Looking Back: Remembering Tom Squires
As a freelance sports writer, I have had many great experiences in the profession. Now is a time I have the occasion to write about the person who gave me the opportunity. You would not be reading this or any other previous sports story of mine if it had not been for Tom Squires.
Squires would read my first attempts at writing and say to himself, "What is this?" He liked my subject content, but not my amateurish ability. He stuck with me. While I was somewhat embarrassed that he practically rewrote my stories. I noted the changes, adapted, and learned from his knowledge. He never complained to me.
A few years ago I received an e-mail, as did other countless number of former colleagues and friends of Squires. The correspondence stated in an upbeat and sometimes humorous approach, that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Needless to say I was somewhat dazed.
Recently, Squires told me about one of the greatest enjoyments in his publishing career as one of the first beat writers for the Nashville Sounds representing The Tennessean. Squires had a 36-year journalism career where he played key roles in the start-up operations of USA Today and Florida Today. Prior to that, he spent 17 years writing sports and managing the night operation for The Tennessean.
"That was a big, big deal when the Sounds were formed in Nashville," Squires said from his Franklin home. "There was nothing there for sports in the Nashville, but amateurs and colleges. And there was very little in the summer. Then here came the professionals. They were not the major leagues, but Larry Schmittou had brought baseball back to Nashville."
The Cincinnati Reds was the first major league franchise to connect with Nashville. The Nashville Sounds were a member of the Double-A Southern League. Squires began his first year as The Tennessean's beat writer in 1979, the club's second season. The New York Yankees became affiliated with the Sounds in 1980-84. The Reds second and last year in Nashville was with some controversy.
"They had Cincinnati, which was a big story since they were the well-known Big Red Machine," said Squires. "Smokey [Schmittou] wanted Cincinnati because they were nearby. That was a heck of a year. They did things like the disagreement on whether the designated hitter rule should be used. Like today in the minors, if the two teams are American League franchises they use the DH. If they are National League franchises they let the pitcher's bat.
"But, Cincinnati wanted the pitchers to hit in every game since the Reds were in the National League. This was a disadvantage for the Sounds when they played an American League franchise. Their pitchers did not have to hit, but the Sounds pitchers batted. Schmittou and the fans did not like that a bit. It got to where when the Sounds pitchers would strike out, the home fans cheered.
"The Sounds were something like 4-14 when Schmittou told the Reds they wouldn't be back and that upset the Reds. To spite the Sounds, the Reds sent to Nashville Geoff Combe [pitcher] and a few other players. Combe should have been in Triple-A and saved 27 games that year. So [Manager George] Scherger, who was a great manager, turned the whole thing around and won the championship. That's when they turned the Reds loose and got the Yankees."
Very much like today, the Triple-A teams would travel by air from opposing city to city. Below that level the team bus was the mode of transportation. Hours and hours would be spent rolling along in a much-traveled bus. The members of the Southern League in those early years were Knoxville, Memphis, Chattanooga, Montgomery, Columbus (GA), Jacksonville, Orlando, Savannah and Charlotte.
The Sounds finished in second place behind Memphis in 1979 in the Western Division with an 83-61 record. Nashville won the division series against the Chicks in two out of three games. To win the Southern League championship, the Sounds needed to defeat Columbus the Eastern Division champs. The Sounds brought home the championship trophy by winning the best of five series, three games to one.
"Because there was nothing but the Sounds, that meant I covered them every day and every night," Squires said. "When we went to Charlotte, I went to Charlotte. We might have 20-something games in a row with no days off. Sometimes I'd drive to Orlando, which was a 12-hour drive. One night we played in Orlando and after the game the team left by bus for Jacksonville.
"I couldn't go with the team because I had to write my story and send it in. So I'd get a little sleep and by the time I got to Jacksonville it was time to play ball. When we played in some cities like Knoxville, I'd travel with the team on the bus. I drove a lot. Sometimes I'd take my wife. I went to every park."
When the New York Yankees signed a five-year deal with Nashville in 1980, Squires said with the new players, the atmosphere changed. Having Yankee minor league players to cover gave him plenty of stories.
In the Sounds first two years with Yankee farm hands, Stump Merrill was the manager. Some of those young players were Willie McGee, Buck Showalter, Don Mattingly, Steve Balboni and Otis Nixon.
"Stumpy [Merrill] was a jogger," said Squires. "One day Schmittou said that I could never beat Merrill in a race. Stumpy was in a lot better shape than me. So they set it up before a game for me to race him. Stumpy took off and, of course, I could not catch up with him. We had to go about two laps around the inside of the stadium. There were a lot of players cheering for Stump.
"It was all a set up. Schmittou had a moped motorcycle that he gave me to use. I passed Stumpy on the moped. I had that thing going at full blast. Stumpy was running so hard because he didn't want to lose. They had to practically carry him into the clubhouse. We thought he was going to die. For winning the race, I got to make out the lineup card and give it to the umpires before the game. I put Balboni in leadoff and really shook up the lineup."
Squires said he would get to the ballpark at noon each day and hangout until after the game which usually started at 7:30 pm. He would kill a great deal of time by sitting in on the player's meetings with the manager. Squires thanks Schmittou for that unusual access to the Sounds clubhouse. He learned a lot about baseball and knew what was off the record.
In those days, and maybe today, most of those Double-A players did not have cars. Squires said they either had the bus or him. He gleefully would help out by offering his car and chauffeuring the players on errands before a game. The competing evening newspaper, Nashville Banner, covered the Sounds, but did not send a writer on road trips. This gave Squires an advantage for stories.
As affiliates of the Yankees, some of the big names of baseball would pass through Nashville for exhibition games or visits. Squires was able to meet such greats as Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Joe Pepitone, and Yogi Berra. He also met at other Sounds gatherings Henry Aaron, Sparky Anderson, Hoyt Wilhelm and of course, The Boss-George Steinbrenner.
"One time we went into Hap Townes, a popular neighborhood restaurant located by the ballpark," Squires said. "Hap Townes had some really good food and became a Nashville institution. I was in there with Reggie [Jackson] one time that was really hungry. A meal cost two dollars or something like that. You got meat and three vegetables.
"During the meal, Reggie got himself another big piece of cornbread. So the restaurant owner said to Reggie, 'That will be an extra quarter.' We all started laughing. So Reggie said with a smile, 'Here's your quarter.' I don't think he knew who Reggie was."
Johnny Oates was the Sounds manager for one year in 1983. Oates led the team to a second-place finish with a 77-67 record and a playoff berth. In the Western Division playoffs, the Sounds defeated Knoxville three games to one to advance to the league championship. Under Oates guidance, the Sounds won their second SL championship defeating Jacksonville three games to one.
Oates died of a brain tumor on Christmas Eve 2004 at age 58. He would later manage the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. Oates was another former Sound, which Squires became friends.
"I remember going to Florida in spring training and watching ball games in Oates condominium," said Squires. "Sometimes my wife, Brenda, and I would go on double dates with him. When my son Chandler was born, Johnny gave me these tiny Nike shoes.
"One time I had a boat on the Cumberland River and Johnny would go with me when the team was off. One time the boat motor quit running and there were me and Johnny Oates trying to paddle to shore with our arms. I didn't have an oar. I wasn't out looking for close friendships with the Sounds players and personnel, it just happened."
Squires covered high school sports while working for The Tennessean in his first stint. The area Nashville high school coaches inducted him into their organization's football and basketball Hall of Fame. When he moved back to Nashville from Florida he was involved with his own publications Nashville Sports Weekly and Titans Exclusive. After those ventures he became the online editor for The Tennessean where he retired.
Back to Squires helping me publish my stories. I added to his frustrations as my first stories were written on a second-hand computer. This relic did not have the capacity to connect to the Internet. Therefore, I would write my stories and run them over to him on a floppy disk. Again, he never complained.
So, when I did purchase a new computer, Squires was the first person to receive my e-mail full of greetings. His controlled frustration with me would have been multiplied if it were not for that writer's savior-spell check.
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