# 29 Denver Bears

I’ve always loved baseball and know quite a bit about it, but one thing I never knew about was the Denver Bears baseball team.  I thought I’d do a little bit of a research project, then I happened to receive a Denver Bears shirt as a gift, so I knew for sure I needed to do this.

I found out that Denver had various teams over the years back to 1885.  In 1955, Denver upgraded to a Triple-A team as the Denver Bears and started out as an affiliate of the New York Yankees.   This happened because the Kansas City Blues were forced to relocate after the American League's Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City, Missouri, to become the Kansas City Athletics.  Denver had no connection to the original Blues, so because of the new location in the Rockies, the team became known as Bears

 The Bears played at what became known later as Mile High Stadium the home of the NFL Denver Broncos, but it was originally known as Bears Stadium, after the team. When Bears Stadium opened it held 16,000 and it was enlarged to 25,000 in 1963 and expanded through the years until it reached a capacity of 76,000 in 1977. This ballpark was one of the largest venues in history to host minor league baseball on a routine basis. The biggest crowds were on 4^th of July fireworks nights typically Crowds of 45,000 and more watched the fireworks games. On July 4, 1982, the Bears drew 65,666 for the annual Fireworks Game, a minor league record for a single game. Mile High Stadium remained the home of Denver baseball until the opening of Coors Field in 1995.

The Bears won the American Association championship multiple times in 1971, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1983.and 1991 as the Zephers They also won the 1991 Triple-A Classic

In 1957, the Bears were affiliated with the New York Yankees and under manager Ralph Houk won the American Association championship and the Junior World Series. Many players would later reach the majors and play in the World Series.  In 1960, then as a Detroit farm club, they finished first, but lost in the playoff finals. They had two League MVPs early on including Marv Throneberry in 1956 and Steve Boros in 1960

The Denver Bears had some good teams from the 1970s to the mid-1980s, producing such players as Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, Tim Raines, Graig Nettles, Terry Francona, Wallace Johnson, Danny Morris, and Bill Gullickson. Denver players Richie Scheinblum (1971), Cliff Johnson (1973), Roger Freed (1976), Frank Ortenzio (1977), and Randy Bass (1980) were league MVPs. The managing careers of both Billy Martin and Felipe Alou began with the Bears.

In 1984, the team name was changed to the Denver Zephyrs, after the famous passenger train. Barry Larkin was league MVP in 1986 along with Greg Vaughn in 1989, Jim Olander in 1991 and Jim Tatum in 1992.  Their only championship under the new nickname was the 1991 American Association title They went on to win the 1991 Triple-A Classic against the International League's Columbus Clippers, 4–1.

The team remained in the American Association through the 1992 season.  In 1993, After 39 seasons of play, the Zephyrs relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana where they continued as the New Orleans Zephyrs. The team made way for the National League Colorado Rockies expansion team.

Over the years The Bears were affiliates of many teams including

Milwaukee Brewers (1987–1992)

Cincinnati Reds (1985–1986)

Chicago White Sox (1983–1984)

Texas Rangers (1982)

Montreal Expos (1976–1981)

Chicago White Sox (1975)

Houston Astros (1973–1974)

Texas Rangers (1972)

Washington Senators (1970–1971)

Minnesota Twins (1965–1969)

Milwaukee Braves (1963–1964)

Detroit Tigers (1960–1962)

Unaffiliated (1959)

New York Yankees (1955–1958)

 

Some famous baseball people that played or managed for the bears were

Andre Dawson

Bob Uecker

Johnny Pesky

Ralph Houk

Sam Suplizio

Terry Francona

Tim Raines

Tim Wallach

Tom Lasorda

Tony La Russa

Whitey Herzog

Billy Martin

Felipe Alou

 

I learned a lot about the Bears, but what I found most interesting was the 1980 Denver Bears team that was picked as number 37 of the Top 100 Teams in minor league history. The 1980 Bears were a member of the Montreal Expos family. They were part of the American Association and they won the West Division crown and finished with a Record of 92-44, .676, 21.5 games better than Oklahoma City

 On April 19, eight days after the season opened, they took over first place and remained there until they clinched the title two weeks before the end of the season. The Bears were really good at Mile High Stadium, winning 21 consecutive home games in mid-season. In May, in one 19-game stretch, Denver pitchers had a 1.99 ERA and hurled 31 consecutive scoreless innings.  Denver led the American Association in batting by a 17-point margin over Oklahoma City, .296 to .279. They also led in runs (865), hits (1,383), total bases (2,146), doubles (231), home runs (146), RBI (806) and walks (567). The pitching staff ERA was edged out by Springfield, 3.86 to 3.87, but led the league in shutouts with 14. In the playoff, Denver met East Division winner Springfield.  The Bears were upended, four games to one.

Some of the important people that season were

Billy Gardner The Bears were managed by 53-year-old former major league infielder.  He played for ten years in the majors (1954-63) with the Giants, Orioles, Senators, Twins, Yankees and Red Sox, batting .237. Gardner managed Minnesota and Kansas City later on in his career.

 20-year-old second baseman Tim Raines, beat out Oklahoma City’s Orlando Gonzalez by .0002, .3543 to .3541. for The American Association batting title.  He also set a league record by stealing 77 bases. which would have been higher, but he spent 18 days with Montreal in July-August.   He was chosen as The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year. In 1981 he moved up to the majors where he stayed for 19 years, the first ten with Montreal.

Designated Hitter Randy Bass (.333) completed the Triple Crown for the Bears, leading the league in home runs (37) and RBI (143), as well as in runs scored (106) and slugging percentage (.644). His home run total topped the minors.  He was voted the American Associations Most Valuable Player and was the National Associations Minor League player of the Year. He then went to Japan where he starred for 5 seasons for the Hanshin Tigers of the Central League. He won the Triple Crown in 1985 and 1986

Shortstop Jerry Manuel (.277) didn’t make much of a mark as a major league player, but he was a very successful manager.  He was appointed manager of the Chicago White Sox on December 4, 1997 and managed them for 6 seasons followed by 3 seasons with the New York Mets

Third baseman Tim Wallach hit .281-36-124, led the American Association in total bases (295) and was second to Bass in homers, RBI and slugging percentage (.576).  He was Montreal’s first round selection in the June 1979 free agent draft after a stellar collegiate career at Cal State Fullerton.  He was the Expos third baseman for 12 years.   In 17 major league seasons he batted .257 in 2,212 games.

There were nine .300 hitters in the American Association and Denver had four of them. In addition to Raines and Bass were center fielder Art Gardner (.317) and right fielder Dan Briggs (.316). Both later made it to the major leagues.

Denver’s leading pitcher was 26-year-old right-hander Steve Ratzer (15-4, 3.59) who led the league in wins and win percentage (.789). He started the season in the bullpen and was a perfect 6-0 with two saves before moving into the starting rotation where he went 9-4. He was chosen as the American Association Pitcher of the Year, He made only a brief appearance in the majors for Montreal in 1980-81.

Right-hander Bill Gullickson.  He started the season going 6-2, 1.91 with five complete games and two shutouts in nine starts, striking out 64 and walking 29 in 66 innings. On May 30 he was promoted to Montreal and finished the season with a 10-5, 3.00 record, winning nine of his last eleven starts.  He finished his major league career with a record of 162-136, 3.93.

The Bears top reliever was 27-year-old, 5’8’’ left-hander Jamie Easterly who had a 9-8, 3.63 record with 15 saves. He pitched 13 years in the majors with a 23-33, 4.62 record and 14 saves.

Jim Burris was the executive Vice President-General Manager. He was named The Sporting News Minor League Executive of the Year. He had been president of the American Association in 1961-62 before it suspended operation and had been the Bears GM since 1965.

Denver placed seven players on the 14-man American Associations All-Star team: Raines, Manuel, Wallach, Bass, Art Gardner, Briggs and Ratzer. The Bears swept the Topps American Association Player of the Month awards: pitcher Hal Dues in May, Wallach in June, Raines in July and Bass in August.

Tim Raines and Randy Bass helped the 1980 Denver Bears win the regular season championship with ease. and helped the team compile the American Association’s best record in the last 60 years.

 

If you want to read more about the Denver Bears and the 1980 team Here’s a link

 Top 100 Teams | MiLB.com History | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball

#5 University of Northern Colorado baseball game

May 5, 2018 

 

On a Saturday and on Cinco de Mayo my dad and I headed to Greeley for my first University of Northern Colorado and Division I college baseball game. The UNC Bears were playing the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The day was in the 70s and was hot in the sun, but a bit chilly when it was cloudy and a little breezy. We arrived a little bit early for a 2 o’clock game to a basically empty parking lot and we parked. They have free admission so we went through the gate 

and we found a table that had a pile of roster/stat sheets which were under a rock.  Then we found a place for me to park with room next to me for dad and his lawn chair.  The only problem was there was a bar on the fence that was in the wrong spot but I could line it up with the catcher’s knees.  If I couldn’t see the ball or if it was under the bar it had to be a ball. We were also near the UNC dugout and it was interesting watching the coaches, all four of them send signs in and signal various things. A lot of the time it was to the catcher on just about every pitch then the catcher would read his wristband and give signs to the pitcher. I figured out I’m not very good at stealing signs apparently but enjoyed watching all that.  The game started out not so good for the Bears as they went down three to nothing quick but scored two in the bottom of the first. Then an odd thing happened when a UNC player broke his metal bat down by the handle. The umpires grabbed the bat and then got together to discuss it.  Then one of them took the bat off the field and the UNC coach pointed somewhere near the dugout and put the bat there to keep it for later. Eventually UNC tied it up and in the fifth inning took a 6 to 3 lead.  In the seventh-inning the catcher from Texas was called for catcher interference and probably broke his hand while doing it as he got hit by the bat and had to leave the game.  In the eighth the University of Texas had the bases-loaded when the UNC coach went to the mound and talked to the pitcher and then the pitcher struck out the next batter and kept the lead. In the ninth-inning UNC was still ahead 6 to 4. The first batter struck out making it five strikeouts so all the fans (all 120 of them) got a coupon for five free wings.  Then we had dinner plans.  After two more outs the UNC Bears won the game 6 to 4! Then we headed to our favorite wing place Wing Shack for our free wings.

 This was a great day as we had fun at the game and then went and got chicken wings. You can’t do much better than that for a great day.

#2 Spring Training: Cactus League mini tour, March 2018

Every year for the last 10 years plus one time before that my parents and I have been traveling to Phoenix and before that Tucson for Spring Training baseball.  And this year was no exception. We do this Mostly to see the Rockies but some other teams as well. I also enjoy going Spring Training in Phoenix because of the weather and a lot of good food but the main reason is to see baseball and get ready for the season to start. This year we went to three different games at three different stadiums and got to see five teams including 21 all-star players and also 4 former Rockies players including Brandan Barnes from the Indians who hit a three run homer. 

Game #1

 

The First game we went to was on March 10 at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix which is the home of the Milwaukee Brewers. We didn't get up real early that morning and not as early as we planned, but we still made it with plenty of time to spare.  This game was supposed to be a Zach Davies bobble head giveaway day, but they weren’t handing them out so I don't know what that meant. So anyways when we got into the stadium I found a hotdog added mustard and of course I had to get sauerkraut. 

After I was done eating my mom came back with a barbecue sandwich and cheese curds in a mini Brewers helmet. I tried one and almost burnt my mouth on it but after that they were absolutely delicious and I immediately wished I would've had gotten my own instead of the hotdog but luckily my mom shared quite a few with me.  

 Our seats were just to the third base side of the stadium and at the top of that section. So they were easy for someone in a wheelchair to get to, and they were great for somebody in a wheelchair as the bar in front was lowered unlike most ball parks, so I could easily see over it.  Also the companion seats were movable seats are not bolted down and unmovable like most stadiums, so my parents and I could all sit where was best for us. 

Once I had eaten I checked out posted lineup and noticed the Rockies lineup was Nolan Arenado and the Albuquerque Isotopes.  You might remember the Simpsons episode where Homer is on a hunger strike until the Springfield isotopes admitted they were moving the team to Albuquerque. Well that team is the Rockies AAA minor-league team. The Brewers who had more of a normal lineup. The day was cloudy the whole time and a bit into the game it started lightly raining and did most of the game and was a bit chilly. I even needed to get my hoodie out.   

The game didn't have much going on besides the Brewers scoring some runs, 

but in the middle of the sixth inning they have the Brewers famous sausage race which the Brewers have for every home game and this time the chorizo won the race. About this time the lower level minor-league players came in to finish the game that the Rockies lost 9 to 2.  This wasn’t too good of a game unless you’re a Brewers fan, but I still enjoyed our day at the ballpark especially those cheese curds.

Game #2

 

 

Game two was a few days later on March 13 it was a game between the Seattle Mariners and the Rockies at Salt River Fields at talking stick in Scottsdale Arizona. We arrived pretty early and had good parking and basically could pick wherever we wanted and were there before the gates even opened.  So we waited for a few minutes until they opened.  my first order of business was find the bathroom which at this stadium as well as the other two we went to they have really good family/handicap accessible restrooms which makes it a lot easier for someone like me to use the bathroom because I need extra space and these had quite a bit more space than a regular stall in regular bathrooms. After this we walked around the stadium and I got a slice of pizza which was quite large, but so was the price at nine dollars. I got this along with a Coke but needed quite a bit of help and basically needed to be fed since it's difficult to eat at ball parks and things are just getting harder to do. After I ate this I just sat and took a rest for a while and waited for the game. 

And a very nice guy came up and asked if I wanted a signed baseball so I said sure. He pulled a baseball out of his backpack and asked if I could tell who it was.  I could kind of pick out a DJ plus the number 9 so I knew it was DJ LeMahieu.   

 

 

For this game the Rockies had more of a regular lineup including all Stars Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado again and the Mariners had Robinson Canó and Nelson Cruz. This was a pretty good game that included some interesting things.  One happened just after the game started when in the first inning Nelson Cruz got injured running to first base and left the game. But in spring training teams are extra cautious with their players so who knows how bad it really was. Then the Mariners starting pitcher Rob Whalen struck out 9 Rockies.  The game got to the bottom of the 8^th inning with the Rockies down 7-2 but the minor leaguers had a rally and scored 4 runs.  Then in the ninth-inning they tied the game up then had a walk off hit from Derrik Gibson! This was a great day at the ballpark with good weather and was very comfortable especially since we were in the shade and it ended up in an exciting Rockies win. 

Game #3

The next day on a Wednesday March 14 we went to Goodyear ballpark and Goodyear, AZ which is just south and west of Phoenix by just a few miles.  This is the home of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians.  We have visited this stadium in the past and there usually aren't too many people there, but I think because it was a good matchup of two good teams and included the Angels so the stadium was mostly filled today. This was also nice day not too hot not too cold almost perfect weather. 

 

 

We arrived pretty early and I found myself a hotdog and I made sure I got the Bertman's Original Ball Park Mustard which they have at the stadium in Cleveland and apparently is a big thing. I thought it was like a spicy brown mustard almost but was better. 

For this game we got to see many all-stars and future Hall of Fame including Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Justin Upton and Ian Kinsler from the Angels and Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor and Edwin Encarnacion from the Indians. And one Shohei Ohtani the highly touted pitcher/hitter from Japan.  For most of this game it was mostly Corey Kluber dominating the good Angels lineup for five innings but was still a good game until the Indians blew the game open in the 8th inning with their minor-league players and older players just trying to make the team.  We even saw former Rockies Brandon Barnes hit a three run homerun and Ryan Hanigan had an RBI hit and Eric Young Jr from the Angels had a couple of hits. The Indians won this game 7-0. This game might not been quite as exciting for me without the Rockies in it, but I do like seeing some of the other teams play and got a treat at this one as I got to see so many great players.

This year we had a great trip to spring training and got to see three of the 10 cactus league stadiums and five of the 15 teams and got to see 21 different all stars and 4 former Rockies and had good weather for two of the games and not horrible weather for the third so all in all it was a rather good trip.