San Antonio Missions/Texas League Playoffs Thread

[Melmart1]

Me too. I loved those games.

One time my friends and I went and I got an autograph. My buddies were like "who cares about that guy, he is just one of the coaches"

I corrected them.

It wasn't just a coach...it was a roving instructor.

His name?


Sandy Koufax.


Game, set and match..me!

Bwahahaha. It's funny, people don't realize how many great players once stopped here in San Antonio on the way to the bigs. People don't believe me that greats like Orel Hershiser (sp?), Fernando Valenzuela and both Pedro and Ramon Martinez pitched here (all before my time as a baseball fan, unfortunately). , they don't even believe me that King Felix pitched here, and that was fairly recent.

[FromWayDowntown]

Me too. I loved those games.

One time my friends and I went and I got an autograph. My buddies were like "who cares about that guy, he is just one of the coaches"

I corrected them.

It wasn't just a coach...it was a roving instructor.

His name?


Sandy Koufax.


Game, set and match..me!

Well done, sir.

During the major league strike in the Summer of 1981, Tommy Lasorda spent lots of time in San Antonio with the AA Dodgers, too. I remember meeting him and thinking it was among the coolest things ever. Somewhere I have an autograph. I also met Sandy Koufax during that time, and got an autograph because my mother made me get one -- honestly had no idea who he was. Sigh.

Mr. Koufax actually stopped by our neighbor's home after a game one night. Like I said, my friend's father was doing lots of PR stuff for the Dodgers at that point. My friend's grandfather was in town for a couple of weeks and those my friend's father and grandfather were spending lots of time at the ballpark, when the grandfather struck up a conversation with Koufax that resulted in an invitation to stop by for a visit after the game. Somehow, Koufax said yes and dropped by -- we (me, my brother, and my friend) were just playing around and didn't even know it was him -- I was probably about 9 at the time and my brother and friend were each about 7; when my friend got married a few years ago, his grandfather told us the story about the night we completely ignored greatness. Sigh.

At least I have that autograph somewhere!!

[FromWayDowntown]

Bwahahaha. It's funny, people don't realize how many great players once stopped here in San Antonio on the way to the bigs. People don't believe me that greats like Orel Hershiser (sp?), Fernando Valenzuela and both Pedro and Ramon Martinez pitched here (all before my time as a baseball fan, unfortunately). , they don't even believe me that King Felix pitched here, and that was fairly recent.

It's more than that -- Brooks Robinson came through SA, as did Joe Morgan, Mike Piazza, and many others.

[Melmart1]

It's more than that -- Brooks Robinson came through SA, as did Joe Morgan, Mike Piazza, and many others.

I know, but those are just the ones that popped in my head first. It's funny, cus I know a few Red Sox fans who somehow can't imagine Pedro had a history before he was in Boston. I told them he used to play here and they seemed skeptical. I was like "Yeah, man! I even have his jersey cus we have the same last name!" Now in reality, I have no clue if there was ever a Pedro SA jersey or not. But that seems to convince them a little more, oddly enough.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

IIRC, they used to sell a Brooks Robinson Missions jersey a few seasons back. I'm not sure if it can still be purchased, though.

[samikeyp]

It was a great night when I got that autograph. Names like Sid Fernandez, Cecil Espy and RJ Reynolds were on our team and the Arkansas Travelers had some guy playing 3B named Terry Pendleton. Wonder whatever happened to him?