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Norfolk Pilots

Franchise History: An original, with the same manager and owner since the beginning of the TCBA. Now I know how Connie Mack felt, but I doubt if I’ll make it as long as he did. The origin of the team nickname is now lost in antiquity.....

Fondest, First, Worst, Most Memorable TCBA Experience: Lots and lots of all of the above (other than worst - not many of those, except maybe during the Winnebago era.) Winning the AL Championship in 1980; meeting other managers the first time I went to Lancaster (and every Lancaster since then, even the BlizzardFest of ‘94); working on my draft list in 1992 while in the Coronary Care Unit of Riverside Hospital (boy, did that generate a few odd looks from the nurses, even as accustomed as I am to those!); the first time we went to the live auction method of selecting rookies; the numerous other innovations the TCBA has developed over the years; answering Jim Lafargue’s quiz when applying for a team as the league was founded; last minute telephone trades with Marty Fiehl, right at the deadline; pinch-hitting for John Tudor in the 8th inning of a playoff game against Bob Braun, when Tudor was pitching a no-hitter but only led 1-0; playing games via modem for the first time; and enough other memories over 20 years to fill up a yearbook by themselves.

Trade History - Greatest, Worst, etc.: The best one is still trading Mickey Rivers for Phil Niekro (who went on to win over 200 games for the Pilots) in 1977; Gerry Hobbs refused to make another deal with me until a year or two ago and has never let me forget it. The biggest was the swap of Don Mattingly to Jim Lafargue for seven players, when I rebuilt the Pilots in one swoop. There are more candidates than could possibly fit into the available space for the worst trade in club history, with new possibilities seemingly added every year!

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