Spokane Indians
| Spokane Indians Founded in 1983 Spokane, Washington |
|||
|
|||
| Class-level | |||
|
|||
| Minor league affiliations | |||
|
|||
| Major league affiliations | |||
|
|||
| Name | |||
|
|||
| Ballpark | |||
|
|||
| Minor league titles | |||
| League titles | 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2008 | ||
| Division titles | 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010 | ||
| Owner(s)/Operated by: Brett Sports & Entertainment | |||
| Manager: Tim Hulett, Sr. | |||
| General Manager: Chris Duff | |||
The Spokane Indians are a minor league baseball team located in Spokane, Washington, United States. They are a Short-Season A classification team in the Northwest League and have been a farm team of the Texas Rangers since 2003. The Indians play home games at Avista Stadium. Opened in 1958, Avista Stadium seats 7,202 fans.
Spokane was home of one of the charter teams of the Northwest League in 1955, but the team folded in 1956. Between 1958 and 1971, the Indians were a Triple-A Pacific Coast League baseball club affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers, before the club was moved to Albuquerque in 1971, and later Portland. The 1970 team, managed by Tommy Lasorda, won 94 of 146 games and swept the Hawaii Islanders in the PCL playoffs.
On July 7, 1963, Spokane Pitcher Bob Radovich threw a no-hitter against the Hawaii Islanders that ended on a bizarre note. With two out in the ninth inning, a Islander player drew a walk. Stan Palys came in to run for the batter. The next batter hit a grounder to first and Palys danced up and down till the ball hit him in the leg. Under baseball rules, Palys is called out but a basehit is recorded for the batter. Pacific Coast League President Dewey Soriano who was in attendance that night, notified the press box that final out was to be credited to the first baseman and that Palys conduct constituted "unsportsmanlike play".[1]
Spokane returned to the NWL in 1972, but a new PCL franchise arrived from Portland, where it lasted until 1982 when it moved to Las Vegas to become the Las Vegas Stars and later the Las Vegas 51s.
The Indians won the 2005 Northwest League championship despite having a record of 37-39 during the regular season, becoming only the second team in NWL history (the Salem Angels of 1982 were the first) to win the championship crown with a losing regular season record.
In 2008 the Indians captured the Northwest League Title with a thrilling 3-1 series victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. After dropping game one, the Indians rallied to capture game two by a score of 11-10 in 10 innings. In game three, the Indians fell behind 10-2 before rallying for nine unanswered runs winning by an 11-10 margin once again. The Indians won the 2008 title in game four by securing a 6-5 victory in 10 innings.
Contents |
[edit] History before 1956
Spokane's minor league history dates to 1892, when it fielded a team in the Pacific Northwest League. The nickname Indians dates to 1903, when Spokane joined the Pacific National League - a predecessor to the PCL and, at Class A, an elite minor league of the period, equivalent to Triple A today. The Indians lasted only two seasons at that higher level before dropping to the Class B Northwestern League, which folded during World War I.
In 1937, Spokane became a charter member of the Class B Western International League, the predecessor of the Northwest League, which played from 1937 through 1942 and 1946 through 1954.
[edit] The 1946 Spokane bus tragedy
On June 24, 1946, the WIL Indians were victims of the worst transit accident in the history of American professional sport. The team's bus was on its way to Bremerton, Washington to play the Bluejackets. On a rain-slicked Snoqualmie Pass Highway in the Cascade Mountains, the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming car and the bus veered off the road and down an embankment before crashing and bursting into flames. Nine men died — six of them instantly — and six were injured. The dead were catcher/manager Mel Cole, pitchers Bob Kinnaman and George Lyden, catcher Chris Hartje, infielders Fred Martinez, Vic Picetti and George Risk, and outfielders Bob James and Bob Paterson. Despite a severe head wound, infielder Ben Geraghty was able to struggle back up the mountainside to signal for help. The Indians, relying on players loaned from other teams, managed to finish the season and placed seventh in the league. One player from the 1946 team, future major league infielder Jack "Lucky" Lohrke, earned his nickname when his contract was sold to the PCL San Diego Padres on June 24 and he departed the ill-fated bus hours before the accident. (Lohrke averted tragedy earlier when he was bumped from a military transport plane which later crashed.)
Beth Bollinger of Spokane wrote a novel titled Until the End of the Ninth, which is based on the true story of the 1946 bus crash and its aftermath.
[edit] Notable players
- Carlos Beltrán, Currently All Star major league outfielder for the Texas Rangers.
- Joey Cora, MLB All Star/MLB Hall of Fame major league second baseman. Currently the third base coach for the Chicago White Sox.
- Neftali Feliz, Currently MLB All Star major league closer for the Texas Rangers.
- Brad Gulden, Former major league catcher with six MLB teams, most notably with the New York Yankees in 1979.
- Ian Kinsler, Currently MLB All Star major league second baseman for the Texas Rangers.
[edit] Roster
|
Spokane Indians roster
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches/Other | |||
|
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
|
Manager
Coaches
|
||
[edit] Logos and uniforms
-
Indians former logo
-
Indians primary
-
Indians secondary, in Salish, the language of the Spokane Nation.
In the 2006 offseason, the Indians began a process to redesign their logo and uniforms. As per tradition, they began by avoiding the use of any American Indian imagery, but early in the process of redesign, the Spokane Nation contacted the team about officially supporting the team. In the process, the tribe gave permission to the team to adopt subtle and tasteful imagery, in order to pay homage to the team's history and new connection with the tribe. The cooperation, called "historic" by the team, included the creation of a secondary logo written in Salish, the traditional language of the tribe.[2] The team's colors are red, navy blue light blue, and beige.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Spokane Indians website
- Until the End of the Ninth
- The Last Survivor - Interview with Gus Hallbourg about the 1946 bus crash
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Triple-A | Double-A | Class A | Rookie |
| Round Rock Express | Frisco RoughRiders |
Myrtle Beach Pelicans Hickory Crawdads Spokane Indians |
AZL Rangers DSL Rangers |
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
