ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9609030138
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The Salem Avalanche lived up to its name this year. It spent most of the baseball season rolling downhill.
Actually, the slide began long before April, when the second Salem season as a Colorado Rockies farm team opened with pitching promise.
``It was a very, very frusrating year, a very disappointing year,'' said Bill ``Moose'' McGuire, the Avalanche's manager.
McGuire was discussing the club on the field, but he could have been talking about the franchise that spent its first full Carolina League season in glorious - but far less than half-filled - 6,000-seat Salem Memorial Stadium.
Avalanche owner Kelvin Bowles created front-office upheaval when he brought in a new general manager, Dave Oster, who had been an assistant GM with the Wilmington Blue Rocks.
Bowles' move not only elbowed longtime vice president and GM Sam Lazzaro - whose more than a decade of labor has helped make the club profitable - from the day-to-day operations, it also snubbed longtime Salem No.2 staffer Dennis Robarge, who has been nothing but loyal.
You can argue whether or not Oster's arrival brought disarray to the club's operations. He was a young idea man put into a difficult position on an expanded staff. However, there is no question the club did a very poor (and that's being charitable) job of selling season tickets. One result is an average attendance of about 2,500.
The Avalanche blew what should have been a banner season at the box office. Season-ticket sales dropped from the 800 range to about 560, with a move to one of the best parks in all of the minors. How is that possible?
The club raised prices to its season ticket-holders instead of trying to add to its ticket base in the new park. Let's hope the rumors about another hike aren't true, because even with lower than expected attendance, the franchise will turn a profit this year.
Unless Salem manages to win four in its season-ending, six-game series with Lynchburg, the Avalanche's second-half record will be worse than all but one of the franchise's previous 16 consecutive sub-.500 halves.
``We were promising at the beginning,'' said McGuire, in his first Salem season. ``In the middle we were in disarray. At the end, we're trying to be respectable.''
Half of Salem's season-opening roster is gone and much of the Avalanche's sinking has had to do with a lack of depth, particularly among position players in a fourth-year organization. That's life down on the farm.
When starting pitchers Brent Crowther and Doug Million went north to Class AA New Haven and Luther Hackman missed about two months of action after being hit in the face with a line drive, the club went south.
McGuire liked the consistency and survival attitude of his bullpen. In July, the Avalanche's rotation averaged 31/3 innings per start. ``That's pathetic,'' said the former Seattle catcher.
The Salem skipper said about half of his club belongs back at the advanced Class A level next year - including himself. He expects to return to Salem. ``I'm not ready'' to move up, McGuire said. ``I know I'm not.''
The Avalanche's highly regarded pitching coach, Billy Champion, is moving his residence from Shelby, N.C., to a farm in Hardy, but next season, he's likely ticketed for Class AA New Haven.
``What's been most satisfying to me about this season has been the opportunity to work with coaches like `Champ' and Joe'' Marchese, McGuire said. ``Otherwise, it was a long year, very long.''
There were exceptions, like catcher Blake Barthol. He began the season as a back-up and had only 55 at-bats six weeks into the season. He deservedly finished as the league's All-Star backstop. He also spent 15 minutes either before or after every game signing autographs.
At this level particularly, that's a huge part of the game. There were other devoted players in McGuire's memories, too, like hard-working infielders Kyle Houser and Tal Light, but not enough.
``A lot of guys I coached [in the system] back in 1993 and '94 didn't give me what they could have,'' McGuire said. ``And then, maybe I didn't earn their respect. This team got away from me, and it won't happen again.
``They'll know exactly what I expect next year. Sometimes, taking money [with fines] isn't always the answer. Maybe these days you have to just flat-out suspend players, and if it takes that, if it takes calling the boss and saying that's what we need, I will.
``You've got to have the desire, the drive and the goals. If I'm a player, it's one thing to have them, and it's one thing to say I have them. We had a handful of guys who played and practiced hard, but that's all.''
It's six months until spring training. However, for the Salem front office, next season should start Tuesday.
The Avalanche, on and off the diamond, could use a long, hard winter of a different kind.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB