1971 Denver Bears

[Yankwood]

In 1971 I was lucky enough to see all 7 games of the 1971 Junior World Series. The Red Wings were loaded that year with Bobby Grich, Don Baylor, Roger Freed, Roric Harrison, Johnny Oates. However, the Wings just got by 4 games to 3 and all 7 were played in Rochester. I remember some of the players for Denver, most notably Richie Scheinblum, but also Dick Billings, Larry Biittner, Tom Ragland, Jim Schellenback and I believe Hal McRae's brother Norm McRae. My question is, can anybody help me with any other players for Denver from that team? I believe they were the Senators and then Texas Rangers farm team.

[Aa3rt]

Yankwood-here's a link to a discussion we had about the Denver Bears in the Colorado Rockies forum:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=25922

It's all hazy now without some reference material in front of me. Was it 1968 or 69 that the Buffalo Bisons were the Senators AAA farm team? Then the top level farm team was shifted to Denver, and a couple of years later the Senators were in Texas. :ughh

[JohnGelnarFan]

In the book,"Washington's Expansion Senators 1961-1971", they have a complete transactions section for each year. The Senators signed a working agreement with Denver on August 2,1969 to move the Bisons there for the 1970 season. Some of the players who were with Denver in 1971 were:

Jim Mason
Tom Grieve
Jeff Burroughs
Jan Dukes
Mike Thompson
Dave Nelson
Tom Ragland
Rick Stelmaszek
Jim French
Norm McRae
Cisco Carlos
Jackie Brown
Richie Scheinblum
Larry Biittner
Dick Billings
Joe Foy(released July 15)
Jerry Janeski
Bill Fahey
Lenny Randle
Bill Fahey
Ron Law
Dick Such(?)
Don Wert was sent down June 15 after going 2-40(!) but refused to report and was released.

[Aa3rt]

Thanks, JGF-as I said, some memories are a little hazy. I graduated from high school the same year the Senators left town (1971), so my mind wasn't always following baseball. Girls, and a very low draft number, also kept me preoccupied.

IIRC-the Bisons shared Buffalo's War Memorial Stadium with the NFL's Bills. This stadium was in a deterorating section of town that limited the number of patrons attending games. I believe that the Montreal Expos took over the Buffalo franchise in 1970 and then moved them rather abruptly a couple of months into the season to Winnipeg where the franchise was known as the Whips. It would be a number of years before baseball would return to Buffalo, first with an AA franchise in the Eastern League and eventually they would re-enter the International League.

BTW-War Memorial Stadium was spruced up for one final hurrah for the movie "The Natural" where the New York Knights played their home games. The stadium is now only a memory.

[JohnGelnarFan]

Aa3rt- I graduated in 1974 and also had a very low draft number. Luckily,I never got that letter. I think I lent my draft card to someone to use as fake I.D. and never got it back. I was totally into baseball back then. Girls and school were behind my dream to play ball. Junior college and area semi-pro was as far as I ever got. I finally gave it up at 28 when I got married.
A friend and teammate of mine that I've seen twice in the last 30 years sent me a Washington Senators Bat Day bat last year from a game his father took us to in 1970 against the California Angels. What a gift! It says "Compliments of the Washington Senators" on the barrel.

[JohnGelnarFan]

FYI,Jeff Burroughs played in 81 games at Denver in 1971. He had 298 at bats,13 doubles,3 triples,12 homers and 58 RBI's. He hit .292. He was then called up and played in 59 games for the Nats,hitting .232 with 9 doubles,5 homers and 25 RBI's in 181 at bats.

[Iron Jaw]

Yankwood-here's a link to a discussion we had about the Denver Bears in the Colorado Rockies forum:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=25922

It's all hazy now without some reference material in front of me. Was it 1968 or 69 that the Buffalo Bisons were the Senators AAA farm team? Then the top level farm team was shifted to Denver, and a couple of years later the Senators were in Texas. :ughh

Probably 1969. Denver was still affiliated with the Twins (the original Senators in 1969. The following season they began their short-lived affiliation with the Senators, followed by the Astros, the White Sox, Expos.............

[Iron Jaw]

Dick Such(?)
.

I remember Mr. Such. Only because of his name. For some reason the PA guy at Mile High Stadium pronounced his name like "Suck." I think, because Dick told the local sportscasters that the German pronunciation of his name was like "Sook." The only problem with that was......local accents. One evening, My Dad and I were attending a Denver Bear game. The guy on the PA went......"The batteries for Denver - Catching, Rich Billings, Pitching, Diiiiicccccckkkkkkkk Suuuuuuuucccccccccckkkkkkkkkkk.":eek: My Dad said, "that can't be his real name. Later, the PA guys began to refer to him as "Richard" instead of Dick. Unfortunately, once he made the bigs, his pitching was about as bad as his name.

[JohnGelnarFan]

That's a great story! He was horrible for the Senators. He was big but couldn't throw enough strikes. He was always in trouble.He only had that one stint in 1970. He reminds me of a guy that used to pitch for the Rangers named Roger Pavlik.
Was he good at Denver? he must have been Ok since they brought him up but The Nats tried alot of guys!



I remember Mr. Such. Only because of his name. For some reason the PA guy at Mile High Stadium pronounced his name like "Suck." I think, because Dick told the local sportscasters that the German pronunciation of his name was like "Sook." The only problem with that was......local accents. One evening, My Dad and I were attending a Denver Bear game. The guy on the PA went......"The batteries for Denver - Catching, Rich Billings, Pitching, Diiiiicccccckkkkkkkk Suuuuuuuucccccccccckkkkkkkkkkk.":eek: My Dad said, "that can't be his real name. Later, the PA guys began to refer to him as "Richard" instead of Dick. Unfortunately, once he made the bigs, his pitching was about as bad as his name.

[Seattle1]

Silver Stadium

[Yankwood]

Silver StadiumSilver Stadium was named for Morrie Silver, the man credited with saving baseball here in Rochester.

[Giantfanforever]

I remember that 1971 season well. The Bears, managed by Del Wilber, had barely won the American Association's Western Division with a 73-67 record, while the Indianapolis Indians won the East in relatively easy fashion, about 30 games over .500.

In the playoffs, it went down to the final day Mile-High Stadium would be available with the Indians leading, 3 games to 2. A potential day-night doubleheader was set, if a seventh game was necessary. In the meantime, the grounds crew was standing by, waiting to convert the field into a football stadium for the Broncos' home opener the next day, a Sunday.

To the delight of the Bears' fans, and perhaps to the dismay of the grounds crew, Denver won the day game, forcing a game 7. The Bears won that one too, wrapping up the Association pennant. The grounds crew now had to work all night in preparation for the NFL game.

Mile-High Stadium now belonged to the Broncos and was not available for the JWS, so the Bears had to play the entire series in Rochester. Despite that home-field advantage and the great team the Red Wings put on the field, Denver gave a good account of themselves, pushing the series to the seven-game limit.

It was the last year of the working agreement the Bears had with the (new) Washington Senators. By 1972, Denver was in the Texas Rangers camp. Rochester was in the midst of their great run as the triple-A farm club of the Baltimore Orioles, a 42-year relationship that ended only recently, in 2003. Under the Orioles' banner, the Red Wings won 7 International League pennants and added 3 Governors Cup playoff titles. This 1971 edition was managed by Joe Altobelli.

[JohnGelnarFan]

Thanks for the rememberances,GFF. I remember Del Wilber as a coach with the Senators big league team. It's nice to know that our organization played in a championship series at any level!

[Giantfanforever]

I just realized a bonehead oversight in my last post. The Washington Senators moved to Texas in 1972 and became the Rangers, so in essence, the Denver Bears were still in the same organization that year.

Del Wilber returned in '72 to manage the Bears, but didn't have the same success. Denver finished 61-79 and were 26 games behind the Western Division leaders.

[JohnGelnarFan]

That sounds more like the teams I watched. I just received a few first year Rangers photos from Steve's Baseball website. One of them might have been a member of those Denver Bears clubs that you saw. Do you remember a pitcher named Art Defilippis? The other photo was of Tim Cullen but he went to Oakland after spending spring training with the Rangers in 1972.