Express GM tells of big changes in minor league club at May meeting

Round Rock Express General Manager Tim Jackson recounted how key changes for the club after more than 600 days between professional ball games at Dell Diamond at our monthly meeting on Zoom on Saturday, May 22.

He also shared with 17 chapter members and guests that teams in Triple-A West will add larger 18-inch bases in the second half of the season as MLB experiments with the larger bases. Jackson said the shorter distance between the bases may encourage offenses to steal more bags and may enhance player safety.

After a month delay, the Express opened their season against the Oklahoma City Dodgers on May 6, the first of 60 home games.

Another big change for the Express is their affiliation. Before the pandemic, the Express were the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, but the restructuring imposed last year by MLB caused a significant reduction of minor league teams. As a result, the Astros partnered with the Sugar Land Skeeters for their Triple-A team beginning this year, while the Express reunited with the Texas Rangers as their parent club.

Jackson shared that some of his season ticket holders sought refunds after the affiliation change because they said they weren’t Rangers fans, but he pointed out that the Skeeters have 26 games at Dell Diamond this season, encouraging those fans to stick around to watch their team when it comes to town. Plus, Jackson said, he has an inventory of discounted Astros-branded merchandise that he hopes some fans will be interested in.

Meanwhile, he said the team is looking into creating some throwback uniforms connected to the Rangers, such as the team’s powder-blue unis.

Jackson also shared that MLB is soliciting input from minor league teams about the 2022 schedule, so he’s hoping they’ll know more about next season by mid- to late summer.

Many thanks to Tim for sharing part of his afternoon with us and giving us insight about the goings-on at Dell Diamond. The chapter hopes to have a group outing to the ballpark this summer.

Meanwhile, the winner of last month’s quiz, Jerry Miller, crafted a quiz with one simple question with 50 parts (!). The question: Name the last team that each given Hall of Fame player played for (not counting players who signed a one-day contract to retire with a team).

Quiz-taker extraordinaire Cy Morong took top billing with 20 points, followed by Jan Larson with 15 and Peter Myers with 14. Try your hand at the quiz below. The answers follow the questions.

Jan Larson shared that he visited TD Park in Dunedin, Florida (formerly the temporary home of the Toronto Blue Jays this season) for two games earlier this month between the Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the 56th stadium that has hosted an MLB game that Jan has visited. He’s hoping to add up to four more locations to his list, including Sahlen Field in Buffalo (home of the Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays and host of the team’s home games beginning June 1), Globe Life Field (Texas Rangers), Truist Park (Atlanta Braves) and the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, hosting the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox in August.

Joe Gallagher also shared some anecdotes from his time as producer for MLB’s game of the week. One involved Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jim Bunning, who initially refused to appear on a post-game interview with Ralph Kiner and was rather sharp with Joe. But a few minutes later, he relented and agreed to the interview. Later, Bunning apologized to Joe and his crew for his attitude and stubbornness.

Joe also recalled the time when he sought Sandy Koufax for a post-game interview and was surprised when Koufax said he couldn’t do the interview. The lefty explained that he had do the interview with the Dodgers sportscaster Jerry Doggett. While he was flummoxed, Joe said that Doggett recognized what was going on and told Koufax, “You go on with Kiner, first, then with me. I can wait.” Joe said it was one of the classiest things he’d ever seen and appreciated Doggett’s elegant move.

We don’t have our June meeting set yet, but we are considering an in-person lunch or outing to Dell Diamond. Once we make our plans, we’ll let chapter members know.

Hall of Fame “Last Team Played For” Quiz

By Jerry Miller

Identify the last team for which each of the following Hall of Famers played (Note: this refers to the last team with which a player physically played, and not where, for instance, the player signed a one-day contract to “retire” from that team).

1) Roberto Alomar

2) Luis Aparicio

3) Bert Blyleven

4) Jim Bunning

5) Steve Carlton

6) Gary Carter

7) Orlando Cepeda

8) Andre Dawson

9) Dizzy Dean

10) Dennis Eckersley

11) Nellie Fox

12) Jimmie Foxx

13) Tom Glavine

14) Goose Gossage

15) Hank Greenberg

16) Ken Griffey, Jr.

17) Rickey Henderson

18) Trevor Hoffman

19) Ferguson Jenkins

20) Randy Johnson

21) Harmon Killebrew

 

22) Greg Maddux

23) Juan Marichal

24) Pedro Martinez

 

25) Eddie Mathews

 

26) Willie McCovey

 

27) Joe Morgan

28) Jack Morris

29) Eddie Murray

30) Phil Niekro

31) Satchel Paige

32) Tony Perez

33) Gaylord Perry

34) Mike Piazza

35) Tim Raines

36) Robin Roberts

37) Ivan Rodriguez

38) Tom Seaver

39) Ted Simmons

40) Lee Smith

41) John Smoltz

42) Warren Spahn

43) Bruce Sutter

44) Don Sutton

45) Frank Thomas

46) Jim Thome

47) Larry Walker

48) Hoyt Wilhelm

49) Dave Winfield

50) Early Wynn

ANSWERS:

1) Chicago White Sox (Note: the original answer of Arizona Diamondbacks was incorrect. In 2004, AZ traded him back to the Sox, where he had played the year before. He then retired from the Sox. Credit to Cy Morong for catching the error).

2) Boston Red Sox

3) California Angels

4) Los Angeles Dodgers

5) Minnesota Twins

6) Los Angeles Dodgers

7) Kansas City Royals

8) Florida Marlins

9) St. Louis Browns (Note: Dean, who had been retired for seven years, was broadcasting for the Browns. He criticized their starting pitchers, who dared him to come out of the broadcast booth and pitch. He did, throwing four scoreless innings, before the Browns bullpen lost the game.)

10) St. Louis Cardinals

11) Houston Astros (Note: original answer was Houston Colt .45s. However, Fox played in 21 games as a player-coach in 1965, after the Colts had changed their name. Let’s just stick with Houston, National League).

12) Philadelphia Phillies

13) Atlanta Braves

14) Seattle Mariners

15) Pittsburgh Pirates

16) Seattle Mariners

17) Los Angeles Dodgers

18) Milwaukee Brewers

19) Chicago Cubs

20) San Francisco Giants

21) Kansas City Royals

22) Los Angeles Dodgers

23) Los Angeles Dodgers

24) Philadelphia Phillies

25) Detroit Tigers

26) Oakland Athletics

27) Oakland Athletics

28) Cleveland Indians

29) Los Angeles Dodgers

30) Toronto Blue Jays

31) Kansas City Athletics

32) Cincinnati Reds (Note: originally identified incorrectly as Philadelphia Phillies. Thanks to Cy for again keeping me honest).

33) Kansas City Royals

34) Oakland Athletics

35) Florida Marlins

36) Chicago Cubs

37) Washington Nationals

38) Boston Red Sox

39) Atlanta Braves

40) Montreal Expos

41) St. Louis Cardinals

42) San Francisco Giants

43) Atlanta Braves

44) Los Angeles Dodgers

45) Toronto Blue Jays

46) Baltimore Orioles

47) St. Louis Cardinals

48) Los Angeles Dodgers

49) Cleveland Indians

50) Cleveland Indians