Good to be a Goldpanner
By Don Dennis
General Manager, Alaska Goldpanners
OCTOBER 2002
It is great living in the afterglow of the 2002 NBC World Series Championship. The 2002 team coined the rally cry "Good to be a Goldpanner." It became so well know that Wichita papers reporting on the title game mentioned the chant in reports on the post-game celebration.
The chant, spurred in large measure by Marc Kaiser early in the season, brought back memories of other teams identified through sayings or actions.
The 1984 team was known as "Umpbusters," which was an obvious tie to the popular movie of the time, Ghostbusters. The 1983 team spent much of its time on the ground --or in hotel lobbies-- practicing the luge, which actually looked more like a dozen guys in a rowboat. The 1978 and 1979 teams, lead in large part by Tom Lukish, would stand in front of the dugout and sign the national anthem at all home games. The 1974 team would line up every guy between third and home to congratulate home run hitters --and they got a lot of action as that team hit a club record 135 round-trippers.
There are many other such antics over the years. Teams in all of the years mentioned above were very good and it brought to mind that a much unheralded intangible for a championship team is camaraderie. The 2002 team certainly fits that mold. The other intangible which struck me is that of playing up to a very high level-- a team with one or two overwhelming talents who are able to bring the rest of the guys along, enabling them to play at a higher level than their talent might allow. The 1972 team won behind the talent and urging of Dave Winfield. The 1976 team rode the arm of Greg Harris. The 1980 team was exceptionally talented but all had to stretch to reach the level attained by Kevin McReynolds. In 2002, the entire club recognized the unapproached talent of Ryan Schroyer.
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In an earlier writing we mentioned a return to comments about the Goldpanner career of Zak Basch. The career of Zak, who has transferred to the University of Nevada-Reno, is one of the best stories of the 1,000-plus stemming from Goldpanners lore.
Zak came out of Hofstra University in Long Island to join the 2001 team, and by his own admission was in Fairbanks only because his coach was a friend of Panner Manager Chris Jones. He had a decent summer, setting the stage for him to return for '02 on a "make-it" basis. Zak was welcomed back to work in the team's Pannervision operation (due to his fine personality) but with a new field manager, Ed Cheff, the amount of playing time was to be determined. The rest is history.
Zak set a team record for earned run average for relief pitchers at 0.62, snapping the one-year old mark of 0.64 set by Chris Dunwell of San Diego State. But Zak's other mark is most interesting. He became not only the first Goldpanner player to drive his personal auto to Fairbanks, but he did it from Long Island, NY (location of Hofstra). A friend rode up with him and they took 17 days or so visiting friends along the way. At the end of the summer the same friend and Zak's father flew to Anchorage and rode with him to Wichita where he capped off his sensational summer with great performances in the national. His mother also flew in from Sylvania, OH, to attend the tournament and it is doubtful any on hand enjoyed the '02 title as much as the Basch family. Zak makes the record book for his pitching and the anecdote book for his driving odyssey.
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Two of the biggest names in the 2002 World Series --Adam Kennedy of Anaheim and Barry Bonds of San Francisco-- are former Goldpanners, giving us a lot of additional interest in the series. Barry played out of Arizona State and was on the 1983 team along with the first dubbed "Million Dollar Outfield" of Oddibe McDowell, Shane Mack and Mark Davis. Barry played in the outfield of course but also did time at first base for the Dave Snow managed team. He was due to return in 1984 but wound up in summer school the first session, and then the second, so the Panners declined to have him only for the national tournament a second time.
Adam came to the Panners in 1995 out of Cal State-Northridge. He put together a sensational summer and actually is the team's all-time single season leading hitter with a .432 average. That mark broke a .425 mark set by Steve Kemp in 1974.
The Series also features a couple of former Panners as reserves--outfielder Tom Goodwin (87) with the Giants and relief pitcher Dennis Cook (83) with the Angels.
A number of other former Alaska League players are on the two teams, most notable are second baseman Jeff Kent of San Francisco (Bucs), first baseman of the Giants, J.T. Snow (Oilers), and Giants' shortstop Rich Aurilia, who played with both the Oilers and Miners.
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Kennedy is one of a handful of Goldpanners who has also had a brother play for the team. Catcher Bryan Kennedy came to Fairbanks and played on the 1998 team. A few other brother combos come to mind: Fairbanksans and currently local attorneys in practice together, Ward and Mark Merdes are such a combo. Mark played outfield for the Panners in 1970-71 and 73 while Ward, a lefty relief pitcher, toiled in 1981-82 and 84.
Another family of Fairbanks brothers produced three Goldpanners. Jerry Johnson in 1970 and 1976 followed by brothers Kevin in 1981 and James in 1983 and 87. Jerry and James are still active in Fairbanks baseball circles and the Johnsons represent one of only two trios of brothers in team history. Father Rufus was the longtime manager of local American Legion baseball.
The Troedson brothers, Rich of Santa Clara, and Thad of San Diego State, had a combined seven years of service. Lefty starter Rich was in Fairbanks 1969-70-71 and righty reliever Thad was on Panner teams in l974-75-76-77.
The Reynolds boys of Corvallis, OR, provided the second trio of brothers. Outfielder Don was a standout on the 1973 and 74 teams while outfielder Larry got a one-game taste after his high school senior year in 1974 and then played in 1975-76-77 and younger brother Harold joined Fairbanks in 1980. Harold, now a regular on ESPN, also came to Fairbanks as an outfielder but Manager Ben Hines had him working at second base even before the first game of the season. While Harold was young, and the Panners extremely deep in talent, he only played part-time but the move to second paid huge dividends as he became a fixture as the American League Gold Glove winner while with the Seattle Mariners.
Dan Plesac is currently the oldest Goldpanner (1981) still playing in the major leagues. His brother, Joe, joined the team for the 1981 national tournament. At the time Joe was considered the better prospect. Dan also is the only player from North Carolina State ever to play for the Panners.
Another year a brother joined for the end-of-the-season tournament was 1989. Dennis Gray of Long Beach State was a stalwart on the starting staff and brother David was added for the U.S. Open, also as a starting pitcher, but right-handed. Steve Sogge was best known as a quarterback for powerhouse University of Southern California football teams but he spent the summer of 1965 catching for the Goldpanners. Brother Mark came along as a pitcher on the 1969 team.
Chris Codiroli pitched for the 1977 team and older brother Mike came along as a coach and relief pitcher in 1984, following his minor league career. Interesting is that Mike was an outfielder in his playing days but did a stellar job as a hurler for the Panners. One set of twins has played for the Panners, the Stranes. Alvin and Albert of Santa Clara held down the double-play combination in 1967 and 1968. Alvin also played a little in the outfield in '68. Dave Roberts of the University of Oregon was a top player for the team in 1970-71 and brother Dean played for the Panners in 1973. Gary Rajsich, out of Arizona State and now a Red Sox scout living in Oregon, played in 1975 and his brother Rob pitched in 1976-77. Rob was at the time the punter on the University of Miami football team and after baseball has made his mark as a golf pro. Gary, of course, played in the big leagues as did another brother, Mark.
The French brothers of San Diego, in business together to this day, played in Fairbanks --Marty in 1973-74 and Jim in 1976-77. Both attended San Diego State. Marty, like several other Goldpanners, met his wife in Fairbanks. He married Holly Davis.
A very interesting brother duo to play for the Panners were Tim and Dan Raley. The natives of Virginia attended Wichita State and learned of the Panners through national tournament appearances. Tim was a driving force on the 1986 and Dan was just as good a year later. Way back in the team's first year, 1960, were brothers Dan and Stan Gabriel.
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A couple of sets of brothers have been saved for last as they also lead to a second generation of Goldpanner players. Bob Boone was known as "Mr. Goldpanner" during his time in 1966-67-68 and then brother Rod came along to be a front liner in 1969-70-71. More than that, however, Bob's son, Brett, became the first second generation Panner when he played with the team in the 1988 season. Another brother duo that lead to two second generation guys were the Nettles. Graig played in Fairbanks in 1964-65 and later son Tim played on the 1998 team. Graig's brother Jim played in Fairbanks 1966-67 and later his son Ryan in 1991.
The father-son thing came to the forefront in 2002 when team MVP Scott Robinson and outfielder/pitcher Chad Redfern were both second generation. Scott's father Bruce played on four great Panner teams 1972-73-74-75 and Chad's father, Pete, was also on the 1974 and 75 teams. Chad is one of the feel-good stories of 2002 as he spent the summer working on pitching --something he had not done despite his father's fine career and being the owner of one great arm-- and finally made a start near the end of the year. He immediately received the first of several offer s--on site after the game, from Toronto-- and later signed with the Atlanta Braves.
A sparkplug on the 1973-74 teams was Tommy Sain of Arizona State and his son, Greg, was a two-year catcher in 1999-00 Legendary Field Manager Jim Dietz had an at-bat or two with the team while serving 11 years at the helm. For three of those years , 1990-91-92, oldest son Steve was a regular at second base and shortstop. In 1994 Manager Rick Baumann of Treasure Valley College had his son, Kris, with the team for a week in Hawaii at the start of the year when the roster was thin. The final father-son duo happened just this past summer and it was the first of all coaching. Field Manager Ed Cheff had his son, Tyler, helping with the pitching staff for the first couple weeks of the season. Ed previously had managed the Anchorage Bucs for two seasons and in both of those years Tyler was a catcher for his father. Tyler is now a high school coach in Hawaii.
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I have a great time recalling information such as the above. Apologies if I have missed anyone in the listing. All of the people mentioned deserve additional space and maybe one day we can offer up some side stories. It seems grossly unfair to simply report they played for the Goldpanners. All meant so much more to Fairbanks and the organization. Hopefully it is so in their own personal memories. It is great to be a Goldpanner.
By Don Dennis
General Relativity
OCTOBER 2002
