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Tucson Toros night at Electric Park Tuesday night is Tucson Toros night at Tucson Electric Park. Every Tuesday, the AAA affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks transforms itself from the Tucson Sidewinders to southern Arizona's team of old … the Tucson Toros. From 1969 until 1997, the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coast League dominated the local sports scene at Hi Corbett field. As an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox (69-72), Oakland Athletics (73-76) Houston Astros (77- 96) and Milwaukee Brewers (97), players such as Chuck Hartenstein, Glen Abbott, Dale Berra, Glenn Davis, Craig Biggio and Ken Caminiti honed their skills in the Arizona desert before advancing to the majors.
Interestingly enough, during the '97 season, the Arizona Diamondbacks made arrangements with the Brewers to allow their top prospect, Travis Lee, to play for the Toros for the second half of the season. In 1998, the brand new Diamondbacks followed Lee and aligned themselves with the the PCL team in Tucson, an obvious marriage. The team, under new ownership, was renamed the Sidewinders to better reflect their association with the big league Diamondbacks. A new stadium was built for the “new” team and ever since, the Tucson Sidewinders have played in beautiful Tucson Electric Park. Since it was a Tuesday night and the D’Backs were not in town, I drove down I-10 to watch the Sidewinders (Toros) take on the Oklahoma City Red Hawks, the PCL affiliate of the Texas Rangers. The Sidewinders have a team with several very good prospects: Conor Jackson, Carlos Quentin, Scott Hairston and Sergio Santos. In addition, the team sports a grizzled veteran in the person of Alan Zinter (currently out for the season with an injury) who played 14 seasons in the minors before finally getting his shot in the majors with Houston. The game itself was a slugfest, the Red Hawks apparently mimicking the Rangers. Poor pitching and good hitting. The game ended with a 9-5 score in the “Toros” favor. Josh Kroeger went 3-3 to lead the team; one of the hits was his 12th homer of the year in the sixth inning to snap a 5-5 tie. Two of the “Toros” runs were scored on wild pitches. I suppose if any of the Red Hawks hurlers had much, they would be in Arlington right now. Two ex-Orioles, Chris Richard and Manny Alexander, paced the Oklahoma attack with two hits apiece. Richard is one of the players Syd Thrift acquired during the great purge of 2000, when he traded away his aging veterans for younger players. The only one left from that dubious group is Melvin Mora. Alexander is the player who replaced Cal Ripken at short when he was moved to third base --- John
Kazlo Editor's Note: Minor League watch editor and publisher Bill Mitchell interviewed Conor Jackson prior to this game; Jackson was called up to the parent Diamondbacks the very next day. |
