Tag Archives: Jackson Senators

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.

08 May

for openers

Opening day for the Mississippi Mud Monsters, the new independent team, is Thursday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Opening day is always special. When it is punctuated with a win by the home team, it is even moreso. Over the last 50 years, there have been a lot of opening days for pro teams in central Mississippi, every year since 1975, in fact, save for 2001 (no team) and 2020 (COVID shutdown). There are some around who might recall the very first opening day, 50 years ago, at Smith-Wills Stadium, where the Double-A Jackson Mets beat Arkansas 6-4 in a Texas League game. A crowd of 2,800 turned out on a rainy day — and a love affair between city and team began. If you were there in 1984, when Lenny Dykstra put on a show for the JaxMets in a 6-0 win over Tulsa, you remember it. In 1985, Biloxi’s own Barry Lyons belted a walk-off homer for the JaxMets. Both the ’84 and ’85 Mets teams, stocked with future big leaguers, would win league titles. The Jackson Generals, the Houston affiliate that followed the Mets into Smith-Wills in 1991, won their inaugural game at Smith-Wills, 3-2 over Shreveport on a Rusty Harris pinch-hit single in the eighth inning. The 1993 Generals won their first five home games, all against Tulsa, managed by Jackson native Stan Cliburn. The ’93 Gens, featuring Roberto Petagine, Brian Hunter and Jackson’s own Fletcher Thompson, would go on to win the TL pennant. On opening day in 1995, Hattiesburg’s Kary Bridges hit a memorable walk-off bomb for the Gens. The independent Jackson DiamondKats won their first and only home opener in 2000, getting a game-winning hit in the eighth inning from Tupelo’s Willie Gardner. In 2003, the indy Jackson Senators won their opening day game, behind the pitching of Purvis native and staff ace Kenny Rayborn, and would go on to win the Central League championship. Trustmark Park formally opened 20 years ago in April, when the Double-A Mississippi Braves played their much-anticipated home opener. The game drew a crowd of 6,000-plus. That 2005 opening day lineup featured future big leaguers Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, Gregor Blanco, Scott Thorman, Anthony Lerew and Luis Hernandez. The manager was Brian Snitker. Alas, the M-Braves lost to Montgomery 11-6. But it was opening day, and it was still special. Thursday will be, too.

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.

04 Oct

embedded

Observations from a Tuesday locked into televised baseball:
First pitch of game one — Texas at Tampa Bay — of the four wild card series openers is at 2:07 p.m. CDT. … Christian Bethancourt, the former Mississippi Braves catcher, is not in Tampa Bay’s lineup; he played in 104 games this season. … Nathaniel Lowe, former Mississippi State standout, gets a hit in his first at-bat and scores the first run of the day for Texas in the second inning. … Brookhaven native Lance Barksdale, veteran MLB umpire, is at second base for the Rangers-Rays game. … With the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth, Lowe pops up; it’s still 1-0. … Andy Fletcher, an Ole Miss alum and Olive Branch resident, is the ump behind the plate for the Toronto-Minnesota game. He rated relatively low on ball-strike accuracy in 2023, per umpscorecards.com. … In his first postseason at-bat, ex-Southern Miss star Matt Wallner draws a walk for Minnesota in the second inning. He is stranded. … Toronto’s bullpen coach is Jeff Ware, who spent a year as a pitcher/coach with the independent Jackson Senators some 20 years ago. Ware got the bullpen job this spring, 27 years after he last wore a big league uniform as a Jays pitcher. … Texas wins 4-0; Lowe finishes 1-for-5. … Wallner, who made one error all season in 100 chances, is replaced in left field in the seventh inning. … Milwaukee’s starting lineup against visiting Arizona includes four former Biloxi Shuckers — pitcher Corbin Burnes, second baseman Brice Turang and outfielders Sal Frelick and Tyrone Taylor — and a Mississippi Braves alum — catcher William Contreras. … Minnesota wins 3-1, snapping an 18-game postseason losing streak dating to 2004. Former Jackson Mets shortstop Ron Gardenhire was the Twins manager that season. … In Miami’s starting lineup at Philadelphia is catcher Nick Fortes, the Ole Miss product who has had a tough year (.206, six homers). … The Phillies’ infield coach is Laurel native Bobby Dickerson, father of ex-USM shortstop Dustin Dickerson, now in the Kansas City system. … Taylor — the No. 9 hitter — hits a two-run homer for the Brewers, putting them ahead 3-0 in the second inning. … Milwaukee pitching coach Chris Hook, who pitched briefly for the Jackson Generals in 1998, makes a trip to the mound after Burnes surrenders back-to-back homers that tie the score for Arizona. … Cristian Pache, once a highly rated prospect with the M-Braves, makes a nice running catch in left field to record the first out for the Phillies at raucous Citizens Bank Park. … In the second inning at Philly, ESPN’s Karl Ravech talks about Phillies infielder Bryson Stott’s work with Bobby and Dustin Dickerson in the off-season in Mississippi. … Fortes, in his first postseason AB, hits into an inning-ending double play in the third; the score is still 0-0. … Burnes, a 10-game winner this year, is pulled in the fifth by the Brewers, down 4-3; rookie Abner Uribe, a 2023 Shuckers alum, replaces him. … Pache — whose first big league homer came as a rookie for Atlanta in the 2020 National League Championship Series — gets an RBI knock in the fourth to put the Phillies up 3-0. … In Milwaukee, Taylor lines into an inning-ending double play in the fifth with the bases jammed and the Brewers still trailing 4-3. D’backs veteran third baseman Evan Longoria, 37, who passed through Trustmark Park with the Montgomery Biscuits back in 2006-07, makes the crucial, leaping snag. … Milwaukee goes to its closer, former Shuckers star Devin Williams (36 saves), in the ninth. He issues three walks — around a strikeout and a caught stealing — before Christian Walker doubles to plate two more runs. … In the bottom of the ninth, Frelick makes the last out on a pop up in Arizona’s 6-3 win. … In Philadelphia, the Phillies go to ex-M-Braves star Craig Kimbrel — the occasionally erratic closer — who gets through the ninth to finish off a 4-1 victory. The last out of the fourth and final game is recorded at 9:55 p.m. … What a day. And the postseason has only just begun.

16 May

memory lane

The Jackson Senators era at Smith-Wills Stadium was short but produced some unforgettable moments. Perhaps chief among them was what occurred on this date in 2004. Tommy Bost belted two grand slams and a three-run homer in a 22-2 win over Amarillo on a Sunday afternoon. Bost, a Meridian native who played college ball at Louisiana Tech, tied the independent Central Baseball League mark for homers in a game and set a record with his 11 RBIs. Drafted out of LaTech by Cleveland in 1998, Bost was on the roster of the first Senators team in 2002, batting .304 with 15 homers. He got another shot in affiliated ball in 2003 with Florida and reached Double-A for the second time. He returned to the Senators in 2004. He played only 30 games, but one of them was unforgettable. P.S. Circle the date of May 19. This Friday will be “Scott Berry Night” at Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, honoring the school’s all-time winningest coach who announced his retirement today. The Golden Eagles, in the hunt for a Sun Belt Conference title, will play Louisiana-Lafayette at 6 p.m. following a pregame ceremony for Berry.

05 Apr

pennant fever

Friday is opening day No. 18 for the Mississippi Braves, who’ll take on the Biloxi Shuckers at 6:35 p.m. at Trustmark Park in Pearl. A championship is the ultimate goal, of course, for a franchise that has won two Southern League pennants (2008 and 2021). The 2023 roster is expected to be released today, when the team holds its first workout. The talent in Atlanta’s minor league system has been thinned out in recent years, but the organization has a true knack for scouting and development, so expect a competitive team. Jackson-area Double-A teams have won eight pennants all told, and this year marks a notable anniversary of two of those titles. Twenty years ago, the independent Jackson Senators won the Central Baseball League championship. In one of the most dramatic moments in Smith-Wills Stadium’s long history, Keto Anderson delivered a game-winning hit in the bottom of the 10th inning of the decisive fifth game against Amarillo. That Senators team included Jeremy McClain, Gerard McCall, Ryan Creek, Kenny Rayborn, Robbie Kison, Vernon Spearman and onetime big leaguer Lonnie Maclin. Thirty years ago, the Double-A Jackson Generals won the Texas League championship, the first for the franchise as a Houston Astros affiliate. League MVP Roberto Petagine was the star of that team, which also included Brian Hunter, Jim Dougherty, Alvin Morman, Ray Montgomery, Lance “Bam-Bam” Madsen and Jackson native Fletcher Thompson.

24 May

time fades away

Twenty years ago today, with former Delta State star Jeremy McClain on the mound and Meridian High product Gerard McCall behind the plate, the Jackson Senators played their first home game, drawing a crowd announced at 3,475 to Smith-Wills Stadium. They lost 7-6, but no matter. The game marked the return of pro ball to Jackson after a year without a team, and there was genuine excitement in the old yard. The Texas League franchise (Mets/Generals) left after a 25-year run in 1999, and the independent DiamondKats — a bad team that drew poorly — lasted just one season. The Senators, also an independent playing in the newly reorganized Central Baseball League, lasted four years, winning a league championship in 2003. The arrival of the Double-A Mississippi Braves in Pearl in 2005 ultimately led to the Sens’ demise. The first Senators club, managed by Dan Shwam, was a good one. The roster included Meridian native Tommy Bost — who hit the first homer in that home opener — Southern Miss product Brandon Parker, former big leaguer Jeff Ware, Kyle Hawthorne, Garret Osilka, Juan Moreno, Peanut Williams, Russ Herbert and Yuji Nerei, to name a few. They won the first-half title in the CBL East and made it to the league finals in the postseason, losing the decisive fifth game.

25 Oct

history’s path

Since the Mississippi Braves arrived in Pearl in 2005, the Double-A club has funneled literally scores of players to Atlanta, including the entire infield and the top three starting pitchers on the 2021 team that has reached the World Series for the first time in 22 years. But the Braves franchise has a largely forgotten history in Mississippi that goes back 70-plus years. When Atlanta announced it was moving its Double-A team from South Carolina to Pearl, it was actually reconnecting with the Magnolia State. From 1946-50, when the Braves called Boston home, they had a farm team in Jackson, the Senators, who played at League Park near where the Fairgrounds stands now. Those were good teams, posting winning records in four of the five seasons and finishing first in the Southeastern League standings in 1947. “It was a pretty good brand of ball,” former Senators player Banks McDowell said in a 2001 interview. “It was Class B, and baseball people would tell us later that it was comparable to Double-A today.” Minor league affiliation worked a little differently in that era; research indicates only one player from those Senators teams made the big leagues. Vern Bickford pitched in Jackson in 1946 and pitched parts of seven seasons in the majors. He was on the Braves’ 1948 World Series team and threw a no-hitter in 1950. The Braves pulled out of Jackson in 1951, and Detroit came in two years later. League Park was destroyed by a tornado in August of ’53. The team moved its games elsewhere and never returned. Jackson got a Double-A team in 1975, when the Mets moved into then-new Smith-Wills Stadium. New York’s 1986 World Series championship club featured numerous former Jackson Mets, among them Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Roger McDowell and Jesse Orosco. After the Mets departed in 1990, Houston arrived with the Generals and from 1991-99 produced a bevy of big leaguers, many of whom fueled the Astros’ run of success in the National League Central in the late ’90s. When the Astros finally made the World Series for the first time in 2005, two former Generals — Lance Berkman and Raul Chavez — were still around. The Astros still have some fans in the metro area, and the M-Braves recognized that heritage with tribute nights at Trustmark Park in 2019 and again this summer.

08 Apr

make a toast

Most local baseball aficionados are well aware that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the arrival at Trustmark Park in Pearl of the Mississippi Braves, who moved from Greenville, S.C., in 2005. (Hopefully, there will be a 2020 season during which to celebrate that fact.) This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the Jackson DiamondKats’ one and only – and otherwise forgettable — season at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium and the 30th anniversary of the Jackson Mets’ final season at Smith-Wills. The 1990 JaxMets, managed by Clint Hurdle, won a division title and made the Texas League playoffs, marking the 10th postseason appearance for the Double-A club in its 16 years in Jackson. This year also marks the 80th anniversary of a somewhat forgotten championship team, the 1940 Jackson Senators. Playing in the Class B Southeastern League, the Senators went a league-best 89-58 that season and crushed both the Selma Cloverleafs and the Pensacola Fliers in the playoffs, going 4-1 in each series. Managed by Footsie Blair, the unaffiliated Senators played at League Park, a stadium near what is now the Fairgrounds. (It was destroyed by a tornado in 1953.) That team was led by future big leaguer Tom McBride, a .316 hitter who topped the SL in hits with 194 (according to statscrew.com); Paul Fugit, who batted .317 with 11 homers; and 16-game winners Harry Durheim and Gordon Maltzberger, who led the loop in ERA and later coached in the majors for several years. The Senators’ championship in 1940 was the last league title celebrated in the Capital City until Davey Johnson’s JaxMets won the TL pennant in 1981.

26 Mar

idle time trivia

On what would have been Opening Day in the major leagues, here’s a few themed trivia questions to jog the memories of Jackson-area pro baseball fans. (Answers below.)
1. When the Jackson Mets played their first game 45 years ago at Smith-Wills Stadium, who was their starting pitcher?
2. What future big leaguer threw a one-hitter for the JaxMets in their 1982 home opener?
3. How many future major league players were in the lineup for the JaxMets in their 1984 home opener?
4. What future major league catcher hit a walk-off home run for the Jackson Mets in their 1985 home opener?
5. What former Ole Miss star hit a walk-off home run in the Jackson Generals’ home opener in 1995?
6. What former Tupelo High standout knocked in the winning run for the Jackson DiamondKats in their home opener in 2000?
7. What former Purvis High star was the winning pitcher in the Jackson Senators’ home opener in 2003?
8. Who hit the first home run in Mississippi Braves history in their season opener in 2005?
9. When the M-Braves played their inaugural home game at Trustmark Park, who scored their first run?
10. What three players hit home runs for the Atlanta Braves when they played a season-opening exhibition game in 2013 at the TeePee?

Answers
1. Greg Pavlick, who would go on to be a longtime major league pitching coach, beat Arkansas 6-4 with relief help from Joe Klenda, who threw four perfect innings. A crowd of 2,862 turned out on a drizzly Saturday afternoon.
2. Jeff Bittiger beat Arkansas 2-0; the Travelers’ lone hit was an infield single by Jose Gonzalez with two outs in the eighth inning. Bittiger went 12-5 that season and led the Texas League in strikeouts.
3. Eight: Lenny Dykstra, Mark Carreon, Billy Beane, Dave Cochrane, Randy Milligan, Al Pedrique, Greg Olson and Jay Tibbs. The OJMs, who would win the Texas League pennant in 1984, beat Tulsa 6-0; Dykstra was on base five times, scored twice, drove in a run, stole a base and threw a runner out at third base.
4. Barry Lyons, the ex-Delta State standout from Biloxi, went yard on the first pitch in the bottom of the ninth to beat Shreveport 3-2. Led by Lyons’ 108 RBIs, the ’85 OJMs won their second straight Texas League crown.
5. Kary Bridges, the Oak Grove product now the coach at St. Martin High in Ocean Springs, belted a three-run bomb in the ninth to beat Arkansas 7-6. Bridges batted .301 that season but hit just two more homers.
6. Willie Gardner’s eighth-inning single scored Perry Miley with the go-ahead run in a 5-4 defeat of Alexandria, one of the rare highlights of the independent D-Kats’ lone season at Smith-Wills.
7. Kenny Rayborn cruised through five innings to beat Springfield/Ozarks in a 10-3 game. Rayborn, in the seventh of his 13 minor league seasons, went 10-2 for the Sens, who won the Central League title that year.
8. Jeff Francoeur went deep – very deep — at Montgomery’s Riverwalk Stadium in a 9-8 defeat on April 7. Francoeur hit 12 more homers for the M-Braves before his July promotion to Atlanta, where he famously homered in his first game.
9. Jonathan Schuerholz, son of the former Atlanta GM, scored on an infield hit by Scott Thorman in the first inning of an 11-6 loss to Montgomery. The younger Schuerholz is now Atlanta’s assistant director of pro scouting.
10. Dan Uggla, Chris Johnson and Evan Gattis, a former M-Braves catcher whose three-run bomb in the seventh inning landed somewhere in the parking lot beyond left field. Gattis hit 21 homers for Atlanta that season, his rookie year.