From Chapter 4:

1971-1976: The Altobelli Era

1973

The new year saw changes in the league structure, as the International League became the last of the higher minor leagues to switch to division play. The four teams with American League affiliations (Rochester, Pawtucket (moved from Louisville), Syracuse and Toledo) were in the American Division, while the four National League farm clubs (Charleston, Peninsula, Richmond and Tidewater) were in the National Division. Division winners would meet in a playoff series to decide the pennant winner, who would then advance against the winner of a series between the two second place clubs for the Governors’ Cup. The league also resumed use of a designated hitter, last seen in the league in 1969.

Again the pre-season hope was that pitching could carry the Wings. Manager Altobelli had 11 legitimate Triple-A pitchers (including four rookies) on his roster and called it the “best crop of arms” in his three years with the Wings. The staff was headed by returning starters Bill Kirkpatrick, Wayne Garland, Don Hood and Jesse Jefferson (6-3, 2.45 in the second half with Rochester). Garland and Hood were late cuts from the O’s and none too happy despite their sub-par performances in 1972. Newcomer right-hander Paul Mitchell, 16-8 for Asheville, rounded out the starting rotation. The bullpen was expected to be the best in the league, featuring vets George Manz, Dyar Miller and Dave Johnson.

Minor League Player of the Year Mike Reinbach was up from Double-A and switching to first base. Fred Frazier, a handy glove man and IL all star three out of the last four years, fell out of favor in Syracuse and came over to play second base. Converted second baseman and rookie Doug DeCinces (.263, 10, 60 at Asheville) impressed during the spring and won the third base job. At shortstop was Junior Kennedy, looking to improve on his .240 average and league-leading 34 errors.

The outfield was brand new, but with familiar names. Tommy Shopay returned after two years with the O’s, flanked by Jim Fuller and Royle Stillman, two heavy-hitting 22-year-olds who had seen time with the Wings the year before. Stillman, who hit .297 with 23 home runs and 83 RBI in Asheville, was the major prospect acquired in the Frank Robinson trade. Fuller rebounded after his demotion from Rochester to equal Stillman in home runs, and notched a respectable .271 batting average. Smooth-fielding Sergio Robles returned behind the plate, although he initially threatened to return to Mexico when the O’s sent him down. Vets Larry Johnson and Pete Watts came back to handle reserve roles. Past Wings Coggins, Bumbry and Cabell were all up with the O’s, while the pitching surplus put veterans Bob O’Brien, Dave Leonhard, John Montague and Dave Boswell in limbo.

Changes were again evident at 44-year-old Silver Stadium. The cavernous bullpen behind the left field fence, with its ramshackle sheds and fire barrels, was gone, replaced by plates and rubbers outside the foul lines in the outfield. The gap was filled by advertising signs, with three decks of billboards extending all the way from the left field line to the scoreboard in center field. Also gone were the mounds in front of the dugouts, where the game’s starting pitchers would warm up before the contest.

The Wings put some money into less-obvious improvements. Over $70,000 was spent replacing 360 box seats, along with slab and iron work in the upper grandstand, and extensive painting. The club also paid to rewire the light towers. The umpires’ quarters, between the two clubhouses under the right field stands, were rebuilt, and the program sellers given a new wooden shelter in front of the stadium.

The team started with 10 games on the road. Altobelli fell to 0-3 in season openers when his team lost 6-2 in Charleston. The Wings returned to Rochester at 5-5 but with some concerns, as through the first eight games Alto’s squad made 14 errors and was hitting only .171. Early injuries temporarily shelved Shopay and Reinbach, the latter’s absence lessened by the demotion of Enos Cabell. Infielder Tim Nordbrook was also slated to join the Wings. He had just finished a six-month tour of active duty with the Army Reserves and would be called up after a two-week stint with the Single-A Miami Orioles.

The home opener was played in front of 8,414 fans and resulted in a 10-9 victory over Richmond. The success on the field was overshadowed by problems in the stands, which forced team management to look at the stadium’s alcohol policy. It was estimated that a half-dozen fights broke out in the stands. Other spectators engaged in “beer-slinging” matches, or indiscriminately hurled empty beer cans about the stands. Kennedy, last season’s target of boos, was charged with an error during the game, and was promptly hooted at by the fans. Just two days later it was revealed that the shortstop faced the prospect of season-ending surgery on his ailing right shoulder.

Despite the slow start, Jack Pastore, the O’s director of player development, insisted that with the glut of starting pitching, the Wings remained definite pennant contenders. Pastore also restated that Kennedy was a definite major league prospect, while advancing the notion that slugger Jim Fuller was a potential .300 hitter or, even better, another Harmon Killebrew. “Nobody anywhere,” said Pastore, “hits the ball harder than Fuller.” (Altobelli would later recall that when coaching third base, he would position himself 20 feet behind the coaching box with Fuller at the plate, something he did not do for any player before or since.)

An April 30 home doubleheader sweep against Tidewater was unusual — the Wings wore their road grays, as the Tides’ new traveling uniforms were not yet ready. Despite a loss the next night, the Wings found themselves tied for first at 9-7, with nine of their 16 games decided by one run.

Fuller was off to a fast start, hitting .385 with five home runs and 16 RBI through early May. Those stats were helped immensely by the monster game the right fielder put together on May 3. He went 5-for-6, with a triple, home run, four runs and four RBI in a 16-4 road rout of Toledo. Stillman, Cabell (before his May 21 recall) and DeCinces helped the Wings to a streak of nine wins in 13 games, which put them at 22-12, 5 1/2 games up in the Eastern Division.

May saw the departure of long-time mound fixture Bill Kirkpatrick, loaned to the California Angels’ Triple-A team in Salt Lake City. His departure opened up a roster spot for Wayne Garland, coming off the disabled list after a mild case of pneumonia. Kirkpatrick had a 31-29 record during his four-year stint with the Wings, and only Freddie Beene (46) and Dave Leonhard (32) had more wins for the Wings since the 1950s.

The June 11 all-star break found the Wings at 33-22, their nearest competitors five games distant. Fuller had 20 home runs and an average above .300. He, DeCinces and pitcher Jefferson represented the Wings in the all-star game against Montreal in Syracuse. Fuller and DeCinces both played all nine innings in the IL’s 6-4 win, each driving in two runs with extra-base hits.

Player moves after the break failed to slow the team’s winning ways. Stillman, leading the team in hitting at .331, had an emergency appendectomy. Former Wing hero Jim Hutto returned to the team in a trade for Dave Leonhard, and there was talk that the Wings were also trying to get Mike Ferraro back from Syracuse. (In his first month with the Wings, the versatile Hutto played catcher, first base, third base, right field, and designated hitter, in addition to pinch-hitting duties.) Jefferson, 6-2 on the year, was recalled by the parent Orioles, who replaced him with Herb Hutson, 6-3 at Asheville, with eight complete games in his nine starts. Left-handed reliever Bob Snyder was acquired from Charleston to balance the bullpen.

The advent of summer saw little improvement for Garland’s unfortunate troubles — after his 3-5 start and the bout with pneumonia, a blistered finger put him on the DL. For Junior Kennedy, it was finally determined that a change of scenery would be best. He was loaned to Indianapolis of the American Association, after hitting .219 in 58 games. Nordbrook took over at shortstop, until he was injured.

A June swoon at the plate by Fuller (hitless in 13 straight at-bats) submerged his average below .300. He had not hit a home run in six straight games, his longest power outage since the season’s first six games. He snapped that slump in grand fashion on July 1, when he became only the third person to clear the center field wall at Syracuse’s MacArthur Stadium. The 12-foot barrier, cleared twice in 1971, stood a distant 434 feet from home plate.

Early July still found the Wings with a comfortable margin of 6 1/2 games. But a disastrous trip to Richmond saw the Wings drop four straight to the last place Braves, and soon after the lead was down to 3 1/2.

Former Wing Curt Motton was acquired from Salt Lake City as an extra outfielder, but plans to platoon him fell through when the Stillman began to prove he could hit southpaws. The left-hander had 24 hits in 47 at-bats after returning from his appendectomy. His average was up to .372, although he would fall well short of the required number of plate appearances to be considered for the batting crown. Stillman was not fast on the basepaths or in the field, and generated little power, but he was a pure line drive hitter. He was known for his distinctive dark-stained lumber, which his teammates called “honey dip sugar bats.” Altobelli began playing him regularly against all pitching.

The Wings were, however, having a bit of trouble behind the plate. Robles was out of the lineup, replaced by Randy Brown. Robles was hitting 30 points below Brown and had fallen into disfavor with the club. He had been fined $100 for missing the first two games of the Richmond series, and $50 for skipping a local luncheon at McCurdy’s department store.

A larger problem but more pleasant problem was what to do with shortstop Bobby Bailor when Nordbrook was activated. Bailor failed to get a hit in his first 13 at-bats following his July 9 call up, and, although some initially worried he was overmatched by Triple-A pitching, rebounded to hit at a .321 clip. Furthermore Bailor was faster and a bigger threat on the basepaths than Nordbrook. He was a gung-ho, hustling type of ball player with a lot of flair, one who excited the fans.

Bailor was ultimately demoted upon Nordbrook’s return in late July. It was a subject on which Altobelli took a lot of heat (Nordbrook was struggling at .194), at one point causing him to publically declare: “I run the Wings, not the Orioles or the fans.” The Red Wing manager was also being questioned (after the lead had dwindled) on his use of platooning, and his reluctance to use pinch hitters.

Fuller slowly pulled out his slump (he sat out his first game after a five-strikeout night), but both Syracuse and Pawtucket hovered between three and four games back through the beginning of August. Cabell returned from Baltimore, although disenchanted with the organization.

The Wings responded by winning 12 of 16 games during the first two weeks of August, widening the gap to seven games. Hutson tossed two consecutive shutouts, including the first game of a doubleheader sweep at Toledo in which he and Weems matched 1-0 victories. Optimistic fans predicted the team would clinch the division before the end of the month.

It would not be so easy. Six straight losses trimmed the lead to two games. The streakiness that had plagued the team during the entire season became a source of frustration as Pawtucket drew close. Brilliant defensively one night, the team could (and did) commit seven errors the next night. The bullpen fluctuated between perfect and pathetic, and one was unsure which Fuller would show up — the behemoth who would hit five home runs in a week, or the overmatched batter who would strike out five times in a game.

The faltering Wings rallied briefly at the end of the month, when Randy Stein, just up from Asheville, limited Richmond to three hits in a 2-1 win. The victory pushed the Wings to 34-25 in one-run games, but only 34-36 on the road. The next night Fuller snapped a 17-game homerless streak with two circuit clouts in a doubleheader split, giving him 39 for the season, and the margin was back to three.

Pawtucket continued its surge, however, and cut the lead to two games with only three to play; however the remaining three would pit the Sox and the Wings in Rochester. The team that was virtually assured a division crown a mere week ago found its lead shaved to just one when Pawtucket opened the series with a 5-2 win. Fuller represented the frustration by fanning three times, giving him 195 strikeouts for the season (he would close with 197).

The next night the Wings blew a 4-2 lead in the seventh and lost 6-4. Rochester, in first place since May 1, found itself tied with the Red Sox at 78-67 with one game to play. At least the Wings had clinched a playoff spot due to a loss by third-place Syracuse. But the late-season skid, in which they lost 12 of 18 games, meant the Wings would have to win the final game of the season to capture the division championship.

Fortunately the Red Wings avoided a collapse of epic proportions. Rochester broke open a close game with five runs in the sixth inning, the main blow a two-run triple by Frazier on a ball that could have caught. Garland went the distance for his 10th win of the season, a 6-2 victory that captured the American Division championship.

Despite the success, it was a team that was not without its weaknesses; or more accurately, most of the players had flaws that kept them from the majors. The shortage of team speed was glaring and, other than Jim Fuller (.247, 39, 108) and Doug DeCinces (.267, 19, 79), there was no power to be found. Royle Stillman and Enos Cabell were the leading hitters at .354, but between them they could manage to hit only three balls out of the park all season. (Neither had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title; indeed, only 21 players in the league did qualify and the leading hitter had a .298 average. Over the off-season the league would lower the required number of plate appearances to a number that, had it been in effect in 1973, would have given Stillman the crown.) The lack of quickness also hampered the defense, which, by the end of the season, was particularly shabby. Shifting DeCinces around the infield drove up his error totals, and the usually dependable Nordbrook seemed to falter after switching his uniform to #2, Junior Kennedy’s old number.

The rotation never really had an ace after Jesse Jefferson (6-2, 3.41) left. George Manz led the staff with in wins (11-5, 3.60), but Wayne Garland (10-11, 3.57) and Don Hood (4-7, 3.16) both disappointed. Paul Mitchell (8-7, 4.14) failed to approach his Double-A numbers. The lack of a left-hander other than Bob Snyder out of the pen caused some problems, and the number of wins racked up by long relievers and swing men Snyder (8-7), Ray Miller (6-3), Dave Johnson (8-5) and Mark Weems (9-7) underscored the lack of depth in the starting rotation.

The team won half of its first 36 games and half of its last 14, but in between proved itself to be more than just a .500 club, thanks mostly to Fuller, whose tape-measure shots captured the awe of the Rochester fans and earned him the home run and RBI crowns, as well as the league MVP.

Yet it would not count as a pennant unless the Red Wings could defeat Charleston, the National Division champ. The early line gave the advantage to Altobelli’s squad, as the Charlies had lost their five best players to parent Pittsburgh. Nonetheless, the Charlies had won 13 of 20 against Rochester during the regular season. They continued their dominance in Game One of the series, a 10-5 win at Watt Powell Park. The Wings had an early 4-2 lead, but Charleston battered three Rochester hurlers, including starter Manz, who gave up eight runs (five earned) in just over three innings.

Charleston captured Game Two by the score of 6-2. The Charlies provided little suspense in Rochester for the third game, running off to a 7-0 lead after two innings off Dyar Miller. The resulting 13-4 win gave the West Virginia team the 1973 International League pennant.

Paid attendance for the year was 281,889, tops in the American minor leagues. (The Mexico City Reds of the Mexican League drew 434,133.) Total International League counts, however, continued to fall, with an all-time low of 19,609 for the playoffs. The attendance problems that had plagued the minors (everywhere, it seemed, except for Rochester) for two decades, outwardly had no end in sight.

The man who played such a large role in Rochester’s success, General Manager Carl Steinfeldt, stunned local fans when he announced he was taking the same job with the Charleston Charlies. (Later rumors held that Steinfeldt was asked to leave in August, but both the Wings and Steinfeldt denied the report). RCB named no successor, but ruled out the internal promotions of either Administrative Assistant Ed Barnowski or Manager Joe Altobelli. At the time, Altobelli was in consideration for a coach’s spot in Boston, and a coaching or managerial job in Detroit, but neither connected, and in November he re-signed to manage the Wings.

The Wings received between 20 and 30 inquiries about the general manager’s opening, but none were deemed “suitable, for one reason or another,” said team President William Lang. Bill Farrell, who worked as an administrator for the Rush-Henrietta School District and had made a name for himself with his successful management of the Section V High School Basketball Tournament, was called in for an interview, but nothing further developed.

Morrie Silver even came up from Florida to assist in the search. On Nov. 1, RCB announced the return of Sam Lippa, who, after leaving the team the previous December, had worked with the Rochester Lancers, Rochester’s professional soccer team. Lippa, 53, was named business manager. Ed Barnowski was promoted to director of sales and promotions and the Wings announced that, for the time being, they would operate without a general manager, preferring to “delegate specific duties to a front office team.”

The Red Wings seemed comfortable with the arrangement, but many local observers worried that the minors’ top franchise might be heading downhill. By late December, Lang and Silver had identified two individuals within baseball for the general manager’s job, but when neither were available, they decided to continue to operate with Lippa and Barnowski sharing the duties. Both were considered for the job, former player Barnowski primarily, as he was a Silver protege, but his mentor admitted that Barnowski was “not ready for the job just yet. But I believe he will be fully capable to take the responsibility after considerable training.”

International League President George Sisler, himself a former Rochester GM, disagreed with the direction, stating, “I can’t believe they can operate very long without one.” Silver would continue to serve as telephone consultant from his home 1,500 miles away in Miami Beach, while Lang was charged with the day-to-day development of Lippa and Barnowski.

Despite the worries, Rochester Community Baseball was on firm financial footing. At a time when attendance throughout the minors was down, and franchises struggling, the Rochester Red Wings were, without a doubt, the premier minor league baseball franchise in America, and one of the strongest in all of Organized Baseball. The announced 1973 profit was $71,382, and over the previous two seasons the franchise had made more money than their parent club. It remained to be seen if an inexperienced front office could continue the success.

Copyright © 1997 Brian A. Bennett. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system - except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper - without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact Triphammer Publishing, P.O. Box 45, Scottsville, NY 14546-0045.