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KCRoyals15 · 01-05-2025, 03:05 AM

1982

Trey Skipper's first two years in Denver were nothing shy of a rousing success. Attendance and team offense records were smashed as the Bears won American Baseball League titles in both seasons.

As it turns out, those would be Trey's only years in Denver. For this next move, he stayed in the ABL, though it was an unusual move for the Skipper family: he was joining a team coming off a playoff berth.

The Boston Pilgrims had just snapped their 28-year playoff drought with an ABL East division title, but attendance still lagged and the team was still losing money. Trey Skipper's job would be to finally make Beantown fall in love with baseball again.

In the summer of 1982, the Northern Conference saw the Philadelphia A's return to the top of the New England League after a couple Octobers at home. They were joined by second-place Newark, making their third postseason appearance in a row. The Midwest Association, meanwhile, had big news. The Detroit Wolverines won their first pennant in seven years, with Toronto finishing just one game back, meaning Milwaukee's string of six-straight pennants and 12 playoff appearances in 13 years was over.

In the postseason, Detroit got things off to a rousing start by sweeping aside Newark in four games. Toronto, meanwhile, trounced Philly in a five-game decision. The Maple Leafs then dueled with the Wolverines for seven games, but Toronto came out on top as the Leafs earned their second Conference Championship in three years.

The Southern Conference was notable for two excellent teams. Washington won the Eastern League with 106 wins, while Tampa edged out Norfolk by a game for second. The Western League was won by 104-win Kansas City, while St. Louis finished a distant second, earning their first playoff bid in seven years.

In the first round, Washington waxed St. Louis in a five-game series, while Kansas City took care of business in six games against Tampa. With the two juggernauts facing off, the Blues were too much for the Senators, as KC won a five-game set to earn their first Conference Championship since 1955.

The Pacific Coast League had a very interesting year. Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego won 131, 130, and 130 games, respectively. No other PCL teams finished over .500. In the North this was no issue, with the Rainiers and Seals waltzing in, but while San Diego won the South, 96-104 San Jose finished second, as the Gulls backed in for the final playoff spot.

There would be no massive upsets as San Jose was quickly swept out by Seattle, with San Diego and San Francisco tangled for six games, with the Padres coming out on top. The Padres and Rainiers then matched up for the PCL title, and in a classic series between two great teams, San Diego came out on top in a seven-game battle, repeating as PCL champs.

That left the Texas League, where the Dallas Lone Stars were the only winning team in the North, taking the division title while Wichita held off Fort Worth by a game and Oklahoma City by three to back in at 78-84. In the South, defending National Champion El Paso had the league's top record at 94-68, while Galveston finished second for the second year in a row.

Like in the PCL, the clear weakest playoff team, Wichita, was bounced quickly, losing in five games to El Paso. Dallas the downed Galveston in five games, then upset the Texans in the Lone Star Series, giving the Lone Stars their first league title in four years.

With a long-time power back in the national tournament after a long absence, the Kansas City Blues (SOU) defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs (NOR) to open up play, while at the same time a Texas League club pulled off a big upset, as the Dallas Lone Stars (TL) defeat the San Diego Padres (PCL). The TL was now looking for their third-straight National Championship with their third different club, and they got it handily, as the Dallas Lone Stars (TL) defeat the Kansas City Blues (SOU), 4-1 for Dallas' first National Championship.

Newark's Kyle King fit the mold of a hulking slugger, standing 6-7 and 235 pounds, but he could do it all, and the third-year first baseman did so, slashing .327/.402/.636 with 199 hits, 106 runs, and leading the Northern Conference with 57 doubles, 43 homers, and 139 RBI. His doubles tally was the highest by an EBF hitter since 1938. King also was a great defender, winning the third of ten-straight Great Glove awards. He took home another award as well: the Northern Conference MVP.

Detroit righty Miguel Lopez seemed to get lost among pitchers on better teams, but the 29-year-old shined as he led the Wolverines to a pennant. Already in his tenth season, Lopez went 25-6 with a 2.46 ERA, leading the North in wins and ERA while striking out 151 in 263.2 innings. It was a true outlier for Lopez, who never won more than 16 games in any other year, or led the conference in anything else (besides starts), but he was rock solid (nine-time All-Star) over a fruitful 20-year career.

Jared Wilson made eight All-Star teams and won six home run titles, but was mostly forgotten on a national stage as he toiled away on mostly bad Chicago Whales teams for 15 years. The 36-year-old, though, reached 500 homers on his final blast of the season on September 26, becoming the seventh player in USBF history to do so.

In the Southern Conference, Norfolk finished one game out of the postseason, but it wasn't third baseman Ken Heavner's fault. The 24-year-old had a huge second season, slashing .342/.436/.452 with 204 hits, 102 runs, 6 homers, 55 RBI, and leading the conference with 17 triples and 72 stolen bases to earn MVP honors.

Washington ace Alan Church missed the first five months of the 1981 season with a shoulder injury, but came back healthy in '82. At 32 years old, Church went 16-6 and led the South with a 2.35 ERA and 232 strikeouts, his sixth and final strikeout crown. In the process, he won his fifth and final Pitcher of the Year. Church missed some more time in later years, but still appeared to have something left in the tank when he retired at 36 in 1986.

Speaking of retirement, Louisville's Shane McLaughlin hung it up after 19 stellar seasons, retiring with 3,068 hits over his sterling career.

Seattle southpaw Jamie Evans took the PCL by storm in his exceptional rookie season in 1981, and his sophomore campaign was just as good, if not even better. The 25-year-old went 28-7 with a 2.06 ERA, leading the PCL in wins, ERA, starts (43), innings (359.0, strikeouts (260), complete games (15), and shutouts (7), winning the Triple Crown and Pitcher of the Year for the second year, and also took home PCL MVP honors, the first pitcher to do so since 1956.

Barely six months after being signed in 1975, Miami dealt minor league outfielder Steve Johnston to Galveston for a pitcher who won 17 games in four years on South Beach. Despite mashing in the minors, it took Johnston a bit to crack the lineup, but he was a star when he did, and as a 25-year-old in 1982, he slashed .346/.471/.600, winning the Texas League batting title, and leading the league with 110 runs, while adding 198 hits, 30 doubles, 10 triples, 32 homers, 101 RBI, and 26 steals, taking home MVP honors.

In the winter of 1980, Dallas shipped a forgettable second baseman and a decent starter who had a few good seasons in his new home in Portland, receiving in return 31-year-old workhorse Oscar Mondragon, who had worked five strong years for the Beavers. Portland thought he was over the hill. They were wrong. In his second year in Dallas, the righty went 20-10 with a 3.18 ERA, striking out 135 and leading the TL in innings (282.2), starts (36), and shutouts (4), taking home Pitcher of the Year for the first time.

The Hall of Fame wasn't quite as busy as last year, but did elect a pair of EBF studs, including a six-time MVP who became the Hall's first-ever unanimous inductee:

OF Cory Gilmore (1960-76), 100%
OF Jon Keys (1962-74), 75.9%

Not to be outdone, the PCL elected the all-time national home run leader with 677 and an eight-time MVP:

SS Joseph Miller (1962-78), 98.1%

---

For the third time in the American Baseball League's three years in a four-division format, a team won a division at exactly 81-81. This time it was Trey Skipper's Boston team winning the East, while much stronger clubs in Anaheim, Birmingham, and Chicago won the other three divisions. For Anaheim, it was their first-ever playoff bid, while Birmingham got in for the first time since 1954. Chicago won a league-high 111 games. Spokane, Denver, and Nashville were deserving wild cards, though New Haven snuck in with 79 wins out of a weak East, while Vancouver was stuck home with 90 wins in a very strong West.

On the other side of the coin, the Minneapolis Millers moved out of a dilapidated and cold Metropolitan Stadium, but they lost a franchise-record 118 games in their first year inside the Metrodome. Another perennially terrible team tried to change their luck with a new name, as Cincinnati dropped the Tigers moniker to become the Cincinnati Buckeyes adopting the name their former rivals in Cleveland ditched nearly a half-century prior. It didn't work, as they lost 106 games.

The first round of the playoffs saw three series going the full five games, with Boston, Nashville, and Spokane winning, while Denver upset Chicago in four games as three wild cards won the first round. Boston was the lone division winner left, and they ended Denver's quest for a three-peat in the semis, while Nashville beat Spokane, both in four games. The Vols then ended the Pilgrims' quest, as Nashville had their first American Baseball Cup.

Not surprisingly, the major awards were all swept by Chicago, with 23-year-old first baseman Marco Geronimo taking MVP and Rookie of the Year, slashing .291/.368/.561 with 163 hits, a league-high 110 runs, 25 doubles, an ABL-best 40 homers, and 117 RBI. Third-year righty Luke Venezia was Pitcher of the Year, as the 24-year-old went 24-5 with a 2.82 ERA over 265.0 innings, leading the ABL in wins.

---

Minor League Champions
Southeastern League: Montgomery Generals, 86-68, defeats Baton Rouge
Colonial League: Harrisburg Senators, 85-55, defeats Pittsfield
River Valley League: Erie Sailors, 93-48, defeats Rochester
Rocky Mountain League: Cheyenne Bulls, 72-54, defeats Billings
Coastal League: Columbia Roosters, 98-56, defeats Charlotte
Northern League: La Crosse Loggers, 82-58, defeats St. Paul
Southwest League: Long Beach Earthquakes, 91-63, defeats Modesto
Southern Association: Little Rock Travelers, 78-63, defeats Joplin
Northwest League: Reno High Rollers, 82-73, defeats Tacoma
Can-Am League: Portland Lobsters, 85-41, defeats Ottawa
Mid-Atlantic League: Altoona Engineers, 77-63, defeats Worcester
Lone Star League: Midland-Odessa Panthers, 81-59, defeats Rio Grande
Great Plains League: Peoria Distillers, 77-63, defeats Salina (2nd straight)
Florida Coast League: Daytona Islanders, 79-61, defeats St. Petersburg
Big Sky League: Saskatoon Rivermen, 70-63, defeats Regina
Heartland League: Youngstown Steelers, 75-65, defeats Evansville

A few oddities took place, one of which was a rare tight race in the Southeastern League, where four teams finished within three games of first place. In the Can-Am League, Portland went a league-record 85-41, resulting in them and second-place Ottawa being the only two teams in an eight-league circuit with a winning record.

Lastly, the Big Sky League last year had the entire Canadian Division finish ahead of the entire American Division. It wasn't far off from happening again this year, though the entire eight-team circuit finished just 9 1/2 games apart, including races to the last day for the final two playoff spots.

01-05-2025, 03:05 AM	#92
KCRoyals15 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Oct 2020 Location: A lot of them Posts: 123	A Lone Star Shining Bright 1982 Trey Skipper's first two years in Denver were nothing shy of a rousing success. Attendance and team offense records were smashed as the Bears won American Baseball League titles in both seasons. As it turns out, those would be Trey's only years in Denver. For this next move, he stayed in the ABL, though it was an unusual move for the Skipper family: he was joining a team coming off a playoff berth. The Boston Pilgrims had just snapped their 28-year playoff drought with an ABL East division title, but attendance still lagged and the team was still losing money. Trey Skipper's job would be to finally make Beantown fall in love with baseball again. In the summer of 1982, the Northern Conference saw the Philadelphia A's return to the top of the New England League after a couple Octobers at home. They were joined by second-place Newark, making their third postseason appearance in a row. The Midwest Association, meanwhile, had big news. The Detroit Wolverines won their first pennant in seven years, with Toronto finishing just one game back, meaning Milwaukee's string of six-straight pennants and 12 playoff appearances in 13 years was over. In the postseason, Detroit got things off to a rousing start by sweeping aside Newark in four games. Toronto, meanwhile, trounced Philly in a five-game decision. The Maple Leafs then dueled with the Wolverines for seven games, but Toronto came out on top as the Leafs earned their second Conference Championship in three years. The Southern Conference was notable for two excellent teams. Washington won the Eastern League with 106 wins, while Tampa edged out Norfolk by a game for second. The Western League was won by 104-win Kansas City, while St. Louis finished a distant second, earning their first playoff bid in seven years. In the first round, Washington waxed St. Louis in a five-game series, while Kansas City took care of business in six games against Tampa. With the two juggernauts facing off, the Blues were too much for the Senators, as KC won a five-game set to earn their first Conference Championship since 1955. The Pacific Coast League had a very interesting year. Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego won 131, 130, and 130 games, respectively. No other PCL teams finished over .500. In the North this was no issue, with the Rainiers and Seals waltzing in, but while San Diego won the South, 96-104 San Jose finished second, as the Gulls backed in for the final playoff spot. There would be no massive upsets as San Jose was quickly swept out by Seattle, with San Diego and San Francisco tangled for six games, with the Padres coming out on top. The Padres and Rainiers then matched up for the PCL title, and in a classic series between two great teams, San Diego came out on top in a seven-game battle, repeating as PCL champs. That left the Texas League, where the Dallas Lone Stars were the only winning team in the North, taking the division title while Wichita held off Fort Worth by a game and Oklahoma City by three to back in at 78-84. In the South, defending National Champion El Paso had the league's top record at 94-68, while Galveston finished second for the second year in a row. Like in the PCL, the clear weakest playoff team, Wichita, was bounced quickly, losing in five games to El Paso. Dallas the downed Galveston in five games, then upset the Texans in the Lone Star Series, giving the Lone Stars their first league title in four years. With a long-time power back in the national tournament after a long absence, the Kansas City Blues (SOU) defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs (NOR) to open up play, while at the same time a Texas League club pulled off a big upset, as the Dallas Lone Stars (TL) defeat the San Diego Padres (PCL). The TL was now looking for their third-straight National Championship with their third different club, and they got it handily, as the *Dallas Lone Stars (TL) defeat the Kansas City Blues (SOU), 4-1* for Dallas' first National Championship. Newark's Kyle King fit the mold of a hulking slugger, standing 6-7 and 235 pounds, but he could do it all, and the third-year first baseman did so, slashing .327/.402/.636 with 199 hits, 106 runs, and leading the Northern Conference with 57 doubles, 43 homers, and 139 RBI. His doubles tally was the highest by an EBF hitter since 1938. King also was a great defender, winning the third of ten-straight Great Glove awards. He took home another award as well: the Northern Conference MVP. Detroit righty Miguel Lopez seemed to get lost among pitchers on better teams, but the 29-year-old shined as he led the Wolverines to a pennant. Already in his tenth season, Lopez went 25-6 with a 2.46 ERA, leading the North in wins and ERA while striking out 151 in 263.2 innings. It was a true outlier for Lopez, who never won more than 16 games in any other year, or led the conference in anything else (besides starts), but he was rock solid (nine-time All-Star) over a fruitful 20-year career. Jared Wilson made eight All-Star teams and won six home run titles, but was mostly forgotten on a national stage as he toiled away on mostly bad Chicago Whales teams for 15 years. The 36-year-old, though, reached 500 homers on his final blast of the season on September 26, becoming the seventh player in USBF history to do so. In the Southern Conference, Norfolk finished one game out of the postseason, but it wasn't third baseman Ken Heavner's fault. The 24-year-old had a huge second season, slashing .342/.436/.452 with 204 hits, 102 runs, 6 homers, 55 RBI, and leading the conference with 17 triples and 72 stolen bases to earn MVP honors. Washington ace Alan Church missed the first five months of the 1981 season with a shoulder injury, but came back healthy in '82. At 32 years old, Church went 16-6 and led the South with a 2.35 ERA and 232 strikeouts, his sixth and final strikeout crown. In the process, he won his fifth and final Pitcher of the Year. Church missed some more time in later years, but still appeared to have something left in the tank when he retired at 36 in 1986. Speaking of retirement, Louisville's Shane McLaughlin hung it up after 19 stellar seasons, retiring with 3,068 hits over his sterling career. Seattle southpaw Jamie Evans took the PCL by storm in his exceptional rookie season in 1981, and his sophomore campaign was just as good, if not even better. The 25-year-old went 28-7 with a 2.06 ERA, leading the PCL in wins, ERA, starts (43), innings (359.0, strikeouts (260), complete games (15), and shutouts (7), winning the Triple Crown and Pitcher of the Year for the second year, and also took home PCL MVP honors, the first pitcher to do so since 1956. Barely six months after being signed in 1975, Miami dealt minor league outfielder Steve Johnston to Galveston for a pitcher who won 17 games in four years on South Beach. Despite mashing in the minors, it took Johnston a bit to crack the lineup, but he was a star when he did, and as a 25-year-old in 1982, he slashed .346/.471/.600, winning the Texas League batting title, and leading the league with 110 runs, while adding 198 hits, 30 doubles, 10 triples, 32 homers, 101 RBI, and 26 steals, taking home MVP honors. In the winter of 1980, Dallas shipped a forgettable second baseman and a decent starter who had a few good seasons in his new home in Portland, receiving in return 31-year-old workhorse Oscar Mondragon, who had worked five strong years for the Beavers. Portland thought he was over the hill. They were wrong. In his second year in Dallas, the righty went 20-10 with a 3.18 ERA, striking out 135 and leading the TL in innings (282.2), starts (36), and shutouts (4), taking home Pitcher of the Year for the first time. The Hall of Fame wasn't quite as busy as last year, but did elect a pair of EBF studs, including a six-time MVP who became the Hall's first-ever unanimous inductee: OF Cory Gilmore (1960-76), 100% OF Jon Keys (1962-74), 75.9% Not to be outdone, the PCL elected the all-time national home run leader with 677 and an eight-time MVP: SS Joseph Miller (1962-78), 98.1% --- For the third time in the American Baseball League's three years in a four-division format, a team won a division at exactly 81-81. This time it was Trey Skipper's Boston team winning the East, while much stronger clubs in Anaheim, Birmingham, and Chicago won the other three divisions. For Anaheim, it was their first-ever playoff bid, while Birmingham got in for the first time since 1954. Chicago won a league-high 111 games. Spokane, Denver, and Nashville were deserving wild cards, though New Haven snuck in with 79 wins out of a weak East, while Vancouver was stuck home with 90 wins in a very strong West. On the other side of the coin, the Minneapolis Millers moved out of a dilapidated and cold Metropolitan Stadium, but they lost a franchise-record 118 games in their first year inside the Metrodome. Another perennially terrible team tried to change their luck with a new name, as Cincinnati dropped the Tigers moniker to become the *Cincinnati Buckeyes* adopting the name their former rivals in Cleveland ditched nearly a half-century prior. It didn't work, as they lost 106 games. The first round of the playoffs saw three series going the full five games, with Boston, Nashville, and Spokane winning, while Denver upset Chicago in four games as three wild cards won the first round. Boston was the lone division winner left, and they ended Denver's quest for a three-peat in the semis, while Nashville beat Spokane, both in four games. The Vols then ended the Pilgrims' quest, as Nashville had their first American Baseball Cup. Not surprisingly, the major awards were all swept by Chicago, with 23-year-old first baseman Marco Geronimo taking MVP and Rookie of the Year, slashing .291/.368/.561 with 163 hits, a league-high 110 runs, 25 doubles, an ABL-best 40 homers, and 117 RBI. Third-year righty Luke Venezia was Pitcher of the Year, as the 24-year-old went 24-5 with a 2.82 ERA over 265.0 innings, leading the ABL in wins. --- Minor League Champions Southeastern League: Montgomery Generals, 86-68, defeats Baton Rouge Colonial League: Harrisburg Senators, 85-55, defeats Pittsfield River Valley League: Erie Sailors, 93-48, defeats Rochester Rocky Mountain League: Cheyenne Bulls, 72-54, defeats Billings Coastal League: Columbia Roosters, 98-56, defeats Charlotte Northern League: La Crosse Loggers, 82-58, defeats St. Paul Southwest League: Long Beach Earthquakes, 91-63, defeats Modesto Southern Association: Little Rock Travelers, 78-63, defeats Joplin Northwest League: Reno High Rollers, 82-73, defeats Tacoma Can-Am League: Portland Lobsters, 85-41, defeats Ottawa Mid-Atlantic League: Altoona Engineers, 77-63, defeats Worcester Lone Star League: Midland-Odessa Panthers, 81-59, defeats Rio Grande Great Plains League: Peoria Distillers, 77-63, defeats Salina (2nd straight) Florida Coast League: Daytona Islanders, 79-61, defeats St. Petersburg Big Sky League: Saskatoon Rivermen, 70-63, defeats Regina Heartland League: Youngstown Steelers, 75-65, defeats Evansville A few oddities took place, one of which was a rare tight race in the Southeastern League, where four teams finished within three games of first place. In the Can-Am League, Portland went a league-record 85-41, resulting in them and second-place Ottawa being the only two teams in an eight-league circuit with a winning record. Lastly, the Big Sky League last year had the entire Canadian Division finish ahead of the entire American Division. It wasn't far off from happening again this year, though the entire eight-team circuit finished just 9 1/2 games apart, including races to the last day for the final two playoff spots.