Flashback Friday: Foxes halt record loss streak (1973)
The 1973 Appleton Foxes had a rough start. Heading into their game in Clinton on Sunday, May 13 the Foxes had lost 15 consecutive games. That was a club record and it matched a league record. Thanks to a big first inning, that streak did not reach 16. The following story appeared without a byline in the May 14, 1973 edition of The Post-Crescent.
Foxes halt record loss streak at 15
Clinton, Iowa - Woody Eppinette, with
ninth-inning relief help from Ron Slingerman, mad a first-inning outburst
standup Sunday as Appleton beat Clinton, 4-2, to end its season opening losing
string at 15 games.
The Foxes exploded for four runs in the first inning as seven of the first eight
men collected hits. The big blow of the inning was a 2-run triple by Joe
Pomykala.
The 15-game streak set a club record and tied the league mark for consecutive
losses.
Eppinette toiled eight innings and a single to left. Nyls Nyman grounded a
single between short and third and Bob Stolarick's line single to left scored
the first run. After a pop out, Pomykala lashed his triple into
left-center. Bill Bagwell scored Pomykala with a single to right.
Bagwell's hit brought on Jim Harris in relief of loser Bob Moran, now 1-1.
Bagwell was thrown out stealing before George Enright and Johnny Johnson
singled. Johnson was picked off first by catcher Emmanuel Toledo for the
third out.
Clinton scored its first run in the second on Phil Mancosky's single, a
fielder's choice and hits by Quinomes, Mark Wagner, and Toledo.
The Pilots added another run in the third on Jim Eschen's leadoff double and
sacrifices by Bill Baldwin and Mancosky.
NOTES:
The schedule in the 1973 Foxes program shows that this game was the 23rd
scheduled game of the season. It they started the season 0-15...that's a
lot of rainouts. And the first game of the season wasn't scheduled until
April 21. Great. Back to the library to look up this information.
The umpires of this game are listed as Voltaggio and Cousins. I can only
guess that these would be Vic
Voltaggio and Derryl
Cousins. Both made the major leagues. Cousins is still in the
show and was the crew of the crew that worked the game between the Detroit
Tigers and the Cleveland Indians on June 2, 2010. The one with the Armando
Galarraga/Jim Joyce incident.
The baseball is a small, strange world twist to this story. In 1973, the Clinton
Pilots were the Midwest League affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. The
manager of the Pilots was Jim Leyland. The manager of the Tigers in the
game against Cleveland on June 2, 2010...Jim Leyland.
The Foxes finished the 1973 season with a 44-76 record (.376). The 1973
Pilots finished the year 73-51 (.589), the best record in the Midwest
League. However, Clinton lost in the first round of the playoffs to
Wisconsin Rapids.
BOX SCORE:
APPLETON - 4 AB
R H BI
Lespier, 2b 4
1 1 1
Nyman, cf
5 1 3 0
Stolarick, lf 4
1 2 0
Varga, 3b
4 0 0 0
Pomykala, rf 3
1 2 2
Bagwell, ss 4
0 2 1
Enright, c
4 0 1 0
Johnson, 1b 3
0 1 0
Eppinette, p 4
0 0 0
Singerman, p 0
0 0 0
TOTALS
35 4 12 4
CLINTON - 2 AB
R H BI
James, cf
5 0 0 0
Eschen, 2b
3 1 0 1
Baldwin, rf 3
0 1 0
Mancosky, 3b 3
1 1 1
Brazell, 1b 4
0 0 0
Quinomes, lf 4
0 2 0
Wagner, ss
4 0 1 0
Toledo, c
4 0 2 0
Moran, P
0 0 0 0
Harris, p
1 0 0 0
Taylor, p
0 0 0 0
Tyler, ph
1 0 0 0
Lantz, p
0 0 0 0
Kuhn, ph
1 0 0 0
Bartolin, p 0
0 0 0
Jimenenz, ph 1
0 1 0
Glynn, pr
0 0 0 0
TOTALS
34 2 9 2
R H E
APPLETON 400 000 000 - 4 12 0
CLINTON 011 000 000 - 2 9 1
E: Mancosky
2B: Eschen
3B: Pomykala
DP: Clinton, 2
LOB: Appleton 7, Clinton 8
SAC: Baldwin
SF: Mancosky
PITCHING SUMMARY
APPLETON IP
H R ER BB SO
Eppinette 8.0
8 2 2
1 6
Slingerman 1.0 1
0 0 0 0
CLINTON IP
H R ER BB SO
Moran
0.1 5 4
4 0 0
Harris 4.0
2 0 0
1 3
Taylor 0.2
1 0 0
0 0
Lantz
2.0 1 0
0 0 0
Bartolin 2.0
0 0 0
1 1
HBP: Pomykala, by Harris
U: Voltaggio and Cousins
T: 2:27
A: 519
Past Flashbacks:
October
8: In fair territory (1994)
October
15: Fans flock to see Foxes (1987)
October
22: New Park (1995)
October
29: Logo Decision (1994)
November
5: Ed Sedar, Pitcher (1985)
November
12: Abarbanel no-hitter (1966)
November
19: McCauley no-hitter (1972)
November
26: Monroe no-hitter (1975)
December
3: Conner, Smith no-hitter (1990)
December
10: Pomp & Circumstance (1940)
December
17: Opening Day (1940)
January
7: Matt Erickson: Year One (1997)
January
14: Two Hits, Two Wins (1982)
January
21: Gil Meche (1998, 1999)
January
28: 18 K's for Ryan Anderson (1998)
February
4: Goodland Field Finale (1994)
February 18: 7,118 at Goodland Field (1964)