Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9504050021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
One organization (Colorado Rockies) is making its debut in the eight-team circuit at Salem. Another chain (Boston Red Sox) is out of the fast-track Class A league completely, having vacated Lynchburg at the conclusion of the 1994 campaign. Yet another (Pittsburgh Pirates) took refuge in Lynchburg after Salem owner Kelvin Bowles declined to renew his player-development contract with the National League club.
Then, there are the new ballparks that will open in Salem and in Durham, N.C. Kinsey Shane & Associates of Salem designed the new 6,000-seat stadium there. That stadium is not expected to be ready before late May, so the Avalanche will open at Municipal Field, the former home of the Salem Buccaneers.
There has been little if any public grumbling about construction delays in Salem. It would seem nobody there has much to complain about compared with the folks in Durham. Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the successor to antiquated Durham Athletic Park, was supposed to have opened last year. It didn't. The curtain goes up on that 6,300-seat palace, designed by HOK Sport (the same architects who produced Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore and Jacobs Field in Cleveland) on April 6.
Three teams have new nicknames. Not only do we now have the Avalanche, but we have the colorfully named Winston-Salem Warthogs (successors to the Spirits) and Lynchburg Hillcats (the former Red Sox).
Some familiar faces return to the league. In addition to managers Mike O'Berry at Frederick, Matt West at Durham, Mark Berry at Winston-Salem and Dave Huppert at Prince William, Lynchburg fixture Jim Bibby is serving as the pitching coach there for his third organization.
Salem coach Tony Torchia and Lynchburg manager Marc Hill also are back. Torchia was the 1976 Carolina League manager of the year with the Winston-Salem Red Sox. Hill, too, was a Carolina League manager of the year, in 1992 after guiding the last Peninsula Pilots team to the Mills Cup as league champions.
The new managers include Salem's Bill Hayes, who has eight years of experience as a minor-league skipper with the Rockies and the Chicago Cubs; Wilmington's John Mizerock; and Kinston's Gordy MacKenzie.
The major-league labor dispute has delayed until the last minute decisions on which players will be assigned where.
Surely, there will be major-league prospects galore in the league - there always are - but maybe not as many as 1994. The league was so stocked with can't-miss guys that Jason Kendall, a first-round draft choice and a splendid catcher for the Salem Buccaneers, didn't even make one list of top 10 prospects.
by CNB