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IL1 Indianapolis Indians

The Last Strike

May 10, 2019 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS - It was a date like no other in baseball history, when there was darkness in the daytime, and bright light at night - at least in Indianapolis.

Sept. 14, 1994. In New York that day, with no solution to the players' strike in sight, baseball owners announced the cancellation of the season. There would be no World Series for the first time since 1904. This is the way the major league season ended - not with a bang, but a whimper.

But that night, in an aging queen of a ballpark on West 16th Street, the Indianapolis Indians won a game, and partied afterward. Taking a big early lead with home runs by a former Houston Astro named Casey Candaele and a former New York Yankee named Kevin Maas, the Indians beat Nashville 7-5 to clinch the American Association championship series 3 games to 1.

Indianapolis, then the affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, stood atop Triple-A baseball -- and since the doors had been chained and the windows shuttered in the major leagues, didn't that in a way mean all of baseball? It was an unprecedented situation, and one to be remembered 25 years later by those who were there that night in Bush Stadium.

By Bruce Schumacher, now the Indians' CEO and then the director of special projects and announcer for his father Max: "(Reds owner) Marge Schott was here, because there were no Reds games to watch. So, she decided to bring her dog and her entourage and watch us play. I forget what we did with Schottzie, if we had him in a cool room some place, getting him water or something.

"You felt like this is the highest baseball championship being played for, and that was kind of an unusual place to be."

By Cal Burleson, now senior vice president and then assistant general manager: "What I remember is the quality of baseball that year; nobody went up (to the big leagues) because there was nowhere to go, so all the teams were strong. To win in that environment was a little extra special."

The image that stays with Burleson is manager Marc Bombard being surfed across the shoulders of Bush Stadium fans after the clincher.

By Howard Kellman, longtime radio voice of the Indians: "I remember Marge Schott's exact words after the game. She spoke to the crowd and said `This is the best news I've had today.'"

By Barry Lyons, who has since helped start minor league baseball in his hometown of Biloxi, Miss., but that night was the veteran catcher who caught the last strike: "We were the talk of baseball. We in essence won the World Series that year. I was very emotional. It was a great moment in my career."

A quarter-century later, the contrast of that season remains an extraordinary passage in Indianapolis sports history. In the major leagues, the doomsday clock struck zero on Aug. 12, when the strike began. The ballparks went dark until the next spring. But in Bush Stadium, they were having the time of their lives.

The parent club in Cincinnati had been battered by injuries in 1993, and the Reds' strategy in 1994 was to stockpile veteran players in Indianapolis, so they could fill the gaps if that happened again. Shortstop Kurt Stillwell had appeared in more than 900 big league games, second baseman Candaele in more than 700. Maas had become a New York shooting star with 10 homers in his first 72 at-bats as a Yankee, but then would hit 54 in his next 1,119. Lyons had played several years with the Mets and been an injured member of the 1986 World Series champions. Doug Jennings - destined to be named the 1994 Indians' MVP - had spent time with Oakland and the Chicago Cubs. On and on it went. Not many young prospects in Indy, infielder Willie Greene being the most touted.

"We were a very old team by Triple-A standards," Schumacher said. So this was no audacious collection of phenoms, but rather a purposeful mixture of guys who had come to understand how hard it is to stay in the major leagues and how the road back and forth can have so many curves.

Most of all, they loved to play - and to win.

"It was a unique situation," said Lyons, who with Candaele became clubhouse leaders. "It was a combination of experienced players who had been sort of through the ringer, so to speak -- who, for whatever reason, it didn't work out for our wishes, our hopes or our dreams. We certainly lived out dreams in being big leaguers, but we were all sort of pushed back to Triple-A, and we rallied around that."

Said Kellman, "Refuse to lose. That was the motto of that team. Baseball is a game where confidence levels are always wavering, it's so hard to play. But there was collectively an incredible confidence on that team."

Those Indians, it would seem, had the perfect manager to lead them.

"Just the way he conducted a clubhouse," Burleson said. "A lot of his focus in pregame was on these ridiculous pools he would run, on who was going to win the Kentucky Derby or who was going to win this or that. Just stuff that kept people loose and talking about other things. He always had this expression with me -- don't be tight."

Added Kellman, "He was one of those guys - there aren't too many - the players could be friendly with and still respect him. He's one of the best mangers we've ever had here."

Long before the labor storm washed out the major leagues, the Indians already knew it would be no garden variety season.

"That was an interesting year in other ways too," Schumacher said. For one, the agreement to build a new ballpark on the edge of downtown Indianapolis was announced in the spring. Eyes suddenly turned upon a parking lot just west of the Hoosier Dome. Victory Field would soon be born.

Also, in the winter of 1994 came big news from the White Sox. They were signing a certain NBA player named Michael Jordan. He'd be in the minors, of course, and the White Sox Triple-A team was in Nashville. So...

"Once he signed, we started getting phone calls -- `When do you guys play Nashville?''' Schumacher said. "We weren't even selling tickets in December and January. We told people on the phone it was highly unlikely that he'll start at Triple-A, as great an athlete as he is. They'd say, `We think he'll be there, which are your closest seats to right field?'

"We're not idiots, so we sold the tickets."

Jordan would never rise above Double-A Birmingham and soon be back where he belonged, with the Chicago Bulls. He would never man right field at Bush Stadium.

So it was a season with lots of wins, lots of moments, lots of laughs. The Phillie Phanatic mascot came to town, and so did the Reds for an exhibition game, when their leadoff hitter singled, stole a base and scored a run in the first inning. Deion Sanders. There was a 19-inning loss in June to Nashville that didn't end until after 1 a.m.

Not even the limitations of a fading ballpark at its twilight would get in the way. "When I first saw Bush Stadium, it was like . . . ecchhh," Lyons said. "But we used that to our advantage, when teams would come in and bitch and complain about this or that, the field or the clubhouse or whatever. We loved it. We had a blast every day."

Including the manager. As the strike date neared, there was news that some big league clubs were calling up those in Triple-A with hefty contracts. That way, they wouldn't have to pay them when the strike started.

Candaele was worried the Reds might try that with him. Schumacher can take it from there.

"Casey was always playing tricks on other people. So when it looks like the strike is inevitable, Bombard calls Casey in and says `You're going to Cincinnati.' Casey goes in the clubhouse and he's throwing stuff and kicking chairs. Bombard walks out and he's laughing, and Casey knows he's been had."

Burleson remembers Candaele as "Crazy off the field, but on the field the ultimate gamer between the lines." And mentioned the batting practice when Greene - who was noted for being something of a free spirit in the evenings - was putting on a power hitting show. "Each pitch goes out of the ballpark, out of the ballpark, out of the ballpark. Casey says `Hey Willie, you must have got a whole three hours of sleep last night.'"

When the strike began on Aug. 12, the Indians were in first place by one game. The Reds had stayed largely healthy all season, so few of those veteran insurance policies in Indianapolis had been needed. And now, they never would. With roster intact, Indianapolis went on a tear down the stretch, winning 15 of its last 22 regular-season games and clinching the pennant on Aug. 31. There had been some extra fans and media attention, given no Major League Baseball, but apparently nothing like the short strike in 1981.

"That got us a lot more attention," Kellman said. "In '81, a number of major league teams sent their announcers to their Triple-A teams. Not every game, but once a week maybe. On July 4 in '81, you had our broadcast, you had the Evansville broadcast, you had Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall from Cincinnati, Ernie Harwell from Detroit, and ESPN broadcast the game. Five broadcasts."

Greene and Jennings ended the season with 23 home runs each, with 80 and 92 RBI. Lyons led in hitting at .309, Candaele had 144 hits, pitchers Matt Grott and Kevin Jarvis - who would end up appearing for 10 different major league clubs - won 10 games apiece. Rich DeLucia, cut by Seattle the last day of spring training, had 19 saves.

The playoffs began Sept. 7 at Louisville. The Indians had finished 11½ games ahead of the Redbirds with a glowing 86-57 record, but had dropped eight of 11 in Louisville. Reason to be wary?

No. The Indians swept in three games, the first two on the road.

Jarvis scattered six hits in eight innings in the 5-1 opener. Mass' two-run homer and Greene's three-run blast helped win the second game 9-5. Burleson remembers the last out coming when Indianapolis outfielder William Pennyfeather fielded a hard shot and threw out the batter at first base.

The deciding run in the 4-3 clincher came in the seventh inning when Fernando Ramsey raced home from second base after a horrific collision at first that sent both Indians' pinch-hitter Keith Kessinger and Louisville's Tracy Woodson to the hospital.

Next came the championship series with Nashville. Greene's two homers highlighted a 5-3 win in game 1. After being shutout 1-0 in the second game, the Indians came home and won 6-3, behind Jarvis' pitching and Maas' three-run homer.

And finally, the 7-5 clincher on that unforgettably two-toned Sept. 14. More than 7,000 fans were there. Maybe a major league with no October had indeed put more focus on Triple-A baseball.

Maas was named postseason MVP with his three homers and seven RBI. Stillwell had 13 hits in seven games and called that night "the best feeling I've had in baseball." This by a one-time American League All-Star.

That was the last title for Bush Stadium, which would soon go dark itself. But time has not dulled what Lyons' felt about that summer in Indianapolis. "I can't emphasize enough how much fun that season was. I cherish those memories."

Nor has it made those who were there forget the most bizarre fact of life on Sept. 14, 1994.

"When the final game was over," Burleson said, "there was no more baseball."

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