Tag Archives: Jackson DiamondKats

29 Aug

happy trails

Fans at Trustmark Park said good-bye to the Mississippi Mud Monsters on a soggy Thursday night. The independent club won the last home game of its inaugural season, a rain-shortened 8-3 victory over the Gateway Grizzlies. The team, expected to return to Pearl next year, also won the first game of the season back in May. The Mud Monsters finish the Frontier League season with three games at Windy City, on the outskirts of Chicago, starting tonight. It’s been a competitive team, currently sitting at 46-47. Mississippi prep products like Davis Bradshaw (hitting .402 after a two-hit game), Kyle Booker (.297) and Brayland Skinner (.292) have played starring roles. Tyree Thompson, who notched his sixth win with a six-inning complete game on Thursday, is among five starters who won at least six times. Three Mud-sters — Brian Williams, Victor Diaz and Travis Holt — made the FL All-Star Game. Two pitchers signed with major league organizations off the roster: Zack Morris and Michael Fowler. The team did a whole lot of promotion, gave away a lot of stuff, drew some big crowds and more than a few small ones. No attendance number was released from the finale, but the club averaged an announced 2,022, middle-of-the-pack in the 18-team league. All in all it was a good debut season. We’ll see what Year 2 holds.
For the record: It was 20 years ago this month that we said good-bye — forever — to the previous independent team to play in central Mississippi, the Jackson Senators. That club, which won a league title at Smith-Wills Stadium in 2003, finished 35-58 in 2005, managed by Hill Denson, who was doubling as Belhaven’s coach at the time. (The Mississippi Braves arrived in Pearl that same year; their scheduled final homestand in 2005, some might recall, was cancelled because of Hurricane Katrina. The Braves left town last September.) The ’05 Sens finished last in the eight-team Central League despite having one of the league’s best players, outfielder Vince Faison. A former first-round draft pick by San Diego, Faison hit 15 homers and got a minor league deal with the New York Yankees at season’s end. Selwyn Langaigne, another talented athlete, hit .305. Rusty Camp, former Southern Miss standout from Amory, was the top pitcher. Several other Mississippi natives played on that club, including Gerard McCall, Brandon Parker and Fontella Jones. … Twenty-five years ago, the independent Jackson DiamondKats played their forever finale. They lost their last game in September of 2000 and finished 38-74, setting a record for losses in the Texas-Louisiana League. Not a lot of pleasant memories from that team. Managed by ex-Ole Miss and MLB star Steve Dillard, the D-Kats endured two 10-game losing streaks. Crowds were very sparse, roughly 700 per game. Some players did manage to shine, however. Ex-big leaguer Mark Carreon, at age 36, joined the team late in the season and hit .340 in 42 games. Ex-Delta State star Casey Myrick batted .329 with nine homers and 56 RBIs, and Jeremy McClain, former DSU ace and now Southern Miss’ athletic director, went 7-9 with a 3.27 ERA. … Thirty-five years ago, the Jackson Mets concluded their 16-year run at Smith-Wills. The beloved OJMs’ swan song came in September in the Texas League East Division playoffs, a disheartening loss against old rival Shreveport. The Clint Hurdle-managed club went 73-62 on the year and featured a bunch of future big leaguers. Among them: Todd Hundley, Chuck Carr, Anthony Young, Pete Schourek and Chris Donnels. The Mets moved their team to Pennsylvania. The Houston Astros’ Double-A club — the Generals — moved into Smith-Wills in 1991 as the city’s new Texas League franchise and stayed until 1999, when they, too, hit the road.
P.S. Spencer Turnbull is a free agent — again. The Madison Central High grad opted out of his minor league deal with the Chicago Cubs and was released off the Triple-A roster. He had a 9.49 ERA in six starts for Iowa. Turnbull, who pitched for Philadelphia in 2024, signed with Toronto as a free agent in May, put up a 7.11 ERA in three MLB games and was released in June. He signed with the Cubs on July 12.

12 Feb

an anniversary to celebrate

In recognition of Black History Month, here’s a tip of the cap to the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes, who won the Negro League World Series with three Mississippi natives on the roster. Reference works differ on the Buckeyes’ overall record, but according to baseball-reference.com, the team went 63-17-1. The Buckeyes won both halves of the split season in the Negro American League and then swept the National League champion Homestead Grays 4-0 in the Series. Lowndes County/Columbus native Sam Jethroe and Jackson’s Buddy Armour played center and left field, respectively, for the ’45 Buckeyes, and Lauderdale native Lovell Harden pitched out of the bullpen. A seven-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues, Jethroe, nicknamed “The Jet,” would go on to win rookie of the year honors in the majors in 1950 with the Boston Braves. According to the available stats from Baseball Reference, he batted .333 with 20 RBIs and five steals in 21 official games for the ’45 Buckeyes. Armour — a four-time All-Star and .285 career hitter — hit .254 with six RBIs and nine runs in 17 games that season. Harden made just two appearances. In the World Series against Homestead — which suited up Mississippians Cool Papa Bell and Dave Hoskins — Armour was 4-for-13 with two runs and three RBIs and Jethroe 4-for-15 with two RBIs and a run. Other members of that championship team celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2025 included player/manager Quincy “Big Train” Trouppe, pitching brothers George and Willie Jefferson, Cuban shortstop Avelino Canizares and third baseman Parnell Woods. P.S. Other anniversaries of note in 2025: It was 50 years ago — 50 years! — that the Jackson Mets made their debut at brand new Smith-Wills Stadium with a team that included Craig Cacek, Angel Cantres and Hattiesburg native Bobby Myrick. In 2000, the independent Jackson DiamondKats played their lone season at Smith-Wills, and 20 years ago, the Mississippi Braves — with Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur and Blaine Boyer — debuted at Pearl’s Trustmark Park, while the indy Senators — managed by Hill Denson — began their final season at Smith-Wills. The Kansas City Royals will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their 2015 World Series winner, a team managed by former JaxMets catcher Ned Yost and featuring McComb native Jarrod Dyson as a reserve outfielder.

08 Feb

tagging up

It would be an understatement to say Pearl River Community College has come out swinging. The 4-0 Wildcats, ranked seventh in the NJCAA preseason poll, hit 11 homers in a doubleheader sweep of Mississippi Gulf Coast on Sunday and have 16 bombs on the season. Von Seibert hit four homers on Sunday, three in Game 1, when the Wildcats set an apparent school record with eight. “It’s just what we do around here,” Seibert said in a release. … East Mississippi, which went 1-13 in 2020’s abbreviated campaign, is also 4-0, including a sweep of Northwest, ranked fourth by the NJCAA. Meridian moved to 4-0 with a sweep of Copiah-Lincoln on Sunday. … Delta State, starting Year 2 under coach Rodney Batts, dropped two of three games at Shorter over the weekend despite the efforts of Jones juco transfer Kirkland Trahan, who went 6-for-12 with two homers and five RBIs. … Mississippi College was outscored 18-2 in a Sunday doubleheader loss to Valdosta, nationally ranked in NCAA Division II. Game 3 of the Gulf South series is today in Clinton. … William Carey University won its opener on Sunday thanks to a walk-off double by Jake Lycette, a freshman from Brandon, then completed a sweep against Clarke (Iowa) behind the pitching of Carlo Graffeo and Connor Adams. Game 3 is today. … Blue Mountain College, stung by the tragic death of pitcher Chris Maurin in a Jan. 28 accident, is slated to open its season Tuesday at home against Tougaloo. The Toppers have had five games either postponed or cancelled. … Belhaven University is now slated to open with a three-game series against Piedmont College starting Thursday at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium. … Millsaps opens with back-to-back twinbills at Hendrix on Saturday and Sunday. P.S. Trivia time: Who was the one and only manager of the Jackson DiamondKats, the ill-fated independent club that played at Smith-Wills Stadium in 2000? Answer: Steve Dillard, the former Ole Miss star and big leaguer who turns 70 today. Dillard, an infielder, hit .243 over parts of eight years in the majors and managed in the affiliated minors in addition to his year with the D-Kats.

02 Aug

the lost boys

To the victors go the spoils, including the flowery prose that is written when significant anniversaries of their great moments come around. Mississippi has seen its fair share of great minor league teams. Pennants from the Cotton States League, Southeastern League, Texas League, Central League and Southern League have been raised and celebrated. We have also seen at least one very bad team, which is “celebrating” its 15th anniversary this year. Yet as dismal as the 2000 campaign was for the Jackson DiamondKats, the independent club did have some bright spots during its one-year run at Smith-Wills Stadium. Some recognition is due. It should be remembered that former Delta State star Casey Myrick was named the Texas-Louisiana League rookie of the year in 2000 after batting .329 with nine homers and 56 RBIs. Two D-Kats pitchers, Ryan Creek and Jeremy McClain, finished the season in the top 10 in the league in ERA. Creek, a onetime Jackson Generals ace, put up a 3.07 and went 5-5 (for a team that was 36 games under .500) before being injured. McClain, another DSU product, had a 3.27 ERA and went 7-9. William Carey College alumnus Perry Miley stole 38 bases, third-most in the TLL. And former big leaguer and ex-Jackson Mets outfielder Mark Carreon joined the team late in the year and hit .340. The D-Kats won their home opener, 5-4 against the Alexandria Aces, before an announced 2,389 (a bit of a stretch). The crowd included Mayor Harvey Johnson and ex-big leaguer Oil Can Boyd, a cousin of D-Kats outfielder Popeye Cole. Miley scored the winning run in the eighth inning, knocked in by Tupelo native Willie Gardner. Southern Miss product Danny Shupe made the lead stand up with a 1-2-3 ninth. Mark Davis, another Carey alum, got the win. The D-Kats didn’t win many more, finishing 38-74, a league record for losses. Former Ole Miss and MLB star Steve Dillard, a good guy, managed the club, which was heavy with Mississippians and largely overmatched against teams stacked with indy league veterans. The D-Kats were outscored by almost 200 runs and struck out a league-record 836 times. They endured two 10-game losing streaks. Home attendance was sparse, averaging under 700 a game. Alas, the D-Kats never got a chance at redemption. The franchise, owned by the league, folded before the 2001 season. The Jackson Mets and Generals, MLB-affiliated clubs, churned out stars at Smith-Wills for 25 years, from 1975-99, winning five Texas League pennants. The independent Senators arrived in 2002 and won a Central League crown in 2003. They ceased operations in 2006, one year after the Atlanta-affiliated Mississippi Braves arrived in Pearl, where they won a Southern League title in 2008 and are now playing their 11th season. While all those championship-stamped teams and many of the players they produced are regularly feted, the DiamondKats tend to be forgotten. Not today.

08 Apr

so much to remember

The year 2015 brings a bonanza of significant anniversaries for Mississippi pro baseball teams.
On April 19, 1975, 40 years ago, the Jackson Mets played their first game at Smith-Wills Stadium, beating the Arkansas Travelers 6-4 before a crowd of 2,862. Managed by John Antonelli, the original JaxMets went 65-65 and did not make the Texas League postseason. It was not a club of future big league stars. It was a club of Mike Agosto, Craig Casek and Angel Cantres, the team leaders in homers, average and RBIs. There was also Craig Clark, Rich Miller, Randy Trapp and Carlos Sagredo. Jeff Grose went 13-8 with a 3.54 ERA, and Mississippian Bobby Myrick won seven games.
In 1985, 30 years ago, the Jackson Mets won a Texas League championship, the franchise’s third pennant and second in a row under manager Sam Perlozzo. The tone was set in the home opener at Smith-Wills, when Biloxi native and Delta State product Barry Lyons hit a walk-off home run. Lyons, who batted .307 with 11 bombs and 108 RBIs, was one of a bunch of future big leaguers on that club. Some others: Mark Carreon, Keith Miller, Greg Olson, Randy Milligan, Stanley Jefferson and DeWayne Vaughn.
Fifteen years later — in the year 2000 — after Jackson’s Texas League team had moved away to Round Rock, Texas, the DiamondKats took up residence at Smith-Wills for one largely forgettable campaign. The independent club, managed by ex-Ole Miss and MLB star Steve Dillard, posted a 38-74 record and was outscored by almost 200 runs. Crowds were sparse. Some players did manage to shine, however. Mark Carreon, at age 36, joined the team late in the season and hit .340 in 42 games. Casey Myrick batted .329 with nine homers and 56 RBIs, and Jeremy McClain, another Delta State product, went 7-9 with a 3.27 ERA. The roster also included Popeye Cole, Willie Gardner, Jimbo Pinnix, Perry Miley and Rusty Camp, all Mississippi natives.
And 10 years ago, a new era dawned when Double-A baseball returned to central Mississippi. The Mississippi Braves trotted out a team on opening day at brand new Trustmark Park in Pearl that would produce 10 major league players, including Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, Gregor Blanco, Blaine Boyer, Luis Hernandez, Scott Thorman, Macay McBride and Zack Miner. But that original group wasn’t together for very long. McCann went to Atlanta in June, and many others would also move up over the next few weeks. The ’05 M-Braves, managed by Brian Snitker, finished 64-68 overall, failing to make the Southern League postseason. Still, it was a great debut act, one that started a steady stream of talent flowing through Pearl to the big leagues.