Ex-big leaguer to skip Sussex
Posted by sagsy on December 15, 2007
It’s going to take some getting used to a new set of opposing cities and teams so let’s leap in with both feet by noting that one-time National League manager of the year Hal Lanier is taking over the Sussex Skyhawks.
Lanier is best known for being the manager of that 1986 Houston Astros team who played the noble losers in that classic NLCS playoff vs. the New York Mets, one of the more memorable teams of my youth. What’s probably less known is that he has an extensive background in indy ball — 12 years in the Northern League, including 10 with the Winnipeg Goldeyes.
While trying to find a photo of Lanier, I found a 2001 story from the Canadian edition of Reader’s Digest that paints a glowing picture of the ballpark experience in the ‘Peg. It won’t happen overnight (and it took years for the Goldeyes to build up to it), but it’s doable in Ottawa.
December 16, 2007 at 1:34 am
Forget Lanier. Watch this video of Nashua Pride manager Butch Hobson in July:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xtDReUIgVsY
Can’t say the Can-Am is not interesting to watch.
December 16, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Hobson, more drugs and baseball!
December 18, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Carl,
To your last point, Ottawa has all the right ingredients. Check out this thing I found on the first “ballpark” Winnipeg played in. Imagine the Lynx at Frank Clair!
http://www.nlfan.com/winnipeg/deformity/
December 18, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Bob,
Thanks… I used to live in Manitoba, of course, and once I was in a restaurant and they had a framed picture of something to do with the Goldeyes on the wall that showed them playing at Winnipeg Stadium. It didn’t really sink in just how odd it was until now, though.
Wonder how the wind was when they played there? It would be worse now, since the adjacent hockey arena where the Winnipeg Jets played has been torn down.
February 5, 2008 at 10:17 am
[...] losers, but no matter how you want to frame it, attendance matters. Neate posted earlier about the hiring of Hal Lanier as the new Skyhawks manager, but what I didn’t realize until yesterday was that it came on the [...]