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249 18 Bye-Bye, Birdies It’s simple, really. We just weren’t very good. —Red Wings pitcher Josh Towers The euphoria of 1997 soon turned into the absurdity of 1998. Julio Moreno, the rookie pitching sensation who had recorded wins in the playoff series clinchers against Pawtucket and Columbus in ‘97, blew out his shoulder attempting to lift weights. The six-foot, 155-pound pitcher would never be the same. Veteran pitcher Doug Johns, another postseason hero, was placed on the disabled list in May 1998 because of insomnia. Only three players—Johns, Nerio Rodriguez, and P. J. Forbes—returned from the twenty-five-man team that had captured the Governors’ Cup seven months earlier. Danny Clyburn had broken his foot in March and would be out until midseason. Rick Krivda, a fourteen-game winner the year before, was claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Indians. Bullpen closer Brian Shouse was picked up by the Pawtucket Red Sox. In fact, not one relief pitcher from the ‘97 team would open the ‘98 season with Rochester. ”It’s a new club and a new challenge,” said Marv Foley, who was back for a fourth season as manager. “We’ll see what we can do this time.” As it turned out, not much. The ‘98 Wings finished 70–74, the team’s first losing season under Foley. One bright spot was left-hander Terry Burrows, who won the International League’s ERA title at 2.92. A second came when breaking-ball pitcher Joel Bennett went 10–0 before being promoted to the Orioles. After two mop-up relief appearances, the Orioles exposed him to waivers, and he was claimed by Philadelphia and assigned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, one of the Red Wings’ divisional 250 silver seasons rivals. It would be one of many weak moves made by the Orioles. It was a nonmove that proved fatal, however. The Wings were desperate for a cleanup hitter, and two former International League MVPs were available. But the Orioles did not sign Phil Hiatt, who had hit forty-two homers for Toledo in 1996 or Jeff Manto, who had belted thirty between Norfolk and Rochester in 1994. Both wound up with Buffalo, which went on to win the newly named International League North. Another highlight occurred in early May, when Baseball America named the Red Wings the top minor-league city in America, choosing the team over 174 other clubs. Among the many factors that weighed in Rochester’s favor were tradition, success, continuity, and history. For years afterward, a banner in right-center field at Frontier Field would proclaim Rochester “Baseball City, USA.” Foley was promoted to the Orioles as first-base coach after the 1998 season. Replacing him in Rochester would be fiery Dave Machemer, a former second baseman who had played briefly in the majors with the California Angels and Detroit Tigers. Wings fans had great hopes entering the 1999 season, thanks to a talented quartet nicknamed the “Fab Four.” They were four prospects seemingly headed for stardom. There was first baseman Calvin Pickering, a twenty-one-year-old manchild at 6-foot-3 and 283 pounds (that number eventually would top 300). The Virgin Islands native had clubbed fifty-six homers the previous two seasons and had received this ringing endorsement from Orioles executive Syd Thrift: “He’s charismatic as hell.” Then there was second baseman Jerry Hairston, Jr., a slick fielder who had hit .330 and .326 the previous two seasons; shortstop Jesse Garcia, another outstanding defensive infielder with speed who had hit .294 in forty-four games for the 1998 Red Wings; and third baseman Ryan Minor, a 6-foot-7 former basketball star at the University of Oklahoma who had drilled seventeen homers and driven in seventy-one runs at Double-A Bowie in 1998. Marv Foley called them “a showcase of young stars,” but the stars apparently were not aligned for this group. They would play together in Rochester for only six games in 1999, and the team went 4–2 in those games. Callups and freak injuries were their undoing. Minor missed one game after catching infield dirt in his eye, while Garcia strained ligaments and stretched tendons in his hand swinging a bat. Hairston would have the longest career and was still excelling in 2009 after a midseason trade to the New York Yankees , but the others would never reach any level of stardom and instead would become synonymous for actions apart from...

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