Tag Archives: Smith-Wills Stadium

11 Oct

back on memory lane

The walk-off single by Jorge Polanco in the 15th inning (and on Saturday morning CDT) was the third postseason walk-off hit by a Seattle player, per MLB Network. Polanco’s knock in the deciding Game 5 won the American League Division Series for the Mariners over Detroit 3-2. When the graphic showing the other two walk-offs popped up on the TV screen, it rekindled some memories. Twenty-five years ago, in Game 3 of the ALDS, pinch hitter Carlos Guillen put down a surprise squeeze bunt in the ninth inning that scored Rickey Henderson with the game-winner in a 2-1, series-clinching win against Chicago. As some old Smith-Wills Stadium regulars will recall, Guillen was a standout shortstop for the Double-A Jackson Generals in 1997 and was involved in Houston’s famous trade with Seattle for Randy Johnson in 1998. Guillen, who batted .285 and was a three-time All-Star over a 14-year MLB career, was still a rookie in 2000. The other Seattle postseason walk-off is a bit more famous, of course. In the 1995 ALDS, in Game 5 at the old Kingdome, Edgar Martinez delivered a two-run double in the 11th inning that scored Ken Griffey Jr. with the game-winner against New York. The 6-5 victory set off a celebration that some say saved baseball in Seattle in a wobbly time for the franchise. In the grainy video from that moment, you can catch a glimpse of Sam Perlozzo, the M’s third-base coach, frantically waving Griffey home. Perlozzo, as Smith-Wills cranks will remember, managed the Jackson Mets to back-to-back Texas League titles in 1984-85 before going on to coach and manage in the big leagues. Note: Both the 1995 Mariners and the 2000 club lost in the AL Championship Series; Seattle has never made it to the World Series.

07 Sep

three stars

Brandon Wooduff: The ex-Mississippi State star from Wheeler threw six shutout innings (two hits, no walks, eight strikeouts) to pace Milwaukee to a 4-1 victory Saturday at Pittsburgh. Woodruff, coming off a couple of shaky outings, improved to 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, now 88-55, best record in the big leagues.
Mason Nichols/Connor Hujsak: Former Ole Miss standout Nichols threw two scoreless innings (the eighth and ninth) for his first pro win and ex-MSU star Hujsak belted his seventh homer as co-stars in Low-Class A Charleston’s 2-1 victory at Hickory. Nichols, a 2025 draft pick by Tampa Bay, has a 0.00 ERA in seven games. Hujsak, a 2024 draftee, is batting .229 with 19 doubles, six triples, 51 RBIs and 54 runs in 98 games.
Konnor Griffin: The Jackson Prep product, the No. 1 prospect in the minors, returned from a day off to hit a home run, draw a walk and score twice for Double-A Altoona (Pittsburgh). Griffin has four homers in Double-A and 20 overall (with 90 RBIs) in his first pro season. Note: He was NOT hit by a pitch after getting drilled four times in the three previous games against Richmond.
P.S. Former Southern Miss catcher Chuckie Robinson was called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday and figures to be behind the plate today when the team — and Clayton Kershaw — takes on Baltimore. … Sad to hear of the passing of Davey Johnson, who longtime Jackson-area fans will remember as the manager of the 1981 Jackson Mets. Johnson took a team that wasn’t loaded with future MLB stars — Marvell Wynne, Mike Fitzgerald, Terry Leach, et al. — to the franchise’s first Texas League title in its seventh year at Smith-Wills Stadium. Five years after that ’81 run, Johnson guided the New York Mets — and a bunch of JaxMets alums — to the World Series crown. That Mets club played a memorable exhibition game at Smith-Wills prior to the season. Johnson also won two rings as a player with Baltimore.

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.

22 Jun

flashback

On this date in 1985, Jackson native Curtis Ford made his big league debut for St. Louis — and it was one for the scrapbook. Pinch-hitting in the ninth inning at Busch Stadium, he got a game-winning hit off Lee Smith — future Hall of Famer — of the Chicago Cubs. Ford went 6-for-12 that season and hit .245 with 36 steals in 406 games over parts of six MLB campaigns. He played in the 1987 postseason with St. Louis and batted .318, going 4-for-13 with two RBIs in the World Series loss to Minnesota. He played in Mexico and independent leagues until 1997. A Murrah High grad, Ford played college ball for Bob Braddy at Jackson State and is one of nine JSU alums to make The Show. Also on the list: Oil Can Boyd, Dave Clark, Marvin Freeman and Wes Chamberlain. Ford played for Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League and was on base in the 1984 TL All-Star Game at Smith-Wills Stadium when Jackson’s Billy Beane hit a game-winning homer. Ford’s son Curtis played at Mississippi Valley State under Doug Shanks. P.S. Nathaniel Lowe hit his 100th career homer on Saturday, then added No. 101. The Mississippi State alum contributed two solo shots to Washington’s 7-3 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With four homers in June, Lowe has 12 for the year and is batting .228 with 47 RBIs. … Ex-MSU star Justin Foscue was recalled from the minors by Texas but did not play Saturday. He was batting .269 with 10 homers at Triple-A Round Rock; he went 2-for-42 in his MLB debut last season. … Jordan Westburg, another former Bulldogs standout, left Saturday’s game with a jammed finger and is considered day-to-day by Baltimore. A 2024 All-Star, he is hitting .229 in 34 games, having recently come off the injured list. … Petal native and erstwhile big leaguer Demarcus Evans is pitching again, now in the independent American Association. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound right-hander has a 2.08 ERA in four games for Gary SouthShore. He last pitched in MLB in 2021 with Texas and has made just nine appearances, all in indy leagues, since 2022.

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.

21 Jan

a breakthrough

The Texas League era lasted 25 years at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium, and a parade of talented players — All-Stars and World Series champs — passed through with the Double-A Mets and Generals. Billy Wagner, who pitched for the Generals 30 years ago, became the first player from that era (1975-99) to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Results were announced tonight on MLB Network. In his final year on the writers’ ballot, Wagner got 82.5 percent of the vote, clearing the 75 percent threshold. Wagner was a seven-time All-Star who registered 422 saves with a 2.31 ERA over 16 seasons in the big leagues. He ranks first all-time (live-ball era) in opponents batting average (.187), hits allowed per nine innings (6.0) and strikeouts per nine (11.9). In making a case for Wagner’s election, Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci called the little left-hander “historically difficult to hit.” Wagner was a first-round pick by Houston in 1993 out of NCAA Division III Ferrum College. He reached the Double-A Generals in 1995, going 2-2 with a 2.57 ERA in 12 starts, fanning 77 batters and walking 36 in 70 innings. He debuted with the Astros later that year. … Former Generals outfielder Bobby Abreu, in his fifth year on the ballot, got 19.5 percent of the vote, topping the 5 percent mark needed to remain on the ballot for next year. Surprisingly, Brian McCann, one of the best players to pass through Pearl’s Trustmark Park during the Mississippi Braves’ 20-year run, got just 1.8 percent in his first year of eligibility. McCann, a catcher, batted .262 with 282 homers and 1,018 RBIs with seven All-Star Game appearances in a 15-year career. He was the first M-Braves alum to reach the majors, going up to Atlanta in 2005. P.S. Mississippi native Dave Parker previously was elected to the Hall by the Classic Era Committee and will join Cool Papa Bell (Starkville) as the only state natives in Cooperstown. The induction ceremony is set for July 27.

28 Oct

save the date

Mississippi’s new pro team has announced a schedule for 2025, with opening day set for May 8 at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The Mud Monsters, yet to announce a manager or a roster, will play a 96-game schedule — 48 home dates spread over nine homestands — in the independent Frontier League, an 18-team league comprised mainly of teams in the Midwest and East Coast (plus three in Canada). The Mud Monsters’ inaugural game will be against the Florence (Ky.) Y’alls. The Mud Monsters are moving into the 5,500-seat stadium vacated by the Mississippi Braves, the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. Diamond Baseball Holdings, the franchise owner, has moved the club to Columbus, Ga., presumably because of flagging attendance. (Baseball America noted that the 20-year-old Pearl ballpark needed some upgrades to meet MLB’s minor league standards.) … The Mud Monsters will be the seventh pro team to play in central Mississippi going back to 1953, when the original Jackson Senators pulled up stakes after their downtown stadium was destroyed by a tornado. Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium hosted the Mets, Generals, DiamondKats and Senators before the M-Braves arrived in Pearl in 2005. The Mud Monsters franchise is owned by Joseph Eng, an executive with Billtrust who also owns a franchise in the indy American Association. TBH Sports and Entertainment has been managing the ballpark, which is owned by Bloomfield Equities, a subsidiary of Yates Construction, which built the stadium.

23 Oct

‘fernandomania’

Fernando Valenzuela, who died on Tuesday, will always be remembered for the “Fernandomania” the Mexican left-hander generated in his 1981 rookie season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won the World Series that year. A strain of “Fernandomania” also reached Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium on May 27, 1991, when Valenzuela made an appearance for the Midland Angels against the Jackson Generals in a Double-A Texas League game. A stadium-record, standing room-only crowd of 6,252 turned out; a section of the outfield was roped off to accommodate the spillover. Valenzeula, who had been released by the Dodgers in spring training that year, was making a comeback attempt with the California Angels. He pitched six innings and got the win on that crazy night. If you were there, you can’t forget it. Valenzuela didn’t last long with the Angels but bounced back to win 32 games with four other MLB clubs from 1993-97, running his career win total to 173, 141 of those with the Dodgers. He was the Cy Young Award winner and rookie of the year in 1981 and won the pivotal Game 3 of the World Series against the New York Yankees with a gutsy effort. Forty-three years after that remarkable season, Valenzuela remains one of baseball’s true icons. P.S. A few details from Valenzuela’s Smith-Wills outing, his second minor league start for Midland: He wore a major league uniform — not a Midland unie — with his name on the back. … He threw 53 strikes among his 90 pitches, allowing no runs on five hits and three walks (all in the first inning) with seven strikeouts in a 7-1 victory. … He said he was especially happy with his signature screwball. … “He made great pitches at the right times,” Gens second baseman and future big leaguer Trent (Trenidad) Hubbard said after the game. … Bill Blackwell, the Jackson GM at the time and now executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, said not only did he sell a lot of tickets for that Monday night game, he also sold a lot of beer, especially to the fans standing in the outfield. … The Gens averaged about 1,700 fans per game in 1991, the franchise’s first season as a Houston affiliate. … Blackwell also noted that Valenzuela sat in the Midland bullpen the next night and rode the team bus to Arkansas for the next series.

26 Sep

just stuff

The good news for the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday: They beat Miami 8-3 to keep pace in the American League wild card chase, 2 games back of sizzling-hot Detroit and Kansas City. The bad news: Former Southern Miss standout Matt Wallner, one of the Twins’ top power threats, went on the injured list with an oblique injury. “It sucks. Definitely not something I foresaw happening, so not ideal,” Wallner said in a Sports Illustrated story. Wallner has 13 homers and a .523 slugging percentage in 75 games. … Kansas City, which has won two straight after a seven-game skid, is missing ex-Mississippi State star Chris Stratton and Ole Miss alum James McArthur, both on the IL, from its bullpen. McArthur won’t pitch again in 2024. … J.T. Ginn, rookie righty out of MSU, will get the dubious honor of starting today in the A’s final game at Oakland Coliseum, their home since 1968. They’ll play in Sacramento next season. Ginn is 0-1 with a 4.40 ERA in seven MLB games. He’ll face a Texas club that suits up ex-MSU stars Nathaniel Lowe and Justin Foscue. … MSU alum Eric Cerantola, a Kansas City prospect, pitched the last two innings, allowing one unearned run, as Omaha beat Columbus 5-4 in 11 innings to even the International League Championship Series at 1-all. The deciding game is tonight in Omaha. … Former State and Jackson Prep star Jake Mangum won the IL batting title with a .317 average. The fifth-year pro, 28, finished with six homers, 56 RBIs and 20 steals for Durham in the Tampa Bay organization. … On the occasion of Arkansas winning the 2024 Texas League crown on Wednesday night, here’s a tip of the cap to the 1984 TL champion Jackson Mets and the 1994 Jackson Generals, who reached the finals in dramatic fashion. The ’84 JaxMets, featuring the likes of Lenny Dykstra, Billy Beane and Randy Myers, dominated the TL East in the regular season and beat Beaumont for the pennant in six games. The ’94 Generals, the defending league champs, won the TL East playoffs in one of Smith-Wills Stadium’s most memorable games. Down 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth of the decisive Game 5, the Generals got back-to-back home runs from Tom Nevers and Jeff Ball to stun rival Shreveport 2-1. The Gens, whose best player was Bobby Abreu, lost in the TL Championship Series.

08 Sep

aloha from pearl

Good-bye, Mississippi Braves. Hello, Frontier League team to be named later. The M-Braves — Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves — will play their final game at Pearl’s Trustmark Park today (2:05 p.m. vs. Tennessee). On Monday, fan voting will begin to pick a name for a new team that will play there in the independent Frontier League. (Visit ondeck2025.com.) Pearl city officials and the stadium management group have announced that Trustmark Park will have a pro team in 2025. As currently configured, the Frontier League, officially an MLB-supported Partner League, has 16 teams, 13 in the U.S., three in Canada, none in the South. If you’re scoring at home, this team will be the third independent club to come to central Mississippi (Jackson or Pearl) since 2000. (Several other cities in the state hosted indy teams at various times in the 1990s, but all are long gone.) Since 1990, fans in the metro have said good-bye to the Mets and Generals, both MLB affiliated teams, and the DiamondKats and Senators, both independent clubs. All four played at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium, and all four suffered from poor attendance that impacted their bottom line. That’s why the M-Braves are leaving, as well, bound for Columbus, Ga., after a 20-year run at Trustmark Park. The M-Braves — who drew an announced crowd of 5,300-plus for Saturday’s doubleheader — have averaged just over 2,000 fans a game for the past several seasons, ranking near the bottom in all of Double-A baseball. The league average in the Frontier League this season was 2,305. Six teams drew under 2,000, including a Brockton, Mass.-based club that averaged 1,116. The team in Schaumburg, Ill., averaged a reported 4,627 to lead the league. … For the record, a new college summer league — the Legacy League — is scheduled to operate at Smith-Wills next year: eight teams playing a 40-game slate from May into July.