# 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