Woody Fullenkamp, Mike Cervenak and Chance
Melvin. Familiar Hollywood types included Halley Kate Eisenberg
(“The Pepsi Girl” in the 1990s), Benjamin King (countless TV and
movie appearances) and Frankie Faison (“The Silence of the Lambs”).
The movie opened at The Majestic in February, 2002, and
played for three years on HBO. It is available at many on line movie
sites, including
www.bn.com.
No. 6 Sweetest Memory – Tollberg and
Cervenak Make It Big
Since the
Paints took the diamond for their inaugural game on June 30, 1993,
more than 400 young men have worn the Chillicothe uniform. Of that
total, 32 have earned a chance to pursue Big League Dreams by
signing with a Major League Baseball affiliate. The first signee was
infielder Beck Wells in 1993, the last was left-hander pitcher Nick
Cavanaugh in 2006.
But only two – pitcher Brian Tollberg and infielder
Mike Cervenak – ever made The Show. Tollberg, a skinny right-hander
who played the 1994 summer with the Paints, winning seven games and
Cervenak, a hard-hitting shortstop who posted a career .324 batting
average as a Paint in 1999 and 2000, hold a special place in the
hearts of Paints' fans as sons who made it big.
In fact, it is Tollberg who holds the distinction of
being the very first FL alum to perform in a big league game, on
June 20, 2000 when he pitched seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball
to earn the win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Tampa, Fla. native toiled for four seasons with the
San Diego Padres before a career-ending arm injury. His big league
numbers – 15-16 W-L, 4.48 ERA, 307.1 Innings, 182 Strikeouts in 53
Appearances. Attempting a comeback at age 35, Tollberg in 2008
pitched in the independent Atlantic League.
Cervy, a native of New Boston, Mich. and still the
all-time hits leader at the University of Michigan, holds the
distinction of playing for the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia
Phillies, debuting July 11.
His is a story of perseverance.
When Cervenak (along with teammate Joe Colameco) signed
professionally one hot July evening in 2000, could he have known
that his climb to the The Show would take eight long years? Cervenak
was 31 years, 10 months and 25 days old when he officially became a
big league “Rookie.” He was used sparingly by manager Charlie Manuel
last season, going 2-for-13 with an RBI in 10 games.
Cervy did not make the Phils' post-season roster. This
spring, he reported to the club as a non-roster invitee, trying to
earn a minor league job.
No. 5 Sweetest Memory – Pinoni – The
First Chillicothe Super Star
Scott Pinoni is the
only player in 16 FL seasons to win two league batting titles,
hitting .384 in 1996, the highest average in the then four-year
history of the FL, and repeating with a .377 mark in 1999. The
Columbus native stands tall as the team's all-time leader in homers
(58) and owns a .355 career batting average, fourth best all-time in
the league and second best for the Paints.
Pinoni also is the club's all-time RBI leader with 237.
If you needed a run, Pinoni was the man you wanted at the dish.
Along with teammate Mitch House, Pinoni teamed to turn perhaps the
most memorable double play in team history during a late-season 1998
game after the Paints had clinched the Eastern Division title.
Pinoni – playing shortstop – flipped to House – playing
second base – who fired onto to first to complete the twin-killing.
Consider this – Pinoni and House are ranked No. 4 and No. 8 all-time
on the FL home run list. That is like Willie Mays and Frank
Robinson turning a double play!
No. 4 Sweetest Memory – Roger Hanners,
our very own Casey Stengel
The reign of Roger
Hanners as Paints' manager defines this organization better than any
other individual. Hanners, who died in 2002, was unquestionably the
paterfamilias, or head of the Paints Family, reigning for the first
eight seasons of the organization, serving as the club's first
Director of Baseball Operations and as the face of the on-field
product.
Almost single-handedly, Hanners built a network of
contacts that is still used today to build great Chillicothe teams.
Think of the Paints from 1993 to 2001 and your thoughts
turn inevitably to the cotton-topped skipper. Without him, the
Paints may not have survived to see the Millennium.
Hanners – or “Raj” – skippered the Paints for eight
seasons:
|
Year |
|
W |
|
L |
|
GB |
|
Finish |
|
Atten. |
|
Manager |
|
Postseason |
|
|
|
1994 |
|
17 |
|
16 |
|
-- |
|
1S |
|
32,808 |
|
Roger Hanners |
|
Lost to Lancaster 2-1 |
|
|
|
|
|
16 |
|
18 |
|
-- |
|
1S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1995 |
|
21 |
|
48 |
|
25 |
|
8 |
|
31,128 |
|
Roger Hanners |
|
|
|
|
|
1996 |
|
23 |
|
14 |
|
-- |
|
1E |
|
51,419 |
|
Roger Hanners |
|
Beat Johnstown
2-1 |
|
Lost to Springfield 2-0 |
|
|
|
25 |
|
12 |
|
-- |
|
1E |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1997 |
|
20 |
|
20 |
|
5 |
|
2E(T) |
|
56,070 |
|
Roger Hanners |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
21 |
|
18 |
|
3.5 |
|
3E |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1998 |
|
23 |
|
17 |
|
-- |
|
1E |
|
71,782 |
|
Roger Hanners |
|
Beat Canton 2-1 |
|
Lost to Springfield 2-1 |
|
|
|
25 |
|
14 |
|
-- |
|
1E |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1999 |
|
45 |
|
38 |
|
8.5 |
|
2E |
|
61,249 |
|
Roger Hanners |
|
Beat Evansville 2-1 |
|
Lost to London 2-0 |
|
2000 |
|
42 |
|
40 |
|
5 |
|
3E |
|
61,413 |
|
Roger Hanners |
|
No. 3 Sweetest Memory – Do The Gator
Chomp!
Charles McBride. Don't
know the name? How about Gator McBride? You can Google it and find
more than 89,000 results. McBride was, simply put, the greatest
hitter in Paints history, the Ted Williams of VA Memorial, the Pete
Rose of the Paints.
McBride, born the son of a proud United States Marine
father who dubbed his son with the colorful moniker, hit .456 with
15 homers, 48 RBI and an unbelievable slugging percentage of .837 in
39 games before being signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1999.
He closed his Frontier League career with a .423
average, 43 points higher than any other player in league history.
It can be argued that the Paints were never the same
team after Gator departed.
When Gator took batting practice, you knew it. The
sound of bat meeting ball sounded very different.
McBride, who played for the Atlanta Braves'
organization before joining the Paints, was on the fast track to his
shot at the big leagues after leaving Chillicothe, but suffered a
terrible knee injury in a two-car crash on State Route 104 in
Pickaway County. Another driver went left-of-center and crashed into
McBride's vehicle, effectively ending his playing days.
At last sitting, McBride was living in Lancaster,
employed by the railroad.
No. 2 Sweetest Memory – Hey There Fella,
With The Hair-Colored Yella...
Two words –
Josh Ury.
Two more words – Grand Slam.
Still, two more words – Season changer.
On July 26, 2005,
a steamy Tuesday night at VA Memorial, one of the biggest home runs
in Paints history left the yard, sailing over the right field wall
in the late night gloom, clearing the bases and saving a season.
Ury's walk-off grand-slam, coming on a full-count pitch, snatched
victory from the jaws of defeat for a fading Chillicothe team and
sparked perhaps the finest five-week stretch in club history.
“I think I'm going to throw up,” Ury told the bat boy
after the wild celebration died down.
At 26-30, tied for fifth place and eight games out in
the standings, Ury's blow ignited the club, spurring it to a 27-9
(.750) spurt, good enough to clinch the Wild Card.
The bleach-blond Ury, who aged out after his only
season in town, put up solid stats – .299, 15 doubles, 10 homers, 58
runs, 58 RBI and nine steals. He remains the only player in team
history whose last name begins with “U”.
The Paints advanced to the FL Cup Finals, coming within
one game of winning it all, before losing to Kalamazoo. See a
pattern yet?
As a side note, 2005 was the year of the Grand Slam.
Ten times that season, Paints players crushed slammers, including
three by Noah Peery, two by Scott Leffler, and one each by Ury, Doug
Dreher, Juan Downing, Steve Martin and Andrew Kasparek.
No. 1 Sweetest Memory – The Birth of
Paints Baseball
Few people took Dr.
Chris Hanners seriously when he announced plans for a professional
baseball franchise in Chillicothe. In late-1992, Hanners unveiled
his idea – an independent team, untethered and unrestrained by major
league affiliated baseball.
Was the Piketon dentist and former college pitcher
crazy? A professional sports team could not survive in a city of
22,000. The nearest interstate highway was 45 miles to the north.
Surely this was another misguided venture, a pipe dream destined to
fail. What was the good doctor thinking?
As it turned out, this seminal moment in time marked
the beginning of one man's dream and without question, deserves the
No. 1 spot on our list. Think about it folks– without Hanners'
vision, without his inspiration and steadfast determination to
succeed, there would be none of the aforementioned memories.
In the beginning, Hanners created the Paints and it was
good.
(Doug Kimsey is a lifetime
follower of the Chillicothe Paints and a teacher of students with
disabilities at Southeastern Local Schools. He can be reached at
dkimsey77@yahoo.com)
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