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Sweet's Challenge to Beavers: 'Mustache for First Place'

July 29, 2003 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Portland Beavers News Release


PORTLAND, Ore. - With a little more than a month to go in the season, the challenge has been issued.

Portland Beavers Manager Rick Sweet, immediately identifiable by his trademark mustache, has challenged his team to reclaim sole possession of first place in the Pacific Coast League's North Division. In return for such a feat, Sweet has agreed to shave off his prized facial hair.

Portland, winners of three straight and six of eight, are one game behind Edmonton in the standings coming into Tuesday's game at PGE Park against the league's best team, Sacramento.

The Beavers were in first place in the North Division for a majority of the first half of the season but recently fell out of the top spot. As the pennant chase heats up, though, Portland still finds itself in the "thick" of things--all the more reason for Sweet to issue a challenge of this magnitude.

Earlier this summer, Tampa Bay Devil Rays' manager and former Portland Beaver Lou Piniella dyed his hair blond in exchange for his team's first three-game winning streak of the season. Similarly, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Jon Gruden, considered a master motivator by many, followed suit, jesting in the September issue of Playboy that he would dance down a highway in Tampa wearing only a jockstrap if his team repeats as Super Bowl champions.

But Sweet's challenge, decidedly more modest, is a simple one and has certainly gained the attention of his players.

"I want to get to the playoffs," said Sweet. "The players are really having fun with this, too."

It wouldn't be the first time Sweet has "taken one for the team." Sweet, who has earned a variety of mustache-related nicknames over the years, shaved his upper lip in 1998 when he led the Class AA Harrisburg Senators to an Eastern League title. In the Venezuelan League, Sweet made good on a promise to shave it off if his team clinched first place. After his team did so in the first game of a doubleheader, Sweet emerged from the clubhouse for the second contest without his wooly facial component, much to the amusement of his team.

"I've shaved it and people who have known me for 25 years don't recognize me," he said. "I've always had it and it's usually pretty big. I look a lot different without it."

The Beavers open an eight-game homestand at PGE Park tonight.



Pacific Coast League Stories from July 29, 2003


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