A message from Harvey ... Harvey who?

     So here was the internal debate: Do we write a blog about the message from Harvey, or just leave it alone?
     Too tempting, too weird a connection. Too good a tale to tell. So, here goes ...
     Harvey is not a friend. Harvey is an outlaw. Harvey, I suppose (but don't know for sure), is a friend, or at least an acquaintance of someone we wrote about seven months ago.
     To be sure, Harvey is no friend of mine -- or yours.
     Yeah, it took seven months for a response. And what a source for the response.
     You might not know Harvey, either. But once we tell you who Harvey is, you likely are going to remember his story, his sordid and infamous place in our little world.
      It likely will hiss you off again. Especially if you are an Auburn fan.
     That's one hint. Here's another: The name is Harvey Updyke. 
      Auburn -- and Alabama -- fans will know the name. It took me a few minutes to remember.
      The note from Harvey on Facebook/Messenger came in Sunday at 4:17 p.m., and it was about the blog piece we wrote and published on Nov. 30 last year.
     It was about one basketball official's "charging" call made in March 1970 -- yes, only a 48-year gap when the blog was published -- that was crucial in the titanic Captain Shreve-Brother Martin showdown for Louisiana's Class AAA championship. The subject, the official: Bobby Olah.
     Our take, then and now: Olah blew the call, gave in to the South Louisiana crowd he was right in front of when the play happened. He could have called the play a block, giving Captain Shreve free throws to take the lead and possible the game.     https://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2018/11/cannons-friend-but-not-captain-shreves.html
       Heard from a few Captain Shreve faithful then, but nothing from South Louisiana, specifically Bobby Olah. Not sure he ever saw the blog piece.
     But now I think he did. Because here is the note from ol' Harvey:
     "Please call Bobby Olah at (phone number) if you would like to discuss the infamous call made 48 years ago."
     OK, I was surprised, and I tried to answer -- yes, and don't laugh -- diplomatically:
      Me: "No need. Call was made, not going to change anything. We did not like it, but it was one call out of thousands he made over the years. And he was well-regarded by many people and honored for his educational and officiating careers. So one blog piece is not going to change his life."
     Then I added: "Tell Bobby I am sorry about his wife [who died last year]. I waited to post the blog a couple of months. Also was impressed reading about him and Billy Cannon."
     (Olah was a high-school basketball opponent and later friends with LSU's biggest icon.) 
     So I sent those notes, and now I start thinking. Harvey Updyke? Hmmmm. Where do I know that name? (I had not really stopped to look at his Facebook photo that went with the message.)
     Sent another note to Harvey: "You were Cannon's good friend, right?"
     Wrong. My connecting Harvey to Cannon was a temporary lapse in memory; perhaps it was the prison-term link.
      No answer from Harvey.
      A couple of minutes pass; I go on to other things. But it is bugging me. And, and ... then it kicks in!
      Another note to Harvey: "Or are you the guy who burned down the trees at Auburn?" 
      (OK, not exactly right ... but he IS the guy who poisoned the trees at Toomer's Corner.) There you have what you might have guessed by now.
      Now I look at the picture a little closer. Yep, older guy, handlebar mustache with goatee ... and wearing a red-and-white checkered Alabama hat. No question who this is.
      Go to Google and find so many story links to the infamous Harvey. And my next note to him:
      "OK, just a bit of research -- you are the Alabama fan and I see you live in Albany [Louisiana, Bobby Olah's hometown], so that's where you know Bobby. Hey, now I can do a post about getting a note from you (not gonna do that, but it would make a good story). And how are those Tigers fans in that area treating you as the rabid Alabama fan?

      (Sorry, I AM writing the story. Cannot resist.)

 ---
     Just for background, we interrupt our blog to present a Sports Illustrated story by Scooby Axson published March 7, 2019 ... 

An Alabama fan who poisoned Toomer’s Oak Trees at Auburn University opened up about why he did it, saying he just doesn't like the Crimson Tide's biggest rival.

Harvey Updyke, Jr. poisoned the 80-year-old trees in 2011 and was eventually busted after he called into the Paul Finebaum radio show admitting the crime. He also left a phone message to an Auburn professor saying he knew who poisoned the tree.

Updyke Jr. pleaded guilty to a Class C felony of criminal damage of an agricultural facility, was ordered to serve at least six months in jail, spend five years on supervised probation and ordered to pay $800,000 in restitution.

Updyke's probation recently ended allowing him to speak to the media about the incident.

“I wanted Auburn people to hate me as much as I hate them,” Updyke tells CBS News in a podcast named "Mobituaries," hosted by Mo Rocca.

“I just don’t like Auburn,” added Updyke, who is banned from Auburn's campus for life. “You know, there are several things in this world that I really and truly don’t like, and Auburn is one of them.

Updyke told CBS News he planned the crime for a month and placed a specialty herbicide called Spike 80DF on the trees. Updyke poured 500 times the amount of herbicide actually needed to kill the trees.

“Every night I’d stay up all night long, and they used to have cameras on the trees, and I figured out when the slowest time, what day of the week and what out of the night was the slowest around those oak trees, so I could go in there at that time and not get caught,” Updyke said.

---

      Harvey's Facebook page says he is a retired Texas state trooper who attended Milton (Ala.) High School, studied at Jeff Davis Junior College and Stephen F. Austin University, he's single and he lives in Albany, La.

      Do not have an explanation for why he is in Albany.

      It was a day after my last note to Harvey, asking how LSU fans treat him that he replied: "They keep an eye on me because I have ALABAMA gear on me every time I go out and I run my mouth a lot. lol."

     Gee, that's a surprise. 

     My reply to him: "I imagine they do. Alabama fans have a lot they can brag on. But if LSU ever beats Alabama again  [in football], don't mess with those beautiful trees on the LSU campus, please. ... So I take it you know Bobby Olah?

      Have not heard back from him, or Bobby. And it is all right if I never do.

That's the old ballgame Shreveport, chapter 19 -- the old stadium

Photo from The Shreveport Times, at the start of the 1959 Southern Association season

Chapter 19

Life at the old ballpark

    The old Texas League Park/SPAR Stadium is long gone. The memories are not.

    Perhaps the place was never considered “beautiful,” but for many years, it was a useful, functional baseball park; a good place to watch games. The box seats and reserved sections were close to the field, the grandstand was easily accessible, and the bleachers down the lines were much in use.

    The playing field itself most considered superb. The rest of the stadium, well …

    Just as its predecessor, League Park/Gasser Park/Biedenharn Field, this stadium was located in the Allendale neighborhood, then an older middle-class area of Shreveport only a few blocks -- maybe a mile -- southwest of downtown.

    It was built in a city block, facing northeast from home plate toward downtown.

    The streets were Gary Street (parallel to the left-field fence); Park Avenue (parallel to the right-field fence) -- the Gary and Park intersection was right behind straightaway center field; Sycamore Avenue (parallel to the third-base line, site of the small "home" parking lot); and Dove (parallel to the first-base line, with the bigger main dirt parking lot). The team had a Dove Street address.

    Club offices and the largest concession stand were located under the main grandstand.

    There were large bleachers down the right-field side -- the 1930s/’40s/’50s/early ’60s African-American (or Negro) section -- and smaller bleachers on the left-field side, which is where the Knothole Gang kids sat and/or played.

    (After seating became integrated, starting in 1968, those right-field bleachers were torn down and the open area became the beer-garden area, an enjoyable spot for many spectators.)

    Through the late 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s and into 1961, stadium maintenance and of the playing field and grass came under the supervision of Albert A. Gaedke, a legendary -- and often crusty -- ballpark figure. He kept a full crew during the season, and the condition of the playing field and grounds always was considered one of the stadium’s best assets.

    Even after Gaedke’s time, for decades the playing field was still well-maintained, although manpower was greatly reduced. But the stadium soon was not the same.

    Without regular maintenance, the ballpark decline began in the 1962-67 period when Shreveport did not have a professional baseball team.

    By then it was owned by the City of Shreveport and operated by the Shreveport Parks and Recreation (SPAR) department. It was used for the occasional college baseball game, but mostly for high school, American Legion and some SPAR baseball  -- and, for a time in the 1960s, for high school football by the then-all-black Shreveport schools.

    When the Atlanta Braves agreed to put their Class AA franchise in Shreveport in 1968, thus bringing the pro game back to the city, they also split the cost of stadium renovations with the city.

    That meant a good cleanup job, fresh paint everywhere -- the stadium seats were a combination of garish colors -- and a new outfield fence: one deck instead of the rotten old two-deck fence.

    So there was less advertising space and perhaps less revenue opportunities, but a safer result for outfielders banging into the fence.

    Another change involved the outfield. One problem with the field for many years was that the outfield sloped downward toward the fence. Those seated in the dugouts could not see the outfielders. In the ‘68 renovation, the grounds were filled until the field was level from infield dirt to the outfield fence.

    The wooden scoreboard, always manually operated except for the ball-strike-out lights, remained in left, just behind the fence. A ball hitting it was out of the park -- a home run.

    A green batter's eye backdrop stood behind the fence in straight center. That's where the flagpole was, too. The sign at the base of the wall there read "398" (feet) -- a good home-run challenge. Down the lines it was 320 to left, 321 to right. The power alleys, reachable but a fair distance, were about 350-360. If the wind blew out, it could be a hitter's park; otherwise, it was fair to pitchers.

    Also new in ‘68: A press box at the top center of the grandstand. The old press box above on the roof -- almost totally rotten -- was torn down. It was as rotten as the roof that covered the grandstand from a little past the first-base bag around to past the infield dirt on the third-base side.

    But what was not redone was that roof. It remained rotten.

    So rotten that anyone who climbed the fenced-in stairs outside the stadium to go retrieve foul balls caught in the gutter running alongside the fence on the roof had to be very careful walking on those creaky, tar-covered roof boards.

    Finally, by 1982, the roof was deemed so unsafe, and the expense of rebuilding it too great -- that had been the case for 20 years -- that it finally was torn down. Thus, all that remained were the steel beams that had held it -- exposed, an ugly sight.

    Taylor Moore -- longtime Sports/Captains fan and, from 1976, the team president/operating managing partner -- said, "It looked like something out of the Bronx that they started tearing down and did not finish."

---

    By the late 1960s, the maintenance situation had changed. No full grounds crew; only a couple of people. And no infield tarpaulin; only smaller ones to cover the mound and home plate areas.

    That became a real problem in the 1975 season when the Captains were plagued by days and days of rain that led to a couple of dozen home-game rainouts..

    A couple of years later, the ballclub convinced the city to invest in a tarp, but then because there was hardly any ground crew, spectators were often asked to aid in putting the tarp down when the rains came.

    And in the early 1970s, parking near the stadium also had become a major issue. What was a plus was that ballpark visitors never had to pay for parking. But safety, and rain, were problematic.

    A small parking lot near the front-gate entry and on the third-base side was reserved for season-ticket holders and club personnel (including players).

     But the bigger parking lot -- all dirt -- was where the bulk of the spectators parked, and when it rained, it could be a mess.

     Financially, the ballclub had to buy the rights for parking in that lot from its owner, the nearby Galilee Baptist Church. That yearly fees negotiation could be a hassle, and the terms included that church personnel would operate the lot. (Read below for the safety issues.)

    The stadium clubhouses were not cramped, but not roomy, either -- and, significantly, not air-conditioned (it does get hot in Shreveport in the summer). Big fans had to do their work.

    The manager's offices (home and visiting sides) were big enough for three people; four was a crowd. The umpires' dressing room was closet-like. Two-man crews were standard; more than two … good luck.

    By the 1960s and certainly in the 1970s and '80s, the ballpark roofs were leaky. Clubhouses, offices, concession areas, restrooms, storage space -- not much was safe from rain. There were critters there, too -- rats, scorpions (big ones), mice, whatever.

    But the biggest problems were smelly, antiquated restrooms, especially the women's ones, outdated concession areas and -- most significantly -- vandalism.

    The older the stadium grew, the more the neighborhood aged. What was once a working-class neighborhood changed; the demographics wee different. Older white folks remained, but it became a predominately minority area.

    There were few reports of physical crimes, but a number of reported break-ins of cars and the park itself -- the club offices, concessions, clubhouses. The team's safe, far back under the grandstand in a secluded area, was vandalized a few times. So were players' cars, parked inside the stadium during the team's road trips.

    And reports of car break-ins on that big parking dirt lot were not as frequent as the rumors to that effect.

    Still, people were hesitant -- scared, maybe -- to come to the stadium, afraid to drive in the area. Street access to the ballpark wasn't that easy; there was no main road leading directly to the parking lots.

    Perhaps some of the stadium’s “reputation” was more perception than reality. No matter, it made advertising and ticket sales a tough sell for club personnel.

    Most everyone in Shreveport-Bossier and North Louisiana knew where the stadium was located. But you had to want to go there.

    So the attendance declined. That began in 1956 -- despite Ken Guettler's record home-run heroics -- and never really let up much. For much of the next 30 years, attendance at the ballpark was woeful -- 250-300 far too many nights, 500 was good, 1,000 or more not all that often.

    There were still some crowds of 5,000 or so for special promotions (bat night, jersey night, the 1974 Texas League All-Star Game with the Texas Rangers, managed by Billy Martin) and the Captains did have a few significant games.

    The most significant was when the 1976 TL Eastern Division pennant race came down to one showdown game -- a victory meant the division championship; a loss meant the season was finished.

The Captains fell behind early, then rallied to win the game and the division. So it was on to the Texas League Championship Series, beginning with two games at home against Amarillo -- the first playoff games for Shreveport baseball in 16 seasons.

     Those were exciting times for crowds in the stands and the gang in the beer garden, often raucous, was rowdy.

     They were also the last crowds of more than 2,500 at that stadium. Because one week before the 1977 season opener, ballclub officials were told the upper grandstands -- which could seat about 2,500 -- were unstable, unusable, and closed ... for good.

    It remained that way through the 1985 season. And then it was good-bye to the old place.

    Through all the small-attendance years and tight-revenue situations, the club’s ownership remained hopeful that a new stadium would be built. There were a couple of possible franchise relocations, but they fell through … and finally -- after many talks, several potential sites and a new stadium deal was arranged.

    Now, on the grounds where the old stadium stood, there is a smaller facility because some good folks wanted to preserve baseball there.

    Named for the Baptist church located just behind what was the fence in right field and for two Shreveport pro baseball stars (Riley Stewart and Albert Belle), Galilee’s Stewart-Belle Stadium is used for recreational games.

    Perhaps the echoes of cheers, and thousands of games, still remain.

That's the old ballgame Shreveport, chapter 18 -- the 1970s

    Chapter 18

Revolving door (1971-78)

    Just when it appeared Shreveport would be without pro baseball in 1971, Ray Johnston came to the rescue.

    The Dallas businessman, who already owned the Iowa team in the Class AAA American Association, bought the El Paso franchise in the Texas League and moved it to Shreveport before the '71 season.

    The stadium -- Braves Field from 1968 to 1970 -- again became known as SPAR Stadium, as it had been from 1959 to 1967. And it kept that name and housed the Shreveport teams through the mid-1980s. Then a new stadium was built a few miles away.

    A local contest was staged to find a new team nickname; "Captains" was selected and remained the name through 2000. But through the 1970s there was little stability for the team’s working agreements with major-league teams.

    In nine years, there were four “parent” organizations.

    The first Captains were the Class AA franchise of the California Angels for two years (1971-72). A two-year tie-in with the Milwaukee Brewers followed -- including spring training for Brewers’ minor-league players in Shreveport in 1974 -- and then the Pittsburgh Pirates became the parent club for two two-year partnerships (1975-78).

    In the mid-1970s, Johnston began selling his interests in the Shreveport team to local investors. Unable to reach agreement with the City of Shreveport to have a new ballpark built to replace a fading -- and sometimes crumbling -- facility, he searched to move the franchise.

    In January 1976, an apparent deal with Birmingham (which had left the Southern League) fell through. The ballclub stayed in Shreveport.

    Also in 1976, local ownership began operating the club, with Taylor Moore as the managing general partner. The ownership included Moore and brother Loy Moore, Douglas Attaway Jr., John D. Caruthers Jr. and Charlie Webb, and that group remained intact through much of the next two decades.

    No question that the most high-profile Captains player of the 1970s was Denny McLain, superstar pitcher of the 1968 and '69 Detroit Tigers turned minor leaguer in the twilight of his baseball career.

   Top players from the era

         Angels (1971-72)

RUDY MEOLI -- The Captains' shortstop in 1971, in his third pro season, he hit a solid .287 in 139 games, with 22 doubles, six triples, seven home runs and 44 RBI, and 19 stolen bases. At the end of the season, he was in seven games for the Angels, going 0-for-3. A fourth-round pick by California in 1969 out of Covina, Calif., he made the majors for the full 1973 season, with his high mark for games (120) and the only two home runs of his six years MLB seasons (only two full years). In 310 MLB games, he batted .212 and was at times an erratic fielder (30 errors in his Captains season).

DAVE CHALK -- He came out of Dallas and the University of Texas as the Angels' first-round draft pick in 1972 and started his pro career in Shreveport, batting .253 in 76 games. He reached the majors the next year, then was an Angels' starter, either at third base or shortstop, for the next five seasons. He was a .252 hitter over nine MLB seasons.

 

  SID MONGE -- A Mexican native who grew up in California, the left-hander made 20 starts for the '72 Captains, with a 5-10 record and 3.47 ERA for 135 innings. Beginning in 1975, he stayed in the majors as a reliever for 10 seasons (five teams), with a 49-40 record.

   LARRY MILBOURNE -- He wasn't a star for the '72 Captains, batting .264 in 122 games. A switch-hitter and sound middle infielder, he broke into the majors two years later with Houston and played in 989 games over 11 seasons, plus the 1981 playoffs (World Series) with the Yankees.

NOTE: Shreveport residents Ron Botica and Robert Boddie, who pitched for the Captains in 1971-72, are listed in a chapter for North Louisiana pro players.

Brewers (1973-74)

    SIXTO LEZCANO -- The center fielder from Puerto Rico was the best player for the 1973 Captains, at age 19 (135 games, .293 average, 35 doubles, seven triples, 18 home runs, 90 RBI). He first played for the Brewers at the end of the '74 season, then was a major leaguer for the next 11 years, a starter most of that time. His first six years were with Milwaukee, including an outstanding season in 1979 (.321, 28 homers, 101 RBI).



    CHARLIE MOORE -- His offensive numbers for the '73 Captains were so-so (.255, 45 RBI), but his defensive ability was evident. He got a call-up to the Brewers at the end of that season, then was in the majors for the next 15 years -- all but the last one with Milwaukee. He was a .300 and .301 hitter in '79 and '81, then started all seven World Series games for the Brewers in 1982.


DENNY MCLAIN -- Perhaps the biggest modern-era celebrity to play for Shreveport, he was 29 and near the end of the line when he pitched for the Captains in 1973. A year after his last major-league appearances (for Oakland and Atlanta), he began '73 with the Triple-A Iowa team -- also owned by then-Captains owner Ray Johnston -- and with a 1-4 record for eight starts, he agreed to come to Shreveport. He made 12 starts for the Captains, with six complete games (one shutout) and a 6-4 record and 3.43 ERA. And he was well accepted by his younger teammates. It was five years after one of the most charmed pitching seasons in MLB history -- his 31-6 record for Detroit made him the majors' first 30-game winner since Dizzy Dean in 1934. With it, he had a 1.96 ERA, 41 starts and 28 complete games. In the World Series, he had a 1-2 record for the champion Tigers. His record in 1969 was 24-9, but then came multiple suspensions and much drama, and '73 (and Shreveport) ended his baseball career.

    DAN THOMAS -- In Shreveport, he was a promising talent in the Brewers' organization in 1973 and '74, a first-round draft pick (sixth overall) in '72 out of Southern Illinois. A third baseman-outfielder, he hit .266 in 132 games with a team-high 75 runs, and 60 RBI in '73, then fell off to .255 in 59 games the next year. He was suspended for half of the next season for striking an umpire, then  reached the Brewers in 1976 and '77, but became known as the "Sundown Kid" after a religion conversion in which he refused to play on the Sabbath. Soon he was out of the game and, after being jailed on a rape charge of a 12-year-old, he hung himself while in jail on June 12, 1980, in Mobile, Ala. He was 29.

  SAM MEJIAS -- The Dominican was the Captains' center fielder in 1974 and had a solid season (134 games, 75 runs, 25 doubles, 7 triples, 12 home runs, 60 RBI, .263 batting average). Traded by Milwaukee to the St. Louis organization in 1976, his first big-league stop was with the Cardinals for 18 games that year after he was back in the Texas League with Tulsa most of the season. He was in the majors for full seasons, mostly as an outfield reserve, with Montreal (1977-78) and Cincinnati (1980-81). His MLB totals: 334 games, .247 average, four homers, 31 RBI. After his playing career ended in Mexico in 1982, he was a major-league coach.

    TOM HAUSMAN -- One of the two best starters for the 1973 Captains, he was 12-9 in 162 innings over 25 games (all but one as a starter), although his ERA was a so-so 4.44. Two years later he broke into the big leagues with Milwaukee, which had made him a 10th-round draft pick in 1971 out of LaVerne, Calif. He was in the majors in seven seasons, including three full years (‘75 Brewers, 1980-81 New York Mets). In 1977, he was the Mets’ first free-agent signing, and in 1980, he had MLB career highs for games (55) and innings (122). MLB totals: 15-23 record, 160 games (33 starts), 441 innings, 3.80 ERA. Died Jan. 16, 2019, in Las Vegas, age 65.  

    
TOM STEDMAN -- "T-Bone" was a steady second baseman/third baseman for the Captains in 1973 (.271 average in 131 games) and 1974 (.311 in 119 games). He began working at the new Louisiana Downs racetrack in the off-season and, after one more season in the Texas League (Lafayette, '75), became a permanent resident of Shreveport-Bossier and a fulltime LaDowns front-office employee.

NOTE: Shreveport residents Fred McGaha and Larry Frazier, who played for the Captains in 1974, are listed in a chapter for North Louisiana pro players.

    Pirates (1975-78)

    
MITCHELL PAGE -- The Captains' left fielder in 1975, he shared the Texas League home run title (23) and led the league in RBI (90), both career highs in 11 years as a pro. Two years later, he made the big leagues with Oakland and was with the A's for seven seasons. In the first four, he hit 64 homers and drove in 238 runs, but he declined after that. He was batting coach of the 2004 National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. He died March 12, 2011, in Glendale, Ariz., age 59.

    

TIM JONES -- A tall (6-foot-5) right-hander, his 16-6 record in 1975 -- 23 starts, 14 complete games, 172 innings, 3.03 ERA -- was the best season for a Shreveport pitcher in a 20-year period, and his .727 win percentage was a Texas League best. He pitched only three games in the majors, for the 1977 Pirates.

Rick Langford, right, with
'75 Captains manager Tim Murtaugh

RICK LANGFORD -- He was only a parttime starter for the '75 Captains -- 16 games, five starts, 5-2 record -- before a promotion to Triple-A. In 1977, after a trade, he began a 10-year stay with Oakland and started 195 times for the A's. He was an "iron man" in a remarkable 1980 season for manager Billy Martin -- a 19-12 record, an American League-best 28 complete games (including a record 22 in a row) and 290 innings. He again led the AL in complete games (18) the following season.


JIMMY SEXTON -- A shortstop from Alabama, he hit .274 and led the Texas League with 48 stolen bases in 103 games for the Captains in 1975. He began the '76 season in Shreveport and after 67 hits and 43 runs in 59 games and a .324 average moved up to Triple-A. He was in the majors for six seasons with four teams, a semi-regular for two years in which he stole 16 bases each season.

   RON MITCHELL -- He was the Captains' starting first baseman in 1975 and 1976, batting .260 and .251 and totaling 53 doubles, 21 homers and 132 RBI, and after a year in Triple-A, returned in 1978 for 11 games. But he never reached the majors.

MIKE EDWARDS -- The second baseman was the Captains' top player as they surged to the Texas League's best record in 1975, with a .304 average, 27 stolen bases and a team-high 26 doubles. His call-up to Triple-A was followed by the Captains' fade. He returned to Shreveport for 53 games in 1976, and had 67 hits and a .321 average before another promotion. He played four years in the majors, two as a starter for Oakland, with a .273 average and 27 steals in 1978.

STEVE NICOSIA -- He was an all-star catcher for Shreveport in 1975, batting .268 in 110 games. After three seasons in Triple-A, he reached the majors in 1979 and alternated with Ed Ott on the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates (Nicosia played in four Series games). He stayed in the big leagues as a reserve for eight years, the first four full seasons with the Pirates.

   PAUL DJAKONOW -- From Detroit, one of the more popular Captains players of his time, he was in Shreveport for three full seasons (1975-77), primarily as a third baseman but also played some shortstop and second base. In 344 Captains games, he batted .244 with 57 doubles, 10 triples, 42 home runs and 151 RBI. He advanced to Triple-A for a half season, but played most of four more years in Double-A. He died in 2008 in Detroit at age 57.

RANDY SEALY -- The right-hander from Clute, Texas, pitched -- and won --  one of the most exciting games in early Captains' history -- the division-winning clincher in the final regular-season game of 1976. In a one-game elimination situation, he went the distance with a five-hitter and beat Arkansas 7-2. He was 10-5 for Shreveport in 1975, but finished 15-16 in two full seasons (1975-76) and a short stay in '78, and never made the majors.

  
  SILVIO MARTINEZ -- He was the best pitcher on the 1976 Captains ... while he was there. In 16 starts and 104 innings, he had eight complete games and seven shutouts, an 8-4 record and 2.42 ERA -- and then he was promoted to Triple-A. After two trades, he pitched four complete seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals, with records of 9-8 in 1978 and 15-8 in '79.

ROD SCURRY -- Lanky and loose, the left-hander from Reno, Nev. -- the 11th pick of the 1974 MLB draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates -- showed promise as a 24-game starter for Shreveport in 1976. He had an 8-8 record and 3.88 ERA in 123 innings. When he got to the big leagues with the Pirates in 1980, he became primarily a reliever (only seven starts in 332 appearances over eight seasons). But, unfortunately, he is most known as one of the principals in the MLB's 1985 drug scandals/trials, with Pirates' players among the biggest offenders. Traded to the Yankees late in '85, he was done in baseball by 1988, and died four years later of a cocaine-induced overdose/heart attack at age 36.

    ALBERTO LOIS -- A center fielder from the Dominican Republic, he was 20 in 1976 -- known then as Alberto Louis -- when he was one of the brightest stars to come through Shreveport in the Pirates’ era. In 65 games for the Captains, he hit .323 with 85 hits -- including nine doubles, 12 triples and four home runs -- drove in 32 runs and stole 24 bases. That earned him a midseason promotion to Triple-A. But his career stalled and his only major-league time (with Pittsburgh) was brief -- three games in 1978 (1-for-4) and no at-bats in a short 1979 stay when he pinch-ran (scored six runs) and played defense. In January 1980, a traffic accident (six killed) in which he was thrown from a vehicle and unconscious for six days caused a career-ending severe right eye injury.

FRED BREINING -- A tall, thin, bespectacled right-hander, he pitched for the Captains in three seasons, spanning two organizations -- Pirates (1977-78), Giants (1979). Featuring an often wicked forkball, he appeared in 62 games, starting 28, had a 10-12 record and after five complete games in '79, he was on his way to the majors. He pitched three full seasons (1981-83) for San Francisco, appearing in 131 games (42 starts) with a 27-20 record. His career declined after that.

AL HOLLAND -- A stocky, hard-throwing left-
handed pitcher out of North Carolina A&T University, he had a 4-1 record, 1.25 ERA and six saves in 24 games for the Captains in 1977 and was promoted in midseason to Triple-A. He made the majors in 1980 and stayed for seven-plus seasons, a bullpen stalwart for the Giants for three years and then the Phillies (25 saves in '83, plus one in the World Series, and 29 in '84.

   RICK HONEYCUTT -- Few former Shreveport players have had a longer baseball career. An All-American first baseman at the University of Tennessee and SEC batting champ (.404 average), he also was a left-handed pitcher, and that was his future. He was the Captains' best pitcher in 1977 (10-6 record, a Texas-League best 2.47 ERA, six complete games), and was a part of a trade from Pittsburgh to Seattle near season's end. He made his MLB debut for the Mariners that year, then pitched in the majors for the next 20 years (109-143 record, 3.72 ERA, 797 games, 268 starts, 47 complete games, two-time All-Star choice). He had 12 saves for the 1989 World Series champion Oakland A's. In 2017, he completed his 12th year as the Los Angeles Dodgers' pitching coach, the last two with National League championship teams (lost in World Series).

LARRY LITTLETON -- He was the Captains' center fielder in 1977-78, a good defensive player who totaled 37 home runs and 128 RBI in those seasons. But his only major-league shot was a brief September callup with Cleveland in 1981; he went 0-for-23.

    NELSON NORMAN -- The epitome of a great-fielding, light-hitting shortstop, he hit .251 in 94 games for Shreveport in 1977 but showed exceptional defensive range. One of the many Dominican Republic shortstops, he got to the Texas Rangers for 23 games the next season, then was their starter in 1979, but hit only .222 in 147 games, with almost no power. He had bits of four other MLB seasons, but spent almost all of the next 10 years in the minors.

    DON ROBINSON -- A big (6-4, 225) right-hander from West Virginia, he was a third-round draft pick by Pittsburgh in 1975, then as a 20-year-old, had a 7-6 record, 4.06 ERA, for Shreveport in '77. The next year he was in the starting rotation for the Pirates, and he spent 15 years in the majors (109-106 record, 57 saves, 3.79 ERA, 524 games, 229 starts). He helped the '79 Pirates win the World Series (one NLCS victory and one in the Series), then 10 years later he was 12-11 for the National League champion San Francisco Giants, won a playoff game and lost Game 4 (last game of the earthquake-delayed World Series).

      TONY PENA -- Easily the most successful player on a woeful 1978 Captains team (55-81 record), he showed obviously promise as a defensive catcher. At age 21, he batted only .230 in 104 games, but three years later he made it to the big leagues for good with Pittsburgh. He was in the majors for 17 seasons, 12 as a starter and he was in 138-to-151 games for nine of those years. He was a five-time All-Star catcher, a four-time Gold Glove winner -- known for his unusual left leg-extended squat behind the plate, and he developed into a good hitter, with two 15-home run seasons and a .301 average in 1983 (.260 for his career). He played in two World Series and in three League Championship Series. began managing in the minors in 1998, managed New Orleans for three seasons (1999-2001) and was manager of the Kansas City Royals from 2002 to '05, including American League "Manager of the Year " in 2003. He was a coach with the New York Yankees from 2006 to 2017.