Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.
OTHER THAN THE CARDINALS, when I was a farm boy in the Midwest, and the Oakland Athletics, when living in California for a couple of years, I've not really had a favorite Major League Baseball team. Over the years my interest in a baseball team had to do with certain players and coaches.
Pitcher Greg Maddux has kept me tuned in on the Atlanta Braves for the past several years. When it all came down to the Marlins and Cubs, it was the presence of Marlins manager Jack McKeon. Cheering for the Red Sox over the Yankees was easy because the Sox catcher is local athlete Doug Mirabelli. Also my late friend Jim Joyce had to be in the great beyond cheering for the Boston team.
It was Jack McKeon, then vice president of baseball operations for the San Diego Padres, who worked in cooperation with local people to bring Triple A baseball to Las Vegas. He found plenty of Las Vegans interested in building a new Cashman Field to accommodate the team. Las Vegas Mayor Bill Briare, City Commissioner Roy Woofter, County Commissioner David Canter, City Manager Russ Dorn and Rossi Ralenkotter of the LVCVA were among the leaders who put in long days and nights to make Triple A baseball become a reality for local fans. The development of the field and complex was given the professional touch by architect Tom Graham.
Working on the baseball side with McKeon and Ballard Smith, then-Padre owner Ray Kroc's son-in-law, was Bob Fontaine, vice president and general manager of the Padres. After the team settled in Las Vegas it was McKeon and his man Tom Romenesko who kept it supplied with many exciting players. Romenesko had been a Triple A umpire and club manager before moving up to San Diego.
McKeon became a popular figure at Cashman Field where he watched the Las Vegas Stars compete. Sitting with McKeon at a ball game is an interesting experience. He would chew on his cigar and never miss a play as he commented on the action. He knew the background of every player from both teams. Because he was known as Trader Jack, I have to believe he was making mental notes on the players he would some day want up in the major league.
In the spring of 1984 I wrote: 'McKeon's drafting, trading and promoting has made the Las Vegas Stars much deeper this year. Last year we were in trouble when Bobby Brown and Kevin McReynolds left the team. This year there is plenty of talent to shift around the outfield with John Kruk, Jerry Davis, Rick Lancellotti, Ron Roenicke and George Hinshaw available. If necessary, Hinshaw can relieve at third, while Lancellotti and Kruk can relieve at first base if anything happens to Fritz Connally or Joe Lansford.
'Jerry DeSimone is ready to spell Ozzie Guillen and Ed Rodriguez at short and second.'
One night, in 1983, Carolyn, my wife, and I along with Jack and his wife, Carol, were coming home from a late dinner. We had been talking baseball all evening when we came upon the shooting of Metro Officer James MacLaren. The remainder of the evening was both quiet and short.
McKeon could have been named Gentleman Jack just as easy as he became known as Trader Jack. Always a gentleman and thinking about the welfare of his family and players, he is a special person.
Kevin Kernan, of the New York Post, writes a story that best explains the kind of man the Marlins have as a manager: 'The last time McKeon was out of work, long before he orchestrated this Marlin Miracle at the age of 72, he was living in San Diego. A few miles from his home there was a new league for disabled children, called the Challenger League.
'The idea behind the league was to take children from conventional Little League teams and pair them up as baseball buddies, helping disabled children play their games. The ex-major league manager and GM heard about the league. On Sundays, McKeon would show up, pushing kids in wheelchairs around the bases or just cheerlead and offer baseball tips. I know because I was there to see it.'
So win, lose or draw, McKeon will always be a winner. This is why I'll be sitting in front of the television cheering for the Marlins tonight.
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